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Good evening, everyone:

Just as we begin to interrogate with deeper intentionality how we might contribute to the revitalization of McNichols Avenue and the broader community of Live6, this extraordinary article about the Cleveland Foundation’s Midtown Collaboration Center appeared. It’s a powerful reminder of the vision, implementation sophistication, and equity-focused orientation that Lillian Kuri and her staff at the foundation have brought not only to relocating their headquarters in Midtown Cleveland, but also to contributing to the broader economic diversification and revitalization in the Hough neighborhood.

Written for Ideastream Public Media by Steven Litt, (May 12, 2025) the article is entitled: “The Cleveland Foundation designed its Midtown Collaboration Center for repair and hope.”

Here are some of the major themes.

First, a reminder of the exquisitely designed, operationally sophisticated, and community friendly 80,000 square foot headquarters building that the foundation moved into two years ago.

Second, the foundation coupled its headquarters relocation (from Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland) with a bold plan to create a $400 million micro innovation district between Cleveland State University to the south on Euclid Avenue and the Cleveland Clinic to the north.

It has purchased some 31 parcels in the neighborhood for open space, potential housing, commercial activity, and small business incubator space.

Third, the subject of Litt’s article is the latter: the Midtown Collaboration Center, directly across the street from the headquarters.

Tenants have moved in, and the official opening is scheduled for tomorrow, May 16th:

Litt terms the Center as “a 21st century factory for ideas,” reminiscent of the factories that so defined Cleveland’s history. “To paraphrase the 20th century architect Le Corbusier,” he notes,  “the Collaboration Center is a machine for thinking, gathering and interacting.”

He poses the question facing the foundation as follows:

Can the foundation fight poverty, improve public health and nurture new businesses by embedding academic researchers, lenders and artists in a long-challenged neighborhood? Will the Collaboration Center’s design spark new approaches to the city’s challenges?

The foundation is betting on yes . . . with its three-story, 100,000 square-foot think-tank, creative studio and community crossroads.

Inside the $32 million structure are satellite programs and offices of 15 tenant and subtenant organizations, including the software developer Hyland, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Case Western Reserve University, Jumpstart, Inc., Assembly for the Arts, and the Economic & Community Development Institute, a business micro-lender known as ECDI.

Fourth, the investments illustrate the foundation’s belief that a community foundation can become an active player – indeed a catalyst – in helping cities reposition themselves for the future.

Although Lillian – an architect and the head of the Cleveland Planning Commission – reflects a sensibility of the importance of architecture and planning in that pursuit, (she said to Litt: “I am an architect. It’s the lens through which I see the world.’’), she is also pioneering a suite of bold strategies to deploy the foundation’s assets in support of wealth-building and human development strategies.

A magical illustration is the foundation’s decision to invest in Pearl’s Kitchen and the Black Frog Brewery, the city’s first Black-owned jazz club and brewery, which sits on the ground floor of the Collaboration Center:

Lillian notes: “One of the things residents really wanted was to not have to leave the neighborhood to have a place where they felt welcome. There is nowhere else in Midtown right now to grab a beer.’’

Fifth, and in a related vein, the Center is a resource for the community.

It has a large common space . . . undeveloped spaces for professional and community uses . . . and a brain-popping $13 million “Interactive Media Lab,” a virtual reality studio built and programmed by the Cleveland Institute of Arts for free programs to cultural and educational partners

I can’t imagine a more admirably audacious vision for the future of a foundation – and of the neighborhood of which it is a part. It should inspire us in every dimension as we think about our future. Deepest thanks to Lillian and all her colleagues at the foundation.

Rip

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