Good morning to all. I've followed urban Ohio for some time and finally joined the fray.

 

Now correct me if I am wrong, but the renovation of the building to the west of the former Palazzo restaurant right at the corner or Berea road and Detroit is seeing some results. On the street level, one of the storefronts that was previously sealed up is now restored with pane glass and is visible inside to be a laundromat.

 

Encouraging sign for the neighborhood.

 

It's very cool to see progress, I especially like the balcony/deck they installed.

 

Welcome to the forum!!

Welcome, Sjwillsey2222!

I've been biking through this area all summer long and it feels as an up and coming low income neighborhood with serious potential.

 

I even took my daughter to the Cuddell Recreation Center's pool and water park.

 

This neighborhood is very diverse (white, black, Hispanic) and everyone I've run into so far has been very nice and courteous.

 

I'm glad they are redoing these buildings and I hope for even more to happen in the neighborhood.

I think the city should ask itself if Detroit Ave really needs to be seven (!!) lanes wide ride there.

 

This area is unfortunately a huge cut through at rush hour. Because the innerbelt backs up daily, many commuters take I-90 to 2 and then go up West Blvd and reconnect to 90 West and vice versa for the opposite commute. You've got a turn lane for West Blvd (that regularly is so long that it takes up the second lane), and then another turn lane for Berea Road, then two through lanes that immediately go to one at the Chicle building.

 

Sadly Cleveland just recently EXPANDED West Blvd northbound to 2 lanes a few weeks ago north of Detroit. They did this by removing street parking, shrinking a turn lane, and repainting stripes.

 

The increased cut through traffic the past 2 years has been unreal. But there's always been problem for pedestrians trying to cross at both West Blvd/Detroit intersections to get to the rapid stop. Anytime you've got a pedestrian walkway crossing a multi-lane turn you're going to get safety issues. Currently, you can only cross Detroit on the west side of West Blvd from the rapid stop, but many people will still try to cross on the east side where there are no markings.

 

The terrace rowhouse rehabs look really great, but I wonder how long the facades will be kept up. I'm hoping some attractive landscaping in the spring time will help. This neighborhood anywhere else would be insanely different. You have direct rail access to downtown Cleveland (11 mins) Direct access to Hopkins Airport (15 mins) direct access to Lake Erie and Edgewater Park, yes that's just 5 blocks to the north without any impediments! You have a ton of medium to high density apartments (half vacant) surrounding a rapid stop. You have a historic commercial strip. You have gorgeous tree lined streets with beautiful homes. Any 5 story or taller apartment building would have Lake Erie views here as it sits just on the secondary lake edge bluff.

 

Theoretically this should be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Cleveland and if this were any other large city it would be. Yet it blows my mind how this is arguably the worst section of Detroit Avenue, and the neighborhood is not on Cleveland's long list of up an coming areas.

 

However, I would say that if we were to have a sudden energy crisis, that could be a huge game changer for the neighborhood. It has all the elements needed that make a neighborhood successful, it's just severely lacking investment. A sudden jolt in the price of oil and rest assured, this will be one of the first areas in Cleveland to see development, rehabs, and an influx of new residents as a sound infrastructure is already in place.

I wonder if when the second Innerbelt bridge is built and the Innerbelt trench widened, if it will reduce traffic here as well, since that project is meant to reduce congestion amongst other things.

It most definitely will.  Lots of people using West Blvd to cut from 90 to the Shoreway.  Once the Innerbelt is done the reduction in traffic should be very noticeable, which further supports the argument to reduce it to a boulevard and get rid of the freeway section.

Well said, WestBLVD. Alas, I suspect the cut-through traffic is what is holding back that neighborhood. Even before the Inner Belt construction, many West Park residents heading to downtown came this way, via Triskett-Berea-Detroit-West Blvd-Baltic-Shoreway. A little traffic calming on Detroit Avenue in the vicinity of the Rapid station could do wonders. Even a landscaped median like on Bagley Road near Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea would help a lot.

^^^WestBLVD, I totally agree with you and, as Bill Clinton would say: feel your pain.  It is frustrating why a neighborhood with so many pluses has basically been left to go to seed... The good news, of course, is that developers like the Marouses are nibbling at the edges; rehabbing these beautiful old row/terrace buildings in the area (including those next to the Rapid tracks on the opposite side of the lot where the demolished factory was).  You've got Chicle on the other side of the RR tracks, with Edgewater, on one flank and Detroit Shoreway on the other.  You'd have to believe spillover is going to positively affect Cudell at some point.

The apartment renovation at West and Madison looks great! There seems to slowly be more investment into the neighborhood, but as stated, the walkability can be terrible!

^the entire front side of this development is along Madison, which has excellent walkability.  Too bad it's all rundown storefronts & pawnshops....

 

The railroad tracks, both Norfolk Southern & the RTA tracks, really sever this neighborhood from the rest of the Edgewater area.  Going on the north side of the tracks by Baltic, you're back to solid single family homes and decent neighborhoods...

^the entire front side of this development is along Madison, which has excellent walkability.  Too bad it's all rundown storefronts & pawnshops....

 

The railroad tracks, both Norfolk Southern & the RTA tracks, really sever this neighborhood from the rest of the Edgewater area.  Going on the north side of the tracks by Baltic, you're back to solid single family homes and decent neighborhoods...

 

Right but all that single family along the tracks between the tracks and Detroit could use a boost.

 

And that stretch of Detroit going East from West Blvd. to Lake (and south of Detroit) is no bargain either.

The north Cudell area is definitely a rough spot that needs to be redeveloped in order for the west side neighborhoods to attain some cohesiveness. Right now this area is basically a pocket of ghetto between the the stable Lakewood/Edgewater area and the up-and-coming Detroit-Shoreway area.

 

I think it will take some larger scale developments with vision to turn this area around since people and businesses will have more confidence in numbers. Some Battery Park type infill in the triangle shaped area located south of Detroit, north of the RTA tracks, and west of 85th Street would be a good start.

 

Taking things a step further, I would really like to see a new Red Line stop at 85th Street just north of Madison along with new mixed used buildings and townhomes (built along and north of Madison between W 98th and W. 65th). This would be a great TOD spot! Unfortunately I doubt this is something I will ever see happen, nor is it something the City of Cleveland and the RTA would have the vision to proactively explore.

 

we should build up around the west/detroit intersection at the RTA stop, like other cities do.  Start with the easy transport spots.

we should build up around the west/detroit intersection at the RTA stop, like other cities do.  Start with the easy transport spots.

 

I would like to see the West/Detroit area built up with TOD as well, but given the street width and traffic flow I don't think it will be an easy task or an easy sell to the community. Sadly this intersection has been screwed up by accommodating the automobile, and I'm sure there would be opposition to narrowing Detroit Ave and slowing down traffic. The West Blvd stop also does not flow very well into the surrounding neighborhoods due to the railroad and street layouts. I would bet the West Blvd stop was put there because it was a cheap place to put it and it could accommodated parking and bus connections.

 

W. 85th and Madison on the other hand blends right into an existing residential neighborhood and it would make for a very good pedestrian corridor (some commercial buildings already exist here). I know there is the cost of building a new Red Line stop here, but if you're going to restructure the West/Detroit intersection to make it TOD then it would also require a new station to make it more pedestrian oriented.

 

Anyway, I think both of these stations could be justifiable since they're about 1/2 mile apart which is pretty typical for urban rail station spacing. I'm not saying that the West Blvd station should go away.

^well not ALL over town.  Some places still need to sit in decline for a few decades till appropriate population and demand warrant redevelopment....  I think at least 1 main artery on the west side like Detroit would be supported though. 

Well, it isn't NOT a Cudell development. 

 

What do the intersections accomplish?  Allow people to cross the roadway?  They already can.  Allow people to drive to the Edgewater Park?  They already can.  Sounds like a lot of money and a lot of hassle to trim a couple minutes off those journeys.  What Cudell and Edgewater both need is direct investment in TOD.  The T- part of the TOD already exists in these neighborhoods, so we need to start targeting our spending on the -D instead.  Meanwhile there are other areas that need new transit or new roads or both.  Seems like the argument behind the shoreway converison amounts to "forget all that, because Boulevard Vibrant Greenspace!"

 

One word.  Livability.

 

KJP and some others have mentioned reducing the freight traffic and the eventual removal of the Main Ave Bridge.  All this would tie together to expand the green space and attract residents. 

 

I don't disagree with TOD or beautifying Detroit Ave, but they won't increase the livability of the area.  You don't see young people flocking to live along Euclid Ave (at least between E 30th and E 105). 

 

In a perfect world we'd do both.  But we all know Cleveland is far from a perfect world.

The Shoreway Conversion and 'Sim City' posts have been removed; this thread is for discussion of *actual* construction (or at the very least, serious proposals) in Cudell/West Boulevard. If you want to create a thread about "Ideas to Improve Cudell/West Blvd", start one in the City Discussions section.

 

For those of you who have previously received warnings about taking threads off-topic, you're on thin ice. The holidays are approaching and my Mods would love to not have to spend every other minute pruning threads that have gone off-topic. Think before you post.

 

 

Project update.

Detroit Ave side of the Neil Terraces

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed the Palazzo is up for sale.  Sign says "own a Cleveland Landmark" (or something to that effect).

^^ I think Marous did an amazing job on those porch-balconies. I asked my friend (Marous employee) if he do the same design for my place. He said it would be way out of my price range.

 

From today's Cudell Snippets email newsletter........

 

Public Meeting Tonight on West Blvd. & Clifton Residential Development

 

The redevelopment of a vacant plot of land on the southwest corner of West Blvd. and Clifton Blvd. will be discussed tonight at 6:30 PM at Cudell Recreation Center by Councilwoman Dona Brady and developer Mark Kearny.  Located in the Clifton Boulevard and West Boulevard Historic District, the highly desirable location has been the site of several buildings over the years.  The public is invited.

 

Also, see:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4446.0.html

So what I heard was:

 

A conncected building with one entrance facing West Blvd. and one entrance facing Clifton made to look like local housing stock.  Each will have an underground garage.  Need  a zoning variance to combine the two parcels.  They are not presold and the developer is looking to begin construction asap.  2400 sq/ft each expected starting price to be 350k.

So what I heard was:

 

A conncected building with one entrance facing West Blvd. and one entrance facing Clifton made to look like local housing stock.  Each will have an underground garage.  Need  a zoning variance to combine the two parcels.  They are not presold and the developer is looking to begin construction asap.  2400 sq/ft each expected starting price to be 350k.

 

I assume this be on the NW corner of Clifton/West Blvd, all other corners are "occupied."

SW corner.

 

 

SW corner.

 

 

Yes.  :oops: I meant to say that.

Aren't these townhouses the same style as the ones selling for over $200,000 in the Detroit Shoreway area? They are more energy efficient due to shared walls, have less upkeep than a large lot house.  From what I have been reading, this is the type of home that young adults and empty nesters are looking for.  I think this area around Cudell and West Blvd., will be sought after soon.  There is also supposed  to be some transit oriented development near W.116th and Madison. It will be an apartment building for people 55 and over. It could be the beginning of more development in that area.

Aren't these townhouses the same style as the ones selling for over $200,000 in the Detroit Shoreway area? They are more energy efficient due to shared walls, have less upkeep than a large lot house.  From what I have been reading, this is the type of home that young adults and empty nesters are looking for.  I think this area around Cudell and West Blvd., will be sought after soon.  There is also supposed  to be some transit oriented development near W.116th and Madison. It will be an apartment building for people 55 and over. It could be the beginning of more development in that area.

 

I've heard some noise about that Madison-West 116th. That would be awesome. I think that area offers the best TOD opportunity outside of UC and Ohio City.

What is the obsession with senior housing in that area?

^ My guess?  Easy tax credits.  They are low income qualified and the units cost less to maintain with seniors in them. 

 

I guess IF the rents supported a Market Rate development they would do it and I'm guessing Lakewood tax rates are one of many other impediments.

 

 

What is the obsession with senior housing in that area?

 

What other senior housing exists? I can only think of three other large senior apartment buildings nearby -- Fedor Manor at 12400 Madison Ave., Kirby Manor at 11500 Detroit Ave., and Clifton Plaza, 11430 Clifton Blvd. Consider the population density of this area, I'm surprised there aren't more. And considering the increasing retirements of the Baby Boomers, the demand for senior housing is only going to grow more. If it is built next to Rapid stations along with other basic retail/supportive services, then I'm all for it!

At the annual Cudell/Edgewater CDC meeting this month, this project was presented as a T.O.D. I am in this demographic and welcome more of this type of housing. For anyone interested, there is a preview and open house coming up. This is from Cudell Snippets email newsletter:

 

NRP Group to Share Senior Residential Housing Plans on January 29th

 

Cudell Improvement, Inc. will host an Open House so interested parties  may view the preliminary plans for a proposed senior housing building at the corner of West 116 and Madison Avenue on Wednesday, January 29 from 11 AM - 1 PM at 9815 Lorain Avenue.  The public is welcome.

 

 

Which corner?  They all appear to be built out.

I plan to stop by tomorrow and will post when I find out more. 

I am guess it's the NE corner. Several properties changed hands here in 2010, acquired by Eyad Al Faleh of 10301 Lake Ave #425, CLEVELAND. He appears to be the owner of a company called Phone Express.  http://efile.mpsc.state.mi.us/efile/docs/14475/0005.pdf

 

There is also a property at the NE corner, owned by Siranoush Alajajian, which he bought in 2009. It's a small 0.06-acre property for a glass block company zoned for semi-industry but the 2020 Citywide Plan Land Use Plan for this property shows multi-family. Yet it is surrounded by the Eyad Al Faleh properties which are zoned semi-industry and the land use plan proposes to continue that.

DeanSheen, you are right about the tax credits. The apartments will be one and two bedroom units going renting for $500 and $700 per month.  Tenants must qualify based on age, income and asset limits. I looked at the drawing at the meeting and it appears the building  will be on the Northwest corner with the entrance facing W.116th with parking in back. The website does say W. 117th and Madison, but the drawing at the meeting showed the front of the building facing W.116th.

 

The developer thinks there is a market for this type of housing in the area. I'd really like to see more buildings with retail on the first floor and apartments or condos on the upper floors similar to what is being built around Cleveland State University. This development does not include retail.

 

For pictures and more information:

www.apfuhousing.com

Far from great, but far better than what's there.  As for retail, I think we need to be strategic about where it goes- it needs a lot of traffic, and it needs to be located close enough to other retail to make for critical mass.  I don't know that W. 116th/Madison counts, though W.117th and Madison is a different case.

Yes, it is better than nothing.  Has anyone else read "The End of the Suburbs" by Leigh Gallagher? If she is right, I think we will see some more market demand for denser housing near transit soon in Cleveland.

 

For more information on the developer see:

www.nrpgroup.com

Yes, it is better than nothing.  Has anyone else read "The End of the Suburbs" by Leigh Gallagher? If she is right, I think we will see some more market demand for denser housing near transit soon in Cleveland.

 

For more information on the developer see:

www.nrpgroup.com

 

Also see this article:

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/urbantransitstations013014.aspx

I think the city should ask itself if Detroit Ave really needs to be seven (!!) lanes wide ride there.

 

This area is unfortunately a huge cut through at rush hour. Because the innerbelt backs up daily, many commuters take I-90 to 2 and then go up West Blvd and reconnect to 90 West and vice versa for the opposite commute. You've got a turn lane for West Blvd (that regularly is so long that it takes up the second lane), and then another turn lane for Berea Road, then two through lanes that immediately go to one at the Chicle building.

 

Sadly Cleveland just recently EXPANDED West Blvd northbound to 2 lanes a few weeks ago north of Detroit. They did this by removing street parking, shrinking a turn lane, and repainting stripes.

 

The increased cut through traffic the past 2 years has been unreal. But there's always been problem for pedestrians trying to cross at both West Blvd/Detroit intersections to get to the rapid stop. Anytime you've got a pedestrian walkway crossing a multi-lane turn you're going to get safety issues. Currently, you can only cross Detroit on the west side of West Blvd from the rapid stop, but many people will still try to cross on the east side where there are no markings.

 

The terrace rowhouse rehabs look really great, but I wonder how long the facades will be kept up. I'm hoping some attractive landscaping in the spring time will help. This neighborhood anywhere else would be insanely different. You have direct rail access to downtown Cleveland (11 mins) Direct access to Hopkins Airport (15 mins) direct access to Lake Erie and Edgewater Park, yes that's just 5 blocks to the north without any impediments! You have a ton of medium to high density apartments (half vacant) surrounding a rapid stop. You have a historic commercial strip. You have gorgeous tree lined streets with beautiful homes. Any 5 story or taller apartment building would have Lake Erie views here as it sits just on the secondary lake edge bluff.

 

Theoretically this should be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Cleveland and if this were any other large city it would be. Yet it blows my mind how this is arguably the worst section of Detroit Avenue, and the neighborhood is not on Cleveland's long list of up an coming areas.

 

However, I would say that if we were to have a sudden energy crisis, that could be a huge game changer for the neighborhood. It has all the elements needed that make a neighborhood successful, it's just severely lacking investment. A sudden jolt in the price of oil and rest assured, this will be one of the first areas in Cleveland to see development, rehabs, and an influx of new residents as a sound infrastructure is already in place.

 

Just happened going through the older posts, and feel this one bears repeating... Just recently drove around the Cuddel neighborhood during the 4th holiday and was pleased to see it's slow but steady improvement.  Marous Bros' rehab of the old 1890s-built Oppmann Terraces along West Blvd (with 116 total units!!) has lifted those sagging, but amazing buildings considerably (I noted a laundromat in the Detroit facade of the buildings) and, at the south end, a new-ish CVS (I hadn't noticed before) a block away on Madison Ave, seems to have kinda pumped a little life in this sadly blighted, yet still beautiful (architecturally), dense neighborhood... note: there's a really cool old Philly style short row house directly across from the CVS.  I share WestBlvd's sentiment that this area seems to have a ton going for it as an urban, walkable, transit friendly (and hell, BEACH friendly) neighborhood.  I just hope and pray it'll get there.

I think the city should ask itself if Detroit Ave really needs to be seven (!!) lanes wide ride there.

 

This area is unfortunately a huge cut through at rush hour. Because the innerbelt backs up daily, many commuters take I-90 to 2 and then go up West Blvd and reconnect to 90 West and vice versa for the opposite commute. You've got a turn lane for West Blvd (that regularly is so long that it takes up the second lane), and then another turn lane for Berea Road, then two through lanes that immediately go to one at the Chicle building.

 

Sadly Cleveland just recently EXPANDED West Blvd northbound to 2 lanes a few weeks ago north of Detroit. They did this by removing street parking, shrinking a turn lane, and repainting stripes.

 

The increased cut through traffic the past 2 years has been unreal. But there's always been problem for pedestrians trying to cross at both West Blvd/Detroit intersections to get to the rapid stop. Anytime you've got a pedestrian walkway crossing a multi-lane turn you're going to get safety issues. Currently, you can only cross Detroit on the west side of West Blvd from the rapid stop, but many people will still try to cross on the east side where there are no markings.

 

The terrace rowhouse rehabs look really great, but I wonder how long the facades will be kept up. I'm hoping some attractive landscaping in the spring time will help. This neighborhood anywhere else would be insanely different. You have direct rail access to downtown Cleveland (11 mins) Direct access to Hopkins Airport (15 mins) direct access to Lake Erie and Edgewater Park, yes that's just 5 blocks to the north without any impediments! You have a ton of medium to high density apartments (half vacant) surrounding a rapid stop. You have a historic commercial strip. You have gorgeous tree lined streets with beautiful homes. Any 5 story or taller apartment building would have Lake Erie views here as it sits just on the secondary lake edge bluff.

 

Theoretically this should be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Cleveland and if this were any other large city it would be. Yet it blows my mind how this is arguably the worst section of Detroit Avenue, and the neighborhood is not on Cleveland's long list of up an coming areas.

 

However, I would say that if we were to have a sudden energy crisis, that could be a huge game changer for the neighborhood. It has all the elements needed that make a neighborhood successful, it's just severely lacking investment. A sudden jolt in the price of oil and rest assured, this will be one of the first areas in Cleveland to see development, rehabs, and an influx of new residents as a sound infrastructure is already in place.

 

Just happened going through the older posts, and feel this one bears repeating... Was just recently drove around the Cuddel neighborhood during the 4th holiday and was pleased to see it's slow but steady improvement.  Marous Bros' rehab of the old 1890s-built Oppmann Terraces along West Blvd (with 116 total units!!) has lifted those sagging, but amazing buildings considerably (I noted a laundromat in the Detroit facade of the buildings) and, at the south end, a new-ish CVS (I hadn't noticed before) a block away on Madison Ave, seems to have kinda pumped a little life in this sadly blighted, yet still beautiful (architecturally), dense neighborhood... note: there's a really cool old Philly style short row house directly across from the CVS.  I share WestBlvd's sentiment that this area seems to have a ton going for it as an urban, walkable, transit friendly (and hell, BEACH friendly) neighborhood.  I just hope and pray it'll get there.

If things continue for the city the way they have been the last couple of years, I completely see that happening. The lower price-point neighborhoods will be the next rehabs as it gets more expensive in DS and OC. Cudell has as much (or more) potential as Clark-Fulton and Brooklyn Center.

^That gives me hope JJames... and again, I think little things (my term), like that CVS on Madison are actually big things, for they pump life into a decayed area.  That stretch of Madison, which really has some of Cleveland's most unique and beautiful high-density/residential and mixed use architecture, for too long has had that 'badlands' moniker attached to it.

I agree. I plan to focus on redeveloping properties around the city so I've been trying to do as much research as I can to actually make money doing it as well haha.

I'd love to see the WestBlvd, Desmond, Lake, Detroit area get gentrified.

 

 

I guess I'm just not as hopeful for the area. There are still hundreds of acres of industrial land just sitting idle.

This new house is proposed to be built on the vacant parcel at the SW corner of Clifton and West Boulevard.....

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/agenda/2014/12112014/index.php

 

Cleveland Landmarks Commission

CITY HALL - ROOM 514 - 9:00 AM

AGENDA - December 11, 2014

 

Clifton-West Boulevard Historic District: Case 14-052

10111 Clifton Boulevard

New house construction

 

Interesting--I thought it was supposed to be town homes there.

Interesting--I thought it was supposed to be town homes there.

 

So did I.

Interesting--I thought it was supposed to be town homes there.

 

So did I.

 

There was a public meeting at Alcott months ago about this.

 

Never were going to be townhomes.

 

They require a variance so that they dont have to build 2 homes on that lot.  The proposal is to have 2 homes, one facing each street, with a common wall.

 

 

Interesting--I thought it was supposed to be town homes there.

 

So did I.

 

There was a public meeting at Alcott months ago about this.

 

Never were going to be townhomes.

 

They require a variance so that they dont have to build 2 homes on that lot.  The proposal is to have 2 homes, one facing each street, with a common wall.

 

Thanks for the update Dean!

 

So that drawing above is for two residential units? If so and they're connected by a common wall, sounds like townhouses to me!