Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center | Cleveland, Ohio, USA | 2025

Architects: Populous, Inc.
Design Team: Jonathan Mallie, Jac Griffiths, Adam Stover, Deb Ford, Mary Abner, Zac Braselton, Megan Mulvihill, Jay Browning, Lisa Kusaka, Fabricio Serano, Matt Walter, Mila Makarova, Sherry Cunnius, and Neil Bustamante
General Contractor: Whiting-Turner
Client: Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Clinic and Bedrock Real Estate
Photographer: Populous, Inc.

The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is a one-of-a-kind performance center that will be a generational game changer for the Cleveland Cavaliers team. Located along the Cuyahoga River, the over 210,000 GSF project will serve as the new home for the Cavaliers training programs and the Cleveland Clinic’s use as a state-of-the-art medical facility. It will also provide a platform for the Cavaliers Academy program, which serves more than 50,000 youth athletes across Northeast Ohio every year. The facility anchors an ambitious masterplan to transforms the Cuyahoga riverfront into one of the world’s premier waterfronts and further solidifies Cleveland as a global destination in sports science, medicine and wellness.

The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center will be the first vertical development of a grand, pioneering master plan – a $3.5 billion vision for the city of Cleveland that will advance 35 acres of the riverfront, prioritizing accessibility and sustainability for the neighborhood.

The riverfront land that lines the Cuyahoga River is an asset with the potential to connect communities, create vibrant public spaces, and overall, improve the environment. The Cleveland Cavaliers Sports Performance Center will embrace these principles and serve as an anchor catalyst to foster urban connectivity and growth in harmony with future development of the area.

The conception of the project has been based on three key principles which operate at the building scale with respect to the overall Master Plan and the creation of an emblematic facility for the team, including players, coaches, and administrative staff, the public and the City of Cleveland.

The design of the training center takes inspiration from the colors and curvature of the Cuyahoga River and the surrounding valley, creating core-to-shore connectivity that adds new dimension to the coastline. The center will also include a public kayak launch point that will give the general public an opportunity to enjoy the waterfront for the first time in nearly a century.

Just blocks from the Gateway Sports Complex and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center will bring renewed energy and beauty to downtown Cleveland. It joins the FieldHouse as a vital part of the city’s vision of being a neighborhood to live, work, play and stay.

Through a holistic and revolutionary approach to training, treatment, nutrition and recovery through professional medical specialists, it will be the only Cleveland Clinic-backed facility that is open to the public. This partnership will create a lasting community asset that invites elite, professional and amateur athletes from around the world to Cleveland.

With respect to the human scale of the project, there is a focus on three additional guiding principles which will serve as the key drivers with respect to the flow of the building, materiality, for both interior and exterior application, and ultimately the impression the facility will make on not only the players, but its visitors and the public that move through the facility’s grounds on their journey to connect with the riverfront. Further, the exterior building design connects the movement of the river with the motion of the athlete, blending seamlessly with the industrial character of its environment.

The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center will elevate the experience of all those who witness it embracing the river and all that venture through its doors and all that utilize it on a day-to-day basis. Revitalizing the waterfront, the project is committed to shaping the landscape of Cleveland’s future, not only for elite athletes but for the health and wellness of all Clevelanders. The vision for this state-of-the-art facility will become an impactful destination offering to Northeast Ohio, creating community engagement to reinvigorate Cleveland’s industrial past.