Cleveland Med Mart a Done Deal

Michael Hart -- Tradeshow Week, 4/1/2008 11:40:00 AM

Cuyahoga County officials in Ohio and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. have reached an agreement to build a Medical Mart in Cleveland. It will have a convention center with 500,000 square feet of exhibit and meeting space and another 500,000 sq. ft. of permanent show space devoted to health care product and service suppliers.

While executives at Positively Cleveland (the city’s convention and visitors bureau) are happy about the new convention center – something they have wanted for decades – those at MMPI hope the project will turn Cleveland into a new mecca for health care show organizers and meeting planners.

“We’re trying to create a climate in Cleveland that is much more efficient and convenient to conduct business in than anywhere else,” said Mark Falanga, MMPI vice president.

Cleveland is the home of the well-known Cleveland Clinic, as well as University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University and its research facilities.

“(Cleveland) is one of the largest health care customers in the country,” Falanga said. “There is a great opportunity for manufacturers to communicate with their customers in a very efficient way.”

Although the deal to build a new convention center and medical mart has been in the works for months – the county began collecting a sales tax to pay for it last July – it wasn’t until negotiations between county officials and Merchandise Mart Properties successfully concluded March 20 that they could call it a done deal.

CVB and local government officials had lobbied for the new center to be in the downtown area; MMPI had argued for a site closer to the Cleveland Clinic five miles to the east. The locals won. While the exact site has yet to be determined, it will be in the central city.

“They’re very focused on building in downtown Cleveland, and we’re happy to accommodate,” Falanga said.
A decision on the location should come in the next couple of months. At that point, officials will can make definite plans and set a timeline for completion.

“It’s difficult to get too overjoyed until we know the where and the when of it,” said Kelly Brewer, Positively Cleveland vice president of sales, “but an agreement is in place, there are no objections, and our member partners are jumping up and down with excitement.”