Industrial Realty Group will reopen, redevelop Cleveland’s I-X Center

A national real estate developer plans to revive the I-X Center, bringing consumer shows back to the shuttered Cleveland venue while marketing much of the complex as industrial space.

Industrial Realty Group LLC has acquired the stock of I-X Center Corp., the privately held company that controls the 2.2-million-square-foot facility. Through the deal, prolific investor and developer Stuart Lichter is stepping into a long-running lease with the city of Cleveland, which owns the property, and into contracts with event producers who have been in limbo for a year.

The transaction sets the stage for popular gatherings, including the Cleveland Auto Show, to return to the I-X Center in 2022. Lichter also plans to pitch portions of the building to industrial tenants — and to pursue development of the surrounding land, next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

The purchase will put an end to litigation between at least three show organizers and I-X Center Corp., which announced last September that it was exiting the event business.

The coronavirus pandemic and state public-health orders sidelined the I-X Center, one of the nation’s largest privately run convention facilities. A temporary shutdown that started in March 2020 dragged on for months, creating an untenable situation for I-X Center Corp.

The closure spurred a cascade of lawsuits as event producers pushed the company to reopen the building and honor contracts that run through August 2024. Meanwhile, real estate brokers and site selectors salivated over the property, a World War II-era bomber plant with thick floors, soaring ceilings and wide-set columns.

Industrial Realty Group, a California-based developer known for tackling challenging properties, will play to both audiences.

“I think it’s really important to bring the shows back. I think they’re huge economic generators for the area,” said Lichter, IRG’s president and founder, during a phone call.

At the same time, he said, “we have a lot of extra land that was never developed that we hope to do something with. And we also hope to convert the parts of it that will no longer be used for the shows into job-creating industry and aviation-related uses.”

He would not divulge the cost of the deal, which closed late Tuesday, Aug. 31. An affiliate of Industrial Realty Group bought I-X Center Corp.’s stock from Park Corp., the family-owned business conglomerate that has controlled the building for decades.

“We have made agreements with the main shows to keep them there for a number of years, and to continue operating the facility,” Lichter said. “We also have an agreement with the sellers of the stock to do that. This was very dear to their heart, and it’s fully one of the reasons we’re doing the deal.”

The organizers of the auto show, the Great Big Home and Garden Show, the Cleveland Home and Remodeling Expo and the Ohio RV Supershow are preparing to return. Additional events owned by I-X Center Corp., including the I-X Christmas Connection and the Piston Powered Auto-Rama, also will be revived.

Even the largest shows don’t fill the massive space, though.

Lichter expects to shift events into a smaller footprint, between 400,000 and 500,000 square feet, he said, to make room for more lucrative commercial leases.

GOJO Industries, the Akron-based maker of Purell hand sanitizer and other products, already is using the warehouse-like south hall for storage. The company’s lease on that space extends until autumn 2022.