Federal Historic Tax Credits
$6.5 Million
New Markets Tax Credits
$10 Million
Total Project Cost
$47.4 Million
Project Partner
Cleveland Institute of Art
Impact
Education Access
History
First Ford Factory Outside Detroit
Designed by Albert Kahn, the famed “architect of Detroit,” the McCullough Center was Ford’s first assembly plant outside of the Motor City. In its 1920s heyday, hundreds of Model T’s rolled off its lot every day. But after Ford closed the plant in 1932, the building foundered for decades, serving as a sales office, a warehouse, and office space. By the time Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) acquired the iconic 1915 building in 1981, it was already in need of considerable renovation, if not an outright overhaul.
Due to cost constraints, however, the Center’s full potential as a hub of artistic endeavor was left unrealized for 25-plus years. During this time, CIA’s campus was split between two buildings separated by a half mile of parking lot – a drab, deadening asphalt gulf that students dubbed “the Beach.”
Revitalization Efforts
Developing 'The Center'
More than a century after it first opened its doors, the 250,000 square foot space in downtown Cleveland is giving young artists, designers, filmmakers, photographers, and coders a unique, adaptable space to hone their crafts, while helping to revitalize an entire Cleveland neighborhood. In 2015, the revived and expanded Center opened its doors with revamped galleries, additional classrooms accommodating CIA’s variety of aesthetic disciplines, a new library, a large atrium connecting the old and new wings, and individual creative studios for each student.
The new Center projects student art on large screens outside the complex, allowing the neighborhood to enjoy some of the innovative and dramatic creations by CIA students. It also boasts the Peter B. Lewis Theater, a state of-the-art 4K cinema complex to house CIA’s long-running and nationally recognized Cinematheque theater, which shows beloved classics, arthouse favorites, and new programming to students and members of the public alike.
Impact
Financing & Community Impact
NTCIC provided a New Markets Tax Credit allocation of $10 million and an equity investment in the $6.5 million of federal Historic Tax Credits generated by the project. Today, the Center is once again a locus of creativity, production, and economic vitality in Cleveland. More than just revive CIA, the refurbished Center has been a catalyst for the burgeoning neighborhood, now being called “Uptown.” Since the renovation broke ground, Uptown has added shops, a grocery
store, new restaurants, and additional housing, and has been nominated for national urban excellence awards. The revitalized space has allowed the school to strengthen its admissions and nearly double the number of students it can support. It also serves as an anchor in the revitalization of the Euclid-Mayfield neighborhood, which links University Circle and Little Italy, into a vibrant arts focused district.
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