The estimated cost of building Cleveland’s medical mart has risen $40 million to $465 million, due to design changes in the ballroom of the adjoining convention center.
MMPI, the Chicago-based property development company behind the medical mart and convention center, will foot $8.5 million of the cost increase, while taxpayers will chip in the rest, the Plain Dealer reported.
Cuyahoga County taxpayers are likely to take the new, bigger price tag in stride — it represents just a 9 percent increase in the cost of the overall project. But the added costs certainly won’t increase the confidence of corruption-weary voters who may doubt the viability of the untested medical mart concept in the first place.
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It’ll be interesting to see if there’s much public fallout from the increased costs, but it’s likely that MMPI and the county will have to think twice about ordering up more taxpayer money for the project in the future, should the need arise. Since the project isn’t scheduled to break ground until later this year, it’s foreseeable that other unexpected expenses could emerge.
In any case, the taxpayer-funded portion of the new costs will come out of a $50 million contingency fund that county officials had not disclosed before this week, according to the Plain Dealer. How’s that for transparency?
The cost increase comes from a weakness in the original design plans for the ballroom in the underground convention center, which will sit below Malls B and C. The original plans called for a ballroom with a low ceiling and columns that interrupted views. The plan would’ve forced food to be delivered through the same doors through which convention attendees would pass.