One-million-square-foot mixed-use project planned next to I-271

Cannata Companies is proposing a massive development in
Warrensville Heights on Richmond Road next to Interstate
271. The development would feature offices in blue, plus
residential/hotel in orange, surface and structured parking
in gray and ground-floor retail/restaurants in red (HSB).

Cleveland-area real estate developer Cannata Companies is making a major play at a 14.5-acre site next to Interstate 271 in Warrensville Heights. Envisioned is a 1-million-square-foot, $87-million mixed-use development called SilverPoint.

According to a SilverPoint presentation, the Dodge Reports and information from a preliminary massing graphic, the development could have structures potentially rising from four to 11 stories high for apartments, hotel, offices and ground-floor retail/restaurants.

Through an affiliate Saint-Servan Centre Ltd., Cannata acquired the site from the Little Sisters of the Poor in 2015 for $2.2 million, public records show. Company founder Sam Cannata tends to sit on properties until he or the market determines a use for them.

A 227,640-square-foot 60-year-old building on the site will be demolished by winter. This past February, Saint-Servan Centre secured a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfield assessment and $1 million loan through the Cuyahoga County Department of Development to remediate lead and asbestos-containing materials.

In a written statement, Cannata said the I-271 corridor and especially the Chagrin Highlands area needs more Class A office development. It hasn't seen new office space added in two years since Pinecrest opened on the other side of I-271. The sub-market continues to have low vacancy rates despite the pandemic.

This conceptual site plan appeared in a presentation about
the proposed 1-million-square-foot development. An 11-
story hotel/residential building over a parking garage is
proposed at the top and right next to I-271 with offices
throughout much of the rest of the property (HSB).

"Cleveland’s eastern suburbs accounted for most of the market activity this quarter with the Chagrin Corridor posting a positive net absorption of 89,719 square feet and 110,431 square feet for the year," Colliers International's second-quarter 2020 office market report noted. The vacancy rate in the corridor was 9.4 percent.

"Nestled in our thriving business corridor, our plan is to expand development down Richmond Road to feature Class A office space, retail, and high-end residential housing," said Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers. "It will be exciting to see the transformation, expansion and new additions to the Friendly City in the near future."

Cannata has developed the mixed-use Greens of Aurora, office/industrial at 23590 Commerce Parkway in Beachwood, Vista Way mixed use and the Southside Corporate Centre in Garfield Heights, plus the Hillbrook Estates townhomes in Brecksville.

In 2016, Cannata's Saint-Servan Centre acquired the St. Peter Chanel High School, 480 Northfield Rd. in Bedford, for $700,000 to lease it out for multi-tenant use and sports programs. The school closed in 2013 due to declining enrollment.

But that seemed to be more of an emotional play for Cannata, a former St. Ignatius High School student who played memorable football games against Chanel. Only two years later, Cannata sold Chanel High School to the Bedford school district for $1.4 million which worked with the Cuyahoga Land Bank to demolish the school. Demolition began July 29 of this year.

END