With its current home in Downtown Cleveland in the distance, Gray Media Group has picked this site on Brecksville Road in suburban Independence for its new television studios and offices (LoopNet). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Gray Media Group to leave downtown
Before the end of 2027 when its lease expires at Reserve Square, 1717 E. 12th St., Gray Media Group’s Cleveland offices and studios will leave downtown for a new spot in suburban Independence. That’s according to four sources — three of whom spoke to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity.
Atlanta-based Gray Media owns and operates three television stations in Cleveland — WOIO (CBS affiliate), WUAB (CW) and WTCL-LD (Telemundo). Their television studios and offices, along with about 150 employees, will occupy a vacated portion of the large Independence Technology Center, 6801 Brecksville Rd.
The move was confirmed by K&D Group CEO and co-founder Doug Price III. Willoughby-based K&D owns the five-decade-old Reserve Square which has recently suffered from high vacancies and a debt-repayment default of $78 million, sending the property into foreclosure.
K&D is one of the largest property owners downtown and is adding more. It offered space in some of its newly redeveloped properties to Gray Media. Price said that nothing could be done to keep them downtown. They would have left sooner if they could, he said.
“They made a business decision to leave downtown three years ago but they had a lease (at Reserve Square) until next year,” Price said.
Gray Media Group’s television stations, led by CBS affiliate WOIO-19, are based on the ground-floor of the southwest corner of Reserve Square, at the corner of Chester Avenue and East 12th Street. It’s departure will leave a significant leasing hole (Google).
On Wednesday, a federal judge approved the sale of the two-towered Reserve Square which has more than 1,000 apartments on the upper floors, ground-floor commercial spaces where Gray Media is located, and parking in between the 23-story towers.
Reserve Square was nearly full in 2024. But the Trump Administration’s stance on immigration resulted in a significant drop in international student attendance and housing for Cleveland State University nearby. Price said Reserve Square is now half empty.
The sprawling Independence Technology Center was also facing a difficult future. The Cleveland Clinic leased it for its Business Operations Center and other Clinic services for 14 years. But the Clinic’s finance department began working remotely after the 2020 pandemic, and continues to do so.
Clinic officials decided they no longer needed to use a two-story office addition that was constructed on the back, or eastern part of the Independence Technology Center in 2012, the sources explained.
The Clinic leases the 307,703-square-foot complex from Cleveland-based Cumberland Development LLC. Cumberland expanded the 1958-built former Republic Steel research center with the office addition, measuring 137,000 square feet.
The front of the Independence Technology Center shows the original façade of the former Republic Steel research center. The signage for the Cleveland Clinic Business Operations Center shows its post-2012 use. But this photo was taken in 2020 when the pandemic sent office employees home to work. The Clinic’s Finance Department stayed there ever since, so the Clinic no longer needs as much space (Google).
That addition will reportedly be sold to Gray Media Group in exchange for 3.2-acre property at 5810 Rockside Woods Blvd., between Embassy Suites and Topgolf Cleveland, the sources said.
Gray Media bought the Rockside Woods property in 2022 for $2.8 million so it could build a 40,000-square-foot, $12 million building for its television stations. It also sought to construct communications and other infrastructure that triggered costly, site-specific regulations that apparently doomed the project.
At the Independence Technology Center, Gray Media group will have access to existing fiber optic infrastructure from Cleveland-based Everstream’s broadband network, redundant power sources, backup generators, advanced cooling systems, and scalable network connectivity options to ensure continuous and reliable operations.
Cumberland Development CEO Dick Pace told NEOtrans he had no comment on the Gray Media deal. Chris Conroy, who started in December as vice president and general manager of Gray Media in Cleveland, did not reply to an e-mail sent prior to publication of this article.
Additionally, NEOtrans emailed Downtown Cleveland Inc. President & CEO Mike Deemer and Strategic Communications Director Julia Matter, asking if there was anything that could have been done to retain Gray Media. They didn’t immediately respond.
The Independence Technology Center was built in 1958 as a Republic Steel research center and actually contained a small steel mill that was used for testing products and processes. That mill was repurposed with a café, lounge, meeting rooms and huddle spaces for small-small collaborative efforts (LoopNet).
The entire Independence Technology Center measures 307,000 square feet. The portion that Gray Media Group will occupy was added when the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority acquired the 47-acre property in 2010 at the behest of Cumberland, according to Cuyahoga County property records.
Until recently, Cumberland had a ground lease with the Port of Cleveland, the master landlord, for the port’s 2010 issuance of $46 million in taxable development lease revenue bonds for renovation and construction and subleased the land to the Cleveland Clinic through two leases. One of which was to Cleveland Clinic Finance.
Upon retirement of the bonds, the land was granted by the Port to Cumberland in July 2022. The Clinic’s subleases began Sept. 1, 2010 and expire Dec. 31, 2026. The terms of the subleases can be extended for two additional periods of five years each, county records show.
The Clinic has a continuous right of first refusal to expand the premises into any space located within the building upon the terms set forth in the sublease. Also, the Clinic has an ongoing option to purchase the property including a right of first offer and the right of first refusal.
Cleveland Clinic will continue to use the older, front portions of the Independence Technology Center for some business and technical operations, plus home care services and post-acute care providers.
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