This article was published as part of a content sharing partnership with NEO-trans.blog.
NEOtrans has secured a copy of a rendering showing the proposed multipurpose domed stadium sought by the owner of the Cleveland Browns in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. NEOtrans has confirmed from two of its best stadium sources that the rendering is real. The sources were upset at whoever leaked the rendering.
NEOtrans sent an e-mail with the rendering as an attachment, asking for confirmation of its authenticity, to Peter John-Baptiste, chief communications officer of the Browns and the Haslam Sports Group. Someone has opened the e-mail but has not yet responded to it; this article will be updated if and when he does.
The rendering has a northward-looking view with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport visible at left and Downtown Cleveland seen in the distance. The stadium has an angular roof with clear views to the sky above, similar to Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium — home of the National Football League Minnesota Vikings. NEOtrans has previously reported that the Browns were very impressed by Minneapolis’ stadium.
There are additional venues on the site, both public and private including large, open-air plazas, pavilions and several 10- to 14-story residential and/or hotel structures at the southwest portion of the site, near the Red Line rail transit to downtown.
Although ground-floor uses in the proposed buildings are not identified in the rendering, they appear to be very similar to retail/restaurant spaces in other residential buildings of comparable design in the Greater Cleveland area. There are also some rooftop amenity spaces on low-rise extensions of those buildings.
Large surface parking lots with extensive tree coverage are visible at the southeast section of the site closest to Snow Road and Interstate 71. There is an interchange between Snow and I-71 that will likely figure prominently in the development of the stadium if that’s what owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam decide to go with.
The Haslams are weighing two stadium sites. One is a roughly $1.2 billion renovation of the 1999-built Cleveland Browns Stadium on Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront. The other is an approximately $2.5 billion new-construction domed stadium in Brook Park.
For either stadium option, the Browns are asking for public-sector financing to pay about half of the cost of the stadium. Such financing could use tax revenue streams generated by the stadium — income taxes from stadium workers, staff and players, property taxes from new structures but not from the improved land, admissions taxes, bed taxes and other revenues.
State funding is also being sought. Last week, representatives of the Browns invited state lawmakers to view a presentation and ask questions about the proposed new Brook Park stadium and Downtown stadium renovation options. The meeting was held on April 22 in Columbus.
John-Baptiste declined to address stadium funding amounts, cost-sharing scenarios or refute the cost numbers reported in this article. When asked when the public can see the renderings for both stadium options, John-Baptiste answered simply, “Soon.”
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