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| Cranes fill the sky over MetroHealth’s $1.25 billion new main hospital campus on West 25th Street. While it is the dominant development in the West 25th corridor, it is by no means the only development. Another two dozen projects exceeding $500 million worth of investment in total were recently completed, underway or planned here (UrbanOhio). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM |
If it seems like there’s been a lot of news lately about developments along West 25th Street between the Cleveland neighborhoods of Ohio City and Brooklyn Center, you’re right. And there’s more to come in that 2.5-mile-long corridor.
A rough count of development projects recently completed, underway or planned in this corridor reveals 25 notable real estate construction or renovation investments valued or potentially valued at more than $1 million. In total, it features up to 1,700 housing units and hundreds of thousands of square feet of new commercial space.
This doesn’t include many small-scale storefront renovations, residential renovations or single-family family homes that aren’t part of a larger development. At the other end of the scale, it doesn’t end with the $1.25 billion, 650,000-square-foot new MetroHealth Medical Center.
Nor does it include transportation projects like the $2.2 million redesign of Scranton Road or a planned $40 million  upgrade of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) MetroHealth Line into a smaller version of the HealthLine bus rapid transit along Euclid Avenue. The MetroHealth Line is the city’s second-busiest bus route behind the HealthLine.
The Clark-Fulton neighborhood is the subject of a development masterplan to coordinate community investment to maximize its effectiveness and benefits. The north end of the West 25th corridor is in the southern area of the Ohio City and Tremont planning districts.
As with many other Cleveland neighborhoods, this one is changing rapidly too, but less so because of Millennials and empty-nesters moving in. Instead, this corridor’s population is growing because of immigration.
Increasingly, West 25th and the parallel Scranton Road are losing their strip clubs, prostitutes, drug dealers and other blights that have plagued this corridor for five decades. There are still trouble spots, but they are rapidly being replaced by a mix of public- and private-sector real estate investments.
Today, the West 25th corridor is attracting a wide variety of businesses and residents, including a Latino population that grew nearly 14 percent in the last decade. This corridor is the heart of Northeast Ohio’s Latino community, or La Villa Hispana.
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| West 25th corridor projects (Google/KJP). |
Here is a list of the 25 developments having a value or potential value of $1+ million in and near the West 25th Street corridor. The numbers preceding each development correspond with the numbers on the map above:
(1) 2011-2109 W. 25th — Market Square; Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors LLC; $175 million (all phases); 260 apartments, 75,000 square feet of retail, 150,000 square feet of offices, 560 parking spaces; groundbreaking for phase one (7-story apartment building over retail/parking) due by the second-quarter of 2020.
(2) 2070-2230 Columbus Rd — Ohio City Transit Oriented Development; Carnegie Management & Development Corp.; dollar amount unknown; mixed-use development including public spaces next to and above GCRTA’s Red Line station including a possible new station; in early development.
(3) 2168 W. 25th — Voss Industries redevelopment; R&L Ohio City LLC/Casto; dollar amount unknown; possible residential conversion of historic industrial building; in early development.
(4) 2306 W. 17th St. — Fairmont Creamery; Sustainable Community Associates; $15 million; residential conversion of historic industrial building; completed in 2015.
(5) 2342 Scranton Ave. — unidentified future development; Gustave Development; dollar amount unknown; in early development.
(6) 2410 Scranton — The Lincoln; Sustainable Community Associates; dollar amount unknown; construction of about 83 residences over 6,000 square feet of commercial space and underground parking; conceptual plans approved Nov. 27 by the city’s Local Design Review Committee.
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| The Tappan apartments, under construction on Scranton Road, is next to Sustainable Community Associates’ Wagner Awning residential conversion, seen at left (GISguy/UrbanOhio). |
(7) 2329 West 16th Place — Due North Townhomes; David Ferrante; dollar amount unknown; construction of eight townhomes; conceptual plans approved Dec. 11 by the city’s Local Design Review Committee.
(8) 2321 Scranton — Eleven Scranton; Gustave Development; $5+ million; 11 new-construction townhomes; completed in 2019.
(9) 2461 W. 25th — unidentified future development; Solo Development DBA Sass Real Estate LLC; dollar amount unknown; in early development.
(10) 2554 W. 25th — St. Joseph’s Commons; Front Steps Housing & Services/PIRHL; $12.1 million; construction of a 68-unit apartment building; under construction and to be completed in 2020.
(11) 2570 W. 28th St. — unidentified future project but is likely to be residential as the prospective buyer has hired RDL Architects; unidentified developer; dollar amount unknown; in early development.
(12) 3100 Barber Ave. — unidentified future development that could expand north to eliminate the junkyard at Train Avenue and West 30th Street; Ben Beckman; dollar amount unknown; in early development.
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| Foran’s Astrup Building redevelopment on West 25th, showing a “new apartment site” at the corner of Castle Avenue that Foran bought in December 2019 from John Zubal (CityArchitecture). |
(13) 2707 Barber — 2707 Barber Ave Apartments; $7+ million; Ben Beckman; conversion of former J. Spang Baking Co. building into 69 market-rate apartments; construction is nearly complete.
(14) 2658 Scranton — Wagner Awning Building; Sustainable Community Associates; $14 million; conversion of historic industrial building into 59 apartments and basement office space; completed in 2018.
(15) 2703 Scranton — Tappan Building; Sustainable Community Associates; $23 million; construction of a 95-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial (bakery); under construction and to be completed in 2020.
(16) 2885 W. 25th — Tremont Animal Clinic; TAC Holding Co. LLC; $10 million; construction of a new, larger animal hospital that is currently located on West 14th St.; under construction and to be completed in 2020.
(17) 2937 W. 25th — Astrup Building; Foran Group Develoment LLC; $16.1 million; renovation of the former Astrup Awning Co. into 86,000-square-foot community arts center with a second, larger location for the Rincon Criollo restaurant plus a future new-construction residential building; under construction and to be completed in 2021.
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| The ornate former St. Michael School on Scranton is due for redevelopment as The Arc On Scranton following its 2019 acquisition by a firm managed by Eric Lutzo (Google). |
(18) 3160 W. 33rd St. – Northern Ohio Blanket Mill; Levin Group/Derek Ng; $15 million; residential conversion of historic industrial building with 60 units of affordable housing; renovation to begin in 2020.
(19) 3140 W. 25th — El Mercado; Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development ; $12 million; conversion of former H.J. Weber Co. industrial buildings totaling 32,500-square-feet into a 21-kiosk marketplace for businesses selling food and crafts; renovation to begin in 2020.
(20) 3146 Scranton — The Arc On Scranton; Eric Lutzo et al; dollar amount of redevelopment unknown; unidentified redevelopment of 64,000-square-foot former St. Michael School; in early development.
(21) 3335 W. 25th — Metro North mixed-use development; MetroHealth/NRP Group; $30 million in both phases; construction of two buildings totaling about 150 affordable apartments with 72 units over a Tri-C workforce development center in the first phase; construction to begin in 2020.
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| The largest single investment in the West 25th corridor is the new MetroHealth main hospital building. But the hospital is also partnering with NRP Group to build 250 apartments over commercial uses along West 25th to help boost the surrounding neighborhood (MetroHealth/RDL). |
(22) 3400 W. 25th — Metro South mixed-use development; MetroHealth/NRP Group; $30 million; construction of two buildings totaling 100 market-rate apartments over street-facing retail; construction to begin in 2020;
(23) 2500 MetroHealth Dr. – MetroHealth Medical Center; MetroHealth System; $1.25 billion; construction of a 650,000-square-foot, 11-story main medical campus and associated structures, parking and greenspace to replace outdated facilities; construction underway and to be completed in 2022.
(24) 3857 W. 25th — Ariel Selzer Center; Ariel Ventures LLC; dollar amount unknown; construction of a new international community center; in early development.
(25) 3881 W. 25th — Emerald Alliance XI; CHN Housing Partners & EDEN, Inc.; $12.9 million; construction of 71 affordable apartments on the site of the former Brooklyn YMCA; construction to be completed in 2020.
Total investment in all of these projects, is estimated at more than $1.75 billion, although $1.25 billion of that is invested in the new MetroHealth main campus development. Even without the new hospital, the $500+ million in new development will transform the West 25th Street corridor and likely instigate additional investment in the 2020s.
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The fact that area has been a historically Puerto Rican stronghold really works in Cleveland's favor, I think. The island itself has struggled to recover from the recent hurricane, and because Puerto Ricans are American citizens by birth, they are unaffected by federal immigration policy changes. Combine that with a historic landing point for generations of Puerto Ricans in a soon-to-be-thriving neighborhood, I can see Cleveland becoming a top 5 (or even 3) destination for Puerto Ricans looking to the mainland U.S. for better economic opportunities.
And as you note in the article, it's great to have a new source for potential population growth rather than have all your eggs in the millennial and empty nesters basket. Some exciting times ahead for the entire west side of Cleveland, I think.