{"id":281834,"date":"2026-09-09T00:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281834\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:58:16","slug":"erieview-tower-makeover-gets-moving-again-look-inside-ohios-first-w-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281834\/","title":{"rendered":"Erieview Tower makeover gets moving again. Look inside Ohio’s first W hotel."},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 After starts and stops \u2014 and some financial gymnastics \u2014 the developers behind the long-awaited makeover of Erieview Tower are finally moving forward.<\/p>\n

The project team recently closed on financing for the $218 million overhaul, which will include Ohio\u2019s first W hotel and 215 luxury apartments. The tricky redevelopment has been on the drawing board for years. Now the hotel and housing, along with a restaurant and bar on the tower\u2019s 38th floor, are set to open in late 2027 or early 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big undertaking. But there was never a time in my mind that I didn\u2019t think we could get it done,\u201d Elias Kassouf, a principal with ErieView Development, said during an interview this week. \u201cIt was just hurdle after hurdle. We just kept at it, made it work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The developers originally aimed to start renovations last year. News 5 last toured the building in early 2025, when interior demolition was happening, and initial financing for the apartments was in place.<\/p>\n

WATCH: See the building during demolition in early 2025<\/p>\n

A transformation is under way at one of Downtown Cleveland’s tallest buildings<\/p>\n

But the project ran into delays as the team worked to wrap up the hotel side of the deal. Public records show all the funding finally coalesced in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it became apparent we needed to get one lender across the entire campus, we just restructured,\u201d said Anthony Delfre, a managing director at investment banking firm Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, which put together the financing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is the case with everything in the capital markets environment today,\u201d he added, \u201cwith interest rates that have risen and some of the uncertainties with costs associated with labor and materials, it just took a little longer \u2026 But we are really pleased that everything is full steam ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rockwell Group<\/p>\n

A new rendering shows a guest room at the W Cleveland hotel at Erieview Tower. The 210-room hotel is scheduled to open in late 2027 or early 2028.<\/p>\n

The 210-room W hotel, part of the Marriott International family of brands, will fill the 40-story tower\u2019s lower floors. The apartments upstairs will also carry the W brand, marking Marriott\u2019s expansion into branded rentals.<\/p>\n

W hotel properties in other cities include for-sale condominiums.<\/p>\n

The project in Cleveland is the first of its kind for the hospitality giant. The apartments will include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, ranging from 500 to 1,200 square feet.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rockwell Group<\/p>\n

A rendering shows the planned residential lobby for the W-branded apartments at Erieview Tower. The project will include 215 units on the 17th through 28th floors.<\/p>\n

Kassouf and Delfre said it\u2019s too early to discuss rents. But they expect pricing to be similar to what landlords are seeking at other high-profile properties, like the Artisan apartments in University Circle and the Intro complex in Ohio City, across from the West Side Market.<\/p>\n

Tenants at Erieview will have access to hotel services and amenities, including a spa and fitness center.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rockwell Group<\/p>\n

A rendering shows part of the spa at the W Cleveland hotel at Erieview Tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have in-room dining from the restaurants that are going to be in the project. We\u2019re going to have turndown service, if they want to have their room cleaned or their sheets changed or their linens changed,\u201d Kassouf said.<\/p>\n

The project will include a restaurant on the first floor and a restaurant on the 38th floor, with sweeping views of the city and Lake Erie. That lofty space was home to a popular restaurant called Top of the Town for decades.<\/p>\n

Kassouf said the new dining perch will be led by \u201ca celebrity chef.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans call for preserving about 240,000 square feet of office space on the building\u2019s upper floors. There’s a parking garage, with room for about 450 cars, underneath the complex.<\/p>\n

The hotel\u2019s meeting spaces will spill over into the Galleria next door, a glassy former shopping mall that\u2019s also earmarked for major renovations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really ready to announce what we\u2019re doing with it yet,\u201d said Kassouf, who mentioned the prospect of specialty retail, dining and other attractions. \u201cBut it\u2019s gonna be equally as exciting as the W\u2026 I think the Galleria needs to be a centerpiece that becomes the living room of Downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

Dennis Spronck\/News 5<\/p>\n

At 40 stories, Erieview Tower is one of downtown Cleveland’s tallest buildings. It opened in 1964 as the centerpiece of an urban renewal push.<\/p>\n

The development team is working closely with Marriott on plans for the Galleria.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about this project is that it\u2019s a temperature-controlled place that\u2019s about a 5-acre site,\u201d Kassouf said of the tower and the Galleria, which sit between East Ninth and East 12th streets, on the north side of St. Clair Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone can come in here in the dead of winter and never leave the property,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think walking into here, experiencing what Marriott can do, what it has the right scale \u2014 it\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rockwell Group<\/p>\n

A rendering shows the future W Cleveland hotel lobby at Erieview Tower. There will be separate elevator banks and entrance points for hotel guests, apartment tenants and office workers in the building.<\/p>\n

An investor group led by the Kassouf family bought the ailing office tower, Galleria and garage in 2018. They signed a contract with Marriott in early 2020, roughly two weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic spurred business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders.<\/p>\n

At the time, nobody expected the financing process to take six years.<\/p>\n

The deal includes federal and state tax credits for preserving the skyscraper, which opened in 1964 as the centerpiece of a major urban renewal plan. The developers also won state tax credits from a program for \u201ctransformational,\u201d mixed-use projects, along with a state grant for asbestos remediation and interior demolition.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, a group called Nuveen Green Capital provided $93.4 million in financing for the project through a tool called C-PACE, which lets property owners borrow money for green-building upgrades and pay off the debt through special assessments that get tacked on to the property\u2019s real estate tax bill.<\/p>\n

The developers also secured a $20 million loan from ErieBank; a Cuyahoga County loan; city incentives, including property-tax abatement; and a sales-tax break on building materials through the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.<\/p>\n

Local development group TurnDev is managing the Erieview project. The design team for the hotel includes Rockwell Group, the firm behind the original W hotel in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Cleveland stuck with us,\u201d Kassouf said. \u201cThe county stuck with us. The state stuck with us. It made it a little bit easier than just trying to be on our own on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, Marriott\u2019s commitment never wavered, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll be catalytic,\u201d Delfre said of bringing a W hotel and apartments to the center city. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s going to be the first live-work-play space in this particular area of Downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rockwell Group<\/p>\n

A rendering shows a planned seating area and cafe space near the W Cleveland hotel lobby at Erieview Tower.<\/p>\n

From one of the future apartment floors, it\u2019s easy to see the shifting landscape along East Ninth. On the same block, there\u2019s the Bell, an office-to-apartment conversion that opened in 2024.<\/p>\n

Across the street, there are winners and losers in the recent office-market shakeout. A handful of properties in the district are in foreclosure and receivership. The federal government wants to empty out and unload the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building at East Ninth and Lakeside Avenue.<\/p>\n

WATCH: The debate over the future of Cleveland’s federal building<\/p>\n

Federal government’s push to sell Cleveland office tower leaves disabled janitors in limbo<\/p>\n

But developers are working to reimagine some of the vacancies. A few blocks to the south, for example, the historic Rose Building complex at East Ninth and Prospect Avenue is set to become a Marriott Tribute hotel \u2014 with its own Marriott-branded apartments.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Cleveland is a national leader in remaking old office buildings.<\/p>\n

It’s one of Cleveland’s hidden strengths. Other cities would love to emulate it.<\/p>\n

Companies tied to the Kassoufs recently snapped up two troubled office properties on East Ninth. Real estate records show they paid $4 million for the 800 Superior tower and garage and $4.25 million for Ohio Savings Plaza and Park Plaza, two buildings that bookend a parking garage along Chester Avenue. A Kassouf affiliate company also owns that garage.<\/p>\n

Elias Kassouf said his family aims to renovate and maintain those buildings as offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are already living down here. Now we have to convince them to come back to work,\u201d he said, stressing that office tenants are essential to supporting retail investments and broader growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of developers that are doing a lot of hard work in Downtown,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd we just want to be part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe<\/a> or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 After starts and stops \u2014 and some financial gymnastics \u2014 the developers behind the long-awaited makeover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[117785,117786,117788,117787,117789,117790,136,138,137,117791,117792,117793,117794],"class_list":["post-281834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-brown-gibbons-lang","tag-cleveland-marriott","tag-cleveland-rooftop-restaurants","tag-cleveland-w-hotel","tag-downtown-cleveland-development","tag-elias-kassouf","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erieview-development","tag-erieview-tower","tag-james-kassouf","tag-marriott-apartments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}