Built as the Federal Department Store and later became a Peaches record store, the light-brick building with the tower along Pearl Road north of Brookpark Road is about to become home to a RISE Dispensary for medical cannabis. It is the latest change to the PearlBrook Shopping Center (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Cleveland plaza partly razed for Sheetz last year
Here comes another change to the PearlBrook Shopping Center at the northwest corner of Pearl and Brookpark roads in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood. Plans were submitted to the city last week for a new RISE Dispensary of medical cannabis to be located in a building at 5100 Pearl Rd. that was built for a Federal Department Store and later became a Peaches Records & Tapes store.
Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, parent of RISE Dispensaries, has submitted a permit application to carry out interior demolition. The area that is the focus of the permit application measures 7,350 square feet which is less than 10 percent of the floor area of the two-story, 76,464-square-foot structure, according to public records.
RISE has been operating dispensaries since 2015, according to Green Thumb’s Web site. In the nine years since, they’ve expanded across 15 states with more locations like Cleveland’s Pearl site to be added as early as this summer. The site is across Brookpark Road from Parma.
“We kicked things off back then with our first medical dispensary, then named ‘The Clinic’ in Mundelein, IL,” according to a written statement. “Since then, we have changed our name to RISE Dispensaries and currently serve over 90 communities across the country. As a first-step commitment to those communities, we have always and will continue to donate first-day proceeds to a local charity partner.”
It’s a retail interior stuck in time. The original Peaches Records & Tapes wooden siding remains in its Cleveland store at Pearl and Brookpark roads. It appears the decor my last for at least a little while longer as its embarks on its new life as a RISE Dispensary (CDA).
For purposes of the permit, cost of the demolition work for the new Pearl Road store is estimated at $89,000. That does not include any renovations, new furnishings or other build-outs necessary for the RISE Dispensary to conduct business. That will be part of a separate permit application, yet to be submitted.
The pending permit application says the work will include “Selective demolition for Interior improvements and new exterior storefronts and door systems.” The redesign of the property is being handled by Chris Dawson Architects of Harrisburg, PA and overseen locally by Sixmo Architecture of Cleveland.
County records show the 3.8-acre property is owned by 5100 PPMS LLC. State records show the company lists its principals as George and Natasha Troicky. Last year, they paid $700,000 to acquire the surviving portion of the single-level strip plaza next door but did so as GT Investments LLC.
The southern part of that strip was demolished one year ago for a Sheetz gas station and convenience store, constructed by Fiorilli Construction Inc. of Medina and owned by PSF ABC Pearlbrook LLC, an affiliate of Fiorilli. NEOtrans broke the story in August 2022 about the PearlBrook Shopping Center being partly demolished for the Sheetz.
Cleveland was Peaches Records & Tapes’ 10th store in the nation when it opened in early 1976 and included an appearance by Welcome Back Kotter actor and musician John Travolta (George Shuba).
PSF ABC Pearlbrook acquired the property early last year for $2.35 million for the Sheetz from Visconsi Companies which built the PearlBrook Shopping Center in 1947. It was built on the site of a then-recently closed streetcar loop track at the outer end of the Pearl Road rail line. The neighboring Yorktown Cinemas on Brookpark was historically owned separately and is used today for storage.
The building that will contain the RISE Dispensary was built in 1950 and originally constructed for a Federal Department Store. Simply called Federal’s in common usage, the Detroit-based chain went bankrupt in 1972 and all of its stores were closed or sold off by 1980, ending more than 50 years of the retailer’s business.
In 1974, renovations got underway to include an addition featuring a disco nightclub first called The Dixie Electric Company discothèque and later a pop music dance club, The Mining Co. But the building with Federal’s signature tower at the corner would get its own new lease on life.
Shortly after it was built, the Federal Department Store got some newspaper publicity even though it incorrectly identified the city in which the new store was located (Press).
By early 1976, it was renovated and reopened as a Peaches Records & Tapes, a national chain with a reputation for offering an extensive inventory of merchandise. The building gained Peaches’ signature use of wood. vertical wood siding. The vertical wood siding outside continued inside and customers could buy Peaches’ wooden crates to hold their record collections.
The exterior siding was removed long ago as Peaches gave way to Coconuts which yielded to FYE, or For Your Entertainment. FYE succumbed to the Great Recession and the onset of Internet-streamed music. The space then became a mattress store. Despite those changes, Peaches’ interior wood siding endures to this day. And it appears the interior wood siding may stick around a while longer.
“All walls, ceilings, floors, etc. being disturbed by the work shall be returned to finished conditions to match existing (conditions) by the mechanical contractor and they shall do their own cutting patching as necessary under their contract,” the general notes say in the demolition permit application.
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