Greater Cleveland TOD initiative on track

A Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Blue Line train coasts
into the Warrensville Station in Shaker Heights at the east end of the
line where the $100 million first phase of the Van Aken District was
under construction  in 2018. Phase two is now under way and will
deliver two high-rise apartments just one block away (AAO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A new initiative has started that, if successful, could reverse decades of urban sprawl, a hollowing out of Greater Cleveland’s urban core and an erosion of its transit system. It would also address a wide variety of problems that hurt the region’s environment, economy and human health. The new initiative would accomplish that by encouraging more accessible, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use developments along high-frequency transit corridors in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.

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CWRU seeks $300M research center

A vision for the Case Quad as shown in Case Western Reserve University’s
2018 masterplan. The university’s proposed new research center, now
envisioned to be larger than what was proposed four years ago, is at
right. This view looks southeast across the Case Quad (Sasaki).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

At an alumni event earlier this week, Case Western Reserve University President Eric Kaler announced that the university has begun philanthropic fundraising to construct a new $300 million Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building. The new research facility was part of the university’s campus masterplan that was completed in 2018 but various components of it, including the expanded South Campus Residential Village now under construction, were delayed by the pandemic.

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Death of Public Square's parking lot

The former Jacobs Lot, a surface parking lot on downtown Cleveland’s
Public Square, had endured for 30 years. That era came to an end this
week as construction crews ripped up the lot’s asphalt to make way for
the pavilion/welcome center for Sherwin-Williams’ new global head-
quarters. This lot was the last of three parcels to see HQ-related con-
struction start. Terminal Tower and the SHW HQ’s tower crane stand
 in the background (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Work crews this week began pulling up asphalt pavement from the parking lot on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, ending a three-decade use that some urbanists considered an embarrassment to the city. It is the last of three project component sites to see construction start for the new Sherwin-Williams (SHW) headquarters. Work is now occurring on each of the three sites simultaneously with a eye toward completion in late-2024.

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Two old Hough walk-ups: two fates

Looking south on East 89th Street, two 1920-built apartment buildings stand
across the street from each other. Each faces a decidedly different future. The
one on the left is structurally unsound and likely to be demolished. The building
at right will be renovated and expanded with workforce apartments (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Two century-old, walk-up apartment buildings face each other on East 89th Street in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. One is structurally unsound and in danger of collapse after it was neglected by a so-called foundation facing a huge unpaid tax bill. The other will have its renovation and expansion plan reviewed by a committee of the City Planning Commission starting this week after it was bought by a successful, civic-minded local investor.

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Cleveland Clinic’s big projects are on the move

This aerial view of the Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus shows the
addition of more than $1.3 billion worth of new construction and
renovation projects. It includes a conceptual redevelopment of the
former Cleveland Play House site in the foreground. But this is an
evolving masterplan as the overhead view at the end of the article
indicates (CCF). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

To say that the Cleveland Clinic has a lot of development activity happening would be a major understatement. And some of that $1.3 billion worth of construction at its Main Campus is already starting to manifest itself on the landscape.

This week, the Clinic is starting site preparation work for its massive new Neurological Institute on Carnegie Avenue. It also delivered plans to the city for its expanded Cole Eye Institute to be reviewed starting next week. The health care system has been prepping the site for the first phase of its new pathogens center. And it is finalizing plans for a full or partial demolition and redevelopment of the ex-Cleveland Play House property, the details for which could be released this fall.

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Ukrainian refugees seek, offer hope

Ukrainian-Americans, refugees of the Russo-Ukrainian War plus their
families and friends gathered Aug. 5-7 for the annual Pokrova Ukrainian
Festival at the Pokrova Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Parma. It was
the largest turnout in recent memory, including before the pandemic. The
number of attendees, including a large number of younger families and
children, was apparently boosted by the arrival of so many war refugees
to Greater Cleveland (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

While NEOtrans normally covers real estate developments and other business activities in Greater Cleveland, we also occasionally cover economic trends. Those trends, such as the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County adding more working-age population and creating more jobs than many Sunbelt economic powerhouses, also drive business growth and real estate development.

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Shaker Hts, developer reach deal for ex-car dealership site

 Metropolitan Holdings Ltd. of Columbus plans to build next to
 the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights a 250,000-square-foot
  mixed-use development with 140 mixed-income residences
above 18,000 square feet of retail and office uses (RDL).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

The City of Shaker Heights has entered into a preliminary agreement with a Columbus-based developer interested in constructing an architecturally distinctive, mixed-use building on vacant city-owned land, formerly the Qua Buick-Pontiac car dealership, across Warrensville Center Road from the existing first phase of the Van Aken District.

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