City loses another fight against spread of downtown parking lots

On the south side of Sumner Avenue, next to St. Maron Church at left, is a piece of the land
the church’s diocese just acquired to provide parking for the church and to earn revenue
from visitors to the Gateway sports and entertainment complex visible at right (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

An historic church in Downtown Cleveland’s Gateway District won its case before the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) today to use a newly purchased property at 1212-1260 Sumner Ave. as a surface parking lot for up to 90 vehicles.

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Cuyahoga gets its $1M brownfield allocation

A week before Christmas, the West Side Market was the site of a press conference in
which it was awarded a $5 million Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit to support
renovations totaling more than $71.33 million. Yesterday, it got an Ohio Brownfield
grant to do site work to prepare for those renovations (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although each county in Ohio was limited to $1 million in Ohio Brownfield Remediation grants in this round of funding awards, Cuyahoga County made the most of it despite its voracious appetite for such grants as it repositions its former, massive industrial base in the post-industrial era.

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Cleveland’s proposed Data Center moratorium in a race against time, technology

As more companies embrace artificial intelligence to automate more jobs, more data centers
will appear around the world. The question Cleveland is grappling with as more data center
development plans arrive here is to how to effectively regulate them (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s a race against time between the City of Cleveland and developers seeking to construct new data centers. On one side is the city which has an outdated zoning code it has been wanting to update for years, with data centers being the latest new land use to add to the mix.

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Data center rejection prompts reaction

A three-building data center campus is planned in Cleveland’s Slavic Village and could
look like this unofficial rendering created by NEOtrans. The developer, Lakeland Equity
Group, said it spend heavily to add electric grid infrastructure to accommodate the
facility (NEOtrans/ChatGPT). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Today’s sudden rejection of a building application for a new $1.6 billion data center in Cleveland’s Slavic Village caught the project’s development team by surprise. But city sources and records revealed the application was rejected because it was incomplete.

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Tremont, Duck Island developments near completion

Two single-family homes designed by AODK are under construction at the Carter Road
Subdivision, where Scranton Peninsula meets Duck Island in Cleveland (Harrison
Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood is one of the most desirable in the city — and its tight housing market reflects that. But with a handful of developments now wrapping up, it may be the perfect time for those considering a move to the area.

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Midline redevelopment district announced

Officials gathered today to announce the Midline Priority Investment Area, a major rede-
velopment initiative of Cleveland’s near-East Side, amid the backdrop of old, decayed
industrial sites that will be razed to make way for new jobs and opportunity (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland’s largest industrial redevelopment in its history, dubbed the Midline Priority Investment Area, was announced today as an effort to transform the city’s near-East Side into a job hub and community greenway.

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The Vibe financing OK’d, Fall start ID’d

The six-story Hanover House and the lobby for The Vibe development are seen here
next to the Ohio City Firehouse in Cleveland’s Hingetown enclave (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With financing approved, the developer of Ohio City’s largest new-construction project in four years has an eye toward fall for a groundbreaking date of The Vibe, 2828 Clinton Ave., in Cleveland’s Hingetown enclave.

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CSU’s Woodling transformation may hit $60M

From the outside, the 1970s windowless bunker Woodling Gym is unidentifiable. It’s doubtful
that anyone who hasn’t attended or competed against Cleveland State University would know
where it is. But this view of Woodling, from between Chester and Euclid Avenues looking
west towards the 1970s iconic Rhodes Tower, provides some orientation (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A request from Cleveland State University (CSU) has gone out in search of qualified design teams to transform the 53-year-old Woodling Gymnasium, 2420 Chester Ave., into a modern, competitive facility. The request notes that the project budget for Woodling’s transformation could range from $30 million to $60 million.

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Music Settlement breaks ground on $12M expansion

This rendering illustrates the south façade of the planned Mandel Music House. Its design
was revised to use a lighter color to visually transition between the addition and a historic
home (Perspectus). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

On Friday, The Music Settlement (TMS) held an official groundbreaking for a $12 million expansion of its campus in University Circle. The project will restore and expand the historic Gries House, 1560 Mistletoe Dr., into the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Music House.

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Next TOD project planned on Red Line

The Lorain West Apartments are proposed to be located on its namesake street near the
Lorain-West 65th Red Line rail station. (RDL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One by one, the many used-car dealerships along Lorain Avenue on Cleveland’s West Side are going away. For the most part, they are getting replaced with new multifamily housing developments and that’s what’s proposed to happen again.

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St. Luke’s Church begins interior demo at Memphis & Pearl

At Memphis Avenue and Pearl Road, the demolition of two historic commercial buildings could
make way for a mixed-use development featuring 84 apartments over ground-level retail
(Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

At the center of Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood, $2.34 million in interior demolition work is set to begin for Memphis & Pearl — a $42.3 million mixed-use development that could add 84 apartments next to retail uses in a renovated St. Luke’s Church.

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Part 2: The Yellow Brick Road of Cleveland’s East Side

A significant research laboratory is planned by the Cleveland Clinic and other partners at the
southeast corner of Opportunity Corridor Boulevard and East 79th Street where a fading
neighborhood stood until recently. At left is the elevated Norfolk Southern railroad, along-
side which the East Side Trail is proposed. This is an unofficial rendering but is based
on conceptual parameters for the project (Google/ChatGPT/NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Elton John once sang “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” when his songwriter Bernie Taupin bid adieu to city living in his ambitious, fast life, trading it for the quiet lifestyle of tending to a rural farm. Cleveland is heading in the opposite direction by welcoming the start of a new journey.

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CHEERS project advances to permitting phase

Expansion of Gordon Park into Lake Erie, including the creation of an offshore island, called
the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy, or CHEERS project, has
$22.1 million in hand or pending for this multi-decade effort (Cleveland Metroparks).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Metroparks and the Port of Cleveland announced a major milestone in advancing the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS), as U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, D-11, presented $1.1 million in federal funding to support the next phase of the project.

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Part 1: East Side to host ‘Cleveland’s largest-ever industrial redevelopment’

An unofficial rendering of what the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Engineering Co. factory at 7000
Central Ave. in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood could look like after a planned $25.7 million
renovation. The plant’s reactivation with a new manufacturer will be announced at a press con-
ference next week (TacoSlayerAerial, ChatGPT). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Parts of Cleveland’s East Side offer scenes right out of a post-apocalyptic action movie. Actually, a pre-apocalyptic action movie — the opening scenes of the 2012 movie The Avengers — was filmed here. Another story will begin here next week when local and state leaders join Mayor Justin Bibb in making what he calls “an historic announcement.”

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More details emerge on Cleveland data center

This is an image of a three-building data center totaling about 300,000 square feet next to an
interstate highway. It is set in a city neighborhood south of a major downtown area. The
image was created, ironically, using artificial intelligence hosted at multiple, massive
data centers (ChatGPT). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A 150-megawatt, $1.6 billion data center planned for Cleveland’s Slavic Village is in a race to get its plans approved before City Council can pass a moratorium on building more data centers in Cleveland, according to sources familiar with the project.

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Library to join another mixed-use project

The proposed commercial tenant to occupy the ground floor, behind the red facade of Asia-
Town’s newest development will be the Cleveland Public Library. It will open a satellite
location in the neighborhood (MA Design). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Public Library (CPL) will open a new satellite location in the city’s AsiaTown neighborhood in a couple of years, at the Mingyue Place apartment complex, according to community officials. If that apartment complex’s name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because it doesn’t exist yet.

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$1.6B data center planned in Cleveland

Shaded in red, the 35-acre Morabito site between Interstate 77 at left and East 55th Street at
right in Cleveland’s Slavic Village is proposed to host a hyperscale data center (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Set between Cleveland’s Slavic Village and the industrial valley in the coming years could be the city’s largest-ever data center. While at this early stage, it has generated many questions, its backers say the large site and nearby presence of industrial-scale electrical power and water resources should answer many of those questions.

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More than tortillas are rising on W. 65th

Looking north along West 65th Street in Cleveland’s Stockyards neighborhood, Tortilleria La
Bamba y mercado is proposed to built if a permit situation can be resolved. Across the street
to the left, another retail development is planned that would add an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet
store (Onyx Creative). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Along the southern portion of West 65th Street in Cleveland’s Stockyards neighborhood, a new round of private investment is set to reactivate the area with jobs and shopping activity — just as city officials had hoped years ago.

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New women’s pro soccer team named

Site of the planned new Gateway South soccer stadium, a proposed new Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority light-rail station and other nearby venues. Also shown is the crest
and logo of the new men’s soccer team (CSG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG) today unveiled Cleveland Astra, the brand identity for our new professional women’s soccer club. Merchandise is available online today and season ticket deposits are open. Cleveland Astra will kick off in spring 2028, compete in Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Pro and play in a Downtown Cleveland soccer stadium.

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City green-lining investment in East Side

Lots of construction, from infrastructure to the redevelopment of abandoned industries, are
evident in this view looking east on Carnegie Avenue from East 55th Street. But more is
needed on Cleveland’s near-East Side to return abandoned properties back to pro-
ductive use (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

An expanded tax base is a result of economic development. On that score, Cleveland’s near-East Side doesn’t produce much in the way of tax revenue while its old infrastructure, city services and social programs are in need of lots of resources. So the city is going to do something to equalize that imbalance.

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