Forest City’s Cleveland HQ Is Complete
Vocon designed the 110,000-square-foot downtown office that the real estate company leased last year, allowing the tenant to reduce its footprint by 40 percent.
By Roxana Baiceanu
More than one year after closing a 110,000-square-foot lease at Cleveland’s Key Center, Forest City Realty Trust Inc. is ready to move into its new headquarters. The company worked together with Vocon to turn the space into a collaborative office for approximately 500 employees. The new design alternates open spaces fostering collaboration with private areas in a way which allowed the tenant to reduce its footprint by 40 percent. The relocation is taking place one month after Forest City announced its merge with Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
The new headquarters is located at 127 Public Square and occupies seven of the tower’s 57 floors. In delivering it, Vocon has eliminated the private executive offices using an activity-based planning model to design the office. Another innovative element was planning the main reception and conference center areas as a two-level urban center space featuring a luminous ceiling where the entire company can gather up for events. In addition to the office’s new features, Forest City employees can also take advantage of the various building amenities which include concierge service, valet parking, coffee shop in the lobby, newsstand and complimentary Wi-Fi.
According to real estate data provider Yardi Matrix, the tower and adjacent Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center changed hands last year in a $227.5 million transaction. The new owner, The Millennia Cos., secured a $220 million loan from Bank of America to buy the asset from Columbia Property Trust. Originally completed in 1991, the property went through cosmetic renovations in 2015.
Images courtesy of Yardi Matrix and Vocon
