Downtown Now: The Thrill of Cleveland

Welcome to Downtown Now!, a new section of Community Leader, in partnership with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance that celebrates all things downtown. With more than 15,000 residents living in Downtown Cleveland, our city is on a roll. We’re going to be telling stories of how people live, work and play in a part of Cleveland that is springing with new life and opening up with unlimited possibilities.  

Joe Marinucci, CEO and president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, makes a goal of Downtown Cleveland clear: “Our goal is to have 20,000 residents living in the Downtown Cleveland neighborhood by the end of 2020.”  

The trend, along with 17 residential projects to accommodate more than 5,000 more residents by 2020, is also bolstered by jobs.

“People can live and play downtown but what really fuels growth is employment and the concentration of jobs,” says Marinucci. “There is no more important commitment a company can make to a city than to locate its corporate headquarters downtown.”

And the sports, entertainment, theater, dining, nightlife, arts and everything else available downtown converge to make it a great place to play.

The section is edited by Lakewood native George Hahn, who returned to Cleveland after living in New York City for 22 years and recently moved to the Warehouse District. 

“This is not the Cleveland I grew up in. Sure, people like my father worked downtown, but the idea of living here wasn’t something people did,” he says. “Downtown Cleveland, through the lenses of where I’ve been living and working for the past two-and-a-half decades, is thrilling to me.” 

We hope you enjoy our new section, and we encourage you to share the stories of those who choose to live, work and play in Downtown Cleveland.