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The Erieview Tower.

The Erieview Tower (also known as the Tower at Erieview, 100 Erieview, or the Erieview Plaza Tower) is a skyscraper located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building has 40 stories, rises to a height of 529 ft (161 m), and has 703,000 square feet (65,300 m²) of office space. It was built at a cost of $24,100,000.

The original Erieview urban renewal plan

The tower was the first and most significant structure of the Erieview urban renewal plan initiated by Mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze in late 1960. The project was originally conceived as a 163 acre (66 hectare) urban renewal area spanning from East 6th to East 17th Streets between Chester Avenue and Lake Erie. Architect I. M. Pei authored a master plan with extensive parks and greens subdivided by lengthy low-rise structures and a few stark high-rise buildings. The 40-story tower was to be the hub of the Pei plan.

Developers John Galbreath and Peter Ruffin broke ground on Harrison and Abramovitz's modernist skyscraper in early 1963. Construction went swiftly on the dark-green-and-black wall structure and a massive tree-lined plaza with combined fountain/reflecting pool/ice rink, linking it to East 9th Street. While Erieview was under construction, a high wind pushed a power bar into construction worker Lauwrence Hussey of Garfield Heights knocking him from the 37th floor to his death 500 feet below.

It also contained an underground 450 car parking garage. The tower was completed in 1964 but the rest of the Erieview plan did not fare as well. When Erieview opened, many of Cleveland's architectural experts called it a "block of tin", and New York's "hatred" of Cleveland. At the same time of Erieview Tower's construction and opening, New York City's MetLife Building was erected, both buildings were derided by their city's architectural communities. Although much of the area was cleared for redevelopment, few other buildings were constructed, and a large amount of land was relegated to surface parking. So, into the late 1970s, the area became a somewhat cold and foreboding place to be, with the East 9th Street corridor a limit to downtown's growth. In 2007, the Avenue District began construction, which will eventually become an entire neighborhood, bordering the east side of the tower. Additionally, this project will sit on the space formerly zoned for the Erieview masterplan.

This changed somewhat under the mayoral administration of George Voinovich in the early 1980s when several new structures were built flanking the tower along East 9th Street. In 1987, The Galleria at Erieview, a two-level shopping mall was built on the former Plaza by the Richard E. Jacobs Group. The structure stretches from the tower's lobby to its arched entrance at East 9th Street. From 1964 until it closed in 1995, the tower's 38th floor was home to the Top of the Town restaurant, which offered diners a unique view of Cleveland's skyline.

In 2002, Minshall-Stewart Properties acquired Erieview Tower and the Galleria.

In 2007, The Tackle the Tower race which is held yearly at the Terminal Tower was moved to Erieview Tower due to renovations at the Terminal Tower. Erieview Tower has 646-steps. On February 9, 2008, the Tackle The Tower was again held at Erieview Tower.

[edit] References

• Toman, James. Cleveland's Changing Skyline, 1984. Cleveland Landmarks Press. ISBN 0-936760-03-6.

[edit] See also

• List of tallest buildings in Cleveland

[edit] External links

• The Tower at Erieview
• ClevelandSkyscrapers.com
• Images and architectural information

Coordinates: 41°30′19″N 81°41′18″W / 41.50528°N 81.68833°W / 41.50528; -81.68833