Downtown dealmaking takes time, new approaches

One of the biggest pending deals in Downtown Cleveland is for the Ohio
Savings Plaza which actually consists of two office towers. This 18-story
building on East 9th Street, which is the larger of the two for-sale buildings,
is proposed to be converted into residential (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although the real estate listing for Ohio Savings Plaza, 1801 E. 9th St. and its associated Park Plaza, 1111 Chester Ave., show their transaction status as “under contract,” it’s been that way for many months. It will retain that status for at least two more months. What’s going on behind the scenes reveals the complexities and even creative new ways of pursuing big deals in this market at this time.

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Stockyards nuisance is finally coming down

Southwest of downtown Cleveland in the Stockyards neighborhood, the former
box factory is being cleaned up and demolished after decades of being a neigh-
borhood nuisance, city officials say (Cleveland Building Department).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

By the end of this month, a former box factory turned nuisance at 7275 Wentworth Ave. in Cleveland’s Stockyards neighborhood will be visited by the wrecking ball. But crews are already on site cleaning up the long-vacant building that has been used by vagrants, drug users and dealers and reportedly by the property owner’s affiliate for illegally storing millions of fluorescent light bulbs before and after a suspicious 2018 fire.

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Circle East improvements continue, more due

This occupied home on Brightwood Avenue in East Cleveland was renovated by the
Cuyahoga Land Bank as part of its Circle East redevelopment. Circle East is a 30-
acre district that’s closest to University Circle, one of the largest and fastest-growing
employment hubs in Ohio (CCLRC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a 30-acre area of targeted investment called the Circle East District, located in East Cleveland, the Cuyahoga Land Bank announced it has completed major features of its first phase to revive the neighborhood. The multi-phase $95 million effort led by the Cuyahoga Land Bank to rebuild the neighborhood from the sewers up began two years ago. However, a commercial component to the redevelopment has hit a legal snag.

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Downtown occupancy finally rings at The Bell

A rendering of The Bell as seen from East 9th Street, looking northward. This
former Ohio Bell headquarters office building is now open and leasing has
begun for residents and its commercial spaces, including  a restaurant and
co-working offices (Sandvick). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Despite recent bumps in opening The Bell, the team that converted the former Ohio Bell headquarters into apartments and commercial spaces has hired two Chicago firms to market and manage the property. The announcement comes as the Downtown Cleveland building has received its occupancy permit, effectively declaring the $100-plus-million conversion project as complete.

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Hough renovation secures financing, start date

When renovations are concluded in about 18 months, a modernized building at 9410
Hough Ave. in Cleveland will provide affordable housing near University Circle and
a setting more befitting the mostly positive direction that the Hough neighborhood
 is headed (RDL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a long-planned redevelopment, the renovation of a vacant and vandalized 10-story apartment building at the east end of Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood finally has the green light to start work. That green light came today as $47 million in financing closed for the project and construction is due to start before the end of this month.

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Cleveland’s lakefront has something no other major Great Lakes city has

 In the late 1800s, railroad tracks were the last things you cross before
getting your feet wet in Lake Erie. That was before hundreds of acres of
new lakefront land near Downtown Cleveland was created with landfill. 
Cleveland was one of the few major Great Lakes cities to have a busy
mainline railroad along its lakefront. Today, it is the only one where freight
trains are the dominant user of those lakefront tracks (Shober &
Carqueville, Library of Congress). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

When looking at Chicago’s enviable lakefront, it never had it. Toronto’s did, but not anymore. Same with Milwaukee’s and Hamilton’s but due to different circumstances. Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo and smaller cities like Green Bay and Erie never did. What are we talking about here? A busy mainline freight railroad routed along a major Great Lake city’s downtown waterfront.

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Next steps for Bedrock’s riverfront development

The full build-out of Bedrock’s ambitious $3.5 billion riverfront vision first requires the
foundation of infrastructure, public spaces and the creation of development sites for
the Detroit-based developer and others to construct their residential, hospitality,
office and entertainment buildings (Bedrock-MKSK).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

On Friday, representatives of Bedrock Real Estate will make a presentation to Cleveland’s City Planning Commission about the upcoming steps they will take to ready the site for their ambitious $3.5 billion riverfront development plan. But a majority of those early steps boil down to just one foundational word — infrastructure.

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