In what would turn out to be the final months of Heinen’s downtown grocery store, Cuyahoga County awarded $50,000 to help the company shrink its footprint at the historic Cleveland Trust rotunda on East Ninth Street.
Heinen’s would not have to repay the money as long as it stayed open until July 31 of this year, according to Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne’s press secretary. Late last month, Heinen’s announced its downtown store’s final day would be July 31.
The grant was one piece of an effort over the last few years — totaling at least $400,000 — by Cleveland, the county, downtown boosters and business advocates to support the grocery store in the center of a redeveloped Euclid Avenue.
“There’s no question there was a very concerted, focused effort over the course of the last couple of years to support them through marketing, through focused attention on the safety and security side,” Michael Deemer, the CEO of Downtown Cleveland Inc., said Thursday in a phone interview.
Heinen’s did not return requests for comment on the aid from the city, county and others.
Tallying up the aid for Heinen’s downtown store
After a decade downtown, Heinen’s tried to cut costs by relocating its beer and wine selections off of the rotunda’s second floor, the grocer said in a press release quoted by Cleveland.com at the time.
The county approved $50,000 for Downtown Cleveland Inc. in November 2024 to “increase awareness of the storefront businesses in the urban core, with a specific focus on Heinen’s,” according to a Board of Control agenda.
In December 2025 — about six months before Heinen’s would announce the closure of the downtown store — the county slated $50,000 for reconfigurations and new bathrooms.
That money required Heinen’s to remain open through July 2026, or else the county would be able to withhold or recover grant dollars, according to a copy of the contract obtained through a public records request.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who took office in 2022, said his administration had given more than $250,000 to help Heinen’s. That money assisted with remodeling, utility hookups, furniture installation and other work, a city spokesperson said.
Cleveland Development Advisors — the business financing affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership — approved Heinen’s for a $50,000 grant in 2024, according to Yvette Ittu, the CEO of the financing group. CDA issued the money last year.
The 2024 grant from CDA was tied to a two-year renewal of the store’s lease, Ittu said. The money supported physical improvements at the store as Heinen’s consolidated to a single floor of the rotunda.
“The grant achieved its intended purpose of supporting the tenant improvement project and extending the store’s downtown presence,” Ittu wrote to Signal Cleveland in an email.
By running a grocery store downtown, Heinen’s showed that “downtown Cleveland could function as a true neighborhood, not just a business district,” she wrote.
“While we are disappointed by the closure,” she continued, “we remain confident in the long-term trajectory of downtown and hopeful that this prominent space will attract a new use that contributes to downtown’s continued growth, livability, and economic vitality.”
Meanwhile, county staff, Downtown Cleveland Inc. and others are working “to identify options to continue to keep fresh and healthy food available for downtown residents and workers,” Jennifer Ciaccia, the county’s press secretary, wrote in an email.
An ‘ambitious pledge’ to bring a new grocery store to Downtown Cleveland
The East Ninth store’s importance went beyond supplying food for grocery shoppers and a downtown workforce grabbing lunch. The suburban grocer’s move to Euclid Avenue in 2014 helped to solidify Downtown Cleveland’s new image as a residential neighborhood for young people and empty-nesters.
As the Plain Dealer put it at the time, Heinen’s bet on downtown was an “ambitious pledge of faith in the rebirth of the grocer’s hometown — even before that downtown has enough residents to support a store that size.”
The store occupied part of the broader Ameritrust complex, which Geis Cos. was redeveloping. Geis still serves as the landlord for the Heinen’s building.
Geis turned the 29-story bank tower into The 9, a hotel and apartment building. The developer built the new county government headquarters next door.
Government subsidies helped make it happen. The overall Ameritrust project received tax credits, city tax abatements, tax-increment financing and a low-interest city loan, the Plain Dealer reported at the time.
Downtown population has grown since 2014. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, people don’t come into the office as much — and they can order and pick up groceries without setting foot inside a store.
“A lot has changed in the last 12 years,” Deemer said. “People have more options than ever before for how to meet their grocery needs with the advent of delivery services.”
Deemer, Downtown Cleveland’s booster-in-chief, does not take Heinen’s closure as a sign that the city center can’t support a grocery store. Just look at Constantino’s in the Warehouse District, he said. It’s still going after opening 21 years ago.
“We are seeing more energy, more foot traffic coming into downtown,” he said. “We’re seeing that lead to increased spending. And I think that bodes well for the future of East Ninth and Euclid and what comes next at that location.”
