Cleveland.com – Cleveland has negotiated a lease transfer that will allow developers to renovate the former 100th Bomb Group restaurant on Brookpark Road and reopen.
The new restaurant is expected to be called Aviator Event Center, Cleveland’s airport chief Robert Kennedy said Wednesday. “We think it’s a good part of the airport family and of the community to help revitalize this area,” Kennedy told the City Council’s Transportation Committee. The committee on Wednesday approved legislation that will allow the lease to be transferred from Specialty Restaurants Corp., which operated 100th Bomb Group for years, to a joint venture that includes United Concessions Group, TGB Food and Beverage and KAG Corp. The legislation could go before the full City Council as soon as next week. It would need Mayor Frank Jackson’s signature to take effect.
The 100th Bomb Group was designed to resemble a World War II-era English farmhouse and was decorated with memorabilia from that era. The restaurant had been on Brookpark Road north of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for decades.
Councilman Brian Kazy, who represents nearby Ward 16, noted that he met his wife at the restaurant when they both were working there 30 years ago while in their 20s. The 100th Bomb Group closed about a year ago during the Coronavirus pandemic when Specialty Restaurants opted to divest itself of its Midwest locations, Kennedy said.
The business was sold at auction last fall. The City of Cleveland owns the property. Specialty Restaurants signed the current 20-year lease in 2002. But after 100th Bomb Group closed, Cleveland entered negotiations to transfer the lease to the new joint venture and secured better terms for the city, Kennedy said. About $800,000 in rent credits the former restaurant held were reset to zero. The new owners also agreed to invest up to $1 million in upgrades and in renovations.The new restaurant will carry a more modern aviation theme, Kennedy said.
The site is adjacent to two buildings formerly used by NASA Glenn Research Center that are part of a $40 million development project. Those buildings, known as the K Building and the smaller L Building, are to be converted into apartments and a boutique hotel. Those projects, coupled with the new restaurant, could spark other growth in that area, Kennedy said.
