Due to rise as early as this summer, The Equinox on West 48th Street has put 11 for-sale housing units on the market that’s desperate for new inventory. The site is at the east end of Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, near Ohio City (Payto Architects). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Development to add 11 homes in hot neighborhood
Despite the rise in interest rates, there continues to be strong demand for new housing in Greater Cleveland, especially in hot sub-markets like where Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood meets Ohio City. In areas like that, homes sell for about 2 percent above the list price and get an accepted offer within nine days of going on the market, according to real estate analytics form Norada Real Estate Investments of California.
That’s what the developers and sales team for The Equinox, 1424 W. 48th St., are hoping for by putting their 11 attached townhomes on the market at this time. If they get up to four homes pre-sold by summer, construction can begin immediately, with the first homes available for occupancy by early 2024, said Howard Hanna Sales Associate Ted Theophylactos who leads Ted & Co., a team of five real estate agents focused on the city’s urban core and surrounding areas.
“Given how quickly my Park Place at Battery Park units sold out, I do anticipate us being able to have three or four pre-sales by mid-summer,” Theophylactos said in an e-mail to NEOtrans. “We have been so starved of new product in the neighborhood given the costs of construction and we really need more for-sale units on the near-West Side. (There’s) too many rental buildings, not enough condominiums, singles (and) townhomes that people can be vested and own!”
Site plan for The Equinox, an 11-unit, for-sale townhome development on West 48th Street in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. West 48th is along the right side of the image with north at the top (Payto Architects).
You can sense his frustration in the lack of new, for-sale inventory, despite the demand for it. He cites high construction costs in addition to the high interest rates for the lack of new construction. While lumber prices have come down recently, the costs of other construction materials remain high. Supply problems also are persisting following the pandemic. But he is confident in the developer Driven4 Group being able to deliver a quality product on time, even though it is Theophylactos’ first time working with them.
“I’m excited to work with them as it is a venture between Mike Marous and Rick Loconti,” he said. “They are doing some great residential projects residential and they are the very best team to work with when it comes to city townhomes, given Mike’s vast knowledge of building townhomes over the past decade plus.”
Both men are construction industry veterans. Marous was chief operating officer of Marous Development Group and president of Marous Builders which has development projects throughout Greater Cleveland, including the aforementioned Battery Park. Since 1995, Loconti has served as president of Tri-County Electric Service, Inc., an electrical contractor based in Garfield Heights.
Looking at The Equinox townhomes from the direction of West 48th Street. Construction could begin on the for-sale townhomes as early as this summer (Payto Architects).
At The Exquinox, a total of 11 homes are planned with prices starting in the upper $400,000s. The townhomes extend back along a new driveway from West 48th into a wide block between West 48th and the back of homes along the next street, West 50th Street. The goal is a quiet setting described in sales materials as “a sanctuary in a vibrant cityscape.”
Each home will have its own two-car garage and rooftop deck with two levels of living spaces in between, totaling in excess of 1,500 square feet. Those spaces will offer two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, walk-in closets, laundry, kitchen with bar-style seating and a large living room. One home, the unit facing West 48th, offers three bedrooms although the ground-floor bedroom can be used as an office, fitness area or whatever.
“It (the unit facing West 48th) will be a more custom, luxury experience in concert with the other exciting, high-end homes being built and renovated on Clinton (Avenue) in that prime location,” Theophylactos said. “Payto Architects (a Cleveland firm led by Jeffrey Foster) is the architect and Ashley Paul of Stella Interiors has curated the interior designs, so they are going to feel extremely high end for the price point.”
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