Cleveland State to Turn Parking Garage Into Downtown Arts Destination
“When they saw what I was suggesting, they were like, ‘Yeah, I can see it. This is gonna work. This is gonna be fantastic,’” said Kersten, who worked with DVA Architecture on the planning. “And then as we just began to discuss this with our partners, they got very excited.
Story by: Joe Scalzo
This article was originally published by Crain's Cleveland Business on June 02, 2025 05:51 AM. All rights are owned by the original publisher. Read the original article here.
Call it a reverse Joni Mitchell: Cleveland State University plans to turn a 4,000-square-foot parking garage in the historic Middough Building into an artistic paradise.
The Galleries at East 13th Street will become a permanent home for student exhibitions, faculty shows and community-based art after years of rotating through borrowed spaces.
The project dovetails with broader efforts by Playhouse Square, the city and county officials to transform East 13th Street, along with Euclid Avenue and Chester Avenue, into a vibrant part of Cleveland’s downtown arts district.
“Thirteenth Street is a street in downtown Cleveland that could probably best be described as something we pass through on the way to somewhere else,” said Andrew Kersten, dean of CSU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
"As we lengthen and develop the footprint of the arts campus downtown, we want people to know they can stop here and take a look at the People’s Art Show, or take a look at the great work that CSU art students are doing, or take a look at an exhibit that one of our faculty members brought in, or see a show that’s dedicated just to young artists and creatives in the Cleveland region," he said.
CSU lost its former gallery space on Euclid Avenue three years ago when Playhouse Square declined to renew the lease. Since then, student work has found temporary homes in local venues like Bonfoey, Bostwick, and Yards Gallery, but Kersten remained focused on securing a permanent home.
“CSU needs to have its art gallery," he said, "and we need to be part of the growth and development of the arts district downtown.”
After doing an internal assessment of downtown spaces — either to rent or to build — CSU’s leadership kept coming back to the Middough Building (now called the CSU Arts Campus), which it bought in 2023 after serving as a tenant for 13 years.
The space had the right ingredients for a gallery — a ground floor location with large windows — and the basic requirements for HVAC, water and power, along with easy loading access.
“The space is right now sort of a concrete box; it's perfect for whatever you're going to design,” Kersten said. “If you look at that space, it kind of looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright building with the fluted columns. This space can have some movable walls and that's where you begin to replicate what we had in the other galleries. We had some movable walls that were very tall that you can hang art and it was modular so you can also fit in different kinds of three-dimensional work, two-dimensional work and then you know the liquid or know film video work that you can also present in those spaces.
“You can adapt and fit just about everything you need in there.” As for the exterior? Right now, it’s marked only by a small CSU sign. “What we need is a giant sign that says, ‘ART HERE,’” Kersten said.
Although it has been a tumultuous 12 months for the university, CSU's leadership is prioritizing the project. It helps that the 13th Street project's costs won't be covered by CSU's structural or operating budget. Plus, CSU President Laura Bloomberg and Provost Nigamanth Sridhar already were on board with creating a permanent campus gallery.
“When they saw what I was suggesting, they were like, ‘Yeah, I can see it. This is gonna work. This is gonna be fantastic,’” said Kersten, who worked with DVA Architecture (formerly Van Auken Akins Architects) on the planning. “And then as we just began to discuss this with our partners, they got very excited.
“We want to create something that will really stand the test of time." CSU’s neighbors agree.
In a promotional brochure, Playhouse Square CEO Craig Hassall said his organization is “thrilled” about the investment. Ideastream Public Media’s Mark A. Rosenberger highlighted the promise of “a hip, accessible space that blends arts, culture, education, and community.” Longtime CSU supporters Joanie and Tom Adler described the gallery as essential to “activating and beautifying East 13th Street”.
The Adlers have already been announced as lead donors, and CSU is looking for more in what Kersten called the “silent phase” of fundraising for the project. The gallery’s scope is dependent on those efforts as well as construction costs, which have escalated in recent years and could rise higher due to the political climate.
That said, if CSU can raise all of its lead gifts by the end of 2025, it could complete the design-build phase in nine or 10 months, meaning it would be available for the 2026 fall semester, Kersten said.
“More likely, we're looking at the summer of 2027,” Kersten said. “But if I could say to an incoming student, ‘Come here, we have this new gallery for art students,’ that would be powerful.”
