Seeds & Sprouts XIV – Early intel on real estate projects

This is the Fourteenth edition of Seeds & Sprouts – Early intelligence on Cleveland-area real estate projects. Because these projects are very early in their process of development or just a long-range plan, a lot can and probably will change their final shape, use and outcome.

Construction on Church+State had pushed
both of its buildings high enough last winter
to get a clear view of downtown Cleveland.
Construction finished by fall with commer-
cial leasing lagging residential leasing due
to the global pandemic (KJP).

Ohio City’s Church+State gets first commercial tenant

The large new development Church+State in Ohio City’s Hingetown neighborhood is getting its first commercial tenant, according to a building permit application submitted to the city this week. Great Lakes Health & Wellness will lease 1,769 square feet on the ground floor of the larger of the two buildings — State, 2865 Detroit Ave.

Great Lakes Health & Wellness, based in suburban Westlake, has offered comprehensive chiropractic services since 2004 when it was founded by Dr. Robert Leonard. It is located in the Emerald Square shopping strip, 29540 Center Ridge Rd., at the intersection with Crocker-Stearns Road. Estimated cost to build out the commercial space in the State building is $160,000, the application shows.

“This will be our first expansion clinic from our headquarters in Westlake,” Leonard said. “We picked Ohio City for two reasons. One, it’s such a hot area for young professionals and the growing businesses. Second, I love the access for the commuting workers from all around Cleveland suburbs to get access to all our alternative health care options.”

Graham Veysey, part of the development team that built Church+State, had no comment about potential additional tenants. The Church+State development has two large residential buildings, one 11 stories tall and the other six, built over a pedestal of parking, commercial spaces and lobbies.

Church+State opened to residential tenants this past summer with both buildings now more than 50 percent leased. The development was named after two adjoining streets — Church Avenue and State Street. The latter was renamed West 29th Street when Cleveland went to numbered streets in 1906.

Site plan for the new Cleveland Public Library Central Distri-
bution Facility in the old Woodland Branch Library, as well
as a new branch library proposed next door (Bostwick).

CPL to start new Woodland branch, library hub

A building permit application was requested from the city this week by the Cleveland Public Library to renovate the old Woodland branch, 5806 Woodland Ave., into a central distribution hub for the library network. And, CPL will construct a new branch library on vacant land immediately east of the old branch.

The old 15,696-square-foot branch was built in 1961 and expanded by 6,023 square feet in 2009. The new branch will be a single-level structure that will measure about 7,000 square feet, according to plans submitted to the city. No dollar amount for the project was listed in the permit application.

CPL has served this neighborhood since 1904 when a small Methodist chapel on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood was transformed into a library branch and eventually expanded. When that building suffered a fire in 1957, the current branch was built in its place and opened in 1961.

Now, the new branch will be built just to the east of this location while the existing building will be renovated as part of a new central distribution facility that will serve the entire library system, CPL said in a project summary.

A plaza will create a cohesive campus which will be accessed via East 61st Street and Griswold Avenue to the south rather than directly off Woodland Avenue. This entrance will create a safer, less stressful access point for drivers and bicyclists, while pedestrians entering from the north will have a more inviting entrance.

The Yard Beer Garden, by the Platform Beer Co., may open
this summer at the corner of West 32nd Street and Sackett
Avenue in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood. It also
includes an enclosed bar/lounge, seen at right (LDA).

Platform Beer Co. to start beer garden work

A building permit application was submitted this week by Platform Beer Co. for its proposed The Yard Beer Garden, 3332 Sackett Ave., in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood. The site is an unused, 0.4-acre lot on the southwest corner of Sackett and West 32nd Street, acquired by Platform Beer for $80,000 with additional acquisitions possible.

With an estimated investment of about $500,000, the site will be cleared of underbrush and improved. That includes renovating an existing, one-story, 1,152-square-foot brick building that was used as a convenience store and boxing gym.

Plans submitted to the city show it will be retrofitted with an indoor bar and lounge plus two bathrooms. Planned for the outdoor lot are 48 picnic tables, including six placed inside two shipping containers. All of the tables will be set up around a beach volleyball court.

The project is an outgrowth of Platform Beer’s successful The Lot, 4157 Lorain Ave. which is a repurposed gas station property designed with social-distancing guidelines in mind. It offers reservations for its tables, thematic shipping containers and all-weather igloos. In addition to the Lot and its brewhouse at 4125 Lorain, Platform Beer has additional locations in Columbus and Cincinnati.

Despite the pandemic, the newly opened Euclid3 apartments
are attracting residential and commercial teants (Infrafreak).

Euclid3 apartments done, gets retail tenant

Bluewater Capital Partners, LLC’s new 49-unit apartment building called Euclid3 wrapped up construction in August. Leasing of bedrooms at 11601 Euclid Ave. is progressing despite the pandemic forcing remote learning on students of area institutions of higher learning. Also, commercial leasing is already showing success.

A permit was submitted to the city this week for build-out of a 1,211-square-foot ground-floor retail space, leaving 2,189 square feet of divisible ground-floor space still available for lease. Bluewater Principal Russell Lamb said the tenant is a salon called New Millennium Studio.

“It is the third location for this local salon operator/entrepreneur,” Lamb wrote in an e-mail to NEOtrans.

A permit application that was submitted to the city in August by a prospective tenant was not followed through by the applicant. City records show the permit was for building-out a 1,500-square-foot space on the ground floor for a take-out restaurant.

Euclid3 is a $7 million development located in the Uptown section of University Circle. Hundreds of apartments have been added to Uptown in recent years, many of which are helping to address a shortage of housing for Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Music and Cleveland Institute of Art students.

Across East 115th Street from Euclid3, the failed Constantino’s Market is being remodeled. It is due to reopen in early 2021 as Plum Market Kitchen. It will be the national grocery chain’s first location in Ohio.

This two-story building and its neigboring parking lot at
5100 Lorain Ave. once housed a used-car dealership. By
Summer 2021, it may be the Greek Village Grille (Google).

Greek tavern to open on Lorain Avenue

Plans were submitted to the City of Cleveland this week to renovate the ground floor of a 100-year-old mixed-use building at 5100 Lorain Ave. into a small restaurant. Tavros Capital LLC, which in turn is owned by James Matheos, submitted the plans to open Greek Village Grille.

Proposed is a modest, 26-seat restaurant and full kitchen with carry-out service. Tavros Capital acquired the property last year for $169,000, county records show. Approximately $26,000 worth of renovations are proposed, according to a building permit request submitted by architect J. Michael Meyer.

The ground-floor of the building is vacant. It and a neighboring fenced-in parking lot were peviously used by Driven Auto Solutions, LLC as a used-car business. It was one of many used-car dealers along this section of Lorain where the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood meets Ohio City.

END

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