Cleveland, Bedrock OK roles in $3.5B project

This is Bedrock Real Estate’s masterplan for its 3.5-million-square-foot,
$3.5 billion Cuyahoga Riverfront development in downtown Cleveland.
The city approved a revised master development agreement to move
forward  with the new development (Adjaye Associates).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Yesterday, at its regular weekly meeting, Cleveland City Council voted to approve an updated and expanded Master Development Agreement (MDA) between Bedrock Real Estate and the city of Cleveland that serves as a guiding framework for Bedrock’s planned $3.5 billion riverfront development project. As one might expect, with such a large, multi-phase development, the project and its legal and fiscal frameworks are very complex. But the new frameworks helps spell out what is expected of each party.

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Sources: If Cliffs + US Steel happens, so does a new HQ

The lofty 200 Public Square is Cleveland’s third-tallest tower at 658 feet and
will remain so after Sherwin-Williams’ new 616-foot headquarters tops out
on the other side of downtown Cleveland’s Public Square. Cleveland-Cliffs’
headquarters is in 200 Public Square but may be on the move in the
 coming years (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Something is happening inside 200 Public Square that isn’t happening at many other downtown Cleveland office towers — a major tenant is gobbling up more office space. The tenant, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., is adding hundreds of office workers to the building, a number that could reach 2,000 employees in the next few years if it is able to acquire Pittsburgh-based rival US Steel. If that happens, two sources who are close to Cliffs’ executives say Cliffs will reconsider 200 Public Square as its headquarters of what would become the nation’s largest steelmaker.

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Guardians to expand real estate holdings

The L-shaped Gateway East Garage which extends south from Huron Road
and then east along Bolivar Road to near East 9th Street will be acquired by
the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. This view looks west along Bolivar
from a parcel at left that was acquired by the Guardians last year for future
development (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Cleveland Guardians Major League Baseball (MLB) team is exercising an option on acquiring the second of two properties that were offered to it when the team extended its lease on Jan. 1, 2022 to play at Progressive Field for at least another 15 years, a city source said. The property it will acquire this time is the huge Gateway East Garage, 650 Huron Rd. East in downtown Cleveland for $25 million and could set the stage for a full or partial demolition of the 29-year-old garage for a “ballpark village” redevelopment.

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Latest TMUD wish list is NEO-light

As the only application for a downtown Cleveland project, the Playhouse
Square Foundation requested $1.95 million to help offset the cost of
renovating three buildings it owns, pictured here. The properties start
at 1317 Euclid Ave., just east of the storefront at the corner of Euclid
and East 13th Street with the big Playhouse Square sign that could
be strengthened to support a vertical addition of up to eight more
stories (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

One of Northeast Ohio’s favorite past-times is to complain that too much of their state tax dollars are going to the rest of the state and not enough to Northeast Ohio. But if you don’t ask for anything, you don’t get it. That’s the case when it comes to the latest round of Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credits. Northeast Ohio TMUD applications represent only 10.8 percent of the total dollar amount requested statewide for Ohio’s fiscal year 2024 round and only one downtown Cleveland project was submitted. Ironically, the TMUD program was the brainchild of a Cleveland developer to encourage more downtown Cleveland projects.

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Ohio City’s next big apartment project

One of two buildings proposed as part of the 2828 Clinton development,
previously dubbed The Vibe in deference to the site’s historical use by
industrial equipment manufacturer Cleveland Vibrator Co. This pro-
posed apartment building, to be called Hanover House, is across
Church Avenue from from the 11-story and 6-story Church &
State complex in Ohio City’s Hingetown section (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

One of Ohio City’s largest development sites is located in this Cleveland neighborhood’s booming Hingetown section. So it was only a matter of time before a large development was proposed for that site at 2828 Clinton Ave., measuring nearly 2 acres. That time is coming next week when the Franklin-Clinton Block Club which includes Hingetown will get a presentation of preliminary plans for the development and offer input on it to the city’s design-review and landmark commissions.

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Downtown Lakewood project going through phases

This plaza at the north end of the proposed downtown Lakewood
development and a filling in of “the pit” retention basin will probably
have to wait a while until lending and equity markets improve enough
for developers to pursue the larger, more expensive portions of the project.
Instead, two 34-unit apartment buildings at the south end of the development
may be pursued first (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Over the 60-90 days, the city and its development team will explore the feasibility of breaking up into more achievable pieces or phases the ambitious, $100-million-plus-dollar vision to redevelop the former Lakewood Hospital site in Downtown Lakewood. But city officials and the development team they chose said the basic, long-term vision for the site will remain largely unchanged from what city review boards have approved thus far.

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Cleveland suburb wants to be the next ‘Forest City’

Wondergrove Drive in suburban Euclid is an urban forester’s dream. While few
streets in Euclid offer such a wooded setting as the Brookwood Club area near
Lake Erie, more of the suburb’s residential streets and commercial districts
could use an increase of trees to provide cooling shade in summer and a
windbreak in winter (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While Cleveland was once called the Forest City due to the tree-studded neighborhoods it boasted in the 19th century, one of its suburbs might be in a position to claim that title in the coming years thanks to a generous grant from the federal government. The benefits of more trees are simple — they help provide cooling shade in summer, a windbreak in winter, and more attractive business districts and residential areas that can increase property values.

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