Here come Cleveland’s mid-rises!

Proposed skyscrapers invariably overshadow smaller building projects when it comes to attracting media attention. But mid-rise new-construction projects far outnumber their loftier counterparts in Greater Cleveland. So here’s an inventory of planned mid-rise projects in the region.

For purposes of this article, “mid-rise” means buildings in the range of 5-15 stories tall. They are presented below in alphabetical order. Some have been reported here at NEOtrans before. Other new-construction projects that are already well underway are not included or are mentioned in passing, such as Church+State and Dexter Place.

When first announced by Zaremba Co. in the mid-2000s, the Avenue District included several shorter, mid-rise buildings in addition to the 10-story building that was built at the northeast corner of?St. Clair Ave. and East 12th St. (Zaremba). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Avenue District — Look for news in the coming weeks about a mid-rise project here by a major firm. The reason is that?Knez Homes has shaken up the for-sale market downtown with its Avenue Townhouses on Superior Avenue at East 13th. The 12-unit first phase sold out as construction continues, with a second phase of up to 24 homes pending at City Planning Commission. Knez is easily exceeding its 50-percent presale goals for each phase.

What’s even more remarkable is that the townhomes are selling for about $500,000, or $250 per square foot. And they’re doing so despite being located amid a striptease club, a seedy apartment building and an aging bowling alley. Considering high-rise construction in downtown Cleveland costs $200 to $225 per square foot, one can see the sudden interest in building apartment-style condos downtown be they in mid- to high-rise buildings.

Azure is one of two projects that is adding some economic life to?the northeast gateway into downtown Cleveland (Knez).

Azure — Knez again, this time up the shoreline at East 55th and the Shoreway. There, company founder Bo Knez will build 136 homes and eight commercial spaces. It includes a 100-unit, five-story apartment building and 36 townhomes.

Knez has been building single-family homes in the suburbs for years, but is focusing more of his efforts in the city, including townhouses and multi-family. And this development will rise not far from where he grew up, in the St. Clair-East 55th neighborhood, home to increasing real estate investment activity.

One of Cleveland’s most visible development sites will reportedly become Bridgeworks, featuring eight-story and seven-story apartment buildings (Allegro).

Bridgeworks — Hemingway Development?this spring has tentatively?won the nod from Cuyahoga County to develop the 2-acre county Engineer’s headquarters property, 2429 Superior Viaduct. Terms of the deal are not yet finalized.

However, Hemingway is apparently confident enough that the county council will approve the property sale to not only come up with the Bridgeworks brand name for the project. It also is reportedly planning two residential mid-rises on the site — one eight stories tall and the other seven stories. Earlier rumors had Hemingway planning a single, taller building on the site.

This would be Hemingway’s second mid-rise development in Ohio City’s booming Hingetown neighborhood. Construction on the foundations for its mostly residential Church+State project are virtually done, with a tower crane now onsite to go vertical on the 11- and six-story buildings.

Library Lofts, at left, will be the second phase of the multi- building Circle Square development. The first phase is the renovation of Fenway Manor apartments at right (Bialosky).

Circle Square — An 11-story apartment building called Library Lofts, topping the new MLK Branch Library, would be the first new-construction element of the four-block, Circle Square plan by lead developer Midwest Development Partners.

The many new-construction elements of the Circle Square development require significant public sector coordination and sequencing. That includes acquiring and demolishing the old Third District Police Station on Chester Avenue as well as accommodating the relocation of the city’s MLK Branch Library into a new home in the development. The old library will be demolished and the site developed with new uses, per the Circle Square vision.

An early rendering of 4005 Detroit Ave. shows the seven- story apartment building’s northern facade. The southern side reportedly has been reduced in scale so that it doesn’t tower over Wheat Court and the houses behind (LDA).

4005 Detroit — In another Hingetown effort, as reported here in May, Hayoun Corp. is seeking to build a seven-story apartment building with ground-floor retail between Cleveland Bagel’s store and Progressive Urban Real Estate’s office. However, the design has since been adjusted so that the south side doesn’t tower over Wheat Court and the homes behind it.

This will be Adam Hayoun’s first new-construction project. His resume includes many home renovations on the near-West Side. Hayoun reportedly has some well-heeled partners, so this probably won’t be Hayoun’s last new-construction project. More mid-rise projects are apparently brewing with him and his backers.

A five-story, 21-unit apartment building will begin rising this year in booming Tremont on West 7th Street (Wigwam).

Grosvenor Place — Wigwam Partners, a union between Smythe Property Advisors and property owner Brian McCreary of Gilbane Building Co., is pursuing a five-story apartment building at 2430 W. 7th St. in Tremont.

Much of the financing for the 21-unit apartment development is coming from a fund enabled by the new Opportunity Zone program. Demolition of a small apartment house is required before construction can begin this year.

Finch Group proposes the 11-story Infinium development on Euclid Avenue between East 117th-118th streets (Finch).

Infinium — Replacing the vacated University Circle facility for the Centers for Dialysis Care (CDC), 11717 Euclid Ave., could be an 11-story mixed-used development. Proposed by the Finch Group are 133 mixed-income apartments above a glassy, two-story retail and restaurant atrium facing Euclid Avenue. Along East 117th and 118th streets, 32 townhouses are proposed, concealing an interior parking garage.

An updated rendering of Akara’s Kenect Cleveland apartment building, sans movie theater, in the Wolstein Group’s Flats East Bank development downtown (Akara).

Kenect Cleveland –?When the Wolstein Group wraps up construction of several riverside restaurants this winter in the first part of Phase 3 of its Flats East Bank development, look for it to proceed with construction of the second half of Phase 3. This includes a 12-story apartment building and shops in partnership with Chicago-based Akara Partners. That means construction should start next year.

An updated site plan for Cumberland’s lakefront development shows a more realistic approach to adding new life to city- owned land on Cleveland’s lakefront (Cumberland).

Lakefront?— After the Cleveland Browns defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game at First Energy Stadium Jan. 19, 2020, construction workers will begin tearing up parking lots used by football fans north of Erieside Avenue. In their place will be a port warehouse converted into offices and restaurants, at least one mid-rise apartment building, a school and possibly a six-story hotel.

In fact, Cumberland Development’s Richard Pace said that work will begin during football season to demolish a Dock 39 warehouse and convert the other to an open, collaborative office space. Requests for proposals are being issued to hoteliers for the planned structure north of the Great Lakes Science Center.?Cumberland is also reportedly looking for a new partner in the joint venture as Trammel Crow is out.

Chicago-based Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors hopes to start construction on Market Square in Ohio City this fall (HBREA).

Market Square — This fall could see demolition of a retail strip and expansion of water and sewer lines in preparation for construction of the $150 million Market Square development. The wood-framed 10-story office building will have 150,000 square feet of space and a seven-story apartment building, also wood-framed, will have 260 units.? About 75,000 square feet of retail and at least 560 structured parking spaces will round out the project.

With a fall groundbreaking in the cards, the One Lakewood Place development will add new economic life for the inner- suburb’s downtown area (CBRE).

One Lakewood Place — With demolition of the old Lakewood Hospital progressing, look for a fall groundbreaking on the first phase of One Lakewood Place by Carnegie Management & Development Corp. With 184,000 square feet of Class A office space over ground-floor retail and restaurants, downtown Lakewood will begin offering office facilities that are competitive with those in downtown Cleveland and out in Westlake.

Squeezed between Judson Manor apartments at left and the Park Lane Villa apartments at right, the Park Lane Condos would add housing options or University Circle (Finch).

Park Lane Condos — Another Finch Group project located in University Circle, this 11-story building would rise next to the firm’s Park Lane Villa apartments. With just 18 condo units, this skinny building would be built atop the garage entrance for Park Lane Villa, 10570 Park Lane, and cost about $20 million to build.

Shoreline phase 2 in the center will add to Shoreline phase 1 at left. This development along with Azure mentioned above will enhance the northeast lakefront gateway (Vocon).

Shoreline Phase 2 — As first reported here at NEOtrans, this is another mid-rise development at East 55th and the Shoreway, like Knez’s Azure. This time, it’s on the north side of the Shoreway next to Lake Erie, alongside the Shoreline Phase 1. The first phase was the conversion of the Nicholson Warehouse into Quay 55 apartments, later renamed and expanded with more housing units.

Proposed is a 212-unit, five-story apartment building by a partnership led by Mark Coffin who redeveloped and owned the Nicholson Warehouse until his firm defaulted on a federally guaranteed loan. Total parking onsite for phases one and two will be 561 spaces, planning documents show.

Snavely’s phase 3 of its Hingetown development would feature a 5-story new-construction apartment building in addition to a renovated commercial building at left (Vocon).

Snavely Hingetown — Hingetown is home to several mid-rise developments underway, including Church+State, Casto’s Dexter Place and Snavely’s multi-phase Hingetown development that is now entering phase three with a fourth phase reportedly in planning.

The Snavely developments are transforming both sides of Detroit Avenue west of West 25th Street in Ohio City. They include mixed-income residential over commercial in a combination of renovated historic buildings and new construction. The community’s mix of uses offers opportunities for residents and entrepreneurs to climb the ladder of success.

Tucked away on East 70th Street between Euclid and Carnegie avenues, Sabor Group would add new housing to Cleveland’s Midtown District (Grassroots).

The 70 — One of the more intriguing developments is the five-story apartment building by the Sabor Group. It would be located midway between Euclid and Carnegie avenues on East 70th Street, without a presence on either major thoroughfare. But the site is located between the Dealer Tire headquarters and the Midtown Tech Park. Sabor develops real estate in Hungary and the USA (Cleveland and Detroit) including the Euclid Lofts, 3800 Euclid Ave.

The revised plan submitted by Solove for redeveloping the old Spitzer Chrysler-Plymouth property has an eight-story apartment building proposed on the east side of Parkwood Avenue. The original plan had it on the west side of Parkwood (Solove).

The View on Detroit East — Of the two Lakewood developments planned by Columbus-based Jerome Solove Development Inc., the one that would raze the former Spitzer Chrysler-Plymouth dealership has a mid-rise building in it, as first reported here.

But the eight-story apartment building originally proposed on the southwest corner of Detroit and Parkwood avenues would instead be placed on the southeast corner and add ground-floor commercial space. In its place, west of Parkwood, surface parking for the development will be provided.

That parking lot will be next to Bruce’s Automotive owned by George Shaker who refused to sell his property to Solove. The placement of a surface parking lot next to Bruce’s is likely to create a placeholder for a future phase that could include the Shaker property, at Detroit and Bunts Road. A Solove development, The View on Detroit West, planned at the former Steve Barry Buick site would not exceed four stories.

People coming up Cedar Hill from University Circle into Cleveland Heights are greeted by an ugly vacant lot. But that could soon be transformed into a vibrant corner (F&C).

Top Of The Hill — After a long and exhaustive design-review process, the city of Cleveland Heights and developer Flaherty & Collins are hopefully coming down the home stretch in approving a final design for the $75 million development. The mixed-use complex on city-owned land would feature a 10-story apartment building at the corner of Cedar Road and Euclid Heights Blvd.

In the parking lot in the foreground at 2200 Prospect Ave., a joint venture seeks a nine-story apartment building (Google).

2200 Prospect — Although still in an early stage, a joint venture between property owner GBX Group and developer Cumberland (same developer as the lakefront project) would put a 9-story apartment building on part of the parking lot for the former YMCA building, now the GBX-owned Domain at Cleveland student housing.

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