Nela Park in East Cleveland sold for $5 million, records show

What is a pioneering industrial park worth?

In East Cleveland, $5 million.

Public records show that’s what Phoenix Investors paid for Nela Park, the 92-acre property best known as the home of GE Lighting. The sale closed May 4, but details of the transaction were not available through the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office until this week.

That pricing is just part of the financial picture. It reflects a sale-leaseback deal, in which GE Lighting, which is part of home-automation business Savant Systems Inc., will stay put. The company is reducing its footprint and relocating within the sprawling campus, which spans 26 buildings.

Phoenix, based in Milwaukee, plans to renovate the buildings and pursue new tenants. A Phoenix executive confirmed by email early this month that the sale had closed but did not respond to an interview request.

“We are incredibly excited about its redevelopment potential and are thrilled to add Nela Park to our growing portfolio,” Anthony Crivello, an executive vice president, wrote at the time.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Nela Park is a critical anchor for East Cleveland, one of Ohio’s poorest cities. The property sits between Noble Road and Belvoir Boulevard, near the Cleveland Heights and Cleveland borders.

The Colliers real estate brokerage quietly marketed the park to prospective buyers, with no published asking price. The county sets the market value of the real estate at roughly $8 million, based on data for the 2021 tax year.