University Circle inks property deal with developer

Brent Zimmerman, a real estate developer and co-founder of Saucy
Brew Works, signed a ground lease today with University Circle Inc.
that opens the door to a planned multi-story, mixed-use development
on Stokes Boulevard. This is an old rendering of the proposed deve-
lopment which Zimmerman pledged will be at least as dense as this
(Maison). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM 

On his second-to-last day as president of University Circle Inc. (UCI), Chris Ronayne signed a ground lease agreement with real estate developer Brent Zimmerman Development LLC for a proposed mixed-use development. The lease includes a triangular piece of land measuring about 2.2 acres and bounded by Stokes Boulevard, Cedar Avenue and East 107th Street. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

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Lake-Detroit site bought by Rochester, NY developer

This high-profile property at Detroit and Lake avenues in Cleveland's
Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood just sold to a Rochester, NY develo-
per with deep pockets and an interest in developing the vacant site.
And it's not the neighborhood's only property in play. There are mul-
tiple developments in the works within a few blocks of here (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A vacant property at a high-profile intersection on Cleveland’s West Side recently sold to a Rochester, NY developer with deep pockets. Although a decision hasn’t apparently been made on what will be developed at the corner of Detroit and Lake avenues, housing is the preferred use. It’s the latest of several potential developments within a few blocks of this site that could offer a mix of housing choices, retailers and jobs in a walkable, transit-friendly setting near Edgewater Park.

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Cleveland & Columbus to field nearly all of the TMUDs

Will Cleveland dominate the list of Transformational Mixed Use Develop-
ment applicants and winners statewide, resulting in a forest of construction
cranes across the city in the next year or so? Or will Cleveland projects get
 left out of this first round of tax credit awards, only to watch other Ohio
cities dominate? What Cleveland projects will be submitted and how
likely are their victories? What is their competition? (Brivar) 

Cleveland and Columbus are shaping up to field most of Ohio’s Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) projects. Cleveland is where the TMUD was originally brainstormed and where its authorizing legislation was drafted. And it’s apparently where most of the potential TMUD projects lie in wait.

For those who don’t regularly follow this blog, a TMUD is a mega-project. It’s a real estate development that’s big, complicated, expensive and difficult to do with just private dollars and conventional public subsidies.

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nuCLEus may lose its largest pledged tenant to Key Tower

This is the most recent proposed version of One nuCLEus
Place, a 24-story office tower atop a podium of parking
and retail planned in downtown Cleveland. This proposal
spurred the creation of a new state program to support the
development of large, complicated projects that could posi-
tively transform their communities. But the largest announ-
ced tenant for nuCLEus appears to be courting a new land-
lord and could further frustrate long-standing efforts to
develop this project (Stark).

One the eve of submitting applications for a new state tax-credit program to aid transformational real estate projects, the project that instigated the program is facing a major stumbling block. However, NuCLEus, announced seven years ago, is still alive but in what form isn’t publicly known.

One of Cleveland’s largest law firms, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, is reportedly considering moving its offices and hundreds of employees to Cleveland’s tallest and most prestigious skyscraper — Key Tower, 127 Public Square.

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Data shows downtown residential is hot

Downtown Cleveland’s residential market has proven resilient in
the face of recent crises. Now it is on course to break through the
30,000 population ceiling by the end of the 2020s which should
attract more employers and neighborhood-style retailers, perhaps
even some regional retailers as well (LoopNet).

 If you spend too much time on social media, you might encounter a few folks who are under the false impression that parts of downtown Cleveland burned to the ground during the nationwide racial unrest last year. But while downtown’s commercial market is still recovering from the ongoing pandemic, the residential market is hot. You might even say it’s on fire.

Three data sets confirm this. One is downtown’s population, which is now above 20,000 people using the only resource that matters — the U.S. Census. Another is a recent CoStar report that says downtown apartment demand is on pace for a record-breaking year. The third data set comes from a unique source.

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Flats East Bank plans reveal $84 million project

Plans were shared with NEOtrans today for Kenect Cleveland, the
proposed next phase of development of downtown Cleveland's Flats
East Bank. This conceptual rendering by Goettsch Partners for de-
veloper Akara Partners, both of Chicago, shows a wide-angled view
looking generally east from the intersection of Front Street on the
left and West 11th Street on the right. Currently occupying the site
is a 173-space, 2.45-acre surface parking lot (GP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

The next phase of development at Flats East Bank has undergone some refining in the last couple of years as the pandemic and technological advances have affected the real estate market. Although the plan was always to build a mixed-use but residential-focused structure, this next phase (dubbed by some as Phase 3B), has been pruned somewhat.

With an early construction cost estimate of $84.4 million and a project size of 213,376 square feet, Kenect Cleveland is still a significant project. The seven-story building is proposed to have 229 market-rate apartments above three levels of parking with 229 spaces, plus 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and a leasing office of 5,000 square feet.

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Cleveland Indians may buy garage for ‘ballpark village’ development

With an office-like façade along Huron Road, the massive Gateway East Garage extends
south along the East 7th Street alley and then west along Bolivar Road, behind Progres-
sive Field’s scoreboard. The Cleveland Indians/Guardians may acquire the 1994-built
city-owned parking garage in 2024-25 and sell or partner with a real estate
investor to redevelop it (GoogleEarth).

As part of its ballpark renovation plan, the Cleveland Indians may acquire one of the largest parking garages in downtown Cleveland. The city-owned, 1,650-space Gateway East Garage, 650 Huron Rd., might then be sold to a real estate investor who would demolish some or all of the structure for redevelopment, according to two sources.

Both sources spoke off the record to NEOtrans and outlined the Major League Baseball (MLB) team’s vision for financing $435 million worth of proposed renovations to the 1994-built Progressive Field. The Indians (to be called Guardians after this season) in August signed a public-private partnership deal with the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio to remain at Progressive Field for at least another 15 years after the club’s current lease expires following the 2023 season. Two optional five-year lease extensions are included.

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