Line between Tremont and Ohio City blurs with more investment

Two major construction projects are seen here -- one in Ohio City's
Market Square and the other in Tremont's Duck Island. Separating
them, or perhaps uniting them, is the Red Line rapid transit train
station visible as the red clock tower. The near construction pro-
ject is Waterford Bluffs in Duck Island and the one below the
red construction crane is INTRO in Market Square (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

More new development projects are coming to the northwest corner of Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, called Duck Island. And they are coming to the east-central flank of Ohio City, called Market Square. The presence of so much activity here is starting to blur the line between the two neighborhoods.

For decades, it was pretty easy to visualize where one neighborhood ended and the other began by finding the void of buildings and city life. The only activity at that void were the riders using the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's (GCRTA) Ohio City Red Line rail station. That rail line and its trench, recently augmented by the Red Line Greenway, is the actual line of demarcation between the two jurisdictions.

But numerous developments are popping up that are causing that line to blur and perhaps even disappear. Those projects include Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors' INTRO at West 25th Street and Lorain, Stoneleigh Companies' Waterford Bluffs at West 20th Street and Lorain, Mavrek Development's Treo on West 25th south of Train Avenue and MRN Ltd.'s planned conversion of the Voss Factory, 2168 W. 25th, into apartments.

A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held June 3 for Mavrek
Development's Treo, a seven-story building with 170 market-rate
apartments, now rising at 2461 W. 25th St in Tremont (KJP).

Interestingly, the first three projects are led by Chicago-based developers, although some of their principals have Cleveland roots. But the Cleveland-based firm, MRN Ltd. is working out a deal with GCRTA to develop either next to and/or possibly above the Red Line tracks which would further unite Tremont's Duck Island and Ohio City's Market Square.

The plan, according to GCRTA sources, is for the developer and GCRTA to form a joint development company just as the transit agency and Westlake-based Carnegie Management & Development Corp. attempted before Carnegie walked away. Both GCRTA and MRN might share in the revenues from whatever development results.

GCRTA would reportedly like to use its share of the revenues to leverage federal dollars to update the 30-year-old rail station and possibly add a second or even third station entrance. Depending on what resources it can leverage, it might also consider a pedestrian underpass below Lorain to reach the West Side Market, sources told NEOtrans off the record.

Just east of the station, development along and north of Abbey Road may also further blur the lines between Ohio City and Tremont. Details of those plans came to light this week as a new townhouse development was reviewed by the city. But more development could follow.

Fifteen luxury townhomes are planned along West 20th Street just
south of Lorain Avenue in Tremont's Duck Island (Horton Harper).

The Near West Design Review Committee, part of Cleveland's City Planning Commission, gave conditional approval today of a 15-unit townhome project in Tremont's Duck Island enclave. Called W20th & Smith, the high-end development would replace five modest, late-19th century homes that were purchased in recent years by developer Matt Berges.

Located just south of Lorain Avenue along and east and West 20th Street, the new townhomes will list for sale starting in the low $500,000 range, said Berges in an e-mail interview. He added that each townhome will have two-car garages, various size interior spaces and "we are expecting a skyline view from the rooftop balconies."

In approving the townhomes, Near West committee members asked for small porches to be added to the fronts of the townhomes facing West 20th. That will require the development plans to go back to Near West for final approval in a few weeks and referral to planning commission. The commission's next meeting will likely be Aug. 6.

Berges has built numerous single-family homes over the years, especially in Tremont, including in multiple-unit developments or as individual, custom-designed homes. Most of his products have a decidedly modern appearance.

Site plan for the W20 & Smith townhomes, shown in dark
gray at the top-center of the image (Horton Harper).

Initially, Berges considered multi-family for W20th & Smith but after getting input from the neighborhood and Tremont West Development Corp., he decided to go with a single-family townhome development, according to neighborhood sources not connected with Berges but who did not wish to be identified.

"Thanks to the 100-plus new residents that have decided to invest and live here over the past 10-plus years" Berges said. "And thanks to the 200-plus existing residents who have put up with the process."

Interestingly, a birds-eye rendering for W20 & Smith shows a multi-family, possibly mixed-use building on a site dubbed the Abbey Block to the south of the townhomes on land Berges owns. But that is not part of any imminent plans, Berges acknowledged.

"We have explored numerous plans for this Abbey Block, but have yet to settle on one," he said. "This is a unique site and opportunity that took a long time to put together. So we are trying to make sure we come up with the best possible plan for it."

The more walkable density that rises where Ohio City and
Tremont meet, the more vibrant and dynamic this area
will hopefully become. One of those projects adding
density is Stoneleigh's Waterford Bluffs on the
north side of Lorain Avenue (Vocon).

He said a part of the Abbey Block property, just south of Smith Court, is leased by Chicago-based Stoneleigh Companies until the end of the year for construction staging for its Waterford Bluffs development. That project is a 241-unit apartment building on the north side of Lorain at West 20th that NEOtrans broke the news about in March 2020. The Abbey Block may not be part of Berges' plans after the lease expires, however.

"After that we may sell the entire project to a larger developer, while we stay focused on the many single family homes we have to build," he said.

The neighborhood sources NEOtrans spoke with said there is community interest in developing the area along Abbey Road with mixed uses including ground-floor retailers and cafes. The goal is to make it a walkable center of Duck Island for nearby residents to get a cup of coffee, a bite to eat, basic grocery items and be a social setting for the neighborhood.

Some of those types of amenities, albeit on a larger scale for an intersection with a more regional draw, are coming to the Market Square area of Ohio City. More new announcements came this week about those amenities.

A new café called Leaps & Bounds, to be owned by INTRO's
developer Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, will occupy the
development's highest-profile corner, that of Lorain Avenue
and West 25th Street in Cleveland (Bialosky).

A café to be owned by INTRO's developer will take the most prominent space in the still-building $145 million project in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. The café, to be called Leaps & Bounds, will fill out a 3,328-square-foot ground-floor space at the corner of Lorain Avenue and West 25th Street, across from the West Side Market.

Dan Whalen, vice president of design and development at Chicago-based Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, confirmed the café's occupancy in the nine-story-tall mixed-use development. He also confirmed that Harbor Bay will own Leaps & Bounds. But he wasn't ready to say much else about it at this time.

"We're not ready to disclose info on the hospitality side yet," Whalen said this week. "But we have 75 percent of the retail space pre-leased."

Plans for Leaps & Bounds were submitted to the city July 9 and show dining, market and kitchen facilities representing an investment of about $700,000. This follows other INTRO tenants coming to the fore.

This is the ground-floor space that Leaps & Bounds will occupy
in the new INTRO development, at the busy intersection of
Lorain Avenue and West 25th Street in the Market Square
section of Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood (KJP).

Those include Truss Cleveland a top-floor, 12,000-square-foot event center. It will have five spaces including a 6,000-square-foot main event hall, a 4,000-square-foot rooftop terrace, plus a 500-square-foot wedding suite with make-up vanities and private bath.

There will also be a two-story ground-level restaurant, as yet unidentified, but with a wood theme facing Lorain near the Ohio City Red Line rail station. A Bank of America branch and possibly a drug store are also coming to INTRO. Construction is due to be completed in Spring 2022.

INTRO is the first phase of Harbor Bay's Market Square development. It is currently the tallest mass-timber building in the USA. It will have 290 market-rate apartments over 36,000 square feet of retail and 550 underground parking spaces.

Depending on the progress of residential leasing that's about to get underway for the first phase, a future phase could add a 15- to 17-story residential tower just south of the existing development, according to real estate sources who spoke off the record.

END

Amazon to be first tenant at Brook Park's ex-Ford site

Greater Cleveland's next Amazon distribution center will be the first
phase of a sprawling industrial park that will rise on the site of two
shuttered Ford auto plants in suburban Brook Park (Clay Corp.).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Northeast Ohio's transition away from an economy of heavy industries continues as the first tenant is revealed for the former Ford Motor Co. engine and casting plants in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. That tenant, according to two sources familiar with the redevelopment, is e-commerce giant Amazon.

The 210-acre Ford Motor Brook Park Target Industrial-Advanced Manufacturing Campus, as the city calls it, will involve a multi-phase redevelopment of the 1.7-million-square-foot Ford Engine Plant No. 2 and its neighboring Cleveland Casting Plant site.

In their place will be millions of square feet of warehousing, logistics/shipping and light-industrial facilities representing a half-billion-dollar investment to serve what, so far, has been an insatiable market.

Once Ford's remaining buildings on the site (not including the still-active Engine Plant No. 1) are cleared away, new road, sewer and utility infrastructure will be built. Then, multiple new buildings will be constructed to serve big-name tenants offering thousands of jobs. Amazon represents only the first phase, the sources said.

The 210-acre Ford Motor Brook Park Target Industrial-Advanced
Manufacturing Campus is anticipated to add millions of square
 feet of new industrial and distribution facilities employing
 thousands of workers (Google/KJP).

Developing the site is a partnership of Weston, Inc. of Warrensville Heights, the DiGeronimo Cos. of Independence and Scannell Properties of Indianapolis, IN. They created a joint venture called DROF BP I LLC (spells "Ford" backwards and "BP" referring to Brook Park) which purchased the 210 acres of land in April for $31.5 million, according to county records.

All three partners have experience in developing Amazon delivery stations and other distribution centers for other clients. In Northeast Ohio, Weston built a 168,750-square-foot speculative building in 2019 at 10801 Madison Ave. in Cleveland. NEOtrans was first to report Amazon would retrofit and lease the building from Weston. DiGeronimo Companies' Independence Construction was the building contractor.

In 2015, Scannell and DiGeronimo joined forces in redeveloping the Twinsburg Chrysler Stamping Plant that closed in 2010 into the Cornerstone Business Park. Among the buildings constructed was a 248,000-square-foot Amazon distribution center representing an investment of $17 million.

When Brook Park's two Ford plants closed in 2007 and 2012, nearly 3,000 well-paid union workers and others lost their jobs. The casting plant was demolished in 2013. Its neighbor at 18300 Snow Rd. will soon follow, said Brook Park Mayor Michael D. Gammella in his Summer 2021 newsletter to Brook Park residents.

Interior of an Amazon distribution center which is highly auto-
mated. But most centers employ hundreds if not thousands of
workers inside the facility and in trucks and vans outside
each Amazon distribution facility (Clay Corp.).

"Shortly you will see demolition crews leveling the old engine plant and aluminum foundry," he wrote. "In its place will be a new building for a major corporation. Other new buildings will follow with even more new companies. This mega project will bring thousands of new jobs into our city. It is the beginning of a new era and there is more to come."

"The project will absolutely be transformational to the region," said TJ Asher, president of Weston's Acquisitions and Development in a written statement. "We're looking forward to tapping into the potential this property offers and developing a unique commercial area with the potential for significant job creation and economic impact for Northeast Ohio."

Asher called it a once-in-a-generation redevelopment project due to its scale and location. It is next to Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Interstates 71 and 480, busy mainline railroads of Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation, and is within a 20-minute walk of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's Red Line rail transit station on Brookpark Road.

The project will respond to strong market demand. Real estate firm Newmark recently reported that Greater Cleveland's industrial market achieved a new low 4.5 percent vacancy rate in first-quarter 2021 with 2.9 million square feet under construction. In the region's southwest submarket, that vacancy rate was even lower -- a mere 3 percent.

END

Millennia submits Centennial plans, seeks building permits

Built nearly 100 years ago, The Centennial was the
second-largest office building in the USA. Today, it's
the subject of detailed plans submitted to the city,
an important step toward redeveloping this grand
old dame as a city-within-a-city (Sandvick).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED JULY 10, 2021

Earlier this week, detailed design documents were submitted to the city as an important first step to securing construction permits for one of Cleveland's largest-ever historic renovation projects.

The Centennial would convert a nearly 1.4-million-square-foot office building at 925 Euclid Ave. in downtown Cleveland into a what amounts to a self-contained town. It's a 21-story, 257-foot-tall town where more than 1,000 people would call home and many hundreds more would work, dine and shop each day.

Submission of the plans by Sandvick Architects on behalf of developer Millennia Companies was intended to trigger a zoning review by the city's building department. The zoning review is an important step toward gaining building permits to start renovation work. A spokesperson for the developer said it's also another sign of the project moving forward.

"The application is an indication of progress – while moving forward, the timeline is not firm," cautioned Valerie Jerome, director of marketing and communications at Cleveland-based Millennia.

The Centennial's widest side is along Chester Avenue. There,
the 21-story, 1,390,824-square-foot building has a com-
manding 513 feet of street frontage (Sandvick).

Earlier this year, it was hoped that financing for the $500+ million project would close in the third quarter. The Centennial's capital stack is a complicated one and heavily dependent on tax credits from multiple sources.

The resources will likely include non-competitive federal historic tax credits, a $25 million catalytic historic tax credit from the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program, as well as Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency so all of the apartments could be offered as workforce housing. Milennia officials also confirmed they will seek a tax credit from the state's new Transformational Mixed-Use Development (TMUD) program.

The financing may close in the fourth quarter of this year, Jerome said in an e-mail response to questions posed by NEOtrans. In a phone interview, Tom Mignogna, Millennia's project manager on The Centennial, said the project will be pursued in one phase.

"It doesn't make sense to do half the building and then go back to do the other half, or pay twice for things like closing fees and attorneys fees," Mignogna said. "We want to do the whole thing all at once over a 36-month time period. We're getting incredible support from the city, county, state and federal governments. We also feel confident in our project receiving the maximum award from TMUD."

Ground-floor plan for The Centennial. That is actually the base-
ment if a visitor enters from the Euclid Avenue side of the
building. But if someone enters from the Chester Avenue
side, the ground floor is only a few steps down from the
Chester Avenue side of the huge structure (Sandvick).

While the Ohio Tax Credit Authority hasn't issued its guidance for accepting TMUD applications, the law that created the TMUD program limits the largest award to any single project at $40 million. If The Centennial gets that, it would turn around and sell the tax credit for 90 cents on the dollar, bringing $36 million to the project.

Mignogna also said the state has committed a $5 million brownfield loan, there's a $5 million loan from Cuyahoga County and a $15 million loan from the City of Cleveland. However, he would not discuss any financing that is from non-public sector sources.

Millennia has hired a joint venture of Marous Brothers and Gilbane Inc. as its general contractor for the project. Barber & Hoffman Inc. is the structural engineer. Denk Associates Inc. is the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer. Riverstone is the project's civil engineer.

Submitted documents show the building will continue to be mixed use with retail and assembly uses but the predominate use will shift from office to residential. While there will be 62,022 square feet of offices in the building, nearly 1,000 people could soon call the 1924-built headquarters of the Union Trust Bank "home sweet home."

Click here to take a virtual tour of the building.

"The existing building does not create a detrimental impact on neighboring properties in regards to height or density," wrote Sandvick Architects in its application to the city. "The proposed use is less intense than the former use."

The first-floor plan for The Centennial. This is a few steps up
from the Chester side but is level with the Euclid entrance.
This image also shows retail spaces along East 9th Street
which extend down into the ground floor (Sandvick).

Millennia, one of the nation's largest owners of affordable housing units, is pursuing entirely affordable housing in The Centennial. According to plans submitted to the city, 868 apartments with more than 1,000 bedrooms are proposed. They would range in size from 576 to 1,551 square feet.

"We think that market-rate housing downtown has reached a bubble," Mignogna said. "But affordable housing downtown has a lot of room left to run. We want to focus only on affordable."

Also proposed are sensory-friendly apartments for residents with autism and accessible apartments for those with physical disabilities. The units will have rents priced for prospective residents who earn 50-80 percent of the area's median income (AMI). Eighty percent of AMI for a family of four is $60,800, for example.

On the ground floor (as entered from Chester Avenue) as well as on the first floor (as entered from the higher-elevation Euclid Avenue), 21,978 square feet of retail is planned. Office spaces for several hundred workers are set on the first through third floors, primarily around the perimeter of a four-story-tall, L-shaped bank lobby that, when built, was the largest bank lobby in the world. It was also the second-largest office building in the USA, trailing only Chicago's Merchandise Mart.

"The lobby has Corinthian columns, vaulted ceilings, skylights, and murals by Jules Guerin, a famous twentieth-century artist noted for the murals he created for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.," historian Jim Dubelko wrote for Cleveland State University's Center For Public History.

Proposed layouts are pretty consistent from the eighth
floor to the 19th floor. These 11 floors were once all
offices but are proposed to be residential (Sandvick).

That lobby will have two new uses, according to Sandvick's plans. The banking hall along Chester Avenue is proposed to have a 16,607-square-foot museum, not including support offices. That museum is proposed to be called the Cleveland Exposition Center. It may feature items such as historic cars and aircraft from the Western Reserve Historical Society.

A 6,421-square-foot common area will connect the Chester banking hall to the shorter but equally glamorous banking hall along East 9th. The latter hall will become a 7,411-square-foot restaurant including two private dining rooms.

Look for that space to be filled by a new restaurant called the Century Club, to be created by Millennia founder and CEO Frank Sinito along with his wife Malisse. They have started and continue to operate several high-end restaurants in Greater Cleveland. They include LockKeepers in Valley View and the Marble Room in downtown Cleveland. The latter is located in another Gilded Age bank lobby, that of the former National City Bank.

Click here, then select "Record Info" and then "Attachments" to view detailed plans for The Centennial.

In those plans, the offices shown on the fourth floor were since changed to be residential because of the pandemic and its impacts on the office market. Mignogna said the project can succeed even if the office leasing is virtually non-existent.

The East 9th banking hall is the smaller of the two former bank
lobbies. It is proposed to be the Century Club, a new offering
by Frank and Malisse Sinito who, among their other fine-
dining establishments, turned the National City Bank
lobby into the Marble Room restaurant (Sandvick).

On the 21st or top usable floor are a mix of proposed uses. There are a pair of three-bedroom, penthouse apartments but still would be priced as workforce housing. One would measure 1,383 square feet and another 1,551 square feet. There are several unassigned spaces on the 21st floor totaling 8,120 square feet plus an unoccupied 2,056-square-foot space.

"We have an idea for them but don't want to release it yet," Mignogna said.

But the notable feature on the 21st floor is a 5,032-square-foot indoor event space with kitchen plus private meeting rooms and a library. It was originally the Mid-Day Club from 1924 to 1990, then Sammy's Metropolitan Ballroom, then the Metro Club. Plans show the assembly room would open up to an outdoor event space on the roof.

Additional building amenities are proposed to include a fitness center, lounge, bike storage, laundry room, community room, on-site management offices, mail room and parcel/locker room and wine cellar. Every residential unit is proposed to have a storage locker. All of the storage lockers would be on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, mixed in with other uses.

The ground floor retail spaces include reusing a former arcade where Rickey C. Tanno Jewelers was located from 1949 to 2018. It was the last retail tenant to leave the building. 

Plans also show the 5,255-square-foot former bank vault on the ground floor hasn't found a proposed new use yet but could also be coordinated with the Century Club, Mignogna said. Another feature of the ground floor is that it will continue to be connected by a spacious, brightly lit pedestrian tunnel below Chester to a 1,100-space parking garage.

END

SHW skyscraper's crown soars, street-level bores

This is the most detailed image of what Sherwin-Williams' new
headquarters complex will likely look like, based on official
massings and input from the HQ design team to NEOtrans'
graphic artist. This unofficial rendering shows the HQ
tower's unique crown that's planned (Ian McDaniel).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

While City Planning Commission members review months-old massings of the planned Sherwin-Williams headquarters delivered to them only last week, you're getting the first look at more detailed images of what the new HQ will reportedly look like.

SHW's design team is comprised of hundreds of people from among lead architect Pickard Chilton, HQ interior architect Vocon Partners LLC, and base building architect HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC. They are all guided by a group of SHW executives called the Building Our Future Committee (BOF).

As the city is poring over the conceptual-level massings prior to the City Planning Commission's July 20 meeting, SHW has already moved into composing schematic-level designs. Those are more detailed drawings that the commission isn't going to see until Aug. 31.

Schematic plans aren't usually drawn until after conceptual plans are approved by a planning commission. Otherwise, the schematic plans would have to be redrawn or at least refined. But SHW's design team doesn't expect many surprises as it has been in regular contact with the city's planning department throughout.

As seen from the east side of Public Square, SHW's nearly 50-
foot-tall learning pavilion is shown in front of the 600-foot-tall
headquarters HQ tower in this unofficial view (Ian McDaniel).

On the other hand, planning department staff are city employees who guide project plans. They don't decide whether the projects will get the green light to apply for building permits. That's the job of volunteers who serve on the planning commission.

These latest images shared by NEOtrans show the SHW tower at West 3rd Street and and Superior Avenue topping out at just over 600 feet tall. The height was decided by the BOF Committee last month but not yet communicated to the planning commission.

Also decided by BOF but not yet seen by planning commission is how to top-out the skyscraper. It will not look like any other skyscraper in downtown Cleveland. In fact, there aren't any towers that we at NEOtrans are aware of which have this unique set of rooflines. In some respects, it's a slice of how multiple sawtooth rooflines appeared atop some area factories.

A word of caution -- some of the graphics shared here are not official. While some of the graphics themselves do not come from sources on SHW's HQ design team, word descriptions used to sketch these massings did come from the design team. It is our understanding that these are the most detailed and accurate we have posted so far as we have gathered more information.

Official master plan for SHW's global HQ in downtown Cleveland.
The existing 987 surface parking spaces will be replaced with
about 1,200 spaces in lots and decks on SHW's property
for up to 3,500 SHW employees. Existing parking,
public transit, biking and walking will pro-
vide the remaining HQ access (SHW).

The massings posted here also show the true height of the learning pavilion on Public Square. It will accommodate SHW's conference center for training purposes and the Center of Excellence's historical displays for new recruits and VIPs. Although it will be only two stories tall, the pavilion will rise nearly 50 feet above Public Square, sources said.

Earlier concepts for the pavilion on Public Square had it rising three stories tall but the third floor wasn't deemed necessary. Also removed from the pavilion's plan was a rooftop patio for employees. The two terraces planned in the lower mid-section of the HQ tower will provide the HQ outdoor, social setting for executives to sip their after-work martinis or to host other social gatherings. One terrace will face Public Square and the other will face westerly into the setting sun. 

NEOtrans has also reported for months that the SHW HQ would have two skywalks extending from the HQ tower. One would be above West 3rd to the Public Square pavilion and the other above Frankfort Avenue to the new parking deck.

City planning department officials pushed back on the skywalks, sources said. But when the City Planning Commission, City Council and the mayor’s committee on streetscapes and infrastructure recently allowed two skywalks into JACK Entertainment's casino (only one of which was built so far), its case for objecting to one or both of SHW's skywalks was weakened.

SHW's long range plan for its HQ campus in downtown Cleveland
offers about 2.8 acres of land for SHW expansion as well as for
supportive development along West 6th Street and St. Clair
Avenue. But the parking garage and a vacated Frankfort
Avenue will be largely a dead zone with few active
uses like restaurants or retail along it (SHW).

SHW has also reportedly made the case that the skywalk over West 3rd won't take much pedestrian activity off downtown streets. In fact, most users of the pavilion will walk on city sidewalks to reach it.

They will primarily be out-of-town SHW vice presidents, salespeople, information technology, human resources and other on-the-job development trainees walking from downtown hotels to attend one-day or multi-day training sessions at the pavilion. No hotels will be connected to the pavilion unless one is built someday on land being held for future expansion of the HQ or other development along West 6th Street and St. Clair Avenue.

Currently, training is done at locations in the southwest suburbs and University Circle. Moving it downtown means more pedestrian activity around the new HQ and its Public Square pavilion. And for those visiting the existing HQ from out of town, many currently stay at two hotels -- the Ritz Carlton and the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. From both of those, they can visit the existing HQ without ever setting foot on a downtown sidewalk. At the new HQ, they will have to step outside.

Instead, the skywalk over West 3rd is for board members and C-suite-level executives to attend board meetings and other high-level confabs at the pavilion. They will be able to do so without having to put on their coats and boots just to cross the street. Yes, it's an executive privilege, but SHW is paying for it.

City Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 2 to vacate
Frankfort Avenue between West 3rd and West 6th streets. If
City Council concurs, SHW will avoid further debate over
whether it must provide active uses along the Frankfort
side of the parking deck it proposes to build (CPC).

For those who want downtown buildings to have a street presence and create pedestrianism, the greater concern exists with the proposed parking garage and SHW's proposed treatment of Frankfort.

First, design team sources say the parking garage will have only one small commercial space available for lease. It will be the only publicly accessible space in the entire HQ complex. Proposed to be on the West 3rd side of the deck, it would measure only 2,000 square feet of floor space, although presumably it could be subdivided into more than one storefront.

Unfortunately, the active use proposed along the West 3rd side of the parking garage is at the bare minimum of what is required under the city's building code. An active use is considered to be a store, restaurant, café, business, hotel or similar.

The code requires a liner building to be constructed along the street frontage of a parking garage. That liner building must be at least equal to the width of the parking structure it screens, minus all permitted vehicular access points. Active uses in the liner building are required along 70 percent of the building's frontage. The depth of the liner building from the sidewalk must be no less than 15 feet, per city code.

As NEOtrans reported last month, the new SHW tower will be
Cleveland's fourth-tallest tower as it will top out at just over
600 feet above Superior Avenue (Ian McDaniel).

If the 2,000 square feet of floor space in the liner building doesn't change prior to its Aug. 31 submittal, SHW's design team did the absolute minimum required. The West 3rd frontage of the parking structure, minus its vehicular exit, is about 190 feet. And 70 percent of that is 133.33 feet. Multiply 133.33 feet times the 15 foot depth and you get 2,000 square feet.

Design team sources said no additional floors are proposed as part of the liner building. Above the first floor will simply be additional screening -- a false front for the parking garage to make it look like a real building and not a parking deck.

Second, not even a false front was proposed for Frankfort, a street SHW is asking the city to vacate. Vacating a public right of way causes it to be absorbed by adjoining parcels. The parcels adjoining Frankfort are owned by SHW.

SHW considers Frankfort to be an alley. City planners consider it to be a street. If it is a street, then SHW must provide a liner building with actives uses along Frankfort's frontage, minus its proposed vehicular entrance at the west end of the deck. If it is an alley, SHW doesn't have to provide active uses or even a liner building. By vacating Frankfort, that debate is moot.

As seen from the city's east side (above) and west side (below),
it is pretty evident that SHW's new HQ tower will be Cleveland's
fourth-tallest skyscraper and be a significant new presence in the
downtown skyline for decades to come (both by Ian McDaniel).

So instead of narrow Frankfort becoming a street full of life similar to East Fourth, lined with shops and restaurants primarily for pedestrians, it risks becoming a lifeless chute for cars and service vehicles like Walnut Street east of East 9th Street.

Vacating Frankfort was unanimously approved by City Planning Commission July 2. Cleveland City Council approval also is required; its next meeting is July 14. Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack, who represents downtown, reportedly supports the vacation of Frankfort. Council as a whole seldom goes against the wishes of a council member when it comes to matters involving their own ward.

Conceptual plans may be approved by planning commission without significant changes July 20. More detailed schematic plans will be submitted to the commission Aug. 31 for approval on Sept. 14. According to SHW's timetable, final designs will be given to commission Nov. 16 with the expectation that its members will approve them Nov. 30.

Considering that SHW's design team is anticipating the city's next steps, as evidenced by SHW already working on schematic designs, look for SHW to be ready to move quickly on getting shovels in the ground shortly after getting the city's final go-ahead at the end of November.

END

Seeds & Sprouts XVII - Cavs team shop to get facelift, Minute Men HQ & EDEN townhomes

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

The Cleveland Cavaliers team shop in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
in October 2010, shortly after it was completely renovated. It is
about to be renovated again with a fresh new look prior to
the 2022 NBA All-Start Game (OnyxCreative).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Cleveland Cavaliers team shop to get facelift

With the National Basketball Association's All-Star Game coming to Cleveland Feb. 20, 2022, work is about to get underway on giving a fresh new look to the Cleveland Cavaliers team shop at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in downtown Cleveland.

Permit applications were submitted to the city last week by Van Auken Akins Architects, LLC of Cleveland on behalf of the Cavaliers Operating Company LLC. Initially, this round of work will be for removing all furnishings, lighting and decorative features to create a white box space in which to put an updated retail operation. Estimated cost of the interior demolition work is $40,000, according to the permit.

"We will be submitting a series of applications over the next few months for the Cleveland Cavaliers Team Shop Renovation project," wrote John Kaminski, Van Auken Akins' senior project manager/architect in his application to the city. "This first submission is for demolition work within the space only."

Interior of the Cleveland Cavaliers team shop showing the 2010-
added mezzanine and ceiling-hung scoreboard that is linked
electronically to the main scoreboard (OnyxCreative).

The team shop is on the East 6th Street side of the arena. It wasn't touched by a $185 million renovation of Quicken Loans Arena into the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in 2019. The last time the team shop was renovated was in 2010. That $4 million update included adding a second floor and expanding the shop to nearly 6,000 square feet to ease crowding in the store during games.

Although details of the renovation were not readily available, it is unlikely to be as significant as the last one with the inserted mezzanine. Other work done in 2010 included a new canted exterior glass wall entrance, polished stained concrete floors, plus a ceiling-hung scoreboard electrically interconnected to the arena’s main scoreboard.

The Cavaliers Operating Company hired the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. as its the construction manager. In addition to architect Van Auken Akins, the design consultant is Snarkitecture, Inc. of Long Island City, NY. McHenry & Associates Inc. of Warrensville Heights will be the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer.

Minute Men Staffing proposes to more than double the size of its
existing HQ on Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland's MidTown (AODK).

Minute Men Staffing publicly releases HQ expansion plans

In submitting its headquarters expansion plans to the city, Minute Men Staffing revealed designs for an addition that would more than double the size of its MidTown Cleveland HQ. Minute Men, which provides temporary and long-term staffing to client employers, is located at 3740 Carnegie Ave.

Plans show a glassy, 45,000-square-foot, three-story office building and associated site improvements including a larger parking area. The addition will be connected by a dual-floor, enclosed walkway to Minute Men's 39,000-square-foot HQ which ranges from one to three stories tall.

Minute Men's HQ site was expanded June 8 to 3.5 acres when the staffing firm acquired the Refuge Baptist Church, 3713 Cedar Ave., and its quarter-acre parcel for $170,000, according to county records. The 91-year-old church and fraternal hall, measuring nearly 10,000 square feet, would be demolished to expand parking, site plans show.

The proposed HQ expansion site plan for the 3.5-acre Minute
Men Center's property has Carnegie Avenue to the north or top
of the image and Cedar Avenue at the bottom. The HQ addition
will be constructed on the west side of the property (AODK). 

Although the number of employees working at the HQ is unknown, its square footage suggests it has about 200 employees, not including thousands of temporary workers dispatched from that location. Those numbers could double with the planned expansion having an estimated cost of at least $10 million.

Minute Men has hired AODK Architecture of Lakewood as its project architect, Independence Construction of Independence as its general contractor and Osborne Engineering of Cleveland as its civil engineer, according to documents submitted to the city.  

The fast-growing employment firm, which is expanding nationwide, has annual revenues of more than $300 million. Minute Men was founded in 1968 by Samuel G. Lucarelli who passed away in 2013. His son Jay Lucarelli runs the company today. Their existing HQ was originally built in 1935 as the HQ of the National Dairy Products Corp. (doing business as Sealtest) and expanded by 9,310 square feet in 1997.

Elevations of the four connected townhomes along Madison
Avenue that will be made available for rent to low-income
persons with disabilities (HD+S).

Two townhouse projects planned, east and west

The Emerald Development and Economic Network Inc. (EDEN) has submitted construction permit applications to the city for two supportive townhouse developments. One would be on the city's west side and the other on the east side. Together, the $1.5 million investment represents the first phase of what EDEN hopes will be additional phases of townhomes citywide to provide housing for low-income people with disabilities.

The larger of the two rental developments will be on the west side at 7915-19 Madison Ave., across the street from EDEN's offices, 7812 Madison. The site is in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. Here, five townhomes costing $1.1 million will be built on vacant land owned by EDEN that extends south to Guthrie Avenue, according to documents submitted to the city.

Along Madison will be four connected two-story townhomes. Three of them will have two bedrooms and the fourth will have three bedrooms. A fifth townhome will be a disabled-accessible, one-story structure next to Guthrie. These townhouses will have off-street parking to conform with the city's urban form overlay district zoning.

A five-unit townhouse development on Madison Avenue in
Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood is planned and
due to be joined by a two-unit townhome project on East 162nd
Street in the South Collinwood neighborhood (HD+S).

The two east-side townhomes will be located on vacant, EDEN-owned land at 701 E. 162nd St. One will have two bedrooms and the other three bedrooms. All seven townhomes will range in size from 953 to 1,250 square feet and be available only to residents whose income is 30 percent or less of the Greater Cleveland area's median gross income (AMGI). The exception is the three-bedroom unit that will be available to residents whose income is 60 percent or less of the AMGI.

Both east- and west-side projects will provide durable and energy efficient materials and systems including conformity to Enterprise Green Community standards for rental housing development, according to a summary submitted to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency which provided subsidies to the project.

For 30 years, EDEN has offered many different programs designed to help persons with disabilities and/or coming from homelessness to realize their potential. The nonprofit organization, which is a contract agency of Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, owns and operates 12 permanent supportive housing complexes with 738 units and more than 200 units of scattered-site housing.

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600 feet above the street: Sherwin-Williams sets HQ height

Sherwin-Williams' new global headquarters tower will be a signi-
ficant presence in downtown Cleveland's skyline. At just over
600 feet tall, only SHW's three neighbors on Public Square
will be taller than SHW's HQ (Ian McDaniel).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

An executive-level committee at Sherwin-Williams (SHW) has made a critical decision -- the final height of its new headquarters tower just west of downtown Cleveland's Public Square. According to sources on the HQ design team, the height decided by SHW's Building Our Future Committee is 600 feet.

The tower's height may actually be a few feet over 600, depending on the size of rooftop fixtures and other related structures ordered. The number of floors also approaches 40 stories, but the number isn't easy to specify since there are planned lobby mezzanines and penthouse levels that can be counted or discounted based on preference.

Over the past few months, the SHW HQ design team digitally stretched and manipulated diagrams of the proposed 1-million-square-foot tower. They made floorplates larger or smaller, added or subtracted indents and terraces in the exterior, and altered the roofline in various ways. Each of those myriad of options was presented to the committee for review and elimination until only one was left.

Work crews were doing site preparation work last week in
advance of a winter groundbreaking for the new SHW
HQ that will join Cleveland's three tallest skyscrapers
seen here. From left, they are Key Tower, 200 Public
Square and Terminal Tower. SHW's HQ will be
 slightly shorter than 200 Public Square (KJP).

NEOtrans has asked for a copy of the rendering that was selected but sources are very concerned about being discovered. SHW has threatened to prosecute anyone who leaks information to media and others outside a designated inner circle. So only word descriptions and some briefing documents have been provided so far. NEOtrans is not sharing scans of the briefing documents at the request of sources.

With a final conceptual design selected, the design team will compose detailed blueprints of each floor and the exterior based on that concept and submit them to the city for approval. But it should be noted that the City Planning Commission and Building Department have been directly involved in the HQ's design.

So even though it will still be a month or two before those designs are publicly released, the city's review and approval process should move along very quickly. The city and SHW's design team have been in constant communication so neither is expecting any surprises from each other.

BOK Park Plaza tower in Oklahoma City, also designed by SHW
architect Pickard Chilton, has some similarities to what is envi-
sioned for SHW's HQ. This would be similar to the view look-
ing south on West 3rd Street from Frankfort Avenue. The park-
ing deck is at right, connected to the HQ tower by a skywalk
over an alley like Frankfort. In Oklahoma City, that low-rise
building at left is an auditorium designed by Pickard Chilton
for Devon Energy's HQ. It would be similar to but smaller
than SHW's proposed learning center (Google).

Here is an updated and thorough word description of SHW's new HQ complex:

• The site plan (first revealed here on NEOtrans in January a month before the public release) continues to be divided into four basic parts: HQ office tower, learning center, parking deck and future development sites.
• HQ office tower at 600+ feet tall will have an ultraviolet filter glass curtain wall exterior, square floorplates, and angled roofline similar to that of the twin Atria II or III office buildings in North York, Ontario, in suburban Toronto.
• The office building will have two outdoor terraces (NEOtrans previously reported it would have only one) in the lower mid-section of the the tower, with one terrace overlooking Public Square and the other looking in the opposite, westerly direction.
• The westerly terrace suggests no neighboring tower is anticipated by SHW in the foreseeable future as it would block views from the terrace.
• Ultra-modern, efficient and environmentally benign design of HQ is a goal so that a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification can be sought from the U.S. Green Building Council.
• High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration system to be provided.
• A small café will be on each floor and there will be a larger gym for employees.
• SHW logos atop the tower will face east and west.
• There will be no public uses on the ground floor of the office tower, only a lobby for employees and persons having business with SHW employees.
• So far, the only public uses on SHW-owned properties will be leasable commercial spaces along the West 3rd Street side of the parking deck.
• Frankfort Avenue, between the parking deck and tower, will be a service lane and loading zone for the SHW HQ. The city will vacate Frankfort, making it the property of SHW.
• Overhead walkways from the tower, over Frankfort to the parking deck and over West 3rd Street to the learning center, remain in the plans.
• Roughly 2.8 acres of SHW-owned land held for "future development" along West 6th Street and St. Clair Avenue will be used for trailers, equipment and materials staging during HQ construction. Afterwards it will return to use as surface parking and held for future expansion unless a developer or developers make worthwhile offers to SHW.
• The learning center on Public Square will be two stories tall. It will be comprised of conference and training facilities plus a new Center of Excellence relocated from the existing HQ in the Landmark Office Building, 101 W. Prospect Ave.

One of many mock-ups of SHW's proposed HQ
office interiors set up inside the SHW's existing
HQ building on Prospect Avenue. The biggest
difference here is that the new HQ will have
floor-to-ceiling windows (contributed).

SHW hired Pickard Chilton to be the lead architect for the HQ including the exteriors. Vocon Partners LLC was chosen to design the new HQ's interiors. HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC is the base building architect for the HQ.

At a few feet over 600, SHW's new HQ will overtake Erieview Tower as the fourth tallest building in Cleveland. It will also be the sixth-tallest tower in the state of Ohio. According to WikiPedia, here are the tallest buildings in Ohio (not including antennas):

1. Key Tower, Cleveland -- 947 feet -- 57 stories -- 1991;
2. Terminal Tower, Cleveland -- 771 feet -- 52 stories -- 1930;
3. Great American Tower, Cincinnati -- 665 feet -- 41 stories -- 2011;
4. 200 Public Square, Cleveland -- 658 feet -- 45 stories -- 1985;
5. Rhodes State Office Tower, Columbus -- 629 feet -- 45 stories -- 1973;
6. Sherwin-Williams HQ, Cleveland -- 600+ feet -- 38-40 stories -- 2024.

Every floor in SHW's new HQ tower will have
a café for employees. Plus, there will be work-
stations for every employee, huddle rooms,
video conference booths, call rooms and
other contemporary features (contributed).

Sources on the design team continue to expect shovels will go into the ground this winter for SHW's new $300+ million global HQ complex. However, contractors were already on site last week and will continue to do work over the next few months relocating utilities and doing other site preparation work for the new HQ.

SHW employees this month also began touring mock-ups of potential offices in the new HQ to provide input on conceptual interior designs, lighting, furniture, paint and artwork. After employees tour the mock-ups, located inside the existing HQ, the HQ design team will send out surveys to employees for their feedback.

Some employees at the Breen Technology Center on Canal Road and the Warrensville Technology Center on Warrensville Center Road in Warrensville Heights will relocate to the new HQ. Also relocating will be all employees (about 25) at SHW's Chicago Metro District Office in suburban Schaumburg.

With those relocations and a corporate growth factor of 8 percent, the new HQ is being designed to accommodate about 3,500 employees, according to design team members who spoke to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity.

END

Megaprojects tax credit doubles in size, duration

State lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a compromise two-year
budget bill tonight that included a provision to double the dollar
amount and duration of a new tax credit program to boost real
estate megaprojects in Ohio's largest urbanized areas (file photo).
CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM

UPDATED JUNE 29, 2021

Extension of a new tax credit program intended to boost major real estate developments primarily in Ohio's largest cities was included in the biennial budget bill passed by state lawmakers tonight. The extension was confirmed by Senator Kirk Schuring (R-29, Canton) who sponsored the original bill that created the tax credit. 

The provision was included in a two-year, $74 billion state budget bill hashed out by a six-person conference committee comprised of four Republicans and two Democrats. Both the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 110 by significant, bipartisan margins.

The new Transformational Mixed-Use Development (TMUD) tax credit program offers up to $100 million per year in tax credits over four years to offset as much as 10 percent of a real estate project's capital costs. Only projects of $50 million or more and that meet other conditions are eligible; no project can win more $40 million in tax credits.

The TMUD program was created by an earlier bill, Senate Bill 39 sponsored by Senator Kirk Schuring (R-29, Canton). It was passed and signed into law last December. That law, which took three years to pass, offered four years of tax credits, from 2020-23. With Ohio's fiscal year running from July 1 to June 30, the state's 2020 fiscal year was already over by the time the TMUD law was passed, leaving only three years of tax credits.

Stark Enterprises sought the TMUD tax credit program to boost
its nuCLEus development as well as other new-construction
projects in Cleveland's urban core. With the program maxi-
mized per tonight's vote by the Ohio General Assembly,
it remains to be seen in what form this long-discussed
project will be submitted for tax credits (Stark).

But in May, NEOtrans broke the news that rulemaking to implement the TMUD program would not be completed by the administering agency, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, in time to award fiscal year 2021's tax credits. That would leave only two years and half of the $400 million in tax credits remaining in the program.

In other words, up to $2 billion worth of complicated, costly yet beneficial real estate projects that couldn't proceed without the TMUD probably wouldn't happen -- unless the law was amended. The new state budget bill passed tonight shifted the four authorized years of the program as starting in Ohio fiscal year 2022 which begins July 1, 2021. The final year of the program is 2025 which ends June 30, 2025.

"We expect the (TMUD) program will launch in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022," said Todd Walker, chief communications officer for the Ohio Development Services Agency.

If that holds true, TMUD applications will probably start to be accepted by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority sometime between July and September. There are potentially dozens of projects just in Greater Cleveland that could be submitted for TMUD credits with dozens more statewide.

The 16-story Bridgeworks development in Cleveland's Ohio City
neighborhood is a likely candidate for a TMUD credit. Capital
resources for the large, transformative project don't yet cover all
of the construction costs, according to sources (Mass/LDA).

"So we now fulfilled the original goal of the original bill (Senate Bill 39) by offering the four years of credits," Schuring said in an interview with NEOtrans. "The very nature of it is that it's a new model, a new paradigm. It's a partnership with business. Government should receive a return on its investment."

The extension was hailed by real estate industry officials who said meeting the as-yet insatiable demand for urban core housing in Cleveland calls for access to the maximum amount of TMUD credits. This public funding will help investors and builders overcome Greater Cleveland's relatively high construction costs and low rents.

"A lot of projects need to bridge gaps in their capital stacks," said Zak Baris, president of Comprehensive Zoning Services, a real estate due-diligence firm. "There are investors sitting on the fence waiting for the chance to win a TMUD credit. More will have a better chance to win credits with the program extended to 2025."

He noted that a number of major downtown Cleveland projects are more likely to happen with the expanded TMUD program. That includes nuCLEus whose developer, Stark Enterprises, came up with the idea for the TMUD tax credits several years ago and was based on the historic tax credit that allowed obsolete office buildings to be renovated with housing, hotels and retail.

"This (historic tax credit) program has encouraged our urban areas to preserve their historic buildings, which is what gave our cities their character, and now we need to complement that character with a program that will allow our cities to set the stage for their futures,” said Steve Coven, Stark Enterprises’ vice president of real estate development.

Even some historic renovation projects like The Centennial at
925 Euclid are candidates for the TMUD program. The massive
scale of this project and its large amount of space that cannot
produce revenues makes it difficult for private lenders to fi-
nance. Yet its redevelopment with 868 workforce housing
units, retail and office space would be transformative
for downtown Cleveland (Millennia).

The TMUD program will also help developers overcome Cleveland's already high construction costs, made worse by recent rises in materials costs, namely lumber but especially steel.

"In Cleveland, as well as many Ohio communities, financial feasibility is typically difficult to achieve with our current lease/rent levels," said Tim Jackson, director of Integra Realty Resources – Cleveland. "Add in the rise in construction costs and it's really a double whammy for Northeast Ohio. These types of megaprojects can be a catalyst for surrounding development and really help improve the immediate area."

Another provision that would help redevelopment of polluted land, called "Brownfields," was included in the state's budget. It has $350 million for clean up of vacant industrial properties in urban areas like Cleveland. Without the funding to clean up brownfield sites, developers might simply look to develop clean-and-green land at the outer edge of metro areas instead.

State Senators Sandra Williams (D-21, Cleveland) and Michael Rulli (R-33, Salem) were sponsors of the Brownfields funding. Similarly, the budget bill passed by both the Senate and House has $150 million for demolishing blighted or nuisance buildings in Ohio. 

The state budget bill now goes to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. The governor has line-item veto power but he is not expected to remove the TMUD, Brownfields or demolitions provisions as they have enjoyed broad and bipartisan support.

END