University Circle's tallest may see groundbreaking by Spring 2021

Proposed to be the tallest building in University Circle, 10600
Chester would rise 24 stories and about 250 feet. Final designs
for the new tower were swiftly approved today by Cleveland's
City Planning Commission as were financial incentives for the
first-phase, multi-structure Circle Square project (FitzGerald).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Plans for what would be the tallest building in Cleveland's University Circle received final approval today from the City Planning Commission. The swift and unanimous approval of The Artisan, 10600 Chester Ave. in the new Circle Square district allows the development consortium led by Midwest Development Partners to apply for a building permit from the city.

The plans were submitted to the commission only for the residential building and its parking garage at this time, however. Review of other planning elements, namely the ground-floor retail treatments, signage and the streetscape plans, were put off until a future date.

As proposed, the 24-story Artisan will top at about 250 feet tall. It would surpass the nearby, 20-story, 234-foot-tall One University Circle residential tower that was completed in 2018 at 10730 Euclid Ave. It is currently the tallest building in University Circle, often called Cleveland's second downtown.

The reason for the commission's swift approval is because the development consortium wants The Artisan's construction to coincide with that of the neighboring Library Lofts, featuring the new MLK Branch of the Cleveland Public Library on its ground floor. To do so will require 10600 Chester to play catch-up to Library Lofts' hoped-for March 2021 groundbreaking.

"This (approval) gets them a building permit and shovels in the ground," said City Planning Commission Chair David Bowen. He applauded the design team of Chicago-based FitzGerald Associates Architects and Bialosky Cleveland for their work, calling The Artisan a "beautiful building."

The 24-story The Artisan tower will provide a commanding
view of the city and Lake Erie. It is one of many 20-plus-story
residential towers built or under way in Cleveland (FitzGerald).

"It's really excellent," concurred Planning Commission member Lillian Kuri. "I think since we saw this last, the refinement and detailing can be an extraordinary addition."

On Sept. 4, the commission gave schematic approval of a less detailed, or schematic design for The Artisan. At that same meeting, commission members gave final approval to the detailed designs for Library Lofts -- an 11-story, mixed-income apartment building with 207 units atop the 24,650-square-foot MLK Branch.

Plans submitted to the city show The Artisan would measure 306,200 square feet. It would offer 298 market-rate apartments and 287 parking spaces over 14,005 square feet of ground-floor retail. Another 24,600 square feet of ground-floor retail will be below two other parking structures offering 488 more parking spaces. In total, there will be 775 spaces among all parking structures in this phase.

"I love you guys because you treated the (The Artisan parking) garage with dignity,"said Planning Commission member August Fluker, who lives across the street from a Cleveland Clinic parking garage from which car headlights shine into his home.

"That has been the bane of my existence where I live, across from the Clinic," said Fluker in commending Circle Square's architectural team for its proposed use of perforated metal panels on the garage's exterior that are intended to diffuse car headlights while still allowing air to circulate through the garage.

Site plan for 10600 Chester and its relationship to other
buildings and uses proposed for Circle Square (FitzGerald).

Library Lofts, The Artisan and the associated parking facilities will be the first phase of new construction at Circle Square. Midwest Development Partners of Cleveland will construct Library Lofts and much of the parking while White Oaks Realty Partners of Chicago will build The Artisan.

Combined, the first phase represents a $186 million investment, city documents show. Planning Commission also approved and forwarded to City Council for final passage a tax increment financing agreement with the developers of Circle Square. It will provide them with $4.5 million to support construction of the first phase.

"Because this is an in-fill district, we're in-fillng each building in a way that allows the existing neighborhood services (at the MLK Branch library) to maintain continuous operation during construction," said Sean O'Gorman Jr., associate principal at FitzGerald. "You see the result of doing it this way, (that) we're able to achieve a more dense and vibrant city center whose functions of each building support one another."

Future phases include a roughly 250,000-square-foot apartment tower with nearly 300 units over a 200-space garage and 10,700 square feet of neighborhood retail. Also, a 170,000-square-foot office tower with about 550 parking spaces and nearly 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail or restaurant is planned.

There may soon be a new "tallest" in University Circle, as 10600
Chester is proposed to eclipse the reigning champion, One Uni-
versity Circle, by about 15 feet. Multiple buildings of 10 stories
or more exist or are planned in/near Circle Square (Bialosky).

Finally, a 160-room hotel is envisioned where the existing MLK Branch Library now stands. The old library won't be demolished until sometime after the new library opens in the Library Lofts building.

"We have to build around the existing MLK library," said Steve Rubin, partner at Midwest Development Partners, at a recent Planning Commission meeting. "It has caused some unique challenges which requires us to build from outside in."

"We're excited about a shovel hitting the ground in 2021," said Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc. "This is good for our construction trades and it's good for continued momentum in a complicated time."

He also noted that the project will force a redesign of nearby streets into more of a grid that will slow cars and eliminate gentle turning lanes that allowed traffic to move faster. The existing "spaghetti junction" of roadways makes that area dangerous for pedestrians.

END

All Aboard Ohio asks Cleveland RTA for Waterfront Line Phase II study

 

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's Flats
East Bank Station in Downtown Cleveland (AAO).

Think of the benefits Clevelanders could see by morphing GCRTA’s low-ridership light-rail Waterfront Line from dead-ending in a windswept, out-of-the-way parking lot into a fully functional and convenient Downtown Loop that serves more of downtown Cleveland’s most important destinations.

Imagine a one-seat ride on the Rapid in any weather from the eastern suburbs to Cleveland State University in 30 minutes or less without worrying about parking or traffic.

Or, traveling from your home on the West Side to Tri-C Metro without having to transfer to another transit vehicle or walk 20 minutes from the nearest station.

Or, riding from your apartment on Playhouse Square to Little Italy or the Van Aken District to enjoy dinner with friends and family.

Or, being able to live, get to work, do your day-to-day errands, and socialize all within a short walk of new, fare-free Orange Line trains operating every few minutes on the Downtown Loop, whether you live in an affordable apartment at Sankofa Village or a penthouse condo overlooking Cleveland’s lakefront.

Nearly all of Downtown Cleve-
land would be within a 5-minute
walk of a Rapid rail station with
a Downtown Loop (AAO).

This week, Stu Nicholson, executive director of the nonprofit rail and transit advocacy organization All Aboard Ohio, sent a letter to Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority General Manager India Birdsong and the agency’s Board of Directors. In it, he asked GCRTA to consider reviewing options for the future of the Waterfront Line.

These options could include continuing the status quo, abandoning the line, pursuing limited enhancements such as fare-free service or expanding the line such as along the eastern lake shore or, preferably, as a Downtown Loop. These reviews could be included as part of GCRTA’s ongoing Next Gen system planning and 2030 Strategic Planning processes.

“Indeed, this low ridership that began pre-pandemic raises questions about the future viability of this rail infrastructure and service,” Nicholson wrote in his Nov. 30 letter. “We believe those questions should be the subject of a careful review by GCRTA and its downtown stakeholders.”

When the Waterfront Line opened in 1996, it was intended to eventually go someplace beyond the municipal parking lot on the East Shoreway. In 2000, GCRTA concluded a Major Investment Study called Waterfront Line Phase II. 

All Aboard Ohio proposes a Downtown Loop via East 13th
Street and Euclid Avenue while demolishing small city- and
county-owned buildings on Lakeside Avenue (their proper-
ties shown as red boxes) for Downtown Loop rail infrastruc-
ture and transit-supportive development. In 2000, GCRTA
preferred a Downtown Loop via East 17th Street and Pro-
spect Avenue, putting rail stations farther from major em-
ployers and Cleveland State University's campus (AAO).

The study showed that expanding the 2.2-mile Waterfront extension of the Blue and Green lines (Shaker Heights – Tower City) as a Downtown Loop could produce enough ridership at relatively low costs to justify federal construction funds.

In 2000, 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.”

GCRTA plans to replace its rail fleet with a standardized
train car that could operate on any rail line, whether it has
high-platforms (like on the Red Line) or low-level platforms
(like on the Blue/Green/Waterfront lines), such as these trains
in use in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Siemens). That would make
a Downtown Loop accessible from all of GCRTA rail lines (AAO).

There are many reasons why GCRTA should consider expanding the Waterfront Line, possibly as a Downtown Loop:

• Continuing the Waterfront Line as-is cannot endure. It has limited value beyond handling crowds for special events along the downtown waterfronts.
• Abandoning the Waterfront Line will require GCRTA to reimburse the Federal Transit Administration up to $10 million for state-of-good-repair improvements made to the line since 2010.
• Only about one-third of the Central Business District is within a 5-minute walk of an existing GCRTA rail station. A Downtown Loop routed via East 17th could put nearly two-thirds of the CBD within a 5-mile walk. A Downtown Loop routed via East 13th could put up to 90 percent of the CBD within a 5-minute walk.
• In 2000, the Downtown Loop was projected to attract 2.2 million square feet of nonresidential development, nearly 1,000 housing units, $441 million in overall development (in 2000$), nearly 9,000 permanent jobs, $250 million in new payroll and $17.8 million in new local tax revenues per year.
• Those benefits offer the potential for GCRTA to fund the local share of the Downtown Loop from short-term tax-increment financing. The rest could come from the federal government which is likely to become more transit-friendly under the Biden-Harris Administration.
• GCRTA is considering replacing its 35- to 40-year-old rail fleet with standard light-rail trains that can operate on any line in its rail system, including any future line expansions like a Downtown Loop.
• Chicago-based Akara Partners plans a huge expansion of the Flats East Bank community starting early in 2021 with up to 2,000 housing units, tens of thousands of square feet of co-working office spaces and neighborhood-oriented retail.
• Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is replacing the obsolete Cedar Extension Estates with the mixed-income, mixed-use Central Choice Neighborhood (Sankofa Village, Cleveland Scholar House) – a large-scale, mixed-use project on 15 acres with nearly 400 apartments and townhouses at full buildout.
• Cleveland State University is about to begin a campus master plan process, focusing on redevelopment of the Wolstein Center site, additional housing and transportation access.
• The Cleveland Metroparks is leading the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Study (CHEERS) with a new land use vision for the shoreline east of downtown.
• In 2017, FirstEnergy’s Lake Shore Power Station was demolished, offering lakefront development and recreational opportunities that preceded the city’s last lakefront plan update in 2004 in which the city proposed extending the Waterfront Line to near Bratenahl.

“GCRTA should consider expanding the Waterfront Line, as originally intended, to reach important destinations in and near Downtown Cleveland,” Nicholson said. “Continuing the status quo is the only option GCRTA should not be embrace.”

This is a reprint of an All Aboard Ohio press release available HERE.

END

30 Cleveland-area megaprojects that may benefit from a TMUD tax credit

Multiple megaprojects in Greater Cleveland may receive
Transformational Mixed Development tax credits in the
next two years if the Ohio House acts on pending legi-
slation as early as next week (AerialAgents).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED NOV. 28, 2020

After this Thanksgiving holiday week, state lawmakers say there's a pretty good chance that the Ohio General Assembly will finally pass the long-sought Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credit. And there's potentially dozens of so-called megaprojects that the TMUD credit could activate or take already active projects and push them across the finish line.

Those dozens of megaprojects are just in the Greater Cleveland area. There are many promising transformational projects in Ohio's six largest metro areas that accounted for all of Ohio's job growth in the past five years, as well as in smaller cities and rural areas that have been economically left behind.

If Substitute Senate Bill 39, the TMUD tax credit, passes the Ohio House of Representatives as a clean, unamended bill in one of up to seven House floor sessions between Dec. 1-17, it will become law. The only way it wouldn't is if Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes it. No one expects him to do that. Rather, they expect him to sign it. Even if he takes no action within 10 days of receiving Sub. SB 39, the bill becomes law without his signature.

Barring any surprises, chances of passage by the House are good said Rep. Mike Skindell (D-13) of Lakewood. He serves on the Ohio House's Economic and Workforce Development Committee that held eight hearings on the bill. The committee passed Sub. SB 39 on Nov. 18 for the House vote.

The House substantially amended it from what the Ohio Senate had passed 32-1 last year, but in the same two-year legislative session that ends Dec. 31. The Ohio Senate notified the Ohio House that it supports the House version, making a conference committee unecessary.

Ohio State House, Columbus, OH (NEOtrans file).

"It wouldn't be up for a floor vote if the House leaders didn't think they had the votes (to pass it)," Skindell said.

If it becomes law, there will be up to $100 million in tax credits available to insurance companies that invest in TMUDs in each of the next two years. By issuing a TMUD tax credit, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority would refund to insurance companies up to 10 percent of their investment in a TMUD. The credit would be capped at $40 million per project. Most projects would receive far less.

Up to $80 million will be available to urban projects statewide having at least a 15-story building or 350,000 square feet within 10 miles from a major city that has a population larger than 100,000 people. The development must cause a positive economic impact as measured by the net change in taxes produced by the development.

Another $20 million will be available to projects with buildings only four stories in height and a total size of 75,000 square feet in smaller towns and rural areas that are 10 miles or more from a major city.

Under those criteria, a large number of active and emerging projects could qualify statewide, not merely the project that hatched the TMUD concept in the first place -- nuCLEus. Between now and the end of 2022, Stark Enterprises' proposed 25-story office tower atop a pedestal of parking and retail would have to compete for $160 million in tax credits with potentially dozens of projects just in the Greater Cleveland area alone.

Listed alphabetically, local TMUDs could include:

Baseball Town site, east of Progressive Field (Google).

BASEBALL TOWN -- Major League Baseball wants to see the areas around ballparks developed with more mixed uses, not just restaurants and bars. Developers who wish to remain unidentified are proposing apartment buildings across East 9th Street from Progressive Field.

One of those projects, called the Sumner Avenue Apartments, appeared on a public record earlier this year. This and other buildings would transform an area of parking lots at the East 9th entry into downtown into a dense, vibrant urban neighborhood.

 Site plan for Belle Oaks at Richmond Road (DealPoint Merrill).

BELLE OAKS AT RICHMOND ROAD -- Redevelopment of Richmond Town Square (formerly Richmond Mall) into a $200 million mixed-use development will feature nearly 800 market-rate apartment, retail/commercial spaces and recreation areas.

The city of Richmond Heights recently approved a New Community Authority to oversee finances involving the proposed project. Additional public funding could come into play for a project that could measure 1.6 million square feet at full buildout.

Bridgeworks conceptual plan (MASS/RDL).

BRIDGEWORKS -- Developers of this multi-structure project at the west end of the Detroit-Superior Bridge may not need a TMUD credit to make their project happen. But they could seek tax credits to enhance their project and make it potentially transformative by creating a user-friendly access point to the streetcar subway deck of the bridge.

That access point is identified in Bridgeworks planning documents as a connection between Ohio City's Hingetown neighborhood and downtown, offering a more climate-protected route for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as a public realm for community events and programming.

Cumberland Development's lakefront plan (Dimit).

BROWNS LAKEFRONT -- Like the Baseball Town noted above, National Football League teams are also seeking to develop the areas around their stadiums with mixed uses. The Cleveland Browns and their principal owner, the Haslam Family, want to develop Cleveland's lakefront and connect it better with downtown. Mayor Frank Jackson's administration favored the Haslam plan over a prior plan by Cumberland Development LLC.

While possibly transformative, Haslam's plans are secret. There are rumors the plans could involve building a new football stadium off the lake before the Browns' lease with the city ends in 2029, then raze First Energy Stadium and develop the massive amount of lakefront land that would be made available.

The Centennial (The Millennia Companies).

THE CENTENNIAL -- As proposed by The Millennia Companies, a $450 million redevelopment of the 1.3-million-square-foot, former Union Trust Bank at 925 Euclid Ave. into The Centennial would be the largest building conversion attempted in downtown Cleveland. 

Millennia CEO Frank Sinito testified in 2019 that Centennial would be difficult to develop without with the TMUD tax credit. With it, he could convert the vacant, 21-story building into 860 affordable apartments, 95,000 square feet of offices, 20,000 square feet of retail, and convert the world's largest bank lobby into dining, event and museum spaces.

Circle Square, looking north on Stokes Boulevard (Bialosky).

CIRCLE SQUARE -- Although the first phase of the $300 million Circle Square development appears to be on track, there's much more planned and could benefit from the TMUD tax credit. The first phase has a 24-story apartment tower by Chicago-based White Oak Realty Partners, an 11-story apartment building by Midwest Development Partners, a large public parking garage and a new MLK Branch Library between Euclid and Chester avenues, along Stokes Boulevard.

Future phases would add another large apartment tower, an office building, hotel and up to 100,000 square feet of retail. Cleveland has high construction costs and low office rents despite the tight Class A office market, and few subsidies for office development. A TMUD tax credit could fill that void.

Columbus Road Peninsula (Google).

COLUMBUS ROAD PENINSULA -- Unnamed developers want to invest in the Columbus Road Peninsula, including mixed-use development where zoning allows new buildings up to 175 feet tall. Existing grain elevators on the peninsula are about 155 feet tall, equal to a 15-story building. Whether new buildings or a converted old structure are repurposed, they could meet the TMUD's physical requirements.

Also, much of the peninsula along the Cuyahoga River's Flats was recently designated as an historic district which could leverage historic credits for the renovation of its building stock, some of which dates to the 1850s. Combined with a TMUD tax credit, the entire peninsula could be reinvigorated with a mix of uses.

Dream Hotel, Cleveland (Bialosky).

DREAM HOTEL -- Pursuing the development of any hotel project during a global pandemic is a challenge. Trying to build a 19-story hotel for guests of live performances at the neighboring Masonic Temple, 3614 Euclid Ave, is even more problematic.

That's why the project has been put on hold for at least one year. A TMUD tax credit could give the hotel, featuring restaurants and event spaces, a fiscal stimulus and help restart Cleveland's hospitality industry. The project could also provide a significant boost the surrounding area of Midtown.

East 55th-Euclid conceptual master plan (Moody Nolan).

EAST 55TH-EUCLID -- Numerous projects in the heart of Midtown at East 55th Street and Euclid Avenue are coming to the fore and even could be candidates for a TMUD credit. But those projects are being sought by more than one developer, so individually each is not a megaproject but collectively they might be.

They include later phases of the Warner & Swasey redevelopment, an unidentified mixed-use development on Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority-owned land on the west side of East 55th, potential developments on land owned by the Cleveland Foundation on both sides of Euclid east of East 55th and additional proposals that are still in the early stages.

Geotech drilling rig, June 2019, 2177 E. 9th St. (Clifton Haworth).

EAST 9TH-BOLIVAR -- Five years ago, Downtown Investment Group LLC, a Geis Companies affiliate, bought the former New York Spaghetti House and razed it for future development. The city in 2015 gave Geis permission to use the property as a parking lot for up to five years.

When the city gave its blessing for the interim parking lot, a Geis official told the city that it already has a motivation to develop the land -- it paid $1.5 million for the 0.314-acre property. To recoup that investment, a significant vertical development is justified. A residential tower or a mixed-use tower has been rumored after a geotech drilling rig was spotted here gathering core samples in June 2019. A TMUD tax credit could make the numbers work for whatever Geis decides to build.

Fairmount mixed-use development site (Google).

FAIRMOUNT-CLEVELAND CLINIC -- Full details are unknown of what is ultimately planned by Fairmount Properties LLC southeast of the Cleveland Clinic's main campus. But, it may well be a transformative project for that area. Fairmount has site control of 3 acres of land bounded by East 105th Street, East 101st Street, Cedar Avenue and Wain Court.

The first phase alone is impressive in its scale. It includes 250-300 micro-unit apartments, several dozen townhouses, and several hundred parking spaces next to or above a 40,000-square-foot grocery store that reportedly will be a Meijer. The next phase could be of a similar scale, bringing the total development to a size comensurate with what Sub. SB 39 might call a TMUD.

Flats East Bank next phases (HSB).

FLATS EAST BANK -- Chicago-based Akara Partners and the Wolstein Group plan to proceed with Phase 3b of Flats East Bank in early 2021, featuring an 11-story mixed-use building. While that building may not have the square footage to qualify as a TMUD, the next five buildings might.

Wolstein plans five more towers along and north of Front Street, featuring up to 2,000 housing units, plus coworking spaces, neighborhood retail, restaurants and parking. In total, those would probably be large enough to be considered a TMUD.

Hough Bakery plant (Google).

HOUGH BAKERY PLANT -- Through a partnership, Knez Homes and Forest City Shuffleboard owner Jim Miketo acquired the 5-acre Hough Bakery plant on Lakeview Road at the Cleveland-East Cleveland line.

In addition to residential, it isn't known if any other land uses will be present such as retail or recreation. Nor is it known how many square feet of structures will be built to augment the 81,000 square feet of buildings already on the site. But given the size of the property involved, it's certainly possible that whatever is built here could achieve TMUD status.

CASTO Lakewood plan (Dimit).

LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT -- One of the suburban megaprojects is the redevelopment of the former site of the Lakewood Hospital, owned by the city. After Carnegie Management & Development withdrew from the project, Columbus-based CASTO reportedly is favored by the city to take over the project.

For the 5.6-acre site, CASTO in 2017 proposed a $62 million project with 280 residential units (apartments and townhomes), 23,673 square feet of ground-floor retail, restaurants and community spaces, 50,265 square feet of offices plus 569 parking spaces. It isn't yet known if they would propose the same mix of uses today, however.

The red outline in the foreground is of the Lutheran Hospital
parking lot property. The yellow line is a property owned by a
partnership of the Weston Group and My Place Homes (Google).

LUTHERAN HOSPITAL PARKING LOT -- In Ohio City, a 5-acre parking lot on West 25th Street owned by Cleveland Clinic's Lutheran Hospital and used by its employees and visitors is reportedly targeted by a partnership of Weston Group and the Kertesz family. Developing it would remove a dead zone on West 25th between Hingetown to the north and the Market District to the south.

In 2017,the partnership acquired a half-acre of land at 1550 W. 25th that's surrounded by the hospital's parking lot. Developing the lot will be expensive, primarily because its 530 parking spaces (and possibly another 220 spaces south of the hospital) have to be moved somewhere, such as into a parking deck costing $20+ million that Cleveland Clinic doesn't need and from which no else would receive any private, long-term benefit.

Unofficial view of Magellan-Weston project (Ian McDaniel).

MAGELLAN-WESTON PROJECT -- Another Weston property is the site of a potential megaproject, this time west of West 3rd St. and north of St. Clair Avenue in downtown's Warehouse District. Three sources say the partner in this development is Chicago-based Magellan Development Group LLC.

Together, the Magellan-Weston partnership plans a roughly 30-story residential-hotel tower and a separate office building over a pedestal of parking and retail, according to sources. The project sounds eerily similar to nuCLEus. If so, it too might also need a TMUD tax credit to make the project financially feasible.

Construction continues on the Market Square apartment
building called Intro at left but the office building at right
remains unfunded and in limbo (HBRA).

MARKET SQUARE OFFICE BUILDING -- Another Chicago developer, Harbor Bay Realty Advisors, has started work on a 350,000-square-foot residential building with ground-floor commercial spaces and subterranean parking called Intro.

A second phase of the development would add a 150,000 to 200,000-square-foot office building. Harbor Bay was ready to build it last year but a proposed tax exemption by the state was blocked by the City of Cleveland. While the city has since granted tax abatement to the residential portion now underway, it would not provide tax abatement for the office building. A TMUD tax credit could provide the public assistance.

A massing of The Mews on East 90th Street that was
submitted to City Planning Commission (Hakki).

THE MEWS ON EAST 90TH STREET -- Inspirion Group, Structures Unlimited and possibly others are pursuing a significant development along and near East 90th Street, between Chester Avenue and Hough Avenue. Previously, Inspirion proposed Core 90, a mixed-use development of offices, labs and apartments. Then it shed the offices/labs for a residential-only project called East 90th Street Apartments.

The Mews On East 90th Street vision remains heavy on residential with a first-phase structure that is taller and more massive than those that still stand in the area. That brought some pushback from the neighborhood design review committee which tabled consideration of Inspirion's preliminary design last summer, saying the project dwarfed its surroundings.

Nautica Waterfront development (AoDK).

NAUTICA WATERFRONT -- A massive, multi-structure, mixed-use development was proposed on 22 acres of Flats West Bank land -- 5.6 acres of which now is for sale. The property has attracted interest from developers, including CASTO who has since walked away from buying land here.

But developing the Nautica Waterfront and a nearby property that's for sale at 1250 Riverbed St. may first require construction of a large parking deck costing more than $20 million. Parking decks usually don't make money so finding some public subsidy like the TMUD tax credit for the garage will likely be needed.

One nuCLEus Place (Bialosky).

NUCLEUS -- This is the project that got the ball rolling on creating the TMUD tax credit. Stark Enterprises tried other public financing ideas that failed to gain traction among the City of Cleveland as well as the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Stark's persistence is noteworthy. NuCLEus has been planned since 2014 and the TMUD tax credit proposal was drawn up nearly four years ago. It has worked its way through Ohio's General Assembly twice and could finally be weeks away from becoming law. But as we see here, nuCLEus could face some tough competition in winning a tax credit.

Ohio City Transit Oriented Development site (Google).

OHIO CITY TOD -- The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) will partner with MRN Ltd. to develop land next to and possibly above its Ohio City Red Line station as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD). GCRTA went with second-choice MRN after its first choice, Carnegie Management & Development, withdrew from the project.

While it is too early to say what form the development could take, if it is truly a TOD, more density and mixed use need to be added to the medium-density station area to produce meaningful ridership and revenue to RTA. For its part, RTA could use the revenue to update the aging station. It was GCRTA's first rail stop to be replaced with an ADA-compliant facility 30 years ago.

Richman Brothers building (LoopNet).

RICHMAN BROTHERS -- One of the largest vacant buildings, if not the largest on the east side of Cleveland is the old Richman Brothers warehouse and factory, 1600 E. 55th St. Several efforts to develop the massive structure have failed due to its scale, high cost and low rents in the surrounding neighborhood.

But redeveloping it with the right mix of uses would almost certainly transform the neighborhood. The building is for sale and could attract serious developers if there were more public subsidies available to projects of this scale.

Rockefeller Building (KJP).

ROCKEFELLER BUILDING -- Plans are moving forward to redevelop with mixed uses the 17-story, 115-year-old building at 614 W. Superior Ave. built by Cleveland native and Standard Oil Co. founder John D. Rockefeller.

Realty Dynamics Equity Partners and Wolfe Investments will redevelop the 261,264-square-foot building with 436 apartments including 273 micro units, plus ground-floor retail/restaurants. The 43,617-square-foot, 95-year-old garage behind is being split off as a separate, future project. Development of 1.1 acres of adjacent surface parking lots is also possible for the future.

Scranton Peninsula land for sale October 2020 (CBRE).

SCRANTON PENINSULA -- Although development of Scranton Peninsula, just across the Cuyahoga River from the Tower City complex, has stalled, it could be reinvigorated with a TMUD tax credit. Sherwin-Williams tried to build its new research facility here but reportedly couldn't get property owner Scranton-Averell Inc. to be responsive to its overtures.

Great Lakes Brewing Co. remains interested in developing on the peninsula as part of the Thunderbird master development plan but NRP Group has walked away from building 330 residential units here. Several parcels remain for sale. They could gain more interest if the TMUD tax credit was available.

Silverpoint conceptual plan (HSB).

SILVERPOINT -- Cannata Companies plans a 1-million-square-foot, mixed-use development called Silverpoint on 14.5 acres in Warrensville Heights, next to Interstate 271. Cannata acquired the land from Little Sisters of the Poor for $2.2 million and secured a $1 million county loan to remediate the site's environmental conditions.

Proposed are structures rising from four to 11 stories high for apartments, hotel, offices and ground-floor retail/restaurants. The project is estimated to have a construction price tag of $87 million, according to Cannata.

Tower City Riverview conceptual plan (Vocon).

TOWER CITY RIVERVIEW/CITYBLOCK -- Bedrock Real Estate Services' planned remake of The Avenue shopping mall at Tower City Center into a 350,000-square-foot entrepreneurship hub could add residential and office development on the Riverview phase overlooking the Cuyahoga River.

Bedrock will reportedly pursue the new Justice Center courthouse complex while the jail will likely move out of downtown. The courthouse will probably stay downtown and measure anywhere from 877,000 to 1.1 million square feet of usable space.

Van Aken District in Shaker Heights showing future/second-
 phase elements -- residential and office buildings (RMS).

VAN AKEN DISTRICT PHASE 2 -- RMS Corp. completed its first phase of the Van Aken District in early 2019, by quickly leasing 90 percent of its office, residential and retail components. Now, RMS is looking to develop the second phase which could continue to remake the area from a suburban strip shopping plaza in Shaker Heights' downtown. That could mean going vertical.

Two sources said RMS is considering building a 15-story residential building north of Farnsleigh Road plus a large office building with ground-floor retail/restaurants at the northwest corner of Chagrin Boulevard and Warrensville Center Road. The 15-story residential building would allow the development to meet TMUD status.

The Viaduct city-approved design (Dimit).

THE VIADUCT -- A 27-story apartment tower with ground-floor retail proposed to rise at 2208 Superior Viaduct was approved by City Planning Commission last summer. But there are rumors that United Community Developers is having difficulty securing financing for the skyscraper. A TMUD tax credit could give the project more credibility.

The developer, having no experience in developing major projects, is attempting to secure a loan from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. It has an experienced general contractor in Geis Companies, but Geis has never built a skyscraper from the ground up. So it has joined with Osborne Group to assist it.

Westinghouse Corp. plant (LoopNet).

WESTINGHOUSE PLANT -- Redevelopment of the 303,000-square-foot vacant manufacturing complex at 1200 W. 58th St. has proven elusive to more than one prospective developer. Parts of the complex date to the 1800s and require significant environmental clean-up.

While conversion of the eight-story structure into apartments is a no-brainer, developers have been stymied with what to do with several low-level structures that may need to be at least partially demolished. That makes site preparation expensive before any development occurs. The scale of any protential development here would have to be significant to offset the site-prep costs.

Wolstein Center, Cleveland State University (DCA).

WOLSTEIN CENTER REDEVELOPMENT -- Two sources say that an unidentified developer seeks to build a large, mixed-use development on a 9.3-acre parcel now occupied by the three-decade-old Wolstein Center arena. The large arena is owned by Cleveland State University but needs a smaller facility. The developer's interest is reportedly why CSU is purusing a campus-wide master plan.

The master plan will "assess athletic and resident facilities and make recommendations for growth including a focus on the Wolstein Center Arena." Given the size of the arena property, it is possible that its redevelopment could be a candidate for a TMUD tax credit.

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Not all of the above projects will get built but some will. More are likely if the TMUD tax credit is available to them. If Greater Cleveland gets its share of TMUD tax credits merely based on population, it should get about 20 percent or $32 million. If all of the above projects apply for and receive tax credits, that would be an average of $1.28 million per project.

Some projects might need as little as that to push them across the finish line. But other projects including the one that started it all (nuCLEus) will likely need much more than that. There will be some projects that get left out of the competition entirely.

But suffice it to say, if the TMUD credit becomes law, there's probably going to be some transformative real estate projects in Greater Cleveland in the coming years.

EN

More Bridgeworks planning details released

Additional details about the Bridgeworks development in
the Hingetown section of Cleveland's Ohio City neighbor-
hood were released in recent days. The new details include
more images, identification of zoning variances needed, and
progress in securing an operator for the hotel (MASS/LDA).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

At the end of last week, more planning materials for the new Bridgeworks development in Ohio City's Hingetown section were submitted to Cleveland's Building Department and City Planning Commission. The submitted plans, albeit still preliminary, show further refinements to massings, floor plans, ground-floor elevations, materials usage and more.

Those details were added to the initial submission to the city, provided two weeks ago. Among all Northeast Ohio media, NEOtrans provided the first glimpses into those plans, along with information provided by sources close to the project. 

Bridgeworks is proposed to be a 233,000-square-foot, mixed-use development consisting of an 11-story apartment building with 167-170 mixed-income units, a seven-story hotel with 130 rooms, 2,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space and a 180-space parking garage, mostly below ground, plans show.

A southerly looking view of the Bridgeworks project. This is
a massing image to show the scale of the project rather than
provide details about the proposed design (MASS/LDA).

The project is planned to be built on about 2 acres of land that was used by the Cuyahoga County Engineers for offices, labs and a garage at the northeast corner of the intersection of West 25th Street and the Detroit-Superior Bridge. Bridgworks LLC, a partnership of Grammar Properties and M. Panzica Development, has an agreement with the county to acquire the land.

On Nov. 20, and as a matter of routine, Cleveland Zoning Administrator Richard M. Riccardi denied a building permit for Bridgeworks, citing its non-compliance with the city's outdated zoning and building codes. The non-compliance was due to the buildings' setbacks of more than 30 feet in some places exceeded the code's requirement of 6-8 feet on secondary and primary streets.

Also, the proposed development would have 63 percent of street frontage buildout where 80 percent is required by the building code. Frontage buildout on side streets of 100 percent is required, whereas Bridgeworks would have less than that. Also, the project's plans would have to go before Landmarks Commission for review and approval before a building permit could be issues, Riccardi ruled.

Looking generally east down Superior Viaduct from West 25th
Street with St. Malachi church at left, Bridgeworks in the center
 and right, and Superior Viaduct in between them (MASS/LDA).

The denial is a matter of routine for these and other developers to identify next steps in the development process, said Tom McNair, executive director of Ohio City Inc., a community development corporation.

"They want to get their hands around what variances might be required," McNair said. 

Representatives of the project's principals, Grammar Properties and M. Panzica Development, privately said they expected the application would be denied. But they had to submit it to learn from the city what zoning variances they might need before resubmitting the application.

A view from Superior Viaduct looking southwesterly
at the pedestrian entrance to the hotel (MASS/LDA).

On Nov. 12, a request for qualifications (RFQ) was issued by Newmark Valuation & Advisory for the hotel portion of Bridgeworks. Proposed is a branded lifestyle hotel. The deadline for prospective hotel operators to respond is Nov. 30.

"This RFQ is the pre-qualification stage of the procurement process. Only those applicants who successfully respond to the RFQ and meet the qualification criteria will be included in the subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP) solicitation process. Submissions will be reviewed and forwarded to the development firm. A copy the feasibility study will be provided to those firms deemed most qualified," the RFQ's introduction reads.

According to two sources close to the project who spoke off the record, the project's developers are reportedly hoping to start construction in the second quarter of 2021. Construction could take 18-24 months.

Heights of existing and proposed buildings, as well as what
maximum building heights are allowed in the area surround-
ing the Bridgeworks development (MASS/LDA).

Shortly after NEOtrans first reported on Bridgeworks earlier this month, the article was updated with more information about potential traffic impacts from this significant development. Scott Aylesworth, president of the Waterfront District Block Club, anticipated that the resulting impacts would be minor if two-way traffic on Washington Avenue was restored.

"The issue truly is Washington Avenue," he said. "The short one-way section next to St. Malachi has caused untold issues. I think that since the (proposed Bridgeworks) tower is mostly residential, the impact on traffic congestion will be nominal. If they can restore the two-way traffic (on Washington) and adjust the light timing, there should be no problems."

An historic designation was awarded for the Cuyahoga County Engineers' buildings in September that would make their renovation eligible for historic tax credits. But the amount of those credits is likely to be too small to make a significant contribution to the developers' capital stack, the sources said.

A preliminary ground floor site plan for the Bridgeworks
development. Additional plans for upper floors are
posted following this article (MASS/LDA).

The developers will retain the historic buildings because they will reduce construction costs. Also reducing construction costs is the desire to leave undeveloped an 11,100-square-foot plot of land at the eastern end of the Bridgeworks site. That piece of land may remain undeveloped as a public greenspace or it could be developed someday, the sources said.

The last NEOtrans article on Bridgeworks had only two available graphics of the proposed development -- one a birdseye massing and the other a basic site plan. The additional graphics now available, albeit still in the early stage and therefore subject to revision, are bringing the proposed project into a sharper focus.

But for more textual information on the Bridgeworks project, see the NEOtrans article published earlier this month. NEOtrans will certainly be following this project as it develops further. And be sure to click on the photos in this article to enlarge them and see more details.

Tyler Kapusta contributed to this article.

Preliminary plans for the possible use of materials in the
Bridgeworks development (MASS/LDA).

Second level floor plan (MASS/LDA).

Typical upper level floor plan (MASS/LDA).

Top floor of apartment building (MASS/LDA).

END