CLEVELAND — Haslam Sports Group just made another big play in Brook Park – buying the 176-acre site where it hopes to build a new stadium and entertainment district.
A company tied to the owners of the Cleveland Browns closed on the land Friday, according to public records. Sale paperwork lists the purchase price as $76 million.
Buying the land is a major step on the team’s road to Brook Park.
It comes just two days after Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly approved a massive budget bill that includes a $600 million grant for the new stadium. Lawmakers also changed the wording of a state law – the so-called Modell law – that threatened to delay the project, in a move that’s likely to nullify a nascent court fight between the Browns and the city of Cleveland.
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But the land purchase doesn’t mean the suburban stadium is a done deal.
The Browns still need to finish pulling together public and private money for the $2.4 billion stadium, along with the first phase of a potential $1 billion mixed-use entertainment district next door. And they need to navigate public approvals, including a planned rezoning of the former industrial site where the project would sit.
A Browns spokesman declined to comment on the purchase Friday afternoon.
Haslam Sports Group bought the land, a former Ford Motor Co. plant site, through a company called Primacy Development LLC. The seller was a group of industrial real estate developers who once planned to build a business park there.
The developers, Weston Inc., Scannell Properties and the DiGeronimo Cos., bought the former automotive site in 2021 for $31.5 million. They demolished the old buildings and peeled off a slice of the property to build a warehouse, which is partially leased to a company called Victory Packaging.
Haslam Sports Group inked a purchase agreement on the remaining land last year and had until the end of 2025 to buy the property, according to public records. They made a significant payment toward the deal in January.
The team’s lease on the existing lakefront stadium, owned by the City of Cleveland, ends in early 2029. The Browns are racing to start construction early next year in hopes of moving into the new stadium by the start of the 2029 NFL season.
Team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have said that at least $1.2 billion of the money for the stadium will be private. They’ve also pledged to cover construction cost overruns.
Haslam Sports Group is working with Lincoln Property Company, a Texas-based real estate developer, on the mixed-use project. Their plans call for hotels, apartments, dining, retail and office space, along with parking lots to accommodate roughly 14,000 cars.
That mixed-use development would happen in waves, with the stadium and the first group of buildings – hospitality, housing, retail and entertainment – opening in 2029.
This week, lawmakers agreed to use unclaimed funds – money the state is holding from people’s old bank accounts, utility deposits, life insurance payouts and other sources – to provide a $600 million grant for the new stadium. That’s part of the two-year budget bill awaiting Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature.
Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt applauded the General Assembly’s actions in a statement released late Wednesday. He called the project a “transformational” investment that will create jobs, boost tourism and make Northeast Ohio more appealing.
“This is more than just a stadium,” he wrote. “We are creating a community where people can live, work, visit and enjoy all year round. Brook Park is committed to being a true partner with Haslam Sports Group, in creating a framework for a bold, multi-use investment.”
