It’s an uncertain time for older office buildings in Downtown Cleveland. The latest to face uncertainty is 800 Superior, which is home to AmTrust Financial Services’ operational headquarters and hundreds of employees — but possibly not for long (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
AmTrust’s office lease ends in 13 months
With its lease running out at the end of next year, a major employer in Downtown Cleveland is searching for answers. The questions are — to stay put and aid in the rebirth of a decaying property? To relocate to another downtown building? Or to move to one of many vacant, modern office buildings in the suburbs?
Thankfully the questions AmTrust Financial Services Inc. is pondering apparently do not include moving out of the Greater Cleveland area. An AmTrust spokesman informed NEOtrans last year the company has a long history in Cleveland and are “committed to maintaining our presence in the metro area.”
But that does not commit to staying downtown. While AmTrust has its legal headquarters in New York City to be in the nation’s financial center, its operational headquarters and more than 600 employees are based at 800 Superior Ave.
AmTrust’s name graces the top of the 23-story, 1969-built office tower which is owned by an affiliate of Allstate Corp., located in suburban Chicago.
The building has been for sale and two sources told NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity that a buyer has been found. They said the buyer is Houston-based MM Properties which reportedly wants to convert at least half of 800 Superior into apartments.
The parking garage for 800 Superior, seen here from its Vincent Avenue entrance, is condemned and closed to public use (NEOtrans).
The building’s other major tenant, Allstate subsidiary National General Insurance of Charlotte, said it will not renew its lease of 150,000 square feet of office space when it expires at the end of 2026 — the same as AmTrust’s lease.
The sources also said MM Properties wants to demolish 800 Superior’s 267,260-square-foot condemned parking garage for future development. That garage occupies just over half of an acre.
E-mails sent to MM Properties and Allstate seeking confirmation and comment were not responded to prior to publication of this article. But AmTrust was responsive and suggested it may be searching for new space.
“Our lease at 800 Superior does expire at the end of 2026 and we are exploring several options,” Chaya Cooperberg, AmTrust’s chief people and communications officer, told NEOtrans. “We have no additional details to share at this time.”
She deferred questions about the status of 800 Superior to Allstate which acquired the property nearly 15 years ago.
Parkland Place is a highly visible office building along Interstate 271 in Mayfield Heights. But it remains to be seen whether AmTrust Financial Services will relocate its office there (CBRE).
Andrew Coleman, Cleveland office manager of real estate brokerage CBRE, did not respond to two messages from NEOtrans. CBRE is the leasing agent and owner’s representative of 800 Superior.
When NEOtrans asked the nonprofit development corporation Downtown Cleveland Inc. (DCI) for more information about AmTrust’s status downtown, its public relations firm Falls & Co. responded.
“DCI does not have any information to share,” said Chanté Jones, vice president of Falls & Co.
Where might AmTrust go? There are rumors that AmTrust will relocate to the suburbs. One rumor has it moving to a former Progressive Insurance office building in the Interstate 271 corridor. But there are several of those Progressive properties on the market.
One that appears to make sense for AmTrust is the 104,000-square-foot Parkland Place, 6055 Parkland Blvd. in Mayfield Heights. Although its available, leasable office space measures only 94,565 square feet and AmTrust leases about 150,000 square feet downtown, it apparently doesn’t need as much space anymore.
An affiliate of AmTrust Financial Services owns this building along the Rockside Road corridor in Seven Hills (Google).
Although AmTrust has at least 600 downtown-based employees, perhaps half of them are in the office on any given workday due to remote and hybrid working, according to several sources.
The leasing agent for the 37-year-old Parkland Place is CBRE, same as 800 Superior. County records show Parkland Place was acquired in April for $3.5 million from Progressive by a partnership of Lyndhurst-based RHM Real Estate and New York City-based Time Equities Inc.
AmTrust affiliate Rock Run South LLC owns a 39-year-old office building at 5800 Lombardo Center in south-suburban Seven Hills. The 67,754-square-foot building is substantially occupied, including a small office presence for AmTrust.
In 2011, AmTrust moved downtown from the suburbs and relocated staff from an office in North Carolina to Cleveland. In total, more than 1,000 AmTrust workers were based downtown in the 2010s.
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