The finishing touches are still being put on a new apartment building in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. It’s the latest component of the Krueger Group’s development there, and the latest development in this fast-growing area (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Krueger Group’s latest addition to Gordon Square
A decade ago, the opening of the Breakwater Lofts apartment building on a vacant lot at 1270 W. 58th St. in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood would’ve been a much bigger story. Instead, today, it’s the latest of many new developments in the surrounding area that has more big projects in the works. It’s a sign of stabilization and maturation of the residential market in this near-west side neighborhood, just off the lake, that continues to host traditional Cleveland haunts like the Parkview Nite Club across the street.
After leasing began at the end of July, 10 of 26 apartments in the four-story Breakwater Lofts have been spoken for, or 38 percent of the total, said Bobby Krueger, owner and president of Cleveland-based Krueger Group, during a tour he gave NEOtrans this week. And he noted that the first residents will start moving into the building this weekend. Still, workers were putting this finishing touches on the property, including landscaping that was planted on Tuesday. Exterior metal paneling is due to arrive and be installed “any day.”
“With all of the supply chain issues, we’ve been pretty lucky with this building,” Krueger said. He noted the $6.5 million building is similar to bigger buildings they’ve recently built like Treo on West 25th Street in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood and the first phase of the Center Ridge Apartments which currently is under construction in Rocky River. Despite being smaller, Breakwater Lofts has much in common with them.
Views of Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland are available from the interior and exterior spaces of the amenity deck at Breakwater Lofts. The room was still being readied this week in anticipation of the first residents moving in this weekend (KJP).
“We tried to program this building, even though it’s smaller, like the bigger buildings,” Krueger said. “So it’s got a spacious lobby, (ground-floor) bathroom, mail room, package room, fitness center, and we have a fourth-floor amenity deck for the use of the tenants. So we’re trying to give them all of the things a larger building has but in a smaller, boutique-type feel building.”
Breakwater Lofts also has similar technology too, like the Latch-brand security and building entry system as well as Samsung appliances in the apartments. It also has a DO Summers dry cleaning drop-off box just off the ground-floor lobby. Floors are laid with luxury vinyl tile to absorb sound. Most units have balconies. Like Treo and Center Ridge Apartments, RHM Real Estate Group of Lyndhurst is the building management firm for Breakwater Bluffs. RHM is also co-developer of Center Ridge Apartments; but Krueger said Breakwater Bluffs was small enough that they could develop it without an partner.
Mostly unobstructed views of Lake Erie and downtown can be had from the amenity deck, which has both interior and exterior spaces. Plus there are great views from apartments on the upper floors as well as many of the lower-floor units. There are no apartments on the ground floor that hosts the lobby, fitness center and indoor parking garage with 26 spaces. Market-rate rents range from $1,287 per month for a 555-square-foot studio to $2,631 for a 1,167-square-foot two-bedroom suite, according to Breakwater Lofts’ Web site.
Krueger Group owner and President Bobby Krueger shows off one of the one-bedroom units at Breakwater Lofts in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. Most of the units have balconies but all have an in-suite washer and dryer (KJP).
The parking garage also is accessed by tenants of the offices next door, 1278 W. 58th, also a Krueger property. Office tenants open two garage doors to reach their eight off-street parking spaces behind the building. In 2021, Krueger redeveloped the neighboring, 1929-built, 44,163-square-foot Chevrolet Parts Depot warehouse into Breakwater Storage, a self-storage facility, topped by offices for law firm Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan as well as for Urban Planting Cleveland, a retailer with a new store at 2410 Scranton Rd. in Tremont. Krueger said the office spaces are fully leased and the storage lockers are 85 percent leased.
The Breakwater Storage 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.
Krueger’s commercial redevelopment project was financed in part by 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. TurnCap has a development sister in TurnDev led by Pinney and fellow Managing Partner Mark Luttner.
Breakwater Lofts’ lobby has a lounge setting as well as tables for remote working and meeting with clients with views of the street and the surrounding Gordon Square neighborhood (KJP).
Despite the neighborhood’s rapid redevelopment from an industrial area to one bursting with market-rate housing, trucks and towmotors continue to work the Premium Metals property immediately west of Breakwater Lofts and Breakwater Storage. The 3.4-acre Premium Metals property, 5901-6001 Breakwater, was acquired at the start of this year by an affiliate of TurnDev. Pinney told NEOtrans he envisions redeveloping the site with residential however Premium Metals continues to operate there for the time being.
Krueger said he recently took a tour of another nearby industrial property, the former Westinghouse plant, 1200 W. 58th, which is being readied for a planned conversion into a mixed-use complex. Owner Trebilco LLC reportedly plans to redevelop the 1915-built tower into roughly 30 apartments on the top two floors and approximately 92 boutique hotel rooms on floors two through six, according to conceptual plans.
A 100,000-square-foot computer hardware recycling warehouse for Trebilco’s sister company, MCPC, plus a two-level parking garage for upwards of 250 cars is also under consideration, according to preliminary plans secured by NEOtrans. Trebilco has demolished several former Westinghouse buildings and gutted the eight-story, 136-foot-tall tower that overlooks the West Shoreway, now Edgewater Parkway, in anticipation of moving forward with its development plans.
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