Recent articles have discussed the proposed Medical Mart and convention center being built in University Circle — closer to our world-class hospital systems — instead of downtown.

I support the old Higbees building for the Medical Mart itself and building the convention center on the land south of Tower City, between Huron Road and the Cuyahoga River, for a couple of reasons:

• You will be able to go from the Medical Mart to the convention center without ever having to go outside. Great for Cleveland winters.
• The Medical Mart would be located in the same building as the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Great for people visiting Cleveland for medical shows.
• It’s a central location for hotels, restaurants and entertainment. The Higbees location is right on Euclid Avenue — a short bus ride to University Circle. It’s within a short walk of the Warehouse District, the Flats and East Fourth Street. Convention center and Medical Mart visitors can get to a hotel, restaurants, shopping, and Quicken Loans Arena without having to go outside.
• The RTA rapid line can get people from the airport to Tower City for a couple of bucks. How much is a cab ride to University Circle?

The Terminal Tower and Public Square are the center of the city, the county and the region. To me, putting the Medical Mart and convention center in University Circle would contribute more to urban sprawl. We still need to focus on building our core at this stage in the game. And a Tower City location is the best spot to do that.

Related:

• Conventions belong downtown
• Public officials want Medical Mart site to be downtown
• Medical Mart’s promoters narrow search to 2 downtown sites

The Greater Cleveland Partnership has a new video out, highlighting many of Cleveland’s development projects, including Battery Park and the Gordon Square Arts District in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, the Detroit Superior Lofts near Ohio City, Steelyard Commons, the Flats East Bank neighborhood, East 4th Street, The Avenue District, Collegetown, Chester 82, Park Lane Villa, Upper Chester mixed-use development project, Case Western Reserve University, University Circle Place, University Arts and Retail District, University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic, the Euclid Corridor Project and the Medical Mart.

It’s a very interesting and informative video that’s worth watching.

(I had to take down the original embedded video because it kept autoplaying. Go to the Greater Cleveland partnership’s multimedia page)