CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tuesday's announcement of an $8 million grant for the makeover of Public Square placed the Cleveland Foundation in a familiar role.
 
As the first big donor to the $30 million project, the foundation took the lead as the validating force whose gift could be expected to unlock the largesse of other foundations and corporations.
 
Yet while paying deference to the foundation, speakers at the event formally announcing the Public Square donation stressed another theme important to Cleveland's redevelopment – that of civic collaboration.
 
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald underscored that Cleveland has had a very good couple of weeks, following the announcements last week that the Republican National Convention will be held here in 2016 and that NBA star LeBron James would return to the Cavaliers after four years with the Miami Heat.
 
The good news seemed to encapsulate a sense of rising momentum in the city following the completion of civic projects such as the Global Center for Health Innovation and the new convention center, which could not have happened without cooperation between the city and county.
 
"We've gone through a lot of tough years," FitzGerald said, adding that it has been natural to wonder "when are we really going to get our act together and finally get some national credit for what we have here?"
 
"It's happening now, and we have to take a moment to see it and appreciate it," he said, adding that it has taken collaboration among the business community, local government and foundations to promote projects such as the redesign of Public Square.
 
"I'm incredibly proud that everybody put aside rivalries that would have stopped things like this," he said.
 
Tuesday's announcement also marked a major step forward for LAND Studio, the nonprofit agency that will be the recipient of the foundation's money and the fiscal steward of the Public Square project. With a staff of 19 and an annual budget of $3 million, LAND Studio has played a key role in recent years in sponsoring and managing public art and landscape projects across the city.
 
Receiving $8 million from the Cleveland Foundation to manage the Public Square effort for the city's Group Plan Commission is a major step for LAND Studio.
 
"We have morphed to fit the opportunity we see in Cleveland," said LAND Studio's executive director, Ann Zoller. "We are delighted to help play a role as project steward."
 
It took Zoller's organization a decade to realize the $3 million makeover of Perk Park at Chester Avenue and East 12th Street, completed in 2012.
 
If anything, the Cleveland Foundation's gift has underscored the importance of such projects to the city, and the need to accelerate the beautification of city streets and public spaces.
 
"It's more about changing the cultural milieu of the city," said Ronn Richard, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation.
 
 
"The Cleveland Foundation is all about the core city," he said. "Public Square is the core of the core city."

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