CLEVELAND — As Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and his administration continue to focus on the city's waterfronts, it has retained a consulting firm to analyze the economic impact of Burke Lakefront Airport.
That study will also include the looking at the potential impact of closing the 76-year-old downtown airport and redeveloping its 445 acres.
In an email to 3News, Cleveland Chief Integrated Development Officer Jeff Epstein confirmed that the city retained EConsult Solutions Inc., a firm based in Philadelphia, for the task. Epstein adds that EConsult Solutions is partnering with a pair of firms that have "substantial experience" in Cleveland: The Riddle Company and Robert P. Madison International.
The study is expected to take four to six months to complete.
"This analysis is focused on quantifying the current economic impact of Burke, as well as the future economic impact potential which could be generated from the property should the City choose to close the airport. This is not an analysis which the City has undertaken before, to our knowledge," Epstein told 3News.
During his campaign to become mayor in 2021, Bibb told 3News that he was in favor of closing the airport. Since taking office, he has taken a careful approach to Burke's future. “By conducting a thorough economic impact analysis we can make data-informed, thoughtful decisions to ensure best use of our lakefront property,” Bibb said last year when the city first announced it was looking for a consultant.
Epstein adds that the study is "part of the City’s broader strategy to maximize one of our greatest assets – our waterfronts. We are investing in projects to advance access to our lakefront from downtown to Collinwood, and to improve access to the Cuyahoga River as well. The potential closure of Burke would be a longer term strategic move to open up more of our lakefront to public access and use."
The announcement about the Burke Lakefront Airport study comes amid some other recent developments regarding the city's lakefront.
This week, the Ohio House passed its budget for 2024-25, which includes allocating $62 million for the Cleveland Municipal Land Bridge project. The budget is now being reviewed by the Ohio Senate.
The proposal, organized by Haslam Sports Group and first revealed in May 2021, calls for a park-like land bridge over state Route 2 and the railroad tracks. The hope is to link the lakefront area around Cleveland Browns Stadium, Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of downtown, specifically to the mall atop the Huntington Convention Center.
Besides the land bridge connector, the renderings also reveal development all along the water, with buildings, plazas, terraces, a playground and more.
The future of Cleveland Browns Stadium has also been addressed by both Bibb as well as Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam in recent weeks.
"Cleveland would benefit tremendously from the development of the waterfront," Jimmy Haslam told reporters at last month's NFL Owners Meetings. "Having the stadium down there seems to be in everybody's best interest. So we're committed to redoing the stadium. In all likelihood, it's not going to have a dome, but it'll be a substantial remodel of the existing facility and we're probably 3, 4, 5 years away from that happening."
In his State of the City address last week, Bibb was asked if he supported a renovation of the existing stadium or the construction of a new stadium. He was also asked if the city planned to contribute any money toward a stadium project.
"My vision right now is making sure we finally see real inclusive development on the lakefront. While we begin early conversations with the Haslams about the stadium, we want to be creative with how we address this issue because I'm no longer going to risk general revenue fund dollars for maintenance of a privately-owned football franchise," Bibb stated.
"We've got to be creative. We've got to think differently about financing. And we have to think differently about how this fits into a larger piece of making us have one of the best lakefronts in the world. That's my vision to get done as mayor."