Cleveland Browns have $200M plans around Berea headquarters
BEREA, Ohio (WJW) – While the Cleveland Browns continue to explore the possibility of building a new stadium in Brook Park, they are also kicking off plans to create a mixed-use development around their headquarters in Berea.
It turns out that Browns have been slowly and methodically executing a plan to expand their footprint around the training facility for years.
“I think that’s modern sports, you know? I think every team is going in that direction in all the major sports to capitalize on their brand and build development around their brand,” said Berea Mayor Cyril Kleem.
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Mayor Kleem says the Browns have purchased 50 parcels of land over the past six years in the largely residential neighborhood, and then demolished the homes and cleared the land for development.
“I don’t think anyone walked away unsatisfied, no one had to sell. Some people sold for a lot more than their properties were worth on the open market,” he said.
One of the most complicated parts of the Browns expansion project came when they purchased and demolished Mount Zion Baptist Church and then spent $1.4 million to build a new church for the congregation on Emerson Drive in Berea.
The mayor says all of the moves made by the Browns are part of a plan to build the $200 million mixed-use development around their training facility. It will include a hotel, a sports medicine facility, apartments, a dormitory for Baldwin Wallace University, restaurants and a parking garage.
“This is transformative for us if it goes through,” said Kleem.
The development would also include a new Berea recreation center and a community football field, and the city has already applied for $20 million in state grants to help pay for those projects.
“It’s going to be great for income tax, property tax generation and I think most people here would love to have a new recreation facility,” said Kleem.
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In 2019, the Browns signed an extension on their lease that will keep their headquarters in Berea through 2039, and Mayor Kleem says while other businesses have left the city, the new project shows the team’s level of commitment to their home base.
“The Browns not only stayed, but they invested and this is a great opportunity for us for redevelopment from where the Browns are all the way north as you get close to the airport,” he said.
We are told that once they get the green light, the Browns organization is hoping to start construction on the project later this year.
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