NRP Group’s Scranton Peninsula project delayed but alive

The Peninsula, NRP Group’s large residential complex pro-
posed on Scranton Peninsula, is still a go but slow (BKV).
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The first new-construction structural project on Scranton Peninsula, NRP Group’s proposed residential complex, got slightly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns of the economy. But sources at the Cleveland-based development company say the project, which could be one of the company’s last market-rate offerings, is very much alive.

Last fall, when NRP Group won city approvals to build The Peninsula, company officials said they hoped they could start construction as early as July on the 330-unit residential development. The project is proposed to offer 315 apartments and 15 townhouses. Scranton Peninsula is located across the Cuyahoga River from downtown Cleveland’s Tower City complex.

But a source at the company said the pandemic-related shutdowns, reductions in travel and the work-from-home mandate means that groundbreaking could be delayed until sometime early next year.

“We may be able to push it up a bit, but we saw a little delay with COVID,” the source said.

NRP Group reportedly has every intention to exercise a contract to buy 7.44 acres of land from the so-called Thunderbird development site led by Fred Geis, East-West Alliance and J-Roc Development.

Much of Scranton Peninsula is undeveloped land where a steel
mill stood until the early 1980s. The mill land was cleaned by
the city and is being marketed as the Thunderbird development
by a consortium of real estate firms (KJP).

On that parcel, between Carter Road and the Flats Industrial Railroad, NRP Group would build a pair of five-story, U-shaped apartment buildings. Five townhouses would be built on Carter at the north end of the complex and, behind the two apartment buildings would be a two-level parking garage. The garage would be shrouded at the north and south ends with five townhouses each, according to city-approved plans.

The Flats Industrial Railroad is reportedly shutting down operations in July. There is no publicly available information yet as to what the company intends to do with its right of way which was the first operating railroad in Cleveland in 1849.

Although The Peninsula would be the first new-build structural work on Scranton Peninsula in many years, there is construction happening here. One is Cleveland Metroparks’ work on the Towpath Trail, which is being extended along Scranton and Carter roads to the proposed Canal Basin Park on the Columbus Road Peninsula.

The other construction project is J-Roc’s renovation of an abandoned, 27,000-square-foot commercial structure into offices called The Avian at Thunderbird, located at about 1950 Carter. Renovation work is due to be completed later this summer.

Once construction of The Peninsula is completed, another source at NRP Group says the company will take a different focus when it comes to residential real estate development.

As viewed along Carter Road, The Peninsula would add new
density and vibrancy to land that is largely devoid of human
activity despite it being a half-mile from Public Square (BKV).

“After Thunderbird, we will be scaling back our market-rate developments across the country and focusing more on affordable housing,” the second source said. “That doesn’t mean we’re done building. It just means you’ll see more projects like Slavic Village and Metro North.”

The Metro North project features 72 affordable apartments over ground-floor commercial at the corner of West 25th Street and Sackett Avenue. Metro South, one block south on West 25th, two buildings with 190 market-rate apartments will be developed by NRP Group.

NRP Group not only develops multi-family residential real estate projects, it also finances them and manages properties once they’re completed. That includes the management of properties NRP Group didn’t develop.

NEOtrans broke the story more than a year ago of NRP Group’s decision to develop housing on Scranton Peninsula. And it first reported four months ago on NRP Group’s interest in developing the Scrapcom property at Monroe Avenue and Fulton Road.

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