Gordon Square apartment project may fill visible corner

Krueger Group 27-unit market-rate apartment building rendering

The Krueger Group would like to build this 27-unit market-rate apartment building on the southwest corner of West 58th Street and Breakwater Avenue in the Gordon Square area. This rendering view is from approximately the front door of the Parkview Nite Club (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

A Cleveland-based developer and construction contractor is broadening its horizons by getting involved in more multi-family buildings. To that end, The Krueger Group proposes to build a 27-unit, market-rate apartment building at the southwest corner of West 58th Street and Breakwater Avenue in the Gordon Square area.

The surrounding area is a mix of old and new residential, with for-sale and rental housing. Plus it has commercial and light-industrial buildings, including a former printing plant and auto parts warehouse that Krueger Group is turning into a self-storage business called Breakwater Storage. The storage business will also have a 10-employee law office on the second floor.

As for the residential building, Krueger Group representatives held a virtual meeting today with community stakeholders at the request of Ward 15 Councilwoman Jenny Spencer. The developers emphasized that they’re in the early stages of the project design and approval process. As of now, their residential building is proposed to have a rooftop deck with views of Lake Erie and downtown as well as a fitness room and a co-working lounge. Cost of the project hasn’t been revealed.

“We are naturally very excited about the prospects of this development, as it will serve as a nice extension of the work that is underway at 1278 West 58th and Breakwater Storage and will further solidify us as true stakeholders in the success of the community,” said Dan Krueger, vice president of preconstruction at The Krueger Group.

Site of The Krueger Group proposed West 58th Apartments

Site of The Krueger Group’s proposed West 58th Apartments and its soon-to-open Breakwater Storage (Google/KJP).

“The goal of the community meeting is to inform our neighbors of what we intend to build on the site and gather constructive feedback to ensure a successful project,” Krueger said.

At today’s meeting, attendees expressed the concern that is often shared at such meetings — parking. As currently designed, the new building will feature an enclosed ground-floor parking lot that’s partially under the building but not below ground. A below-ground lot would be cost-prohibitive, Krueger said. He noted that the 34 parking spaces proposed exceed the site’s parking requirements.

There are other uses that would allow shared parking. In addition to the 27 apartments, the new self-storage business will have a 6,752-square-foot, law office on the second floor of the self-storage facility that will see clients and other visitors — although mostly during daytime hours. Residents will need parking mostly at night. There is no on-street parking due to the truck traffic to/from surrounding light industries.

“From the outset, we engaged Dimit Architects to study the site with us based on their reputation in Northeast Ohio and extensive knowledge of multi-unit residential projects,” Krueger said. “Our goal when designing this building is to build within right and to offer a more boutique feel to the neighborhood.”

Rendering of The Krueger Group Breakwater Storage

Rendering of The Krueger Group’s Breakwater Storage which is due to open in June on West 58th. The new apartment building is proposed for the vacant lot at right (HSB).

Dimit was the architect of The Edison, a seven-building, 308-unit apartment complex on the north side of Breakwater Avenue. NRP Group built The Edison in stages in 2015-17. It was followed by multiple luxury townhouses built by others in the same area that was once a run-down industrial area. The biggest industrial operation was the Westinghouse Electric Corp., just up West 58th, that’s the subject of off-and-on redevelopment plans.

Also across the street, on the West 58th side, is the dive Parkview Nite Club that has been known for decades as serving tasty-yet-cheap food with a shot and a beer to blue-collar workers after their shifts ended nearby. Now it’s a haunt for local young professionals and construction workers building homes for even more young professionals.

The Krueger Group has experience in building and remodeling single-family homes, commercial structures and civic projects. As the general contractor, they are working with Mavrek Development Inc. of Chicago to build Treo, a multi-family development for which ground will be broken June 3 at 2461 W. 25th St. Robert Krueger, a principal at Mavrek, is the president of the Krueger Group.

Development has moved rather quickly on its West 58th developments. Krueger Group bought two parcels — 1270 and 1278 W. 58th — for two different purposes. The multi-family building is proposed for 1270 W. 58th — a vacant, 0.2-acre parcel Krueger acquired last November for $275,000.

In the center-background is the former warehouse/printing plant-turned Breakwater Storage. In front of it is a vacant lot that is the planned site of the West 58th Apartments. At left is the Parkview Nite Club and at right is the Breakwater Bluffs Townhomes built by Knez Homes (KJP).

A partner in the project is TurnCap, a Beachwood-based national real estate project financier formed in 2019 and led by Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP Managing Partner Jon Pinney along with Bellweather Capital executives Jim Doyle and Ned Huffman.

But the other property, a 1.08-acre parcel at 1278 W. 58th, is under redevelopment now and will soon be open for business as Breakwater Storage. On it sets a 44,163-square-foot warehouse that’s being converted in phases into a self-storage facility at an estimated cost of $500,000, according to city Building Department records. That cost includes only the first phase — roughly half of the 37,411-square-foot first floor. Nor does it include the second-floor law office.

“Breakwater Storage is the third storage facility that we own and operate in Cleveland and is slated for a grand opening in June,” Krueger said.

The property has a long history of uses and users, county records show. Previously, it was the Forest Corp.’s promotions business until it moved to Twinsburg. Before the mid-1990s, it was the home of the Central Lithograph Co., a printing business owned and operated by the Kuentz family. It operated there since 1958 when the Kuentz family acquired the property under the name Waverly Co. That corporate name borrowed on West 58th’s pre-1905 name — Waverly Street.

A year after 1928, when Jacob and Sally Perkins sold the land to General Motors’ real estate subsidiary Argonaut Realty Corp., GM built the current warehouse as a Chevrolet Parts Depot. Argonaut transferred it directly to GM ownership in 1936 and equipped the warehouse with a railroad siding. GM sold it to Waverly Co., per county records.

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