Birthing Beautiful Communities to rise on Chester

Northeast Ohio’s first stand-alone birthing center, in what would be a visible
and accessible location, is designed to help reduce Cuyahoga County’s
nationally high infant mortality rates (City Architecture).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Cabinet-maker MasterBrand to move HQ to Beachwood

North America’s largest cabinet maker MasterBrand Inc. will move its
corporate headquarters and dozens of jobs from Jasper, Indiana to
3300 Enterprise Parkway in suburban Beachwood (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Amtrak expansions to Cleveland win funding

Amtrak service in North Carolina has broken new ridership records with state-
supported services including 10 daily trains linking Charlotte and Raleigh at 79
mph. This is an example of the kind of Amtrak expansion of Ohio is reportedly
reportedly seeking (NCDOT). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Sherwin-Williams to move Valspar to Greater Cleveland

The name “Valspar” was removed from its headquarters and research center
near downtown Minneapolis, replaced by Sherwin-Williams’ name several
years after the Cleveland-based company bought its rival in 2017. But now,
sources say that most if not all 700 of the former Valspar employees
 will be moved to Greater Greater Cleveland (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Park Place Tech to buy Progressive’s Alpha campus

View of Progressive Insurance’s Alpha Drive complex in October 2022 as
seen from Interstate 271. The complex is the subject of a purchase agree-
ment with Park Place Technologies which needed larger offices, a ware-
house and data center for its growing business (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Major expansion of Fairview Hospital planned

Fairview Hospital’s North Campus, on the left, is where Cleveland Clinic
officials plan to expand the hospital’s medical and parking facilities, start-
ing by replacing its oldest structures across Lorain Avenue, at right. When
the older structures are replaced and demolished, new hospital facilities
will rise in their place (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Largest Hough development in a century

Taking up an entire city block, a redevelopment of the former Martin
Luther King Jr. High School property with 310 housing units, commercial
space and greenspace is further testament to the growth of University Circle-
area institutions and employment whose benefits are spilling over into Cleve-
land’s Hough neighborhood (LDA). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Canon, Cleveland Clinic form partnership

A potential landing spot for Canon Healthcare is the vacant but still-new
former IBM Explorys building at East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue.
The building is owned by Geis Companies and the land owned by
Cleveland Clinic. The site has been rumored to be of interest
by the newly established Canon Healthcare USA (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Plaza sought atop Ohio City Red Line station

GCRTA and a private developer will seek funding for a bridge cap over the Red
Line transit tracks, station and greenway south of Abbey Avenue in Cleveland's
Ohio City neighborhood. This view looks southward from Abbey next to
Columbus Road (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Sherwin-Williams’ HQ2: how big?

In this unofficial rendering, an HQ2 structure that includes all of Sherwin-
Williams’ unaccommodated existing existing and future office and parking
needs on the northeast corner of Superior Avenue and West 6th Street
could require a significant skyscraper. These are the types of planning
options Sherwin-Williams will reportedly consider over the next year
(Ian McDaniel). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Input sought on Watterson-Lake development

A simplified conceptual rendering of how a proposed mixed-use development
could look on the former Watterson-Lake School site on Detroit Avenue between
West 74th and 75th streets in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. The graphics,
called a massing were presented at a recent community meeting to gather input
on how to refine the design. The term “axon” here refers a three-dimensional,
axonometric view (Stantec). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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CSU narrows finalists to develop Arena

Four firms were invited to submit proposals to Cleveland State University’s
Euclid Avenue Development Corp. for at least the new arena if not an attached
parking garage and mixed use district along Payne Avenue and Interstate 90
in downtown Cleveland (Sasaki). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Tremont’s Lincoln Hts apartments start

An unofficial groundbreaking was held yesterday for the Lincoln Heights
Apartments in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood and construction vehicles
were delivered to the site at the west end of Breiver Avenue. However, town-
homes at the former Cleveland Animal Protective League property may be
pursued at a later date (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Now arriving: Woodhill Station East

A bird’s-eye view of the proposed Woodhill Station East in the foreground with
the first phase, a nearly completed Woodhill Station West, in the background
along Buckeye Road. This view looks northwest from the intersection of Buckeye
and Woodhill roads plus Shaker Boulevard. The light-rail “Rapid” station is just
out of view to the left (City Architecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Dix & Eaton grows, buys St. Louis PR firm

Dix and Eaton’s new offices on the top floors of the Bulkley Building in
Downtown Cleveland’s Playhouse Square will include a mix of social
and work areas including this lounge (Van Auken Akin).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

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.

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Next round of Brownfield grants starts Dec. 5

Just south of downtown Cleveland, the Scranton Peninsula site of a former
Republic Steel mill that manufactured chrome-plated nuts and bolts will
soon become home to about 1,000 residents in more than 600 apartments
roughly equally split among two developments. One of those is the NRP
Group’s The Peninsula, in the center-foreground, which won a $6 million
Brownfield grant from the state last year for site clean up (Adam Greene).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Greyhound, Barons may offer downtown, west-side stops

The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center near Cleveland State University is
a relatively quiet place after years of service cuts by the Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority. But it may soon see renewed activity if the transit
agency is able to reach a deal with Barons Bus Inc. for use of its downtown
station plus the Red Line rail stop at Puritas-West 150th (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Hawthorne School conversion starts Monday

A rebirth of Hawthorne Elementary School starts Nov. 13 as construction
workers will descend upon the site on that date following the closing this
past week of financing to convert the 106-year-old building into apart-
ments (Bialosky). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Sherwin-Williams may advance 2nd tower in 2024

This may not be the last time we see a building under construction from this
angle, looking east from the Rockefeller Building at West 6th Street, north
of Superior Avenue. Between the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters
tower and West 6th, another building may rise to accommodate additional
Sherwin-Williams employees, suppliers and corporate partners (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Ohio Savings Plaza has a buyer, plans

Ohio Savings Plaza, seen as the black and white building in the middle of the
image, has a little brother hiding around the corner and both buildings repor-
tedly have a buyer. The structure visible here at East 9th Street and Chester
Avenue in Downtown Cleveland reportedly will be converted from office
to residential with the ground-floor retail remaining (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Nela Park may add residential

From the air looking west into the sun setting next to distant Downtown
Cleveland, Nela Park looks much smaller than it does from the ground.
Three commercial buildings on the former campus of General Electric’s
Lighting Division could be converted to residential by its new owner
Phoenix Investors (LoopNet). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Courthouse proposals are on trial

The Justice Center’s courthouse tower is in the center of this view. But one
of the options for replacing the tower is to build a new courthouse where
approximately this view was taken — from just north of the intersection
of Lakeside Avenue and West 6th Street. This view is from the elevated
Shoreway highway which may not be here much longer. In front of the
current courthouse tower and slightly to the left is a Cuyahoga
County office building called Courthouse Square that is also
in play (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Downtown retail revival plan announced

Not a soul was in sight at The Avenue shopping mall at Tower City Center
last weekend, despite the rainy, cool weather that might have otherwise
prompted people to linger indoors. There was no pre-Halloween program-
ming or other activities to attract people to possibly shop and spend
money (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Collinwood school reopens as apartments

There’s no mistaking that a portion of the Longfellow School Apartments
in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood was fashioned from a
former school building. Chalkboards, wood cabinets and students’
cubbies remain for residents’ use in the new senior housing
complex (Vesta). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

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.

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Cleveland, Maple Hts projects add hundreds of jobs

A new company to Cleveland, LabConnect will open on Carnegie Avenue at
what has been the Athersys headquarters for nearly 20 years. LabConnect's
expansion to Cleveland could happen in early 2024 (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

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. 

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County Courthouse project gets seven proposals

An intriguing proposal for the new Cuyahoga County Courthouse was
submitted by DBL Development LLC, a partnership of local companies
seeking to locate the court facilities in multiple structures that would
replicate historic buildings from downtown Cleveland’s past (DMD).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Gordon Square: more apartments, townhomes

Looking north toward the proposed Breakwater Residences, the existing
Edison at Gordon Square apartments just beyond, and Lake Erie in
the distance. Herman Park is at the bottom of the image (Dimit).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Local projects may benefit from federal incentives

Construction is moving along on the high-rise Farnsleigh Apartments at
the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights at the end of the light-rail Blue
Line. Many housing developments are planned at or near rail and bus
rapid transit stations in Greater Cleveland to address a housing shortage
but tight lending and high interest rates have slowed the start of new
projects. New guidance for existing federal financing could free up
new lending. (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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North Coast development authority launched

An aerial view of proposed plans for redeveloping Downtown Cleveland’s
lakefront are shown looking northwesterly from the perspective of down-
town. The landscaped malls are at lower left from which a new North
Coast Connector land bridge would cross the lakefront railroad tracks
and Shoreway highway converted into a boulevard. A transportation
center with parking plus a rail and bus station is planned next to the
connector which would end at Lake Erie’s shore (FO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Old Aquarium razed for South Gordon Park plan

On the city’s East Side, a Cleveland Metroparks contractor yesterday
began demolishing the old Cleveland Aquarium at South Gordon Park.
The aquarium closed in 1985 due to structural problems with the build-
ing and has sat empty and decaying ever since (Brian Zimmerman).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Ohio City finance firm moving to the Flats

Next spring, Skylight Financial Group intends to relocate into a smaller
space above the BrewDog Cleveland Outpost on Scranton Peninsula
near downtown Cleveland. As recently as two years ago, this was
a lonely outpost in a desolate part of the Flats but is steadily
gaining more commercial and residential neighbors (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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North Coast plans updated, go public today

An aerial rendering of the planned changes to the North Coast Harbor area
of downtown Cleveland’s lakefront. This view shows Cleveland Browns
Stadium dominating the scene with the port facilities and West 3rd
Street at right and Voinovich Park at the foot of East 9th Street
to the left (FO). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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The Bell to ring people home in 2024

The former Ohio Bell headquarters on East 9th Street in downtown Cleveland
was custom-designed for a specific office user. When Ohio Bell successor AT&T
left in 2019, it was a difficult office space to fill, especially in a weak office market.
It was also a difficult residential conversion due to the building’s large floor plates
and blank walls on the east and west sides. But The Bell’s development team is
pulling it off, with an April 2024 target for opening (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

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.

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Cavs-Clinic Riverfront building is big, evolving

Although lacking in texture at this early stage of design, this massing of
Bedrock Real Estate’s planned Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance
Center, including the Cleveland Cavaliers’ new practice facility, shows the
large scale of the proposed development along the Cuyahoga River. After
input from the Cleveland Planning Commission is received, exterior
materials will be digitally added by architects to the center (Populous).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Ubotica puts US HQ in Greater Cleveland

Ubotica Technologies, an Irish firm developing artificial intelligence capabilities
for satellites, will locate its United States-based headquarters and business opera-
tions at the Ohio Aerospace Institute in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park.
The site is next to the NASA Glenn Research Center (OAI).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Depot on Detroit plans at RTA station unveiled

Several miles west of downtown Cleveland, The Depot on Detroit, an
apartment building planned for just west of the West Boulevard station,
will put 60 affordable apartments a short walk from frequent transit on
the Red Line and the 24-hour No. 26 bus, plus the hourly No. 18 bus.
That will give residents access to jobs, school, shopping and health
care (City Architecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Browns add more land to Berea development site

The Cleveland Browns’ CrossCountry Campus in suburban Berea is almost
set to expand. This view from August 2021 looks south down Pearl Street
from Lou Groza Boulevard. One of the few houses still standing in the way
of the campus expansion and associated mixed-use development is seen
at right (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Stark grounded as war erupts in Israel

Cleveland-based real estate firm Stark Enterprises’ founder Bob Stark, left, along
with his son and CEO Ezra Stark are in Israel after war erupted over the weekend.
Ezra is attempting to return to Cleveland as soon as possible (StarkEnterprises.com).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Ohio City’s largest build site: the Lutheran lot

The Lutheran Hospital employee and patient parking lot is outlined in red with
the I.B. Development LLC parcels outlined in yellow. This view is looking
east toward downtown Cleveland from the Ohio City neighborhood (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Seeds & Sprouts 33 – Sankofa Village Phase 4 coming, West 48th gets more townhomes, So might Midtown, Intro adding salon

A conceptual rendering of the fourth and final phase of Sankofa Village to
be built in the south end of the Campus District, just southeast of downtown
Cleveland. When completed, a total of 235 mixed-income residential units
will be provided, replacing the former Cedar Estates public housing
projects that stood here since the 1940s (City Architecture).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Cleveland seeks developers of JFK High

The former John F. Kennedy High School on Harvard Road, just east of Lee Road,
is already being demolished. What comes next depends on the responses the city
of Cleveland gets from real estate developers and others to an invitation to show
their interest in the nearly 14-acre site on the city’s southeast side. This is how
the school looked in April (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Glenville’s Cory Church, nee Park Synagogue, to be renewed

From the far corner of East 105th Street and Drexel Avenue in Cleveland’s
Glenville neighborhood, all appears well with Cory United Methodist Church,
built as the Park Synagogue. But closer inspections reveal many cracks in and
decay to the building’s masonry exterior. Those are about to receive a lot of
attention (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Getting empowered to shape Cleveland’s landscape

Cleveland Development Advisors and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress
jointly initiate Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative to bolster
the number of successful minority real estate developers and boost
economic growth in Greater Cleveland (Adam Greene).
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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.

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Bridgeworks grows by shrinking

Gone is the 16-story high rise and separate parking garage design concept
proposed for the Bridgeworks development at the west end of the Detroit-
Superior Bridge in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. It is replaced by a
seven-story building that incorporates more apartments, the same number of
 hotel rooms as previously planned, and more parking spaces within a single
seven-story building (GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Repurposed Greyhound station, tower planned

An unofficial massing for a possible tower being considered by two Connecticut-
based developers for the Greyhound station site. This is a view of the proposed
tower from the northeast side, looking southwest on Payne Avenue at the back-
side of the station site. This rendering was requested by NEOtrans for illustra-
tive purposes only (Ian McDaniel). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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Guardians start Progressive Field renovations

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.

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Cleveland Clinic unveils next phase of Innovation District

In 2025, this will be the view when looking northeast at the intersection of
Cedar Avenue and East 100th Street. At far left and at the center of this
rendering are the two buildings of the Sheikha Fatima bint Murbarak
Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health, the largest
research initiative in Cleveland Clinic’s more than 100-year history.
Their construction, a result of the Cleveland Innovation District
initiative,  is due to start early next year (Cleveland Clinic
Foundation). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

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.

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