JACK Entertainment proposes to build an enclosed overhead walkway across Ontario Street that would connect the downtown JACK Casino in the old Higbee Building with the May Co. garage. This rendering shows the new walkway spanning Ontario just north of an existing walkway, in the foreground, that connects with the casino’s parking deck.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – JACK Entertainment proposes to build an enclosed overhead walkway across Ontario Street that would connect the downtown JACK Casino in the old Higbee Building with the May Co. garage.
JACK’s representatives are scheduled to make their first pitch for the walkway Thursday before the Downtown|Flats Design Review Advisory Committee, an arm of the Cleveland Planning Commission. The company submitted initial plans for the walkway to the city last week.
If the committee approves this schematic review, the full Planning Commission could take up the issue as soon as Friday. A final plan for the project also would be reviewed by the advisory committee and need Planning Commission approval. That could happen within a month.
In addition to Planning Commission approval, JACK Entertainment would need City Council to sign off on the encroachment over Ontario Street.
If approved, the walkway would be the second to span Ontario and link the casino to its parking facilities. A walkway connecting the casino with its parking deck south of Prospect Avenue opened in 2014 at a cost of more than $5 million.
Jack Entertainment expects construction of the walkway would take 14 months, but it first must get approval from the city of Cleveland.
The new walkway would provide access to the casino from the May Co. parking deck for guests, but also make rental property in upper floors of the Higbee Building more attractive by linking it with adjacent parking, Mark Dunkeson, JACK Entertainment’s CEO, said in a statement.
“Together, JACK Entertainment and the Rock Family of Companies have never been more committed to downtown Cleveland as evidenced by our key civic initiatives which include the re-purposing of the Avenue Shops at Tower City, the renovation of Ritz Carlton Hotel, the transformation of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and the complete renovation of the May Co. Building and the May Co. Garage,” Dunkeson said.
Jack Entertainment, part of Dan Gilbert’s family of companies, bought the May Co. and, through a sister company, the adjacent May Co. Building in 2017.
Renovations on the garage included replacement and painting of deteriorated concrete surfaces, renovation of stairwells, upgraded elevators, improved lighting, and renovation of the building’s street level retail spaces.
Bedrock, the sister company, is converting the former department store building into a mixed-use development with retail, residential units and other amenities.
Source: https://bit.ly/2pDgVij
