The earliest of these was the Cleveland Wheel Club, finished in 1893 and located on the east side of the intersection of E. 12th Place and Huron Road.

[6][a] The Cleveland lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began construction of a 4+1⁄2-story office-and-retail structure at 1041 Huron Road in 1909.

[12] Pope took the lead in overseeing the project, hiring New York City architect Henry Bacon to design the structure.

It was reduced to just 10 stories and had a 100-foot (30 m) frontage on both Euclid Avenue and Huron Road,[12] giving the structure an average depth of 150 feet (46 m).

[16] The existing structures between 1218 Euclid/1111 Huron and the Point Building were demolished, Cleveland-area builders traveled to New York City consult with Pope and Bacon, and test drillings were conducted at the site to determine the quality of the underlying soil and rock.

[13] Below the sub-basement floor was another waterproofing layer that consisted of 6 inches (15 cm) of reinforced concrete[18][c] poured atop the watery sand and then topped with felt and tar.

Structural engineers, however, felt that the re-engineered steel sheet pilings would give way under the centripetal forces placed on it by the quicksand as well as the building's weight.

The downward pressure of the load-bearing column helped to keep the cantilever in place atop the fulcrum, which in turn acted like a lever to support the exterior walls of the basement and upper floors.

[15][f] It was likely that this was the first time steel sheeting had been used as pilings in a large building anywhere in the United States,[27] and local architects and The Plain Dealer newspaper called the soil engineering and foundation the most successful method of dealing with quicksand that the nation had ever seen.

[10] The cream-colored, speckled, full-enamel terracotta was manufactured by the North Western Terra Cotta Company,[30] and each tile was numbered so that workers knew exactly where it should go on the building's facade.

[30] The exterior wall of the first floor was made of reinforced concrete 18 inches (46 cm) thick, waterproofed with a layer of felt, tar, and burlap.

[31][16] A mechanical roofhouse[23] contained the elevator machinery,[28] a laundry,[23][11] and a separate air circulation system serving the kitchen and bathrooms.

[11] One major change provided for extensive rooftop structures, set back from the edge and enclosed by a parapet, for employee use.

Iron worker Fred Horton, age 32, died after falling several stories from a steel beam into the basement on October 14.

[32] The enlargement allowed Halle Bros. to offer a broader range of products, and for the first time the company began to sell candy, furniture, and men's clothing.

[32] Departments on this floor included with bedding,[37] fabric, sewing goods, shoes,[36] fine jewelry, small imported porcelain items, and novelties.

[36] A greatly expanded women's evening wear department, which included a stage surrounded by lighted mirrors (so customers could view themselves from all angles) existed on the fourth floor.

[47][48] Work on the downtown expansion did not begin until 1947, as World War II-era restrictions on new building and materials were lifted only gradually after hostilities ended.

Only the basement and first through seventh floors were open to the public, giving the department store an additional 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of retail space.

[53] Six months later, Forest City and Jacob Schottenstein, majority owner of Associated Investors, formed a joint venture named S&R Playhouse Realty Co. to renovate the building.

The city of Cleveland gave a $7.1 million ($20,100,000 in 2023 dollars) federal Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) loan and Cuyahoga County gave a $14 million ($39,700,000 in 2023 dollars) industrial development loan (funded by a bond issue) to S&R Playhouse Realty to assist in paying for the remodeling.

[60] Demolition of the structure left the windowless, blank eastern wall of the Halle Building facing Playhouse Square.

[1] In March 1997, Forest City agreed to move its headquarters into downtown Cleveland's Terminal Tower and remain there for 15 years.

[63] The Halle Building was just two-thirds occupied in 2004,[64] and dramatically slowing business over the last several years meant that only eight restaurants remained in the Cabaret food court by 2006.

When Venner invoked the gold clause, Forest City's rent for the land beneath the Halle Building rose to more than $1.4 million a year.

[67] In late 2012, Forest City announced it was putting the Halle Building on the market after an attempt to secure a large tenant collapsed.

[68] Cuyahoga County began to seek a new location for its government operations, and Forest City submitted the Halle Building as a potential site in September 2012.

[70] In October 2013, Forest City reiterated in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it still intended to sell the building or redevelop it with a partner.

[71] K & D Group of Willoughby, Ohio, purchased the Halle Building[72] and the parking garage across the street on Huron Road[73] for $20 million ($25,700,000 in 2023 dollars) on December 3, 2014.

[76][l] Residential tenants began moving into The Residences at Halle in August 2018,[78] with construction on all units scheduled for completion in January 2019.