"},"parts":[{"template":{"target":{"wt":"Efn","href":"./Template:Efn"},"params":{"1":{"wt":"Although he lacked an undergraduate degree, he was accepted because of his Navy service."}},"i":0}}]}"> [lower-alpha 1] an independent JD-granting institution which had formed in 1946. He attended classes at night [11] while working full-time for Kalamazoo Appliances, [8] Harold Shur's home heating and air conditioning business. [12]
Wolstein graduated cum laude and seventh in his class from Cleveland-Marshall in 1953, [4] and passed the bar exam that same year. [3]
Wolstein began his business career working in real estate development rather than the law. His wife's family owned L&J Development, a Cleveland-area home builder. Wolstein went to work for the company, and assisted with the development of several suburban housing projects. Wolstein helped build his first shopping center, the Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, Ohio, during his tenure with the firm. [12] In 1959, [8] Wolstein returned to the practice of law while continuing to work in real estate. [3] He formed several construction firms with Wilbur J. Horwitz, his personal insurance agent and owner of a local insurance company. [13] Wolstein oversaw the firm's legal business [9] while his partner ran the construction side of things. The firm struggled at first, and incurred heavy debts in order to raise the capital to build the houses it sold. In 1964, one of Wolstein's firms, Scott Construction, received a $725,000 loan ($2,700,000 in 2023 dollars) to build a 350-home development in Twinsburg, Ohio. [1] Wolstein named the development Heritage Hill. [12] The project was so financially successful that Wolstein closed his law practice and began concentrating solely on real estate. [1]
In 1965, Wolstein partnered with Hannan Construction Co. and incorporated a new company, Developers Diversified, with the goal of constructing retail shopping centers. [8] Wolstein reached an agreement with Kmart to provide the anchor tenant for his shopping malls. The first Kmart-centered mall opened in 1967. [4] Wolstein set a goal of constructing five malls, but his business proved so successful that within 15 years he'd built 150 shopping centers nationwide. By 1980, Developers Diversified had constructed one in six Kmart stores, and was Kmart's second-largest development partner. [12] Developers Diversified ended its relationship with Kmart in 1980, but continued to build shopping malls around large anchor tenants such as Home Depot, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. [1]
In 1981, Wolstein formed Diversified Equities, an investment company, with his son, Scott Wolstein, and businessman Jim Schoff. [14]
In December 1992, Developers Diversified filed to become a publicly held real estate investment trust (REIT). [15] The move was prompted by a nationwide credit contraction that had severely limited Developers Diversified's ability to engage in new projects. [3] The company, now known as Developers Diversified Realty Corp. (DDRC), went public in February, listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm sold 9.2 million shares, raising $202 million ($426,100,000 in 2023 dollars). It was the second-largest public offering of common stock ever offered by a newly formed REIT. Wolstein became chairman of the board of directors of the new company, while Scott Wolstein became its chief executive officer. [16] Diversified Equities merged with Developers Diversified in 1993. [17]
Wolstein retired from DDRC in February 1997. Having spent most of his life as a freewheeling maverick who operated on hunches and personal relationships, he had become frustrated having to subordinate his decisions to those of a board of directors and stockholders (many of whom had no experience in real estate development). Wolstein retained about 2 million of the firm's 25 million shares, worth about $70 million ($132,900,000 in 2023 dollars), and was given the title of Chairman Emeritus. At the time of his departure, DDRC was the 15th largest shopping center owner in the nation. [18]
After leaving DDRC, Wolstein formed a new real estate development firm, Heritage Development Co. Having developed golf courses in Aurora, Ohio, and North Canton, Ohio—both designed by Jack Nicklaus—Wolstein intended to build more golf courses, often in a public-private partnership with local city or county governments. [18] Wolstein had also retained ownership of 7 acres (28,000 m2) of land on the east bank of the Cleveland Flats, [19] and intended to use Heritage Development to begin designing, constructing, and operating a wide range of restaurants, bars, dance clubs, and music venues there. Wolstein also expressed interest in building an industrial park in Twinsburg on property he owned there, as well as getting back into the residential housing market. [18]
Heritage Development purchased the Renaissance Building, an office building located on Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland which Wolstein had personally bought in 1988. [20] The company also developed the Bertram Inn and Conference Center and The Marketplace at the Four Corners Shopping Center in Aurora; [5] the Moen Inc. office building in North Olmsted; the Macedonia Commons mall in Macedonia, Ohio; and the Creekview Commons mall in Brecksville, Ohio. [2]
In 2003, as the city of Cleveland was debating whether to build a new convention center to replace the existing Cleveland Convention Center, a number of sites were under consideration. Wolstein suggested using the disused, 50-acre (200,000 m2) Norfolk Southern rail yard near the Jacobs Field baseball stadium. Wolstein proposed that Heritage Development purchase the Norfolk Southern site and construct a 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) convention center, a 20-story hotel, a retail center with shops and restaurants, and an RTA station. In return, the city would agree to lease the convention center from him for $19.5 million ($32,300,000 in 2023 dollars) a year for 25 years. [2] Cleveland Tomorrow, an alliance of business interests in Cleveland which was pushing for another site, said Wolstein's proposal would cost $64 million ($106,000,000 in 2023 dollars) more than any alternative site. Wolstein angrily faulted their analysis, and called the site selection process highly flawed. [21] No decision on a convention center site was made in 2003. It would be another four years before the city agreed to sell the existing convention center to Cuyahoga County, which built a new convention center on the same site. [22]
On October 3, 1979, Wolstein purchased a majority interest in the Cleveland Force Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) team from owners Eric Henderson and Frank Celeste [23] for $25,000 ($100,000 in 2023 dollars). [24] The team, and the league, were just a year old. [25] Within a year, he had more than doubled fan attendance at games to 5,000 from 2,000. [26] The team struggled to win fans, obtain business community backing, and win games. But by 1983, it was in the playoffs, during which it drew 19,106 fans to its final playoff game. The team won almost two-thirds of its games over the next five seasons, and twice battled for the Eastern Division title. [8] In 1988, the Force became the first Cleveland-area sports team to play for a national championship in 24 years. [27] The team lost the championship series, zero games to four. [28] The Force was the only team in the MISL to turn a profit that year. [29] The team also set a league-high average attendance record of 14,121 fans that season. [30] Wolstein folded the team in 1988, after the league ran into severe financial difficulties and four other MISL teams folded due to bankruptcy. [31]
In 2004, when Major League Soccer made a two-team expansion, Wolstein signed a letter of intent to buy one of the franchises and base it in Cleveland. [30] [32] He also pledged to contribute $20 million ($32,300,000 in 2023 dollars) toward the cost of a $110 million ($177,400,000 in 2023 dollars) stadium for the team. [32] His bid ended when he died a month before the league awarded the franchise. [30]
In 1995, Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns professional football team, suddenly moved the team to the city of Baltimore, Maryland. To settle legal claims made in the wake of the relocation, the Modell and the National Football League (NFL) agreed to allow the Browns name, trademarks, and other indicia to remain in Cleveland if the city agreed to build a new football stadium. The city agreed to do so. With FirstEnergy Stadium due to open in the fall of 1999, a bidding war to see who would own the new team erupted in 1997.
Wolstein assembled a group which included backing from retired Browns offensive lineman Dick Schafrath (now an Ohio state senator, former Ohio State University offensive lineman John Hicks, and other retired NFL players. The group quietly informed the NFL of their intent in the summer of 1997, and went public with their bid on January 16, 1998. Football experts believed that the franchise rights would sell for $300 million ($483,900,000 in 2023 dollars) or more. Under NFL rules, Wolstein (the lead partner in the group) was required to personally provide at least 30 percent of the purchase price, and his investors group could contain only 10 or fewer members. [33]
According to press reports, Wolstein proposed to pay just 30 percent of the auction price in cash. The NFL would own the remaining 70 percent of the team. In a boost to his efforts, Wolstein recruited retired Browns fullback Jim Brown and area automobile dealer Alan Spitzer as partners in the investment group. Wolstein was bidding against three others: Al Lerner, billionaire owner of MBNA, the nation's second-largest issuer of credit cards; Charles Dolan, founder of HBO and the Cablevision cable television service, and his attorney brother, Larry Dolan; and New York City banker and real estate developer Howard Milstein. As the bidding price rose above $400 million ($645,200,000 in 2023 dollars), Wolstein's bid was seen as increasingly unattractive. [34] On September 8, 1998, the NFL sold the Cleveland Browns franchise rights to the Al Lerner group for $450 million ($725,900,000 in 2023 dollars). [35]
Wolstein was a frequent supporter of a number charities and nonprofit organizations throughout the greater Cleveland area for most of his life. [4] [36]
One of Wolstein's first major gifts came in 1997, when he and his wife, Iris Wolstein, donated $750,000 ($1,400,000 in 2023 dollars) to United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland. The organization used the money to finish a new rehabilitation and workshop center, which it named the Bart and Iris Wolstein Building. [37]
The Wolsteins made a $1.5 million ($2,700,000 in 2023 dollars) donation in 2000 to renovate the three-story bell tower at Ohio State University. The renovated facility, renamed the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Football Center, contained new locker rooms, a media center, and recruitment center. [38]
The Wolsteins donated $100,000 ($172,000 in 2023 dollars) to the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law in 2001, which helped to fund scholarships for needy law students and to assist the law school in paying architectural fees for a much-needed renovation. [11]
In 2002, the Wolsteins donated $1 million ($1,700,000 in 2023 dollars) to renovate Sycamore Hall at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. The structure was renamed Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Hall in their honor. The donation allowed the management school to divert resources to the establishment of a new undergraduate program which emphasized entrepreneurship over mathematical models of business management. The Wolsteins also donated $1.5 million ($2,500,000 in 2023 dollars) to endow a professorship at Weatherhead. The combined gift was the largest gifts received by either the school or the parent university in recent years. [39]
In January 2003, the Wolsteins donated $25 million ($41,400,000 in 2023 dollars) to both University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University to enable the construction of a joint medical research building. The 320,000-square-foot (30,000 m2), six-story building contained laboratory and office space for 900 biomedical researchers and a 28,000-cage mouse research facility. The structure was named the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Research Building in their honor. [36]
In January 2004, The Chronicle of Philanthropy listed the Wolsteins as one of the 60 most generous donors in the nation for 2003. [40]
Since childhood, Wolstein had been nicknamed "Bart" by his family and friends, [39] [36] but as early as 1948, he used the name "Bert" in public as well. [41]
In 1946, [8] Wolstein was playing touch football in Cain Park in Cleveland Heights when the ball landed at the feet of Iris Shur. [12] The couple fell immediately in love, and married on September 11, 1948. [41] The couple had two children: Cheryl (born June 19, 1950) [42] and Scott (June 24, 1952 [43] – May 26, 2022 [44] ).
Wolstein suffered from a recurrence of cancer throughout his life. A cancerous tumor was removed from his back when he was in his late 20s. In 2000, he underwent operations to remove a cancerous prostate, a cancerous cyst on his neck, and a cancerous thyroid. The cancer recurred a short time later, and had metastasized. He died of a heart attack on May 17, 2004, at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. At the time of his death, DDRC owned 400 shopping centers in 44 states, and was the fourth-largest shopping center developer in the nation. [3]
He was buried at Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland Heights. [5]
On October 27, 2004, Iris Wolstein donated $6.25 million ($10,100,000 in 2023 dollars) to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Wolstein's name. The gift included $5 million ($8,100,000 in 2023 dollars) for building renovations, the purchase of new technology, and scholarships for needy students. The remainder of the pledge matched, up to $1.25 million ($2,000,000 in 2023 dollars), money raised for a new law school endowment. The endowment was named for the Wolsteins. [11] It was one of the largest donations in Cleveland State University's history. [45]
In January 2005, Cleveland State University renamed its Convocation Center the Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Convocation Center in recognition of the 2004 donation to the law school. [45]
The Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center is a 13,610-seat indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU). It is home to the Cleveland State Vikings men's and women's basketball teams and previously served as the home of the Cleveland Crunch of the National Professional Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League from 1992 to 2005 and the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League from 2021 to 2024.
Public Auditorium is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The 10,000-capacity main auditorium shares its stage with a second venue housed at the facility: the 3,000-capacity Music Hall, and as of 2024 serves as the home arena to the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League. Although Public Auditorium was planned and funded prior to World War I, construction did not begin until 1920, and the building did not open until 1922. Designed by city architect J. Harold McDowell and Frank Walker of Walker and Weeks in a neoclassical style matching the other Group Plan buildings, it was the largest of its kind when opened, then seating 11,500.
Samuel Andrews (1836–1904) was a chemist and inventor. Born in England, he immigrated to the United States before the American Civil War and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. He is best known as a partner in the oil refining firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, the major predecessor company of the Standard Oil corporate empire. When the first unit was formed in 1870, Andrews owned 16.67% of Standard Oil stock. He sold his stock early on in 1874 and while he was wealthy, he did not participate in the level of wealth generation that the other founders did.
SITE Centers Corp. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. Founded in 1965 by Bert Wolstein, the company is headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio. As of December 31, 2019 the company owned interests in 170 shopping centers in the United States containing 57.0 million square feet and managed 13.2 million square feet for Retail Value Inc. Notable properties wholly owned by the company include Shopper's World in Framingham, Massachusetts. Its major tenants include retailers such as TJX Companies, PetsMart, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty, Ross Stores, and Nordstrom.
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The George Gund Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1952 to provide grants in the areas of the arts, civic engagement, community development, economic development, environmental policy, and human services, public education, racial inequality. As of 2019, the foundation had made grants totaling more than $722 million since its inception. It is the second-largest charitable foundation in Cleveland.
The original Cleveland Force was one of six charter franchises in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The team played from 1978 to 1988 at the Richfield Coliseum, the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and regularly drew crowds in excess of 12,000 in the mid-1980s.
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George Gund II was an American banker, business executive, and real estate investor who lived in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. He inherited his father's fortune and used a portion of it to purchase alien property seized during World War I. He sold this business at significant profit, and invested widely in banking, insurance, and real estate. Among his investments were a large number of shares in the then-small Cleveland Trust Company. Gund became a director of the bank in 1937 and president in 1941. He led the transformation of the institution into one of the largest banks in the United States. He retired as president in 1962, and was named chairman of the board of directors. A philanthropist for most of his life, he established The George Gund Foundation in 1952.
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The Cleveland Trust Company Building is a 1907 building designed by George B. Post and located at the intersection of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland's Nine-Twelve District. The building is a mix of Beaux-Arts, Neoclassical, and Renaissance Revival architectural styles. It features a glass-enclosed rotunda, a tympanum sculpture, and interior murals.
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The Bingham Company Warehouse is a historic warehouse located in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. It was designed by the noted local firm of Walker and Weeks for the W. Bingham Company, and is one of the architectural firm's few utilitarian commercial buildings. For many years, W. Bingham Co. was the Midwest's largest hardware manufacturer and wholesaler. The W. Bingham Co. went out of business in 1961, and the warehouse was sold to a succession of owners of the years. The warehouse was sold to private investors in 2001, who converted it into apartments, known today as The Bingham.
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John A. Spitzer was an American automotive executive and real estate developer.