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Bell Tower Center adds Qdoba and Smoothie King; city IT migrates to cloud and housing department updates nuisance property
Summary
Mayor Brennan announced Qdoba and Smoothie King leases at Bell Tower Center, garage work and preparations for Urban Air; Starfish reported near-complete cloud migration and a Windows 10 end-of-life issue; Housing and Community Development updated a nuisance property with a $6,000 cleanout estimate and receiver appointment.
Mayor Brennan told council that the University Square redevelopment — now branded Bell Tower Center — has two new tenants under contract: Qdoba Mexican Eats in the outparcel plaza facing Warrensville Center Road and Smoothie King in another outparcel. Work is underway on a parking-garage "peel back," with plans to be filed in about two weeks and construction targeted to finish by the fall to avoid holiday-season disruption. New LED lighting is being installed in the garage and work is underway to prepare the former Tops Grocery space for an Urban Air Adventure Zone remodel. The University Heights Parking Garage CIC will meet Feb. 26, 2025.
In an IT update, Starfish Computer Corporation representatives Patrick Hanrahan and Brandon Skinner reported that four of the five phases of the city's cloud migration are complete and the fifth is about 95% finished. Starfish deployed a cybersecurity phishing-training program, added backup/disaster recovery for the Fire Department, extended networking to the pool area and is finishing a new conferencing solution for Wiley. Skinner said all physical servers have been removed from City Hall except one server in the Housing Department; Starfish is tracking devices that will need replacement ahead of Windows 10 end-of-life in October 2025.
Housing & Community Development Director Markell Davis updated council on property enforcement for 4394 Groveland Road, which had been declared a public nuisance in 2022 and was subject to court action. The city received a permanent injunction on Feb. 4, 2025; the court appointed VNTG as receiver and VNTG provided an estimated cost of $6,000 for a full cleanout (labor, dumpsters and materials). The defendant has 60 days from the journal entry to remove personal property; the receiver will prepare a detailed abatement plan and cost estimate for council consideration once items are removed.
What happens next: Bell Tower Center lease filings and garage-plan submissions will proceed through the Building Department; Starfish will complete the final migration tasks and report on any hardware replacement needs; Housing staff will return with the receiver's abatement plan and costs after the 60-day removal period.
