CEO of Playhouse Square Cleveland Ohio joins Cultural Cities

Image: courtesy of Playhouse Square, Ohio.

Future Cities Forum welcomes back former CEO of the Royal Albert Hall, London, Craig Hassall, now Chief Executive of Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio, to its 'Cultural Cities' discussion this week.

Craig has held senior roles in performing arts management at some of the world’s most recognizable venues, events and organizations.

Playhouse Square is one of North America’s top performing arts centres and the second largest in the United States with 11 performance spaces. 

It describes its history and mission:

'More than just a land owner and property manager, Playhouse Square has become the steward of the Playhouse Square District neighbourhood and part of a not-for-profit mission is to create an exciting destination in which to live, work and play.

'From the days when the theatres were saved from demolition in the 1970s, Playhouse Square was envisioned as a vibrant, 24/7 destination. Following the renovation of the historic theatres, it has turned attention to the development of the surrounding neighbourhood. This led to the creation of a unique business model: Playhouse Square is a performing arts centre with a real estate services division.

'In 1999, Playhouse Square purchased the 16-storey, 400,000 square-foot Hanna Building. This is when Playhouse Square elected to self-manage the property by bringing on well-respected industry leader Tim Luli.  He and Tom Adler, former Playhouse Square Board Chair and current Senior Advisor, formed what is now CRESCO Playhouse Square Management.

'The enterprise became responsible for managing an owned portfolio of approximately 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space. In addition, Tim brought along third-party clients to grow the overall management portfolio to more than 2,000,000 square feet of properties throughout Northeast Ohio.

'CRESCO Playhouse Square Management's proven and award-winning leadership team has more than 130 years of combined expertise in Northeast Ohio’s commercial real estate markets and manages more than two million square feet of office space and retail space in the region.

Image below: courtesy of Playhouse Square