Two old Hough walk-ups: two fates

Looking south on East 89th Street, two 1920-built apartment buildings stand
across the street from each other. Each faces a decidedly different future. The
one on the left is structurally unsound and likely to be demolished. The building
at right will be renovated and expanded with workforce apartments (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Two century-old, walk-up apartment buildings face each other on East 89th Street in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. One is structurally unsound and in danger of collapse after it was neglected by a so-called foundation facing a huge unpaid tax bill. The other will have its renovation and expansion plan reviewed by a committee of the City Planning Commission starting this week after it was bought by a successful, civic-minded local investor.

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Cleveland Clinic’s big projects are on the move

This aerial view of the Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus shows the
addition of more than $1.3 billion worth of new construction and
renovation projects. It includes a conceptual redevelopment of the
former Cleveland Play House site in the foreground. But this is an
evolving masterplan as the overhead view at the end of the article
indicates (CCF). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

To say that the Cleveland Clinic has a lot of development activity happening would be a major understatement. And some of that $1.3 billion worth of construction at its Main Campus is already starting to manifest itself on the landscape.

This week, the Clinic is starting site preparation work for its massive new Neurological Institute on Carnegie Avenue. It also delivered plans to the city for its expanded Cole Eye Institute to be reviewed starting next week. The health care system has been prepping the site for the first phase of its new pathogens center. And it is finalizing plans for a full or partial demolition and redevelopment of the ex-Cleveland Play House property, the details for which could be released this fall.

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Ukrainian refugees seek, offer hope

Ukrainian-Americans, refugees of the Russo-Ukrainian War plus their
families and friends gathered Aug. 5-7 for the annual Pokrova Ukrainian
Festival at the Pokrova Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Parma. It was
the largest turnout in recent memory, including before the pandemic. The
number of attendees, including a large number of younger families and
children, was apparently boosted by the arrival of so many war refugees
to Greater Cleveland (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

While NEOtrans normally covers real estate developments and other business activities in Greater Cleveland, we also occasionally cover economic trends. Those trends, such as the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County adding more working-age population and creating more jobs than many Sunbelt economic powerhouses, also drive business growth and real estate development.

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Shaker Hts, developer reach deal for ex-car dealership site

 Metropolitan Holdings Ltd. of Columbus plans to build next to
 the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights a 250,000-square-foot
  mixed-use development with 140 mixed-income residences
above 18,000 square feet of retail and office uses (RDL).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

The City of Shaker Heights has entered into a preliminary agreement with a Columbus-based developer interested in constructing an architecturally distinctive, mixed-use building on vacant city-owned land, formerly the Qua Buick-Pontiac car dealership, across Warrensville Center Road from the existing first phase of the Van Aken District.

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Stokes West wins final approval

Stokes West, a planned 261-unit residential development in
Cleveland’s University Circle, won final approval today from the
City Planning Commission (LDA). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

City Planning Commission today voted to support the final design of a large mixed-use development called Stokes West in Cleveland’s University Circle after nearly a year of debate over the fate of six historic but neglected rowhouses. The project’s landscaping plan still has to reviewed by the commission but today’s vote puts the development on a path to secure a building permit and start construction, possibly by the end of the year.

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Buckeye neighborhood plan sets goals

The Buckeye neighborhood has several anchors for broader redevelopment.
One of those is the Moreland Theater, across Buckeye Road from Providence
House, which is intended to be the anchor for the new Buckeye Arts Innovation
and Technology District (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

“That neighborhood has good bones” is often said about an inner-city community as its leaders look for foundations in the area on which to build its comeback. Unfortunately, it is not always true the bones are good or if they even exist. But for Cleveland’s Buckeye neighborhood, located on the city’s southeast side, it has a number of features in it or nearby that can be considered good bones on which muscles can be enhanced to regain lost strength.

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Harbor 44 sets new course in Ohio City

Looking south from Lorain Avenue on the one-way, southbound-
only West 44th Street, the planned Harbor Flats apartments is
planned for the east side of the street with the Harbor Row town-
homes proposed just beyond it. However, some design elements
shown here may change, including the signage on the side of the
building which is intended to be visible from Lorain. Also, the
planter boxes along the front may be lowered slightly (Horton
Harper). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

With City Planning Commission approval behind it, the developer of Harbor 44 is ready to set sail on its next phases of the mixed-use development in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Local Development Partners, LLC (LDP) in 2021 completed phase one at the southeast corner of Lorain Avenue and West 44th Street, called Harbor Street before 1905. 

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New developer turns in big property plays

Looking west at Cleveland’s Superior Arts District and downtown from
the intersection of Superior Avenue and East 26th Street plus the ramps
to/from Interstate 90. This is the area in which TurnCap/TurnDev has
reportedly made its largest play for properties — about 650,000 square
feet  and counting. The largest of these is the Artcraft Building, at
left (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A Beachwood-based real estate development partnership that’s less than two years old is making a lot of big moves in acquiring real estate in Cleveland’s urban core. The “where, why and how” questions surrounding those acquisitions are answered by “who” is behind those buys.

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Shaker Square commercial district sold

Shaker Square has a new future after two nonprofits acquired it last week
from the Coral Company. This view looks east above Shaker Boulevard the
rapid transit tracks. Shaker Square sits amid mid-rise apartment and condo
buildings with single-family homes just beyond. In the distance, past the
square, is Shaker Heights (KJP file).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Community developments groups Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Burten Bell Carr Development have purchased the historic Shaker Square shopping center. The sale keeps the property under local, community-minded ownership and triggers a process by which deferred maintenance issues can be addressed and a strategy can be developed that will stabilize the center short-term and ensure it flourishes long-term.

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City seeks $15.7 million East 66th corridor boost

Looking south on East 66th Street from Hough Avenue in July 2022, this
important north-south street is more peaceful now than it has been in 150
years. That was before the neighborhood became densely populated with
the city’s economic growth and became over-populated as a result of the
Great Depression, the Great Migration, block-busting and red-lining in
the postwar years that sent Hough into a downward spiral. Now, new
investments are turning this neighborhood into a more attractive
place again (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

In 2012, backers of and participants in a study of improving the East 66th Street corridor in Cleveland’s Hough and MidTown neighborhoods probably couldn’t imagine how much development would be happening over the next decade along this long-neglected corridor. Many of those same stakeholders are now seeking a major investment in this north-south street to support its further development over the coming decade.

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Campaign arrives to expand Cleveland Amtrak service

Several business and planning organizations have joined forces to
lobby for expanded Amtrak passenger rail service to the railroad’s
downtown Cleveland station. While the state of Ohio ponders if it
will tap into the largest-ever infusion of federal dollars into passen-
ger rail for service on a new route to Columbus and Cincinnati,
Cleveland interests want to expand service on existing east-west
Amtrak routes. The above photo is from Providence, RI (Amtrak).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) are advocating to expand Cleveland’s Amtrak service into a central passenger rail line. As the economic powerhouse of Northeast Ohio, Downtown Cleveland is home to the state’s largest jobs hub and residential downtown area, making it central to business, housing and events, and a critical access route within the region and beyond. The organizations are joining forces to seek community input and support for the initiative through a survey, running through the month of August.

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PearlBrook shopping center to be razed

Everything from Luna’s Deli & Restaurant at the left to Athens
Imported Foods & Deli, a fixture here since 1957 but out of view
to the right, will be demolished in the coming months. In the
place of 75-year-old PearlBrook shopping center will be a
Sheetz gas station and store plus to-be-named future
development (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

An historic retail strip where Cleveland meets Parma, but was often better known for its cinematic and musical neighbors, is due to be demolished. In place of the PearlBrook shopping center will be a Sheetz gas station and convenience store, plus some identified future development just north of it. The center, located at its namesake Pearl and Brookpark roads, has been the space between two places ever since it was built.

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