Ohio megaproject applications released

Eight historic buildings on Cleveland’s Flats East Bank could be redeveloped
if the developer, the George Group, receives an Ohio Transformational Mixed
Use Development tax credit by fall. It is one of 36 applications announced
today for the $100 million megaprojects incentives program (LDA).
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When real estate developer Bob Stark thought up the Ohio Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credit several years ago, he envisioned it as a means to transition from tapping historic tax credits for renovating old buildings in downtown Cleveland to affording the construction of new ones. His rationale was that, with the supply of obsolete commercial buildings dwindling to provide new residential inventory, a new financial incentive would be needed to overcome Cleveland’s high construction costs and low rents to satisfy downtown housing demand.

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INTRO phase 2 gets a bit clearer

A structural study of Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors’ INTRO phase two
shows a 16-story residential tower between Gehring Avenue and the Greater
Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Red Line. West 25th Street is across
the bottom of this northeastward-looking image. Phase one of INTRO is seen
to the left of the proposed new tower. The shape of the actual phase two will
be somewhat different than this early concept but the location, use of wood
and a concrete parking podium will likely be the same (HBREA).
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After a developer entered a project design contest recently, it did more than just win some money. It also gave some insights into its next big construction project in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. But a spokesman for the developer, Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors, cautioned that the basic design it submitted was merely a study of how the project’s second phase could be built in an innovative way.

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Five Iron Golf to fill four Euclid Ave. storefronts

The 1000-block of Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland won’t be
quiet much longer, even when golfers step up to take their strokes at
Five Iron Golf. The New York-based interactive sports gaming
business will fill four of the five ground-floor storefronts at the
Euclid Grand development. The only space it won’t fill is the one
next to the Euclid Grand apartments’ lobby, at right. The Centen-
nial at left and The Statler Apartments bookend the site (KJP).
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Downtown Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue is a bit of a dead zone between East 9th and East 12th streets, but it’s not for a lack of residential. Almost every building on both sides of the street were converted from offices to residential uses over the past decade. What silences this stretch of downtown’s historic main street is the scarcity of ground-floor activities.

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Lumen tower no longer for sale

The Lumen, downtown Cleveland’s tallest residential building, was
90 percent leased just one year after it opened for occupancy in July
2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its owner,
the Playhouse Square Foundation, put the building up for sale
but reportedly has taken it off the market (JLL).
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If you were gathering up spare change in the hopes of buying The Lumen, Cleveland’s tallest residential building, you’re probably out of luck. The reason is that The Lumen’s owner, the Playhouse Square Foundation (PSF), is reportedly taking the 34-story apartment tower off the market. And it wasn’t just out of your price range. It was out of everyone’s range.

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More Pearls of development due

A conceptual rendering of the five-story Flats On Pearl, 3784 Pearl Rd., in
Cleveland’s Brooklyn Centre neighborhood was among the designs approved
by the city’s Near West Design Review Committee last week. However, some
 additional refinements to the design were requested before developer Kosta
Almiroudis advances the project through the city approvals process (Brandt).
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While renovations are well underway on converting the old Brooklyn Masonic Temple into the Lofts On Pearl, Kosta Almiroudis is already planning his next move two doors down. At 3784 Pearl Rd., the founder of Almico Properties and Northern Lights Maintenance LLC plans to redevelop a strip of single-level, historic storefronts into the Flats On Pearl.

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Great Lakes Brewing on the move

Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s production facility is spread among multiple
structures, both new and old in the heart of Cleveland’s densely deve-
loped Ohio City neighborhood. As the neighborhood continued to
densify and the facility became constrained, the prospects for
relocating the entire brewery to the Flats increased (Google).
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A number of factors have come together to prompt the Great Lakes Brewing Co. to seek a relocation of its production facilities from its longtime location in the heart of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Previously, the large craft beer brewer had considered expanding production to properties it acquired over the last four years along the Cuyahoga River on Scranton Peninsula in the Flats. Now it appears that it may move all of its production to the nearly 10-acre site.

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Van Aken District high-rises may start next month

The 15- and 18-story Farnsleigh Apartments are due to see construction
start as early as next month thanks to city incentives that were approved
this week. The high-rises next to the Van Aken District, seen at bottom,
will be the tallest buildings in Shaker Heights when completed
sometime in late 2023 or early 2024 (SCB).
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In a sudden development, a major real estate construction project that was rejected for state financial incentives earlier this year has found its salvation from its host city Shaker Heights. And not only was phase two of the Van Aken District blessed with city incentives, phase three was also a beneficiary of the city’s generosity. The approvals came earlier this week during a City Council meeting as an emergency measure, meaning it would not go through the usual readings at three separate council meetings and thus without public input.

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