After years of squabbling over who gets what from the airport corridor, Cleveland and the suburb of Brook Park have reached a tentative agreement to settle a long-running dispute over land and tax revenue tied to the I‑X Center and the Emerald Parkway area. The deal would shuffle both acreage and cash between the two cities as officials try to put an end to competing claims that have been mired in lawsuits and tense public meetings.
According to a proposal circulated to both municipalities and records reviewed by the FOX 8 I‑Team, Cleveland and Brook Park city councils are expected to begin considering the legislation this week. The agreement is designed to settle the fight over who gets to collect tax revenue from the I‑X Center and the nearby Emerald Parkway tax zone.
Background: I‑X Center Taxes and a 2001 Agreement
The I‑X Center and its surrounding parcels come with a long paper trail of boundary swaps and revenue-sharing deals that trace back to an early 2000s settlement. That earlier agreement shifted city borders and redirected certain tax flows between Cleveland and Brook Park. News 5 Cleveland notes that, under those arrangements, tax dollars connected to the I‑X property historically went to Brook Park, a setup that helped fuel the decades-long friction between the neighbors.
Key Terms in the Proposal
Documents reviewed by the FOX 8 I‑Team outline the basic trade: Cleveland would transfer about 34 acres to Brook Park and make a one-time payment of $2,000,000 to the suburb. On top of that, Cleveland would be on the hook for additional payments, described in the records as “more than $600,000,” spread over roughly 33 years.
In exchange, Brook Park would give up its claim to certain tax dollars generated by the I‑X Center and the Emerald Parkway tax zone. In other words, Cleveland would cede some land and cash up front to secure more predictable control over key revenue streams going forward.
What It Could Mean for Redevelopment
The timing is not accidental. The I‑X Center’s role in the region has been shifting, with recent reporting and city documents describing a move away from giant public expos toward industrial or single‑tenant uses. At the same time, nearby projects, including the Browns’ new Brook Park development, are putting fresh pressure on how every tax dollar in the airport corridor is carved up.
Cleveland Magazine has detailed how the changing use of the I‑X Center and the new stadium plan are reshaping economic priorities and land-use decisions along the airport edge. Cleaning up fuzzy borders and overlapping tax claims is a crucial, if unglamorous, step before any big redevelopment push can fully take hold.
Legal Background
The fight over who can tax I‑X Center operations and related parking revenue has been dragged through the courts for years, including litigation that climbed all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. Those rulings, along with later city financial reports, trace the winding history that this new proposal is meant to finally resolve. For a deeper dive into that backstory, see the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in Park Corp. v. Brook Park and the City of Cleveland’s financial notes on the original I‑X property agreement.
If both councils sign off on the proposed deal, it would close out outstanding lawsuits and redraw certain tax arrangements in the airport-adjacent corridor. Residents, event organizers and developers will be watching those votes closely as the region works to repurpose the I‑X property and make room for the next wave of projects nearby.
