BROOK PARK, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns and their development partner are trying to slash the on-site parking requirement for their new suburban stadium district, saying a condition imposed by Brook Park’s planning commission will cause congestion and stymie growth.
Team owner Haslam Sports Group and Lincoln Property Company want to provide 10,250 to 10,500 parking spots for major events starting in 2029, when the stadium is expected to open. That’s a 20% reduction from the city’s current mandate of 13,000 spaces.
And the project team ultimately wants permission to cut game-day parking in the district to 8,000 spaces, making room for offices, more apartments and additional retail.
Watch previous coverage: Brook Park takes next steps towards 'community authority' ownership of new Browns stadium
The planning commission will consider that request on Thursday, during a special public hearing at Brook Park’s municipal complex. The meeting will start at 6 p.m.
“Spreading parking across the area moves traffic better than sending every car to one site, and it preserves the land needed for a thriving, year-round district in Brook Park,” Peter John-Baptiste, a Haslam Sports Group spokesman, wrote in an email to News 5.
In a document submitted to the city, the project team says providing 13,000 parking spots will severely limit development near the stadium.
Parking lots would gobble up 60% of the land slated for mixed-use development on the 178-acre site. And those lots would sit empty for most of the year, since the stadium is only expected to draw peak crowds 20 to 25 days a year — for NFL games and concerts.
“As we’ve previously stated, our goal for the new Huntington Bank Field is to make game days and event days easier and more enjoyable for Browns fans and our guests than what they experience today,” John-Baptiste wrote. “Just as important, we want to minimize the impact on Brook Park residents.”
Watch previous coverage: Browns open sales center for new Brook Park stadium; PSL sales to start in mid-September
The planning commission applied the 13,000-spot condition to the project in March, when members approved a preliminary development plan for the stadium district. At that point, Haslam Sports Group and Lincoln were proposing 9,000 to 9,500 spaces on the site.
Since then, the project team has refined its vision for the mixed-use district, along with designs for roads, stormwater-management systems and other infrastructure. New renderings submitted to the city show retail buildings and steps leading to the stadium.
The first phase of the mixed-use development could include 500 apartments (down from 624 in the last version presented to the planning commission); 232,000 square feet of retail (down from 255,000 square feet); a 54,000-square-foot concert and event space; and 300 hotel rooms (down from 350). Those buildings would open in 2029.
The amount of green space in the initial phase of the plan has also been pared back.
The district eventually could grow to encompass 1,588 apartments; nearly 300,000 square feet of retail; nearly 700,000 square feet of office space; and two hotels, with a total of 452 rooms. Plans for the full build-out of the site also show several parking garages.
Earlier iterations of the stadium-district proposal called for 12,000 to 14,000 parking spaces on site. At that point, studies commissioned by Haslam Sports Group showed there would still be a need for 10,000 off-site parking spots on game days.
Watch previous coverage: Report says Browns will be short 10,000 parking spots on game days in Brook Park
Now Haslam Sports Group and Lincoln are suggesting it’s possible to meet parking demand through a mix of on-site and off-site parking, along with ride-sharing, public transit and strategies for managing the flow of traffic. City officials have talked about closing some roads on game days and using police and cameras to direct traffic on roads to the stadium.
Plans for road upgrades and public-infrastructure improvements in the area include new sidewalks and a pedestrian walkway that would stretch over Engle Road just south of Hummel Road, leading to the stadium site.
Brook Park is weighing eminent domain — using the government’s power to seize private property for a public purpose, with payment for the landowner — to gain control of a half-acre corner where the pedestrian bridge would touch down. That land belongs to the owner of a neighboring concrete plant.
Watch previous coverage: Brook Park wins $25 million federal grant for road work around future Browns stadium site
“There’s a lot of complex pieces to this,” Mayor Edward Orcutt told members of City Council during a caucus meeting last week.
He said the city and the project team have identified more than 10,000 potential off-site parking spaces within a 1-mile radius of the future stadium. Most of those parking lots are controlled by other landowners along industrial parkways and commercial corridors.
At Total Quality Testing Inc. on West 161st Street, John Balogh is open to the idea of selling parking spots to Browns fans on Sundays. The business, which works with schools to administer welding-qualification tests, has about 30 parking spaces. And Balogh knows his kids will get a kick out of running an occasional parking operation.
“They’re like, ‘Wait, we can work the Browns?’” he said. “They were so excited.”
There’s heavy truck traffic on the street, but it dies down on the weekends, Balogh said. He believes the area is ripe for change.
“We’ve got metal recycling down the next street,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of industrial buildings. The hope would be that, you know, especially with the improvements they’re talking about doing, that it would be more attractive.”
On Brookpark Road in Cleveland, the team at Primetime Delivery & Warehouse also is willing to offer game-day parking. The logistics business runs around the clock, moving and storing goods for airlines, hospitals and other customers. But there’s still lots of room to park on the 3-plus-acre property.
Lisa Lewis, the company’s president, said she’s not motivated by the opportunity to make money on parking. “We want to help the city grow. … It’s not really about a revenue standpoint,” she said. “I think it’s just exciting, what’s going on.”
Her father, Primetime CEO Dave Reichbaum, is thrilled about what’s coming.
And he’s confident that officials in Brook Park are making wise, long-term decisions – looking at the big picture, not just the stadium site.
“They want the community to have access to everything, without delays or issues,” he said. “And they’re really working on that too. … The planning commission, it sounds like they’re doing a great job.”
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
