OPPORTUNITY

In 2014, American Greetings began transitioning their headquarters to a newly built location in another suburb, vacating the 1.8 million square foot industrial and office space at their Brooklyn (Cleveland), Ohio campus. The relocation of American Greetings had a significant impact on the city’s income tax revenue, which is inevitable when a Fortune 1,000 company relocates 2,000 employees. During the transition, IRG convinced American Greetings to lease back the remaining space in the project with a scaled reduction in the leased premises over the 10 year lease term during their transition.

OUTCOME

IRG was able to invest more than $35 Million into the property, retrofitting space to accommodate new tenants. Since 2015, five industrial tenants and two sizable office users have signed leases. Most recently, Medical Mutual of Ohio signed a 16-year, 345,000-square-foot office lease, in the entire multi-floor office building located at the main entrance. Approximately 750 of their employees now work on site. The campus is also home to Inogen, an office tenant that employs over 400 people and industrial tenants HKM, Health-Mor Industries, RhinoSystems, National Safety Apparel, and Taylor Exhibitions. The campus has exceeded the former number of employees on site. Positive lease activity has allowed IRG the opportunity to receive substantial cash flow from inception and upgrade portions of the property for further leasing and build to suite opportunities.