Haslams respond to Cleveland mayor’s ‘Modell’ letter

Cleveland City Hall, below the wind turbine, and Huntington Bank Field at right,
home of the Cleveland Browns, may be within sight of each other but they are
far apart on any agreement regarding where the professional football team
will play its home games after the 2028 season (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Ten days ago, NEOtrans broke the story that the city of Cleveland intended to pursue invoking “the Modell Law” against the Cleveland Browns in order to make them keep playing their home games within the city limits — and especially Downtown Cleveland. Today, the Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb sent a letter to the Browns’ owners outlining the terms of how the city intends to do that. And now the Browns’ owners have responded.

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Top Cleveland-area developments of 2024

Beyond the Cleveland Browns stadium debate, the Cleveland Cavaliers, city
of Cleveland, Sherwin-Williams and more pushed projects forward on the lakefront
across Northeast Ohio (HKS). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Development plans and projects picked up the pace in 2024 as inflation got back under control, interest rates stabilized, construction supplies became more readily available and lending became more liquid. But no Greater Cleveland story dominated the news more than a proposed stadium for a certain football team.

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The end of industry on Breakwater

This row of industrial buildings last used by Premium Metals Inc., as seen last August
on the south side of Breakwater Avenue in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood,
 probably won’t survive long enough to see the spring. They are the last industrial
buildings along Breakwater and are due to be leveled for a large development called
Breakwater Residences (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In the coming weeks, the last vestiges of industry along a once heavily industrialized street are due to pass into history. What will replace it is the same thing that has replaced industrial uses along the rest of Breakwater Avenue in Cleveland’s redeveloping Gordon Square neighborhood — housing. Lots of housing.

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Ex-Medical Mutual HQ sale amount ‘A great deal’

The former Medical Mutual of Ohio headquarters in Downtown Cleveland sold
earlier this month. But its sale price wasn’t publicized until the deed transfer was
recorded by the county on Christmas eve. The sale included the 10-story Rose
Building and the attached six-story Sloan Building, at left (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although the buyer of the former Medical Mutual of Ohio headquarters in Downtown Cleveland publicized earlier this month it had closed on its purchase financing, they declined to reveal the transaction amount at that time. But that amount became public when the deed transfer was filed with the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer on Christmas Eve.

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Miceli Dairy to start its big expansion in spring

The first phase of Miceli Dairy Products’ expansion in Cleveland’s Buckeye-
Woodland neighborhood will build south along East 90th Street and around
two homes plus the New Zion Baptist Church, shown only as a trio of two-
dimensional rectangles along East 90th in the bottom image. New structures
include the one hosting the docked trucks and the dark-sided storage building
next to it (TMA Architects). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Miceli Dairy Products is taking the first big steps toward its multi-phase expansion vision by unveiling plans for its $16 million first phase. But when all three phases are completed in the coming years, Miceli anticipates making a $128 million investment that will bring hundreds of new jobs to Cleveland’s Buckeye-Woodland neighborhood.

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Historic Carriage Co. project in Ohio City advances

The Carriage Co. redevelopment of the former Voss Industries plant by MRN Ltd.
is anticipated to liven up the south end of West 25th Street in Cleveland’s Ohio
City neighborhood (SA Group). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A slew of construction permit applications were submitted to the Cleveland Building Department last week for the redevelopment of the former Voss Industries plant, 2168 W. 25th St., in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. This $63.4 million project along with a planned bus rapid transit corridor on West 25th promises to expand the vibrancy of the Market District farther south.

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Fairview Hospital’s North Campus plan gets Rx

This massing shows the conceptual scale and placement of buildings on Fairview
Hospital’s North Campus. The new cancer center and medical office building is
proposed to be built first then the old Moll Cancer Center will be demolished
for a parking garage to replace the existing parking garage on Groveland
Avenue (CannonDesign). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although a conceptual plan for Fairview Hospital’s North Campus $150 million redevelopment won unanimous support from Cleveland Planning Commission on Friday, commissioners attached a few conditions to it. At the same meeting, the commission also recommended that Cleveland City Council approve rezoning the hospital’s properties with a more appropriate classification. The hospital is located at 18101 Lorain Ave. in Cleveland’s Kamms Corners neighborhood.

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City to invoke Modell law against Browns move

The Haslam Sports Group are advancing in their plans to relocate the venue for
their Cleveland Browns football team’s home games to suburban Brook Park.
City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials have vowed to stop
them (HKS). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin confirmed this week that the city will invoke the state’s Modell Law to stop the Cleveland Browns from leaving the city for a new stadium site in suburban Brook Park. He also said the city and county are in a joint effort to keep the team playing its home games downtown with Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne leading the fight.

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Projects OK’d for affordable housing loan, credits

An affordable apartment building similar to this one planned by Pivotal Housing
Partners in Buffalo, NY is sought by the same developer on West 27th Street in
Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood. A second five-story senior housing

complex is also planned next door by St. Mary Development Co. (Pivotal).

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In Cleveland, one east-side housing development and one west-side development are set to receive 4-percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA). The agency announced that determination yesterday in a spreadsheet posted on its Web site. A third project won a $1.75 million OHFA loan, OHFA said in a written statement released today.

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JCU Gateway North project approved by city

University Heights City Council approved plans for the JCU Gateway North
development at Fairmount Circle and Warrensville Center Road (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

John Carroll University’s (JCU) transformative Gateway North project, a mixed-use retail and residential complex, has taken a significant step forward with approval from the University Heights City Council yesterday. Plans for the project had been under review by several city panels in this eastern Cleveland suburb for several months.

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Cleveland NWSL bid falls short, seeks future team

Cleveland has apparently lost out to Denver in landing the 16th expansion
franchise of the National Women’s Soccer League. But local backers of
the effort to land an expansion franchise said they haven’t given up
hope (CSG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Denver appears to have outbid its nearest rivals, including Cleveland and Cincinnati, for the 16th expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). A Denver-based ownership group is reported to be exclusively negotiating a $105 million to $120 million fee to land the team — or roughly double the previous record high expansion fee of $53 million paid last year by a Boston group.

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Downtown Lakewood megaproject gets final OK

Construction is due to start in the second half of 2025 on the development of the
former Lakewood Hospital site in Downtown Lakewood. The project is expected
to deliver much needed housing, retail and community plaza space in the center of
this walkable inner-ring suburb (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two panels of elected officials voted simultaneously last night to approve agreements authorizing the Downtown Lakewood development to start as early as Aug. 30, 2025. The $119 million mixed-use project will finally repurpose the former site of the city-owned Lakewood Hospital that closed in 2016 and has sat largely devoid of structures for five years.

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Large Midtown development planned

Planned between Euclid and Chester avenues in the East 40s is a large, mostly
residential development. This project takes its cue from the newly built Foundry
Lofts between Euclid and Carnegie avenues in the East 70th that leased out pretty
quickly. This view looks northwesterly from Euclid Avenue (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A property transaction recorded last week by Cuyahoga County revealed an emerging development site that could host about 200 apartments in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood. The site, located between Euclid and Chester avenues in the East 40s, has been the subject of interest by multiple developers in recent years.

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A Browns stadium quid pro quo

An architect’s rendering of a mixed-use development surrounding a proposed,
enclosed, 67,000-seat stadium in suburban Brook Park. The $1.2 billion in
development would depend on the $2.4 billion stadium, which in turn would
depend on half of its funding being financed by public-sector sources (HKS).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two years before Gloria Gaynor released her 1978 smash hit “I Will Survive” about recovering from a breakup, she released another song titled “Let’s Make a Deal” — referring to a marriage. In the coming days and weeks, we’re likely to hear more about a similar plot line albeit in reverse involving the proposed new stadium in suburban Brook Park.

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Ohio City housing emerging south of tracks

A private home was demolished earlier this year on Barber Avenue in Cleveland’s
Ohio City, just east of the BVQ Lofts seen in the distance that was delivered by
the same developer five years ago. Now the developer is turning his attention
to a new construction project on the vacant land on the north side of Barber,
west of West 25th Street and south of Train Avenue (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

An early indicator of an emerging real estate development is to see a request for unused public rights of way to be vacated. Another is a mass of properties being acquired by the same company in the same area. Yet another is to see decaying structures in that area be demolished. All three of those conditions are occurring on Barber Avenue at West 30th Street, at the south end of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.

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Cleveland maritime sector is big business

A lake carrier ship makes it way up the Cuyahoga River from Lake Erie, past
Downtown Cleveland. A new report by the Ohio Department of Transporation
shows how important the maritime industry is to Greater Cleveland's
economy (Port of Cleveland). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Port of Cleveland and the maritime-dependent industrial sector are showing resiliency and growth as an economic force in Northeast Ohio, according to a new study commissioned by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The latest analysis reveals the port and maritime sector generates more than 23,000 jobs and over $7 billion in economic impact, a notable increase of $2.3 billion since 2021.

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Bridgeworks gets green light from Landmarks

Design refinements were made to the south side of Bridgeworks, a proposed
Ohio City apartment building, with this version win approval today from the
Cleveland Landmarks Commission. The project site is at the northeast corner
of West 25th Street and the Detroit-Superior Bridge, just west of Downtown
Cleveland (GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Typically, the third time’s a charm, but Bridgeworks needed more times than that to earn the approval of the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. Ultimately, the proposal passed unanimously today. The go-ahead allows developers to move forward with constructing all of the $84 million project, located at 2429 W. Superior St. in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.

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Haslam email preempts City, County at stadium debate

The question of whether the Cleveland Browns should play home games in suburban
Brook Park, at left, or in Downtown Cleveland, at right, has been put to Greater
Cleveland’s business power brokers (HKS, left; Vocon, right).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Yesterday morning, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County Council President Pernel Jones Jr., Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin arrived at the monthly board meeting of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP). There, they asked the 70-member board of the region’s corporate CEOs and presidents to side with them on where the Cleveland Browns should play their home games after 2028.

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NE Ohio projects get historic wins from tax credits

At 363 feet tall, Rhodes Tower at Cleveland State University is the fourth-tallest
educational-purposed building in the United States. The 53-year-old building
won $5 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits as part of a $92
million project redevelop most of the tower with student housing (CSU).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

There were 14 Cuyahoga County historic renovation projects that won a total of $16,267,141 in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits today. Most of those projects would repurpose their 50-plus-year-old buildings for new uses so they can contribute to their communities for at least another 50 years. Some of the buildings are pretty well known.

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Haslams announce Brook Park stadium-area development partner, updated plans

This updated view from above Interstate 71 and looking westerly toward Cleveland
Hopkins International Airport in the background, shows the proposed multi-purpose
roofed stadium in suburban Brook Park and surrounding development. The stadium
is in approximately the same place as before, but the conceptual location, arrange-
ment and scale of mixed-use buildings is different in this view than in previous
 graphics which showed more structures to the south and west of the stadium.
Instead, these are arranged to the south and east closer to EngleRoad/Henry
Ford Boulevard (HKS). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

New details emerged today on the proposed $1.2 billion mixed-use district surrounding the Haslam Sports Group’s (HSG) proposed all-purpose, roofed stadium in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. HSG announced that Lincoln Property Company, a global real estate firm, will be the development partner for the Cleveland Browns’ 176-acre mixed-use entertainment district.

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Old Brooklyn structures OK’d for demolition

Three structures identified here are to be demolished plus a fourth, a small house,
partially hidden behind them are to be replaced by a new development called
Memphis & Pearl. St. Luke Church will be preserved and incorporated into
the development (Desmone). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In the coming months, the busy intersection of Memphis Avenue and Pearl Road in the heart of Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood will look very different. The change is due from the City Planning Commission’s approval on Friday of an application to demolish four buildings at that intersection, each of which are historic structures but in varying stages of decay.

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Shoreway Tower has construction in view for 2025

A proposed 13-story residential building overlooking Edgewater Park and the West
Shoreway Boulevard is planned as an addition to the Shoreway Apartments. The
existing apartment building will also be renovated (EAO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

There’s been lots of progress lately on the development of a proposed 13-story Shoreway Tower overlooking Edgewater Park in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. Revising easements for a sewer right of way, transferring properties for a tax-increment financing (TIF) district, and advancing legislation to authorize that TIF could allow construction to start sometime in 2025.

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North Collinwood ‘historic’ modular townhomes OK’d

Final designs for six modular townhomes called Arcade Place
were unanimously approved yesterday by the Cleveland
Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee. They will be
built on a vacant lot on East 156th Street at Arcade Avenue, just
north of the Waterloo Arts District (HEART Design Group).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Six townhomes may not sound like much, but their builder says they’re an “historic” next step toward increasing the amount of modular housing in Cleveland. City officials and some home builders say more modular homes are needed here to address shortages in quality, affordable housing, fill vacant lots, repopulate the city, increase homeownership in Cleveland and build equity.

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Tick Tock Tavern closing after 75+ years

A familiar sign along Clifton Boulevard in Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood
will go dark a week before Christmas. Owner John Tripodis is retiring after more
than 30 years of running the famous West Side restaurant (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s not often that a restaurant survives more than a few years. Rarer still is the restaurant that lasts nearly eight decades. Tick Tock Tavern, which has been at the same location, 11526 Clifton Blvd., in the Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland since the year before the last electric streetcars rumbled by in 1948, is set to close its doors forever in just 12 days.

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Gordon Square development wins approval

Unlike most Cleveland buildings which are of a gray or beige color, the “Soap Site”
apartments next to Herman Park in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood won
approval from a city design review panel for being different and for embracing
its surroundings (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Projects can move fast in Cleveland when you coordinate with stakeholders and align with the Planning Commission. That’s what happened with a proposed mixed use development in the Gordon Square neighborhood dubbed the “Soap Site” went from a conceptual plan revealed publicly only a month ago, to unanimous final design approval today by commission members.

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Haslams say proposed Browns’ Brook Park stadium, development to net $1.2 billion in benefits per year

The ownership of the Cleveland Browns and their stadium development firm say
that a new roofed stadium will create benefits for the suburb of Brook Park and
all of Northeast Ohio including Downtown Cleveland where the team currently
plays (HKS Architects). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Haslam Sports Group, owners of the Cleveland Browns football team and stadium development company Primacy Development LLC, released findings today from a study saying their proposed stadium in suburban Brook Park would benefit all of Cuyahoga County, including Downtown Cleveland. But county officials say they want the Browns to continue playing downtown and aren’t buying the study’s findings.

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Centennial still alive, among Ohio Brownfield winners

The Centennial redevelopment of 925 Euclid Ave. is project that has not seen much
visible activity lately. But it suddenly has some by winning $10 million in Brownfield
funding through the Cuyahoga Land Bank. It was one of 34 such projects to win
funding (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Without any visible activity in nearly two years, rumors circulated throughout Cleveland’s development community that the roughly $500 million Centennial redevelopment, 925 Euclid Ave. in Downtown Cleveland was dead. Similar rumors circulated about the fate of the Rockefeller Building, 614 W. Superior Ave., and renovations to Rhodes Tower, 2124 Chester Ave., one of the projects in Cleveland State University quieted development master plan.

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Three vacant drugstores, three possible outcomes

A former Walgreens at the busy intersection of West 130th Street and Bellaire
Road in Cleveland’s Bellaire-Puritas neighborhood is due to become a super-
rmarket with a new gas station outside and fresh foods inside (HEART
Design Group). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In Councilman Danny Kelly’s Ward 11 on Cleveland’s West Side, there are three vacant drugstores. Each is facing a different potential outcome. A former CVS on Madison Avenue at West Boulevard may be replaced by a fire station after a gas station was rejected by the neighborhood. An abandoned Rite Aid at West 117th Street and Lorain Avenue may become a senior center. And a vacant Walgreens at West 130th Street and Bellaire Road could turned into a supermarket with a gas station.

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Ohio City townhomes project gets 2nd shot

Townhomes in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood are about to see construction
after being put on hold for nearly three years. An improving for-sale housing
market is a major reason why as is a new general contractor overseeing
the project (Sixmo). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A long-planned and contentious townhomes development at 4705 Bridge Ave. in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood is seeing signs of construction activity after being on hold for nearly three years. The project’s revival is due to several factors including an improved for-sale housing market of lower interest rates, more fluid financing for construction and a new construction contractor that was hired.

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Cleveland wants a home for manufactured homes

Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity installed five modular homes Oct. 23 at
11830 Matherson Ave. on Cleveland’s West Side. Each was a three-bed, two-bath,
1,350-square-foot home and was the first significant project to build new homes
in Ward 11 since 2005. But the nearest plant for building modular homes is more
than 100 miles away. City officials want one in Cleveland to increase the supply
and reduce transportation costs (Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The city of Cleveland and the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund announced today they have issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to modular home manufacturers across the United States and internationally to establish a manufacturing facility in Cleveland. The city and fund officials said they are responding to industry requests for such a facility.

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Look to Milwaukee to rid lakefront of freight trains

Reducing freight train traffic off Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront is a realistic
possibility, one that was bolstered  by a similar project in Milwaukee that was
just funded by the federal government. One of the benefits would be to reduce
the amount of time the Norfolk Southern drawbridge at the mouth of the
Cuyahoga River is lowered for so many long freight trains (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One month ago, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) won a $72.8 million federal grant to reroute freight train traffic south of the Menomonee River and away from Downtown Milwaukee. The project has many similarities to a local concept for rerouting most freight traffic south of Downtown Cleveland, away from the lakefront.

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