The Sherwin-Williams Co. finalizing plans to build a new global headquarters in downtown Cleveland and a new R&D center in Brecksville.
The plans follow an extensive competitive site selection process and are contingent upon completion of standard due diligence, approvals of incentives and other matters at the state, county and city levels, and resolution of business and legal matters that accompany such major real estate investment projects, according to a company news release.
“Our plans to continue investing in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio build on our 154-year legacy as one of the region’s top employers and drivers of economic activity,” Sherwin-Williams Chairman and CEO John G. Morikis said in a statement. “Driven by our continued need to serve our customers at the highest level and retain and attract top talent, we intend to create a next-generation workplace environment that ignites creativity, collaboration and industry-leading innovation.
"We currently operate out of a 90-year-old headquarters building that has served us well, but is no longer conducive to meeting our future needs. The major planned investment in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio we are announcing today reflects our confidence in the continued strength of the region and its people and our public partners’ ability to deliver on their commitments.”
Preliminary plans call for Sherwin-Williams to invest a minimum of $600 million to build both facilities. The planned new global headquarters would be in downtown Cleveland, just west of Public Square between Saint Clair Avenue and Superior Avenue and would be about 1 million square feet in size. The planned new R&D center would be in Brecksville, located off I-77 at Miller Road and Brecksville Road. The R&D center would serve as the corporate anchor for a new mixeduse development project and would be approximately 500,000-square-feet in size.
Combined, the two facilities would house more than 3,500 employees with room to accommodate significant future growth. Sherwin-Williams estimates it would add a minimum of 400 jobs at these facilities over time, an increase of 11 percent to the company’s current local workforce. Many of these jobs will include professional staff, engineers and chemists.
Sherwin-Williams is working with several state and local partners on this project, including the state of Ohio, JobsOhio, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, the city of Cleveland and the city of Brecksville. Approvals of the Company’s economic development packages and other matters remain pending and are expected over the next several months.
The R&D center and global headquarters project are expected to be a multi-year process. The transition to the new facilities is not expected to occur until 2023, at the earliest. No announcements have been made regarding construction partners, and no decisions have been made regarding the disposition of the company’s current R&D center and headquarters, located in Cleveland at Canal Road and W. Prospect Avenue, respectively.
