Cleveland's real estate revs up for first time since March

There are definitive rays of hope that Greater Cleveland's real
estate market is kicking back into high gear with the presidential
election over and the pandemic's end is in sight (Xiaofan Luo).

It's as if someone turned the electricity back on and got the gears of Greater Cleveland's real estate sector turning again. Today, NEOtrans heard from a real estate professional about that surge and began asking around to see if other experts in the business locally were experiencing the same thing. Turns out they were.

The burst of activity has been sudden and significant in recent days, say people employed in various real estate functions be it leasing, buying/selling, land evaluation and construction. These activities are a leading indicator of potential economic growth.

By contrast, the residential real estate market remained active as people moved around in response to the pandemic, including Cleveland gaining new residents from more expensive, coastal markets.

On the commercial side, office tenants are making inquiries of available spaces in downtown buildings. Commercial property users are requesting information about properties available for development and redevelopment from downtown, through Midtown to University Circle. And site preparation for new construction or redevelopment of existing buildings has kicked into a higher gear. Could this be attributable to recent headlines?

"My answer before (we first spoke today), I would say no," said David Hollister, a managing director in Newmark Group Inc.’s Cleveland office, in a Monday phone interview. "However, since we last spoke I have received two large downtown office inquiries."

Hollister said the inquires were for spaces ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet, made by firms whom he couldn't name. Although they had shown casual interest before, they were more serious now.

Interest in leasing office spaces in downtown Cleveland and
elsewhere is picking up in recent days, brokers say (CBRE).

"Since March, I had just two showings for space at one (downtown office) building," he said. "Now I've had three in just the last 10 days."

What caused those and other suitors to make their overtures? It's probably too early to say for certain, but two pieces of major news broke in recent days. One was a resolution of the presidential election, removing a lot of uncertainty from the market. And the real estate market hates uncertainty. 

The other piece of big news was the Monday morning announcement by pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. that its COVID-19 vaccine has shown a success rate of better than 90 percent in drug trials. Federal approval of the vaccine is expected, allowing it to be manufactured and first administered to health care workers by the end of December and the general public thereafter.

They are the first solid signs that the pandemic could be under control in the USA in early 2021 and the worst being over in the summer of 2021. With that knowledge, the real estate industry is gearing up in anticipation of that opportunity.

"I can't derive at any conclusions (from the new office leasing interest) but the timing is certainly interesting," Hollister said.

Conor Coakley, first vice president of CBRE, Inc.'s Cleveland office, was trying to spend his Monday camping at Dwell Box in Dundee, OH. But the reawakened real estate market kept intruding on his planned peace and quiet.

Construction activity in Cleveland has been slowed but not
stopped by the global pandemic. But if the apparent recent
surge of interest in securing sites for new construction and
redevelopment sites progresses, more construction activity
could be in the cards in the coming years (file).

"It's ironic that I'm camping with my family today and I'm trying to get off the grid for 24 hours but I keep on getting calls for (site) tour requests, etc.," Coakley said. But after a pandemic-quieted spring and summer, he added "I'll take it."

It wasn't just the leasing, buying and selling of real estate that saw an uptick. So did the interest in developing or redeveloping properties in Cleveland's urban core, said the owner of a local environmental company who asked not to be named to protect his clients' interest.

"For some reason today has been off the charts with a lot of due-diligence inquiries," he said."The calls have been about purchasing enviromental remediation and due diligence as well as inquiries about properties in Midtown, Downtown and Uptown."

Given the timing, he said he suspected that the greater certainty from the wrapping up of the presidential election along with a more definitive end in sight for the pandemic were probably factors.

"I'm hearing from a lot of people trying to close deals," he added. "This time of year is normally busy but it's been extremely busy today."

NEOtrans will keep watching to see if the sudden surge in Greater Cleveland's real estate activity continues. If you're aware of any longer term trends in the coming weeks, kindly let us know. We'd like to track it and share it.

END

More hints about the future Sherwin-Williams HQ+R&D

Pickard Chilton is designing the new Sherwin-Williams head-
quarters in downtown Cleveland. The New Haven, CT-based
firm won the Office Building of the Future contest sponsored
by the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. It
remains to be seen what SHW's HQ will look like (P-C).

Every few days I sift through hundreds of newly filed Cleveland Building Department records to see if something new and interesting was posted. Invariably there's something worth noting there, like the filing yesterday by Parma-based Gazde LLC for an "ice cream/coffee shop with axe-throwing" at 5807 Detroit Ave., next to the temporarily closed Happy Dog bar.

With knowledge that there are renderings out there for the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters, I saw a filing for "140 Public Square" and almost had a heart attack. That was before I remembered the new SHW HQ is probably going to have an address of somewhere between 1 and 33 Public Square.

The reason is that 1 and 33 Public Square were the addresses of the last two buildings that stood on the northwest quadrant of Public Square. They were demolished for the Ameritrust Tower that never was, a casualty of early 1990s bank consolidations that saw Society for Savings Bank acquire Ameritrust and later saw Society and KeyBank merge.

Instead, 140 Public Square is the address of the Park Building Condominiums. The Building Department listing posted today was for a small, 100-square-foot alteration -- not a new skyscraper for downtown Cleveland.

Another of Pickard-Chilton's towers is
River Point, a 52-story, 730-foot-tall,
1-million-square-foot office tower
in downtown Chicago (P-C).

But that day will come and probably in the next month or three. How do we know? Because SHW wants their downtown Cleveland HQ and research and development facility in suburban Brecksville completed by early 2024.

That means having construction underway for the more complicated and time-consuming HQ by late 2021. Its construction timeline is about 24-36 months. This will require getting designs reviewed and refined through the months-long city approvals process by mid-2021 so the bidding process can get moving, materials can be ordered and delivered and construction can begin.

And we're already getting word that renderings are out there. News of the renderings comes from two sources.

Information about the SHW HQ renderings comes from a source close to the HQ design process. He described them as "Stunning, evocative of an East Coast especially New York-style of architecture. Very modern. Building height was about the size of the 200 Public Square but could be taller based on the angle of the rendering. There was a decorative element at the top but could've been for rooftop equipment."

The height coincides with what NEOtrans first reported in May. Back then, word leaked out that SHW and its design team was looking at an HQ in the 45- to 55-story range. That would put it at least at the 45-story height of 200 Public Square. Depending on floor heights, it could mean SHW's tower would rise to at least the 658-foot altitude of 200 PS.

Although likely smaller than what SHW wants, the
29-story 102 Street Centre in Edmonton, Alberta
offers an eye-catching design from Pickard-Chil-
ton, especially its illuminated crown (P-C).

But it falls short of the height predicted in a later report. In it, a source close to the materials and equipment procurement process said the SHW tower would "rival Key Tower" -- Ohio's tallest at 57 stories and 947 feet tall. That appears debatable if SHW's tower falls short of Terminal Tower's 52 stories and 708 feet.

The rendering apparently did not show more of the proposed SHW HQ, only of the tower that SHW plans on Public Square. The source made no mention of anything that SHW might put on the Superblock it also purchased earlier this year. The Superblock is bounded by Superior and St. Clair avenues plus West 3rd and West 6th streets.

Presumably SHW will build on the Superblock a massive parking deck surrounded by additional buildings and spaces for future buildings, plus common areas for employees and the public. Pickard Chilton is SHW's design architect for the 1-million-square-foot HQ; Vocon Partners, LLC is the programming architect.

The base building architect for the HQ and the design, base and interior architect for the R&D facility is HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC of Minneapolis. The R&D facility will measure about 500,000 square feet and be part of a mixed-use development called Valor Acres in Brecksville.

The Graduate School of Public Health at the University of
Pittsburgh is similar to the conceptual design of the new
SHW research facilities proposed to be built at Valor
Acres in suburban Brecksville (HGA).

Another source has seen the renderings for the SHW R&D facilities but didn't realize it at the time. They were described as conceptual. He said the R&D buildings were "About five stories tall, made of concrete and glass, and connected to each other by ground-level, enclosed walkways. It was an awesome design and very coastal, like something you would see on the East Coast or maybe California."

These word descriptions shouldn't come as a surprise as SHW has said that one of the goals of its new HQ+R&D facilities is for talent retention and attraction. It wants facilities designed to uplift, inspire, and promote employee interaction and innovation. In short, the facilities are designed to cause employees to want to come to Cleveland and Brecksville to live, work and play -- and want to keep them coming back to work every day.

And SHW's CEO John Morikis said he has every intention of bringing his company's headquarters employees back to the office, pandemic or not.

"We recognize that the development, engagement and sense of community our employees share has been essential to our success for more than 150 years and would be difficult to sustain over the long-term with a remote-based workforce," he said in Sept. 15 written statement.

The modern lines of the Center for Chemical & Forensic
Sciences building at the University of Rhode Island also
bears some similarity to the proposed design of SHW's
R&D facilities in Brecksville (HGA). 

It isn't known publicly yet how the facilities will be designed to be COVID-compliant -- or even if they will be, considering that the HQ won't be completed until early 2024. I'm sure we all hope the global pandemic is in our rearview mirrors by then.

Vocon has a number of other clients locally who are trying to redesign their workplace interiors to get employees back to work in a safe manner. Potentially, SHW, a growing company, could provide more square footage at the outset for their existing employees and then divvy up that space later on for additional employees after the threat of the pandemic subsides.

In the case of CrossCountry Mortgage's new downtown Cleveland headquarters, it will feature residential units next door that will be marketed first to company employees. So even if employees are working remotely, they will be only steps away from responding if they need to do anything at their office.

It remains to be seen if and how the HQ+R&D are designed to accommodate the pandemic. But it seems certain that both facilities are being designed for talent retention and attraction. Those are goals that never seem to go away.

END

Chicago developer considers downtown Cleveland tower

This unofficial massing is shown to demonstrate the potential
scale of a possibly significant project under consideration for
2.24 acres of land at the northwest corner of West 3rd Street
and St. Clair Avenue in downtown Cleveland. However, the
actual project if built could look very different. Therefore,
its backers are being very tight-lipped (Ian McDaniel).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED NOV. 3, 2020

Here comes another proposal for a Cleveland tower -- but with a word of caution. It's still progressing and considered not close to being realized. But the players involved are serious ones, including another big Chicago developer that wants to invest in Cleveland.

That Chicago developer is Magellan Development Group LLC. This developer builds skyscrapers. Lots of them. And not just in Chicago -- the birthplace of the skyscraper. They've built them in Nashville, Miami, Austin and Minneapolis.

But Magellan plops 30- to 50-story towers around Chicago without blinking an eye. Their latest is Vista Tower, the third-tallest in the Windy City. The 101-story, 1,198-foot-tall, $1 billion tower opened earlier this year.  

The Cleveland site they've picked is a direct result of Sherwin-Williams agreeing to build their new global headquarters in downtown Cleveland. Three sources who agreed to speak off the record confirm Magellan is looking at building on the northwest corner of West 3rd Street and St. Clair Avenue. That's right across St. Clair from Sherwin-Williams' HQ site.

Warrensville Heights-based Weston Group owns most of the property for the Magellan tower. The site measures 2.24 acres -- a huge development canvas for downtown Cleveland. To reduce upfront costs, Weston's property will apparently not be sold. Instead, Magellan, Weston and its favored general contractor Gilbane Building Company are reportedly looking at a joint venture to deliver this project.

The mostly Weston-owned site for the proposed West 3rd-St.
Clair project is outlined here in red. The Justice Center is at
the right and the planned site for the new Sherwin-Williams
headquarters is at the lower left (Google).

At last reports, the project would involve ground-level retail and entry lobbies with a multi-level parking deck above. Built atop that pedestal of parking and retail would reportedly be two basic structures. The taller of the two would be a roughly 30-story tower for residential units and a five-star hotel.

A tower that's a few stories shorter than 30 could be built on a concrete pad foundation. But a tower that's 30 or more stories tall would require more expensive supportive caissons dug down to bedrock some 200 feet below the surface. That could reduce the financial viability of a proposed tower.

Depending on the tenant or tenants, the smaller structure would be the office building, perched atop the parking deck. Magellan and Weston reportedly would not build the office building until there is a tenant or tenants identified. There are multiple potential office users who might relocate to such a building.

As for the hotel, the developers want a five-star brand since downtown lacks one and visitors to the Sherwin-Williams HQ are demanding five-star lodging, sources say. The Ritz-Carlton at Tower City Center is a four-star hotel.

Another view, this time looking generally south, shows the
potential project in relation to the planned site for the new
Sherwin-Williams headquarters. Also nearby is the Justice
Center complex which includes its two jail buildings. The
jail is expected to move out of downtown in the next few
years. The Magellan-Weston project is at the eastern edge
of the Historic Warehouse District (Ian McDaniels).

Local real estate developer Scott Wolstein was reportedly brought into this project due to his ability to bring deals together, especially involving Starwood-brand hotels. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that a Starwood flag would be the hotelier in this project.

And considering that downtown Cleveland projects similar to this one, namely nuCLEus, have had difficulty getting off the ground, Wolstein was unwilling to discuss this potential Magellan-Weston project.

"Unlike a lot of developers, I prefer not to discuss future projects unless and until I have all the pieces in place," Wolstein said in a recent e-mail interview with NEOtrans. "Timing depends on a variety of issues including market demand, entitlements, subsidies, availability of financing, etc."

Ed Asher, president of Weston Residences, Equities and Development, acknowledged receiving an e-mail asking questions about this project but did not otherwise respond to it.

Street-level view of the mostly Weston-owned properties at
the northwest corner of West 3rd and St. Clair. The yellow-
ish building is the Bertsch Building. Behind it is the larger,
seven-story Marion Building. Both would be demolished to
make way for the potential Magellan-Weston project (KJP).

J.R. Berger, principal of Magellan, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment on and confirmation of the project. Berger is responsible for evaluating development opportunities for Magellan nationwide.

Tom Yablonsky, executive director of the Historic Warehouse District, said he wasn't aware of the Magellan-Weston proposal but noted that any proposed demolitions would be carefully examined.

"The Warehouse District is both a Cleveland Landmark district and a National Register historic district." Yablonsky said in an e-mail. "The Marion Building and the original Wohl’s Hungarian restaurant building  are contributing buildings to the historic district; thus any proposed demolition will receive significant scrutiny and regulatory review."

The site has two surface parking lots on either side of the Marion and Bertsch buildings. Weston owns everything except the 117-year-old, 12,178-square-foot Bertsch Building, 1280 W. 3rd. It sold in March in an entity sale to the law firm Koeth Rice & Leo Co. which has its offices there. However, Weston is responsible for leasing at the Bertsch Building.

The Marion Building dates from 1913 and measures 104,698 square feet. In addition to accommodating the offices of numerous law firms due to the Justice Center across the street, it is also the longtime home of Karl's Inn of the Barristers. Both the Marion and Bertsch buildings are proposed to be demolished.

A decade ago, Weston was a suitor for the planned, new
 Cuyahoga County administration building that eventually
was built on East 9th Street at Prospect Avenue. Weston's
entry was this -- a 12-story building on the same corner
of West 3rd and St. Clair where a much larger building
is proposed by Magellan and Weston (Weston-URS).

Weston has the capital resources to help make this project happen but will probably need subsidies to make the numbers work, owing to Cleveland's high construction costs and low rents. Weston recently owned the nearly 6-acre "Superblock" of parking lots bounded by West 3rd and West 6th streets, plus St. Clair and Superior avenues.

Weston sold them to Sherwin-Williams earlier this year for $40 million for its HQ. To round out its HQ site, 1.17 acres on Public Square were acquired by the global coatings giant from the Jacobs Group for $9.2 million, public records show.

Prior to selling its Superblock properties, Weston moved all of its parking leases from the Superblock to the lot at the northwest corner of West 3rd and St. Clair. That includes parking for The Standard, an apartment building Weston refashioned from the former headquarters of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Presumably, The Standard's parking would be incorporated into the new Magellan-Weston project.

In March, Allstate Life Insurace Co. terminated a lien on the two Weston-owned surface parking lots along West 3rd north of St. Clair, public records show. Removing the lien makes it easier for those properties to be sold or otherwise folded into a joint venture for the proposed development.

Also, those involved with the Magellan-Weston project reportedly assume that the Cuyahoga County Jail on the east side of West 3rd will be moved in the coming years to a location outside of downtown. That is the apparent direction of the Justice Center Steering Committee that is evaluating the possible construction of a new consolidated jail facility as well as a new courthouse. The courthouse will probably stay downtown.

END

Chicago developer buys land to kick-off a new neighborhood in Tremont

The first of what could be multiple residential buildings in
the Lincoln Heights section of Tremont may rise soon. The
site is shown in this conceptual plan as building No. 3 along
West 25th Street. But the building's shape is still weeks from
being finalized so it will probably appear very different than
what is shown in this massing. The Nestle plant is the large
building at the bottom of this view (Seventh Hill/TWDC).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

A Chicago developer this week has acquired about one acre of land to construct a new multi-family building on a stretch of West 25th Street that's been in between destinations for a long time. But the project could trigger more investment that might make this section of Tremont's Lincoln Heights neighborhood an actual destination.

Ultimately, according to long-range plans, this western edge of Tremont could add 650 housing units, several ground-floor commercial tenants, through streets, hiking/biking trails and public spaces. The site is just north of Nestle USA's L.J. Minor factory. At full buildout, the new community could spread across about 10 acres.

The first phase is being pursued by Mavrek Development Inc. and will include a mixed-use building perhaps five stories tall with two levels of below-ground parking. Above the parking deck will be a first-floor commercial space facing West 25th and topped by about 160 market-rate apartments.

Terms of the property acquisitions were not disclosed. Public records of the transactions have yet to be posted to the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer's web site.

Designs are still being finalized and may not be released for a couple more weeks, said Mavrek Principal Adam Friedberg, a Cleveland-area native of Moreland Hills. The project will be called Treo as it sits where Tremont, Ohio City and Metro West communities converge.

Location of the property acquired this week by Mavrek
Development and where it sets in relation to other pro-
perties that may be developed as envisioned by the
Lincoln Heights master plan (KJP/Google).

"One of the coolest things about this site is that it will have unobstructed views of downtown," Friedberg said. "This building is the kick-off development for the Lincoln Heights master plan."

He noted that Mavrek's project, as well as those by other developers who have yet to announce their involvement in realizing the master plan, somewhat resembles Tremont West Development Corp.'s master plan for Lincoln Heights. That plan, drafted in March by Seventh Hill Design, focused on the area between West 25th Street, Interstate 90 and Fairfield Avenue.

Treo is a partnership between developer Mavrek Development and Schiff Capital Group, plus general contractor Krueger Group, Norr Architects, Project Management Consultants and Kohrman Jackson & Krantz. Robert Krueger, a principal at Mavrek, is the president of the Krueger Group based in Cleveland.

"It's a solid team and a lot of experience," Friedberg said. "Krueger is an experienced local partner. They've done a lot of residential and commercial work and also did Hyland Software (tech campus expansion in Westlake)."

Zak Baris, president of Comprehensive Zoning Services LLC, a Cleveland-based real estate consultant working on projects in the immediate vicinity of Treo, said he is looking forward to Mavrek's first Cleveland development.

Mavrek's development site along West 25th Street is occupied
by Sass Automotive & Wrecking. The land slopes down into
the ravine for Walworth Run. That slope provides an unob-
structed view of downtown from this spot and is the rea-
son why Mavrek acquired it for development (Google).

"Their properties in Chicago are pretty cool," he said. "They have a quality of construction and design aesthetics and I hope they bring that over to Cleveland. They do nice rehab work and ground-up development, especially their brick brownstones. Their work is very impressive."

Sass Automotive & Wrecking currently occupies the Mavrek-owned site as do several single-family homes on West 20th Street, the next street east. All will be demolished and their occupants relocated. Most of the land was owned by The Cle Vue LLC, an affiliate of a local developer that has other properties close by.

There will probably be no vehicular access to Treo from West 25th. Nor will access come from the narrow Potter Court. Instead vehicular access will be by two paths -- via Fillmore Avenue, underneath West 25th and via Moltke Court extended west of West 20th to West 25th at Swift Avenue's intersection, said Khalid Hawthorne, Tremont West's housing & economic development director.

The Sass Automotive & Wrecking site has been used as an auto repair and wrecking yard for at least three decades. The site has undergone a phase I and phase II environmental report and no soil contamination from fluids leaking out of wrecked cars was found, Friedberg said.

Porco Lounge & Tiki Room, located at the corner of West 25th and Potter Court, will remain as it is not part of the development. And there are other angles to the development that might affect it -- especially in a positive way.

Treo will be a substantial development, but represents only the first
phase of investment on the east side of West 25th Street near the
Porco Lounge. This view looks across West 25th (Mavrek).

"There are a lot of moving parts in that area," Hawthorne said. "Eventually there will be a larger property and more developers based on discussions we've had over the years, including possible townhouses and workforce units in a later phase."

West 25th could be altered with the pending 25connects bus rapid transit project, he said. That could feature protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks across the long bridge north Lincoln Heights into Ohio City.

"We want to make sure it's not a car centric development," Hawthorne said. "We've communicated a lot of our desires for that area in the Lincoln Heights plan. One of them is to connect Scranton Road to West 25th via trails and possibly a park as well. The reason that came up is because Scranton Road, where The Lincoln is going in, is less than a quarter-mile away (from West 25th) but is much longer by existing streets and sidewalks."

Until recently, the area has been left out of the real estate boom on Cleveland's near-west side. Lincoln Heights was a gap amid Tremont east of I-90, Ohio City's Market District, and Metro West's La Villa Hispana plus, farther south, the growing MetroHealth Medical Center and its spin-off developments.

Looking southward at Treo, West 25th Street is behind the proposed
building and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks are in the fore-
ground. Next to the tracks and below the building and West 25th
will be a vehicular entrance from Fillmore Avenue (Mavrek).

But that's starting to change. There's the new St. Joseph's Commons across West 25th -- a 68-unit apartment building by Front Steps Housing & Services. One block farther south on West 25th is BVQ Lofts which offer 69 apartments in the former J. Spang Baking Co., 2707 Barber Ave. On the other side of I-90 is the new Tremont Animal Clinic as well as the Astrup Awning Building which is being converted by Foran Group Development LLC into a community arts center.

"We are bullish on Cleveland," Friedberg said. "We like the trends. We've done our homework on the supply and demand in Cleveland and especially Tremont and Ohio City. We want to be a contributor in the neighborhood."

Mavrek is one of many Chicago-area developers that are active in Cleveland. Others include Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors (their project is Intro), Stoneleigh Companies LLC (West 20th/Lorain), Akara Partners (Kenect Cleveland), White Oak Realty Partners (Circle Square), and Magellan Development Group LLC (possible downtown megaproject). Additional Chicago developers are considering Cleveland.

"Some of those Chicago developers who are active in Cleveland have Cleveland natives working for them," Friedberg said. "We want to implement some learnings we gained in Chicago and marry that with the Cleveland culture."

END

Tremco seeks factory expansion straddling city line

Tremco Inc.'s proposed expansion of its Mameco plant on
East 175th Street-Miles Avenue in Cleveland will be on both
sides of a city boundary shared with Warrensville Heights. It
forced city officials and architects to dig deeper into building
codes from several sources to figure out how the project
 could legally be accomplished (B&H/HWH).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

How do you plan for and build a large, new production facility on both sides of a municipal boundary? Carefully.

That's what Beachwood-based manufacturer Tremco Inc. has had to do while proposing a  $25 million, 113,100-square-foot building for expanding its commercial sealants and waterproofing division called Mameco.

The expansion is of their 150,000-square-foot Cleveland plant on Miles Avenue at East 175th Street. That plant is proposed to expand east into Warrensville Heights to increase their production of AlphaGuard rooftop sealant.

Tremco's expansion project was designed by HWH Architects Engineers Planners Inc. The firm explained the complicated expansion to both cities in a  July 28th letter by HWH Vice President Philip Rozman. The letter appeared as part of a permit application filed with the city of Cleveland.

"As the planning of (the) building progressed to accommodate the manufacturing process, the size and location of the building was deemed necessary to encompass both the Cleveland and Warrensville Hts. parcels and bridge over the Cleveland/Warrensville Heights city limit/lot line," Rozman wrote.

The proposed 113,100-square-foot expansion of Tremco's
plant is shown here -- as is the location of the municipal boun-
dary between Cleveland and Warrensville Hts (B&H/HWH).

"Initial review of the site layout plan by the ahj (authorities having jurisdiction) prompted the requirement of a party wall on the city limit/lot line in order to provide separation between the portion of the building on Cleveland property and the portion of the building on Warrensville Heights property," he added.

"A party wall constructed per the requirements of Section 706.1.1 of the 2017 Ohio Building Code along the city limit/lot line will be disruptive to the manufacturing process and likely deem the project not feasible to obtain the goals of the expansion," Rozman said.

A party wall along the city limit/lot line would have to be a firewall with no openings in it. The solid wall would split the proposed building roughly equally in half and at a slight angle -- creating an intolerable situation.

That building would be a new, 90,000-square-foot, two-level production facility fronted by a 23,100-square-foot, three-story structure for offices and mechanical, electrical and maintenance support activities. And each would be divided among two cities' separate building codes and approval processes.

"The new structure as designed will be built over a parcel line without fire separation as required by the 2017 Ohio Building Code," wrote Thomas Vanover, Cleveland's chief building official in an Aug. 12 review of Tremco's plans. "The parcels cannot be consolidated due to the fact that they reside in two different municipalities. An easement cannot be written, because the state of Ohio does not allow a property owner to grant an easement to themselves."

Additional views of Tremco's plant expansion (B&H/HWH).

Finally, the Ohio Building Code does not grant relief because it precludes the construction of a building on the adjoining property in the dedicated portion of the property. So HWH requested and got approved a design as provided for in another building code.

The design will use the 2018 International Building Code which allows for an exception to firewalls on parcel lines. In the exception, the aggregate height and area of the portions of the building located on both sides of the lot line do not exceed the maximum height and area requirements of the code.

So the new production building will not exceed two stories and 65 feet of structural height. The code allows for three stories and 85 feet. The support building won't exceed three stories and 54 feet. The code allows for four stories and 75 feet.

The production area is rated as a moderate industrial hazard with automatic sprinklers and three-hour fire wall between the production and support areas, HWH wrote in its building permit application.

Tremco in 2017 acquired the two Warrensville Hts. parcels meansuring 1.84 acres for $360,000 from M&S Equipment Leasing Co., county records show. Two buildings on those properties were razed, as were two more buildings several parcels of land Tremco recently acquired on the Cleveland side. Data for those acquisitions was unavailable as the parcel boundaries were since redrawn by the county into a 0.7-acre plot of land.

View of the northernmost part of Tremco's Mameco division.
This view looks generally east along Miles Avenue toward
Warrensville Heights. Much of the rest of the 150,000-square-
foot plant is behind the small part seen here (Google).

Tremco's existing Mameco plant in Cleveland's Lee-Miles neighborhood is set on 9.2 acres. With the new property acquisitions, Tremco's total land area for the Miles Avenue plant and future expansion is now 11.74 acres. The existing plant wraps around behind Herold's Salads, 17512 Miles.

Scott Gebler, Tremco's marketing and communications specialist, did not comment on the proposed expansion although he acknowledged receiving two e-mails seeking more information about it.

Information requested includes the dollar value of the proposed investment and how many permanent jobs it would create. Lensa shows 26 jobs available at Tremco in Cleveland. But the expansion project is still a couple of years away from being completed.

Tremco's origins trace back to 1928 when William Treuhaft opened a small roofing materials manufacturing plant in Cleveland. Tremco grew organically and through the acquisition of related companies over the years. By 1958 it was the nation's largest maker of maintenance materials for industrial, institutional, and commercial buildings. Tremco itself was acquired by B.F. Goodrich Co. in 1980.

Medina-based RPM International Inc. bought Tremco in 1997. Today, Tremco is a 3,000-employee, $1 billion global subsidiary of RPM. It has 800 employees in Northeast Ohio among its Beachwood headquarters, Mameco division on Miles, a Tremco plant on 3361 E. 80th St. in Cleveland and a distribution center in the former TRW complex, 23555 Euclid Ave. in Euclid. It also had other plants around the world.

END

More apartments, grocery store planned near Cleveland Clinic

A Meijer grocery store on the ground floor of a new apartment
building, possibly like this one that was proposed in Detroit, is
planned at the southwest corner of East 105th Street and Cedar
Ave. in Cleveland's Fairfax community (Prime Development).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED OCT. 20, 2020

As first reported here at NEOtrans, a Meijer's grocery store topped by market-rate apartments is proposed to be built on East 105th Street near the Cleveland Clinic. However, the location is a bit different than what was previously reported.

It is one of many residential, commercial and insitutional-related developments planned along a short stretch of East 105th at the northeast end of the $306 million Opportunity Corridor that's due to be completed one year from now.

The first phase of the project by Fairmount Properties LLC is planned to have 250-300 micro-unit apartments, several dozen townhouses, and several hundred parking spaces next to or above a 40,000-square-foot grocery store, according to two sources who spoke off the record. This mix of uses is proposed to rise on 3 acres of land at the southeast corner of East 105th and Cedar Avenue.

The sources also confirmed that the proposed grocery store would be a Meijer (pronounced "mi-yer"). It would be the first from that chain planned for the city of Cleveland. Next year, Meijer will open its first store in Cuyahoga County, a full-size store on the site of a former Kmart in Seven Hills.

Full-size, 200,000-square-foot Meijer stores offer more than groceries -- they have everything from clothing to electronics to furniture. Their smaller, urban-format "Neighborhood Market" stores are limited to grocery items. This would be Meijer's first urban store in Ohio. Michigan-based Meijer plans to build at least six small-format stores in revitalizing Midwest urban neighborhoods by 2021.

According to legislation being introduced to Cleveland City Council, Fairmount has control of the land bounded by East 105th, Cedar, Wain Court and East 103rd Street. However, county records show titles to the properties currently remain with a mix of public and private owners including the city's Land Bank, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp., the Ohio Department of Transportation and three separate individuals. Fairmount has purchase agreements for each.

The amount of planned development activity where Cleveland
Clinic's main campus meets University Circle is extensive.
Developments that are the focus of this article are identi-
fied in red. Other major developments planned or
underway are shown in blue (Google).

A second phase of development appears to be planned on the block immediately west, bounded by Cedar, East 103rd, East 101st Street and Wain. According to public records, a certificate of disclosure was filed with the city and issued yesterday for 2176 E. 103rd. Fairmount is listed as that parcel's buyer. Every other parcel in that block is owned by the Land Bank, Fairfax Renaissance or Cleveland Clinic.

Fairfax's long-range neighborhood plan shows East 103rd dead-ending before it intersects with Cedar. That would enable continuous development along the south side of Cedar from East 101st to East 105th.

Fairmount Principal Adam Fishman did not respond prior to publication to two e-mails and a voicemail left at his office seeking more information for this article. Meijer Public Relations Manager Christina Fecher also did not respond to a similar e-mail other than acknowledging she received it.

There are actually two pieces of legislation pending before city council to help finance this development. One is to authorize Director of Economic Development David Ebersole to apply for and accept an Empowerment Zone and/or non-Empowerment Zone federal Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 loan for an amount up to $9 million to partially finance the construction of the "mixed-use grocery store project."

The amount of HUD Sec. 108 borrowing capacity for a community is five times its latest approved Community Development Block Grant allocation minus any outstanding Sec. 108 loan balances or existing commitments. So as of March 2020, Cleveland could borrow nearly $28 million in Sec. 108 loans.

And, in the 1990s, the Fairfax, Glenville, Hough and MidTown neighborhoods of Cleveland were eligible to receive $177 million in federal Empowerment Zone loans and grants, but not all of the funds were committed.

Looking north along East 105th Street toward Cedar Avenue,
the 3-acre Fairmount Properties development site is on the
 left. The street has little traffic now, but that will change
once the Opportunity Corridor is built through to
Interstate 490 and numerous developments in
this area are completed (Google).

The other piece of legislation would authorize the city to acquire and re-convey 27 properties presently owned by Fairmount Properties or its designee at East 105th and Cedar for the purpose of entering into a chain-of-title transfer prior to the adoption of tax increment financing (TIF) legislation. In a chain-of-title transaction, the city acquires land from an owner and then gives it back to them so as to allow certain property tax revenues to be used flexibly for urban redevelopment.

Previously, Fairmount's proposed mixed-use development was considered for the southeast corner of East 105th and Carnegie Avenue. Survey crews were on site in June. However the Cleveland Clinic-owned property was deemed too small for a single-level, 40,000-square-foot grocery store and would have required a tall building. No part of the neighboring Tudor Arms property owned by Ari Maron would be used for Fairmount's development, as confirmed by Maron.

Instead, the development is proposed for the former site of Calvary Hill Missionary Baptist Church, 2171 E. 103rd St. County records show Cleveland Clinic acquired the land for $1.2 million in 2017 and demolished the 1916-built church. The congregation moved to 2222 North Taylor Rd. in Cleveland Hts., formerly Hope Lutheran Church.

Last winter, Cleveland Clinic organized focus groups of Fairfax residents, property owners and others to determine how develop the southeast corner of its main campus. The suggested uses centered around residential and retail -- notably a grocery store.

“Now that the northern section of Opportunity Corridor is open, we plan to further develop the southeast part of our campus," said the Cleveland Clinic's media relations department to NEOtrans last March. "We look forward to working with our community partners on future opportunities that will help accelerate the Fairfax neighborhood reinvestment plan."

Site of the planned first phase of Innovation Square is seen
across East 105th Street from the intersection of Hudson
Avenue. The conditions of surviving residences in this
area underscore why new, higher-quality homes are
needed in the Fairfax neighborhood (Google).

This is not the only residential development planned for this stretch of East 105th, within walking distance of the Cleveland Clinic and other employers in University Circle -- Ohio's fourth-largest employment district.

One block south of Fairmount's planned development, at 2258 E. 105th, Fairfax Renaissance plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony early next month for the first phase of the Innovation Square mixed-income apartment building, according to the Dodge Reports. A specific date hasn't been announced.

However, the online construction project database says actual earthmoving on the site won't begin until spring 2021. Dodge Reports also says Fairfax Renaissance will announce the name of the project's general contractor at the goundbreaking ceremony -- an unusual move. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency's project brief shows the Ozanne Construction Co. of Cleveland as the project's general contractor.

Fairfax Renaissance Executive Director Denise Van Leer did not respond to an e-mail seeking more information prior to publication.

The $12.75 million first phase of Innovation Square will feature 85 apartments on four floors. Of those, 41 units will be affordable housing and 44 will be market-rate units with ground-floor commercial space. It will also have a rooftop deck with a residents' lounge, fitness rooms, bike storage and repair plus electric car charging stations.

The planned first phase of Innovation Square apartments
will be at the northwest corner of East 105th Street and an
extended Hudson Avenue. Its groundbreaking ceremony is
scheduled to be held in early November (City Architecture).

Eventually, among all three phases, Innovation Square will offer 223 apartments north and south of Hudson Avenue once it is extended west of East 105th. The new street will extend past the north edge of the new Playwright Park to East 100th Street, according to the neighborhood's masterplan.

Surrounding the park, from East 97th to East 105th, Knez Homes has begun building dozens of single-family houses that will total a $12 million investment, according to Dodge. The housing will be an easy walk to the Cleveland Clinic in one direction and the newly expanded East 105th-Quincy train station in the other. And if Fairmount's development is built, residents of Innovation Square will be a short walk from its grocery store as well.

A few blocks farther north, the massive Circle Square development is due to start construction in March 2021. There, up to 800 apartments, 104,000 square feet of neighborhood retail, 171,000 square feet of office space, nearly 800 structured parking spaces and a future hotel are planned. It is due to start with two apartment buildings -- one 11 stories tall and the other 24 stories. The latter would be University Circle's tallest building.

Commercial and institutional developments are also moving forward on the eastern and southern edges of Cleveland Clinic's campus. Under construction at 10300 Cedar is the 21,000-square-foot Brooks BioRepository. It will enhance researchers’ study of human tissue samples and advance personalized medicine for an array of conditions -- including cancer, heart disease and epilepsy.

Cleveland Clinic has two major projects on its main campus that are moving forward again after being put on hold during much of the COVID-19 pandemic. First will be a 100,000-square-foot expansion of the Cole Eye Institute on East 105th, between Euclid and Carnegie. Then, a new 400,000-square-foot Neurological Institute will rise on Euclid Avenue between East 96th and East 100th streets.

Tyler Kapusta contributed to this article

END

Yes, Cleveland-Cliffs is considering a new HQ building

Could Cleveland-Cliffs' recent acquisitions result in the construc-
tion of a new office tower in downtown Cleveland? That's what
Cliffs' executives are reportedly trying to figure out after buy-
ing AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA in the past year. The
latter had its headquarters in this Chicago building, One
South Dearborn in The Loop downtown (Google).

Two weeks ago, I posted a speculative but data-driven article suggesting Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will probably start looking for a new headquarters facility given its recent corporate shopping spree. This week, several sources at and close to Cliffs confirmed that the company is in fact considering a new HQ.

And that's not all. They are talking with others about identifying additional firms to co-locate with them in a building. Based on who they're reportedly talking with, it's apparent that Cliffs will stay in Greater Cleveland and probably in downtown Cleveland.

But wait -- there's more. The fact that Cliffs is talking with firms about co-locating their offices with them strongly suggests that Cliffs is looking to fill a large, empty building. There is only one large, empty, existing office building in downtown. So they're either trying to fill that building or build a new one. It's one of many office plays underway in Cleveland.

After its recent acquisitions of AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA, Cliffs is now Greater Cleveland's second-largest Fortune 500 firm by revenue, barely edging out Sherwin-Williams. Only Progressive is larger locally. 

In West Chester, a northern suburb of Cincinnati, AK Steel's
headquarters waits to be emptied once Cleveland-Cliffs can
find or build a larger headquarters in Cleveland (Google).

But Cliffs has a relatively small HQ staff of about 600 compared to Sherwin-Williams' 3,000 or Progressive's 12,000. Cliffs' current home of 200 Public Square has only about 207,000 square feet of available space scattered among multiple floors of the 46-story tower. Cliffs occupies just under 110,000 square feet in the tower.

Once AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA are assimilated into Cliffs, its HQ staffing may increase to 1,200 employees and its space needs may increase to 204,000 to 272,000 square feet. If those acquisitions result in growth as Cliffs' executives hope, the company's HQ staffing could rise by hundreds more workers and its office space needs could rise to about 255,000 to 340,000 square feet or more in the coming decade.

Considering that Cliffs is shopping for new HQ space, its probable that the HQ staffs from AK Steel near Cincinnati and ArcelorMittal USA in Chicago will be consolidated within Cliffs' HQ. If it wasn't for the pandemic, Cliffs would have already started moving AK Steel office jobs up to Cleveland. For the time being, Cliffs is only replacing departing managers at AK Steel near Cincinnati with new managers in Cleveland, sources at Cliffs say.

And it's a pretty safe bet that Cliffs' HQ will stay in Greater Cleveland if not in downtown Cleveland. The reason is that Cliffs is talking with firms that are already based in downtown Cleveland about co-locating with them.

ArcelorMittal USA's regional headquarters is located in Richfield
at 4020 Kinross Lakes Parkway. Cleveland-Cliffs could expand this
8-acre campus between Cleveland and Akron (Commercial Exchange).

What's more intriguing is what this could mean about Cliffs' new address. With the square-footage needs that Cliffs has by itself, there are only two existing buildings in downtown Cleveland with enough contiguous vacant space to accommodate Cliffs' HQ. One is 55 Public Square whose owner is the target of a federal investigation.

The other is the totally vacant, 493,000-square-foot Ellipse at 45 Erieview Plaza. The Ellipse is the 1983-built, 16-story former Ameritech HQ at the southeast corner of Lakeside Avenue and East 9th Street. It's not only big enough to accommodate Cliffs' after it assimilates AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA, but it can also hold the offices of the firms with whom Cliffs is willing to co-locate.

Those firms reportedly have space needs in the 20,000- to 50,000-square-foot range. They approached Cliffs in the normal course of doing business with them. They informed Cliffs they were looking for new digs. Cliffs responded that they were also looking for a new home. That's when the conversations began but which are still very preliminary. Many other options for each firm are still on the table.

Because they do business with these firms, Cliffs' sources were unwilling to reveal them.

Buying and updating The Ellipse would be far cheaper than constructing a new building, but it's not a structure meant for everyone. If it was, it would already have office tenants. It has large floorplates averaging 34,000 square feet. It's certainly an attractive building inside and out, including a glassy, elliptical facade offering unobstructed views of Lake Erie. Plus it has a 348-space parking garage nearby and another 32 executive parking spaces under The Ellipse.

The Ellipse, a 16-story office building in downtown Cleveland,
is completely empty. It could accommodate Cleveland-Cliffs'
new HQ plus another small-medium office tenant or two,
 depending on their size (Google).

An unidentified buyer won an August auction to acquire The Ellipse for a bargain $14.9 million. For an unknown reason, the buyer walked away during the due-diligence period prior to taking title. New York City-based private equity firm Somera Road bought the property in 2016 for $36 million. To build an office building of similar scale in downtown Cleveland today could cost about $150 million.

And perhaps that's what Cliffs and another firm or two might be willing to do to get a trophy-class office building of about 20 stories or so with high-end finishes, the latest technologies and an energy-efficient design that reduces operating costs. One has to wonder if this is what Cliffs and a co-locating firm or two have in mind. 

The only reason why Cliffs might consider co-locating with another firm in a building is if it was to either occupy a completely empty building like The Ellipse or to construct a new building. The smaller firm or firms would be a tenant and help offset construction financing and maintenance costs.

Otherwise, Cliffs could go to The Ellipse by itself or build its own building without partnering with a tenant. The fact that they are considering co-locating with other Cleveland-based office users is a telling piece of information -- and a hopeful one for those of who like to see more downtown investment and more jobs coming to Cleveland.

END