Stark confirms nuCLEus project is ‘on hold’

Last year, Stark Enterprises was ready to build this scaled-down
version of nuCLEus featuring a 24-story office tower above a pe-
destal of retail and parking. But a Stark representative blamed
the pandemic and difficulties competing with Steelyard Commons
in attracting retail to downtown Cleveland (Stark).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A Stark Enterprises executive has confirmed the firm’s dramatic and ambitious nuCLEus development planned for downtown Cleveland is on hold.

The project was originally proposed in 2014 as a multi-structure, 2-million-square-foot, mixed-use development marked by a 54-story tower. Since, nuCLEus was shrunk twice to a single 24-story office tower atop a pedestal of parking and retail as Stark searched for a public subsidy to overcome Cleveland’s high construction costs and low rents.

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CSU looks to double its on-campus housing

Cleveland State University reportedly is in talks to acquire The Edge
on Euclid Apartments as well as The Langston Apartments on Chester
Avenue to more than double its on-campus housing options for a grow-
ing student enrollment (CRG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Growing enrollment at Cleveland State University may soon cause visible changes to downtown Cleveland’s landscape. According to two sources close to the university, CSU is in negotiations to acquire two large apartment properties that would allow it to more than double its inventory of on-campus student housing.

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Ohio City Carriage Works mixed-use plan announced

Everything from a maker space to a tiny hotel to a speakeasy are planned
for the vacant Voss Industries plant on West 25th Street. Some parts of the
 complex are proposed to be demolished while other parts would be added.
The demolitions would create pedestrian laneways through the site, lined
with retail and restaurants as well as some strategically placed parking
lots (CBRE). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

New details have emerged about a significant adaptive re-use of the vacant Voss Industries plant, 2168 W. 25th St., in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood that is proposed to see construction start in early 2022. As outlined in a real estate brokerage’s marketing piece, MRN Ltd.’s Carriage Works would deliver by the end of 2023 some very diverse uses that may overshadow the project’s 80-apartment residential component.

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University Circle inks property deal with developer

Brent Zimmerman, a real estate developer and co-founder of Saucy
Brew Works, signed a ground lease today with University Circle Inc.
that opens the door to a planned multi-story, mixed-use development
on Stokes Boulevard. This is an old rendering of the proposed deve-
lopment which Zimmerman pledged will be at least as dense as this
(Maison). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

On his second-to-last day as president of University Circle Inc. (UCI), Chris Ronayne signed a ground lease agreement with real estate developer Brent Zimmerman Development LLC for a proposed mixed-use development. The lease includes a triangular piece of land measuring about 2.2 acres and bounded by Stokes Boulevard, Cedar Avenue and East 107th Street. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

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Lake-Detroit site bought by Rochester, NY developer

This high-profile property at Detroit and Lake avenues in Cleveland's
Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood just sold to a Rochester, NY develo-
per with deep pockets and an interest in developing the vacant site.
And it's not the neighborhood's only property in play. There are mul-
tiple developments in the works within a few blocks of here (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A vacant property at a high-profile intersection on Cleveland’s West Side recently sold to a Rochester, NY developer with deep pockets. Although a decision hasn’t apparently been made on what will be developed at the corner of Detroit and Lake avenues, housing is the preferred use. It’s the latest of several potential developments within a few blocks of this site that could offer a mix of housing choices, retailers and jobs in a walkable, transit-friendly setting near Edgewater Park.

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Cleveland & Columbus to field nearly all of the TMUDs

Will Cleveland dominate the list of Transformational Mixed Use Develop-
ment applicants and winners statewide, resulting in a forest of construction
cranes across the city in the next year or so? Or will Cleveland projects get
 left out of this first round of tax credit awards, only to watch other Ohio
cities dominate? What Cleveland projects will be submitted and how
likely are their victories? What is their competition? (Brivar) 

Cleveland and Columbus are shaping up to field most of Ohio’s Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) projects. Cleveland is where the TMUD was originally brainstormed and where its authorizing legislation was drafted. And it’s apparently where most of the potential TMUD projects lie in wait.

For those who don’t regularly follow this blog, a TMUD is a mega-project. It’s a real estate development that’s big, complicated, expensive and difficult to do with just private dollars and conventional public subsidies.

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nuCLEus may lose its largest pledged tenant to Key Tower

This is the most recent proposed version of One nuCLEus
Place, a 24-story office tower atop a podium of parking
and retail planned in downtown Cleveland. This proposal
spurred the creation of a new state program to support the
development of large, complicated projects that could posi-
tively transform their communities. But the largest announ-
ced tenant for nuCLEus appears to be courting a new land-
lord and could further frustrate long-standing efforts to
develop this project (Stark).

One the eve of submitting applications for a new state tax-credit program to aid transformational real estate projects, the project that instigated the program is facing a major stumbling block. However, NuCLEus, announced seven years ago, is still alive but in what form isn’t publicly known.

One of Cleveland’s largest law firms, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, is reportedly considering moving its offices and hundreds of employees to Cleveland’s tallest and most prestigious skyscraper — Key Tower, 127 Public Square.

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