^Foundation work is well underway on the new build, and they've started interior work on the rehabs across the street.

 

Also, the lot they purchased across 25th is currently being used as a temporary storage location for dirt from the foundation. No idea what they'll do with it in the future...

It is refreshing that they said they would break ground and ACTUALLY DID, very nice to see.

The tower is senior housing so that's going to be in better shape.

 

I don't believe Lakeview Tower is senior housing.  Are you confusing it with Riverview?

So Crains did a recent interview with Andrew Brickman from Brickhaus and asked this question:

 

Want to do a downtown Cleveland deal?

I'm always looking for opportunities. We've demolished 30 homes to start One Seventeen in Ohio City on the west end of Hope Memorial Bridge.

 

First I didn't realize it was that many houses that went down and he confuses the name of the project which I thought was One Twenty West because he refers to it as One Seventeen which is the Edgewater project right? Right.  But I guess it's still on track.

Do you have the date for the "Crain's?"  Bad error!  Is it possible it was in the "corrections" column at a later date?

So Crains did a recent interview with Andrew Brickman from Brickhaus and asked this question:

 

Want to do a downtown Cleveland deal?

I'm always looking for opportunities. We've demolished 30 homes to start One Seventeen in Ohio City on the west end of Hope Memorial Bridge.

 

First I didn't realize it was that many houses that went down and he confuses the name of the project which I thought was One Twenty West because he refers to it as One Seventeen which is the Edgewater project right? Right.  But I guess it's still on track.

 

95 Lake is the Edgewater project.

So Crains did a recent interview with Andrew Brickman from Brickhaus and asked this question:

 

Want to do a downtown Cleveland deal?

I'm always looking for opportunities. We've demolished 30 homes to start One Seventeen in Ohio City on the west end of Hope Memorial Bridge.

 

First I didn't realize it was that many houses that went down and he confuses the name of the project which I thought was One Twenty West because he refers to it as One Seventeen which is the Edgewater project right? Right.  But I guess it's still on track.

 

95 Lake is the Edgewater project.

 

It could be that the "One Seventeen" is a reference to Brinkman's part of the "The Edge" development on W. 117th between Clifton Blvd and Lake Ave. Remember Brickman is the one who is doing the housing portion of that development.

 

It could be that the "One Seventeen" is a reference to Brinkman's part of the "The Edge" development on W. 117th between Clifton Blvd and Lake Ave. Remember Brickman is the one who is doing the housing portion of that development.

 

 

That's correct. Here's a picture I shot in June before they demolished the Fifth Church at West 117th and Lake in the background....

 

20160603_065423 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

Apparently it's called  One Seventeen West.

 

http://oneseventeenwest.com

 

https://issuu.com/brickhauspartners/docs/oneseventeen_brochure_web

Apparently it's called  One Seventeen West.

 

http://oneseventeenwest.com

 

https://issuu.com/brickhauspartners/docs/oneseventeen_brochure_web

 

The promotional photo is clearly of a 27 Coltman unit.

Apparently it's called  One Seventeen West.

 

http://oneseventeenwest.com

 

https://issuu.com/brickhauspartners/docs/oneseventeen_brochure_web

 

The promotional photo is clearly of a 27 Coltman unit.

 

Yes, this project is not built yet.

Apparently it's called  One Seventeen West.

 

http://oneseventeenwest.com

 

https://issuu.com/brickhauspartners/docs/oneseventeen_brochure_web

 

The promotional photo is clearly of a 27 Coltman unit.

 

Yes, this project is not built yet.

 

Yeah, it's just interesting they'd use an existing townhouse elsewhere to promo this property as opposed to a concept drawing.

Cleveland's first all-local grocery, custom meats opens, Ohio City. https://t.co/nJxXeba0UJ

Columbus is developing over North Market parking lot. Compare this to West Side Market.

http://www.columbusunderground.com/three-development-ideas-considered-for-north-market-lot-bw1

Columbus is developing over North Market parking lot. Compare this to West Side Market.

http://www.columbusunderground.com/three-development-ideas-considered-for-north-market-lot-bw1

 

Yea, what a shame that Cleveland does not have the same visionaries as Columbus does per our WSM.

 

I like to dream, and here is my dream for the WSM parking lots.

 

First of all, the city should have never closed off W. 24th St. The street should have been kept open, and on both of the parking lots, retail/parking/living should have been built. W. 25th is at its saturation point, and there is not much empty space left to put in retail on W. 25th. Yes, there is room to expand W.25th retail/parking/living if a developer could take over the Lutheran Hosp. parking lot on W. 25th and Jay Ave., but what is the possibly of that in the near future? And there is the shopping center on the SE corner of W. 25th and Lorain Ave., which had a few proposals shown here on UO which did not come to fruition.

 

I think the city of CLE owns both of the parking lots (now one combined lot) on the former W. 24th St., but a much better plan for those lots would have been underground parking for the people living in apts/condo's which could be build on top of ground level retail with parking above for WSM/retail shoppers, and apts/condo's above that. Having two developments of this sort on both sides of the former W. 24th St. would have been much better then what the city has just recently completed.

 

Hopefully, something will happen in the future to remedy the mistake (imo) that the city has made with its current upgrade to the WSM parking lot and lack of a vision.

 

 

 

Well, and now you have tenants pulling out of the West Side Market because of the loss of business by the city's overly-aggressive tactics in rebuilding the parking lot. There was a significant loss of traffic and revenue for these small businesses that just couldn't be overcome. And the rent is increasing for many.

I'm just pissed about W 24th because now I won't be able to cut through the lot once the paid parking goes in place.

The city doesn't really seem to understand the market. I have no idea how the new lot is supposed to function. Hopefully it's just the learning curve, but there seems to be a bottle neck at the T intersection right where a steady flow of pedestrians exit the produce run at the Northeasterly corner. I think charging to park was inevitable, but from what I understand the city didn't listen to the vendors much during the process. The vendors are a complicated group I'm sure, but they have an institutional knowledge that shouldn't be discounted. If you know your vendors, it's clear they are all having a bad year and it's a direct result of the squeeze on parking. A couple of the stalls that shut down were planning on getting out before the bad year, but two just couldn't make it financially. Typically you try to sell your stall, not just walk away. Four in quick succession is unprecedented in the dozen years I've shopped there routinely.

 

In other news, the parcel at the corner of Fulton and Lorain was sold recently. It appears that the controversial McDonalds with double drive-thru will not be built.

In other news, the parcel at the corner of Fulton and Lorain was sold recently. It appears that the controversial McDonalds with double drive-thru will not be built.

 

That's an expensive sale price for 0.7 of an acre...

 

PARCEL ID 007-05-009

OWNERS NAME FRE HOLDINGS II, LLC

ADDRESS 3701 LORAIN AVE

 

Transfer Date: 06-DEC-16

 

Sales Amt $1,175,000

 

Grantee(s)

FRE HOLDINGS II, LLC

 

Grantor(s)

OC LORAIN FULTON LP

Very interesting! FRE Holdings II was formed only three months ago. The company president is Kate L. Brown, and FRE Holdings II's address is:

 

2500 METROHEALTH DRIVE TOWER 135A

 

Turns out Kate Brown is also President of the MetroHealth Foundation and Chief Development Officer of the MetroHealth System!

 

I'll bet that a neighborhood clinic is being considered for this location, on the SW corner of Fulton and Lorain.

 

EDIT: what's also interesting is that SSSB Service Company Inc -- the company that created FRE Holdings II -- is a for-profit corporation with a single shareholder. It was incorporated in 2012 as LRSS Service Company Inc but changed its name in 2016 to SSSB. The single shareholder isn't identified, but considering the information above, it probably is MetroHealth, a not-for-profit corporation. So why would a non-profit seek to own and probably develop a property through a for-profit company it created? It incurs more tax burden but may raise funds for the nonprofit. Maybe they get a tax write-off in that case?

Metro's McCafferty Health Center is just two blocks away, so why build another clinic?

 

(SSSB is the law firm Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell, BTW. Just playing legal agent for the company, I'd guess.)

Metro's McCafferty Health Center is just two blocks away, so why build another clinic?

 

(SSSB is the law firm Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell, BTW. Just playing legal agent for the company, I'd guess.)

 

I believe the City owns the building and operates out of a significant portion of it. It could be that MatroHealth wants to expand? Or simply wants their own location.

The McCafferty Health Center is a pretty old building, too.  I'd bet they want a newer building.

One of my favorite buildings in Ohio City -- there's lots of brick in this part of Ohio City....

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/agenda/2016/02252016/index.php

 

Cleveland Landmarks Commission

Feb. 25, 2016

 

Ohio City Historic District:

Case 16-006 (09-019)

Heyse Apartment Building 1702 West 28th Street

Renovation and site improvements

Ward 3 Cimperman

Mark Fremont Architects

Kirt Montlack LLC

 

 

 

 

 

Update on the Heyse Building apartment conversion....

 

Board of Zoning Appeals

MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017

9:30

Calendar No. 16-305: 1702 West 28 Street Ward 3

Kerry McCormack

12 Notices

Kirt Montlack, owner, proposes to change use from office and apartment to 31 apartment units in C2

Local Retail Zoning District. The owner appeals for relief from the strict application of the following

sections of the Cleveland Codified Ordinances:

1. Section 352.10 which states that a 6 foot wide landscape strip is required along W. 28 Street

and Fulton Rd. where the parking lot abuts a street.

2. Section 349.08 which states that a parking lot adjacent to dwelling unit or residential district

shall be screened by an opaque wall, uniformly painted fence or year round 4’ wide densely

planted shrubs.

3. Section 349.15 which states that two bicycle parking spaces are required at the rate of one per

twenty (car) parking spaces.

4. Section 358.05 which states that a fence in the actual front yard shall not exceed 4’ in height

and shall be at least 50% open the proposed fence in the actual front yard along W. 28 Street

exceeds 4’ in height. (filed December 2, 2016)

 

We've tracked a lot of these organic, small-scale developments along Lorain Avenue in the West 30s/40s/50s (including the MetroHealth purchase noted above). This article summarizes them....

 

Investors 'putting down roots' on Lorain

January 01, 2017

By STAN BULLARD   

 

Bigger players are starting to join the veritable string of investors who are transforming long-suffering Lorain Avenue in Ohio City.

 

The new purchases are going in among multiple investments by smaller groups, giving the strip a fresh lease on life with everything from the well-known Platform Brewery and The Grocery, a green grocer, to a range of small shops from hair and nail salons to architecture and law firms.

 

Meanwhile, rehabs of walk-up apartments over first-floor retail spaces on the commercial thoroughfare are adding more dwelling options to a neighborhood known for renovated Victorian-era homes, multiple breweries and the West Side Market.

 

MORE:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170101/NEWS/170109989/investors-putting-down-roots-on-lorain

 

3. Section 349.15 which states that two bicycle parking spaces are required at the rate of one per

twenty (car) parking spaces.

 

 

Is this a normal request? That parking lot is pretty small, surely finding room for a bike rack can't be that difficult...?

 

It's great and long overdue to see some progress with the Heyse building!

I'm surprised that I've seen some (can't remember how many) variance requests to avoid the two bike parking spaces. But there have been at least several variance requests.

Very often site plans are submitted for a zoning review without a full knowledge of what the zoning code demands. In this case they may have just not known they needed bike parking, and may request to remove that variance from the list at BOZA.

McDonald's Out, MetroHealth In at Ohio City Hollywood Video Site

 

Crain's Cleveland, in a story published this weekend about investment along Lorain Avenue, reported that MetroHealth had purchased the Hollywood Video site on Lorain between W. 38th Street and Fulton Road.

 

"The Dec. 6 sale...defuses the bitter debate between neighbors and plans to install a McDonald's restaurant on the site," wrote reporter Stan Bullard.

 

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/01/03/mcdonalds-out-metrohealth-in-at-ohio-city-hollywood-video-site

Columbus is developing over North Market parking lot. Compare this to West Side Market.

http://www.columbusunderground.com/three-development-ideas-considered-for-north-market-lot-bw1

 

Yea, what a shame that Cleveland does not have the same visionaries as Columbus does per our WSM.

 

I like to dream, and here is my dream for the WSM parking lots.

 

First of all, the city should have never closed off W. 24th St. The street should have been kept open, and on both of the parking lots, retail/parking/living should have been built. W. 25th is at its saturation point, and there is not much empty space left to put in retail on W. 25th. Yes, there is room to expand W.25th retail/parking/living if a developer could take over the Lutheran Hosp. parking lot on W. 25th and Jay Ave., but what is the possibly of that in the near future? And there is the shopping center on the SE corner of W. 25th and Lorain Ave., which had a few proposals shown here on UO which did not come to fruition.

 

I think the city of CLE owns both of the parking lots (now one combined lot) on the former W. 24th St., but a much better plan for those lots would have been underground parking for the people living in apts/condo's which could be build on top of ground level retail with parking above for WSM/retail shoppers, and apts/condo's above that. Having two developments of this sort on both sides of the former W. 24th St. would have been much better then what the city has just recently completed.

 

Hopefully, something will happen in the future to remedy the mistake (imo) that the city has made with its current upgrade to the WSM parking lot and lack of a vision.

 

I assure you Columbus has not discovered some vast well of vision that has eluded Ohio's other two big cities, but just to add to your point, Cleveland was first with market-adjacent TOD across Lorain. Not only has that not moved forward, while everything else in Ohio City has, but the Market has doubled down on the parking since then.

 

It could be for the best though. Transit is in a state of free fall in Cleveland, which nobody seems willing to do anything about. If something doesn't happen, the Rapid has maybe another 5 years before it's done. This parking lot is going to still remain as a huge opportunity for years to come, so perhaps the WSM infill will happen in another era once Cleveland figures out transit. Eventually, it will - that could just take decades.

 

I think the free fall of transit in Cleveland right now, from my perspective down 71, is the most shameful thing going on in Ohio right now. I just can't believe how RTA has been abandoned and left for dead, after it had so much momentum 5 years ago.

I'm not familiar with this at all.  Are you referring to a proposal for an outdoor food market - presumably only in the warmer months - to go across Lorain where the small shopping strip stands?  The last I heard was that was to be apartments and perhaps a development with apartments and perhaps limited commercial - i.e. storefronts....  However, some sort of outdoor market (well covered, I suppose) actually appears there, it would be still another feature that would make our Market District more resemble the Pike Place Market District in Seattle.

Jo Jo Carloni's Italian Restaurant Serves Up Red-sauce Comfort in Olmsted Falls, and Will Soon Do the Same in Ohio City

 

Although we all lived 20 miles or more away, as soon as we landed inside Jo Jo Carloni's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Olmsted Falls, we immediately felt like neighborhood regulars. Despite its zip code, the snug space had all the Old World charm of our favorite spag-and-ball joints in Little Italy, where descriptors like "gourmet" and "trendy" are replaced by "hearty" and "comforting" and "I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

 

I normally don't drive 40 minutes across town to dine at small-town Italian-American restaurants regardless of how good they sound. But when I learned that owners John and Jennifer Minkiewicz had been tapped to open up a new place in the splashy West 25th Street Lofts development in the heart of Ohio City, I rearranged my schedule, rounded up some friends, and made the trip.

 

 

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/jo-jo-carlonis-italian-restaurant-serves-up-red-sauce-comfort-in-olmsted-falls-and-will-soon-do-the-same-in-ohio-city/Content?oid=5008179#

^ That is exciting. It for sure has been one thing lacking in this immediate area. I'm sure I'll be there plenty. Not surprising at all how quickly those spaces are starting to fill. Haven't snapped any recent pics, but the building is looking wonderful! The scaffolding and barriers are down, and it looks to be just minor interior work left.

I'm not familiar with this at all.  Are you referring to a proposal for an outdoor food market - presumably only in the warmer months - to go across Lorain where the small shopping strip stands?  The last I heard was that was to be apartments and perhaps a development with apartments and perhaps limited commercial - i.e. storefronts....  However, some sort of outdoor market (well covered, I suppose) actually appears there, it would be still another feature that would make our Market District more resemble the Pike Place Market District in Seattle.

 

Yeah this: http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/tod/2013-06-07-W25TOD-CPCPresentation.pdf

 

I only bring it up bc others mentioned Columbus' North Market RFP. In my opinion, I'd rather have some human scale TOD, although that clearly isn't happening now.

Ah, Cleveland, the magical land where even TOD master plans call for the widening of roadways at key pedestrian crossings.

I was happy to break the story. ;)

 

MetroHealth System buys Ohio City site proposed for McDonald's

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2017/01/metrohealth_system_purchases_ohio_city_site_proposed_for_a_mcdonalds.html

I think I'd rather have a McDonald's

I think I'd rather have a McDonald's

 

Um, why??

I don't have high hopes for a patient facility on property that should be a mixed use anchor of the growing commercial thoroughfare.

I don't have high hopes for a patient facility on property that should be a mixed use anchor of the growing commercial thoroughfare.

Exactly. Very disappointing.

Nor would a McDonald's be a mixed-use anchor. Plus they dish out unhealthy crap while the medical center will theoretically improve the neighborhood's health.

I don't have high hopes for a patient facility on property that should be a mixed use anchor of the growing commercial thoroughfare.

 

Agree.  There's also the issue of property taxes, from which hospitals are typically exempt.  Worth considering when they occupy desirable locations.

I certainly didn't want a McDonald's there.  But a patient facility there doesn't wow me.

I would be open to a McDonalds if that company would just understand that what you build in Brunswick is not what you build in Ohio City. Build me a 3 to 4 story brownstone with McDonald's as the main tenant + other retail spaces and 20 or so apartments above. Put the parking and drive thru around back with a buffer zone in respect to the surrounding neighbors. It's not that tough to figure out.  #iluvchickenmcgriddles

Not everyone can afford $10 meals at the local-organic-farm-to-fresh marketing gimmick restaurants in Ohio City. For many, McDonald's - and fast food in general, provides a fast, safe and convenient meal. While it's good to impose restrictions on the type of development allowed, it is not acceptable to dictate what type of development comes in. It's not the government's job to bar McDonald's because it's "unhealthy" while ignoring all of the horrid food options elsewhere in the neighborhood. Do you think ABC Tavern has healthier food options than McDonald's?

 

If you want to see how other restaurants manage - just hop on down to Arby's in one of those new developments by CSU.

^There would be a a McDonalds there now if the franchisor/company hadn't pushed for a double-barreled drive-through. I don't disagree with your overall view that the city shouldn't be picking and choosing among restaurant types based on their food, but that isn't really what happened here.

I was talking more in general and to some of the comments made here recently and in the past about McDonald's being a non-starter because it wasn't healthy.

Don't take me too seriously, Sherm. I probably wouldn't have complained too much if McDonald's decided to be the ground-floor tenant in a multi-story apartment building (although I suspect it would have to be residential property for the olfactory challenged). Besides, the choice isn't between McDonald's and ABC Tavern (or an organic/local grocer/restaurant. It's between McDonald's and a medical clinic. I'd prefer the latter in my neighborhood.

Oh, I would too. The argument has come up in other cities as well.

 

People remember fairly vividly when downtown Cincinnati had Wendy's, McDonald's, Roy Rogers and a lot of other fast food restaurants, chain and no-chain. They have all but disappeared and haven't really been replaced with that many other options. If you are in the mood for longer meals, that's certainly there.

 

When Subway came into Over-the-Rhine, in the ground floor of a parking garage, in a retail space that had not been all that active, in a not-so-busy corner, people were quick to claim that it was going to bring down the neighborhood. It wasn't organic. It was too cheap. It was not local. And guess what? It hasn't done a darn thing to the neighborhood but provide a cheap, fast and relatively healthy restaurant.

There are lots of mixed-use projects under construction or in the planning stages for Ohio City. While the building+parking lot is not what I'd build if I could start from scratch, i also don't mind this use. It keeps things real in the OC and provides services for the non micro brew crowd. This corner is well served by RTA bus routes and is well connected to Clark-Fulton neighborhood. I'm just glad there isn't a huge, double lane drive-thru going in.