Gateway parking lots are closed – forever?

Parking lots between Huron Road and Prospect Avenue, east of East 4th Street in Down-
town Cleveland’s Gateway District were closed off starting this week. If any parking
reopens here, it will likely be in new parking garages to support the development of
Bedrock Real Estate’s so-called Rock Block site. This view looks north from the front
steps of Rocket Arena (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Another parking crater in Downtown Cleveland has succumbed to a new development that promises to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. The latest to disappear is a windswept, 3-acre parking lot in the Gateway District, across Huron Road from Rocket Arena, home to Cleveland Cavaliers basketball and Cleveland Monster hockey games.

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Two Cleveland housing developments to benefit from new funding program

The Walton Apartments on Clark Avenue in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood is
one of two local beneficiaries of the new Cleveland Housing Investment Fund created
by a national nonprofit organization (RDL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The local affiliate of a national nonprofit organization today announced the first of two financing commitments for the new Cleveland Housing Investment Fund (CHIF). Both commitments are long-planned affordable housing developments that will help address the city’s affordable housing crisis.

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Chester 82 joins Park Synagogue in Port funding

The latest development in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood looks like it will be Chester
82, seen here at the northwest corner of its namesake streets of Chester Avenue and East
82nd Street (Sullivan Bruck). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Port of Cleveland Board of Directors today approved $50 million in bond financing to support two significant development projects — the redevelopment of the historic Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights and a new apartment community along Chester Avenue in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood.

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Park Synagogue redevelopment OK’d

A major redevelopment of the former Park Synagogue site was approved this week by
Cleveland Heights City Council after a shakeup at the top of City Hall’s leadership.
With the approval, the first phases of redevelopment of the 75-year-old synagogue
can begin (SCA-Ardon Bar-Hama). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The City of Cleveland Heights has reached an agreement with a local, experienced real estate developer to help finance the redevelopment of the former Park Synagogue and its green space as an arts campus and residential village.

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West-side CDCs make changes at the top

Next week, David Robinson will leave the top job at West Park Kamms Neighbor-
hood Development for the same job at Old Brooklyn Community Development
Corp. (OBCDC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Making a move from leading one nonprofit community development corporation for another can sometimes make inferences about the place they’re leaving. But in David Robinson’s lateral move, due to start next week, it says more about the place he’s moving to — a place called home.

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Brook Park stadium public infrastructure costs rise to $122 million

Major infrastructure investments are needed to accommodate sudden, brief surges of heavy
traffic up to a dozen times per year on roadways and transit from a planned 67,000-seat
stadium in suburban Brook Park. Figuring out how to pay for them in a metropolitan
area that hasn’t grown in 60 years is proving to be a difficult task (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Building a 67,000-seat stadium where none has existed before is proving to be a big expense for expanding road and transit systems to accommodate huge surges in traffic on a relatively small number of event days each year. And it is government funding that is being requested to cover that construction expense which has now risen to $122.15 million.

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Cleveland sues ODOT for Browns stadium ruling

Looking west from above Interstate 71 in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, the orange-
shaded area is the land on which a new Huntington Bank Field, supportive development
and parking is planned. Just beyond is Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, set on
City of Cleveland-owned land (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In the latest chapter of the region’s ongoing stadium saga, the City of Cleveland has sued the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Office of Aviation for granting a permit for the construction of a new stadium next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

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African Town biz incubator wins OK

Conceptual plans for the African Town Retail Plaza on Cedar Avenue in Cleveland’s Fairfax
neighborhood were approved today by the Design Review Committee of the City Planning
Commission (JL Myers). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With work underway to redevelop the former Cedar Branch YMCA to become African Town Plaza, its developer James Sosan is now looking for his next real estate project. He didn’t have to look far.

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Dollar Bank makes Downtown move official

The westernmost storefront on the left side of The Beacon Apartments tower will be the
new Downtown Cleveland home of Dollar Bank. The site is on Euclid Avenue next to
The Old Arcade, seen at far left (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although NEOtrans broke the story of Dollar Bank’s retail location move in Downtown Cleveland back in July, company officials made the news official and more detailed in an announcement yesterday.

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Ohio funds more Cleveland Web access

Atop the Morning Star Apartments on St. Clair Avenue near East 105th Street in Cleve-
land’s Glenville neighborhood, high-speed internet equipment was installed to connect
more Clevelanders to the Internet (DigitalC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Development’s BroadbandOhio office today announced a milestone in the state’s effort to provide affordable high-speed internet across the entire city of Cleveland and help address its digital divide.

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Haslams announce Brook Park stadium builders

An updated rendering of the proposed new Huntington Bank Field in the Cleveland
suburb of Brook Park (HKS). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The owners of the Cleveland Browns today announced they’ve assembled another team — the builders of what they’ve touted as Ohio’s first enclosed National Football League stadium. The construction team is due to start construction of the stadium following an early-2026 groundbreaking.

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Sherwin-Williams invests in Higbee Building

The new Sherwin-Williams headquarters tower at right will not be taking company
employees who are located on three floors of the 10-story Higbee Building at far
left. Instead, Sherwin-Williams is investing a modest amount to improve amenity
spaces in common areas of the Higbee Building (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Yesterday, on the same day Sherwin-Williams (SHW) was touting in a press release the move-in dates for its 1.6 million square feet of new research and headquarters facilities, it was also delivering plans to the city of Cleveland for renovations to three floors of downtown’s Higbee Building.

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Pennrose acquires Warner & Swasey site

The foundry section, at left, of the long-vacant Warner & Swasey factory on Carnegie
Avenue near East 55th Street is to be demolished for parking for residents in the
to-be-redeveloped, surviving portion of the complex at right (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Four decades after the venerable Warner & Swasey factory in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood closed, good things appear to finally be coming together for a rebirth of the 3-acre site.

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Higley becomes 100% employee owned

The Albert M. Higley Co., today known simply as Higley Construction, is headquartered
in this 25,000-square-foot building on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood.
In the same year the company turned 100 years old, it also became a 100-percent employee-
owned firm (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

As Higley Construction, formerly known as The Albert M. Higley Co., celebrates its 100th year, the company today announced its transition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) — officially becoming a 100 percent employee-owned company.

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