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| At the northeast corner of Detroit and St. Charles avenues is the former Lakewood Center West, now converted into Lakewood Lofts. In the parking garage seen behind, 70 spaces are set aside for tenants of the lofts (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Downtown Lakewood is steadily turning from an office district into a residential one. The latest example of that metamorphosis is perhaps the quietest conversion of a seven-story suburban office building in Greater Cleveland’s history.
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| The development team of The Thomas apartments and their future successors posed at a groundbreaking ceremony today in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood (NEOtrans). |
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| Transit oriented development isn’t limited to rail station areas. It can also be built along high- frequency bus lines like Cleveland Clinic’s North Campus expansion of Fairview Hospital where Cleveland meets Fairview Park (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Most municipalities in Cuyahoga County were built-out decades ago, limiting opportunities to offer newer, more competitive housing and build a stronger tax base without raising taxes. The few remaining places for development are infill sites for which many communities lack zoning to develop them.
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| Where Steve Barry Buick’s showroom stood on the north side of Detroit Avenue at Brockley Avenue in Lakewood now is a 66-unit apartment building with a yet-to-be-leased ground- floor retail space (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Until the first decade of this century, Detroit Avenue in Lakewood had a half-dozen car dealerships along it. Today, they’re all gone after having closed or moved to exurban highway interchanges.
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| The Slavic Village Neighborhood Plan represents the culmination of a series of outreach events involving diverse members of the community (Slavic Village Development). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
On Friday, City Planning Commission approved not one, but two transformative plans developed alongside each other for Cleveland’s Slavic Village — which hasn’t seen a comprehensive neighborhood plan in almost two decades.
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| Construction on a single-family infill home by Cleveland Bricks wraps up on East 84th Street north of Chester Avenue (Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
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| A conceptual rendering of a film studio proposed in Euclid. This graphic shows the administra- tive offices and one of the film/sound stages but three more stages are planned as additions to the right (Christopher A. Lobas & Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Getting ready for its close-up is a mid-sized film studio campus planned by an experienced filmmaker in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid. The goal for the filmmaker, Northeast Ohio native and Ingalls & Co. CEO James Ingalls II, is to transform Greater Cleveland into “a premier cinematic hub.”
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| Only five ORRIS townhomes front Center Ridge Road in Rocky River. The other 20 units are set behind in a large lot near shopping, schools and parks (TKG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
A collection of new luxury rental townhomes is now open and move-in ready at ORRIS, 22601 Center Ridge Rd., Rocky River. Developed by The Krueger Group (TKG), this phase-two expansion of the ORRIS development adds 25 townhomes to offer single-family living in a maintenance-free rental setting.
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| Officials gathered yesterday for the ceremonial groundbreaking for the renovation and mixed-use repurposing of the long-vacant Warner & Swasey factory in Cleveland’s Midtown district. But the actual site preparations began months before (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Although site preparations have been underway since winter, now the repair, recovery and rebuilding work begins on the redevelopment of the long-vacant Warner & Swasey factory, 5701 Carnegie Ave., in Cleveland’s MidTown neighborhood.
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| Bus and train rides in Cleveland can often be slowed by riders fumbling for change while boarding and paying fares. That’s especially true during busy times like at the Red Line Little Italy station during the annual Feast of the Assumption in August (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Boarding Greater Cleveland’s buses and trains will be quicker and simpler for customers after several fare payment-related changes are implemented after years of advocacy and planning.
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| A conceptual rendering depicts a reworked South Rockefeller Park, including a pro- posed closure of Stearns Road and two-way conversion of MLK Jr. Drive (Sasaki). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
On Friday, University Circle’s 10-year master plan for land use and public realm improvements won unanimous approval from City Planning Commission. The plan, titled Connecting the Circle, aims to transform the city’s second-largest employment center into a “Connected Civic Commons.”
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| The Hope Memorial Bridge — home to the Guardians of Traffic pylons — overlooks the site of the future Riverfront Amphitheater and the existing warehouse at 401 Stones Levee Rd. in the Flats (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Developers from Bedrock Cleveland and Rock Entertainment Group (REG) on Friday received approval from the City of Cleveland Planning Commission (CPC) to demolish a warehouse at 401 Stones Levee Rd. in the Flats. The demolition clears the way for the group behind billions in riverfront development to proceed with the next phase of revitalization and activation.
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| An early conceptual rendering for the redevelopment of the former Westinghouse plant along the West Shoreway includes many features of the final, approved project including retaining the façade of the foundry at left for new construction behind and redevelopment of the tower at right with apartments (AODK). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
A ride along the West Shoreway from Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood to Edgewater Park will soon be a tour of multiple, major residential construction projects within sight of the roadway and more developments just a few blocks south of it. The latest to join the cavalcade of new multifamily housing will be the Westinghouse redevelopment.
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| It’s a rendering that’s led almost every article about Bridgeworks, the elusive but promising mixed-use development proposed at the northeast corner of the Detroit-Superior Bridge and West 25th Street near downtown. But there is activity swirling about the project, perhaps more so now than in years (Geis). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
It looks like it’s finally happening. After more than seven years of project development, multiple redesigns, financing shortfalls, and occasionally dim prospects, demolition, site preparation and construction of Bridgeworks is due to start in the middle of June.
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| A rendering of the exterior improvements planned for the former grocery store that became the Cuyahoga County Westshore Professional Center. It will now become the West Side Community Resource Center (GCFB). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
A streetscape grant was approved for the Lorain Station Historic District this week, shortly after construction plans were submitted to the city for repurposing a former grocery store in this district into a West Side Community Resource Center that will provide needed services in a more attractive setting.
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| Collinwood High School is easily the largest and perhaps the most iconic of 12 Cleveland schools to be offered for redevelopment in this latest round. The Collinwood Railroaders graduated its last senior class last week after more than a century of graduations. Its next use is unknown (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and the City of Cleveland are offering up to buyers and developers 12 school properties for redevelopment, with a few surprises on the list. They include two school buildings built in the last 20 years and several historic, iconic structures.
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| Want to love Downtown Cleveland more? Spend more time experiencing more of it, says Downtown Cleveland Inc. (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Downtown Cleveland, Inc. (DCI) says that the biggest thing wrong with the city’s central business district is that not enough people are familiar with it. If more people visited it more often, DCI said people would enjoy it more. And DCI has a survey of perceptions to back up its argument.
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| Looking south across a basketball court at Cudell Commons, construction of Marion C. Selzter Elementary School moves ahead (Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Cleveland’s Edgewater, Cudell, and West Boulevard neighborhoods are currently facing a small wave of development, ranging from renovations to new construction. But the path to groundbreaking has been easier for some projects than others.
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| As previously reported by NEOtrans, AmTrust will split up its office presence in Greater Cleveland. Its downtown offices will move to the AECOM Building seen here where it make a large investment to update and enhance its space (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Even as AmTrust takes steps to divide up its Downtown Cleveland offices into suburban and downtown locations, the financial services company is about to make a major investment into its new downtown offices at the AECOM Building, 1300 E. 9th St., according to plans filed with the city this week.
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| With a working title of the Lorain Avenue Redevelopment, a new building offering affordable housing atop a new office for Ohio City Inc. will replace the aging, nearly vacant McCafferty Health Center, providing more housing choices in a neighborhood with high rents (City Architecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. |
Three Cleveland developments won competitive, highly coveted tax credits that will help push each of those new housing projects toward construction. In total, the trio will add 165 affordable residential units. But one of them is actually the construction of 40 new houses that offer an opportunity at home ownership.
