Plans to begin building a new BabyLand General® Hospital in the City of Cleveland will move forward with the unanimous approval from the Cleveland City Council to annex 96.45 acres into the city.  Original Appalachian Artworks Inc. (OAA) went before the Cleveland City Council Monday, April 9, following a unanimous vote, April 5, at a City Zoning meeting to recommend annexing three parcels of land off Hulsey Road and zone them B-2 commercial.  Parent company of Cabbage Patch Kids, OAA, plans to relocate its retail establishment, BabyLand General Hospital, from its current site on a 5 acre tract to an area north of town with more than 96 acres, which the company owns.

Cabbage Patch Kids creator Xavier Roberts, loyal to his hometown, has kept Cleveland as headquarters to his worldwide operation, which includes Licensing, Internet Sales, New Product Development, Administrative and the “Cabbage Patch,” where babies are still hand-stitched to birth.  Xavier has plans to build a BabyLand General Hospital that has the look of a graceful, columned, Southern Style Home.

The new BabyLand General will be almost 70,000 square feet. It will contain retail space, offices, a historical archive of the Cabbage Patch Kids as well as the Southern Appalachian region, a meeting and conference facility, warehouse, offices and be recognized as the “home place” to 110 million Cabbage Patch Kids and their adoptive parents worldwide.  Still too early to make definitive estimates, OAA President, Della Tolhurst said, “We would love to be in our new building in 2008 for the 25th Anniversary of our Licensing Program.  We will be staging major events to celebrate that anniversary and we would love to be able to host one in Cleveland.”  Contact:  Margaret Hata    Telephone: 706-865-2171, Ext. 241 margaret.hata@cabbagepatchkids.com