This is the Eighteenth 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.
This ground-floor site plan for Church+State in Ohio City’s Hingetown section shows which retail spots are leased and which ones are still available. About half the ground-floor spaces are leased — a feat considering the hardships endured by many retailers during the pandemic (Cleveland Building Department).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM
Hingetown’s Church+State bags small grocery store
Nature’s Oasis will add its third store in the Greater Cleveland area and its first in the City of Cleveland when it opens at the end of the year in the new Church+State development. The site is in the Hingetown section at the north end of the Ohio City neighborhood.
Graham Veysey, a principal in the Church+State project, confirmed the healthy, all-natural foods grocer will take about 3,500 square feet in Church, the shorter of the two buildings. Church is six stories tall while State tops out at 11. The development is named after Church Avenue and West 29th Street that was called State Street before north-side Cleveland streets were numbered in 1906. The store will open up on to Church Avenue.
Nature’s Oasis first store is in downtown Lakewood with its second at the new Van Aken District in Shaker Heights. Their markets have hundreds of local products including bread and other baked goods, dairy products, produce, tea, coffee and more.
The grocer will join other new tenants at Church+State including Green Opal Salon and Great Lakes Health & Wellness; their leases were first reported by NEOtrans. They were joined by fitness center Corus45 which recently occupied a storefront facing Detroit Avenue.
The first phase of Fairfax Renaissance’s Innovation Square is getting ready to start construction. It is a big step forward for the redevelopment of East 105th Street and the Opportunity Corridor south of University Circle (City Architecture).
Innovation Square to build around holdout property
Look for construction work to start in the coming weeks to prepare the site for the first phase of Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp.’s Innovation Square development. That became a realistic possibility this week when plans for an 82-unit, mixed-income apartment building at 2260 E. 105th St. were submitted to the Cleveland’s Building Department. The apartment building will be called Square 105.
Site improvements include removal of six areas of contaminated soils that will be placed in a pit, compacted and covered with 2 inches of clean fill material. General contractor McCormack Baron Salazar will also oversee removal of all pavements, structures, basements, poles, utilities and trees. Additionally, a new street will be added — an extension of Hudson Avenue to the west side of East 105th.
However, Fairfax is going to have to work around a small property it has not yet been able to acquire for Square 105. The 0.074-acre parcel is owned by Clemark Property Associates Ltd. which also owns other east-side parcels. It acquired the property in 2016 after it was forfeited to the state, following the conviction of its prior owner Mark Makupson.
Site plan for Square 105, the first phase of the Innovation Square that will also include new single-family homes and more multi-family buildings. This phase is working around an East 103rd Street property that has yet to be acquired (City Architecture).
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his reported leadership role in an interstate drug trafficking ring. Makupson’s sentence was shortened because he testified against fellow drug dealers and three East Cleveland police officers. But he had to forfeit various assets including 2245 E. 103rd St.
According to Ohio Secretary of State records, Clemark was created by Makupson but now lists to Marquetta Makupson of Bowling Green. No relationship is known. Tax mailings for the property go to Tatiana Franklin of Wickliffe who also operates CRF Medical Staffing Agency, according to Cuyahoga County records and Google searches.
Estimated construction cost of Square 105 is about $10 million, according to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency which provided $8 million in tax credit equity to the project. The funding will provide for the site improvements, a 76-space parking lot (proposed for 93 spaces if 2245 E. 103rd can’t be acquired) and the 79,500-square-foot apartment building.
This is an artist’s rendering of the Franklin West apartments, 4815 Franklin Blvd., in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood (Bowen).
Ohio City apartment project drives parking solution
While construction continues on the 24-unit Franklin West apartments, 4815 Franklin Blvd. in Cleveland’s Ohio City, the developer has made a change to the project to accommodate the 25 required parking spaces for it.
Developer My Place Group LLC, owned by Chad Kertesz, previously received a parking variance for 20 parking spaces on site with the five remaining required spaces in the Iglesia Del Salvador Church, 4801 Franklin, parking lot on the east side of West 48th Street.
According to a filing with the building department, when the site layout was engineered, it was determined that only 15 spaces could fit on the site with the townhouse-style apartments.
My Place Group notified the city it had revised its lease agreement with the church to increase the number of leased parking spaces to 10. The total allotted number of spaces for the development is 15 on site and 10 in the church parking lot to achieve the required number of parking spaces.
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