Could someone please direct me to some linkage for legally zoned live/work space in Cleveland?

 

I'm interested in seeing what is available, where, and the pricing.

 

thanks!

www.towerpress.com

www.downtownclevelandalliance.com/housing.html

www.thehyacinthlofts.com/comingsoon.asp

 

There are also a few places in ChinaTown/Asian Village and Slavic Village

 

blinky, 8shades, the pope might know others.

I know that Hyacinth Lofts in Slavic Village caters to those in the film industry.

The Avenue District also includes live/work townhomes: http://www.theavenuedistrict.com/newlayout/housing/work-live-town-homes.asp

A map for the design district shows a map where spaces are zoned for live-work: http://www.districtofdesign.com/geo_over.html

This is a complicated subject.

The city's live-work overlay zone extends roughly from E. 18th to E. 38th and from Payne Avenue to St. Clair Avenue. Space in this zone may be legally converted to live-work. Here is the catch, though. In order for the space to be legal live-work, it must conform to the state's building and fire codes. Only a few "live-work" buildings have been brought up to code. These include all the buildings cited above, as well as the Payne Avenue Lofts building on E. 37th and Payne. Loftworks, at 40th and Payne just outside the overlay district, is another. Of course, bringing old industrial buildings up to residential code is quite an expensive undertaking, and it robs the buildings of much of their raw charm because it requires things like firewalls separating live and work space, burn-resistant walls and other stuff.

Now, there are several buildings that have artists living in them illegally -- that is, without the buildings being up to code. The chances that they will be kicked out are slim unless there's a fire or other incident to draw the building inspectors' attention. These buildings are also in the same area as those listed above.

Councilman Joe Cimperman and his staff have been working with the state to craft relaxed codes for live-work space. So far, they haven't made much progress. In the meantime, things like sprinkler systems and burn-resistant paint have emerged as potential ways that buildings can be brought up to current codes without requiring a complete gutting of buildings.

 

If you're interested in locating legal or illegal live-work space, contact ArtSpace Cleveland, a mom-and-pop organization that does nothing but help artists find space. Ask for Harriet Gould. If you can give them a couple months' lead time, that is ideal. http://www.artspacecleveland.com

Sorry, this is probably a dumb question but what exactly is the advantage of a legal live-work space? Other than just being legal that is :smile:

There's more flexibility with having a live-work space. Just one example - artists can work at all hours of the night, and be able to live/sleep next to where they display their works rather than locking up shop.

not a dumb question at all....in my experience the biggest advantage of it being legal is that in illegal spaces you can be booted out at any point...kind of a big pain after you might have put in a lot of work to make the place livable (electical, plumbing, sinks, shower, kitchen, drywall, etc). still, it is more than worth it to get an illegal live/work space for many people i know, esp if they are handy, diy-minded and they really need a lot of space to work.

It should also be noted that a couple of neighborhoods on the West Side are exploring live-work overlays; Matt Zone has been exploring opportunities for live-work within his Ward, and live-work showed up on the 2020 plan along W. 105th. Meanwhile, unless the district was scaled back after I got the map, I believe the Live-Work Overlay on the east side actually extends all the way to Addison along St. Clair, to E. 55th along superior and E. 45th along Payne ... it's a pretty huge footprint.

 

Also, in addition to these industrial live-work areas, there are a number of opportunities for live-work in commercial spaces. Two that come to immediate mind are the income-controlled (beautiful) Gordon Square studio spaces that Detroit Shoreway was marketing to artists (not sure if they still are) and the apartments above Arts Collinwood (last I saw, these units were going for $150 PER MONTH, $75 IF YOU WERE WILLING TO PUT SWEAT EQUITY INTO IMPROVING THE SPACE). These are just two examples, but a number of neighborhoods have mixed use space that might be appealing as live-work; not sure if these are all zoned for mixed use, but I haven't heard of any evictions from commercial spaces (unlike in industrial spaces).

 

Finally, Cimperman has expressed an interest in putting forward a home-based business exemption ordinance that would allow artists in certain residential areas to apply for a variance that would allow them to legally sell work out of their homes. When this is done, there will be opportunities to legally do live-work in a pretty full variety of building stock.