By Faith Brown and Amariyah Mallory
NABJ JSHOP Reporters
The Midtown Collaboration Center in Cleveland aims to bring people of color and companies together in a place where they can enjoy music and have new job opportunities.
The 98,000-square-foot project opened earlier this year in the city’s Hough neighborhood and has space for the public to use, as well as businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Some of the businesses are Black-owned.
“I’ve seen the revitalization or renaissance of Cleveland that other cities don’t necessarily have,” said Chris Nierstheimer, project manager for The Cleveland Foundation, which led the effort to build and open.
Nierstheimer said the building has 10 tenants and four subtenants – including University Hospitals Diabetes Center, JumpStart Inc., which supports entrepreneurs, and Black Frog Brewery – and created 41 new jobs.
The building on East 66th Street and Euclid Avenue is to be thought of as a “third space,” not a workspace or a home, but a more fluid place where guests can work and collaborate. It has already had a steady stream of visitor traffic, Nierstheimer said.
The foundation partners and tenants have created specific programs geared toward youth. For example, Hyland Software offers coding and software programs to youth in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
Other tenants, such as Pearl’s Kitchen and the Sixty6 Jazz lounge, provide space for the community to have a meal and enjoy live music. There’s also an in-house recording studio.
“When you think about the importance of inclusive economic development, this project is one of the best symbols of what that means in our city,” Mayor Justin Bibb said in May at the building’s grand opening ceremony, according to News 5 Cleveland.
In the future, the Cleveland Foundation has plans to further develop the community by redeveloping vacant lots and buildings in the surrounding areas.
“No Clevelander left behind,” Nierstheimer said.
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