Downtown’s historic Chancery Building to be renewed

The historic Chancery Building, built in 1888 and renovated in 1950, is part of
the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist at Superior Avenue and East 9th Street
in Downtown Cleveland. The cathedral is seen at far left (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One of Downtown Cleveland’s oldest surviving buildings is about to see a structural renewal that also offer a more uplifting place for hundreds of people to work and visit. The Chancery Building, 1027 Superior Ave., was built in 1888 as a school but later was converted to offices. That use will be confirmed by a $15 million renovation.

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Downtown steam plant to be razed, redeveloped

To the right of the under-construction Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is
the old, unused Cleveland Thermal steam heating plant for historic downtown office build-
ings. It is surrounded by Bedrock’s Riverfront development and is due to be demolished
for new uses (Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Eight redevelopment project sites won a total of nearly $18 million from the Ohio Department of Development’s Brownfield Program so the sites can be cleaned up and, in some cases, their existing structures are to be demolished. One of those where demolition is planned is the former Cleveland Thermal steam plant, 2274 Canal Rd., in Downtown Cleveland.

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Two new Hough developments sell for $30M

The new Park Lamont apartments are a short walk or bike ride to school or work in
booming University Circle. This property and also-new Lumos apartments were
owned by their developer and, now completed, were sold to a new landlord
 (Reynolds Asset Management). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a $30.6M deal, a national real estate investment firm added 119 newly constructed apartments in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood to its growing portfolio. New Jersey-based Reynolds Asset Management acquired Park Lamont, 9606 Lamont Ave., and The Lumos, 1866 E. 93rd St. Both are located a short walk or bike ride from jobs and classrooms in booming University Circle.

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I-X Center’s new use revealed

This is why the I-X Center is reportedly going to become a data center — a 25-
megawatt substation located on-site. Data centers are voracious consumers of
electrical power and the I-X Center has access to power (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, the International Exhibition (I-X) Center next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will become a data center. And, according to one of those sources, the end user is likely to be Amazon Web Services.

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Glenville Job-Ready Site more than doubles in size

Along Kirby Avenue, one-fourth of a mile from the interchange of Interstate 90 and
Eddy Road in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, is this 36-acre property that’s being
cleaned up as a new job-ready site (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Too much is never enough. When you’re marketing land to new end-users, you can’t have enough clean, developable land in the urban core. And one of the largest, if not the largest in the city of Cleveland has just been assembled by the Cuyahoga Land Bank. The site is located at 12610 Kirby Ave. in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, bordering on Collinwood.

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Walz Library-Karam Senior Living groundbreaking set

The new Walz Branch of the Cleveland Public Library topped by 51 affordable
apartments by Karam Senior Living will see construction get underway after
a groundbreaking ceremony schedule for June 6 (Bialosky).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Following up on a story first reported by NEOtrans a month ago, the long-planned Walz Branch of the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) and Karam Senior Living apartments will indeed see construction start in June. In fact, a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled at 10 a.m. this Friday at the project site, 7910 Detroit Ave., to officially kick off the project.

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Bridgeworks shows new signs of life

At the west end of the Detroit-Superior Bridge, the long-planned Bridgeworks
development site could finally start to see some visible activity in the coming
weeks (GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While the development team for the $84 million mixed-use Bridgeworks project in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood is finalizing construction permits with the city, the team decided to take a step that could accelerate the project and get it underway sooner.

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Banking on a large East Cleveland development

Signs of progress are visible at the Circle East District in East Cleveland, where new
homes and increased home ownership are getting a boost from a deal between two dif-
ferent kinds of banks — the Cuyahoga Land Bank and First National Bank. In the back-
ground on Woodlawn Avenue, historic homes are being renovated and new homes are
being built (Cuyahoga Land Bank). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cuyahoga Land Bank and First National Bank (FNB) have announced a new partnership to accelerate development in the Circle East District in East Cleveland by supporting homeownership. Since 2022, the land bank has been busily rebuilding this neighborhood next to University Circle from the sewers up.

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Miceli Dairy anticipates doubling its employment

Jonathon Miceli of family-owned Miceli Dairy Products Co., welcomed visitors to the
groundbreaking for an expansion of cold storage facilities at Miceli’s growing plant
on Cleveland’s near-east side as his cousin and company marketing executive Maria
Miceli looks on (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. 

When Miceli Dairy Products, 2721 E. 90th St. in Cleveland, broke ground today for the expansion of its new cold storage facilities, it also teased a follow-on project — a planned new research center plus mozzarella cheese manufacturing plant next to the Opportunity Corridor Boulevard. These additions in the coming years are anticipated to double Miceli’s current employment of 250 people.

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New downtown office tower/data center in the works

A rendering of the proposed Two Cleveland Center, as seen from the north side of St.
Clair Avenue next to the Galleria at Erieview. The new office building/data center was
an idea publicized prematurely (Newmark). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Suggesting the construction of an office building in Downtown Cleveland, which is still recovering from the pandemic, seemed like a strange idea. And it was until the listing for it was pulled from marketing sites shortly after NEOtrans wrote about it. Turns out the proposed Two Cleveland Center was publicized prematurely.

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Lakefront funding survives federal scrutiny

This section of the Shoreway (Route 2) through Downtown Cleveland is to be
reconfigured from an Interstate-like highway (left) into a boulevard with inter-
sections. That will slow traffic to make the area more pedestrian- and bicycle-
friendly and lower the roadway so a land bridge can be built to better connect
the central business district with the lakefront (FO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

After taking office in January, the Trump Administration began scrutinizing recently awarded federal grants. In response, local, state and federal elected officials from Northeast Ohio scrambled. Their goal was to make sure that federal grants awarded to Greater Cleveland agencies weren’t frozen or, worse, terminated.

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Warner & Swasey conversion funding not there yet

Not much has changed at the long-vacant Warner Swasey factory in the
six years since this streetview was captured. But a lot could change over
the next six months, starting with a demolition of the sawtooth-shaped
factory structures to the left of the company’s brick office building which
will be kept and, if financing closes in November, renovated thereafter into
affordable apartments (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s been a long road for the former Warner & Swasey plant, 5701 Carnegie Ave. in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood, to become a useful building again. And while it doesn’t have all of its financial pieces available yet to complete its $52 million puzzle, those last five pieces have been identified and are in the process of being secured.

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St. Vincent hospital demo starts; What’s next?

A lot of structural square footage is getting demolished next to Downtown Cleveland.
So are viable structures with the potential to be converted to new uses. Instead, the
potential will rest with acres of newly vacant land next to downtown that will be-
come a canvas for something new to be designed. Those designs are getting
underway  (czoningservices.com). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Demolition crews got to work this week taking down St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, 2351 E. 22nd St,, where the southeast side of Downtown Cleveland meets the Central neighborhood. But it won’t be the only demolition in this area in the coming years.

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Will a Brook Park stadium hurt efforts to maintain Gateway? Apparently the Cavs think so.

Concern over being able to maintain the facilities at the Gateway sports and entertain-
ment complex in Downtown Cleveland prompted a critical letter apparently sent by
the Rock ntertainment Group to the Greater Cleveland Partnership over the future
viability of the sin tax to maintain these facilities (Rocket Arena).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Support for the planned domed stadium in Brook Park by the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP), announced earlier this week, has ruffled a few feathers. And it’s not just those that were expected to be ruffled — Cuyahoga County and City of Cleveland officials, Downtown Cleveland Inc., and others. Now, it’s the parent company of the Cleveland Cavaliers who say pursuing the stadium at this time is a bad idea.

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Glenville, Hough, Ohio City housing wins big

Wade Park Station is planned as an affordable senior housing development on
Wade Park Avenue in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood. It just got a major
boost in the form of 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (RDL).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two new Cleveland housing construction projects and one renovation won coveted, highly competitive 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) from the Ohio Housing Finance Authority (OHFA) today. The awards promise a big financial boost to each of the projects which are located in the Glenville, Hough and Ohio City neighborhoods.

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Polling data shows voters oppose Browns move

Concerns about being able to keep Cleveland’s existing stadiums in a state of good
repair apparently prompted a poll of likely voters to assess their views toward ex-
tending or expanding a Cuyahoga County sin tax. According to the poll results, those
concerns were justified (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One day after the region’s chamber of commerce announced its support for the construction of an enclosed stadium in Brook Park, a poll of likely voters in Cuyahoga County was leaked to NEOtrans, showing most of those voters opposed the Cleveland Browns leaving downtown for the suburbs. The poll also said that opposition was putting at risk a county sin tax to repair facilities for all of Cleveland’s major sports teams.

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Regional chamber of commerce likes Browns’ move

Huntington Bank Field sets on Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront. But the Greater
Cleveland Partnership says it shouldn’t, and instead should be moved to Brook
Park as a domed stadium (NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront has had a stadium on it for 91 of the last 93 years. But that should come to an end for the betterment of the lakefront and its replacement stadium, according to the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) — the metro area’s chamber of commerce. GCP also urged the closure of Burke Lakefront Airport.

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Playhouse Square’s ‘Beyond the Stage’ additions

Playhouse Square has announced several additions to Downtown Cleveland’s theater
district that are “beyond the stage.” One of those includes the green kiosk on Play-
house Square Plaza which will host the Something Good Social Kitchen (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A trio of new eateries in Downtown Cleveland’s theater district was announced today by Playhouse Square officials, along with two others already reported by NEOtrans in recent weeks. But one of the largest “Beyond The Stage” projects, redevelopment of the Greyhound bus station, is still in the works and was teased in the same announcement.

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Cleveland owns its lakefront opportunities

The red lands are properties owned by the city of Cleveland along its Lake Erie waterfront
just east of downtown. The light-blue land at right is another publicly owned piece of land
owned by the state of Ohio. In the foreground is the Forest City Yacht Club that’s been on
city-owned land for nearly a century. Beyond is the 115-year-old Cleveland Public Power’s
Lake Road Power Station. Few of these publicly owned properties are publicly accessible
nor do they represent the highest and best uses of lakefront land (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One year ago, the City Planning Commission “hired” Cleveland State University’s 17th Street Studios for a Masters of Urban Planning and Development (MUPD) capstone project to look at how to enhance the underutilized light-rail Waterfront Line. One of the findings was that the city of Cleveland literally owned its own ability to boost the rail line and the lakefront overall.

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Memphis & Pearl faces funding gap, has solutions

The Memphis & Pearl development in Cleveland’s downtown Old Brooklyn neighbor-
hood had to be expanded to retain a federal grant for the project while retaining the
historic St. Luke’s Church. But that caused a gap in the project’s funding resources that
backers are now trying to fill (Desmone). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Due to funding policy changes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since January, backers of the Memphis & Pearl development in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood have had to scramble to save the project from a suddenly large, $15 million funding gap.

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