Cleveland State University unveils plan for $650M renovation of downtown campus

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Cleveland State University announced plans Thursday for a $650 million campus renovation and development that would completely transform the downtown campus.

The planned development is “designed to support the university’s academic and research missions, enhance the student experience, increase and elevate on campus housing, expand partnerships and drive economic development,” CSU said.

The plan is split in three parts: Academic Core, Student Residential Experience, and Partnership District. All three will be a combination of mixed-use areas that can connect the campus better to the rest of the city.

Academic Core:

Rhodes Tower will be renovated into new student housing, a new academic building, and a new campus quadrangle.

Student Residential Experience:

This plan would feature new housing, athletic facilities, and recreation facilities for the area North of Chester Ave, between East 18th street and I-90. “A signature element of the new residential and entertainment neighborhood is a new proposed multi-purpose arena that would replace the university’s venerable Wolstein Arena. The 5,000 to 7,000 seat arena will be home to CSU basketball, concerts and other events. It could also house learning spaces for complementary academic programs like sport and entertainment management”.

Partnership District:

This would take the current Wolstein arena and transform it into a 800,000 square foot mixed-use development.

As for a timeline, CSU said “The University stressed that there are no firm timelines for implementing its proposal. The next steps in finalizing the master plan include development of detailed budgets, designs, timelines and funding”.

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