Dan Whalen Builds on a Solid Foundation to Direct Bedrock's Downtown Endeavors

For more than six years, Dan Whalen ate, slept and breathed the project now known as Intro Cleveland.

Whalen, working for Chicago-based Harbor Bay Ventures, soaked in the lessons from the construction project, briefly the tallest timber building in the United States, while dealing with challenges — chief among them the onset of COVID-19.

He believes Intro, which opened to great fanfare in 2021, was the perfect training ground for his new job: putting together ambitious, complicated projects like that regularly as the new managing director of Bedrock.

“I think we can do that repeatedly,” he says. “We want to establish what Cleveland can be and how it thinks about itself for the next 30-50 years. That’s a big goal, but when you think about where we sit and what we have, it’s feasible.

“It was really hard to find reasons not to come here,” he said of his new job, which he started in February.

Whalen’s main priority right now is to lead the way on Bedrock’s reimagining of Downtown, specifically the Riverfront, Tower City Center and the Rock Block. It’s a massive plan, with an estimated $3.5 billion in investment. It will include mixed-use development, green space and recreational activities, among other projects.

“I’m leading the process, as opposed to being the day-to-day project manager,” Whalen says. “I’m keeping the ship moving. It’s a true leadership position.”

Work on the project is already taking place. The fountains at Tower City have been removed, with plans to make the spot a flexible event space. In October 2024, ground was broken for the new Cavs’ practice facility, the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center, and the goal is to have the building finished and occupied by the spring of 2027. They’re in the planning phase for a new Downtown amphitheater and recently broke ground on a new COSM immersive entertainment venue, which will anchor the Rock Block, the area that’s currently a parking lot across from Rocket Arena on Huron Road.

“Hopefully it becomes a flywheel for Downtown Cleveland,” he says of the project.

Whalen says his immediate priority has been immersing himself in the current state of the projects and properties. “You can’t understand your real estate without walking it,” he says.

Himself a Cleveland native – he played quarterback at Willoughby South High School and Case Western Reserve University – Whalen had spent time at Tower City Center. “But I’d never seen the guts of it,” he says. What he saw was fascinating and instructive.

“The most interesting thing about this building is the amount of things stacked on top of each other,” he says. “You have a city in a building.”

Whalen understands his job entails being a steward of the properties – from icons like Tower City to the riverfront, which is diversifying from its industrial past to include recreational opportunities. “You have these really great historic buildings and things that are new,” he says. “We’re activating the riverfront, which had only been active in pieces and parts in our lifetimes.

“These are incredible assets that need a little rebirth.”

Subscribe to Cleveland Magazine's print magazine to get the best of our city in your mailbox each month.

Like what you see? Get more great newsletters here.