Tower at Erieview apartments will carry the W brand, in Marriott’s first foray into

The 227 apartments planned at the Tower at Erieview will bear the W name — the first rentals to fly that high-end hospitality flag.

The lower floors of the 40-story downtown Cleveland office tower already are slated to become a W hotel, under a deal announced last fall by Marriott International Inc. and members of the Kassouf family, the building’s owners.

Now that lofty repositioning will extend to the living spaces upstairs, where tenants will have access to in-room dining, cleaning, laundry services and other amenities. Representatives for Marriott and the Kassoufs confirmed this week that the parties have inked a licensing deal, marking the hospitality giant’s entrée into the apartment market.

“W Apartments Cleveland is the first branded residential rental for the brand and within Marriott’s portfolio of branded residences,” a Marriott spokeswoman wrote in an email.

The existing W Residences are for-sale products — luxury condos and vacation properties with fractional ownership structures. Across its stable of brands, Marriott had close to 190 such projects open or under development globally, as of early this year.

“Marriott’s branded residential business soared in 2021 as evolving lifestyle changes have sparked growing interest in on-demand amenities and services from brands people admire and trust,” the company wrote in a January update on market trends and development activity.

At the Tower at Erieview, Marriott will provide design guidance for the apartments and training for a third-party leasing and management organization hired by the Kassoufs.

“In terms of urban real estate, Cleveland does not have anything that compares to the thoughtful design and inspiring energy of the W Apartments,” said James Kassouf, the head of the family ownership group, in a written statement. “Our vision of leisure living and lifestyle in the Erieview Tower has gone to a new level with this agreement.”

The tower certainly won’t be the first downtown redevelopment project to mix housing and a hotel. On East Ninth Street, apartments perch above both the Metropolitan at the 9 and the Schofield Hotel. But the W is a luxury brand, a notch up on the hospitality food chain.

The 210-room hotel will be the first W in Ohio and will include a full-service spa, a gym and a 15,000-square-foot ballroom and event center.

“This project will serve as a signature component of the Erieview tower, offering both guests and tenants an iconic luxury experience,” said Dana Jacobsohn, chief development officer for U.S. luxury brands and global mixed-use projects at Marriott, in a written statement.

Anthony Delfre, an investment banker assembling financing for the $93.4 million tower overhaul, would not provide specific rental rates for the apartments. He said that pricing will be comparable to what tenants are paying at other high-rise downtown projects, such as the Lumen at Playhouse Square and the Beacon at Euclid Avenue and East Sixth Street.

Marriott and the Kassoufs believe the W branding will command a premium over time, but “we don’t intend to do anything that would be out of the market,” said Delfre, a principal and managing director with Brown Gibbons Lang & Co.

Construction on the apartments is scheduled to start early this year. The first units could open in early 2023.

The reimagined tower also will include a restaurant, in the onetime Top of the Town space on the 38th floor; additional parking, in the basement; and 300,000 square feet of offices, including a co-working facility managed by an unidentified national operator.

The Kassoufs, like many property owners across the state, are awaiting news about the inaugural round of tax credits from Ohio’s Transformational Mixed-Use Development Program.

In October, the Ohio Department of Development received applications for more than $417 million in awards — in a contest where there’s $100 million up for grabs this year.

The state has not set a timetable for an announcement. The awards must be reviewed by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, a five-member body that meets on the last Monday of each month.

The Tower at Erieview team is seeking almost $9.4 million in tax credits.

A copy of the application, obtained through a public records request, shows that the redevelopment of the tower is expected to wrap up in March 2024.

Renovations at the glassy Galleria, a two-story retail building that is largely empty, could start in 2023. The Kassoufs envision turning the onetime mall into a “lifestyle center,” with an emphasis on retail, food and entertainment, according to the tax-credit application.

The entire two-phase project could be a $136 million investment, the document says.

The Kassoufs bought the complex, which also includes a 420-plus-space garage, in 2018.

The 1960s office tower, at East 12th Street and St. Clair Avenue, gained a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.