Tremont Lincoln Heights plan shows change is coming

An overall view of Tremont's Lincoln Heights neighborhood,
with Interstate 90 on the south and eastern sides of the area.
Ohio City is at the top with West 25th Street at far left and
Lincoln Park at far right (Seventh Hill Design/TWDC).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED MARCH 4, 2019

A development vision for the south-western part of Tremont called Lincoln Heights won unanimous support Monday from its immediate community. Now, that conceptual vision is headed to City Planning Commission on Friday for its possible adoption.

The plan shows existing and proposed buildings, greenspaces and parking lots in the area generally along West 25th Street and Scranton Road, from about Fairfield Avenue south to Interstate 90/490.

While that area hasn't seen the intensity of development as the rest of Tremont, there are signs on the landscape and in recent property transactions that show its fortunes are starting to change.

"The purpose of the plan is to proactively think about neighborhood development with the community," said Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack whose ward includes Tremont, Ohio City and Downtown.

City Council on June 4, 2018 authorized City Planning Commission Director Freddy Collier to enter into an agreement with the Tremont West Development Corp. for the Tremont Lincoln Heights Planning Study. Council also approved using $5,000 in Ward 3 Casino Revenue Funds for that purpose.

"This is a perfect example of how to proactively engage residents and the community in city planning," McCormack added.

This close-up shows the area along Scranton Road including
Sustainable Community Associates' proposed The Lincoln
apartments at the intersection of Willey/Kenilworth avenues.
However it doesn't show potential developments on the north
side of the intersection (Seventh Hill Design/TWDC).

Tremont West Development Corp. hired Seventh Hill Design of Cleveland to draft the plan and produce some graphics to help illustrate it. Seventh Hill Principal David Jurca shared those conceptual images publicly today via Twitter.

"Our Lincoln Heights plan was unanimously approved by the block club and Tremont West (Development Corp.) board," Jurca wrote. "Now, we present to the Planning Commission this Friday. A hand-drawn rendering of the vision plan is shown, but some of the most important elements are policies to address affordability."

"Seventh Hill's David Jurca and team did an awesome job engaging all of the stakeholders in this area," said Khalid Hawthorne, housing and economic development director for Tremont West Development Corp.

"This area experienced large increases in property tax values of 200-300 percent," he added. "That is great if you are able to take out a home equity line but if you are low- and/or fixed-income it just means extra expenses. Will long-term residents be forced to sell?"

He said part of the solution is requiring that 20 percent of housing units in a given development involving city-owned land-bank properties be priced as "affordable." That policy is spelled out in Tremont West Development Corp.'s Near Westside Housing Inclusion Strategy and is available on the community development corporation's Web site.

The renderings show some under-construction buildings as existing, such as St. Joseph Commons, the new Front Steps Housing and Services building at 2554 W. 25th St. Or, there's the The Tappan, 2703 Scranton Rd., Sustainable Community Associates' latest development.

The largest collection of conceptual/new buildings shown in
the Lincoln Heights plan was east of West 25th Street and
north of the Nestle plants. But one of the property owners
in that area says that nothing is under development in that
area at the present time (Seventh Hill Design/TWDC).

But it also shows some planned developments, such as Sustainable Community Associates' The Lincoln, an 83-unit apartment building proposed to rise at the southwest corner of Scranton and Willey Avenue. And it shows a large collection of new structures, including a mix of single-family homes and multi-family buildings concentrated east of West 25th Street, north of the Nestle plant.

Some of that land is owned by affiliates of Tremont-based SoLo Development. But SoLo President Adam Waldbaum said he wasn't aware of what the intent of the plan was in showing those building concepts, although he is a member of the Lincoln Heights Block Club.

"I'm not developing anything at this moment in that area," he said, adding that he did not wish to discuss his company's plans. "As time progresses, I'd like to share more."

When asked if the plan could help provide residents with some expectations of what future developments could involve, thus reducing so-called NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) opposition, he said the planning exercise was successful in incorporating a variety of opinions.

"Seventh Hill did a really good job in taking everyone's thoughts into consideration," Waldbaum said. "I gave my input to it. I'd like to see some things go differently (with the plan) but wouldn't we all."

END

Circle Square plan was big, gets bigger

When it was first announced in 2015, the Circle Square project
was big and ambitious. Now it is even more so, owing to the
success of recent developments like One University Circle
(seen at upper left). The bigger plans, including a 24-story
apartment tower shown in red, will be up for approval
this Friday at City Planning Commission (MPD).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

When Midwest Development Partners first announced its Circle Square plan five years ago, then-called University Circle City Center or UC3, it was considered bold and ambitious.

Cleveland in 2015 was still shaking off the body blows it took from the Great Recession and even from the early-2000s recession before that. But this was University Circle -- Cleveland's fastest-growing employment hub.

That hub, the center of the region's eds-n-meds jobs machine, continues to crank out employment opportunities at a pace exceeding the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So when Midwest Development Partners representatives make their presentation of revised plans for Circle North on Friday to the City Planning Commission, it will show a bigger and more ambitious vision.

Midwest Development Partners and its development team are
presenting to the city its larger vision for the Circle Square
Development that will create a second downtown for
Cleveland in the heart of University Circle (MDP).

The original conceptual design, previously approved by the commission in 2015, showed 625 multi-family residential units, seven townhomes, a 160-room hotel, 110,860 square feet of retail and 1,245 parking spaces in several multi-level garages.

The commission will be asked to approve the revised design and infrastructure plans which show 807 multi-family residential units, 104,990 square feet of retail and 1,469 parking spaces. The rest of the conceptual plan would remain the same, according to documents submitted to the city.

A proposed infrastructure plan shows the removal of high-speed turning lanes from Chester Avenue eastbound to Stokes Boulevard southbound as well as to MLK Boulevard southbound. The goal is to slow down traffic and improve pedestrian safety as more mid- and high-rise buildings are built nearby.

The surrounding area already has four large residential buildings -- the 7-story Park Lane Villa, 11-story Judson Manor, 13-story Fenway Manor and the 20-story One University Circle. It also has the Cleveland Clinic's 16-story W.O. Walker Center.

Infrastructure plan for the area around the proposed Circle
Square development site (MDP).

Also being sought on Friday is commission approval of conceptual designs for a 24-story apartment tower and its associated parking garage at 10600 Chester Ave. On that project component, Midwest Development and its financial affiliate Ponski Capital Partners are joined by the Chicago-based team of White Oak Realty Partners and FitzGerald Associates Architects.

Planning Commission recently approved the first new-construction element of Circle Square -- the 11-story Library Lofts apartment building and new MLK Branch Library. Ground will be broken for that structure on or about July 1.

Although its groundbreaking will be the first new building in the Circle Square development, Library Lofts' construction is intended to occur simultaneously with 10600 Chester, said Chris Ronayne, President of University Circle Inc.

"We are on a trajectory of growth," he said. "One University Circle and Centric, being 95 percent occupied, are giving market investors confidence."

These two images show the ground floor and upper-level
site plans for the Circle North development (MDP).

First Interstate Properties' 276-unit, $116 million One University Circle, 10730 Euclid Ave., opened in September 2019. Midwest Development Partners' 272-unit, $50 million Centric Apartments, 1999 Circle Dr., opened in December 2018. Their ability to attract high occupancy numbers less than one year after opening have occurred while having top-of-the-market rents.

The proposed hotel would rise on the site where the current MLK Branch Library has stood for 50 years, 1962 Stokes Blvd. After the new library is built and opened in two years, the old library will be demolished.

"The hotel is currently planned for the next phase, connected to the parking," Ronayne said.

Numerous mixed uses, primarily cafes and retailers, are shown in Midwest's ground-floor uses plan. The desired uses include a grocery/pharmacy, restaurants, dry cleaner, beauty salon, pet store, cafes and building lobbies.

END

Amtrak considers new resources for new train services, including Ohio

Amtrak’s Next-Gen Acela Express prototype is towed on Feb.
17, 2020 through Cleveland on its way to and through Chicago,
to the American Association of Railroads’ test facility at Pueblo,
CO. Will Amtrak provide fast, modern, convenient passenger
trains like these between population centers in Ohio -- the
nation’s seventh-most populous state? New federal programs
proposed by Amtrak could offer that opportunity (Painesville
Railfans/YouTube). 

If the rail and transit advocacy group All Aboard Ohio had designed proposed initiatives to help jump-start passenger rail development in the nation’s seventh-most populous state, they would likely look similar to the ones Amtrak is considering now, according to their press release.

And a decade ago, when the federal government offered intercity passenger rail capital grants to states without requiring a state match, it was considered a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But if Congress adopts Amtrak’s proposed program to expand the nation’s passenger rail system, Ohio should take advantage of what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally join the civilized world in offering safe, modern, productive and environmentally friendly passenger rail services.

In a new report to Congress “General and Legislative Annual Report & Fiscal Year 2021 Grant Request” available here, Amtrak proposed multiple new initiatives to grow the nation’s passenger rail network which has been largely static for decades. Despite this, Amtrak ridership is up 44 percent thus far in the 21st century and the federal corporation improved its financial performance to cover 99 percent of its operating costs in 2019 with customer revenues.

To further grow the rail system to serve populous, growing states like Ohio, Amtrak proposes to supplement existing funding and programs with:

• New Corridor Development Program
• New Passenger Rail Trust Fund
• Flexing General Revenues Authorized for Highway Trust Fund
• New Passenger-Freight Railroad Shared Benefit Tax Credit
• Expanded eligibility for Rail-Airport Connections
• Expanded Section 130 Railway-Highway Grade Crossings
• Expanded Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Eligibility
• Proposed Infrastructure Bill

Additional details about these proposals follow the press release, available here.

After Ohio in 2010 gave back $400 million in federal funds to
start 79 mph 3C (Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati) trains and
$7 million to develop funding-ready plans to increase train
speeds to 110 mph, some of those funds went to Michigan.
There, the state used those funds to upgrade its Detroit-
Chicago corridor to 110 mph. Here, a Chicago-bound
train arrives the new station in Dearborn, MI (KJP).

Of particular note for Ohio is the first item – a new Corridor Development Program. Amtrak is requesting $300 million per year starting in federal fiscal year 2021 from Congress to develop high-potential corridors (routes under 750 miles). Once an agreement is in place with a state entity, Amtrak may pay up to 100 percent of the capital costs to initiate new or additional services. Amtrak may also provide 100 percent of the operating costs in the first two years, 90 percent in the third year, 80 percent in the fourth year and 50 percent in the fifth year. After that, the new service must be state supported in the same manner that 16 other states currently purchase service from Amtrak.

“This Corridor Development Program is a major policy shift for Amtrak,” said All Aboard Ohio Executive Director Stu Nicholson. “Since it began in 1971, Amtrak has been largely reactive and not proactive when it comes to its growth. This policy shift is very welcome and long overdue when it comes to dealing with states like Ohio that have almost no service and thus almost no political constituency to create a passenger rail development program. We hope that Congress will authorize and fully fund this Corridor Development Program.”

Under a Congressionally authorized and appropriated Corridor Development Program, Amtrak will coordinate with stakeholders to develop and submit implementation plans to the U.S. Department of Transportation and Congress for high-potential corridors. Based on ridership and economic impact analyses of a recently developed Midwest Regional Rail Plan by the Federal Railroad Administration, it is likely that one or more Ohio routes will be among the high-potential corridors.

“In physics, objects at rest tend to stay at rest,” Nicholson said. “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Ohio needs a catalyst to get a modern passenger rail system in motion. This potential federal Corridor Development Program is exactly the kind of catalyst Ohio needs to connect our six largest metropolitan areas to each other and to the left-behind regions of the state. Those six largest metros created 245,000 jobs in Ohio in the last five years and accounted for all of Ohio’s job growth.”

Amtrak’s proposals for growing the nation’s intercity passenger rail system also will likely be submitted for possible inclusion in the six-year federal surface transportation spending authorization. The current six-year authorization expires in October. Amtrak’s Board of Directors will likely vote this spring on what it will seek from Congress in the new authorization. After that vote, details about Amtrak’s proposals and desired new routes will become clearer.

END

Megaproject tax credit slowed by Primary, Larrys' feud

The Transformation Mixed-Use Development tax credit pro-
posal now pending before the Ohio General Assembly was
originally drafted to benefit Stark Enterprises' nuCLEus de-
velopment. It has since been amended to benefit different
types of real estate projects could positively change their
communities (Stark). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

A bill intended to provide significant capital to megaprojects in Ohio's largest urban areas and lesser assistance to real estate developments in smaller communities has sped up and slowed down at various times over the past few years. Now, Substitute Senate Bill 39, the Transformational Mixed-Use Development (TMUD) tax credit, is back in the slow lane, awaiting two votes.

One vote would be its potential referral out of the House of Representatives' Economic and Workforce Development Committee to the House floor.

But before that happens, the bill is sitting in committee awaiting a different vote: the Ohio Primary Election on March 17. Many lawmakers are out campaigning as they or their friends and allies face challengers in the primary. That's where their attentions are focused until the election.

The TMUD tax credit bill was originally drafted by a law firm working on behalf of Stark Enterprises to aid its nuCLEus mixed-used development in downtown Cleveland. The $354 million nuCLEus development offers two 24-story towers -- one residential and one office -- atop a pedestal of retail and parking to be built on East 4th Street between Huron Road and Prospect Avenue.

Sub. SB 39 would encourage insurance companies to invest in Ohio real estate megaprojects. It would do so by refunding to insurance companies up to 10 percent of their investments in TMUDs.

Within 10 miles of a major city, a TMUD refers to projects whose new or to-be-renovated connected buildings are at least 15 stories tall, measure at least 350,000 square feet and contain any combination of retail, office, residential, recreation, structured parking or similar uses. In less populated areas, smaller projects can be considered TMUDs.

The TMUD bill, called Sub. SB 39, has sped up or slowed
down at various times in its travels through the committees
and chambers of Ohio State House (State of Ohio).

The maximum credit for a TMUD would be $40 million. A total of $100 million worth of credits would be available in each state fiscal year ending June 30 in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But it remains to be seen if the bill moves fast enough to authorize and implement the 2020 round of tax credits.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Kirk Schuring (R-29, Canton), has been amended several times since it was first introduced in the previous legislative session in 2018.

But a source who spoke off the record suggested that a long-running feud between the two Larrys -- Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-72, Glenford) and Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof (R-22, Medina) -- might be partly to blame for Sub. SB 39's latest hold up.

Each has accused the other of moving too slowly on pending legislation, although it's debatable as to whether the TMUD is one of the victims as both houses have held votes and hearings on this bill. Sub. SB 39 passed the Senate last summer 32-1 and has since had seven hearings in the House's Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

That stands in stark contrast to Sub. SB 8, for example. That bill, also sponsored by Schuring, would authorize a 10-percent transferable, non-refundable tax credit to those who make qualified real estate and related investments in designated Opportunity Zones.

The Senate considered Sub. SB 8 a priority and moved it quickly last year. Senators passed Sub. SB 8 unanimously less than two months after it was introduced to the Ohio General Assembly. It was sent over to the House and had one hearing in the Economic and Workforce Development Committee in May. It hasn't had a hearing since.

Stark representatives don't speak in public about their views
regarding the trials of the TMUD bill. But it seems that each
time there is renewed progress on the bill, Stark issues some
new marketing documents about nuCLEus like the one above
or shares cryptic, hopeful hints on social media (Stark).

"The delay (to the TMUD bill) is purely due to the legislative schedule," said Josh Ferdelman, legislative aide to Rep. Paul Zeltwanger (R-54, Mason), chair of the Economic and Workforce Development Committee. "We couldn’t make it work the week of the 19th and the legislators won’t meet again until March 24th. I fully expect us to meet on March 25."

Rep. Mike Skindell (D-13, Lakewood), who serves on that committee, said he didn't expect a vote by the full House on the TMUD tax credit bill until after the primary election anyway. But he did expect some committee movement before then.

"I am surprised it did not move (out of committee to full House) before the election," Skindell said. "I am not sure of the future of the bill."

He clarified that he didn't believe that the bill was in trouble. But he wasn't sure if it would pass in time so that three rounds of TMUD tax credits could be issued instead of just two rounds.

One development that could aid its swift passage is that the House's leadership is already working with Schuring to win Senate support for the bill's changes in the House. If the Senate issues an expression of support, there would be little chance of a conference committee. That could save weeks or possibly months of time.

The legislation can be effective by June 30 if it goes to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature before April 1 and he promptly signs it. But the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, which would administer the tax credits per the substitute bill, still has to issue application rules before inviting requests for the credits.

END

Rents, tours announced for Ohio's tallest residential tower

The Lumen, now without its construction
crane, looks almost complete from the out-
side as it towers over Euclid Avenue and Play-
house Square. A screen and a storefront will
be added to the facade of The Lumen's park-
ing garage at right (Clifton Haworth).
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

The construction crane for The Lumen apartment tower in Cleveland's Playhouse Square (PHS) came down last month as the skyscraper topped out. Starting next month, the curtain goes up for the marketing and leasing of Ohio's tallest residential tower.

Preliminary rents for 318-unit building were released via Apartments.com this week and public hard-hat tours of the 34-story, 396-foot-tall skyscraper start next week, with the first few tours already sold out. A temporary leasing office for The Lumen was opened at 1501 Euclid Ave., Suite 112, across the street from the tower that's located at 1600 Euclid.

The tours start March 3 and end July 21. They are offered Mondays through Thursdays most weeks. Each date sells out when the total number of people on each tour date reaches 10 persons. Participants will wear hard hats as The Lumen is still an active construction site until the latter half of the year, although residents may start moving in starting this summer.

People can book their hard-hat tours via this Eventbrite page.

Meanwhile, preliminary rents for The Lumen became known when a listing page for the building was published at Apartments.com. However, The Lumen doesn't yet show up on Apartment.com's map or on other popular sites like Rent.com or Zillow.com. The rents aren't yet published on PHS's web page about The Lumen.

Although a new site for The Lumen is scheduled to go live this week, a Lumen Web site produced by Greystar Worldwide, LLC is already live. PHS Foundation hired Greystar to provide leasing and management functions for the apartment tower.

Downtown Cleveland's three tallest apartment towers are in
this January photo -- sort of. In the distance at center is The
Lumen. To the right of it is The 9. And the photo was taken
from the residents-only rooftop amenity deck atop The
Beacon apartment tower (Matthew Sexton).

"Next week our Web site is launching and we will begin our pre-leasing," said Matt McClung, senior community manager at Greystar for The Lumen.

Apartment.com's information shows that most one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments measuring from 601 to 912 square feet would rent in the $1,525 to $2,143 range. That's a price per square foot of $2.35 to $2.54.

Similarly, two-bedroom, two-bath apartments measuring from 1,113 to 1,236 square feet may be offered in the $2,572 to $2700 range. That means they could rent anywhere from $2.18 to $2.31 per square foot.

"Those prices are close to accurate," McClung said. "I think those prices got published by Apartments.com before we finalized prices."

There are six penthouse units in The Lumen measuring 1,211 to 1,932 square feet with rents within a few pennies of $3.80 per square foot, according to Apartment.com.

Those preliminary figures put The Lumen's rents in the ballpark with The Beacon's, a 28-story, 350-foot-tall tower that officially opened in November 2019. The Beacon, at 515 Euclid, was the first new-construction, 20-plus-story apartment tower to open downtown since the twin 23-story Park Centre (now Reserve Square) towers were built in 1969, according to Clevelandskyscrapers.com.

Apartment.com listing for The Lumen.

The Beacon's Web site shows one-bedroom, one-bath apartments measuring 800 to 1,031 square feet with prices in the $2,175-$3,524 range. That works out to $2.11 to $4.41 per square foot. Two-bedroom, two-bath apartments in The Beacon, measuring 1,164 to 1,498 square feet and priced from $2,674 to $5,193. That's a price per square foot of $2.30 to $4.04.

As of last week, salespersons at The Beacon say the building is about 50 percent leased despite it having among the highest rents downtown and it being available for occupancy for less than a year. That bodes very well for The Lumen.

One of the first apartment towers downtown to crack the $2 per square foot threshold was The 9, 2017 E. 9th St. Although The 9 opened in 2015, the 29-story, 383-foot-tall tower was built in 1971 as the headquarters for the Cleveland Trust Co., later Ameritrust. As an apartment building, it leased out in about a year. Its success aided the development of the Beacon and Lumen, according to real estate insiders.

The Lumen was built on a surface parking lot at the corner of Euclid and East 17th Street. Surface parking lots in downtown Cleveland are increasingly being targeted for significant developments including the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters, the City Club Apartments tower and more.

Another parking lot could be eliminated if The Lumen leases at a pace that meets or exceeds expectations of PHS Foundation officials. Two sources say PHS officials are considering building a second apartment tower on land owned by the foundation at the southeast corner of East 13th Street and Chester Avenue -- if The Lumen is a commercial success.

But Cindi Szymanski, assistant director brand marketing and communications at PHS disputed that rumor.

"There is absolutely no truth to the rumor you mentioned," she said.

PHS officials have said that increasing the number of residents in the theater district will make it a vibrant, 24-hour neighborhood, increase economic vitality and foster a stronger destination in the heart of the city. These real estate investments also build a working endowment to help secure the future of PHS's eight theaters.

END

City Block project at Tower City faces challenges post-SHW

An artists' rendering of a new entrance for Tower City Center's
Avenue shopping center, after renovations convert it into City
Block, a business incubator. This is the proposed new main
entrance and public plaza on Prospect Avenue (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

One of the downtown properties in the running for Sherwin-Williams (SHW) headquarters plus research and development (HQ+R&D) facilities was Bedrock Cleveland's Tower City Center.

But when SHW chose to put its HQ elsewhere downtown and its R&D facilities in Brecksville, Bedrock lost out on landing a major anchor tenant for its ambitious, multi-phase City Block development, located in and south of Tower City Center.

Two sources said that SHW's decisions have caused Bedrock to review its options about the City Block project, especially the riverside phase, and to suspend pre-development planning work.  It is not known if this applies to The Avenue shopping mall portion of Tower City.

The goal has been to redevelop the 350,000-square-foot retail portion of Tower City Center into a $110 million entrepreneurship hub where new and emerging businesses or people seeking to monetize commercial ideas could interact, get expert advice and more easily access capital. However, no leases have been signed for this portion of City Block either, sources said.

That would be the first phase of the City Block plan. Later phases envision an office building, hotel and apartment buildings between Huron Road and the Cuyahoga River, featuring lots of riverside greenspace. The SHW HQ and/or R&D would have served as the anchor for those plans. Without it, the two sources said Bedrock is no longer actively working on City Block pre-development activities.

The riverside phase of City Block, featuring a hotel, apartment
buildings, office building and public parks (Vocon).

But tech entrepreneur and City Block promoter Bernie Moreno disputed the rumors.

"100 percent not true," he said. "If anything, Bedrock is dramatically more engaged in making it happen than ever before."

Although Moreno declined to discuss specifics on leasing activities, including what tenants are being pursued, he said Bedrock's leasing efforts are active.

"Bedrock is working on that part," he said. "We have lots and lots of soft commitments. Signing LOIs (letters of intent) is the next step."

To underscore the case that City Block is an active project, the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) will relocate to Playhouse Square in 2021 after a 30-year run at Tower City Center. Presumably, the move was motivated at least in part by the pending renovation work of Tower City into City Block, although CIFF's press release makes no mention of it.

Ken Till, Bedrock's vice president of development could not be reached for comment.

The image shows conceptual interior renovations and redesign
of Tower City Center's Avenue shopping mall into a hub for
entrepreneurs while retaining some retail on site (Vocon).

Moreno is founder of BlockLand Cleveland the Blockland Solutions Conference and an advocate of blockchain technologies to safeguard and enhance business transactions, record keeping, sales and more.

He sold seven car dealerships in April 2019 to focus his business activities on blockchain technology as a way of securing the transfer of titles for cars but saw its value in other areas. Car dealership sale amounts were not disclosed but could be in excess of $100 million total.

The USA is lagging behind the rest of the world in blockchain development due to lack of standardization, unfamiliarity with the technology, lack of regulatory coordination and relatively slower transaction speeds.

Moreno announced the Tower City site for City Block last summer amid much fanfare. As SHW narrowed its list of potential HQ+R&D sites in October, Bedrock sold its casino businesses including selling off and leasing back its Cleveland-area casinos, raising $843 million in capital in the process.

Tower City Center's The Avenue has been
the hub of downtown shopping since its
conversion from the Cleveland Union
Terminal railroad station 30 years ago.
It retained the rapid transit station
but the retail components faded
away due to high rents, urban
sprawl and new technologies
affecting retail (KJP).

Much of that capital may stay with Bedrock's Rock Ohio Ventures rather than be used for any Bedrock investments outside of Cleveland. If so, Bedrock could use it to develop its Cleveland properties including Tower City/City Block or pursue other local opportunities.

"The combined efforts of our gaming properties together with the other Cleveland assets operated by our sister companies including the Cavs, Avenue Shops at Tower City and the May Company Building, have created a strong connection to the city and allows us to remain heavily committed to the Cleveland area," said Mark Dunkeson, CEO of JACK Entertainment, in an October press release.

JACK Entertainment, like Bedrock, is under Chairman Dan Gilbert's Rock Holdings umbrella.

"We will continue to invest significant capital into these properties which will have a lasting positive impact on the city and Cuyahoga County," Dunkeson added.

END

Fulton Road deadzone to be enlivened by trails, rails & housing

Property map of the deadzone between the Ohio City and Clark-
Fulton neighborhoods, showing some of the key sites that may
come into play in this area's re-activation (Cuyahoga County).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

ARTICLE UPDATED ON FEB. 25, 2020

Between Cleveland's growing Ohio City and Clark-Fulton neighorhoods is a deadzone of railroad tracks, a 10-lane Interstate highway, scrap recycling businesses and two historic cemeteries. But efforts are gearing up to pump new life into this area.

Knez Homes is seeking approvals from the City of Cleveland to build one of its largest townhome developments in the city so far. As proposed, Fulton Row Townhomes would add 58 townhouses to vacant land the west side of Fulton Road, between the 180-year-old Willet Street Cemetery and the Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad tracks. Fulton's original name was Willet.

Through an affiliate Nascent Land Development, LLC, Knez bought 2.1 acres of land in 2017 for $135,000, according to county records. The low price reflects the decades-long lack of real estate activity in this tired-looking neighborhood of aging, modest wood-frame homes, underutilized light industries, vacant houses and empty lots. The Knez property previously was a car junkyard.

Knez and others aim to pump new blood into this area. The townhomes Knez proposes would be market-rate and measure about 1,700 to 2,000 square feet each, said Bo Knez, founder and president of Knez Homes.

"We purchased the property a long time ago, anticipating Ohio City's growth in that direction," Knez said. "We've built a lot of homes in Ohio City. With the demand that we have there, we don't have anything unfinished and unsold in Ohio City."

Just north of the Knez site and approaching Lorain Avenue, the old Tinnerman Building was acquired and will soon be redeveloped into 53 apartments by the Dalad Group of Independence. The Tinnerman Building, 2038 Fulton, was the home of the Tinnerman Steel Range Co. from 1880-1957 when it moved to a new plant on Brookpark Road.

Site plan for Knez Homes' Fulton Row Townhomes, off
Fulton Road in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood (Sixmo).

Comparably sized new homes within a half-mile of the Knez's Fulton Row Townhomes site are listing in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, according to zillow.com. But the listings show there aren't that many new homes available for sale in the immediate area -- for now.

Across Fulton from the Knez property is a 7.5-acre scrapyard owned by ScrapCom Real Estate Holdings Ohio, Ltd., formerly the American Can Co. factory. It is located at 3301 Monroe Ave. and next to the 13.6-acre, 202-year-old Monroe Street Cemetery.

The scrapyard property features 149,000 square feet of former can factory buildings. One of those is a two-story brick factory office building fronting the sidewalk of Monroe -- the type of building that developers have renovated into housing throughout Cleveland's 19th- and early 20th-century neighborhoods.

Three sources who agreed to speak off the record say Cleveland-based NRP Group, one of the nation's largest developers of apartment complexes, is considering doing just that. Also under consideration is redeveloping the rest of the large site with new-construction residential units and possibly other uses.

Taylor Brown, president of NRP Construction LLC did not respond to an e-mail seeking confirmation and additional information prior to publication.

For tax purposes, Cuyahoga County in 2019 appraised the ScrapCom property at  $370,000 compared to $821,700 in 1996. The property's low-point in terms of property values was $338,700 in 2013, county records show.

Vacant offices for the American Can Co. factory on Monroe
Street at Fulton Road are emblematic of this area -- untapped
potential. But investment could soon pour into this neglected
corner of Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood (Google).

A mix of market-rate and tax-credit units are proposed, according to the sources. The tax-credit units are being sought as housing in Ohio City has become relatively expensive. So NRP Group reportedly would like to include affordable units in its project, although the number of units is not publicly known.

More details could become available when applications are submitted for the next round of Ohio Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Since the competitive 9 percent LIHTC is reportedly being sought -- as opposed to the non-competitive 4 percent credit -- the applications may not become public until February 2021. The credits help subsidize construction, renovation or property acquisition costs.

Two modes of transportation skirt along the south side of the ScrapCom, Knez and Norfolk Southern properties. One is the Red Line rapid transit tracks between the Airport-Downtown-Windermere. The other is the Red Line Greenway linking the Zone Recreation Center near the West 65th-Lorain rail station and the Cuyahoga River valley near the West 25th-Ohio City station.

Construction is underway on the Cleveland Metroparks' $13 million Red Line Greenway, comprised of a paved trail and linear park along the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's (GCRTA) Red Line tracks. Work on the greenway is due to be completed in March 2021.

The scale of NRP's proposed development is apparently large enough to prompt preliminary discussions with GCRTA about constructing an infill rail station at or west of Fulton. The station could also provide an access point to the greenway from Fulton. A new station could cost anywhere from $10 million to $20 million to build, based on other recent GCRTA station projects.

The southwest corner of Fulton and Bailey Avenue, where
Knez's Fulton Row will rise, is an overgrown lot today. This
view looks south toward Fulton's overpass of the Red Line
rapid transit tracks and the Red Line Greenway (Google).

"RTA confirmed that there were preliminary discussions with the NRP Group regarding a new station at that location," said GCRTA spokesperson Linda Scardilli Krecic in an e-mail. "RTA awaits further information from the developer to determine the viability of expanding service in that area."

An infill station was proposed here in the early 1970s west of Fulton, and not just because it's in the middle of the longest stretch of the Red Line without a station -- almost 2 miles. Under Mayor Carl Stokes, City Planning Director Norm Krumholz proposed the station and high-rise apartment buildings above a new rapid transit station next to Interstate 90.

Those efforts five decades ago progressed far enough to where GCRTA's predecessor, the Cleveland Transit System, acquired nearly 2 acres of land for the station and supportive development. But the work progressed no further. GCRTA still owns that land.

The ScrapCom property and the new Knez development aren't the only current/former scrapyards that may be destined for new uses. CBRE, the real estate broker for the Caraustar recycling facility on the south side of the tracks at 3400 Vega Ave., is calling for offers by March 6 to acquire the 5-acre property. Brick structures on site were built starting in 1873 for the Isaac Leisy & Co. Brewery.

Knez was asked about the possibility of a Red Line station at Fulton and said he was supportive of the idea.

"I don't know if our 58 (townhome) units would be enough to support it," he said. "It would be great for getting downtown and to the airport or University Circle. I'm a big believer in mass transit."

END