The Centennial's Foreclosure Case Has Been Put On Hold

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A foreclosure case involving Downtown Cleveland’s second-largest building by floor area could conclude by the end of the year if there are no more hiccups until then. That possibility resulted from a U.S. District Court judge granting the current owner time to close on financing to rejuvenate the building, recently called The Centennial, 925 Euclid Ave.

Word of a potential resolution to a foreclosure case pending before Judge Charles Fleming came Friday when the building’s owner HH Cleveland Huntington and its principal Frank Sinito, their primary lender Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch, and the property’s court-appointed receiver John Lane all jointly filed a motion with the court to adjourn, or put on hold auctioning off the property until at least Dec. 17.

Fleming, in an expedited action, agreed to the adjournment from the sale process of The Centennial, formerly the Union Trust Bank Building and the Huntington Building. The property was heading toward a court-monitored auction rescheduled for next week, hosted by the Gordon Brothers of Boston.

This follows multiple other delays, including one last week, in the foreclosure case which is in response to HH Cleveland Huntington, an affiliate of Cleveland-based Millennia Companies, defaulting on loans and unpaid Cuyahoga County taxes for the property totaling $40.1 million, court records show..

The Dec. 17 date is when HH Cleveland Huntington and its financial and development partners including Hyperscape Digital of Sheridan, WY, anticipate closing on financing for a previously publicized, conceptual redevelopment plan.

Deutsche Bank and the property’s receiver, John Lane, CEO and managing partner of Mentor-based Inglewood Associates LLC, were provided documentation of the redevelopment plan, its financing and HH Cleveland Huntington’s nonrefundable deposit of $200,000 filed with the receiver.

That redevelopment plan would offer 200+ residential units, about 420,000 square feet of office space, retail space, advanced technology space, a luxury hotel, high-end restaurant and a restored bank hall that would also serve as convention and event space.

Hyperscape Digital would be the advanced technology tenant. On its Web site, Hyperscape Digital describes itself as a developer, owner and operator of AI infrastructure including a future vertical AI campus in Ohio called “The Opal.”

Kevin Carr, co-founder, capital at Hyperscape Digital, submitted an affidavit to the court stating, among other things, that he said he is responsible for managing their 3.0+ gigawatt pipeline of high-density AI compute campuses — data centers.

“Hyperscape Digital has been working with HH Cleveland Huntingon LP to develop a tech campus in Cleveland, Ohio which would include, among other things, a mixed-use component, a luxury hotel and apartments, and a high-end restaurant,” Carr wrote in the affidavit.

“I believe HH Cleveland (Huntington) will be able to get the necessary financing to close on this project on or before Dec. 17, 2026,” he added.

While he did not identify the financiers by name, he described them in the affidavit as having the liquid capital to provide the necessary financing to resolve the foreclosure case that’s been pending before U.S. District Court since January, and at lower courts before that.

“One of the potential lenders is a long-standing Silicon Valley (California) family that has existed for over 40 years that has assets in excess of $3.5 billion and liquidity in excess of $700 million,” Carr said.

“The other potential lender is a private investor with a family office extension in Orange County, California that has existed for over 20 years that has assets in excess of $4 billion and liquidity in excess of $350 million,” he added.

In his affidavit filed with the court, Carr confirmed that the project involves converting a portion of the 1.45-million-square-foot, 102-year-old 925 Euclid building into a data center. And he claimed it would produce its own electric power to sustain itself, easing the burden on the electric utility Cleveland Public Power which has provided the project partners with a “will-serve” letter.

“Importantly, the will-serve letter with Cleveland Public Power confirms that the power developed in connection with the receivership property will result in excess capacity that can be used for Cleveland Public Power’s other customers,” Carr stated. He added the tech campus project “would result in thousands of jobs for Northeast Ohio.”

“Stated another way, unlike the concerns that are expressed nationally with data centers, the project associated with the receivership property will not only be self-sustaining but will actually improve Cleveland Public Power’s overall capacity to serve its other customers,” he argued.

In their joint filing with the court, Deutsche Bank and Lane said the defendants, HH Cleveland Huntington and Sinito, have presented them and other stakeholders, namely Cuyahoga County, with an approach intended to result in a consensual resolution of the foreclosure.

“Notably, the proposed resolution would result in the property remaining vested in defendant HH Cleveland (Huntington, or HHCH), and any other claims against HHCH would not be expunged because the proposed resolution is not a sale, but a settlement designed to maximize value and opportunity for all stakeholders,” reads the joint motion filed in court yesterday.

“Based on the information and data points the receiver has developed through the court-approved sale process, the receiver believes the proposed resolution is likely to result in a higher and better result for the property and its stakeholders than the market has, thus far, developed in the current sale process,” the motion added.

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