Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Buys the One-time May Co. Store on Public Square

By Stan Bullard, Crain's Cleveland Business

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert may or may not be investing in the renovation of Quicken Loans Arena, but he just shelled out almost $12 million to buy the one-time May Co. store on Public Square and an attached eight-story building on Ontario Street in downtown Cleveland.

Cuyahoga County land records show a company associated with Bedrock Real Estate, Gilbert's real estate ownership and management company, paid Miami Beach, Fla.-based Euclid of Cleveland LLC $11.8 million for the eight-floor building at 158 Euclid Ave., according to a deed filed on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

A separate company also associated with Bedrock obtained ownership of the building at 2025 Ontario St., which also was owned by the same Miami real estate investor. That deed originally assigned a $2.4 million sale price to the building but was later refiled with a sale price of zero. The empty building once served as an annex for the retailer and later housed back offices of KeyCorp.

No filing was available in online Cuyahoga County records for the nine-floor parking garage at 21-23 Prospect Ave. that once served May Co.'s downtown shoppers.

The massive concrete garage on the northeast corner of Prospect and Ontario now benefits from parking demand associated with Gilbert's Jack Cleveland Casino. The casino is in the Higbee Building on the opposite side of Ontario. The garage constructed to serve the casino is on the other side of Prospect.

Sources who told Crain's Cleveland Business last month that Gilbert was in pursuit of the May Co. complex said the quest included the garage and that the casino operation sought more parking.

However, the quizzical names Bedrock used to buy the structures indicates the garage might have been in the mix but not closed yet, or the property fell out of the transaction for an unknown reason.

Haddas Windowpane LLC bought the May buiding, and Haddas Neighbor LLC bought the Ontario building, according to the deeds, which forward future property tax bills to Bedrock's headquarters at 630 Woodward Ave. in Detroit.

Both were formed July 26 through the Ohio Secretary of State's incorporations office by United Agent Corp., a company that files corporate records with government authorities. A third Haddas company, Cleveland Haddas LLC, was formed Aug. 1 in the state of Ohio by United. The three LLCs with the Haddas in the names were the only uses of Haddas appearing in an online search of Ohio Secretary of State Records at noon on Friday, Sept. 1.

The May Co. deed appears to exempt from the sale the May Co. building's first two floors, which sources have said the seller planned to retain. The floor of the building includes the Taco Bell Cantina and Pura Vida restaurant space on the Euclid side of May; the Prospect side is vacant.

Bedrock spokeswoman Gabrielle Poshadlo said with respect to the government filings that "we have nothing to share at this time."

Gilbert surfaced as the reported bidder for the property in late July after Cleveland-based developers David Goldberg, John Carney and Robert Rains dropped a nearly four-year quest to buy the May Co. building and convert its upper floors to apartments and associated parking for the suites.

The May transaction reflects the stake Gilbert and his Detroit-based Rock Ventures and Bedrock have beyond the basketball team. His holdings also include The Avenue mall portion of the Tower City Complex and the skyscraper housing the Ritz-Carlton hotel and offices.

The Cavaliers announced on Monday, Aug. 28, that the team planned to drop a pact to update The Q because the city of Cleveland's commitment of $88 million in future admissions taxes to the project would be subject to a referendum by a citizen's group.

The referendum was later dropped Thursday, Aug. 31, by one of its key backers, the Greater Cleveland Congregations coalition of religious organizations, after Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish in a letter released to the media said he emphasized to the clergy the county''s continued support for mental health services and to fight opioid addiction. GCC subsequently announced it would withdraw the referendum drive.

That left the county and city's leadership and the region's sports fans waiting for the Cavs next play through the morning of Friday, Sept. 1."