Downtown Lakewood development to go without grocery store

A refined development plan for Downtown Lakewood was released after a potential
grocery store tenant decided not to be part of the project. However, the developers
intend to proceed, albeit with a smaller and multi-tenanted retail spaces on the ground
floor facing Detroit Avenue. This view looks southerly from the intersection of
Detroit and Belle avenues (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Developers of the proposed Downtown Lakewood mixed-use development said it was a mix of good and bad news that a grocery store chain backed out of the project. The good news is that the developers can proceed with a previous plan to offer a larger public plaza facing Detroit Avenue. The bad news was that revising the plans to accommodate the grocer cost the developers eight months of time and inflation in delivering the $100-plus-million project.

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Courthouse site decision still months away

At this stage of the process, there’s a one-in-four chance that the current Justice Center
will continue to be Cuyahoga County’s courthouse in the coming years. That’s because
there’s four site options left for the courthouse and only one of them involves renovat-
ing the existing courthouse tower (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Should it stay or should it go? That’s the question about the location of Cuyahoga County’s Consolidated Courthouse facilities which could lead to one of the largest and most expensive real estate projects in Greater Cleveland. But county officials don’t appear to be in a hurry to answer that question, according to a source who spoke to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity.

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Cleveland, Bedrock seek $1 billion for riverfront development

The Kayak Launch Plaza in Bedrock Real Estate’s riverfront development is just one
of many pieces of public infrastructure features the city and the developer are work-
ing together to achieve. A tax-increment financing district is being set up to help
much of that public infrastructure (Adjaye Associates).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

City Planning Commission today voted unanimously to recommend that City Council approve a 45-year, project-specific tax-increment financing (TIF) deal with Bedrock Real Estate to generate $400 million for infrastructure to support Bedrock’s $3.5 billion riverfront development. This would create a second, albeit smaller TIF district downtown to support major waterfront and urban core improvements that could ultimately generate up to $1 billion in public funds for the riverfront.

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CRE industry lauds Bibb’s construction permit overhaul

In looking for more construction cranes over the city, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb
signed an executive order today to simplify the building permitting process at City
Hall. (x.com @JustinMBibb). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Commercial real estate and construction interests hailed Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s signing of an executive order today to simplify and speed up the construction permitting process at City Hall. Bibb was quick to point out that this reform will affect small projects by homeowners as well as downtown skyscrapers. However, it could take up to a year before all of the approved changes are implemented.

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Bridgeworks design evolves again – minus hotel

View of the proposed Bridgeworks development from the corner of West 25th Street
and the Detroit-Superior Bridge with Downtown Cleveland in the background. The
development is planned on the former Cuyahoga County Engineer’s headquarters
(GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

An ever-changing lending market has caused designs to change again for the proposed Bridgeworks development, 2429 W. Superior in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Some things were noticeably different in the plans — no hotel, no retail/restaurants, a big increase in the number of apartments, and a variety of colors and materials in the façade which, at first glance, makes the long building look like five or six structures.

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Cleveland Kitchen wins $10M in tax credits

The East 70s section of Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland has seen a lot of investment in
recent years and more is coming. Cleveland Kitchen expects to increase the number
of jobs threefold at its Midtown Cleveland food hub as a result of $10 million tax
credit financing from the Cleveland Development Advisors (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Development Advisors (CDA) has allocated $10 million in federal New Markets Tax Credits to Cleveland Kitchen, originally Cleveland Kraut, to consolidate and expand its production facility in the Central Kitchen Food Hub. The hub is a food incubator and accelerator on Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood.

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Welleon gets an ‘A’ in testing Cleveland’s market

Located in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood west of downtown, the newly
built, market-rate, mixed-use Welleon is almost fully leased after opening less than
a year ago (Welleon.com). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It used to be rare to see a newly constructed Cleveland apartment building filling out at rents of more than $2 per square foot and leasing out in less than two years. But those were the old days — “way back” in the 2010s. Today, it’s common to see luxury buildings, even those that are not downtown skyscrapers, rent out in a year or less. But not at the rents Welleon just commanded.

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