CLEVELAND -- When they said "the envelopes please," only one set of bidders came forward.

But developers Doug Price and Bob Corna are taking the Ameritrust tower off the hands of Cuyahoga County Commissioners.

And they are rolling out an ambitious development plan they claim will be the centerpiece of the new Euclid Avenue.

They are paying $35,005,000. Commissioners required $35 million as a minimum bid to cover their cost of purchasing the building and partial asbestos removal.

Commissioners wanted to make the tower site a new headquarters building consolidating county offices. But they decided the cost and difficulty of juggling three big projects was too much to handle and they put the building up for sale.

The county's also building a new Juvenile Justice complex and hoping to be build a new convention center linked to a Medical Mart showcase for medical products.

Price and Corna's plan preserve the tower. That will please preservationists who insisted it be kept as a significant work of Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer. Commissioners would have demolished it.

The tower would become a luxury hotel and housing. A new office tower would be built next door east on Prospect. It would be the first downtown office tower built in about 20 years. Several big corporations are seeking space for a headquarters building.

The developers also plan to renovate the nearby 668 building on Euclid. Long-range, they spoke of possibly reviving the just closed Cleveland Athletic Club.

The project would be a $200 million mixed use complex. They hope to break ground in a year and hope to get financing help from historic tax credits.