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The Nine-Twelve District is a major area of downtown Cleveland, in the U.S. state of Ohio, that is in actuality the re-branding of the former Financial District of Cleveland. This re-branding has largely been championed by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. This revamping and reboot of the Cleveland Central Business District has occurred because property and business owners have sought to put a new face on the heart of the city. The district is home to the newly expanded Cuyahoga County Headquarters.
Part of this re-imagining of the area has been Walnut Wednesdays and the success of this has attracted over a 1,000 people to the side street in the Nine-Twelve with its assortment of food trucks and office-worker lunch-break social events. This has in turn led to a growing interest and more importantly growing investment in the area. This can be seen in the rehabbing of the The 9 Cleveland into the Metropolitan Hotel and Heinen's Fine Foods opening a store in the old Cleveland Trust Company rotunda The effort of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance has also led to an increase in the occupancy of downtown buildings and the refurbishing of old office buildings into residential properties; this can be exemplified by the 1717 East Ninth Building, the Statler Arms Apartments and the current renovation of the Scholfield Building into a high-end hotel.
The next big question for the district will be how to re-envision the largely vacant Huntington Bank Building as Columbus-based Huntington Bank has by now moved to 200 Public Square into the former BP Tower. This has led the largest office space in downtown to now sit while investors rally to be in on the next big thing in Cleveland's Nine-Twelve District. The most recent plans call for a mixture of retail, residential, and commercial square footage for the mammoth building. This plan is being spearheaded by South Florida developer Andrew "Avi" Greenbaum. Only time will tell if these new out-of-state investors can resurrect the once highly sought-after office space in Ohio.