Local projects may benefit from federal incentives

Construction is moving along on the high-rise Farnsleigh Apartments at
the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights at the end of the light-rail Blue
Line. Many housing developments are planned at or near rail and bus
rapid transit stations in Greater Cleveland to address a housing shortage
but tight lending and high interest rates have slowed the start of new
projects. New guidance for existing federal financing could free up
new lending. (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Having too much office space, not enough housing inventory and tight private financing to address those conditions isn’t just a Greater Cleveland phenomenon. It’s a nationwide problem. So the federal government on Friday announced incentives to encourage the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use and develop surplus land owned by transit agencies.

READ MORE

North Coast development authority launched

An aerial view of proposed plans for redeveloping Downtown Cleveland’s
lakefront are shown looking northwesterly from the perspective of down-
town. The landscaped malls are at lower left from which a new North
Coast Connector land bridge would cross the lakefront railroad tracks
and Shoreway highway converted into a boulevard. A transportation
center with parking plus a rail and bus station is planned next to the
connector which would end at Lake Erie’s shore (FO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With updated plans for redeveloping downtown Cleveland’s lakefront steadily rolling in like Lake Erie’s waves, the nonprofit development corporation charged with funding and implementing those plans also is coming together. Today, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced the initial board of directors for the new North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. (NCWDC) and its chair, David Gilbert, CEO of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

READ MORE

Old Aquarium razed for South Gordon Park plan

On the city’s East Side, a Cleveland Metroparks contractor yesterday
began demolishing the old Cleveland Aquarium at South Gordon Park.
The aquarium closed in 1985 due to structural problems with the build-
ing and has sat empty and decaying ever since (Brian Zimmerman).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

After sitting empty and rotting away for nearly four decades, the old Cleveland Aquarium at South Gordon Park was finally demolished yesterday by contractors for the Cleveland Metroparks. The regional park system, whose long-term lease of this city-owned site took effect earlier this month, wasted no time in taking down the long-closed aquarium building. In the coming months, Metroparks officials said they intend to seek community input on how to improve South Gordon Park.

READ MORE

Ohio City finance firm moving to the Flats

Next spring, Skylight Financial Group intends to relocate into a smaller
space above the BrewDog Cleveland Outpost on Scranton Peninsula
near downtown Cleveland. As recently as two years ago, this was
a lonely outpost in a desolate part of the Flats but is steadily
gaining more commercial and residential neighbors (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Another significant office tenant with naming rights to their building is on the move -- and shrinking. This time, it's Cleveland-based financial planning firm Skylight Financial Group which is a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) in multiple Ohio cities. But unlike Ernst & Young (now EY) moving from one side of downtown Cleveland to the other, Skylight Financial will be leaving Ohio City's Market District in 2024 for Scranton Peninsula in the Flats.

READ MORE

North Coast plans updated, go public today

An aerial rendering of the planned changes to the North Coast Harbor area
of downtown Cleveland’s lakefront. This view shows Cleveland Browns
Stadium dominating the scene with the port facilities and West 3rd
Street at right and Voinovich Park at the foot of East 9th Street
to the left (FO). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a virtual session held earlier today, the community got to see a refinement of plans for Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront that were first shared publicly in July, namely for the area near North Coast Harbor. The plans, showing stadium renovations, transportation investments and conversion of lakefront parking lots to year-round public uses, were developed and refined by a consulting team hired by the city and led by Field Operations, a public spaces design firm based in New York City.

READ MORE

The Bell to ring people home in 2024

The former Ohio Bell headquarters on East 9th Street in downtown Cleveland
was custom-designed for a specific office user. When Ohio Bell successor AT&T
left in 2019, it was a difficult office space to fill, especially in a weak office market.
It was also a difficult residential conversion due to the building’s large floor plates
and blank walls on the east and west sides. But The Bell’s development team is
pulling it off, with an April 2024 target for opening (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

At first, construction work at The Bell has a familiar ring to it. But this isn’t the usual conversion of a zombie office building in downtown Cleveland into residential or hotel uses. Instead, conversion of the former Ohio Bell Company headquarters, ongoing since July 2022, has been a different calling. What were once large, wide-open floors at the 16-story, 40-year-old office building have since been divided up into an average of 31 apartments per floor in the residential portions of the building at the southeast corner of Lakeside Avenue and East 9th Street.

READ MORE

Cavs-Clinic Riverfront building is big, evolving

Although lacking in texture at this early stage of design, this massing of
Bedrock Real Estate’s planned Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance
Center, including the Cleveland Cavaliers’ new practice facility, shows the
large scale of the proposed development along the Cuyahoga River. After
input from the Cleveland Planning Commission is received, exterior
materials will be digitally added by architects to the center (Populous).
 CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

More illustrations were made publicly available this week, showing the large size of a new facility planned next to the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ basketball practice facility and Cleveland Clinic’s sports health-related medical services. Kansas City-based architectural firm Populous submitted the plans for what would be Bedrock Real Estate’s first new building in its ambitious $3.5 billion riverfront development to the City Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee.

READ MORE