95-Year-Old Terminal Tower is a Can’t-Miss Experience in Cleveland

There are few buildings as iconic as Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. Once known as the largest building outside of New York, the 95-year-old Terminal Tower is part of a larger complex that includes a rapid transit line where all rail lines converge.

Terminal Tower is just footsteps from the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, which will host the 2025 International Code Council Annual Conference, Expo and Committee Action Hearings this fall (October 19-30).

Conference attendees who visit Terminal Tower on weekends will be treated to a unique experience unlike any other in the city: an observation deck with unparalleled views. From Huntington Bank Field, Progressive Field and Rocket Arena to the new Sherwin-Williams HQ and the Scranton Peninsula, there is plenty to see during a visit to Terminal Tower’s 42nd floor.

When exiting, visitors can stop by Skylight Park (a mall-turned-mix-use shopping center), play at JACK Cleveland Casino, book a night at the Hotel Cleveland or eat at one of the many incredible restaurants in the area.

“It’s such a huge complex,” said Aaron M. Price, Director of Public Relations for K&D Group, which owns and manages Terminal Tower. K&D acquired the property from Forest City Enterprises in 2016. “When Forest City bought most of the properties in 1982, they combined it under their one ownership and began a huge restoration process.”

Forest City spent the next two decades making both physical and functional updates to Terminal Tower and its adjacent buildings. The company wanted Terminal Tower to return to its former glory when it first opened in 1930, and its plans included the reopening of the observation deck, which had closed during World War II. Forest City invested a great deal of time and money to ensure the observation deck was in operational condition, restoring historic elements as needed to create an impressive tourist attraction.

“That’s something Forest City had meticulously put back in place that we’ve kept up and carried on with,” said Price.

Modern Living in a Part of History

K&D’s involvement with Terminal Tower came with the promise of another critical transformation: 290 new apartments.

“At the time, it was a fully commercial property,” said Price. “No apartments, no residents at all in the building. [Adding apartments] was a pretty big thing. For the first time people were going to be living in the tower! That program began shortly after K&D’s acquisition in 2016. We worked with Cleveland Construction, Inc. to go through 15 floors to demo most of the office space that was in there.”

The work was quite extensive. While Forest City had done everything it could to preserve as much as possible, previous owners and tenants were far less careful. The 1960s and ‘70s were especially damaging to Terminal Tower. Commercial spaces were typically built out to meet the needs of the companies that leased them, often with little regard for historic fixtures or furnishings.

But there were parts of the building that Forest City managed to save and maintain. One was the Van Sweringen suite, which was designed for the Van Sweringen brothers (Mantis J. and Oris P.), who built Terminal Tower. They lived in Terminal Tower during construction in the 1920s.

“That space is basically a time capsule – it’s a large penthouse with a grand ballroom, kitchen and large meeting room that has been relatively the same since the ‘50s,” Price explained. “Other owners in the ‘50s had made some different alterations to the space that we have restored.”

K&D worked with Forest City and Cleveland Construction to maintain the Van Sweringen suite as well as the one-of-a-kind elevator banks and historic fixtures. K&D also wanted to maintain the marble and replicate historic fixtures, remolding or reshaping elements whenever necessary to repair/replace something that was broken or lost.

“There was a lot of replication of historic crown moldings and stuff like that throughout the property,” said Price.

All-new wiring, plumbing, heating and cooling were also installed to ensure that Terminal Tower’s new apartments, which included both one- and two-bedroom options, would be up to code and meet current energy efficiency standards.

A Unique Experience in the Heart of Cleveland

Price said that anyone who is interested in historic architecture, including those who appreciate the décor of the Beaux-Arts style, would enjoy seeing Terminal Tower. From the floor to the ceiling are elegant and exquisite touches that instill a sense of wonder in all who visit.

“It’s a very massive space that I think was designed to make you feel smaller, in a sense, to understand the grandiose space and atmosphere at the time as a [hub] of transportation,” said Price. “And you still have the RTA (Regional Transit Authority) Rapid Station that’s connected to Tower City, so [transit is] still happening, to a lesser extent, today.”

The Code Council’s 2025 Annual Conference, Expo and Committee Action Hearings kick off on October 19 and run through October 30. Learn more by heading over to our conference page.