For the non-profit organization Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC), their mission is often noted in news stories detailing Cuyahoga County’s infant mortality crisis. Sadly, the county has had one of worst infant mortality rates in the country and is a symptom of much larger problems including poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate housing and unaffordable health care. Much of the need is in Cleveland’s inner city and especially on the East Side. So, to meet the need, BBC is seeking to construct Northeast Ohio’s first free-standing birthing center in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood, on the north side of Chester Avenue, between East 63rd and 65th streets.
Friday, December 8, 2023
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Cabinet-maker MasterBrand to move HQ to Beachwood
A newly independent corporation with 13,600 employees company-wide in more than 20 manufacturing facilities and offices is relocating its headquarters to Greater Cleveland — specifically, Beachwood. While a 26-year-old, three-story office building at 3300 Enterprise Parkway will be its new corporate headquarters, MasterBrand’s operations center will remain in Jasper, Indiana along with a production facility and training center.
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Amtrak expansions to Cleveland win funding
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown announced today that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has selected four key routes in Ohio as priorities for Amtrak expansion and directed $500,000 to draw up construction-ready plans for each. Once those plans are finalized, then those routes would be eligible to apply for federal construction funding.
Friday, December 1, 2023
Sherwin-Williams to move Valspar to Greater Cleveland
Within the next few years, Sherwin-Williams reportedly intends to relocate most, if not all of Valspar’s headquarters and research jobs, or up to 700 employees, from Minneapolis to Greater Cleveland, according to a highly placed source. Global coatings giant Sherwin-Williams acquired its former rival in 2017 for $11 billion, setting off a remarkable growth trajectory for both companies. That is resulting in the construction of a Downtown Cleveland office skyscraper, the gobbling up of more existing office space downtown, a new suburban research center and the start of planning for significant additional downtown office space.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Park Place Tech to buy Progressive’s Alpha campus
Fast-growing Park Place Technologies, with nearly 500 employees in Greater Cleveland, has found a new, larger home after an extensive search that included expanding into a neighboring building or moving to downtown Cleveland. In fact, the property ultimately favored by the global data center and networking optimization firm matched the company’s requirements almost exactly. However, a title has yet to transfer to Park Place Technologies or any affiliates.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Major expansion of Fairview Hospital planned
In a significant project in Cleveland’s Kamm’s Corners neighborhood, a phased expansion of Cleveland Clinic’s Fairview Hospital, 18101 Lorain Ave., is in the works. The project is proposed to start by replacing older structures with new ones on the hospital’s North Campus. After those new structures are built, three groups of older structures on the South Campus will be demolished and their land redeveloped with future hospital facilities. The group of three structures are the seven-level Groveland Avenue parking garage, attached medical office buildings and, across Lorain Avenue at the North Campus, the Moll Cancer Pavilion.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Largest Hough development in a century
The largest planned, single development in a century is proposed for Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood by reutilizing the huge site of the closed Martin Luther King Jr. High School, 1651 E. 71st St. On that 11-acre property bounded by Hough and Lexington avenues plus East 71st and 73rd streets, 310 housing units and two divisible commercial spaces are planned as part of a neighborhood destination.
Monday, November 27, 2023
Canon, Cleveland Clinic form partnership
Global imaging giant Canon Inc. and the locally based yet global Cleveland Clinic Foundation today announced their intentions to form a strategic research partnership to develop imaging and healthcare information technologies to improve patient diagnosis, care and outcomes. The announcement, initiated by Canon, publicly reveals the first tangible development in nearly a year since the company said it had created a U.S. healthcare subsidiary Canon Healthcare USA Inc. and would locate its headquarters in Greater Cleveland.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Plaza sought atop Ohio City Red Line station
In Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) and a private developer will seek federal funding for a bridge cap over the Red Line transit tracks, West 25th Street train station and the Red Line Greenway to improve pedestrian connections to existing and future developments. GCRTA’s board on Tuesday will vote on a staff recommendation to authorize the pursuit of funds to plan for and construct the bridge cap to support a pedestrian plaza and provide a second stairwell/elevator entry, called a station head house, to the rail station below. GCRTA’s board typically approves staff recommendations.
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Sherwin-Williams’ HQ2: how big?
Just as NEOtrans was publishing breaking news Nov. 10 that Sherwin-Williams in 2024 would advance planning for the second phase of its headquarters, a trusted source responded with some remarkable data. That source provided employment data for Sherwin-Williams’ various office locations in Greater Cleveland and in Minneapolis which shows the company is dramatically expanding with new jobs that, if continued, shows the urgency in the company’s consideration of a second headquarters structure in downtown Cleveland, hereinafter referred to as HQ2. And based on that employment information and other insights, it is likely to be a significant structure or structures.
Monday, November 20, 2023
Input sought on Watterson-Lake development
At a recent community input meeting, a basic concept was revealed for redeveloping the former Watterson-Lake School site on Detroit Avenue, between West 74th and 75th streets in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. The design concept, called a massing, suggested a mixed-use, mixed-income development offering 112 apartments in a five-story building set back from Detroit, 12 rental townhomes, retail and small business incubator spaces fronting Detroit, plus community and park spaces.
Friday, November 17, 2023
CSU narrows finalists to develop Arena
Four finalists were invited by Cleveland State University (CSU) and its development arm Euclid Avenue Development Corp. (EADC) to submit proposals to build, at minimum, a new multi-purpose arena for the university. In addition, their proposals could also include a parking garage and mixed-use district of housing and shops that were proposed as part of its $650 million campus master plan unveiled last year. The arena, parking deck and mixed-use district were all proposed to rise along Payne Avenue, just west of Interstate 90 in downtown Cleveland.
Tremont’s Lincoln Hts apartments start
Hidden away behind houses and trees, construction on another large development in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood got under way this week. And while this latest development project is largely shielded from view, it simultaneously reveals the continuing strength of Cleveland’s multi-family market as well as the comparative weakness of its for-sale housing market. That’s especially true in certain neighborhoods that, starting next year, will lose their ability to offer 100 percent property tax abatement for new, for-sale homes.
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Now arriving: Woodhill Station East
A neighborhood-level design review panel today gave thumbs-up, with a few conditions, to conceptual plans for the next phase in the effort to replace the 83-year-old, 487-unit Woodhill Homes public housing in Cleveland’s Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood. Woodhill Station East, a 64-unit mixed-income apartment complex with ground-floor retail at 9615 Buckeye Rd., is proposed to be the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (CMHA) third phase in its Woodhill Redevelopment efforts that would ultimately result in the construction of 640 mixed-income housing units on the city’s east side.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Dix & Eaton grows, buys St. Louis PR firm
With a new Downtown Cleveland headquarters in the works, Dix & Eaton will move into it as one of the largest, employee-owned communications companies in the United States. That change in status occurred on Nov. 1 when the 71-year-old strategic communications firm acquired Standing Partnership, a 32-year-old, St. Louis-based marketing communications consultancy. The acquisition was announced today by Dix & Eaton. Terms of the transaction between the two privately owned firms will not be disclosed.
Next round of Brownfield grants starts Dec. 5
Several things have long slowed Cleveland’s post-industrial transition to embrace new economic drivers. One of the biggest is the lack of large, clean properties near existing labor. The city recently announced a $50 million land assembly program that could be boosted to $100 million with other funding. While some of that funding could come from the private sector, another source may well come from a new round of state funding to aid redevelopment, announced today.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Greyhound, Barons may offer downtown, west-side stops
With the clock ticking down to an eventual departure from the 75-year-old Greyhound station in Downtown Cleveland, the operator of long-distance bus services is seeking new stations to serve area travelers. After an earlier plan to relocate Cleveland’s station to the Triskett Red Line rapid transit station on the west side met civic resistance, Barons Bus Inc. is pursuing two stations locally. Cleveland-based Barons operates bus service under a license with Greyhound.
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Hawthorne School conversion starts Monday
While classes aren’t starting on Monday morning at Hawthorne Elementary School, 3575 W. 130th St., in Cleveland Jefferson neighborhood, that is when Sustainable Community Associates (SCA) is going to school. The Cleveland-based real estate development firm has repurposed many an old Cleveland building into apartments, some with shops or restaurants. But this is SCA’s first lesson in converting a school to apartments.
Friday, November 10, 2023
Sherwin-Williams may advance 2nd tower in 2024
One year from now, as Sherwin-Williams employees are scheduled to begin moving into their new, 616-foot headquarters tower in Downtown Cleveland, there are renewed rumblings that the global coatings giant will pursue the development of the west half of its HQ site. The HQ site is west of Public Square and the west half of the HQ site is along West 6th Street, between Superior and St. Clair avenues. That’s where Sherwin-Williams has proposed a second office tower and a row of low-rise, mixed use buildings extending around the corner of St. Clair to partially wrap its five-level, 920-space parking garage. And based on the company’s employment growth, it’s already outgrown its new headquarters.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Ohio Savings Plaza has a buyer, plans
NEOtrans has learned that the two-structure Ohio Savings Plaza in Downtown Cleveland has a buyer who has put the property under contract while its real estate team does its due diligence. NEOtrans has also learned that the buyer intends to partially convert the half-full, 500,000-square-foot. two-building property to residential. The larger of the two buildings, an 18-story tower at 1801 E. 9th St., is tentatively to be converted to apartments. The smaller building, called Park Plaza at 1111 Chester Ave. that faces Perk Park, will likely remain an office building.
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Nela Park may add residential
Many Greater Clevelanders have at least some familiarity with a place that could soon become home to many Greater Clevelanders. The owner of the former General Electric Lighting headquarters, 1975 Noble Rd. in East Cleveland, is preparing plans to convert several office buildings within the 94-acre Nela Park Campus into apartments and make those intentions known at a meeting of local stakeholders, possibly as early as this month, according to a source familiar with the project.
Friday, November 3, 2023
Courthouse proposals are on trial
In local real estate parlance, a “whale” is a development project whose total floorspace measures 1 million square feet or more. Not only are they big, they’re tough to get. But there are two Cleveland entities who were able to do what Capt. Ahab could not — catch the whale. Two whales are under construction right now — Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower downtown and Cleveland Clinic’s new Neurological Institute in the Fairfax neighborhood, near University Circle. A third whale is in the early stages of the chase, a stage where things are most fluid and thus, very intriguing.
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Downtown retail revival plan announced
Downtown Cleveland, Inc. today shared its Downtown Retail Strategy, designed as a roadmap to create a thriving retail environment in the urban core. Unveiled by Downtown Cleveland, Inc. President & CEO Michael Deemer during the 2023 State of Downtown at The City Club of Cleveland, the plan is one of Reimagining Downtown Cleveland’s near-term economic priorities. It aims to fill gaps in the city center’s marketplace and serve existing residents and businesses.
Collinwood school reopens as apartments
When schools are converted into apartments, they don’t always look like schools anymore — at least on the inside. The Longfellow School Apartments in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood put that notion into detention. Located at 650 E. 140th St. just south of Interstate 90, Longfellow had its second ribbon-cutting ceremony last week nearly 100 years after its first.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Cleveland, Maple Hts projects add hundreds of jobs
Tennessee-based laboratory services company LabConnect and local fermented foods producer Cleveland Kitchen Co. were approved this week for a combined $1.1 million in state job creation tax credits for up to 250 new jobs at facilities in Cleveland. Meanwhile, a growing Vendors Exchange International, LLC plans to move its offices and manufacturing facilities from a western suburb to Maple Heights where it will expand to more than 70 jobs, thanks to financial support from Maple Heights.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
County Courthouse project gets seven proposals
While the specific proposals for a new or renovated Cuyahoga County courthouse haven’t been publicly released yet by the county, a list of who submitted the proposals was provided to NEOtrans as a result of a public records request. And the list of seven respondents provides some insight as to who has presented what for the county’s nearly 900,000-square-foot courthouse facility that could cost $400 million to $700 million to build or renovate.
Gordon Square: more apartments, townhomes
Less than a year after acquiring the Premium Metals property, 5901-6001 Breakwater Ave., in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood, Beachwood-based developer TurnDev has released conceptual plans for developing the site with a mix of multifamily apartments and townhomes. Tentatively called Breakwater Residences, its 193 housing units and a long, five-story building represent a significant project but not as large as what was previously proposed for the site by another developer. And it’s less dense than what the city’s zoning code allows.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Local projects may benefit from federal incentives
Having too much office space, not enough housing inventory and tight private financing to address those conditions isn’t just a Greater Cleveland phenomenon. It’s a nationwide problem. So the federal government on Friday announced incentives to encourage the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use and develop surplus land owned by transit agencies.
Friday, October 27, 2023
North Coast development authority launched
With updated plans for redeveloping downtown Cleveland’s lakefront steadily rolling in like Lake Erie’s waves, the nonprofit development corporation charged with funding and implementing those plans also is coming together. Today, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced the initial board of directors for the new North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. (NCWDC) and its chair, David Gilbert, CEO of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Old Aquarium razed for South Gordon Park plan
After sitting empty and rotting away for nearly four decades, the old Cleveland Aquarium at South Gordon Park was finally demolished yesterday by contractors for the Cleveland Metroparks. The regional park system, whose long-term lease of this city-owned site took effect earlier this month, wasted no time in taking down the long-closed aquarium building. In the coming months, Metroparks officials said they intend to seek community input on how to improve South Gordon Park.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Ohio City finance firm moving to the Flats
Another significant office tenant with naming rights to their building is on the move -- and shrinking. This time, it's Cleveland-based financial planning firm Skylight Financial Group which is a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) in multiple Ohio cities. But unlike Ernst & Young (now EY) moving from one side of downtown Cleveland to the other, Skylight Financial will be leaving Ohio City's Market District in 2024 for Scranton Peninsula in the Flats.
Monday, October 23, 2023
North Coast plans updated, go public today
In a virtual session held earlier today, the community got to see a refinement of plans for Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront that were first shared publicly in July, namely for the area near North Coast Harbor. The plans, showing stadium renovations, transportation investments and conversion of lakefront parking lots to year-round public uses, were developed and refined by a consulting team hired by the city and led by Field Operations, a public spaces design firm based in New York City.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
The Bell to ring people home in 2024
At first, construction work at The Bell has a familiar ring to it. But this isn’t the usual conversion of a zombie office building in downtown Cleveland into residential or hotel uses. Instead, conversion of the former Ohio Bell Company headquarters, ongoing since July 2022, has been a different calling. What were once large, wide-open floors at the 16-story, 40-year-old office building have since been divided up into an average of 31 apartments per floor in the residential portions of the building at the southeast corner of Lakeside Avenue and East 9th Street.
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Cavs-Clinic Riverfront building is big, evolving
More illustrations were made publicly available this week, showing the large size of a new facility planned next to the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ basketball practice facility and Cleveland Clinic’s sports health-related medical services. Kansas City-based architectural firm Populous submitted the plans for what would be Bedrock Real Estate’s first new building in its ambitious $3.5 billion riverfront development to the City Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee.
Monday, October 16, 2023
Ubotica puts US HQ in Greater Cleveland
When a Dublin, Ireland-based maker of artificial intelligence software for commercial satellites looked for a home in the nation with the world’s largest space program, it didn’t choose to be near any of the NASA complexes south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Instead, it picked the only NASA center north of it to be its neighbor.
Friday, October 13, 2023
Depot on Detroit plans at RTA station unveiled
Conceptual plans for a new apartment building to be located just west of the West Boulevard rapid transit station in Cleveland’s Cudell neighborhood were submitted to the city this week. Called the Depot on Detroit, it’s the latest in a series of new apartment buildings planned, under construction or built recently near stations on Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) rail and bus rapid transit lines. These transit-oriented developments are intended to address poverty by shrinking the spatial disconnect between jobs and job-seekers caused by urban sprawl.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Browns add more land to Berea development site
As the Cleveland Browns and their owners continue to acquire more property this month in suburban Berea, its mayor recently teased news of their potential, still-secret development to occupy that land as an “exciting opportunity” for the community. Meanwhile the city approved the demolition of eight more houses just west of the Browns’ existing headquarters and practice facility. That’s in addition to 24 homes and a church leveled so far for what sources said would be a mixed-use development featuring a hotel, Browns- and football-themed restaurants and shops, plus sports and recreation facilities open to the public year-round.
Monday, October 9, 2023
Stark grounded as war erupts in Israel
Greater Cleveland real estate executive Ezra Stark is grounded in Israel by the outbreak of war over the weekend, Stark confirmed to NEOtrans through a company spokesperson. He was scheduled to fly out Sunday but most airlines including all U.S.-based carriers have temporarily suspended flights to and from the Middle Eastern nation due to its worsening security situation following a surprise, massive attack Oct. 7 by the terrorist group Hamas.
Friday, October 6, 2023
Ohio City’s largest build site: the Lutheran lot
Sooner or later, development pressures will find their way to Lutheran Hospital’s huge surface parking lot on West 25th Street in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. All around the 5-acre Cleveland Clinic Foundation-owned Lutheran Hospital parking lot, investors have built on or have big plans for just about every available piece of land. Even an unstable hillside across West 25th is being reborn as Irishtown Bend Park. There isn’t much room to grow. So the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio City Inc. and others are trying to get a handle on how best to develop the Lutheran lot someday in the future while making sure Clinic employees still have a place to park.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Seeds & Sprouts 33 – Sankofa Village Phase 4 coming, West 48th gets more townhomes, So might Midtown, Intro adding salon
Sankofa Village will be adding its fourth, final phase in Cleveland's Central neighborhood. An extra space just off West 48th getting more townhomes. One Midtown Luxury Townhomes seeks expansion. And Intro gains national beauty salon chain as tenant.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Cleveland seeks developers of JFK High
With demolition underway at the 14-acre former John F. Kennedy High School and Recreation Center site in Cleveland’s Lee-Harvard neighborhood, nearby residents may wonder what’s going to reactivate this large property. City officials began taking steps yesterday to answer that question by inviting real estate developers and others to express their interest in the site, 17100 Harvard Rd., just east of the Lee-Harvard Shopping Center.
Monday, October 2, 2023
Glenville’s Cory Church, nee Park Synagogue, to be renewed
Cory United Methodist Church (UMC), the first stop on Cleveland’s Civil Rights Trail and a landmark in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood for more than 100 years, is about to undergo major repairs to its worn exterior. Thanks to recent grants and donations, the façade of the former Park Synagogue will see significant restoration work to include fiberglass replacements of missing pieces of masonry, repairs of cracked concrete and bricks, plus a rebuild of its columns, cornices, parapets, granite stairs and more. Plans for the repairs were recently submitted to the city.
Getting empowered to shape Cleveland’s landscape
Fourteen promising entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds have been selected to participate in an innovative new real estate development program with a clear mission: to break down historical barriers and empower these individuals with the knowledge and tools needed to shape the future of Cleveland’s communities. The Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative, or CLE-EDI, will bolster the ranks of successful minority real estate developers in the region and to stimulate economic growth in the communities from which these entrepreneurs hail.
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Bridgeworks grows by shrinking
In Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, and in the face of financial headwinds affecting projects nationwide, the long-planned Bridgeworks development underwent a major redesign that would cut costs and add more space by filling land, not the sky. Gone is a 16-story building and separate parking garage, replaced by a single, seven-story building that incorporates parking within a structure that fills out more of the 2.13-acre site at the west end of the Detroit-Superior Bridge. The revised plans will be reviewed by the city’s design-review boards in the coming weeks. Financing from the city, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority was arranged last spring.
Friday, September 29, 2023
Repurposed Greyhound station, tower planned
Two Connecticut development firms have returned to their state’s Western Reserve with the goal of redeveloping the landmark Greyhound bus station in downtown Cleveland. While their plans are still early on, a basic concept for the plan appears to be taking form and the developers are reaching out to City Hall and Playhouse Square Foundation officials to get their input on that vision that could include a repurposed station and an apartment tower.
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Guardians start Progressive Field renovations
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With the Cleveland Guardians season ending, at least when it comes to home games, a $202 million renovation of Progressive Field is getting fully underway today (Manica). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
After yesterday’s emotional send-off to Cleveland Guardians’ Manager Terry Francona at his last home game at Progressive Field, the Major League Baseball team is wasting no time building for the future. Today, the club work put renovations to the baseball stadium into fastball mode by removing merchandise, furniture, equipment and even the grass on the baseball field, according to an e-mail sent earlier this week to the city and other stakeholders.
Cleveland Clinic unveils next phase of Innovation District
In the midst of a global pandemic, state, local and Cleveland Clinic officials in 2021 announced the Cleveland Innovation District to expand health care research. Today, as part of that initiative, Cleveland Clinic unveiled the first phase of its expanded research facilities and announced plans to launch major construction of two new research buildings. The state-of-the-art facilities will be dedicated to scientific investigation and will significantly increase laboratory research space on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.