Terri Hamilton Brown named Opportunity Corridor project director; GCP announces public-private partnership to accelerate this vital project

Thursday, April 23, 2009

April 23, 2009 - Cleveland - Terri Hamilton Brown, a longtime community leader, will serve as project director for the Opportunity Corridor project, the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) announced today.  Brown will serve as the civic liaison to Ohio Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) District 12 and oversee and coordinate all aspects of project development related to community engagement, economic development planning, securing private funding and coordinating public resources.

Joe Roman, president and CEO of the GCP, also today announced the creation of an Opportunity Corridor Steering Committee that will be chaired by GCP board members Terry Egger, Plain Dealer publisher, and Jamie Ireland, managing director of Early Stage Partners. 

Opportunity Corridor, an estimated $350 million investment, represents one of the largest public projects ever undertaken in the core city. The dual purpose transportation/economic development project extends I-490 at E.55th Street east to East 105th Street, the gateway to the Fairfax neighborhood and University Circle.   

Gov. Ted Strickland recently awarded $20 million in federal stimulus money to the project and Cleveland Mayor Frank  Jackson has pledged the city's support to maximize the project's catalytic economic potential. 

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a strong advocate for the project, said: "Investing in our regional strengths and reinvigorating our urban cores as centers of knowledge and commerce is critical to our state's success. The Opportunity Corridor project is not just a transportation project; it's an economic engine that will transform Cleveland by enhancing access to University Circle and creating jobs for Northeast Ohio."

The Opportunity Corridor project is expected to make available over 200 acres of underutilized land for future development and will provide quicker, more direct access to University Circle - an economic powerhouse where thousands of Greater Clevelanders work. 

Ireland said:  "It is no secret that our community needs jobs, and perhaps the single most established area for job creation is greater University Circle - the core of this city's world-renowned, robust and growing health care industry, and a great educational and cultural center.  When it is complete, the corridor will offer great opportunity for new residential and commercial developments alongside or close to it, along with increased access to job opportunities for nearby residents."

Egger added that while Opportunity Corridor will be less than three miles long when complete, "it will resurrect a new vitality within this community and position our region for substantial economic growth.  Everybody in Greater Cleveland is going to benefit from it," he said.  "We must come together as a community and work to accelerate this project and make it a reality as soon as possible.  It's an aptly named project; it's a great opportunity for Cleveland, and we've got to take advantage of it."

The community support for the project and the state's stimulus allocation million gives the corridor a new momentum that the private and public sectors agree cannot be allowed to slow.

Mayor Jackson said:  "Few projects are as important to our city as Opportunity Corridor. Terri Hamilton Brown's appointment together with the allocation of $20 million in federal stimulus funds gives us the impetus we needed to move this crucial economic development and transportation initiative forward."

In addition to being the former president of University Circle Inc., Brown most recently served as senior vice president for corporate diversity at National City Bank.  She has also worked as Community Development director for the City of Cleveland and was director of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, where she was widely credited for that organization's successful turnaround. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago and a master's degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brown stressed that neighborhood-based plans for the surrounding community will be the building blocks for the Opportunity Corridor project."We will be working with all facets of the community and actively engaging residents, businesses and community development groups to help us design and create the Opportunity Corridor plan," she said. "We have a unique opportunity to thoughtfully and carefully marry transportation needs with land-use strategies that together yield job-creating economic development."

The three-mile boulevard will be designed to provide improved connectivity to the Slavic Village, Central, Kinsman and Fairfax neighborhoods. Residents in those areas and the entire traveling public will have better, more efficient access to vocational, educational and social destinations from Downtown to Midtown to University Circle. 

While planning for the Opportunity Corridor is well underway, a clear set of goals and milestones will have to be met to keep the project on track. More funding must be secured, and ODOT must conduct an environmental impact study.  Public input and potential routes will be considered as part of ODOT's environmental review. Funding for the planning and predevelopment activities associated with the project is being provided by The Cleveland Foundation and The George Gund Foundation. 

Egger and Ireland said they have already begun to reach out to a broad-based group of civic leaders and stakeholders with interests in the project to serve on the Steering Committee. "The membership of the Steering Committee is vital," Egger said.  "We are seeking the best minds from the public and private sectors to work together on this crucial project, so that it is done right, done efficiently and done swiftly.  It is very clear that the city and the region will benefit from this new artery the minute the ribbon is cut and it is open to traffic." 

As an association of business members, the Greater Cleveland Partnership mobilizes private-sector leadership, expertise and resources to create jobs and leverage investment to improve the economic vitality of the region.

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