They look totally appropriate and in context for this specific street and neighborhood based on the draftsmpics and maplink provided by GIS guy above. Also we like each has rear-loading 2-car garage allowing the front of the homes to enage the street and neighbors. They also seem to be directly across this narrow street from some commercial machine shops and such (one already torn down from earlier Goodle images). So again these desgns makes sense.  Nice deep lots and do not tower over their neighbors - definitley not McMansions.  

 

 

Edited November 3, 2024Nov 3 by Willo

Agree to disagree. If you look at historic rowhouses all over the country in which greystones, brick facades, or different color wood/fabric exteriors lined up streets, this s**t just looks like a half-ass $325,000 Temu home. 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2024Nov 4 by TBideon

16 hours ago, TBideon said:

To be fair, they are ugly as s**t. Philly and Baltimore rowhouses these are not.

Oh really? Tell us more about the Philly & B'more row houses you watched being built between 1844 & 1933.

'Here's some being built and sold there today.

Edited November 4, 2024Nov 4 by ExPatClevGuy

44 minutes ago, TBideon said:

Agree to disagree. If you look at historic rowhouses all over the country in which greystones, brick facades, or different color wood/fabric exteriors lined up streets, this s**t just looks like a half-ass $325,000 Temu home. 

 

 

 

This street/neck of the woods isn't screaming for 500k+ brick facades, though. It's been sitting empty for over ten years and to be frank, this street isn't exactly the South Hills. The OldBK market is hot but at the same time Knez is having a time trying to sell one of their $325k+ full homes with yard. That said, the neighborhood has changed noticeably in the short time I've lived there but not to the levels that would support some OHC type build. 

40 minutes ago, ExPatClevGuy said:

Oh really? Tell us more about the Philly & B'more row houses you watched being built between 1844 & 1933.

'Here's some being built and sold there today.

So true such generic townhomes are found all over the dmv and overlapping b-more burbs and do not provide any sense of place. While these in Brooklyn center mimic the traditional Cleveland framed houses we grew up with and with the few bookending this lot. Just do a 360 spin of the street on google maps as GISguy provided at the onset. We should commend the developer risk taking given the less than views across the street. We do hope they differentiate the facades for each from this initial proposal though.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HZkwwvM9MWNomqgr9
then scroll to the most current view with the autobody shop bulldozed. If these are successful they may trigger more residential across the street if they can be rezoned to residential.

 

Old Brooklyn structures OK’d for demolition
By Ken Prendergast / December 9, 2024

 

In the coming months, the busy intersection of Memphis Avenue and Pearl Road in the heart of Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood will look very different. The change is due from the City Planning Commission’s approval on Friday of an application to demolish four buildings at that intersection, each of which are historic structures but in varying stages of decay.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/12/09/old-brooklyn-structures-okd-for-demolition/

On 12/9/2024 at 12:20 PM, KJP said:

 

Old Brooklyn structures OK’d for demolition
By Ken Prendergast / December 9, 2024

 

In the coming months, the busy intersection of Memphis Avenue and Pearl Road in the heart of Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood will look very different. The change is due from the City Planning Commission’s approval on Friday of an application to demolish four buildings at that intersection, each of which are historic structures but in varying stages of decay.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/12/09/old-brooklyn-structures-okd-for-demolition/

Wish they could switch gears, somehow acquire the vacant CVS lot across the street, save these structures and build the larger building on the CVS lot. 

Two buildings across the street from Memphis & Pearl are getting redeveloped -- just not the CVS. They won historic tax credits (see the end).

 

Oh -- and so did the Kerns Building, which is part of the Flats On Pearl development in Brooklyn Centre.......

 

 

The new Foundry opened its doors in Old Brooklyn for the first time on Saturday night. Wandered over there and wow, what a crazy transformation from the old Mr. E's.

 

 

Also, all rumor, but there was a reddit thread this morning that said Psychopomp is closed which is a bummer for Brooklyn Centre. I know they were building out her space (and haven't seen much going on in there) while her trailer was temporarily set up (also haven't seen in months) next door. I spoke with her at Rooms to Let and she had mentioned issues they had with the trailer parked where it was. Really hope it's just a rumor and she gets the shop going, because that'd be a huge add to the new development. FWIW the buildings behind here were recently knocked down (like last couple weeks recent). 

So Row on Garden gets tabled again by Landmarks for an entirely appropriate 18 unit multifamily building, because they aren’t comfortable with introducing the “use” here to this residential neighborhood. It was previously six for sale townhouse units. 

 

But on the case prior (the Ohio City drive thru) the commission said they can’t weigh in on the use, just the adaptive re-use of the historic building. 

 

Make it make sense. 

9 hours ago, noname said:

So Row on Garden gets tabled again by Landmarks for an entirely appropriate 18 unit multifamily building, because they aren’t comfortable with introducing the “use” here to this residential neighborhood. It was previously six for sale townhouse units. 

This is ridiculous. It's not exactly a hot neighborhood, so they should be grateful that someone is putting in the effort to create something nice and not trying to tear down these buildings to throw up a dollar store.

 

 

Row on Garden gets pushed and pulled by city
By Ken Prendergast / April 14, 2025

 

Different departments of the city of Cleveland are stretching a Lakewood-based real estate company, ALMiCO Group, with orders to stop and go on different aspects of its multi-phase development in the city's Brooklyn Centre Historic District. Caught in this push-pull is a phase called Row on Garden, now planned as an 18-unit apartment building on Garden Ave.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2025/04/14/row-on-garden-gets-pushed-and-pulled-by-city/

These are absolutely appropriate given they’re right next to a main road and stand between the single/two family homes. I wish somebody would tell the commission to stop dragging your feet on everything! 

“I personally don’t object to the revision of use based on what you’re building adjacent to it,” said Landmarks Commission Chair Julie Trott. “I think we just want to look at the architecture to make sure that it blends with the neighborhood appropriately for that new use because this is a drastic change.”

 

Am I just confused here or what because it feels like Landmarks sure is.

It's not like i want to let developers build slap dash all over the city, but

If they're proposing turning a portion of the townhome units to apartments what does that have to do with architecture and preserving the neighborhood? 

I didn't get the sense that redesigning the buildings was part of the new use or did I miss that?

 

This and bridgeworks are a poster child to how developers get bogged down with the commission and then the two can never get on the same page

 

I couldn't agree more with Almiroudis that tariffs and interests are probably going to be a big threat to this and projects all over cleveland.

Edited April 14Apr 14 by FutureboyWonder

The "tragedy of the anticommons" describes a situation where over-fragmentation of ownership rights, rather than lack of rights, leads to underutilization of a resource. It's the opposite of the tragedy of the commons, where overuse of a shared resource depletes it. In an anticommons, too many owners, each with the right to exclude others, can prevent the resource from being effectively used, even though it's potentially valuable.

1 hour ago, FutureboyWonder said:

“I personally don’t object to the revision of use based on what you’re building adjacent to it,” said Landmarks Commission Chair Julie Trott. “I think we just want to look at the architecture to make sure that it blends with the neighborhood appropriately for that new use because this is a drastic change.”

 

Am I just confused here or what because it feels like Landmarks sure is.

Sounds like it's some people concerned more with their ego for one. I mean what kind of precedence is there when the same City allowed half of that commercial street to be turned into strip malls?

Also like, surely you are familiar with the character of the street… these as proposed fit in perfectly. It’s everything they should want and it’s STILL not enough for them. 

Memphis & Pearl faces funding gap, has solutions

By Ken Prendergast / May 17, 2025

Due to funding policy changes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since January, backers of the Memphis & Pearl development in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood have had to scramble to save the project from a suddenly large, $15 million funding gap.

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2025/05/17/memphis-pearl-faces-funding-gap-has-solutions/