Campus District asks GCRTA for Downtown Loop study

The Waterfront Line could attract more ridership and boost
development on the east side of downtown Cleveland if the
light-rail line went somewhere other than a parking lot on
the city's windswept lakefront, said a community develop-
ment corporation in a letter to the transit authority (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

 
In a recent letter, a downtown Cleveland community development corporation (CDC) urged the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) to revisit its 2000 Waterfront Line Phase II study that found extending the light-rail line as a Downtown Loop to be feasible.

The letter, sent Dec. 21 by the Campus District to GCRTA General Manager and CEO India Birdsong, followed a Dec. 11 vote by the CDC's board of trustees to make the request of the transit authority. The CDC joined with the statewide nonprofit organization All Aboard Ohio in asking for a reevaluation of the proposed Downtown Loop as a 2.5-mile extension of the 2.2-mile Waterfront Line.

"We believe this could be a catalytic project for our neighborhood and would better connect our anchor institutions with each other, as well as connect the greater community to a thriving downtown," Campus District Executive Director Mark Lammon wrote in the letter to GCRTA.

The Waterfront Line was built in 1996 for $70 million as an extension of the Shaker Heights-Tower City light-rail Blue and Green lines. Despite early ridership exceeding GCRTA's projections, the Waterfront Line has not lived up to expectations since.

All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail and transit advocacy association, argued that the rail line was never intended to end in the Municipal Parking Lot. The group said a range of options should be considered for the future of the rail line, but it favored the Downtown Loop.

Stations on Cleveland's rapid transit
system are within a 5-minute walk
of only about one-third of the cen-
tral business district. A Downtown
Loop on East 17th Street could put
two-thirds within a 5-minute walk,
while a routing via East 13th Street
could put about 90 percent within
that 5-minute walk (AAO).

The Waterfront Line is shut down for the winter as GCRTA began a major track reconstruction project in the Tower City Center station. The work has cut off track access to the Waterfront Line. But GCRTA opted not to provide interim bus service to Waterfront Line stations. The transit authority also will be refurbishing for $4 million a light-rail bridge over Front Street and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Abandonment of the Waterfront Line probably isn't realistic. GCRTA would have to refund to the Federal Transit Administration up to $10 million in state-of-good-repair grants it used in the past decade to keep the rail infrastructure in a safe and operable condition, All Aboard Ohio contended in a briefing paper. 

“GCRTA should consider expanding the Waterfront Line, as originally intended, to reach important destinations in and near Downtown Cleveland,” said All Aboard Ohio Executive Director Stu Nicholson in a written statement on its Web site. “Continuing the status quo is the only option GCRTA should not be embrace.”

At the Dec.11th board meeting of the Campus District, its directors voted to join with All Aboard Ohio in endorsing the reevaluation of the proposed Downtown Loop as an extension of the Waterfront Line. In 2000, GCRTA identified a preferred routing for the Waterfront Line Phase II, via East 17th Street, Prospect Avenue, East 22nd Street, Community College Avenue and East 30th Street.

But development of all of GCRTA's major capital projects was halted in the recession of the early 2000s except for the HealthLine bus rapid transit on Euclid Avenue. It was already too far along to halt, Nicholson said.

GCRTA's newest capital projects have produced very good
results such as the 2015-built Little Italy-University Circle
Red Line rail station. New developments have popped up
near it since including two visible here -- the $70 million
Centric Apartments seen just beyond the station and the
$7 million Mayfield Station Apartments just finishing
up construction in the center of the image (KJP).

"The investments that RTA has made in the Campus District have led to significant economic development," Lammon continued. "The HealthLine was transformative to Euclid Avenue and continues to see development today. The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center and the reconstruction of the Tri-C-Campus District Rapid Station (at East 34th Street) have ensured that the district remains a transit hub.

"We believe that extending the Waterfront Line to the Campus District Rapid Station through our neighborhood would also continue this return on investment," Lammon said.

He said the Downtown Loop will open new entryways into the central business district, expanding access to the Campus District's vital jobs centers and diminishing the infrastructural divides leftover from redlining. 

"We understand the challenges facing RTA today, however we believe that at least revisiting the 2000 Downtown Loop Study and determining its feasibility is worth considering the impact to our neighborhood and all of downtown," Lammon concluded.

All Aboard Ohio said consideration of a Downtown Loop could be included as part of GCRTA’s ongoing Next Gen system planning and 2030 Strategic Planning processes. According to both groups, GCRTA has not yet responded to the Campus District CDC's letter or to All Aboard Ohio's Nov. 30 letter.

The Waterfront Line attracts crowds for special events like the
2018 Cleveland National Air Show, Cleveland Browns games,
and waterfront festivals at North Coast Harbor and the Flats.
But the Campus District said it could help turn downtown
into more of a 15-minute city in which all of its neigh-
borhood assets are accessible within a 15-minute
walk, bike ride or transit trip (KJP).

The 2000 Waterfront Line Phase II study showed that a Downtown Loop could produce enough ridership at relatively low costs to justify federal construction funds. Back then, the Federal Transit Administration looked favorably on transit expansions that had a cost per new rider lower than $20. The Downtown Loop was estimated at a cost per new rider of less than $14.

“That was before Downtown Cleveland increased its residential population by more than 100 percent, saw downtown employers grow with more than $7.25 billion worth of investment, and attracted new corporate offices from the suburbs and other metro areas,” Nicholson said. “And it was well before GCRTA considered replacing its rail fleet with a standard rail car that can travel on any of its five lines, plus future ones.”

Nicholson said that a significant part of a local funding share for the project might be raised from a short-term tax-increment financing district along the Downtown Loop. The 2000 study estimated that the Downtown Loop could attract 2.2 million square feet of nonresidential development, nearly 1,000 housing units, $441 million in overall development (in 2000 dollars), nearly 9,000 permanent jobs, $250 million in new payroll and $17.8 million in new local tax revenues per year.

Thanks to the federal CARES Act, GCRTA's board recently passed a budget that could allow it to end 2021 with a $49 million reserve that will protect it from further emergencies and will probably also help it reduce its borrowing costs for major capital projects.

All Aboard Ohio also recently noted that Greater Cleveland will receive about $74 million in transit stimulus funds from the second round of federal pandemic aid. The advocacy group is urging that some of that money be used for transit-oriented developments near rail and bus stations, as well as reducing GCRTA's significant state-of-good-repair backlog.

END

Megaproject tax credit signed into law

This scene could become much more common in Ohio's largest
cities thanks to a megaproject tax-credit program signed into
 law today by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (MBN).

In the coming decade, the state bird of Ohio may well be the construction crane.

That's especially true in Ohio's six largest metropolitan areas where more than two-thirds of Ohioans live. That's because Ohio cities of more than 100,000 population, and places within 10 miles of them, will be the sites of megaprojects receiving anywhere from $240 million to $320 million in Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credits in the next few years.

The reason is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine today signed into law Substitute Senate Bill 39, authorizing the creation of the TMUD tax credit program. Now it will be up to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (OTCA) to formulate rules for the administration of the program and offer the first issuance of tax credits possibly by summer 2021.

There are literally dozens of major real estate development projects just in the city of Cleveland that could be eligible for the TMUD tax credit. If they're awarded credits, the projects could create tens of thousands of new jobs and help bring many more residents and commercial tenants into the city. An inventory of these potential Cleveland-area projects was covered recently by NEOtrans.

The Ohio General Assembly passed Sub. Sen. Bill 39 earlier this month.

Property owners pursuing a TMUD can request a tax credit equal to 10 percent of the estimated development costs for the project. Also, an insurance company can request a tax credit equal to 10 percent of its capital contribution to the TMUD project.

In either case, the amount cannot exceed $40 million per TMUD. If both a property owner and an insurance company investor seek a tax credit for the same project, the property owner will receive a tax credit minus any estimated credit amounts that have been preliminarily approved for insurance companies contributing capital to the project.

Stark Enterprises came up with the TMUD tax credit idea to
help fill a gap in its capital stack for the nuCLEus develop-
ment in downtown Cleveland. Now that the idea is law, it
will become available to the entire state (Bialoasky).

There will be at least three years of tax credits and $80 million of tax credits authorized per for year for Ohio's six largest urban areas, or $240 million total. Another $20 million per year will be available for development projects in smaller cities. The program is due to sunset June 30, 2023.

The bill's lead sponsor, State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-29, Canton), notified NEOtrans that the governor had signed the bill. Schuring said the law can always be extended past 2023 if the TMUD program proves successful.

"It's called the Ohio Revised Code, which means we can make changes to it," Schuring said. 

It is also possible that the bill's entire four years of tax credits totaling $400 million could be issued, including those in the program's first fiscal year 2020 that ended June 30, 2020, Schuring said. There are at least two reasons why.

First and foremost, Sub. SB 39 states that "unused tax credits can be carried forward for five years." Second, the Ohio Constitution allows for it, despite Article II, Section 28 which states that "The general assembly shall have no power to pass retroactive laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts."

But Section 28 goes on to say that lawmakers "may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the manifest intention of parties, and officers, by curing omissions, defects, and errors, in instruments and proceedings, arising out of their want of conformity with the laws of this state."

Projects the scale of Flats East Bank's future phases might
now go from the drawing board to groundbreaking thanks
to the passage of the TMUD program (DCA/Wolstein).

This was enforced in 1988 when, in Van Fossen v. Babcock Wilcox Co., the Ohio Supreme Court said a statute is presumed to be prospective in its operation unless expressly made retrospective. Sub. SB 39 is a substantive law (ie: not remedial) in that, when unused tax credits are carried forward from an earlier fiscal year. It does not impair or take away a vested or substantive right or impose new or additional burdens, duties, obligations or liabilities as to a past transaction. The tax credits will all be new transactions.

"I think your assumptions are right," said a NEOtrans source who is a practicing attorney on real estate matters but chose to stay off-record. "But I also think this will lead to some litigation that may clarify."

"We'll be watching the (OTCA's) rulemaking," Schuring pledged.

The originator of the TMUD tax credit, Bob Stark, CEO of Stark Enterprises, said he didn't have the legal expertise on this matter to offer an opinion, although he received a juris doctorate at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Stark sought the TMUD tax credit to fill a gap in his firm's capital stack for the roughly $300 million nuCLEus project, proposed to rise in Downtown Cleveland's Gateway neighborhood. The project has gone through several revisions, the most recent of which would offer a 25-story office tower over a pedestal of parking and retail.

Between now and June 30, 2023, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public-sector capital investment will be directed to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton and Akron and their immediate hinterlands. Those are Ohio's cities with populations of 100,000 or more and the suburbs within 10 miles of each.

Millennia Companies CEO Frank Sinito testified to an Ohio
House of Representatives Committee in support of the TMUD
tax credit, saying that it could help his company afford rede-
veloping 925 Euclid Ave. as The Centennial -- a 1.36-million-
square-foot mixed-use project (Millennia).

Projects like the 26-story North Market Tower in Downtown Columbus, the 20-acre Cincinnati Innovation District in the city's Walnut Hills neighborhood and potentially dozens of projects in Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs could all see significant investment from the TMUD tax credit program.

These and other projects and their backers look to public subsidies to overcome stagnant rents and high land development costs on vacant or underutilized properties in Ohio's largest cities where everyone from public officials to private investors want to attract jobs and residents.

"Our public-sector clients in Ohio are often presented with challenging sites that have immense potential for catalytic redevelopment, but are inhibited by physical constraints and market forces beyond their control such as aging, antiquated infrastructure, environmentally contaminated parcels, and a loss of manufacturing employment," said Emil Liszniansky, principal, Envision Group LLC in his SB 39 testimony last year to the Ohio House of Representatives' Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

"Redevelopment projects of this magnitude require not only an ambitious developer with foresight and committed financing, but also government assistance at multiple levels," he added. "Our experience is that transformative projects in Ohio, especially in aging industrial cities, do not generally occur without layered public subsidy. In the absence of government assistance, these sites often sit vacant for years."

"Having more tools in the tool kit will help," said MidTown Cleveland Executive Director Jeff Epstein. "I'd have to see the details in the final version (of the TMUD bill) but it certainly could help with some things that are on the drawing board."

"It (the bill) offers a 10 percent tax credit to development projects that will be catalytic and truly transformational to the area where they're located," Schuring said. "To that end, the House added some of amendments that I think are beneficial to that endeavor because we want it to be a net tax gain."

The skyline of downtown Cleveland will probably have several
new additions in the coming decade thanks to the passage of
the TMUD program, not to mention other projects like Sher-
win-Williams' new headquarters complex that are moving
forward without need of these tax credits (Reddit).

"It's a new paradigm in doing tax credits," Schuring continued, "so that when we have a developer who says that he or she is going to do a megaproject, we're asking them to show, demanding that they show to a pro forma that they're actually going to generate more new taxes and is reflected in the (tax credit) certificate."

Rather than getting an automatic 10 percent tax credit upon the completion of the project, the developer or the insurance company investor will get 5 percent at the outset. Then, the investor may receive the remaining 5 percent incrementally as the new taxes come in from the project. The investor will have to document a gain in local tax revenues in order to secure the remaining tax credit.

Ohio's unfortunate urban-rural/exurban divide briefly reared its ugly head at a Dec. 9th Senate session, verbalized by Sen. William Coley II (R-4, Liberty Twp.). The Senate voted at that session to concur with an Ohio House-amended version of the bill and forward it on to the governor for his signature.

"I regretfully cannot support this bill as the the project definitions with the bill are so specific as to exclude anything in my district in fact anything in most of your districts," Coley said. "While I appreciate the intention of the bill, I believe that by making it so prescriptive as to help certain projects and certain people's districts if it works to the detriment of the rest of Ohio and thus defeats the very purpose of the bill."

The Southwest Ohio lawmaker was joined by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-27, Hudson) as the only two senators to vote against the bill. Before that vote, Sen. Matt Dolan (R-24, Chagrin Falls) quickly rose up on the senate floor to speak in defense of the TMUD tax credit.

"In some respects, he (Colely) is right about this bill," Dolan said. "This bill is not designed to be in most of our districts including mine. This bill is designed to bring massive projects into our urban areas."

He said it would be erroneous to suggest that the benefits to Ohio will go no further than its largest cities if they get a TMUD project as a result of the new tax credit program. New residents, businesses and jobs would come to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Akron, he explained.

"We're not really understanding how economies grow and how states grow," Dolan continued. "This is designed for a specific type of project, not for a particular project, but a type of project which will not only pay for itself thanks to the good work of Senator Schuring but will drive the economy of our urban areas which will benefit all of Ohio."

END

Drilling points to 2 Sherwin-Williams skyscrapers

Crews working on behalf of Sherwin-Williams' headquarters
development team are measuring the depths to bedrock for
digging caissons to support new skyscrapers of more than 30
stories tall. Interestingly, the drilling crews this week moved
from working on the former Jacobs Lot on downtown Cleve-
land's Public Square to the west side of West 3rd Street, be-
tween Superior and Frankfort avenues (Ian Meadows).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Geotechnical drilling crews returned in recent weeks to the parking lots west of Cleveland's Public Square to gather more data for the design of Sherwin-Williams' (SHW) new headquarters. In so doing, the biggest question was whether they would drill into more than just one lot. The answer could provide insight as to what HQ facilities SHW might build and where. And how tall.

Based on recent insights posted here at NEOtrans and added to several months later, there wasn't much surprise that drilling crews from Ohio TestBor of Hinckley were digging 3-inch wells down to bedrock to measure their depths below a parking lot previously owned by the Jacobs Group at the northwest edge of Public Square.

Such deep drilling points to a skyscraper of 30 stories or more. The reason is that tall, heavy buildings in Cleveland must be built atop caissons that extend 200 feet or more down to bedrock.

There is every indication that the new SHW HQ tower on Public Square will approach if not surpass the 45-story, 658-foot height of 200 Public Square. It might even exceed the 52-story, 708-foot height of Terminal Tower. If so, that would make it the second-tallest building in Cleveland, trailing only the 57-story, 948-foot Key Tower.

After all, it was where the Ameritrust HQ tower would have been built 30 years ago. And it was where SHW was looking at building its HQ skyscraper four to six years ago, too. That effort was put on hold while SHW acquired its rival Valspar. A rendering from SHW's 2014-16 effort reportedly was borrowed by the Greater Cleveland Partnership and others for their campaign to woo Amazon's HQ2 to Cleveland.

An unofficial concept of SHW's new HQ featuring a
700+ foot base tower, a parking garage topped by
a hotel west of West 3rd Street, north of Superior
Avenue and a training center at West 6th Street
and Superior, plus a new public parking deck
north of Frankfort Avenue (Ian McDaniel).

But what wasn't known was if Ohio TestBor would drill down to bedrock below more than just the former Jacobs Lot. That would indicate a second skyscraper in a multi-structure, 6.8-acre SHW HQ. It has always been assumed that SHW would construct its tallest HQ building on the ex-Jacobs Lot.

The answer is that, yes, Ohio TestBor soon moved off the 1.17-acre ex-Jacobs Lot and onto the 5.63-acre Superblock, bounded by West 3rd and West 6th streets, plus Superior and St. Clair avenues. The narrow alley Frankfort Avenue slices through the midsection of the Superblock.

Their extra drilling work was restricted to an area near West 3rd, between Frankfort and Superior. Ohio TestBor crews so far haven't been seen venturing any farther west or north into the Superblock to drill.

On the other hand, Enviroprobe Integrated Solutions Inc. also had a geotech drilling crew working on the Superblock. First-hand observations as well as those by reliable sources indicate that only Enviroprobe has poked holes in the ground near West 6th and Superior.

When asked, Enviroprobe crews said they weren't drilling to bedrock. Ohio TestBor crews confirmed that they were drilling to bedrock. Humorously, when one of the Ohio TestBor crew members was asked if they were drilling for the new SHW HQ, he responded with "I have no idea. They just told us to find rock."

There are those who say this rendering, used as a marketing
piece to recruit Amazon's HQ2, was originally drawn to
depict SHW's HQ proposal of 2014-16. Additional build-
ings supposedly were added to the visual for the Amazon
PR. The tallest new building shown would be built on
the former Jacobs Lot. The second tallest would be
built just across West 3rd Street from it (GCP).

It should also be noted that each group of crews was working in different locations on the SHW-owned lots. So what can we learn from this information? Potentially -- a great deal.

In 1991, the Jacobs Group was finalizing its designs for the 63-story, 1,198-foot Ameritrust HQ tower on Public Square. Most of the parking for this supertall was to be across West 3rd in a stand-alone, square, multi-level garage touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort. Fourteen years earlier, this site was to be the site of a roughly 20-story office building for First Union Realty Trust.

More recently, SHW started looking at a new HQ in 2014 and zeroed in on the Jacobs Lot as their favored site, according to multiple sources who worked on the pre-development of that project. Then as now, SHW planned a 1-million-square-foot tower on Public Square with a parking deck touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort.

But there were differing opinions among those sources about what, if anything, SHW would have built on top of that parking deck. Some said they weren't aware of anything being planned atop it. Others said a tall building was planned there, albeit half as tall as the one on the former Jacobs Lot.

SHW's 2014-16 HQ intentions are instructive because SHW doesn't appear to be veering too far from them in this latest effort. Then as now, they appear to want an HQ tower of about 44-55 stories high, or roughly 650-750 feet tall. They appear to want a big parking deck across West 3rd. And, based on the ongoing drilling-to-bedrock work, they appear to want a big building built atop it sooner or later.

Ohio TestBor drilling rigs showed up Dec. 10
on the former Jacobs Lot on Public Square to
dig to bedrock, indicating that buildings more
than 30 stories tall are planned and that cais-
sons extending to bedrock would be needed
to support them (Pete Marek).

Even if a big building isn't built atop that deck in the first phase, the parking garage would have to be built in such a manner to support one in the future. That means constructing a reinforced parking garage atop caissons that descend to bedrock.

But it's interesting that the drilling to bedrock on the west side of West 3rd has been concentrated near West 3rd and adjacent to Frankfort. No holes were apparently drilled to bedrock next to Superior.

Ohio TestBor crews said today they have drilled a half-dozen holes to bedrock by West 3rd and Frankfort with another three holes to go. The remaining holes will also be in the same area near West 3rd and Frankfort, they said.

SHW said their HQ will be 1 million square feet, not including structured parking. If a 1-million-square-foot HQ tower is built at the northwest corner of Public Square, what does that leave for SHW to build above a possible parking garage on the other side of West 3rd?

Ohio TestBor drilling crews measured the depth to bedrock
on the west side of West 3rd Street this week. This site and
the former Jacobs Lot in the background and to the right
apparently are the sites for two Sherwin-Williams sky-
scrapers, each at least 30 stories tall (Ian Meadows).

The answer may lie in another use SHW will reportedly bring downtown -- the training of its employees. Training of vice presidents, salespeople, information technology, human resources and other on-the-job development will all be consolidated from the southwest suburbs and University Circle to the new headquarters site.

The new 1-million-square-foot base headquarters building on Public Square will consolidate 1 million square feet of offices from multiple buildings downtown and Warrensville Heights. It doesn't account for training activities moved downtown -- or the lodging they will need for up to a week at a time. Some visitors, including larger customers, contractors and suppliers, will be in town for even longer.

According to a source, those visitors will fill an average of more than 100 hotel rooms per night during the week. That number will grow as SHW grows. Since it's an average, it is likely that the lodging requirements will, at times, be much larger. SHW could build the hotel and contract it out to a flag like Home2 Suites by Hilton, TownePlace Suites or similar to operate it.

So could SHW be considering building an extended-stay hotel atop a parking garage touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort? Or a training facility? Quite possibly. Their scale could require a tall building.

Another view of the unofficial rendering of the SHW
HQ showing a potential second skyscraper of about
30-35 stories comprised of a, extended-stay hotel
over a large parking deck (Ian McDaniel).

At least 100 suites (probably double that) measuring up to 600 square feet per suite might be involved, with non-revenue spaces (lobby, fitness center, utilities, aquatic center, laundry rooms, etc.) adding about another 400 square feet per key.

Those ingredients could produce an extended-stay hotel of about 200,000 square feet or more. At 10,000-15,000 square feet per floor, that works out to 13 to 20 stories. Below it could be a parking garage for 1,500 cars at 350 square feet per car, complete with first-floor lobbies and commercial spaces. The parking garage alone could top out at a dozen levels. Combined, this parking-lodging structure on the west side of West 3rd could reach 25 to 30 stories or higher.

This is a logical explanation of why Ohio TestBor is drilling down to bedrock at two distinct locations on the SHW HQ site. Perhaps SHW also plans a separate building for training with classrooms and maybe a ground-floor flagship retail store, in part for training purposes and to introduce new products. But this wouldn't be large enough to justify a second skyscraper unless it is included with the hotel and parking deck.

Either way, SHW's sub-contractors will need to wrap up their poking around soon and deliver their findings to the base building architect HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC as well as the overall HQ's design firm Pickard Chilton Architects, Inc. SHW reportedly hopes to start HQ construction by this time next year.

Pete Marek, Ian Meadows and Ian McDaniel contributed to this article.

END

Seeds & Sprouts XIV - Early intel on real estate projects

This is the Fourteenth edition of Seeds & Sprouts - Early intelligence on Cleveland-area real estate projects. Because these projects are very early in their process of development or just a long-range plan, a lot can and probably will change their final shape, use and outcome.

Construction on Church+State had pushed
both of its buildings high enough last winter
to get a clear view of downtown Cleveland.
Construction finished by fall with commer-
cial leasing lagging residential leasing due
to the global pandemic (KJP).

Ohio City's Church+State gets first commercial tenant

The large new development Church+State in Ohio City's Hingetown neighborhood is getting its first commercial tenant, according to a building permit application submitted to the city this week. Great Lakes Health & Wellness will lease 1,769 square feet on the ground floor of the larger of the two buildings -- State, 2865 Detroit Ave.

Great Lakes Health & Wellness, based in suburban Westlake, has offered comprehensive chiropractic services since 2004 when it was founded by Dr. Robert Leonard. It is located in the Emerald Square shopping strip, 29540 Center Ridge Rd., at the intersection with Crocker-Stearns Road. Estimated cost to build out the commercial space in the State building is $160,000, the application shows.

"This will be our first expansion clinic from our headquarters in Westlake," Leonard said. "We picked Ohio City for two reasons. One, it's such a hot area for young professionals and the growing businesses. Second, I love the access for the commuting workers from all around Cleveland suburbs to get access to all our alternative health care options."

Graham Veysey, part of the development team that built Church+State, had no comment about potential additional tenants. The Church+State development has two large residential buildings, one 11 stories tall and the other six, built over a pedestal of parking, commercial spaces and lobbies.

Church+State opened to residential tenants this past summer with both buildings now more than 50 percent leased. The development was named after two adjoining streets -- Church Avenue and State Street. The latter was renamed West 29th Street when Cleveland went to numbered streets in 1906.

Site plan for the new Cleveland Public Library Central Distri-
bution Facility in the old Woodland Branch Library, as well
as a new branch library proposed next door (Bostwick).

CPL to start new Woodland branch, library hub

A building permit application was requested from the city this week by the Cleveland Public Library to renovate the old Woodland branch, 5806 Woodland Ave., into a central distribution hub for the library network. And, CPL will construct a new branch library on vacant land immediately east of the old branch.

The old 15,696-square-foot branch was built in 1961 and expanded by 6,023 square feet in 2009. The new branch will be a single-level structure that will measure about 7,000 square feet, according to plans submitted to the city. No dollar amount for the project was listed in the permit application.

CPL has served this neighborhood since 1904 when a small Methodist chapel on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood was transformed into a library branch and eventually expanded. When that building suffered a fire in 1957, the current branch was built in its place and opened in 1961.

Now, the new branch will be built just to the east of this location while the existing building will be renovated as part of a new central distribution facility that will serve the entire library system, CPL said in a project summary.

A plaza will create a cohesive campus which will be accessed via East 61st Street and Griswold Avenue to the south rather than directly off Woodland Avenue. This entrance will create a safer, less stressful access point for drivers and bicyclists, while pedestrians entering from the north will have a more inviting entrance.

The Yard Beer Garden, by the Platform Beer Co., may open
this summer at the corner of West 32nd Street and Sackett
Avenue in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood. It also
includes an enclosed bar/lounge, seen at right (LDA).

Platform Beer Co. to start beer garden work

A building permit application was submitted this week by Platform Beer Co. for its proposed The Yard Beer Garden, 3332 Sackett Ave., in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood. The site is an unused, 0.4-acre lot on the southwest corner of Sackett and West 32nd Street, acquired by Platform Beer for $80,000 with additional acquisitions possible.

With an estimated investment of about $500,000, the site will be cleared of underbrush and improved. That includes renovating an existing, one-story, 1,152-square-foot brick building that was used as a convenience store and boxing gym.

Plans submitted to the city show it will be retrofitted with an indoor bar and lounge plus two bathrooms. Planned for the outdoor lot are 48 picnic tables, including six placed inside two shipping containers. All of the tables will be set up around a beach volleyball court.

The project is an outgrowth of Platform Beer's successful The Lot, 4157 Lorain Ave. which is a repurposed gas station property designed with social-distancing guidelines in mind. It offers reservations for its tables, thematic shipping containers and all-weather igloos. In addition to the Lot and its brewhouse at 4125 Lorain, Platform Beer has additional locations in Columbus and Cincinnati.

Despite the pandemic, the newly opened Euclid3 apartments
are attracting residential and commercial teants (Infrafreak).

Euclid3 apartments done, gets retail tenant

Bluewater Capital Partners, LLC's new 49-unit apartment building called Euclid3 wrapped up construction in August. Leasing of bedrooms at 11601 Euclid Ave. is progressing despite the pandemic forcing remote learning on students of area institutions of higher learning. Also, commercial leasing is already showing success.

A permit was submitted to the city this week for build-out of a 1,211-square-foot ground-floor retail space, leaving 2,189 square feet of divisible ground-floor space still available for lease. Bluewater Principal Russell Lamb said the tenant is a salon called New Millennium Studio.

"It is the third location for this local salon operator/entrepreneur," Lamb wrote in an e-mail to NEOtrans.

A permit application that was submitted to the city in August by a prospective tenant was not followed through by the applicant. City records show the permit was for building-out a 1,500-square-foot space on the ground floor for a take-out restaurant.

Euclid3 is a $7 million development located in the Uptown section of University Circle. Hundreds of apartments have been added to Uptown in recent years, many of which are helping to address a shortage of housing for Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Music and Cleveland Institute of Art students.

Across East 115th Street from Euclid3, the failed Constantino's Market is being remodeled. It is due to reopen in early 2021 as Plum Market Kitchen. It will be the national grocery chain's first location in Ohio.

This two-story building and its neigboring parking lot at
5100 Lorain Ave. once housed a used-car dealership. By
Summer 2021, it may be the Greek Village Grille (Google).

Greek tavern to open on Lorain Avenue

Plans were submitted to the City of Cleveland this week to renovate the ground floor of a 100-year-old mixed-use building at 5100 Lorain Ave. into a small restaurant. Tavros Capital LLC, which in turn is owned by James Matheos, submitted the plans to open Greek Village Grille.

Proposed is a modest, 26-seat restaurant and full kitchen with carry-out service. Tavros Capital acquired the property last year for $169,000, county records show. Approximately $26,000 worth of renovations are proposed, according to a building permit request submitted by architect J. Michael Meyer.

The ground-floor of the building is vacant. It and a neighboring fenced-in parking lot were peviously used by Driven Auto Solutions, LLC as a used-car business. It was one of many used-car dealers along this section of Lorain where the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood meets Ohio City.

END

Health-Tech Corridor to see a busier 2021

Looking west from University Circle and the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation's Main Campus toward Downtown Cleveland via
the Health-Tech Corridor. Not only are new jobs pouring into
the corridor, so are thousands of new housing units to create
a 15-minute city where basic needs -- job, housing, shop-
ping and entertainment -- can be had within a 15-minute
walk or bicycle ride. It offers a healthier response to job
growth than adding parking decks (Cleveland Clinic).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

On most days, Jeff Epstein is a very busy man. Not only is he executive director of the community development corporation MidTown Cleveland Inc., he also heads up the Health-Tech Corridor.

The Health-Tech Corridor is a decade-old collaboration between MidTown Cleveland, BioEnterprise, The Cleveland Foundation and the City of Cleveland. It works to attract and grow health technology businesses to the corridor linking Downtown and University Circle.

So how busy is Epstein?

"I've been slammed," he says. But he's not complaining with how busy things have gotten, nor with how busy they could get in 2021. That's the point of the effort -- to attract investment into the corridor. And it's not just about jobs, but housing and career development.

Although COVID-19 has much of the nation and its economy feeling ill, the same cannot be said for Cleveland's Health-Tech Corridor. Here, business expansions and residential developments are picking up the pace, with numerous high-profile groundbreakings expected in 2021, Epstein notes.

The driver isn't just the ever-growing behemoth Cleveland Clinic. It's also emerging biotech firms like Athersys and Abeona fueling the growth in jobs and thus the demand for more housing -- including workforce and market-rate.

Cleveland Clinic hopes to start construction on its new
Nuerological Institute (at left) on Euclid Avenue. This
view is looking east from East 96th Street (CCF).

Developers of several projects are reporting that their projects in this area are advancing more quickly than any project with which they've recently been involved. They say that financing has been far less of a challenge. Some of that is due to the Health-Tech Corridor being included in an Opportunity Zone, making projects located here eligible for deferred federal tax burdens on their capital gains.

For decades, civic leaders wanted the benefits from booming University Circle-area employers to spread into the surrounding neighborhoods. Instead, only massive parking decks were built so that workers could leapfrog Cleveland's neighborhoods to/from the suburbs each day and never set foot on a city sidewalk.

That's now changing and in a big way. There's the development of Uptown, new construction and renovations in Little Italy, the widespread investment throughout Glenville and now, the construction of the high-rise apartment building One University Circle, with more high rises to come.

Adding housing, neighborhood retail, restaurants and other services within walking or biking distance of jobs is the concept behind the 15-Minute City. Not only does it enhance physical health among its residents, build a stronger sense of community and reduce environmental impact, it also boosts long-troubled urban neighborhoods -- notably those surrounding the major employers of University Circle. It is Ohio's fourth-largest employment district.

There's several previously unreported projects in the area that are just now coming out into the public eye. Several more remain undefined publicly, but are in the hands of developers who have track records of getting things done.

Arpi Development LLC wants to build apartments on East
93rd and East 90th streets to provide housing to the grow-
ing number of Health-Tech Corridor workers (GLSD).

Yes, the Cleveland Clinic is the elephant in the room. And when the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, the Clinic's Office of Construction staff expects to start work on more than 500,000 square feet of new facilities -- a new, 400,000-square-foot neurological center and an expansion of the Cole Eye Institute measuring more than 100,000 square feet. Both projects are along and south of Euclid Avenue, between East 96th and East 105th streets.

Although the construction work has been postponed to next year due to the pandemic, Clinic officials said that "rapidly growing" patient and research needs are the motivations behind adding more facilities. That could also include future construction south of Chester Avenue between East 89th and East 90th streets, where the Clinic recently acquired more land and demolished several structures.

These actions by the 40,000-employee health system have attracted the attention of real estate developers. In response, they have acquired properties and demolished century-old walk-up apartment buildings north of Chester in the East 90s.

"Every time they (the Clinic) add more buildings, they're adding more jobs," said a member of a development team working to add housing in the East 90s but who was not authorized to speak publicly.

"There's a lack of market-rate and workforce housing in the area near the Clinic and Uptown. That's set to change," he added. "Our goal is to help Cleveland Clinic staff and other people who work in the area find affordable places to live in a safe, walkable neighborhood."

About 160 apartments are planned by Arpi Development
LLC on East 90th and 93rd streets (GLSD).

Projects on the north side of the Clinic's Main Campus include the East 90th Street Apartments by the Inspirion Group of Cleveland and the Arpi Apartments by Arpi Development LLC, also of Cleveland. Both projects' designs received preliminary approval by City Planning Commission Dec. 18.

They followed the Finch Group's Innova development, formerly called Upper Chester. It features 247 apartments, a 161-room Residence Inn and ground-floor retailers like a Community Walgreen's Pharmacy, Penn Station East Coast Subs, Phuel Cafe, Celebrate Nutritional Supplements, Fluffy Duck Cafe, Urban Kitchen and Kinder Care Learning Centers.

The new Case Western Reserve Health Education Dental Clinic pushed development a little farther west along Chester. The new Arpi Apartments will push a fresh apearance another block farther. Geis Companies is the general contractor and architect of the apartments.

According to plans submitted to the city, Apri's first phase at 1865 E. 93rd St. would offer 42 units of mostly studio and one-bedroom apartments with a small number of two-bedroom units. All units in the four-story building will have patios or balconies. A 30-space parking lot is planned behind the building. Three vacant residences are proposed to be demolished to make way for this project.

Behind it, on East 90th, Apri Development proposes a second phase that could offer 118 apartments divided among three new buildings with parking behind them. Five residences are proposed to be demolished. Three of them, all built in 2007, are vacant and in the city's land bank.

The Inspirion Group Ltd.'s development phasing plan along
East 90th Street north of Chester Avenue (LDA).

Across East 90th, The Inspirion Group Ltd. proposes phases one and two of its apartment development. Two additional phases could be built on both sides of East 90th, closer to Chester. But Inspirion doesn't have site control of the properties right next to Chester so their development won't have a street presence on the busy thoroughfare like Innova's.

In the first phase, Inspirion proposes a 98,846-square-foot building with 131 apartments with a mix of micro, studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Phase two would have 90 units in a 62,745-square-foot building, according to plans submitted to the city. There is no detail yet for the later phases nor any tentative start date yet for any of the phases.

A little farther west, there is a start date for the Chester75 development. Famico Foundation's Director of Real Estate Development Khrys Shefton said a Summer 2021 groundbreaking is being pursued. Famicos, a nonprofit community development corporation, is the project's developer.

Chester75, located on the northwest corner of Chester Avenue and East 75th Street, won approval last April from the city's design review committee. It is proposed to offer 11 studios, 37 one-bedroom units, three two-bedroom units, two live-work units, three townhouses and one "hoteling" unit. It will feature modern amenities such as Amazon delivery lockers, WiFi and lots of electrical outlets in each unit.

"This is attempting to drive development further into the neighborhoods," Shefton said. "We call it a workforce building but it's in support of further development in Hough that's not so adjacent to the institutions in and near University Circle."

Schematic designs for The Inspirion Group Ltd.'s first phase
of the East 90th Apartments were approved last week by the
City Planning Commission (LDA).

Apartment rents are skyrocketing in fast-growing University Circle. A 2019 report by Rent.com showed University Circle led the way in Cleveland with a 44 percent increase in rents. There, a one-bedroom apartment's rent now averages $1,853.

Rent pressures in University Circle spilled over into neighboring Hough, long a national symbol of urban decay, where average rents went up last year 7.74 percent to an average of $1,415 for a one-bedroom apartment, according to Rent.com.

"This building (Chester75) will be presented at an affordable price point with rents starting at $1,100 per month," Shefton said, or $1.75 per square foot.

A couple of blocks to the south and southeast are two intriguing and potentially significant developments that are just now starting to show up on the grid.

Last week, NEOtrans broke the story that several buildings including a former Euclid Avenue mansion are proposed to be demolished in the 7200 block of Euclid and Carnegie avenues by Signet Real Estate Group of Akron, city Building Department records show. This follows Signet's acquisition of nearly 6 acres of land in October for $2.4 million, according to county records.

Earlier this year, Signet Real Estate Group opened its Axis at
Ansel apartments at the east end of the Hough neighborhood
for students of higher-education institutions in University Circle.
Robust leasing at this development has prompted Signet to
pursue more development in the area (Signet).

Signet, which recently built the $35 million Axis At Ansel apartments in the Hough neighborhood, reportedly plans a primarily residential development starting at the Carnegie end, although some ground-floor commercial uses along Carnegie and Euclid may be considered. Planning for this development is in the very early stages.

Joel Maas, Signet's director of marketing and communications, acknowledged receiving an e-mail from NEOtrans seeking more information about the project but didn't otherwise respond.

Then, over on East 79th Street and north of Carnegie is another interesting, emerging project. An affiliate of LRC Realty of Akron submitted demolition requests last March for a former Sohio gas station at the northeast corner of East 79th and Carnegie as well as for a 110-year-old duplex just north of it.

On Dec. 4, a building permit application was submitted for a 66,180-square-foot building at 2065 E. 79th St. There were few other details about the proposed use of the building or who would develop it. The applicant was Burnham Nationwide Inc. of Chicago, a real estate consultant that expedites building permitting and code consulting for clients.

That's not the only Chicago connection for development activity on the east side of East 79th, north of Carnegie. A stand-alone, suburban-style Bank of America branch is proposed to be built on the site of the former Sohio station and has some high-profile Chicago-based contractors.

The northeast corner of East 79th Street and Carnegie Avenue
is a place of intrigue as an unknown developer, possibly loca-
ted in Chicago, has its eyes focused here (Google).

According to Dodge Reports, the owner's representative is Kent Liker, a project manager at Jones Lang LaSalle's Chicago office. He could not be located for comment. The civil engineer is the Calichi Design Group of Chicago. And the architect is San Francisco starchitect Gensler; their Chicago office is listed.

Bank of America typically uses Chicago-based The Architects Partnership to design its retail branches. Gensler usually only develops large, high-profile projects -- not a tiny, garden-variety bank branch.

An e-mail sent to Robert Abramovich, vice president of development at LRC Realty, was responded to by a Boardman, Ohio-based real estate advisory firm Gary G. O’Nesti & Associates, LLC. The firm typically focuses on medical, retail, office and an emphasis on shopping center development opportunities according to its Linkedin page.

"Please be advised LRC is not involved in that 66,180 SF building at 2065 East 79th you refer to in your email," O'Nesti replied. When asked who is, he did not respond further.

There are many more real estate development projects in active development in the Health-Tech Corridor, ranging from planning to construction. Here is a summary of developments in the corridor, from East 55th Street eastward to just uphill from University Circle:

Twenty development sites are shown in the above map and
described below with links to more information about each.

(1) 5200-5805 Eucld Ave. -- Unidentified development; Berusch Development Partners; no estimate of investment value; Thanks to assembly of 2.6 acres of land by MidTown Cleveland and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, this reportedly will involve a mixed-use development intended to restore the urban vibrancy of this once-densely developed intersection. This may be a much larger project when included with the next site; no estimated construction start date.

(2) 5508-5510 Euclid -- Unidentified development; No identified developer; no estimate of investment value; Eight contiguous properties totaling 2.38 acres changed hands twice in the past year. First they were sold by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in April to Civic Development Partners, an affiliate of the Cleveland Foundation, for a future mixed-use development. They were transferred again Dec. 16, this time to the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority to help facilitate future development; no estimated construction start date.

(3) 5601 Carnegie Ave. -- Warner & Swasey redevelopment; Pennrose LLC; $53 million; Redevelopment of this 19th-century factory into 140 senior and workforce housing units, plus 30,000 square feet of office space for job readiness, workforce development and employment training organizations. A small amenity retail component will also be included; no estimated construction start date.

(4) 1778 E. 63rd St. -- MAGNET headquarters; Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network; $10 million; Redevelopment of the closed Margaret Ireland Elementary School into MAGNET's new headquarters including new offices, classrooms and labs; project may be completed in early 2022.

Looking north up East 66th Street from Euclid Avenue a few
years from now, one may see the proposed Center for Innovation
at left and new Cleveland Foundation headquarters at right (S9).

(5A) 6545 Euclid -- Center for Innovation; MidTown Cleveland et al; no estimate of investment value; MidTown, Cleveland Foundation and JumpStart Inc. hired Wexford Science & Technology, LLC of Baltimore to be their master developer of the 100,000-square-foot Center for Innovation at the northwest corner of Euclid and East 66th Street as well as the new Cleveland Foundation headquarters across East 66th; no estimated construction start date.

(5B) 6601 Euclid -- Cleveland Foundation headquarters; Cleveland Foundation; $22 million; The new 54,000-square-foot building will allow the foundation to relocate its headquarters from the Hanna Building downtown and help support innovation and quality-of-life programs in the city's neighborhoods; construction is due to start in early 2021.

(6) 2024 E. 70th St. -- The 70; The Sobor Group; about $15 million; A 64-unit, five-story apartment building would be located midway between Euclid and Carnegie avenues amid the new Dealer Tire headquarters and the Midtown Tech Park. Sabor develops real estate in Hungary and the USA (Cleveland and Detroit) including the Euclid Lofts, 3800 Euclid Ave.; no estimated construction start date.

(7) 7128-7144 Simpson Ct. -- One MidTown luxury townhomes; Vazza Real Estate Group; about $1.5 million; Phase two was announced in October after phase one sold out. Townhomes in phase one sold for from $320,00 to $510,000 each. Another 13 townhomes are planned in later phases at Euclid and East 73rd Street; no estimated construction start date.

Construction could begin by Summer 2021 on Chester75
at the northwest corner of East 75th Street and Chester
Avenue in the Hough neighborhood (City Architecture).

(8) 1914 E. 75th. St. -- Chester75; Famicos Foundation; nearly $15 million; Designs were approved in 2020 for a 57-unit residential building measuring 56,700 square feet on the current site of the Kingdom Hall on the northwest corner of Chester Avenue and East 75th Street; construction could start in Summer 2021.

(9) 7200 block of Euclid and Carnegie -- Unidentified development; Signet Real Estate Group; no estimate of investment value; Signet acquired nearly 6 acres of land in October for $2.4 million and has submitted applications to demolish several structures on its property for a mostly residential mixed-use development; no estimated construction start date.

(10) 7911 Carnegie/2065 E. 79th St. -- Unidentified development; no identified developer; no estimate of investment value; A Bank of America branch is proposed to be built at the northeast corner of Carnegie and East 79th with a new 66,180-square-foot building of unknown purpose is proposed to be constructed just north of it; no estimated construction start date.

(11) 1832-1886 E. 90th St. -- East 90th Apartments; The Inspirion Group Ltd.; up to $40 million for the first two phases; In its first phase, Inspirion proposes a 98,846-square-foot building with 131 apartments and, in the second phase, 90 units in a 62,745-square-foot building are proposed; no estimated construction start date.

(12)  1865 E. 93rd St. -- Arpi Apartments; Arpi Development LLC; no estimate of investment value; Arpi Development and Geis Companies plans to construct a 42-unit, 39,584-square-foot apartment building as the first phase of a two-phase development. Later phases could see another 118 apartments in three buildings added on East 90th; construction could start by mid-2021.

(13) 9606 Euclid -- Neurological Institute -- Cleveland Clinic Foundation; no estimate of investment value; Proposed is a new, larger Neurological Institute measuring 400,000 square feet to replace older facilities immediately west on the Cleveland Clinic's Main Campus; start date is estimated to occur sometime in 2022.

(14) 9900 Cedar Ave. -- BioRepository; Cleveland Clinic Foundation; $11.3 million; In partnership with Brooks Automation and Geis Companies, Cleveland Clinic Foundation is building a new, 21,000-square-foot facility to bank and distribute human biospecimens to the scientific community for research; project to be completed in 2021.

(15) 10300 Cedar -- Mixed-use development; Fairmount Properties; no estimate of investment value; Proposed in the first phase are up to 300 micro-unit apartments, several dozen townhouses and several hundred parking spaces next to or above a 40,000-square-foot Meijer grocery store; start date is estimated to be sometime in 2021.

The $40 million 600 Block development in downtown Lansing
opened this year with a hotel and apartments above a 37,000-
square-foot urban format Meijer grocery store called Capital
City Market. A similar concept with residences above a new
Meijer store is proposed on Cedar Avenue (Gillespie Group).

(16) 2258 E. 105th St. -- Innovation Square; Fairfax Renaissance; $12.75 million; Proposed in the first phase are 85 apartments, nearly half of which will be affordable. Among all three phases, Innovation Square will have about 223 apartments; a spring groundbreaking date is anticipated.

(17) 2137 E. 107 St. -- Unidentified development; unidentified developer; no estimate of investment value; Multi-story apartment building with possible ground-floor commercial uses however programming is going through substantial revision. The project could expand onto land south along East 107th and/or east along Carnegie as parcels are availble for sale; no estimated construction start date.

(18) 2030 E. 105th St. -- Cole Eye Institute expansion; Cleveland Clinic Foundation; no estimate of investment value; To accommodate significantly rising patient visits and procedures, the existing 130,000-square-foot facility will be expanded by more than 100,000 square feet and the 2000-built structure will be renovated; start date is estimated to occur sometime in 2022.

(19) 10553 Euclid & 10600 Chester -- Circle Square; Midwest Development Partners et al; $300 million among all phases; In their first phase, Midwest Development Partners, White Oak Realty Partners and Cleveland Public Library are developing the 11-story Library Lofts atop a new MLK Branch Library as well as a 24-story apartment tower over ground-floor commercial spaces; groundbreaking date is anticipated in the second quarter of 2021.

The largest real estate development in the Health-Tech Cor-
ridor is City Square which would essentially build a new
downtown area for University Circle (Bialosky).

(20) 1855 Ansel Rd. -- Maltz Performing Arts Center expansion; Case Western Reserve University; $74 million; The expansion at Temple-Tifereth Israel will feature a 250-seat theater, a 100-seat studio theater, costume and scene shops, office, and a lobby with entrances off East 105th and Ansel.

Additional development on the hill and up the hill from University Circle are happening and are directly related to the Health-Tech Corridor's growth but are not included in the above list. The largest is the $80 million The Ascent at Top of The Hill in Cleveland Heights. Integrity's 58-unit dormitory project across Euclid Heights Boulevard from The Ascent.

Case Western Reserve University's $72 million South Village expansion was put on hold during the pandemic. Premier Development Partners' residential development on the site of the Cleveland Clinic's Fairhill Facility, 11203 Fairhill Rd., is underway. Construction is also underway on the new 44-unit Baricelli Inn Apartments in Little Italy with proposed residences on the old Woodhill Supply site between Coltman Road and East 123rd Street in early planning.

END