Why does Circle Square get love and nuCLEus doesn't?

 

These are the original visions for nuCLEus (left) in 2014 and Circle
Square in 2015, then-called University Circle City Centre (UC3).
Both developments evolved over time yet neither project has
turned a shovel of dirt so far. Despite their similarities, there
are differences that have put more scrutiny on nuCLEus
and given more love to Circle Square (Stark/Midwest).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Two births were noted in 2014. Ideas for a pair of major urban core real estate developments in Cleveland -- nuCLEus and Circle Square -- were set into motion, leading to much excitement and debate by everyone from urbanistas to media to fellow developers to elected officials.

Since those births six years ago, neither project has turned a shovel of dirt for new construction. Yet nuCLEus gets publicly criticized and doubted while Circle Square doesn't. Is that fair? Let's take a look at that....

First, let's go back in time six years. Most Clevelanders first heard about nuCLEus in the summer of 2014 when Cleveland-dot-com published an article about a partnership of Stark Enterprises and J-Dek Investments Ltd. buying two separate swaths of downtown parking lots from a Los Angeles firm.

One of those swaths was the proposed site for nuCLEus -- a 3-acre plot bounded by Prospect Avenue, East 4th Street and Huron Road just north of today's Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The other swath was next to West 9th Street in the Warehouse District. The article was followed by another with graphics showing a massive, $500 million mixed-use development marked by a 54-story Jenga-styled residential tower and a hotel bridging over to a second, shorter tower for offices.

At about the same time of Stark's announcement, a new development team was already in the process of buying pieces of land in University Circle under different names, apparently to disguise the scale of an emerging development.

Stark Enterprises' original site plan for nuCLEus that featured
the 54-story residential tower and a hotel bridge building
extending over a laneway to an office building (Stark).

I noticed those purchases in August 2015 during my regular scouring of public records and posted the potential implications of them on UrbanOhio. My posting about that discovery became the first of what would become a forum discussion thread about Circle Square.

Public records revealed there was something in the works that would measure about 7 acres -- far larger than the upcoming sale of two neighboring public parcels -- a police station and Cleveland Public Library branch. A month later, in September 2015, the massive development concept was announced as University Circle City Centre (UC3) when Midwest Development Partners won the bid to acquire the police station and library sites.

The initial conceptual vision showed roughly eight new buildings constructed around parking garages along with a handful of townhouses. Most of the buildings were proposed to be shorter than the neighboring 1920s-era Fenway Manor and Judson Manor apartment buildings that measure 13 and 11 stories, respectively. The exception was one proposed tower approaching 20 stories.

And then began the separate paths on which the two developments traveled for the next five years and how people reacted to those developments.

CONCEPTS/VISIONS: Both projects have seen their plans evolve over time as most projects do. But Stark Enterprises' plans have evolved significantly or, more accurately, de-evolved. It started as a stunning Jenga-style tower that would have been Cleveland's second-tallest building featuring 500 residences, 200,000 square feet of offices and a mid-tower six-story bridge with a hotel in it. The complex would be constructed atop a massive podium of parking for 1,600 cars and 140,000 square feet of retail.

An early massing for Circle Square showing existing and pro-
posed buildings alike, looking south on East 107th Street with
the Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church in the left-fore-
ground and Judson Manor on the right forground (Midwest).

Developer Robert Stark said nuCLEus would have "the kind of architecture that lets the world know that Cleveland is back, and that Cleveland is in competition with Chicago and New York." With that lofty goal, Stark set the bar high yet couldn't jump over it.

In University Circle, Midwest's Steve Rubin, former chief operating officer of Stark Enterprises, originally proposed a development even larger than nuCLEus if structured parking wasn't included. Envisioned was 717 apartments, about 150,000 square feet of retail and community space (including a new MLK library) and 17,500 square feet of office.

That doesn't include the $40 million renovation of the 144-unit Fenway Manor apartments. Refurbishing of the senior housing technically represented the first phase of Circle Square. That was completed two years ago which implies that Circle Square is already underway. But the new construction hasn't begun.

Although set at a bar numerically higher than the total usable square feet of nuCLEus, Midwest designed the project so it could be achieved one or two buildings at a time. For Stark, it had to first build NuCLEus' massive pedestal of structured parking and downtown retail -- two uses that have proven to be tough to make money at -- before it could construct anything on top of them.

FINANCING: Both nuCLEus and Circle Square depend on public financing, as do most projects in Cleveland which has the nation's 15th-highest construction costs but the nation's third-cheapest rents among major metros. And since Greater Cleveland isn't growing, any new development that doesn't draw from outside the metro area is going to leave a vacancy somewhere else within the region.

The second announced plan for nuCLEus featured two 24-story
towers -- one for offices (at left) and the other for residential.
Gone was the hotel bridge and the 54-story tower (Stark).

Two of Stark's principal office tenants -- the law firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP and Stark's own headquarters -- would relocate from elsewhere downtown, raising its vacancy numbers. Media has scrutinized Stark for tapping subsidies that poach tenants. Stark has proposed creative new public financing methods so it could build nuCLEus.They include a Tranformational Mixed Used Development (TMUD) tax credit at the state level, a tax-increment financing mechanism involving the Cleveland schools and a forgivable loan from the city. None of the public financing methods have yet been enacted.

Midwest also has proposed a unique public financing arrangement for Circle Square as well as attracting a tenant from a nearby property. In this case, they are one in the same. The Cleveland Public Library sought to relocate its MLK branch and Midwest offered to incorporate it on the ground floor of one of Circle Square's apartment buildings, now called Library Lofts. The library's financing will also contribute some public dollars and pedestrian activity to Circle Square just as the developer's exterior structure for Library Lofts will benefit the new library.

The scale of both projects required non-conventional subsidies. Circle Square has found its subsidy to get the project going toward a publicly identified groundbreaking, tentatively scheduled for March 2021. Stark never found its public subsidy magic bullet. But that's not what's holding back the project anymore. Instead, the project is reportedly in need of more leases before Stark can announce a groundbreaking date.

RECORDS OF ACHIEVEMENT: When it comes to the historical record of achievements by both developers, there isn't much of a comparison for a couple of reasons. First, Midwest doesn't have much of a history. The company itself wasn't incorporated until February 2015 (although it was preceded by Intesa Holdings LLC in 2012). Secondly and ironically, its principal partner Rubin was the chief operating officer at Stark for 12 years until Fall 2014 before he formed Midwest.

So Midwest's history is in many ways Stark's history. Rubin was able to hit the reset button on his own corporate development history by creating a new real estate entity. He could enjoy all of the benefits of a clean slate while touting his accomplishments at Stark.

When Centric was called Intesa, it proposed an ambitious develop-
ment vision between Little Italy and the Uptown section of Uni-
versity Circle. It was scaled back to a single 7-story building of
apartments over retail, fronting a parking garage (Bialosky).

Rubin joined Stark while the firm was partnering with the Carney Group on its biggest development ever -- the Crocker Park lifestyle center in Westlake. The first phase of the development opened in 2004. It was built south of the Promenade, originally planned by Stark in the late 1980s as an enclosed mall but built as an outdoor strip mall. Stark gained the reputation of a strip-mall developer. Crocker Park helped Bob Stark shed that reputation.

After Crocker Park opened, Stark publicly set its eyes on downtown Cleveland for the first time. There, Stark proposed to build Y-Cleveland, an incredibly grand vision. The Y represented a shaped on a map showing areas of downtown to be developed. The bottom of the Y would start on Scranton Peninsula. The right arm of the Y would extend over to the Campus District.

The left arm would reach up through the Warehouse District to the lakefront where Stark proposed to develop the surface parking lots and extend the street grid over the lakefront railroad tracks to the water's edge. He called that arm Pest (pronounced Pesht), a whole new city like Pest became to the older Buda, in Budapest, Hungary.

Stark was so committed to the idea that the firm relocated its headquarters from its Eton Collection development in east-suburban Woodmere to the Gilman Building, 1350 W. 3rd St. It partnered with parking lot owner Weston to achieve its grand vision. Stark had hoped to secure a development anchor in the form of one of the half-dozen or so large downtown firms that considered relocating from their aging office buildings. Alas, Stark was unable to reel in any of them.

So Stark moved on to nuCLEus in 2015. A year later, Weston joined with Citymark Capital to come up with its own big plans for the Warehouse District parking lots. But Weston's plans already had been on life support for a year or two when it sold the parking lots this spring to Sherwin-Williams Inc. for its new global headquarters.

A 2005 site plan for the upper-left arm of Y-Cleveland Stark's grand
vision for downtown Cleveland ending with "Pest" -- a new city
to complement downtown's existing central business district
and to better link downtown with the river and lake (Stark).

Even as Stark continued to add to Crocker Park by building more residential, retail and securing the American Greetings headquarters, it was still stung by its failure to build Y-Cleveland and especially Pest. Stark may consider that project unfinished rather than abandoned. It still owns Warehouse District parking lots on West 9th. It built The Beacon apartment tower. And nuCLEus is still an active project.

PLAN EVOLUTION: This is one of the starkest differences between the two projects. One project's plan has grown since it was first announced while the other has shrunk. The growing project is Circle Square.

When it started as UC3, Circle Square was estimated to be a $225 million project, not including Fenway Manor. It since has grown to be a $300 million project with buildings originally proposed at eight stories growing to 11- to 13-story buildings, and 17-story apartment towers rising further to 24 stories. Add another $40 million with Fenway Manor's inclusion.

The reason for the growth is the success of other projects in University Circle including First Interstate's 20-story One University Circle. Midwest also contributed in 2018 by opening its Centric development. Although, first proposed to be larger than what was ultimately built, the project is considered to be a great success. Centric, despite having rents ranging from $2.29 to $3.18 per square foot, leased out 95 percent of its 272 apartments in one year.

That success attracted attention, including from out of town. With Circle Square, Midwest Development is joining forces with White Oak Realty Partners of Chicago which has a great deal of experience in building high-rise apartment towers in cities throughout the nation. White Oak is taking the lead on developing a 24-story tower at Circle Square, to rise on the site of the former police station, 10600 Chester Ave.

An updated Circle Square masterplan was approved by the City
Planning Commission earlier this month. It features taller apart-
ment buildings in the background along Chester Avenue with
an office building proposed in on the right side on Euclid
Avenue between Stokes and MLK boulevards (Midwest).

Also, the mostly residential-retail/civic land uses at Circle Square added another use and more scale in its latest iteration. A 13-story office building is proposed to be built where Midwest had previously envisioned townhouses.

By contrast, Stark's original plan for nuCLEus has been scaled back from its catalytic goal. It wanted nuCLEus to be a globally prominent development whose catalytic impact on downtown would rival that of the Cleveland Union Terminal Group (topped by Terminal Tower) of the 1920s and 30s. It started out with a mammoth price tag of $500 million but has since shrunk to less than $300 million, although a current dollar value hasn't been announced.

While Circle Square grew and added planned uses, nuCLEus went in the other direction. In its first scale-down, it lost its hotel "bridge" between two towers, one of them the 54-story skyscraper. So by early 2019, nuCLEus was re-cast with two 24-story towers -- one residential, the other offices -- atop the parking/retail pedestal. The price tag shrank to $353 million.

The development was scaled back again in early 2020. NEOtrans broke the story that nuCLEus would shed the apartment tower and cut 60,000 square feet from the office building while adding a story to it. The skinnier office tower, still atop the parking/retail pedestal, would likely require an investment of less than $300 million to build.

That apparently matched the financing Stark had in hand to build nuCLEus. With most of the office tower pre-leased and a residential component still under consideration, Stark appeared ready to start construction in early 2020. Then the pandemic hit and put everything on hold.

The latest announced conceptual plan for nuCLEus shows a single,
skinnier, 25-story office tower over a pedestal of parking
and ground-floor retail uses (Stark).

There are companies seeking office space in and near downtown, but the newest arrivals want to move within a matter of months, not wait years that it will take to build a skyscraper. Others want their name atop a building, not play second fiddle to Benesch or anyone else. And while opinions vary, some real estate brokers who spoke off the record say Bob Stark and his son Ezra, now Stark's chief operating officer, are difficult to work with in getting lease deals done. 

Stark also hasn't added partners to its development. To be fair, nuCLEus didn't start out with only Stark Enterprises' name on the marquee. It began as a partnership between Stark and J-Dek Investments. But make no mistake that nuCLEus is run by Stark.

Its previous project nearby was The Beacon -- downtown Cleveland's first new-construction residential high-rise since The Park (now Reserve Square) was completed in the early 1970s. The Beacon was a result of making lemonade from a lemon. The lemon was the 542-space 515 Euclid parking garage, built in 2005 for $26 million to accommodate a residential tower above it. Not only did the Great Recession halt plans for the tower, it put 515 Euclid's owner, AmTrust Financial Corp. into bankruptcy.

As part of the bankruptcy, the parking garage was sold at auction to the Harbor Group for a bargain $8.15 million. Stark partnered with Harbor Group to build the 19-story Beacon atop the 9-story garage that was full during the day but mostly empty at night when The Beacon's residents would park there. Few places downtown offered a low-cost parking garage that could be used to support a new residential tower (the planned City Club Apartments will use a similar arrangement at 720 Euclid Ave.).

But while Centric leased out in a year, Stark is offering up to six months free rent to try to fill up The Beacon with tenants. Granted, it's still early. The Beacon held its formal opening ceremony less than a year ago in November 2019 -- four months before the pandemic reached America.

While Circle Square's plan (at left) got bigger and more ambitious
and has a March 2021 target date for groundbreaking, nuCLEus'
plan got smaller and doesn't have a start date (Midwest/Stark).

And there are significantly more apartment units coming on the market in downtown Cleveland than there are in University Circle. That may not hold true for much longer, as Cleveland Heights adds new housing like The Ascent at Top of The Hill and Integrity House, Cleveland Clinic looks to enter the housing market while surrounding neighborhoods like Glenville, Hough and Fairfax restore their housing stock.

CONCLUSION: The short answer as to why Circle Square gets the love that nuCLEus doesn't comes down to the reasons why each gets their press coverage. Circle Square got headlines for mostly positive reasons; nuCLEus got headlines for mostly controversial reasons. Each time Stark sought a new public incentive idea to replace the last brainstorm, the media and its readers grew more skeptical.

Ironically, Stark's latest public incentive idea was arguably its best -- the TMUD tax credit. It has won broad support from developers, chambers of commerce, city officials and state lawmakers throughout Ohio. If it wasn't for the pandemic, the tax credit would almost certainly have become law by now. The legislation would have to pass by the end of this year for it to become law or the whole lawmaking process for the TMUD tax credit will have to start all over again.

So while Circle Square's developers are working towards a March 2021 groundbreaking per their latest plan, Stark has put nuCLEus on indefinite hold, awaiting an end to the pandemic to see which of its many retail and college housing properties emerge from the economic slowdown unscathed.

If Stark is able to get a groundbreaking date announced before Circle Square puts shovels in the ground, a lot of the criticism -- or at least skepticism -- Stark has received and continues to receive may go away. Given the extensive and fascinating history of cities, a timeline of decades or longer is not an unusual measuring stick for gauging a development of significant scale. After all, the Cleveland Union Terminal Group still isn't finished a century later.

END

Two new Lakewood developments proposed

 

Lakewood's Ss. Cyril and Methodius Catholic School, as seen from
the west or Alameda Avenue side, sold last week to an affiliate owned
by Bo Knez of Knez Homes. But rather than pursue a residential con-
version, Knez seeks to remodel the building as offices. The convent
at far left will remain with the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland (KJP).

Two recent property acquisitions are the first signs indicating that a pair of proposed new Lakewood developments may be on the horizon. Both properties are located on the city's primary business corridors on the east end of Lakewood.

First is the Sept. 16 acquisition of Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic School, 1639 Alameda Ave.; the property's parking lot faces Madison Avenue in the city's Birdtown neighborhood. Purchasing it for $125,000 was Nascent Land Development LLC which is owned by Bo Knez, founder of Painesville-based Knez Homes, one of Greater Cleveland's largest homebuilders.

However, Knez doesn't plan to convert the long-closed school into residential. Instead he has submitted building permits to the city to remodel the 27,000-square-foot, 1955-built structure into for-lease offices.

In an interview this week, Knez said he doesn't have an office tenant lined up. He will soon advertise the property on the open market. In other words, he's developing this as office on speculation that a tenant will emerge. Knez seemed to dismiss the impacts of the pandemic on the office market, even as office tenants are scaling back their space needs due to remote working and a general economic downturn.

"We feel there's a need for this (office use) in the area," Knez said. "We do offices as well. It's one of the of five spokes to our wheel."

The Madison Avenue side of Ss. Cyril & Methodius School (KJP).

In addition to residential, Knez provides general contracting services, development of land for local and national buiders, excavation services and rental activities. The rental and general contracting activities are the roles Knez will play in the conversion and marketing of the school as offices.

Because the work being done to the building is limited to remodeling, it won't require going to the city's Planning Commission before securing a building permit. For that reason, Knez said he hopes to start work by the end of this year or, more likely, early next year.

"The building needs a lot of work," he added.

He also noted that the parking lot facing Madison will continue to be used for parking -- but its use won't be limited to his office building. He said he has a shared parking easement with the Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church, a grand 90-year-old structure established by a parish of Slovak immigrants nearly 120 years ago.

Knez said he will not be acquiring the church's convent located just north of the school on Alameda; it will continue to be owned by Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Declining enrollment at the school forced its closure at the end of the 2009-10 school year. It was merged with Cleveland’s St. Rose of Lima into the Transfiguration Parish whose school is at Lakewood Catholic Academy, 14808 Lake Ave.

Birdtown is seeing increased development activity. Conversion of the school into offices will start at roughly about the same time work is due to begin on the $4 million redevelopment of the former "Bi-Rite Building" at 12501 Madison into 18 apartments over ground-floor retail, called The Nest. The Silhouette School of Dance and Lakewood Slovak Civic Club were tenants of the building.

The National Tire & Battery car repair, 11801 Detroit Ave., closed
in early Fall 2019. This photo was taken in August 2020 (KJP).

Forest City Shuffleboard owner Jim Miketo bought 12501 Madison in October 2019. Although their Lakewood developments are unrelated, he and Knez are partnering on the redevelopment of the former Hough Bakery property in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood.

For the second new development on Lakewood's East End, fewer details are known about it because the deal hasn't closed yet. However, two sources said Kertesz Enterprises of Beachwood has the former National Tire & Battery (NTB) property under a purchase agreement. NTB, 11801 Detroit Ave., shut down in Fall 2019 and consolidated business at its Westlake location.

"I'd rather not discuss anything at this point," said Ronnie Kertesz, vice president of Kertesz Group, when asked about the purchase and closing date of the deal.

The sources said Kertesz reportedly wants to add to their apartment inventory in Lakewood. Since 1988, the family has owned the neighboring Colonial Club Apartments, 1437 Newman Ave., a 60-unit, three-story residential complex built in 1963, public records show.

Kertesz, who runs Kertesz Enterprises with his brother Randy Kertesz, would not say if their proposed apartment building would include accessory uses on the ground floor, such as a restaurant, shop or other commercial activity. The sources were unaware if the potential development would contain mixed use.

Before it was NTB, it was Jackshaw Pontiac. Before 1962, it was West
Side Pontiac. This is the property about 1960 (Yesterday's Lakewood).

The property measures 1.09 acres and the building on the site totals just under 15,000 square feet. Prior to its use as NTB, it was operated as a car dealership. The property was developed in 1948 for West Side Pontiac, then sold in 1962 to Stephen A. Jackshaw who operated it as Jackshaw Pontiac. He sold it 1992 and the dealership operated for several more years until it was closed and sold in 1999, public records show.

All of Lakewood's car dealerships have either closed or relocated to highway interchanges in outer suburbs at the urging of car manufacturers to increase visibility. Most of those now-closed dealerships have found new lives as existing or planned mixed-use or housing-only developments.

The current owner is the Niki Group of San Diego, CA which has properties nationwide. It put the building on the market shortly after NTB closed last year, listing it with Howard Hanna Commercial. The property no longer appears in for-sale listings.

Daniel Budish, one of the principals involved in the redevelopment of the Phantasy Theater complex and Mack Industries across Detroit Avenue into Studio West 117, reportedly was bidding against Kertesz to acquire the NTB property.

"Sorry," Budish said in an e-mail. "I wish that we could confirm this as true, but we cannot."

Niki Group bought the NTB property in 2016 for nearly $1.2 million, county records show. But after filing a Board of Revision complaint in 2018, the property was revalued at $650,900 for tax purposes.

END

Biotech firm Abeona to expand Cleveland production facilities

 

Abeona Therapeutices is located on the top two floors of the
MidTown Tech Park Building No. 3, 6555 Carnegie Ave., seen
at left. Abeona's name adorns the upper-right corner of the
building. The firm will expand into the building at right -- Mid-
Town Tech Park Building No. 1, 6700 Euclid Ave. (Google).

A young, growing biotechnology company is expanding its presence again in Cleveland. Abeona Therapeutics LLC is adding to its production facilities by leasing and modifying 12,000 square feet at the MidTown Tech Park Building No. 1, 6700 Euclid Ave.

That brings the publicly traded company's (Nasdaq: ABEO) Cleveland presence to 38,000 square feet. It currently has 65 employees in Cleveland -- more than triple the employment the firm had here just three years ago. Abeona is a clinical stage company developing gene therapy and plasma-based therapies for severe and life-threatening rare genetic diseases.

With this latest expansion, a company spokesman said Abeona will hire additional people for its Cleveland facilities although exact employment numbers weren't provided. The firm recently hired a talent acquisition specialist based in Cleveland. The 90-employee company is headquarted in New York City. It also has a small office in Madrid, Spain.

Abeona's local presence began in the MidTown Tech Park Building No. 3, 6555 Carnegie Ave., which is only about 150 feet away from where Abeona soon will be expanding. An allifiate of Geis Companies which developed and manages the entire MidTown Tech Park submitted permit applications to the city last week for the modification of Building No. 1. For reference, Building No. 2 in the MidTown Tech Park is at 7000 Euclid.

MidTown Tech Park Building No. 1, 6700 Euclid Ave., was built
in 2011 by Geis Companies. Abeona will fit-out the second-floor
of the building closest to the camera. This view looks east on Euc-
lid Avenue, across from the Dunham Tavern Museum (Google). 

"This planned expansion would support the advancement of our clinical programs and commercial manufacturing of our gene and cell therapies we’re developing for the treatment of serious rare diseases," said Scott Santiamo, Abeona's director of corporate communications.

Conrad Geis, director and managing partner of Geis Companies, was unable to return a message seeking comment prior to publication of this article.

In May 2018, Abeona opened the 6,000-square-foot Elisa Linton Center for Rare Disease Therapies at 6555 Carnegie, built in 1929. It is named for Elisa Linton, a woman born with Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes fatal brain damage. The facility was expanded by 20,000 square feet in the same building in 2019.

This latest expansion comes only several months after Abeona significantly scaled back its operations here as a precaution, from March to June, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the USA. But Abeona had to get back to work as it has several treatments in clinical trials. The most advanced of these is a Phase 3 VIITAL study of EB-101, an investigational gene-corrected cell therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), Santiamo said.

RDEB is a rare connective tissue disorder characterized by severe skin wounds that cause pain and can lead to systemic complications impacting the length and quality of life. People with RDEB have a defect in the COL7A1 gene, leaving them unable to produce functioning type VII collagen, which is necessary to anchor the dermal and epidermal layers of the skin. There is currently no approved treatment for RDEB. Abeona's Cleveland team is manufacturing EB-101 for the study.

View of MidTown Tech Park Building No. 3 as seen from Carnegie
Avenue. Schaffer Partners Inc., 6545 Carnegie, is at left (Google).

Also, Santiamo said Abeona is enrolling three Phase 1/2 studies across the firm's single-dose gene therapy clinical programs for Sanfilippo syndrome types A and B (MPS IIIA and MPS IIIB).

Children with MPS IIIA and IIIB suffer from progressive language and cognitive decline and behavioral abnormalities. MPS IIIA and IIIB are caused by genetic mutations that lead to a deficiency in bodily enzymes responsible for breaking down glycosaminoglycans which accumulate in cells throughout the body resulting in rapid health decline associated with the disorder.

Abeona's therapies use virus technology to deliver functional copies of the affected genes to cells in the body. Their Cleveland team and facility are equipped to manufacture drugs and the virus used for the studies. The company can also scale up to meet clinical and future commercial demand, Santiamo said. 

"We're obviously excited that they're continuing to expand in the neighborhood," said Jeff Epstein, Executive Director of MidTown Cleveland Inc., a community development corporation. "They're a great company. They chose a location that's proximate to our health care institutions and like-minded companies clustered together. There's an availability of high-quality work spaces here in MidTown."

This is part of Abeona Therapeutics' office/lab on the top floor of
MidTown Tech Park Building No. 3, 6555 Carnegie Ave (Geis).

He noted that there are about 180 health-technology and high-technology employers in the city's Health Tech Corridor which runs along and between Cedar and Chester avenues, from University Circle to the Campus District near St. Vincent Charity Hospital. Fifty of those firms are in MidTown proper. No public incentives have been requested to support Abeona's expansion, Epstein added.

Abeona's expansion will be on the northwest side of the second floor of MidTown Tech Park Building No. 1 that was built in 2011, according to plans submitted to the city's Buidling and Housing Department.

Work will consist of removing walls to create an open "White Box" space for fit-out and the roof will be reinforced to add rooftop equipment. A stairwell that's closest to 6555 Carnegie will also be modified. Santiamo would not speculate on the timing of the renovations and opening of their expanded facilities.

"We are in the design stage for developing additional manufacturing facilities within existing space at 6700 Euclid Ave.," Santiamo said. "Occupancy and other goals will come into focus as we advance the project."

Abeona was started in 2013 by former CEO Tim Miller. It grew to only four employees by the time it went public in 2015. The company generates annual revenue of about $3 million per year. Its market capitalization currently stands at about $186 million as ABEO opened at $2.20 per share on Sept. 18, according to its Nasdaq listing.

END

Sherwin-William HQ+R&D project restarts; development team announced

 

This is only a massing of the potential Sherwin-Williams global
headquarters in downtown Cleveland. With the team of architects
announced and development work restarting after a months-long
pause, the public could learn in a few months a more refined
design of the new HQ complex (WKYC).

UPDATED WITH PRESS RELEASE INFO

Reports are coming out today that Sherwin-Williams (SHW) has restarted the development of its global headquarters plus research and development facilities (HQ+R&D). But the months-long pause has pushed back the project's completion from 2023 to 2024. The reason is the global pandemic and the economic disruption that it is causing.

The information came in an e-mail sent to company employees today, with a formal public announcement posted later at SHW's HQ+R&D website. Additional information is also being publicized, including the names of the HQ+R&D development team, some of whom NEOtrans reported nearly a year ago.

SHW announced earlier this year that the new HQ will be located on the west side of Public Square in downtown Cleveland on a 7-acre swath of parking lots it later acquired for $49 million, public records show. The R&D facility will be located on the city-owned site of the former Veterans Administration Hospital at Interstate 77 and Miller Road Brecksville, now being redeveloped by DiGeronimo Companies.

In its e-mail, SHW executives reminded employees that most of the project's planning had been paused since March. Only the most critical HQ+R&D planning activities were allowed to continue.

This is the site where Sherwin-Williams plans to build its global
headquarters. The global coatings firm acquired this 7-acre swath
of parking lots earlier this year for $49 million, demonstrating its
commitment to the project and to downtown Cleveland (Google).

"We are now beginning to move forward again with the project," SHW Chairman John Morikis said in his internal e-mail. "I am pleased to share with you that we have selected our key external project partners. They will play a critical role in supporting our goal of creating a next generation workplace designed to serve our customers at the highest level, retaining and attracting top talent, and igniting creativity, collaboration and industry-leading innovation."

The design architect for the global headquarters is Pickard Chilton Architects, Inc., an international firm known for designing signature buildings. Meanwhile the base building architect for the global headquarters and the design, base and interior architect for the R&D facility is HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC of Minneapolis -- home of Valspar Co. which SHW acquired in 2017. Vocon Partners, LLC of Cleveland is the interior architect for the global headquarters.

SHW's construction manager is a new partnership, Welty Gilbane, formed last year by Welty-Testa Builders, LLC of Akron and the Gilbane Building Co., a global firm with offices in Cleveland. Mark G. Anderson Consultants, Inc. of Washington DC is the project manager, responsible for project controls and will be the owner's representative.

CBRE Inc., a global firm with Cleveland offices, is the real estate and economic development advisor while Columbus-based Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP is the project's legal and economic development counsel. Vorys has an office in Cleveland. Another law firm brought on to assist is San Francisco-based Hanson Bridgett LLP. Rounding out the team is inSITE Advisory Group which serves as the project's economic development advisor. It has an office in the Akron suburb of Fairlawn.

Sites for Sherwin-Williams' new global headquarters
plus research and development facilities (SHW).

If there were any concerns about SHW scaling back its headquarters component because of pandemic-induced interest in remotely working from home, Morikis put those concerns to rest.

"We recognize that the development, engagement and sense of community our employees share has been essential to our success for more than 150 years and would be difficult to sustain over the long-term with a remote-based workforce," he said in newly released press statement.

The HQ will measure about 1 million square feet (not including structured parking), with insiders estimating the main building will tower 45-55 stories high, rivaling the height of the three other Public Square skyscraper -- Key Tower (57 stories), Terminal Tower (52 stories) and 200 Public Square (46 stories). Those three are the city's tallest. Key Tower is the tallest building in the USA between Chicago and the East Coast.

The R&D facility will measure about 500,000 square feet and be part of a mixed-use development called Valor Acres in Brecksville. The R&D facility's construction is estimated to generate about 3,000 jobs while the HQ is projected to create 4,000 construction jobs, SHW says. Permanent jobs are estimated to be more than 3,500 jobs at the HQ with about 500 at the R&D center with room to accommodate future growth, the SHW e-mail reads.

END

Glenville: massive rebuilding reaches nearly "every block"

Jan. 31, 2020 was almost like a rebirthday party for Glenville. It was
the day that the city celebrated the grand opening of the CircleNorth
Apartments and a ground-floor GlenVillage retail incubator. Both were
built by the Finch Group and a result of Mayor Frank Jackson's Neigh-
borhood Transformation Initiative. But the rebirth of Glenville began
years before. Now it is kicking into another gear with developments
on almost every block (Ian Meadows).

Case Western Reserve University student and NEOtrans contributor Tyler Kapusta has been working for the U.S. Census Bureau in recent weeks. Much of his work has him walking the streets of Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood surveying residents. And what he's seeing is remarkable.

While Downtown development gets most of the media attention, Cleveland neighborhoods are getting increasing amounts of real estate investors' dollars. Although not all of it is adding value, most of it is. And yes, most of it is happening in West Side hot spots like Ohio City, Tremont and Detroit-Shoreway. But it's also now happening on the East Side, and not just in the University Circle-Little Italy area.

Increasingly, it's spilling over into Fairfax, Hough and especially into Glenville -- a neighborhood rich with amazing architecture in its historic but long-neglected housing stock. That neglect appears to be coming to an end.

"I've been working for the Census and a lot of the time I've been in this Circle North area" of Glenville, Kapusta said. "You can't even walk a block without seeing at least one renovation, construction or sign for future construction."

One Knez Homes' many developments in Glenville is the Ashbury
Pointe townhomes. Located on Ashbury Avenue at East 120th
Street, the development will offer 19 market-rate townhouses
at full build-out (Tyler Kapusta).

Hundreds of single-family homes, townhouses and apartments are recently completed, under construction/renovation or planned in the Glenville neighborhood that began growing before Cleveland annexed it in 1904.

Jewish immigrants built up Glenville in the early 20th century, comprising 90 percent of the population until the 1950s. That's when African-Americans moved in from the Central neighborhood and the southern states and have been the dominant demographic here ever since. It's the birthplace of pop-culture icons like Superman and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and football stars from Benny Friedman to Troy Smith.

Today, it's being buoyed by its proximity to boomtown University Circle, Lake Erie and the linear Cleveland Cultural Gardens between them. Glenville is also being aided by home buying and renovation programs like Greater Circle Living (GCL) and the city of Cleveland's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI).

Since 2008, GCL provides to employees of Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Judson at University Circle and nearby nonprofit employers up to $30,000 in forgivable loans for the purchase of a home at a 0 percent interest rate. Or, they can get up to $8,000 for exterior home renovations. Applicants should inquire of their employer’s Web site or benefits/human resources department for specific eligibility requirements.

One of 26 homes being built in Glenville by The Orlean
Co. This one was recently completed at 10618 Lee Ave.
and is listed for sale at nearly $270,000 (Tyler Kapusta).

Alternatively NTI began offering in 2017 up to $20,000 in down payment assistance to anyone seeking to buy a house in an NTI-designated neighborhood, including Glenville, Buckeye-Woodhill, East 79th Street corridor or Clark-Fulton.

NTI also has a Senior Home Repair Program in which seniors enrolled in the Homestead program can access up to $17,000 to make home repairs. An applicant cannot tap both the GLC and NTI programs at the same property, however.

Briana Butler, an economic development specialist at the city, has said NTI was Mayor Frank Jackson's intiative to build financial security through home ownership among low-income and minority residents. But it won't be limited to the Circle North area near University Circle.

"We're starting in phases from south of Superior and our plan is to move up, north of St. Clair," said Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell.

A 36-unit Wade Park Townhomes to be built next to the Red
Line rapid transit tracks at Wade Park Avenue and Lakeview
Road evokes a classic design to look like many of Cleveland's
industrial-to-housing conversions. It is across the street from
another Knez development that will be an industrial conver-
sion -- the Hough Bakery complex (CPC).

That is manifesting itself through visible changes in Glenville's landscape. And those changes are many.

As measured by the number of housing units, the biggest developer in Glenville is Knez Homes. Enabled by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, tax abatement and other incentives, Knez is building 30 "infill" homes on vacant lots in Glenville in partnership with the Famicos Foundation. So far, 20 have been built but many more are in the works.

"We probably have a couple hundred (Glenville homes) planned," said Bo Knez, founder and president of Knez Homes. "We were introduced to Glenville through the mayor's initiative (NTI). When we look for development opportunities, one thing we always look for is an economic engine nearby and University Circle is an economic engine. About 38 percent of Glenville's properties are vacant. We thought of it as a great opportunity to bring a quality product here at an affordable price."

In addition to the hundreds of affordable infill homes, Knez is also pursuing several large market-rate developments in the Circle North area. Circle North refers to the southern portion of Glenville. It borders University Circle and Case Western Reserve University, enabling successful development to build off of the anchor institutions.

One of the biggest developments in Glenville may be the redeve-
lopment of the Hough Bakery complex and surrounding parcels
that would bring the total development site to 5+ acres -- a huge
tract of land for an urban site. Knez's Wade Park Townhomes
are proposed to rise at right (Google).

One of Knez's first market-rate investments in the Circle North area was a five-home development, built last year in the 19000 block of Wade Park Avenue -- a section that had as many vacant homes and lots than occupied ones. They listed for $250,000+ and all of them sold before construction was done.

That encouraged Knez to build more. Next up is the 19-unit Ashbury Pointe townhouses, located at East 120th Street and Ashbury Avenue. Four units are under construction now with sale prices above $300,000.

Another Knez project is the Wade Park Townhomes at Wade Park Avenue and Lakeview Road, approved by City Planning Commission in July. The 36-unit market-rate development will be built in two rows on the parking lot for the former Hough Bakery next to the elevated Red Line rapid transit tracks.

Speaking of the old Hough Bakery plant, 1519 Lakeview, Knez is joining forces with Forest City Shuffleboard owner Jim Miketo to develop the 5-acre site, plus numerous adjoining parcels some of which extend into East Cleveland. Knez said he is near to releasing a preliminary plan for redeveloping the bakery which closed in 1992. But he's not ready to reveal potential uses for the large site, yet.

These quadplexes at 1442-1446 East 115th Street are called the
Circle North Apartments @ 115th St. They were acquired and
renovated by Plum Tree Realty of West Chester near Cincinnati
in 2019 and managed by Wright-Cummins Property Manage-
ment LLC of East Cleveland (Tyler Kapusta).

"We're going to be redeveloping the whole block," Knez said. "The city is supportive and the banks are very aggressive in Glenville."

Knez may be the largest developer in the area but it's certainly not the only active one. Another that's busy building homes is The Orlean Co. It is building 26 infill homes on vacant lots throughout Glenville. All of them should be completed next year. Famicos Foundation is also rehabilitating 11 long-vacant homes and putting them back on the market.

Between the public and the private sectors, hundreds of millions of dollars are being pumped into housing, workforce development and entrepreneurship programs in Glenville. Private sector funding is being attracted to the neighborhood by the city's NTI and by Opportunity Zone program funds.

Workforce and entrepreneurship programs are being nurtured by the Cleveland Citywide Development Corp. which offers a subsidized rent structure and technical assistance programming to entrepreneurs housed in an NTI retail incubator called GlenVillage.

Ground is due to be broken in June 2021 for the first phase of
NRP Group's Churchill Gateway Apartments, 10700 Churchill
Ave. The first phase will offer 52 housing units and a Univer-
sity Hospitals outreach center (NRP Group).

This incubator occupies 4,000 square feet within the first floor of the NTI’s first mixed-use real estate development -- Finch Group's $15 million CircleNorth Apartments, 1400 E. 105th St. Interested entrepreneurs can apply for technical assistance training and enter a "pitch competition" where finalists will be selected.

The CircleNorth Apartments opened Jan. 31 with 63 affordable apartments and 13,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Next door, at East 105th and Ashbury, a long-closed gas station was cleared out, the soil cleaned and an attractive public park/commons was constructed by the Cuyahoga Land Bank.

"The stretch goal for University Circle was development activity that would catalyze adjacent markets," said University Circle Inc. President Chris Ronayne. "The strength of our market coupled with innovative programs like GCL and NTI have brought investor confidence back to legacy neighborhoods. The result is a complete Greater Circle community of historic rehabs and new infill construction. It's a win-win."

Glenville is leveraging its proximity to the many health care institutions in University Circle in other ways, too. The Greater Cleveland Fisher House last year opened a 32-unit housing development for the families of veterans receiving treatment in the nearby Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Administration Hospital. This $12 million development was built at East 105th at Orrville Avenue, a block north of the VA Hospital.

An $800,000 renovation is underway of a once-condemned apart-
ment building at 11310 Itasca Ave. by New Frontiers Develop-
ment Group of Cleveland (Tyler Kapusta).

Across Orrville, NRP Group's Churchill Gateway Apartments, 10700 Churchill Ave., are on track for a June 2021 groundbreaking. The $13.5 million first phase will be a four-story apartment building with 48 workforce apartments, four townhomes and a ground-floor University Hospitals outreach center. It will be built on the site of the Harry E. Davis Elementary School that closed in 2006. Phase two will be built on the north side of the lot.

A small apartment building with even smaller apartments was built earlier this year by Rick Maron at 11427 Ashbury. Eight micro-unit apartments measuring about 457 square feet leased out with rents of $1,500 per month. They are furnished and the rent includes parking and utilities.

Farther north, across the street from the St. Clair-Superior Neighborhood, WRJ Developers LLC are planning a 70-unit apartment development called ArkiTainer on 72nd. This would be the first apartment buildings in Cleveland built from repurposed shipping containers.

The $13.8 million, 70-unit residential development would replace several abandoned apartment blocks and vacant lots with three, four-story buildings totaling 51,200 square feet. The developers have acquired four parcels and have options on three others, 887-915 E. 72nd, totaling about 1 acre. The development site is located in the Glenville-Rockefeller Park Innovation District -- a designated Opportunity Zone. 

Front and back views of the condemned Switzer Apartments,
1285 E. 101st St., that overlook the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.
Tax credits were awarded last month to renovate this 98-year-
old apartment building (B&H).

"We are seeking Opportunity Zone Equity and private equity investors to raise 25 percent equity for project financing," WRJ Developers said in a written statement. "WRJ Investment Fund, LLC is prepared to accommodate all Opportunity Zone investors."

"Along with our committed community partners, we collectively express our excitement to help provide new housing and public spaces in this great neighborhood," said City Architecture in a written statement. The Cleveland-based firm has designed many of the improvements in Glenville. "Through the tireless dedication of Famicos, The Finch Group, The Orlean Co., Knez Homes, New Frontiers Development Group and many others, these transformative investments are building community and changing lives."

But it's not just new apartments getting planned and built. Historic walk-up buildings made of brick that faced the wrecking ball are instead getting bought up and renovated throughout Glenville. More are planned.

Through an affiliate, Collinwood resident Abigail Searles recently acquired the 98-year-old Switzer Apartments, 1285 E. 101st St., that overlook the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. She submitted plans to the city this month to renovate the condemned three-story, 15,201-square-foot building with 12 apartments. The $1,043,097 project won $100,000 in tax credits from the Ohio Development Services Agency last month.

There is amazing architecture and history still waiting to be redis-
covered and renovated in Glenville. Many buildings are getting a
second lease on life, be they single-family homes and "Cleveland
Doubles," at left, or the 105-year-old Gothic Revival Notre Dame
Academy, 1325 Ansel Ave., that was spared from the wrecking
ball and renovated into apartments in 2016 (Google).

New Frontiers Development Group, founded by Kevin Alin who relocated to Cleveland from the California Bay Area, is renovating a formerly condemned, three-story, walk-up brick apartment building at 11310 Itasca Ave. with 16 suites for $800,000, according to a city permit. New Frontiers bought the 100-year-old, 17,208-square-foot building for $40,000, public records show.

Those Glenville apartment rescue projects were preceded by even larger, individual efforts by Famicos every couple of years during the 2010s. Starting in 2012, Famicos thoroughly renovated the 1904-built Doan Elementary School for $13 million into the Doan Classroom Apartments, 1350 E. 105th.

Two years later, the 1958-built, nine-story University Towers Apartments, 1575 East Blvd were renovated for $27 million. Then, in 2016, the Notre Dame Apartments, 1325 Ansel Rd., was throroughly renovated for $10.6 milion.

In addition to those affordable housing redevelopment projects, Famicos renovated 13 historic former duplexes into the single-family homes called the Heritage Lane Homes on East 105th between Wade Park and Ashbury. Once complete in 2016, the homes sold for upwards of $300,000.

END

One-million-square-foot mixed-use project planned next to I-271

Cannata Companies is proposing a massive development in
Warrensville Heights on Richmond Road next to Interstate
271. The development would feature offices in blue, plus
residential/hotel in orange, surface and structured parking
in gray and ground-floor retail/restaurants in red (HSB).

Cleveland-area real estate developer Cannata Companies is making a major play at a 14.5-acre site next to Interstate 271 in Warrensville Heights. Envisioned is a 1-million-square-foot, $87-million mixed-use development called SilverPoint.

According to a SilverPoint presentation, the Dodge Reports and information from a preliminary massing graphic, the development could have structures potentially rising from four to 11 stories high for apartments, hotel, offices and ground-floor retail/restaurants.

Through an affiliate Saint-Servan Centre Ltd., Cannata acquired the site from the Little Sisters of the Poor in 2015 for $2.2 million, public records show. Company founder Sam Cannata tends to sit on properties until he or the market determines a use for them.

A 227,640-square-foot 60-year-old building on the site will be demolished by winter. This past February, Saint-Servan Centre secured a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfield assessment and $1 million loan through the Cuyahoga County Department of Development to remediate lead and asbestos-containing materials.

In a written statement, Cannata said the I-271 corridor and especially the Chagrin Highlands area needs more Class A office development. It hasn't seen new office space added in two years since Pinecrest opened on the other side of I-271. The sub-market continues to have low vacancy rates despite the pandemic.

This conceptual site plan appeared in a presentation about
the proposed 1-million-square-foot development. An 11-
story hotel/residential building over a parking garage is
proposed at the top and right next to I-271 with offices
throughout much of the rest of the property (HSB).

"Cleveland’s eastern suburbs accounted for most of the market activity this quarter with the Chagrin Corridor posting a positive net absorption of 89,719 square feet and 110,431 square feet for the year," Colliers International's second-quarter 2020 office market report noted. The vacancy rate in the corridor was 9.4 percent.

"Nestled in our thriving business corridor, our plan is to expand development down Richmond Road to feature Class A office space, retail, and high-end residential housing," said Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers. "It will be exciting to see the transformation, expansion and new additions to the Friendly City in the near future."

Cannata has developed the mixed-use Greens of Aurora, office/industrial at 23590 Commerce Parkway in Beachwood, Vista Way mixed use and the Southside Corporate Centre in Garfield Heights, plus the Hillbrook Estates townhomes in Brecksville.

In 2016, Cannata's Saint-Servan Centre acquired the St. Peter Chanel High School, 480 Northfield Rd. in Bedford, for $700,000 to lease it out for multi-tenant use and sports programs. The school closed in 2013 due to declining enrollment.

But that seemed to be more of an emotional play for Cannata, a former St. Ignatius High School student who played memorable football games against Chanel. Only two years later, Cannata sold Chanel High School to the Bedford school district for $1.4 million which worked with the Cuyahoga Land Bank to demolish the school. Demolition began July 29 of this year.

END

Bridgeworks project likely to retain historic Engineers buildings

 

The Cuyahoga County Engineers' property is outlined in white
in the above image. It is the proposed site of a mixed-use deve-
lopment called Bridgeworks, the programming for which is not
yet finalized by its development team (Google). 

Developers of a proposed mixed-use real estate project at West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue are taking actions that show they are increasingly likely to preserve the three existing historic buildings on the site. But it isn't yet certain how the buildings will be repurposed.

The buildings are the former Cuyahoga County Engineers' laboratory-office building, a maintenance garage, plus an entrance to a station on the long-closed streetcar subway in the lower level of the 1917-built Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The city nominated the buildings for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. To be registered would require a recommendation by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. That recommendation was given at today's commission meeting.

The nomination form was filled out by Cleveland-based LDA Architects Inc. which reportedly was hired by Bridgeworks LLC, a joint venture led by developers Michael Panzica and Graham Veysey. Today's Landmarks Commission's recommendation will be forwarded to Ohio's State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to list the buildings on the national register.

"The nomination is based on the broad patterns of our history and of Cleveland's transportation history," said commission Secretary Donald Petit. "The (Detroit-Superior) bridge is already on the national historic register."

Most of the county engineers buildings are visible in this aerial
view looking north with the Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial
Bridge visible at the bottom. The lab building is at the right, the
maintenance garage in the center, and a portion of the subway
station entrance building is at the left in the trees (Allegro).

During the Landmarks meeting, commission Chair Julie Trott questioned why the lab-office building was included in the nomination.

"I do think it's got an association with the bridge," Petit replied, adding that the lab building is also more than 50 years old, thereby making it eligible for federal and/or state historic tax credits.

Getting listed on the national register will also aid Bridgeworks' efforts to secure historic tax credits for the renovation of the historic structures. The credits would be added to the still-emerging capital stack for the development of the overall 2-acre county property, according to two sources familiar with the project but were not authorized to speak on the record.

Also still emerging is the programming for the development site. An apartment building up to 10 stories tall is reportedly being considered that could also include other uses in that building, a separate new building or in the historic structures. The ancillary uses could offer a mix of a boutique hotel, ground-floor retail/restaurants or possibly other commercial space.

According to the zoning code, the height district for the development is a "Five" meaning that buildings up to 250 feet tall can be built here. United Community Developers is taking advantage of that change to pursue construction of a 27-story apartment tower called The Viaduct across Superior Viaduct from the Bridgeworks site. The city recently changed the height district here from a "Three" which allowed buildings up to 115 feet high.

The tallest building on the county engineers' property is the former
materials testing laboratory and office building. It is connected to
the older maintenance garage at right. This view looks south from
Superior Viaduct, a street that may soon see a 27-story apartment
tower rise behind the view of the photographer (Google).

With Bridgeworks' programming still undetermined, the site plan is also in a state of flux. As recently as last month, the developers considered demolishing the three former county buildings and starting fresh with a blank slate.

"They're still working through their proposed programming and design," Petit said.

Keeping and renovating the historic buildings have their own challenges. Constructing new buildings that physically touch the historic structures could raise the ire of the SHPO and put historic tax credits in jeopardy. So the development team's challenge may be to conjure a plan that integrates new structures with the existing buildings without physical contact, the sources said.

Neither Panzica or Veysey would comment on the Landmarks Commission's action or how they plan to repurpose the three former county engineers' buildings. 

Bridgeworks won a 2019 bid from the county to acquire the county's property. NEOtrans broke the story about the property becoming available and, later, that a partnership led by Panzica won the bid. Title to the property has yet to transfer to Bridgeworks LLC or an affiliate however the former Superior Viaduct street right of way through the site was vacated last year, public records show.

This is the county engineers' maintenance garage. Above the
center of the Art Moderne-designed building is an engraving
that reads "1941 Cuyahoga County" (Google).

In total, the three buildings offer 21,616 square feet of usable space, county records show. The three-story, 1964-built county engineers' materials testing laboratory is the tallest building. Petit said the maintenance garage was designed in the Art Moderne style and built in 1941. And the subway station entrance building originally dates to 1917 but was updated in 1939. It opens up another world of potential opportunities.

"The subway connection will remain," Petit said.

The streetcar subway was closed to rail traffic in January 1954 when the Madison Avenue line out to Riverside Drive in Lakewood via Bridge Avenue was the last streetcar route in Greater Cleveland to be converted to bus operation. That left the four-track subway deck (with enough room for two more tracks) without a public purpose -- other than structurally supporting the overhead roadway deck.

After the Detroit-Superior bridge was rebuilt for the city's bicentennial in 1996, the subway deck was re-opened at least once a year for public, self-guided walking tours, historical displays and interactive art exhibitions. To the south of the bridge, properties and funding are being amassed for the $100 million Irishtown Bend Park and hill stabilization effort.

The Bridgeworks site is between two development hotbeds. One is Hingetown where a development built or planned since 2000 occupies nearly every block. The other hotbed is Flats West Bank where high rises, riverfront development and public spaces are under active planning and development.

END