The effort to build a $500 million merchandise mart and convention center in Cleveland advanced last week as a committee recommended a specific site for the complex and revised revenue numbers to accommodate a projected $136 million cost overrun.
A 12-member site selection committee last week recommended to Cuyahoga County commissioners that the complex be built on a riverfront site called Tower City. Officials also said the project’s main revenue source, a county-wide sales tax increase, would bring in at least $490 million to support the project, as opposed to the original estimate of $400 million.
Approved by county officials last fall, the increase pushes the county sales tax to 7.75% from 7.5%. The total project is now estimated to cost at least $536 million, said officials. Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., which will build and operate the complex under the current proposal, will pay for the remaining cost overruns, according to reports.
It’s still unclear who would ultimately own the site. The complex will include a new convention center — replacing the city’s nearly century-old, underground facility — as well as an adjacent mart that will feature medical merchandise.
The project had stalled in recent months, attracting criticism in part because the county already had begun collecting the tax increase.
