Healthy Market Interest in The Centennial on Euclid Avenue in Downtown Cleveland

This article was published through an exclusive content-sharing agreement with neo-trans.blog.

For a large, vacant, old building needing significant repairs before it can even host new occupants in a soft market, there is a healthy amount of interest in buying The Centennial, 925 Euclid Ave. in Downtown Cleveland. The difficulty in redeveloping the building resulted in a lender foreclosing on the property.

A court-appointed receiver of the 1.45-million-square-foot office building said he has so far received 13 non-disclosure agreements from interested parties in a pending sale of the property. Some of the questions that remain to be answered are how serious is that interest and if the sale will ever happen.

The reason why it may not happen is the building’s current owner, Cleveland-based Millennia Companies which acquired the building through its affiliate HH Cleveland Huntington, LP, wants to retain the property according to court actions.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles E. Fleming on June 30 set the schedule for a court-monitored sale. The deadline for qualified bid is Oct. 24. Bidders will be notified Oct. 28 if an auction will be held. An auction, if necessary, will be held Nov. 3. Deadline for objections to a sale to be submitted to the court is Nov. 10.

The foreclosure and sale was prompted by Millennia’s primary lender Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch. Millennia was unable to make regular payments on a $33.4 million loan from Deutsche Bank. Cuyahoga County joined the matter as it awarded the project a $5 million loan. Millennia also has $2 million in unpaid property taxes to the county.

Millennia objected to the receiver, the proposed sale, the provision of evidence of the property’s value, and the use of a stalking horse bidder in a sale but was overruled on each, according to a June 30 memorandum opinion and order by Fleming.

Citing state law, Millennia’s representatives asked for and received from Fleming on June 30 to have 30 days to redeem its equity in the property, court records show.

“Defendants (Millennia) object that any order by the court authorizing receiver to sell the property and setting the proposed sale procedures must include language setting forth the statutory time period for parties to exercise equity of redemption pursuant to Ohio Revised Code,” Fleming’s memo noted.

In a redemption, Millennia would have to pay back the entire $40.4 million by July 30 to prevent the sale process from going forward. Requesting such a short period of time suggests Millennia may have access to such resources or will soon.

“HH Cleveland Huntington, L.P., which owns The Centennial, requested the 30-day period to exercise its equity of redemption in the property as it has provided written notice to the lender of its intention to satisfy the outstanding note, resolve the receivership, and redeem the property,” said Millennia’s Chief Investment Officer Angelica Sinito in an e-mail to NEOtrans.

She and others at Millennia gained new roles last year after company founder and CEO Frank Sinito stepped away from managing Millennia’s substantial affordable housing portfolio.

Millennia is one of the nation’s largest multifamily housing owners and managers of more than 200 properties. In 2024, it began selling most of its government-subsidized affordable housing portfolio such as properties in Memphis or faces court-ordered sales such as in Utica, NY.

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