Big Duck Island development moves forward

This preliminary site/grading plan by Vocon Partners LLC
was commissioned by Chicago-area real estate developer
Stoneleigh Companies LLC, It shows the location, scale
and siting of an apartment building with a below-grade
parking garage on north side of Lorain Avenue at West
20th Street in Tremont's Duck Island enclave (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A site at Lorain Avenue and West 20th Street in Cleveland's Duck Island enclave that has been considered for development for seven years, is back in play again under the stewardship of a real estate firm from Chicago's suburbs.

Stoneleigh Companies LLC of Barrington, IL reportedly has a purchase agreement to acquire at least 3.4 acres of land assembled since 2013 and owned by Warrensville Heights-based Brickhaus Partners. That's according to two sources who spoke off the record.

Two Stoneleigh executives, Chief Investment Officer James O'Kane and Vice President of Development Ryan Swingruber, did not comment about the proposed project although they acknowledged receipt of an e-mail by NEOtrans requesting more information.

On the firm's Web site, the company wrote "Stoneleigh Companies operates 1,452 units, has two new communities under construction in Glenwood Springs CO, and Saint Paul MN, and is developing four new communities in Cleveland OH, Houston TX, and Frisco TX, which will bring the total Stoneleigh portfolio to 3,037 units."

However, some details are available about the project which is still in a preliminary stage. The project will be apartments offering up to several hundred units with a below-ground parking garage. It appears that the the building's footprint will be about 50,000-60,000 square feet, according to a preliminary site/grading plan being circulated among public agencies for review and comment.

One West Twenty, a joint development between Brickhaus
Partners and Integrity Real Estate, proposed 500 apartments
starting with this 300-unit, five-story building. That was on
the same site that Stoneleigh is reportedly seeking to deve-
loping now in Cleveland's Duck Island (Brickhaus).

With that size footprint and as many as several hundred residential units, that would involve a building about five to six stories tall. It could also mean about 160-170 parking spaces in the lower-level garage underneath the building and a possible first-floor garage offering additional parking spaces.

The site plan also shows the building having a significant street presence on Lorain which suggests some possible ground-floor commercial uses facing Lorain. That was the case with Brickhaus' past development plans.

As noted, the building would be located on 3.4 acres of land that Brickhaus had listed for sale until its public listing was deactivated on Feb. 17. Brickhaus also owns an adjoining 1.3 acres of land which wasn't advertised for sale. It is not known if that smaller parcel will be part of Stoneleigh's property acquisition. But that property is not part of the preliminary development plan.

Brickhaus first proposed for the site an ambitious plan called Brickhaus Towers with two high-rise residential buildings connected by ground-floor commercial uses. It was replaced by a more modest, two-phase plan called One West Twenty.

That plan, sought as a joint development with Beachwood-based Integrity Real Estate Group, envisioned 300 units in the first phase. Their first phase was proposed for the 3.4-acre parcel that Stoneleigh seeks to develop now. Another 200 units were considered for the second phase by Brickhaus and Integrity. One West Twenty is still shown on Brickhaus' Web site.

The site proposed for development by Stoneleigh overlooks
Scranton Peninsula with a clear view of Downtown Cleve-
land across the Cuyahoga River valley. This rendering
was for the previous development concept, One West
Twenty, by Brickhaus and Integrity (Brickhaus).

Andrew Brickman, principal at Brickhaus, did not respond prior to publication to questions posed to him by NEOtrans through his Web site's inquiry form. Dan Siegel, founder of Integrity Real Estate Group, was unable to provide confirmation about the site's current developers or any project specifics.

"There are developers looking at the site but I have confidentiality agreements in place so I can't discuss who they might be," Siegel said.

Last year, Brickhaus loaned $4 million to a company organized by Siegel using the Duck Island property as collateral for a deal Siegel did in Maryland in 2019. Siegel said that mortgage doesn't figure into what is happening currently with the site.

"The $4 million mortgage had nothing to do with this development," he said. "The loan has been satisfied and the mortgage has been released."

Integrity is developing a 58-unit boarding house for graduate students and interns in Cleveland Heights, just up the hill from Case Western Reserve University which is building a 600-bed, $72 million dormitory project. Integrity's development is across Euclid Heights Boulevard from Flaherty & Collins' $100 million Top Of The Hill mixed-use development.

END