Scranton Peninsula's first major project gets a little denser

NRP Group's revised plan for developing a residential
complex along Carter Road on Scranton Peninsula in
the Flats (BKV). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Cleveland-based NRP Group has submitted to the city revised plans for its Scranton Peninsula development, after an earlier version was rejected by the City Planning Commission as having too much surface parking and looking too suburban.

The new plan features 315 apartments in two buildings plus 15 townhomes. The site plan reduces the amount of surface parking while preserving the total number of spaces by providing a two-level parking deck. It also offers the semblance of a street grid, removes gated entrances and puts buildings up close to the street.

A source said that as Scranton Peninsula develops, the NRP site can be rearranged a bit and tied in with surrounding developments. NRP Group has an option to buy 7.44 acres of land from the so-called Thunderbird development site led by Fred Geis, East-West Alliance and J-Roc Development.

Site plan for NRP Group's Scranton Peninsula development,
showing the apartment buildings in dark orange, the town-
houses in light orange, the parking garage in light gray,
and the surface parking/driveways in dark gray (BKV).

Another 8 acres of the 22-acre site was sold in 2018 to Great Lakes Brewing Co. for an undefined project. And, earlier this year, the first phase of construction began with J-Roc's redevelopment of an abandoned, 27,000-square-foot commercial structure into offices called The Avian at Thunderbird, located at about 1950 Carter Rd.

NRP Group added so much parking at Scranton Peninsula because of their experience in providing so little parking at The Edison At Gordon Square, 6060 Father Caruso Dr. That development, which opened in 2017, has fewer than one parking space for each of the 306 apartments.

The source said that residents complain about the lack of parking and the frequency of car break-ins. NRP Group reportedly is concerned the development won't be successful without the parking since Scranton Peninsula is even more isolated and less walkable than the north end of Gordon Square where The Edison is located.

Although Scranton Peninsula currently lacks other develop-
ments (aside from The Avian), uses or activities, NRP Group
is proposing to build five-story apartment buildings in anti-
cipation of additional surrounding development (BKV).

It is likely that Scranton Peninsula will be more walkable as it develops, but it is literally a blank slate at this point with nothing else within a comfortable walk of the proposed NRP apartment complex.

NEOtrans first broke the story in May of NRP Group seeking to acquire land and proposing to build several hundred apartments on Scranton Peninsula. NRP has shelved plans for building a 323-unit phase two of the Edison on the south side of Breakwater Avenue in Gordon Square.

NRP officials also reportedly considered developing one of several sites on Cleveland's near-West Side. But those were too close to The Edison and might have put NRP in competition with itself for residents. Scranton Peninsula was considered a unique setting for NRP's latest housing products in Cleveland.

In June, NRP announced it is partnering with MetroHealth Medical Center on developing a $60 million, 250-unit residential development near the hospital along West 25th Street in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

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