Cleveland airport hotel facing demolition

The Cleveland Planning Commission has approved demolition of a decades old Sheraton hotel located at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

The decision was made at an Oct. 4 meeting of the commission following a presentation by a staff member of the city’s Department of Port Control, which operates the airport.

In that presentation, posted to the Planning Commission website, the Department of Port Control indicates a hotel originally was built on the site in 1958 and 1959, although the current nine-story edifice was built in 1972 and has been closed since 2022 due to financial difficulties.

“While the hotel sat vacant, break-ins and damage occurred to the building,” the presentation says, adding that hotel assets (kitchen appliances, backup generators, HVAC systems, furniture, etc.) also were auctioned off by the agency.

The department says the demolition contract will specify that postdemolition, the land on which the hotel sits will be backfilled and uniformly graded.

The property’s demolition seems to be a function of nuisance abatement, as the Department of Port Control says there are no plans for the Sheraton site currently.

According to an early-October report from Cleveland.com, an ongoing master planning process for the airport determined the Sheraton was no longer needed since there are dozens of hotels within miles of the airport.

The Department of Port Control negotiated a settlement with the operators of the Sheraton though which the city of Cleveland paid them $12.15 million to terminate the long-term lease, allowing the hotel to close in 2022, according to the Cleveland.com report.