The 123-year-old landmark Rockefeller Building in Downtown Cleveland hasn’t been treated very well in recent years but its fortunes could be changing for the better very soon (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
$6M in site repairs, demo due ASAP
Remedies are coming soon for a downtown landmark that has had too many dirty tricks played on it in recent years. But on this April Fool’s day, it appears the dirty tricks may have come to an end for the Rockefeller Building, 614 W. Superior Ave.
K&D Group CEO and co-founder Doug Price III confirmed to NEOtrans today that his Willoughby-based firm, in partnership with the Cuyahoga Land Bank, hired Geis Companies of Streetsboro to make $6.1 million worth of “make-safe” improvements to the vacant, Gilded Age office building.
The improvements are being done in advance of K&D Group taking title to the property, which Price said should happen by the end of April. He announced two weeks ago that K&D Group had reached a purchase agreement to acquire the property with the support of the county land bank.
The 17-story building was taken over in July 2025 by Miami-based lender BridgeInvest after the prior owner Rockefeller Building Associates defaulted on its obligations. The property includes the 261,264-square-foot office building built in 1903-10, a 43,617-square-foot parking garage built in 1925, and 1.85 acres of land.
“Install temporary plywood sheathing to all exterior wall openings, broken and missing glazing, storefront systems, and windows as shown on the drawing elevations,” wrote Bill John Bonazza, a senior designer at Geis Construction, in submitting plans today to the city for the make-safe repairs.
This was part of a presentation to the Cleveland Landmarks Commission five years ago to secure the commission’s approval to demolish the Rockefeller Building’s garage (GLSD).
“Interior demolition on all floors, including mechanical, electrical and plumbing” will be done, he continued as part of a permit application to carry out the work which would have been needed prior to a major renovation.
He also said the work will include demolition of the existing parking garage structure which was approved five years ago by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. At that time, Geis produced a 2021 report by Osborn Engineering which said the garage was obsolete.
Specifically, Osborne said the vehicle ramps are too steep and narrow, there’s no ventilation system, the stairways do not meet code and the building is in poor condition with major masonry failure and exposed rebar.
The garage’s condition has only gotten worse in the past five years, making its presence a safety issue. Osborne said that, even without the poor conditions, the split-level layout of the structure made it cost-prohibitive to convert for residential, hotel, office or retail uses.
Bonazza added that Geis’ planned work “Will provide a new asphalt parking lot and stalls at the old (garage) location.” The garage’s footprint is about 8,300 square feet, which translates to roughly 30 additional surface-lot parking spaces. They will add to the roughly 180 parking spaces already on the Rockefeller property.
This aerial view looks west on Superior Avenue. It was photographed before the Sherwin-Williams headquarters was built at the bottom of the image. The Rockefeller Building and its garage at right are seen (Adam Greene).
Rico Pietro, a principal at Cushman & Wakefield – CRESCO Real Estate brokerage in Independence which listed the property for sale, said that parking is in high demand in this area following the opening of the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters in the next city block to the east.
Funding for the work is coming from a $7.3 million grant from the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program. The money was awarded to conduct environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, and site preparation for a major redevelopment of the Rockefeller Building property.
But since the grant was awarded to the Cuyahoga Land Bank, K&D Group had to secure agreements not only with the lender but with the land bank to make the site safe and in a timely manner.
Geis was selected because the prior owner had chosen them as the general contractor to redevelop the building into apartments, offices and retail and the lender took over those contracts. So keeping Geis was not only a matter of working with an experienced historic renovation contractor, it could also start the work more quickly.
Price hasn’t revealed his plans for the property but said he would after he takes title to it. K&D has renovated multiple historic office buildings downtown, primarily for residential uses with for-lease retail spaces on their ground floors.
An example of a potential development of the current Rockefeller garage site that could capitalize on the benefit of a conservation easement (Heart).
The Rockefeller Building was constructed at the behest of Cleveland-native John D. Rockefeller, the founder of the Standard Oil Co. and once the richest man in the world. At the time, the building was the city’s tallest.
But the prior owner reportedly did not secure the building, making it easier for trespassers, vandals and thieves to enter it and steal its Gilded Age brass furnishings, decorative metal railings, plus its steel and iron pipes that caused basement flooding.
Windows were broken, opening the interiors to Cleveland’s winter. Marble walls were sprayed with graffiti and woodwork was damaged, much of it beyond repair. Prior to those damages, the proposed redevelopment had a $130 million price tag.
But up to $70 million in public incentives were gathered for the redevelopment. Those included the Ohio Brownfield grant, $4 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits, $14 million in Federal Historic Tax Credits, and $2.4 million in Opportunity Zone Tax Credits.
Millions of dollars worth of Ohio Conservation Easement Program benefits could also be gained if the parking lots next to the Rockefeller Building were developed, as was considered by prior suitors of the Warehouse District property.
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