Cedar Branch YMCA to become African Town Plaza

Opened in 1942 and closed 70 years later, the Cedar Branch YMCA at East 77nd
Street was a safe and welcoming place for young African-American men. It could
be that again, led by Nigerian immigrant and real estate development James Sosan
who is seeking to give back to his adopted hometown (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

On this Thanksgiving, we’re reminded that there was a place on the city’s East Side that was once a source of thanks and appreciation to young African-American men for 70 Thanksgivings. That place was the Cedar Branch YMCA that helped young men gain a foothold to start climbing in the community. It could be that again for future Thanksgivings after it is renovated as a mixed-use project thanks to plans and financing that are now coming together.

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Lakewood’s Barry Buick to fall, apartments to rise

Looking west on Detroit Avenue from Rosewood Avenue in Lakewood, two apartment
buildings and a new Huntington Bank branch are planned to be built on the three blocks
of the former Steve Barry Buick car dealership. A view of some of the existing conditions
 is shown later in this article (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Another one of Lakewood’s former car dealerships on Detroit Avenue is about to come down. Next to fall is Steve Barry Buick, 16000 Detroit Ave., that closed in 2018, to be replaced by a pair of four-story apartment buildings plus a stand-alone bank branch. Site work could potentially start in a few months, said a Lakewood city official.

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New Shaker Square apartments stir again

The Van Aken Plaza at the east end of the Shaker Square commercial district is coming
down. After 85 years, the venerable shopping center along Van Aken Boulevard, south
of the two-story office building at right, will be demolished for future development,
possibly a a modern, competitive, multi-family building atop ground-floor retail
spaces (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Development projects in Shaker Square and elsewhere in Greater Cleveland that have languished in recent years are showing signs of life again. That new energy is thanks in part to new state funding that was awarded to make their development sites ready for construction and renovation.

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Downtown Heinen’s store to be reconfigured

Heinen’s Downtown Cleveland grocery store is being simplified for
customers by placing everything on the first floor (Michael Collier).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Work is underway to reconfigure what many have called America’s most beautiful grocery store. The work represents the most significant renovations to the Downtown Cleveland Heinen’s store, 900 Euclid Ave., since it opened in 2015.

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Ex-Leisy Brewery site back on the market again

The former Leisy Brewery property on Vega Avenue at Fulton Road at the south-
west corner of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood was envisioned as a residen-
tial redevelopment site by its current owner and others. But due to internal issues,
the owner is selling the property only 18 months after buying it (The Sweda
Group). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Only 18 months after buying the former Leisy Brewery property, 3400 Vega Ave. in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, an affiliate of Sanctus Capital LLC of Westlake has put the site back on the market again. It’s the second former brewery this year that was put up on the market in this part of town. Across Fulton Road, the closed Platform Brewery was put up for sale in May.

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Land Bank, Loiter Cafe call truce in East Cleveland

The Mickey’s Building in the Circle East section of East Cleveland is back on track
as the Cuyahoga Land Bank and tenant Loiter Cafe announced they ended their
legal battle and will work together on improving the neighborhood (RDL).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cuyahoga Land Bank and Loiter Cafe and Marketplace are pleased to announce that they have settled their dueling lawsuits concerning the Mickey’s Building, 12550 Euclid Ave., in East Cleveland. The land bank and Loiter said they realized an amicable solution was achievable and in everyone’s best interest.

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Haslam’s Brook Park, Berea developments progress

Starting tonight at a city of Berea Planning Commission meeting, property owner
Haslam Sports Group, developer DiGeronimo Companies and architect AODK Archi-
tecture are seeking a project design-specific rezoning for a Cleveland Browns-themed
mixed-use development (Architecture, Design, & 3D Renderings by AODK Archi-
tecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A small but strategic piece of land that was in the way of the Haslam Sports Group’s (HSG) proposed stadium for its Cleveland Browns football team in suburban Brook Park has sold. Its sale gets it out of the way and into the fold of the overall property transaction for the roofed stadium. And in neighboring Berea, where HSG and its partners plan a Browns-themed mixed-use development, site plans are getting their first airing tonight as part of a rezoning request.

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Cleveland riverside neighborhood opens for tours

The Collins Apartments, at left, are built on a former steel mill site along Carter
Road in the Flats. The new development features 15 townhomes and two multi-
family buildings and are now open to hard-hat tours by prospective tenants.
More developments are rising on Scranton Peninsula across and down
the street (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

For much of the past 50 years, Scranton Peninsula, across the curving Cuyahoga River from Downtown Cleveland, had become an increasingly desolate place. It saw its two largest industrial employers — Northern Ohio Lumber and Republic Steel’s Upson Nut Division — depart, leaving the 75-acre peninsula scarred and mostly vacant.

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Barons-Greyhound Lease at Brookpark station OK’d

A Barons bus rolls past the old Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Downtown Cleve-
land Barons and Greyhound bus operations will move in the Summer 2025 from
downtown to an unused parking lot at the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority’s Brookpark Rapid transit station on the city’s far-west side (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) board of trustees unanimously approving a lease with Barons Bus Inc. today, the intercity bus carrier and its partner Greyhound have started on a timetable to relocate out of the historic Downtown Cleveland Greyhound station, 1465 Chester Ave.

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Machine Gun Kelly aims for Shooters in Flats

Shooters On The Water restaurant at Cleveland’s Flats West Bank has a new
operator, a company associated with singer and songwriter Machine Gun
Kelly who grew up in Cleveland. The 37-year-old restaurant on the
Cuyahoga River will be renovated but will keep the name as
Shooters (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

If there was anyone who would be a perfect fit to take over the operation of a restaurant named Shooters, it would be a guy named Machine Gun Kelly. The riverside restaurant will reportedly be the singer and songwriter’s second establishment in Downtown Cleveland’s Flats entertainment district and is due to be renovated and reopened in the summer of 2025.

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Clinic’s next big parking garage reveals growing pains

University Circle in one picture — big, shiny new buildings, more under construction,
traffic and transit. This is the scene at Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street and en-
capsulates the promises and challenges of rapid growth of Cleveland’s “Second
Downtown” which is rivaling its first downtown as the region’s largest em-
ployment hub (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The largest structure on the Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus isn’t the new 1-million-square-foot Neurological Building on Carnegie Avenue. Instead it’s the 1.56-million-square-foot East 89th Street Parking Garage just west of the Neuro Building. And immediately west of that, on the former site of the Cleveland Play House, Clinic officials are reportedly considering another large parking garage that has transit advocacy groups calling for healthier options.

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Bedrock plans Riverfront Rock & Roll Land theater, 17-story hotel in Downtown Cleveland

The near structure and its surrounding public spaces along the Cuyahoga River in
Downtown Cleveland are the subject of a request by developer Bedrock for $40
million in Transformational Mixed Use Development tax credits. It is one of
21 applicants from around the state to seek the “megaprojects” tax credit
(Adjaye Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The next phase of Bedrock’s Downtown Cleveland Riverfront development is proposed to feature a large, 17-story entertainment complex topped by a hotel. Dubbed Rock and Roll Land, it is the largest of seven Northeast Ohio projects and is seeking the largest award possible in the fourth and final authorized round of the Ohio Department of Development’s Transformation Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credits.

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Port OK’s $171M in financing for major projects

Additional financing was approved today for the $200+ million dollar Cleveland
Clinic Global Peak Performance Center to be built over a restored Eagle Avenue
ramp, extending up from this intersection of West 3rd Street to Downtown Cleve-
land’s Gateway District (Populous). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Port of Cleveland today approved the issuance of more than $171 million in bonds and notes for four transformative projects, including the pivotal first new development in Bedrock’s Riverfront project along the Cuyahoga River and a major affordable housing renovation in downtown Cleveland, among other strategic initiatives.

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Go Browns! But where?

An unofficial, conceptual rendering of what Downtown’s Cleveland lakefront
immediately north of the central business district could look like if Huntington
Bank Field were replaced by smaller, productive, everyday uses — and if Burke
Lakefront Airport was closed and replaced by other uses, including possibly a
relocated, all-purpose domed stadium that pushed land-eating parking away
from downtown (Ardoonave). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One of the most anticipated games in my early Cleveland Browns fandom came three days after Thanksgiving in 1979. The 8-4 Browns faced the hated Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh where the Browns had yet to win. The Steelers were going for their fourth Super Bowl in the 1970s and the Browns were trying to get back to their glories of the prior three decades.

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What may follow St. Vincent’s demolition?

The greenfield foreground is the fate of the hospital in the background. This was the
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in 2021 — its last full year of operation. The
hospital ended its in-patient services later the following year. Every structure
visible here except the enclosed walkway at left and the small, one-story
brick building at the end of it will be demolished in early 2025 (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Turns out there is more to the story that NEOtrans broke over the weekend — that St. Vincent Charity Community Health Center (SVCCHC) main campus, 2351 E. 22nd St., at the west end of Cleveland’s Central neighborhood, will be demolished in the coming months.

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St. Vincent Charity Medical Center to be demolished

Outlined in red is the St. Vincent Charity Medical Center that will be demolished.
The only structure within that outline that won’t be demolished is a small building
on the other side of the near-Downtown Cleveland campus that is not visible from
this angle. A streetview of that building is shown later in this article (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In just three years, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, 2351 E. 22nd St,, went from planning a major expansion to requesting the demolition of nearly its entire main campus to the southeast of Downtown Cleveland. Plans were submitted to the city’s Building Department on Friday for demolishing all but 18,000 square feet of the 449,338-square-foot campus.

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More changes arriving at Shaker Square

One of Cleveland’s most unique districts is Shaker Square but had worn out over
the years. The commercial district fronting the square and the residential areas
around it are starting to get some long overdue attention (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While a large federal grant was awarded to improve existing conditions at Shaker Square in Cleveland, plans to make long-term changes that reenergize the 95-year-old square are advancing. The short- and long-term work on the square is based on the belief that this historic district can and should be a neighborhood gathering spot rather than try to compete as a regional retail draw.

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Browns’ Berea District 46 plans coming into focus

The Haslam Sports Group, majority owner of the Cleveland Browns, plan a 6,500-seat
stadium at the center of its District 46 mixed-use development in suburban Berea. Other
details about the plans were revealed in public records. At left is a proposed hotel with
an apartment building to the right of it. This view looks southeast from the intersection
of Front Street and Lou Groza Boulevard (Architecture, Design, & 3D Renderings
by AODK Architecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a public record secured by NEOtrans, more details are coming to light about the owner of the Cleveland Browns, the Haslam Sports Group’s (HSG), proposed mixed-use development in suburban Berea. That includes specifications for the features in the new 500,000-square-foot development which will be built around a small, new sports stadium, dubbed a community field.

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Second apartment complex next to Herman Park

In a couple of years, this proposed apartment building could be overlooking
Herman Park in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. It is the second
multifamily development proposed next to the park and the latest of many
in the immediate area (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Herman Park may be in need of updating, but its presence is enough to attract a second proposed apartment building to rise next to it. Conceptual designs for that building, located at 6400 Herman Ave. in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood, were approved yesterday by a neighborhood design-review panel and referred to the City Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee.

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BofA: Cleveland near top of migration destinations

Cleveland’s second downtown, University Circle, continues to grow and potentially
rival the city’s first downtown, seen in the distance, in terms of jobs and residential
population (Noah Belli). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Greater Cleveland ranked fourth on the list of global financial institution Bank of America’s (BofA) latest rankings of where people are moving. That data shows Americans are continuing a pandemic-induced flight to affordability, without sacrificing amenities, in choosing where they want to live.

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Women Religious Archives Center OK’d for downtown

Construction could start as soon as March 2025 on the Women Religious Archives
Collaborative Heritage Center, to be located on East 22nd Street in Downtown
Cleveland’s Campus District. This will be the first of only four such heritage
centers nationwide (Bostwick). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

As fundraising continues, the nation’s first independent repository for Catholic Sisters’ archival collections could see construction start in March 2025 on the southeast side of Downtown Cleveland. The planned Women Religious Archives Collaborative (WRAC) Heritage Center at 2490 E. 22nd St. will offer public programming, exhibitions, meeting space, and be an important place for research and remembrance due to open in 2026.

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Collinwood grocery store redevelopment sought

The former Dave’s Market in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood will be
acquired by the city and included with adjacent properties to create a larger redevelop-
ment site that will be re-envisioned with community input, then rezoned and offered
to developers (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland city officials revealed their intentions today to acquire and redevelop a closed grocery store property, 15900 Lake Shore Blvd., in the North Collinwood neighborhood. Officials requested City Planning Commission approval to start assembling the land, then later rezone it and ultimately offer it to developers through a community-driven request for proposals.

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