Funds sought for Cleveland-Chicago rail development plan

Amtrak’s existing (blue) and proposed (green) routes and stations are
shown here, with a focus on the Cleveland-Chicago transportation cor-
ridor. A group of metropolitan planning organizations in the corridor
led by Greater Cleveland’s Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating
Agency want to address freight and passenger rail traffic congestion
on the busy Norfolk Southern rail line to allow for expansion of both
 (Amtrak Connects US). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Agencies between Cleveland and Chicago have joined forces to request federal funds to identify how best to expand freight and passenger rail services on the busy Norfolk Southern (NS) Corp.-owned rail line that links those metro areas.

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Sherwin-Williams HQ construction starts (PHOTOS)

The roof of the Rockefeller Building, above the 17th floor of John
D. Rockefeller’s classic structure at 614 W. Superior Ave., offers
a front-row seat to the construction of another addition to the
downtown Cleveland skyline — the global headquarters of
Sherwin-Williams (all photos are contributed or by KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Nov. 29, 2021 may be remembered as the day that construction work began on Sherwin-Williams’ $300-plus-million global headquarters. To others, it may be known as the date when one of downtown Cleveland’s largest “parking craters” died. Even though the official groundbreaking ceremony isn’t scheduled until 5 p.m. Dec. 15 (hopefully with no further delays), it looks like quite a bit of work may be under way by that time.

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County offers large East Cleveland property

Located near East Cleveland’s central business district on Euclid
Avenue is this roughly 4.25-acre property, shaded in blue, owned
by Cuyahoga County that it would like to sell or lease for possible
redevelopment. The site is between the Red Line rail rapid transit’s
Superior Station and stops on the HealthLine bus rapid transit, only
a half-mile from the edge of University Circle (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Cuyahoga County has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the disposition of a large piece of land that, if redeveloped, could help commercial activity in East Cleveland’s central business district. The sale or lease and possible redevelopment of the property could leverage off nearby University Circle and adjacent transit lines in providing a desperately needed economic lift to the long-struggling inner-ring suburb, say two advocacy groups.

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More student housing near Cleveland State University

Two commercial buildings on Prospect Avenue are due to be trans-
ferred next week to a new ownership group that plans to renovate
each with apartments for students at nearby Cleveland State Uni-
versity (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

A group of local investors is seeking to develop two historic commercial buildings near Cleveland State University (CSU) with student housing. However, ground-floor commercial spaces will be retained, including one for an existing tenant, the Cuyahoga County Veterans Service Commission.

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Apartments + Meijer market to break ground Dec. 14

An expansive six-story apartment building with a ground-floor Meijer
grocery store at Cedar Avenue is one of many developments get-ting
underway along and near East 105th Street at the east end of the new
Opportunity Corridor Boulevard. Ground will be broken for this
planned mixed-use building on Dec. 14 (Bialosky).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

One day after Cleveland City Council approved tax incentives for a new apartment building with a Meijer urban-format grocery store on the ground floor, a contractor for the developer applied to the city for permits for that project’s groundbreaking ceremony. The event will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at the project site — the southwest corner of East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue.

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Sherwin-Williams sets new HQ groundbreaking date

Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower will be the fourth-tallest
building in downtown Cleveland’s skyline, reaching 36 stories and
616 feet above the corner of West 3rd Street and Superior Avenue.
But the exact site where the golden shovels of a groundbreaking
ceremony will turn shovels of dirt isn't exactly clear. The new
data for that ceremony is -- 5 p.m. Dec. 15, 2021 (Pickard
Chilton). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

After a last-minute change in plans, Sherwin-Williams (SHW) has set a new date for a groundbreaking ceremony for its new, $300-plus-million global headquarters in downtown Cleveland. The event will instead be held from 5-8 p.m. Dec. 15.

The location appears to be roughly the same location as before — on the parking lot closest to the west side of Public Square. But it’s not easy to tell from the event coordinator’s permit application to the city, submitted today.

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Duck Island apartments, townhouses planned

Proposed by M Panzica Development LLC, the Abbey Avenue
Apartments, left, and Townhomes, seen at right, would fill one
of the  largest undeveloped plots of land in Duck Island. The
enclave is actually part of Tremont but many consider it a tran-
sition rea between Tremont and Ohio City to the west. Either
way, it’s a hot development zone. This is the northeast corner
of the proposed apartment and townhome development 
(GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

On one of the largest undeveloped plots of land in the heart of Duck Island’s development hot zone, a locally active real estate developer plans to build a mix of for-rent, market-rate housing styles. The project, called Abbey Avenue Apartments and Townhomes, is proposed for the block bounded by Abbey, Smith Court plus West 19th and 20th streets.

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Cleveland offers more jobs than some Sun Belt powerhouses

Greater Cleveland is creating more jobs than most cities in the
Great Lakes/Midwest region and, indeed, more than in some
Sun Belt economic powerhouses. That is intensifying the de-
mand for more new housing, including these apartment build-
ings being built by Columbus-based Avenue Partners on West
73rd Street in the Battery Park area (Graves Lumber).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Whether they’re statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor or employment listings at one of the world’s largest jobs Web sites, the data for Greater Cleveland is looking rosy again, for the first time since the global pandemic began in early 2020. Indeed, the number of paychecks being created in this Great Lakes metropolis is exceeding those being created in traditional Sun Belt economic powerhouses like Austin, Charlotte, Orlando and San Diego.

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Sherwin-Williams HQ builders to get an HQ, too

View and location of the 18,000-square-foot Gilman Building next
to the 1-million-square-foot Sherwin-Williams global headquarters.
The Gilman will apparently endure for a couple more years as the
construction offices for the headquarters project after a construc-
tion management firm acquires it in the coming days (Pickard
Chilton). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

With an anticipated sale of the Gilman Building closing this week, Sherwin-Williams’ (SHW) global headquarters development team expects to gain its own HQ of sorts in the form of a construction office over the next two years. But the long-term future of this five-story, modernist-clad Victorian-era building at 1350 W. 3rd St. in downtown Cleveland is uncertain.

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Cleveland lakefront park wins design funds

A conceptual plan for expanding lakefront land farther out into Lake
Erie would not only create more land for lakefront recreation, but it
would also protect Interstate 90 from damage by wave action and
rising lake water levels resulting from climate change (Metroparks).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

While shovel-ready plans for an expanded lakefront park just east of downtown Cleveland could be just 18 months away, don’t expect to be able to use that enlarged park for many more years. That’s especially true for a proposed off-shore park island.

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City Club Apartments tower gets go-ahead

It could be merely a matter of weeks before a groundbreaking
ceremony is held for the 23-story City Club Apartments tower on
Euclid Avenue, just west of East 9th Street and the unrelated City
Club Building (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

With project financing closing today and a construction permit in hand, it may only be a matter of weeks before shovels hit the ground at 776 Euclid Ave. for the new City Club Apartments tower.

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Four regional trail projects advance

Four regional trail projects in Cuyahoga County were advanced in
their planning to either study their feasibility or to develop detailed
engineering and environmental documentation so they can be eligible
for federal construction dollars. A close-up of the the southeast/lower-
right portion of the above map appears at the link below (Metroparks).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Cleveland Metroparks today announced it was awarded $950,000 by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to advance the planning and design of four regional transportation projects that encompass 5.7 miles of trail and bicycle connections on Cleveland’s East Side and in the city of Euclid. Three of the four projects impact Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood and the southeast side of the city.

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BOOMING! More big East Side warehouses coming

Four large development sites on Cleveland’s near-east side, ranging
in size from 11 to 40 acres, are already on the market and/or being
developed for one user or many end-users to capitalize on the locally
and nationally booming warehousing and light-industrial market. All
of the sites are close to major highways and transit lines to ensure
access to shipping routes and the region's workforce (MyPlace/KJP).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

More than 1,000 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment are some of the potential spin-off benefits from multiple large warehousing projects blooming on Cleveland’s East Side — along the Opportunity Corridor and in Slavic Village.

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Sherwin-Williams HQ groundbreaking delayed

An empty Jacobs Lot on Public Square in downtown Cleveland
greeted pedestrians, motorists and homeless people this morning
Instead, there was supposed to be a large tent set up on this lot for
a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the official start of con-
struction of Sherwin-Williams’ new global headquarters (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Today was to be the day that VIPs and media would record for posterity the official start of construction on Sherwin-Williams’ (SHW) new $300-plus million global headquarters. However, that celebration is going to have to wait for another day.

“Due to scheduling conflicts, the HQ groundbreaking event will not take place today,” said Julie Young, SHW’s vice president of global corporate communications, in an e-mail to NEOtrans. “A new event date has not been finalized.”

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Cleveland Clinic to demolish ex-Cleveland Play House

Featuring three theaters around a central rotunda, the 1984 renovation
of the Cleveland Play House and inclusion of the former Sears depart-
ment store resulted in the largest regional theater complex in the Uni-
ted States totaling nearly 300,000 square feet. But since CPH moved
to the Allen Theater downtown in 2011, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
has struggled to find a new use for the facility which is to be razed
(Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Redesigned by a world-famous architect in his hometown. Site of the first stage performances by the Clevelander who made The Wicked Witch of the West famous. Shaker Heights native Paul Newman and many other notable actors also got their starts at the place once called the 86th Street Theater.

According to two sources, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation will seek to demolish all structures that were once part of the Cleveland Play House (CPH), 8500 Euclid Ave. That includes the adjacent former Sears department store along Carnegie Avenue. Demolition could occur this winter.

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Fairfax Market development wins financing

For now just vacant land, the southwest corner of East 105th Street
(at left) and Cedar Avenue (at right) will likely be a very different
place soon. With construction due to start early next year on the
Fairfax Market and many other developments nearby, this part of
the Fairfax neighborhood may be a vibrant, urban neighborhood in
just two years (Bialosky). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Financing was awarded to the first phase of a mixed-use development on the southeast corner of East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue that aims to capitalize on the many infrastructure, health care and residential developments nearby.

Using the working titles of Cedar Avenue Mixed Use and/or the Fairfax Market, Fairmount Properties’ won $37 million in bond financing from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority for the $59 million, 190,000-square-foot building and attached three-level, 209-space parking garage.

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Two Tremont markets fade in a rite of passage

If left unattended for one growing season, the vines would surely
swallow up the Fairfied Food Market in Tremont. The dive is a
reminder of Tremont’s working-class era as well as the years be-
fore gentrification began to take hold at the start of the 21st cen-
tury. But gentrification swallowed up the market before the
vines could (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Tremont doesn’t have a grocery store but it does have tiny neighborhood markets. And two gritty members of that shrinking fraternity are about to fade into history.

The demise of the Fairfield Food Market and the Abbey Market & Grocery are a rite of passage as Tremont continues its transition from a rough and tough neighborhood of Eastern European, African-American and Appalachian people who worked in the nearby mills and other Cleveland industries. Replacing them in the last few decades are a wide and gentrifying mix of young professionals, service workers and others who live in new or renovated townhomes and apartments.

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Downtown townhomes sell to out-of-state investor

For nearly $6 million, the 16-unit, for-rent Milton Townhomes sold
to an investor from Tulsa, Okla. who is acquiring properties of
similar value in markets throughout the United States (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

 

Yesterday, a 16-unit townhouse complex on the east side of downtown Cleveland and built five years ago was sold to an out-of-state investor. The buyer, Milton Townhomes LLC, acquired the for-rent townhomes and their 0.4-acres of property for just under $6 million from Jobu Needs A Refill LLC — referring to a line from the 1989 sports comedy movie Major League about the Cleveland Indians.

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Large apartment building planned in Lakewood

In addition to the redevelopment of the Phantasy Theater on Detroit
Avenue in Lakewood into Studio West 117, its developers would
like to construct a large apartment building on the site of the closed
National Tire & Battery service center seen at left in this August
2019 view. A few months after this photo was taken, the NTB
shop closed and was put up for sale. (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Site is across the street from Phantasy Theater

One of the surprise applicants to a new ‘megaprojects’ tax credit program was the Studio West 117 development, a project now under way at the east end of Lakewood. Until the tax credit applications were submitted Oct. 29 to the Ohio Department of Development, public information about the project showed it was limited to renovations of historic buildings.

Now, a significant new-construction apartment building for seniors is being added to the $75 million planned revitalization those historic structures into a hub of entrepreneurship, arts, culture, health and human services for Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community.

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Ohio City project’s rejection to be appealed

Knez Homes’ second try at building townhomes on Bridge Avenue
in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood met the same rejection by a
planning panel as the first, despite making changes so it would
meet zoning code requirements. The developer said it would
appeal the rejection through the courts (Knez).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Despite meeting the requirements of the city of Cleveland’s existing and proposed zoning code, a planned townhouse development for the Ohio City neighborhood was shot down by the City Planning Commission. It is the second time a townhouse project by the same developer at this location was rejected by the same panel.

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Big commerce park planned for Slavic Village

A large warehousing, distribution and logistics development called
Commerce Park 77 is planned for Cleveland’s Slavic Village neigh-
borhood. It could add hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands
of square feet of new warehousing space on the east side Interstate
77 that’s accessible to labor including from the Broadway Avenue
transit corridor. This image is an example of the type of large-
scale warehouse structures planned for the site (ULI).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Due in part to the explosive growth in e-commerce, developers can’t build warehousing, distribution and logistics centers in Northeast Ohio fast enough to meet demand. The challenge for shippers, investors and community development officials is to find sites big enough and close enough to existing transportation routes and customer markets, as well as to an existing workforce.

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Nine of 42 TMUD applications are from Greater Cleveland

Applications to the Ohio Department of Development’s
new Transformational Mixed Use Development tax
credit program were submitted last week that could
put more construction cranes over Ohio’s largest cities
and even some smaller municipalities. NEOtrans re-
ceived a list of applicants today and is sharing that list
lpublicly (CurbedLA). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Responding to a public records request from NEOtrans, the Ohio Department of Development supplied to NEOtrans a complete list of all applications to the new Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credit program. Project applications had to be submitted to the state at the end of the business day Oct. 29. There are a lot of numbers to break down in the applications.

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MidTown seeks partner for ambitious Euclid-East 55th rebirth

The intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 55th Street was
one of Cleveland’s most densely developed urban nodes. That
is, until post-war urban sprawl, white flight and deindus-
trialization drained the city of more than half of its population.
MidTown Cleveland Inc. is undertaking an effort to help
reverse that trend and re-energize this once-vibrant urban
node (MTC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

MidTown Cleveland Inc. wants to restore much of the density and vibrancy at what was once among the city’s most important intersections. It is requesting a development partner to help it achieve that goal.

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