FIRST LOOK: Inside Cleveland's mindbending Museum of Illusions

An inventor’s eyes follow you as you walk.

Shapes twist. Spin. And seem like they’ll never stop.

The Museum of Illusions will open in Downtown Cleveland on Friday, with the goal of teasing your brain – and teaching you the science behind what you’re seeing.

The 9,200-square-foot museum is a modern addition to the first floor of the historic May Co. building, just off Public Square. It’s an example of how some landlords are finding creative ways to fill empty storefronts, offering experiences you can’t replicate online.

“Having nontraditional retail is critical to having people come and visit Downtown,” said Jason Russell, vice president of operations and leasing for Bedrock, the Detroit-based real estate company that owns the May Co. building.

“People are going to come, specifically, to Downtown for this use,” he added. “And the hope is that, as they’re walking down Euclid Avenue here, they’re seeing the other opportunities ... whether it’s for retail or for food and beverage.”

Russell strolled through the museum for the first time on Wednesday as workers put the final touches on 60-plus displays. Employees were getting acquainted with those exhibits and posing for pictures while a corporate team from overseas surveyed the scene.

“I’m absolutely blown away,” Russell said. “It’s a beautiful space.”

The museum’s parent company, the Museum of Illusions Group, is based in Zagreb, Croatia. It’s the largest chain of private museums in the world, with 50 locations - and more on the way.

Many of those are franchises, but the Cleveland outpost is company-owned. The brand selects prominent sites, typically in downtowns. The U.S. flagship museum is in Las Vegas, right on the Strip. The European flagship is in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“We are thrilled to bring the magic of our Museum of Illusions to Cleveland,” Kim Schaefer, the company’s CEO, said in a news release earlier this month. “Our team has worked tirelessly to create an experience that will spark curiosity, ignite imagination and leave a lasting impression on all who visit. We are truly honored to become a permanent part of the Cleveland community.”

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'Fun, viral moments'

Inside the museum, operations manager Tom Clack is throwing himself into his job. Literally.

On Wednesday, he squeezed himself into a basketball hoop in an exhibit that nods to Cleveland sports. With no apparent self-consciousness, he sprawled across the floor.

“I’ve seen the smile on your face, walking through here,” he said. “And I’m super-excited to get to see those smiles on our guests.”

Clack’s favorite installation is a room that makes one person seem huge and the other look tiny. He loves the idea that kids can step inside and, for just a moment, dwarf their parents. That exhibit is a staple at Museum of Illusions locations worldwide.

It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to experience the museum, though visitors can stay longer. Tickets are available online . They start at $24 for adults and $20 for kids.

The museum also will take bookings for birthday parties, team-building activities and corporate events. “It’s going to be a smash hit,” Clack predicted. “There’s going to be a lot of fun, viral moments, but also lots of fun photos you can take home to your family.”

Michael Deemer, the president and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Inc., applauded the investment along Euclid Avenue, in a space that’s been vacant for at least a decade.

“Any time … we fill a storefront in Downtown Cleveland, we always feel very good about that. This is particularly gratifying, because it is such a high-profile storefront,” said Deemer, who leads an organization focused on improving the central business district.

“We’re trying to create a very family-friendly environment that attracts people from all walks of life to visit, live and work. … This is another great example of that,” he said.

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'A great piece of that puzzle'

Bedrock, the real estate arm of billionaire Dan Gilbert’s Rock family of companies, bought the May Co. building in 2017. The developer transformed the old department store into apartments and a parking garage – a complex that’s now called, simply, the May.

The renovations wrapped up in 2020, but most of the retail space is still vacant.

“We’re very methodical on who we lease to,” Russell said. “Museum of Illusions is a great piece of that puzzle. And with this in place and open, we’ll be able to lease those other spaces to complement what we have here.”

Deemer said boosting daily traffic – people working, living and visiting downtown – is essential for retail growth. Downtown Cleveland Inc. expects pedestrian activity to finally surpass pre-pandemic levels this year. And the nonprofit is implementing a new retail strategy that suggests pop-up shops, local tenants – and creative thinking.

But the office market is unsteady. And new housing construction has slowed down, due to higher interest rates and other financing challenges.

“We need to continue to build more population density and more residential density to better support retail,” Deemer said, noting that visitors – most of them from outside of Cuyahoga County – are responsible for 70 percent of Downtown retail spending.

“We’ve got longtime small businesses that have been really resilient and stuck it out. We have entrepreneurs that have opened anew. We need to support them by having amenities like this museum open in Downtown, and draw more foot traffic,” he said.

“Come early. Stay late,” he added. “And support the retail we have.”

The museum will open at 10 a.m. every day. It will close at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

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Editor's note: Jason Russell of Bedrock is married to Good Morning Cleveland anchor Tiffany Tarpley.