This street is unique in all of Cleveland because it has two rail stations on it -- and they're located within a few blocks of each other. It also is one of the most barren areas of Cleveland, having been turned into an urban prairie. But thankfully things are changing. The city and Burten Bell Carr CDC is advancing plans for TOD along East 79th and already starting to build some density back into the street corridor south of the Green/Blue line station and north of the Red Line with a light-industrial/food-centric district (Orlando Baking and Miceli Dairy are already here, plus some of the largest urban farms/greenhouses in the city) in between where the Opportunity Corridor will be aligned...

 

Some of this is cross-posted from the Opportunity Corridor road discussion in the transportation section. This is more about guiding spin-off development (some of these developments are actually funded)....

 

City unveils Opportunity Corridor development plans

Updated June 30, 2017

Posted June 28, 2017

 

http://photos.cleveland.com/4501/gallery/city_unveils_opportunity_corri/index.html

 

Here's a few of the 24 renderings relating to East 79th....

 

A City Architecture rendering depicts a $6 million senior housing complex planned by the nonprofit Burten Bell Carr Development Corp. at the corner of East 79th Street and Kinsman Road. The project is related to the City of Cleveland's emerging plans for development around Opportunity Corridor, which will traverse East 79th Street and the Kinsman neighborhood.

 

A City Architecture birdseye view from a new Cleveland City Planning document shows how a "transit-oriented development could occur around the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's Blue-Green Line station at East 79th Street. It is part of study showing how some 14 properties along East 79th Street north and south of the Opportunity Corridor boulevard, now under construction, could someday be filled with more than a dozen new buildings with total square footage ranging between 4.6 million and 9.1 million square feet. This image is part of $150,000 study funded through the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency through its Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative. The full report is scheduled to be reviewed by the planning commission at its Friday, July 7, 2017 meeting.

 

A City Architecture rendering depicts a $6 million senior housing complex planned by the nonprofit Burten Bell Carr Development Corp. at the corner of East 79th Street and Kinsman Road. The project is related to the City of Cleveland's emerging plans for development around Opportunity Corridor, which will traverse East 79th Street and the Kinsman neighborhood.

 

Cleveland Planning Commission

Agenda for July 21, 2017

 

Ordinance No. 839-17(Ward 5/Councilmember Cleveland; Ward 6/Councilmember Griffin); Ward 9/Councilmember Conwell): Authorizing the Director of Economic Development to apply for and accept one or more grants from JobsOhio and/or Ohio Development Services Agency or other public entity, for environmental assistance for proposed redevelopment in the Opportunity Corridor; and authorizing contracts with various developers, or their designees, to implement the project.

Colfax Family Homes was one of the tax credit award winners announced this week. These 36 single-family, lease-purchase homes will be built just south of the East 79th Street Blue/Green Line station at Colfax Road & Minnie Street....

https://ohiohome.org/news/releases/2017/taxcreditawards.aspx

 

This is the project's 2016 Low Income Housing Tax Credit Proposal

https://ohiohome.org/ppd/proposals/2016/Single-FamilyInfillDevelopment/Colfax%20Family%20Homes%2016-0047.pdf

Speaking of that list of new awards - NRP Group secured credits for 2 projects.  A good sign for the growth of jobs out of the soon to be Halle Building HQ.

Can Opportunity Corridor be a boon, not a boondoggle? Free panel discussion Wednesday at CWRU

 

Local leaders who will help shape the future of the land around the new boulevard will discuss the project Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in a free public forum in the ballroom at the Tinkham Veale University Center, Case Western Reserve University, 11038 Bellflower Rd.

 

Panelists will include: Freddy Collier, director of Cleveland's City Planning Commission; Chris Alvarado, executive director of Slavic Village Development; Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin; Chris Ronayne, President of University Circle Inc.; and Denise VanLeer, executive director, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2018/02/will_opportunity_corridor_be_a.html

This notice doesn't say which East 79th station, but I'm presuming it's the Red Line station because the RTA has to justify seeking a major federal grant for the $10 million to $15 million cost of the project. TOD planning and development is an integral part of that justification....

_____________

 

Notice is hereby given that the following meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will take place on Tuesday Oct. 2, 2018 in the Board Room of the Authority, 1240 West Sixth Street, Cleveland, OH 44113 for consideration of the listed items and such other items that may properly come before the Board and be acted upon.

 

9:00 A.M. Operational Planning & Infrastructure Committee

+ Presentation by Cleveland City Planning Director, Freddie Collier on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) around the E. 79th Street Station.

+ Update on various Strategic Planning and ongoing studies.

While I didn't attend the presentation, people who did attend it say the city and BBC is definitely moving forward on developing multi-story buildings along East 79th, especially south of the Blue/Green lines with single-family homes away from 79th and commercial developments with a food/warehousing/light industry theme between the Blue/Green and Red lines. There should be more announcements soon.

 

Here are some property maps I color-coded showing the public-sector ownership of parcels along/near the East 79th corridor and the two rail stations, from north to south....

 

East 79th publicly owned parcels N by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

East 79th publicly owned parcels M by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

East 79th publicly owned parcels S by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

Here's Cleveland's East 79th/Opportunity Corridor TOD presentation given by Planning Director Freddie Collier Oct. 2 at the RTA planning committee

http://allaboardohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/East79th-2018-10-02Collier.OCCorridor.pdf

 

Unfortunately, many new property owners in the Opportunity Corridor don't share the city's vision as portrayed in the above presentation. Some see this as an opportunity to establish industrial recycling centers, truck storage and other uses that would provide an unsightly route into University Circle and an unproductive use relative to a high-density rail transit line that needs lots of residents and jobs within a safe, comfortable walk to make it viable.

And besides being unsightly, those uses have ridiculously low job density and will actively discourage high density employment and residential. If they don't like it, too bad.

And besides being unsightly, those uses have ridiculously low job density and will actively discourage high density employment and residential. If they don't like it, too bad.

 

Except they own the land the current zoning allows such low-density job activities.

Except they own the land the current zoning allows such low-density job activities.

 

I thought the city was looking to rezone the entire corridor. Is that dead?

A consultant has started or is about to start working with the city on a form based code for two pilot areas one of which will be the lands flanking the Opportunity Corridor. The RFP for the consultant doesn't have a deadline included, but I would suspect it will take anywhere from 6 months to 18 months before a form based code pilot is codified by City Council. If it's 18 months there is a possibility that some very transit/pedestrian-unfriendly uses that are permissable now (but could be non-conforming uses later) may get built. At RTA's committee meeting, it sounded to me like the Opal Industrial Group, which owns the former Van Dorn Iron Works site on the east side of 79th and south of the Red Line station, has some definite plans for a waste recycling center. Here's what their website says....

 

http://www.opalisg.com/home.html

 

Opal and its partners are working to develop a municipal yard waste, and scrap recycling center at our Cleveland Ohio facility (formerly the Van Dorn Iron Works).  Opal’s future plans include the revival of a Great Lakes based Scrap Export business.

^ Thanks for the info. Cleveland has been talking about form based code for years. If there's any hope in getting something worthwhile out of the monstrosity that is the OC, they better not take 18 months to codify new zoning along this route.

When Amazon was looking for their new headquarters site, I really thought E.79th would be an amazing potential site. It still would be an amazing location for a national/international company based on the location and infrastructure. Imagine a corporate campus spanning the length of E.79th between the two stations. The pitch could could be very transit oriented in nature with profiles on all the stops and respective neighborhoods within minutes of rapid transit travel time (Airport, Westpark,  West Boulevard/Edgewater, W.65th, Ohio City, Downtown, University Circle/ Little Italy, Shaker Square, Cuyahoga County Community College, Flats East Bank, Northcoast Harbor (Rock Hall), etc. 

 

From Wikipedia:

Amazon's request for proposals outlined several core requirements, as well as optional preferences.

Metropolitan areas with a population of over 1 million

Within 30 miles (48 km) of a population center

Within 45 minutes of an international airport

Proximity to major highways and arterial roads 1–3 miles (2–5 km)

Access to mass transit routes

Up to 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space for future expansion

 

I worked briefly for one of the largest tech companies in the world, and it was just mind boggling how much ground transportation expense there must of been for all its employees (corporate and personal expenditures). 

as form based zoning has now arrived in cle does anyone know -- does any of it apply to this area?

Colfax Family Homes LP., an affiliate of Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc., seeks to build 36 single-family homes thanks to a recent tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. Of those proposed homes, 23 had to be submitted individually to BZA due to various setback requirements. The homes are 2916-2929 Minnie Rd and  6911-7809 Colfax Rd.

 

http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/sites/default/files/forms_publications/crr07-06-2020.pdf

 

Colfax Family Homes LP., owner, proposes to erect a single family residence and garage in a B1 TwoFamily Residential District. The owner appeals for relief from the strict application from the following sections of the Cleveland Codified Ordinances: 1. Section 337.23(a) which states that detached garages shall be setback 18 feet from side street property line and the appellant is proposing 5 feet. 2. Section 357.06(a) which states that the average setback of existing buildings within 100 feet on both sides of any lot shall determine the location of the required front yard line for that lot, 3 | Page except that such front yard line shall not be required to be more than 40 feet back of the street line. (Filed June 23, 2020)

Very nice to see that area filling in some more. The houses at the end of Minnie (built 2006) are still looking to be in decent shape, at least from what I can see from the train.