K&D reels in Reserve Square

 

By STAN BULLARD

 

6:01 am, August 15, 2005

 

 

K&D Group, which slowly gained a presence in downtown Cleveland by building the Stonebridge lofts and condos in the Flats, is preparing to add two, 23-story apartment towers to its portfolio in one, $38 million swoop by buying the Reserve Square complex on the opposite side of downtown.

 

Doug Price, CEO of Willoughby-based K&D, said the company has lined up financing to close the purchase of the complex Aug. 29 from Equity Residential Property Trust, the nation's largest publicly traded owner of apartments.

 

More at crainscleveland.com http://www.crainscleveland.com

good news but i hope this does not pile up debt and hamstring them from doing new stuff.

Reserve Square developer buys attached hotel

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Christopher Montgomery

Plain Dealer Reporter

Apartment owner and developer Doug Price is once again expanding his presence in downtown Cleveland.

 

On Wednesday, the chief executive of Willoughby's K&D Group Inc. closed on his $5.2 million purchase of the 268-room Embassy Suites hotel attached to the Reserve Square apartment complex at 1701 East 12th St. Price bought the 765-unit Reserve Square for $38 million in August.

 

The hotel's seller was FelCor Lodging Trust Inc., a large hotel real estate investment trust based in Irving, Texas. Price said FelCor, whose properties are concentrated in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, decided the Cleveland market didn't fit its strategic interests.

 

 

More at http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1134639260295471.xml&coll=2

 

Courtesy of our sister (or in this case, 'sista') site:

 

 

Oy.  Revamp indeed.

sounds great!  who knows how big the market is now?  I can't imagine it's much over 10,000 square feet.  having a 30,000 sf space would be a big asset for the neighborhood!

 

 

Good news as this Embassy Suites was a dump, but the rooms are HUGE and its well located.

 

The market "seems" pretty big if i recall correctly maybe 15-20k square feet.  :?

I don't think it's much over 10K sq. feet - Constantino's is 9K and the market at Reserve Square didn't seem bigger than that. That'll be a tremendous asset, though.

That is a fairly good sized grocery for an urban area.  For comparison, the Dave's in Shaker Square is 26,400 sq. ft.

Yeah, Dave's in Ohio City is 35,000 for comparison.  I can't imagine needing a grocery store any larger than that!  The issue that many of my peers have addressed, though, is that the market has no street-level visibility as it stands right now.  I hope that in its expansion, they can extend it out to the sidewalk. 

 

With the addition of 600+ new residents in the Avenue District, plus the recent addition of Statler Arms and new tenants that could arise from these rehabs, an upgraded grocery should do quite well!  I know that's one of my top prerequisites when I look at a neighborhood.  I need to be able to walk to the grocers.  This is why I wouldn't consider Tremont or Gateway at present and would have great difficulty living in Detroit Shoreway or Little Italy.  The WHD now has Constantino's and Flats East Bank should soon have its own grocer.  A growing Avenue District should have a grocer befitting of the status it's trying to establish for itself. 

The market has no street-level visibility as it stands right now.  I hope that in its expansion, they can extend it out to the sidewalk.

 

That is key. Many people I talk to don't even know it's there!

Yeah, for years the prevailing attitude has been "there is no grocery store in Downtown Cleveland".  Unfortunately, I still don't usually walk to get groceries because gallon jugs of milk get real cumbersome, real quick.  If I was just getting dry goods I probably would walk.

Constantino's is amazing with only 9K...as such, I hope this new supermarket takes the same approach as it would be cool to have a Constantino's on steroids in that area.

I'd rather have someplace to get the stuff that I need on a daily basis.  Constantino's is great, and I'm happy to have it, but most of it's shelf space is devoted to wine and other luxury foods.  I would love to have something equivalent to a Dave's downtown.  But would they want another store so close to their others?

well, 30,000 sf would be the size of the Dave's in Ohio City and there's another Dave's on Payne just east of Downtown.  I don't know who owns this one, but I can't imagine a 30,000 sf space not having all of your normal grocery needs!

Who owns the Reserve Square market currently?  I'm guessing it is just an indie who rents it.   You guys are right, with no visibility, the market is a total unknown.  I moved to the Cleveland area 6 months ago, and spent many years visiting the area before that and I had no idea there was a market in the RS until I read that the building had been sold.  I don't think many people know that it exists! I The market needs to be somewhat the opposite of Constantino's.  Instead of gourmet, go more mainstream, not a copy-cat.  It needs to be something different.  There is a real need for a general grocery downtown.

 

And, X, don't worry about walking with those heavy bags.  Get a folding grocery cart like the rest of us   :-P

That's funny you say most people "don't" know its there.  the Market is the selling point of RS.  The chesterfield also benefits from its location.

 

I haven't been in the market itself for a long while but i remember it being very nice.

market is ok and good for essentials.  wouldn't eat much of the prepared food, lunch meats, etc. But it is good for milk, canned food, salad bar, cereal, beer, wine, etc. 

 

street level visibility is key, i agree.  however, i think it could only open up onto the E13 th side, which doesn't make it more visible to the missing customer - the downtown worker/resident.  this store is already frequented by chesterfield, RS and the subsidized housing nearby.  Superior side is storage area and mechanicals and E.12 side is being redone for the new scorchers.

That shot from above is amazing.  I never realized how large that complex of apartment buildings is.  What is the occupancy of them presently.

I've been in there once in my life...about 2 months ago.  I needed some pita and I found it.  I was surprised to find that it was as big as it was.  I was picturing something along the lines of the West 6th Market...nothing substantial at all.  I found that it was along the lines of a Gristede's or something similar in NYC.  It had a deli and prepared foods and pretty much all of your everyday grocery needs.  I don't know how much of a difference street visibility would do for it at present, because there just isn't that much pedestrian traffic along E. 13th and from what you're saying, there's no way to connect it to 12th, but with the addition of 3 new blocks of housing over the next few years, an upgrade seems to be in order. 

 

I'm not surprised that it's a big selling point for those existing units, because obviously you're going to find out about it when you check the place out.  I just know that there are loads of retailers in Downtown Cleveland that are buried underground or part of an indoor marketplace and most people don't even know they're there.  Marketing is poor and the street-level retail scene is abysmal.  I feel that this will change dramatically over the next 5-10 years...

There are signs all over the Scorchers space saying that it will be THE place to spend your St. Patrick's Day...which is in TWO WEEKS!  They don't look ready, but maybe they will be?

^ it will be open by then, probably the Tuesday before for a few days of working out the kinks.  it was a bar before, so i was a little shocked that they spent 4 months completely redoing the interior. 

 

Also, now that the management and leasing offices are together in the new space, the grocery store is going to begin expansion toward E13th.   

 

good things all around here now. 

great news!  thanks for the update!

Sounds like this may end up being a nice investment for KD.  With the momentum of the Avenue District, Reserve Square could really benefit.  The expansion of the market so that its visible on East 13th (?) is a great idea.  The simple act of creating frontage at that corner does a lot for linking that space to the Avenue District in the minds of pedestrians. 

I still like the idea of having everything north of Playhouse Square, between E. 12 and E. 13 Street called, "the Avenue District", kinda like downtown Cleveland's premier address.  Mostly residential w/ some small service retail (Scorchers, Doug's Grocery Story, whatever Zaremba figures out to on their first floor).  Then, when Euclid Avenue gets going, you have easy connectivity to the Euclid Transit line, much more retail, and a jump-off point to the rest of DT (Warehouse, Gateway, public square, Ohio City.) 

Looks like there's some heavy duty work going on at the base of the northeast corner of the westernmost building.  I can't say for certain what this is, but presume that it could have something to do with expanding retail?  Could this be the grocery store making its push?  On that note, who operates this grocery?  What if they could get someone like Trader Joe's to come in and take over?  I understand that some TJ's are much smaller than $30k, but to be at the epicenter of an expanding residential node could entice them, no?  This is probably wishful thinking, considering that they may have an opportunity to move into something much bigger (Pesht) in the next few years...

 

From what I can tell, they've also been working on units one at a time.  They've got this construction elevator thing moving up and down the north end of the building.  Anyone else have more information?

I'd rather see Trader in the WHD, possibly as part of Pesht, or in the bottom of one of the Avenue buildings. Reserve Square just isn't sexy enough for a Trader Joe's.  :wink2:

but it could be!  I don't know what the constraints are in the Reserve Sq. building, but it's amazing what a chunk of money & a good architect can do with a lackluster space!  Again, this is VERY WISHFUL thinking...I'm sure they don't have the income or population numbers they'd need to move in over there...yet!

Looks like there's some heavy duty work going on at the base of the northeast corner of the westernmost building.  I can't say for certain what this is, but presume that it could have something to do with expanding retail?  Could this be the grocery store making its push?

 

Correction:  This appears to be some sort of charter school.  So, where's the grocery store expanding to?  And will it ever get a sidewalk presence?  This seemed like a good spot for it, since it would be the nearest corner to the Superior/E. 13th Street block of the Avenue District...

A charter school in a residential building?  I have to think that this would deter some from renting or buying at RS. 

I think the grocery is going to expand east (into the fomer RS business office space which is now vacant).  No sidewalk presence, unless they have changed their plan.  Originally, grocery expansion was to happen first and there was talk of going to sidewalk for at least a little visibility. 

 

but, when they landed the lease for the charter school, they dropped everything and have been working on that instead.  no new date on grocery expansion now.

hmmm...that's peculiar

Well, I always thought, if we moved downtown, where would we send our kids to school.  Main reason why I wouldn't live downtown. 

A charter school in a residential building?  I have to think that this would deter some from renting or buying at RS. 

 

I really like that idea, and for the reason that Gotribe mentions.

A charter school in a residential building?  I have to think that this would deter some from renting or buying at RS. 

 

I really like that idea, and for the reason that Gotribe mentions.

 

But charter schools can vary greatly in the type of students that they attract. Sometimes they are places where Cleveland sends its most unruly students.

I would think that the frontage would be more valuable to a retail enterprise than to a charter school.  I wonder if there was no way to work that out.

At the last Planning Commission meeting, they sought approval for the streetscape plan and implied that the grocery store entrance was still going to be brought to the street. A big part of the plan was to close the pass-through portion of the building to the public and have everything at street level.

This was last week - wouldn't they have to come back to the commission if there were changes to the plan?

 

 

That's odd. There are a few shops inside the building that would be closed off to the public?  I need to walk thru there again and take a look. I think that it would be great if they closed it off. It would definitely help.

my information was coming from workers on site, so it is possible that they are not completely in the loop. 

 

i just hope that there is still an entrance to the grocery from the e12 side.

 

judging by the quality of the new embassy suites entrance and the new office space, i think this will be a good remodel and can't happen soon enough.

charter schools tend to be a bad idea. for the most part in Cleveland they have been opened by charletons exploiting vulnerbale, low income families with empty promises and a lot of praising Jesus, and  attempts at military like discipline- which sorry, does not raise creative, socially conscious,  responsible leaders and citizens of tomorrow.  I would not want that going on in my basement.

So, how does everyone like the new color scheme?

It think makes a difference.

Hmmm...I go by there a few times each week and I hadn't noticed.  When did it change?  What changed?

Just the paint jb. It's been up a while now, but I haven't seen any comments about it.

I think there as picture on the Avenue thread - hold on.

 

Here it is.

 

 

 

 

mmmm...yes, the red and the awnings.  I presume there's a signage package on the way as well?  I remember reading this somewhere.  So far, so good!

The whole front entrance is going to be redone with a translucence glass that will still show the granite during the day but will be lit up at night. Plus the current passenger drop off area is going to be reconfigured.

word.

 

anything on expansion of the grocery store or bringing an entrance to the street?  Even if they just had a sign on the outside that indicated there was a grocery store in there!  I was really disappointed when I found out that the work on the corner was for a charter school and not the market...

I was under the impression that all of the inside stores were ONLY going to have street entrances; that is, all of the inside entrances were to be closed to the public.

Hmmm... I must've missed that one!

word.

 

anything on expansion of the grocery store or bringing an entrance to the street?  Even if they just had a sign on the outside that indicated there was a grocery store in there!  I was really disappointed when I found out that the work on the corner was for a charter school and not the market...

 

It looks like the corner will be/is the charter school. However, I believe that the school will only go halfway towards the E.13 entrance. I did see a sign on the window that advertises the market. I think that it will be extending to the street at a point that is adjacent to the entrance, but will not go all the way to the corner. Am I making sense?

Yeah, I can see that.  And yes, the Charter School is already there.  I don't know if it's operational yet, but the signs are up and what not.

market is supposed to be open by march, according to a resident.  they are going to start doing the serious work inside after jan 1.