Cleveland wins WNBA team, new downtown activity

Rocket Arena is going to be active year-round thanks to Cleveland winning a WNBA
women’s basketball pro franchise. It might even help Downtown Cleveland businesses
offset some of the loss of the Cleveland Browns leaving downtown for suburban
Brook Park (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Starting in May 2028, Cleveland’s new Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) team will begin playing in Downtown Cleveland at Rocket Arena. The expansion team will play half of its 44-game schedule at home and, if attendance is at least near the league-wide average, will help soften the impact of the Cleveland Browns football team moving from downtown to suburban Brook Park the following year.

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Port to start $25M rehab of huge warehouse

Outlined in red, the 50-year-old Warehouse A at the Port of Cleveland is about to get
$25 million worth of improvements and updates thanks to recent awards of federal
and state funds. Warehouse A is the port largest warehouse — as large as two
ships  (Port of Cleveland). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In the coming weeks, major improvements will be made to the Port of Cleveland’s largest warehouse, a terminal warehouse that’s so large it equals the size of two ships. Plans for those improvements were submitted yesterday to the city in an application for a building permit to get started on the work as soon as possible.

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Haslams acquire Brook Park land for stadium

Earlier this week, 179 acres of land in suburban Brook Park transferred to an affiliate
of the Haslam Sports Group for a new sports and entertainment complex that will be
the site of the Cleveland Browns’ home football games (Myplace.cuyahogacounty.gov).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although the deed transfer was signed June 24, the document transferring 179 acres of land to an affiliate of the Haslam Sports Group for a new stadium in Brook Park didn’t become public until today. Nonetheless, this is the deal that helps set the stage for the construction of a new $3.6 billion enclosed stadium and proposed supportive development for the new home of the Cleveland Browns.

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Hough senior housing tests first new zoning in 96 years

At the southeast corner of Hough Avenue, left, and East 89th Street, CHN Housing
Partners plans to build Hough Senior Independent Living. This project was rapidly
approved by the city and improved in its design because it is located in one of Cleve-
land’s four new Form-Based Code zoning pilot areas (HD+S).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland City Planning Commission today approved designs for a 55-unit affordable senior housing development in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. While that isn’t such a big story anymore, given the heightened pace of investment in this former poster child enclave of urban decay, it is when you consider the plans for this project were submitted to the city only in May.

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Development near Edgewater Park revived

A two-phase, 72-unit development is planned on Lake Avenue near Cleveland’s Edge-
water Park. A larger project was planned here previously but proved too expensive to
construct. The city’s new form-based zoning may allow this project to proceed
(Horton Harper). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Three years ago, a team led by Beachwood-based Property Advisors Group (PAG) planned to build a large residential development at 8400 Lake Ave., overlooking Edgewater Park in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. But with construction costs and interest rates rising, the timing wasn’t right. While costs are still high, the city’s new form-based zoning code may make a scaled-down project achievable and in a timely manner.

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Fenn Tower leads historic tax credit winners

A $50.4 million renovation of Fenn Tower at the east edge of Downtown Cleveland by
Cleveland State University got a big boost today by the Ohio Department f Develop-
ment when it awarded a maximum $5 million historic tax credit to the project (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Northeast Ohio did well in the latest round of Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program awards, garnering nearly half of all awards in terms of dollar amount and total number of projects aided today. By contrast, only one project in fast-growing Central Ohio was awarded historic tax credits by the Ohio Department of Development.

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Cleveland Clinic to nearly double Avon Hospital’s size

This simplified rendering, called a massing, shows only the scale and placement of pro-
posed structures at Avon Hospital. Their final design will change. This also doesn't
show a proposed parking garage or where it might be built. North is to the lower-left
corner of the image (Cleveland Clinic). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

To meet the growing demand for patient care on Cleveland’s west side, a growing Cleveland Clinic announced plans to significantly expand both Avon Hospital and Richard E. Jacobs Family Health Center. The $340 million project would nearly double the size of the campus, which is located just north of the Interstate 90-Nagel Road interchange in Avon.

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