Tuesday, May 27, 2026 – Cleveland — The City of Cleveland’s Department of Development, in partnership with Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and Cleveland City Council, is seeking qualifications from professional development teams to redevelop twelve former school properties. These twelve school buildings includes Adlai Stevenson (3.4 acres), Alfred A. Benesch (3.4 acres), Bolton (2.3 acres), Collinwood (5.4 acres), Dike School of the Arts (1.9 acres), Hannah Gibbons-Nottingham (3.2 acres), Kenneth Clement Boys’ Leadership Academy (3.4 acres), Louisa May Alcott (1.9 acres), Mary Church Terrell (3 acres), Michael R. White (6.6 acres), Charles A. Mooney (4.6 acres), and Tremont Montessori (2.8 acres). The 2026 CMSD School Sites RFQ is a proactive approach the City of Cleveland is taking to make available for redevelopment school buildings that are deemed surplus from CMSD’s Building Brighter Futures plan.
“Building on the community engagement completed in February 2026, this RFQ seeks to proactively position these school sites for redevelopment to ensure these buildings continue to serve as meaningful assets to their neighborhoods,” said Joevrose Bourdeau Small, Director of Economic Development for the City of Cleveland. “This RFQ is an opportunity for the City to move quickly and intentionally to pursue redevelopment of former school buildings, an opportunity that has historically gone underutilized.”
The twelve school buildings included in this RFQ are located across the City of Cleveland and span eight of the fifteen City Council wards: Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12. This opportunity positions large portions of the City to receive new investment and long-term commitments that benefit Cleveland residents.
“The diverse sites included in this request for qualifications are part of our community’s history, and we can honor that history through thoughtful redevelopment,” said Michele Pomerantz, Chief of Education for the City of Cleveland. “It is essential that these former school buildings remain neighborhood assets, and all redevelopment plans should reflect the community’s outlined future uses to best serve residents.”
This RFQ seeks qualified professional developers to lead the redevelopment of these buildings, with opportunities for community organizations and local businesses to partner with development teams to create neighborhood assets with broad, lasting impact. The City of Cleveland’s Asset Redevelopment Team is facilitating the RFQ process and is requesting Letters of Interest (LOIs) from developers, architects, community organizations, and businesses interested in one or more of the twelve school sites. LOIs must be submitted no later than June 5, 2026. The Asset Redevelopment Team will host a webinar on June 17, 2026, to answer questions about the submission requirements and overall process.
Qualifications will be accepted from May 26 through June 30, 2026. Development teams are expected to be selected by August 7, 2026. LOIs as well as RFQ submissions can be emailed to AssetRedevelopment@clevelandohio.gov. Details on the submission process and evaluation criteria are available on pages 20 and 21 of the RFQ. Learn more about this and other redevelopment projects by visiting the City of Cleveland Asset Redevelopment website.
