Another big investment coming to Lakewood

Two acres of mostly vacated land near the center of Lakewood is proposed to be redeveloped by Columbus-area real estate developer Jerry Solove (CLICK TO ENLARGE).

Over the past 30 years, Lakewood has lost more than 1,700 housing units, with only Cleveland, East Cleveland and Euclid losing more. The average age of its housing stock is the second-oldest in the county. At the same time, growing interest in traditional, walkable communities has made Lakewood a hot real estate commodity. It’s why Lakewood had the highest property value rate of increase, 22.5 percent, among all Cuyahoga County communities in 2018.

So, to say that real estate investors are interested in Lakewood is an understatement. That includes everyone from real estate corporations to mom-and-pop renovation companies converting duplexes into luxury single-family houses to people simply trying to outbid each other for their next place to live.

Furthermore, the biggest, most underutilized properties are highly sought after. Those that often fall into that category are former car dealerships whose automotive operations have left for outer-suburban highway interchanges. The next one is about to fall.

Jerry Solove, of Columbus-based Solove Development Inc., has a contract to acquire about 2 acres of the former Spitzer Lakewood Chrysler dealership at 13815 Detroit Ave. and neighboring Educators Music. Terms of the sale are not available. The 1.6-acre Spitzer property and structures are valued at $767,500 for real estate taxes, according to the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer’s records. The 0.4-acre Educators Music property and its two structures have a tax value of $232,300.

A two-acre parcel could provide enough room for several dozen townhomes or two or more multi-family residential buildings with ground-floor retail facing Detroit Avenue. Solove’s plans will be revealed at a public meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 27 at Lakewood City Hall’s auditorium.

Solove Development Co. has built a variety of residential and mixed-use styles depending on their immediate surroundings. Above is The View On Pavey Square offering student housing near Ohio State University. Below is phase 2 of The View On Fifth in Columbus’ Grandview Heights neighborhood. These are a small glimpse of the architectural and land use styles developed by Solove Development (Solove).

Much of Solove’s recent developments have been in Columbus. Most are near the Ohio State University campus and in the neighborhoods just north of downtown Columbus. Lakewood is obviously a different market, but has some similarities as well. Lakewood is popular with young professionals and new arrivals to Greater Cleveland, based on all of the out-of-state license plates seen around town and the new faces in Lakewood’s schools and day care centers.

Someone can learn a lot about a real estate developer by looking at what types of projects and genres they like to build. Developers of projects in urban and inner-ring suburban neighborhoods prefer to stick with projects common in those areas. Look for three- to six-story buildings of for-sale townhomes or market-rate apartments, sometimes with a shop, restaurant or cafe to provide a pedestrian-friendly street presence on a busy thoroughfare.

Due to recession-induced restructuring in the auto industry, Spitzer lost its Chrysler Motor City franchises in Parma and Lakewood in 2010. Spitzer still owns much of its Lakewood site but leased its building and parking/inventory lots to Wingstar Transportation LLC which began in 2013 to provide trucking and logistics services.

Joining Wingstar at the dealership was its sister company, Volens LLC. It began in 2015 to provide trucking equipment, trailers and tarps for shipping purposes. But Wingstar and Volens quickly outgrew the 1.6-acres of land south of Detroit, divided by Parkwood Road, and are looking for more space elsewhere.

Educators Music closed last spring after it and the house behind it was sold to Solove.?The former Chrysler dealership is just out of view to the right, and shown in the view below (Google).

Also under contract to sell is the Stavash Family Limited Liability Co. which owns Educator’s Music, 13701 Detroit Ave. and the house behind the store at 1406 Wyandotte Ave.?Educator’s Music was started in the early 1950’s by the late John Stavash Sr., once a member of the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra. He built the store building in 1960. His son, John Jr., runs the business today and temporarily relocated to the house behind the now-closed store.

It should be noted that Solove’s plans don’t include the 0.35-acre parcel used by Bruce’s Automotive & Fleet Services, 13919 Detroit Ave. It is at the highly visible corner of Detroit and Bunts Road. This property is valued at $165,600 for taxes and owned by G & M Property Management 3 LLC, which in turn is owned by George Shaker. Shaker has owned the property either directly or through a company for more than 40 years, county records show.

Copy of a letter sent to property owners near the proposed Solove development site.

There are more than a half-dozen recently built, under construction, or planned real estate investments along Lakewood’s Detroit Avenue corridor. These include Rockport Square Townhomes built on the former Fairchild Chevrolet, Center North Apartments in the former office tower, McKinley Place townhomes built on the former McKinley School, One Lakewood Place mixed-use development at the former hospital site, an unknown residential development planned on the site of the now-closed Steve Barry Buick and neighboring Bobby O’s Place tavern, an unknown development at the closed Trinity Lutheran Church, and an unknown development at the closed Phantasy Cleveland theater complex.

Combined, they would make a significant dent in the loss of housing inventory that has helped drive Lakewood’s population loss, declining from a peak of 70,000 residents in 1970 to 60,000 in 1990, to 50,000 today. Having more modern housing options to complement the many historic and, in some cases, obsolete housing in Lakewood will enable the community to remain as an attractive place to live for years to come.

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