March 11, 20223 yr Author Ex-Lakewood Hospital site plan due in April By Ken Prendergast / March 11, 2022 Lakewood Mayor Meghan George’s office revealed today that an agreement for the redevelopment of the city’s ex-hospital site is being finalized and could be announced in April. There has been significant progress in negotiations with the ex-hospital site developer– so much so that a conceptual plan and development agreement between the city and a developer, CASTO, could be submitted to the public and City Council for review in less than a month. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/03/11/ex-lakewood-hospital-site-plan-due-in-april/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 11, 20223 yr As hot as Lakewood housing has been in the past few years I am somewhat surprised its taken this long for a new developer to jump on this property but then, there was that little Covid thing to work through. At any rate, I'm happy to read a rather large replacement plan is coming soon. And this one by a firm that appears to have a larger portfolio. Side Note: In a former life I used to work with Dr. Russ Khouri (medical field). I thought he was a savvy businessman and on the side had created a real estate development company virtually out of nothing. I watched his firm (Carnegie) grow and thought he was doing a nice job with one small project after another. But when I read about the scale of the Lakewood project I was a little surprised Carnegie took it on. I was even more surprised when they won the bid only because I thought his firm was much smaller than the other two and I wondered if a smallish firm like his would be able to pull off a project that large. But we'll never know because of that surprise $2 million wrench that was thrown into the works. Pulling out of the project is not a negative stain on Carnegie. I think it was a smart business decision. No mention of that $2 million in surprise clean-up costs that throttled Carnegie's initial plans. I guess the city ate that one.
March 11, 20223 yr I like this site plan a lot. I preferred the architecture of the previous plan but this will great for Lakewood. Creating a new street is brilliant.
March 30, 20223 yr And what exactly are we doing in terms pedestrian activity along the parking garage on W. 3rd… excuse me, Belle Ave? https://www.lakewoodoh.gov/downtowndevelopment/
March 30, 20223 yr 11 minutes ago, ELaunder said: And what exactly are we doing in terms pedestrian activity along the parking garage on W. 3rd… excuse me, Belle Ave? https://www.lakewoodoh.gov/downtowndevelopment/ All in all underwhelming compared to what was going to be there.
March 30, 20223 yr 6 minutes ago, cle_guy90 said: All in all underwhelming compared to what was going to be there. Meh. The dentisty and positioning of the structures is way better in this rendition. Apartments across from houses. Parking garage across from parking lot. Heavy density on Detroit Ave. It would be nice to have a few more stories but otherwise this site plan is better in my opinion. They were going to have a freaking wall across from homes on Marlowe. Atleast now no one's looking out their front door at a wall.
March 30, 20223 yr 40 minutes ago, KFM44107 said: Meh. The dentisty and positioning of the structures is way better in this rendition. Apartments across from houses. Parking garage across from parking lot. Heavy density on Detroit Ave. It would be nice to have a few more stories but otherwise this site plan is better in my opinion. They were going to have a freaking wall across from homes on Marlowe. Atleast now no one's looking out their front door at a wall. That's fair. I liked the overall aesthetic of the last one better, along with the height and the main public space. I felt like the last public space was a beautiful area with restaurants and retail around. This one just feels like an outdoor food court that has little retail around. Edited March 30, 20223 yr by cle_guy90
March 31, 20223 yr 32 minutes ago, cle_guy90 said: That's fair. I liked the overall aesthetic of the last one better, along with the height and the main public space. I felt like the last public space was a beautiful area with restaurants and retail around. This one just feels like an outdoor food court that has little retail around. Right. This incarnation looks like it should be adjacent to an I77 exit ramp, surrounded by geese.
March 31, 20223 yr 11 minutes ago, surfohio said: Right. This incarnation looks like it should be adjacent to an I77 exit ramp, surrounded by geese. It's built up to the sidewalk with ground floor retail. Not sure what exit ramps you're thinking of but I wish they were all mixed use like that! Edited March 31, 20223 yr by Mendo
March 31, 20223 yr Author Here's a totally uninspired and late article from me about the Lakewood development... Lakewood, CASTO reveal hospital site plans By Ken Prendergast / March 30, 2022 Details of a $90 million proposed development of the city-owned Lakewood Hospital site were announced today by Lakewood Mayor Meghan George. The plan and the terms of the city’s draft agreement with a development team led by Columbus-based CASTO Communities now go to City Council for its review and possible approval. If approved “soon,” city officials said construction could start by the end of this year. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/03/30/lakewood-casto-reveal-hospital-site-plans/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 31, 20223 yr 42 minutes ago, Mendo said: It's built up to the sidewalk with ground floor retail. Not sure what exit ramps you're thinking of but I wish they were all mixed use like that! Rockside Road to be more exact haha. While I'm hesitant to say that it doesn't fit the aesthetic in Lakewood because it's a bit of a mish mash, this certainly looks like something of the urban renewal variety that would've been built years ago. Maybe it's the recessed ground floor, or the plaza. It's better than a vacant lot in the supposed most dense city in the region...but this is looking to be fairly anticlimactic.
March 31, 20223 yr To be clear, I know there is retail and is right next to an uninspired food lot but 29.4k is pretty tiny for what was going to be a hub. Church and State has 20k. The old plan was going to have 84k of retail, along with a hotel and felt way more like a destination than this.
March 31, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, cle_guy90 said: To be clear, I know there is retail and is right next to an uninspired food lot but 29.4k is pretty tiny for what was going to be a hub. Church and State has 20k. The old plan was going to have 84k of retail, along with a hotel and felt way more like a destination than this. I appreciate the hooplah of it being a hub but living two streets down from this there's already plenty of open retail locations that are open in connection with the pandemic. Lakewood has the benefit of having two main corridors that pretty much have retail all the way down in all shapes and sizes. I guess what is really missing is obviously a target or a clothing store but I'm personally extremely hesitant to want any clothing stores with the direction clothing is going.
March 31, 20223 yr 1. I wish the office structure was more than 4 stories. There’s literally no leasable office space in Lakewood since Center North went residential. 2. I lived in Lakewood the better part of 20 years, and always wished there was a decent hotel (think Courtyard) for my out of town friends to stay. I know I’m not alone in this thinking. There’s a huge need for one. It’s either downtown or Westlake. No, the 2 up by Gold Coast aren’t habitable options. 3. Pretty underwhelming.
March 31, 20223 yr 10 minutes ago, marty15 said: 1. I wish the office structure was more than 4 stories. There’s literally no leasable office space in Lakewood since Center North went residential. 2. I lived in Lakewood the better part of 20 years, and always wished there was a decent hotel (think Courtyard) for my out of town friends to stay. I know I’m not alone in this thinking. There’s a huge need for one. It’s either downtown or Westlake. No, the 2 up by Gold Coast aren’t habitable options. 3. Pretty underwhelming. I'm perplexed as to why the office building isn't bigger too. I echo the sentiment for a hotel. When I have guests they usually airbnb in lakewood but a hotel is much needed.
March 31, 20223 yr 2 minutes ago, freefourur said: I'm perplexed as to why the office building isn't bigger too. I echo the sentiment for a hotel. When I have guests they usually airbnb in lakewood but a hotel is much needed. Ya. That's definitely the one thing missing in Lakewood.
March 31, 20223 yr I do like that affordable housing will be included and some more for-sale housing. That is definitely a good part of this development.
March 31, 20223 yr If this development was purely market driven, I would say it's mediocre, but overall not bad. Given how much the City is giving away here though, this is an outright abomination. The Solove property at Detroit and Bunts was purchase for $1.7M for a 1 acre site. That means the 5.7 acre site is worth about $10M. The City also spent about $8M to demolish the hospital. The City is also contributing $1.5M to keep Roundstone in Lakewood. So let's just say the City is pitching in about $20M for this development- close to 25%. And we're getting a 5 story apartment building and a 4-story office building? This is no different than what private developers are currently planning throughout Lakewood WITHOUT much City participation. Given the amount of development planned in Lakewood and the hot real estate market, this seems like a real shame. Again- with no City involvement, this is fine. But if a City is going to offer 20-25% of the project costs on a prime-once in a generation- development, this is a major bummer.
March 31, 20223 yr Yeah I dunno how I feel about this. On one hand I'm kinda glad its finally got a good chance of being filled in and the fact they have a tenant committed for the office space will help the certainty around the project. My girlfriend used to live very close to here as well and walking past that empty space was just about as life sapping as you could get. However as others have said above I'd like to have seen a hotel, nothing fancy, solid Courtyard by Marriott type mid-tier offering suggested by others. Oh well, onwards and upwards.
March 31, 20223 yr 13 minutes ago, snakebite said: However as others have said above I'd like to have seen a hotel, nothing fancy, solid Courtyard by Marriott type mid-tier offering suggested by others. Yeah there must be something about the zip code that doesn't work in the corporate hotel chain financials. We all know it would work, but it doesn't on some MBA's spreadsheet. Just imagine if there were a streetcar line from Rocky River to downtown via Lakewood....
April 5, 20223 yr No time to watch this right now....but I hope the side of the Curtis bldg. isn't a blank wall along the plaza.
April 5, 20223 yr 7 minutes ago, surfohio said: No time to watch this right now....but I hope the side of the Curtis bldg. isn't a blank wall along the plaza. From what I gathered, not being able to watch the whole meeting, only the office building has an actual rendering at this point. The Curtis Bldg. is up in the air still. They may save only the facade but they intentionally left that part of the proposal vague. I don't think they are ready to review/approve any of the design details yet.
April 5, 20223 yr It seems like only the facade is going to be kept. But honestly, if that's their starting point, I really don't have much hope that they'll even do that. I feel like it's only a matter of time before they say it's "cost prohibitive".
May 4, 20223 yr Author Cleveland Heights, Lakewood projects win OKs Two major development projects in Cleveland’s inner ring suburbs won thumbs up last night but in two different ways. In Lakewood, City Council gave its unanimous approval to the framework for an agreement with a Columbus-based real estate firm for a proposed $90 million development at the former downtown hospital site. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/05/04/cleveland-heights-lakewood-projects-win-oks/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 4, 20223 yr This is a tough one. On one hand Lakewood fills in a prominent site in the middle of town with a new development that will keep a growing business within the city borders. All good. On the other hand when compared to any of the proposals presented when this site was originally solicited for development I think this one is by far the weakest. Is the glass half full or half empty? I'm not sure.
May 4, 20223 yr 3 hours ago, cadmen said: This is a tough one. On one hand Lakewood fills in a prominent site in the middle of town with a new development that will keep a growing business within the city borders. All good. On the other hand when compared to any of the proposals presented when this site was originally solicited for development I think this one is by far the weakest. Is the glass half full or half empty? I'm not sure. Yeah, this thing sucks. Just incredibly underwhelming for this site, and for such a prime spot. Blah
May 5, 20223 yr It's almost as if a ridiculous development that did not even begin pencil was originally proposed.
February 11, 20232 yr Author "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 11, 20232 yr Author 1 hour ago, surfohio said: Why am I worried? It's not good. The city is trying to save the project. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 11, 20232 yr 38 minutes ago, KJP said: It's not good. The city is trying to save the project. Uh oh. I smell a strip mall.
February 11, 20232 yr Author 1 hour ago, Cleburger said: Uh oh. I smell a strip mall. Density will actually increase -- at least structurally. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 11, 20232 yr Author Downtown Lakewood back to drawing board By Ken Prendergast / February 11, 2023 After two years of seemingly endless meetings surrounding the redevelopment of Lakewood’s former hospital site, Roundstone Insurance has not only left the development project but decided to leave the inner-ring suburb entirely. Currently located in the former First Church of Christ Scientist, 15422 Detroit Ave., the headquarters of this fast-growing insurance firm with up to 240 employees and $17.5 million in annual payroll is due to leave Lakewood in April 2024, according to Mayor Meghan George’s administration. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/02/11/downtown-lakewood-back-to-drawing-board/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 11, 20232 yr 8 minutes ago, KJP said: Density will actually increase -- at least structurally. I was hoping to be corrected! Thanks!
February 12, 20232 yr I don’t know much about Lakewood but it certainly seems to be a stagnant community, perhaps even underachieving since the halcyon days of the construction of the Gold Coast towers. Perhaps I’m misinformed or unaware of a more positive true narrative. Just giving you the impression of someone who follows development news in Cleveland. I know that Gordon Square and some lakefront development is hopping but the city in general … Edited February 12, 20232 yr by CleveFan
February 12, 20232 yr The site plan for this is honestly fantastic. I wish that the Hub 27 project followed something similar.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
February 12, 20232 yr 11 minutes ago, CleveFan said: I don’t know much about Lakewood but it certainly seems to be a stagnant community, perhaps even underachieving since the halcyon days of the construction of the Gold Coast towers. Perhaps I’m misinformed or unaware of a more positive true narrative. Just giving you the impression of someone who follows development news in Cleveland. I know that Gordon Square and some lakefront development is hopping but the city in general … Gordon Square is part of Cleveland, the Lakewood border ends at W 117. I think Lakewood has been recently focused on developing itself as a desirable suburb for young families, and I’m not sure additional density is a part of that package for them.
February 12, 20232 yr 8 minutes ago, MyPhoneDead said: The site plan for this is honestly fantastic. I wish that the Hub 27 project followed something similar. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I like the updated plan too. I think the office is dead for the foreseeable future. Maybe they should try for TMUD and really increase density.
February 12, 20232 yr 21 minutes ago, CleveFan said: I don’t know much about Lakewood but it certainly seems to be a stagnant community, perhaps even underachieving since the halcyon days of the construction of the Gold Coast towers. Perhaps I’m misinformed or unaware of a more positive true narrative. Just giving you the impression of someone who follows development news in Cleveland. I know that Gordon Square and some lakefront development is hopping but the city in general … The issue with lakewood is that there only a few redevelopment opportunities. Lakewood has been seeking infill development and medium sized townhouse development. None of this really moves the needle but Lakewood has been fairly stable too.
February 12, 20232 yr Oof. Outdated building codes, local pols who may not have enough expertise to shepherd a large project to the starting line, activist citizens who feel the need to have every little thing debated and finally, a local business feeling a little too entitled and expecting a handout that is probably not warranted. All that adds up to disfunction and wheel spinning. This is a missed opportunity and as Pogo said "We have met the enemy and it's us." As a brand new Lakewood home owner l'm not impressed with my new town.
February 12, 20232 yr Glad to see the Curtis block still "kind of" survives, at least aesthetically. Site plan looks okay. I really liked the south end residential of the original plan a lot more. IDK I'm kind of 50-50 on this....I feel like this is a spot to go all in with more density, and architecturally unique. But this development looks like something utterly routine that would go up overnight & unheralded in any other city. Also was just thinking wouldn't this be a good project for a hotel partner? And why doesn't any hotel chain seem to show any interest in Lakewood?
February 12, 20232 yr 58 minutes ago, surfohio said: And why doesn't any hotel chain seem to show any interest in Lakewood? Travelodge and Days Inn are like...hold the phone! 😉
February 12, 20232 yr 7 hours ago, CleveFan said: I don’t know much about Lakewood but it certainly seems to be a stagnant community At least up until the housing market cooled with rising interest rates, Lakewood had arguably the hottest housing market in NEO. Houses would sell in mere days. My friends, who live on Elbur Ave., had a neighbor whose house sold after one day on the market last summer. Just because new buildings aren’t being built doesn’t mean that a city is stagnant. Years ago, I read someone on this forum say that Lakewood is the most dense community between NYC and Chicago. If that’s true, I don’t know, but it is very dense and there isn’t any land on which to build new unless something is knocked down and the empty lot developed.
February 12, 20232 yr 34 minutes ago, jeremyck01 said: At least up until the housing market cooled with rising interest rates, Lakewood had arguably the hottest housing market in NEO. Houses would sell in mere days. My friends, who live on Elbur Ave., had a neighbor whose house sold after one day on the market last summer. Just because new buildings aren’t being built doesn’t mean that a city is stagnant. Years ago, I read someone on this forum say that Lakewood is the most dense community between NYC and Chicago. Therefore, there isn’t any land on which to build new unless something is knocked down and the empty lot developed. RIP New Jersey But no arguing that Lakewood is a very competitive market! I would like to see more density along Madison and Detroit, but overall it’s a very walkable area. Loved living there in the past. Edited February 12, 20232 yr by Henke
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