Extending the Mall to the Lakefront Study to Commence

Sep 27, 2021

The city will spend $2.5 million in matching funds on a preliminary impact study of plan to extend the downtowm Mall to the Lake Erie waterfront, council approved at its recent meeting (9/27).
 
The project would extend a land bridge from Mall C, that sits next to City Hall, to connect with the waterfront area around FirstEnergy Stadium.
 
The project arose out of interest by the Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who approached the mayor and suggested a planning group explore ways to develop a signature lakefront for the city. The Browns hired an outside architecture firm to do a draft design of the project.
 
When Cleveland City Hall was completed in 1916 it was built on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie. Much of what now sits behind City Hall, including the rail road tracks, the Shoreway, the Rock Hall, Browns Stadium and Burke Lakefront Airport were all built on fill that changed the Lake Erie shoreline.  

The city’s funding matches the $2.5 million the Ohio Department of Transportation approved for the study. The study will consider the impact on traffic from pedestrians, automobiles, rail and mass transit. The study is expected to begin before year’s end and be completed later in 2022.   

The broad elevated park – about 350 feet wide – would run over railroad lines and the Shoreway eventually settling at an elevated level adjacent to North Coast Harbor and FirstEnergy Stadium. Ord. No. 683-2021.