Proposed for both sides of Payne Avenue in Cleveland’s Asiatown neighborhood are 120 affordable housing units atop ground-floor commercial and community uses in two buildings. This development concept was proposed by the same architect that was involved the last time a similar development was planned here three years ago (MA Design). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Ex-Dave’s Market site of redevelopment
Three years after a development team planned a mixed-use project at the closed Dave’s Market, 3301 Payne Ave., in Cleveland’s Asiatown, some members of that development team are back to invest in that site again. This time, a $42.3 million development is proposed with a more focused approach on affordable housing in two four-story buildings with ground-floor commercial and community uses.
Pursuing the 120-unit Midtown Lofts is Cleveland-based NRP Group, one of the nation’s largest multifamily housing developers and managers. It is partnering with MidTown Cleveland Inc., a nonprofit community development corporation. Also returning from the prior development attempt is architect MA Design with offices in Columbus and Cincinnati.
Not returning are Fairmount Properties and Frontline Development Group or their plan for building an office/commercial complex called Culture33 along with a multi-family component. Those uses and future, unidentified phases, were targeted for four blocks along both sides of Payne.
Now, a multifamily-over-retail development will be concentrated on the block of the to-be-razed supermarket north of Payne, between East 33rd and 34th streets. And a second building with multifamily above a community use is planned on the supermarket’s unused parking lot south of Payne between East 33rd and 36th streets. The goal is to restore urbanity and density to this thoroughfare and to respond to rising rents in the area.
“Midtown has seen significant growth and rental price escalation over the last few years and Midtown Lofts will provide 120 desperately needed affordable homes for the neighborhood,” said the development team in its recent application for Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA).
A conceptual site plan for the proposed Midtown Lofts in Cleveland’s Asiatown shows two four-story buildings to be constructed on both sides of Payne Avenue, adding to the urbanity, density and energy in the neighborhood (MA Design).
The pair of buildings will total about 140,312 square feet and, behind them, will be two parking lots splitting 135 spaces set on an overall development site of 2.13 acres. Common areas among the two buildings will total 31,412 square feet with ground-floor commercial and fee-driven spaces amounting to 3,500 square feet, the application to OHFA said.
About 65 apartments will be in the north building and 55 units in the south building. Eight apartments will be affordable to those earning 30 percent of the area’s median income (AMI), 11 units will be for those earning 80 percent AMI and the rest, or 101 apartments, will be affordable to potential renters earning 60 percent AMI. According to the US Census, Cleveland’s AMI per household is $39,041. Sixty percent of that is about $23,425.
“This project will also transform a long-vacant building and a surface parking lot into a dynamic mixed-use development directly adjacent to a pop-up park space that provides programs and events for the neighborhood and is a critical priority site for the City of Cleveland,” the application continued. “NRP and Midtown Inc. are incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity for financing to develop this site.”
The floorplans for apartments are pretty evenly divided, each almost into thirds. Proposed are 36 one-bedroom units, 45 two-bedroom apartments and 39 three-bedroom suites. NRP Contractors will build the building and NRP Management will manage the property after it opens, according to its LIHTC application to OHFA.
Three years ago, developers sought highly competitive 9 percent LIHTC financing to subsidize about 70 percent of the Payne project’s development costs but didn’t win it. This time, NRP and Midtown will seek non-competitive 4 percent LIHTC that subsidizes about 30 percent of the costs. An applicant is almost certain to get the 4 percent LIHTC as along as OHFA says the project meets all of its requirements.
Looking west on Payne Avenue in 2022, the vacant Dave’s Market store is on the right and its parking lot is on the left. Both are proposed to be developed with four-story apartment building with ground-floor commercial and community uses to restore some density to this street (Google).
NRP has reportedly considered multiple sites in Midtown for building new affordable housing. When he was vice president of development at NRP Group, Scott Skinner expressed his interest in the neighborhood. He since has become the first executive director of the city-backed North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. while retaining the position of development consultant at NRP.
“In Cleveland, NRP is focused primarily on developing affordable housing,” Skinner told NEOtrans last year for an article on Midtown developments. “The need for quality affordable housing is tremendous in every neighborhood in Cleveland, and that includes Midtown.”
This site became available when Dave’s Market relocated five years ago to a larger store on Chester Avenue at East 57th Street. The old supermarket, built in 1957 and remodeled most recently in 2006, has sat vacant since Dave’s moved out. Burton Saltzman, grandson of Dave’s Market founder Alex Saltzman, still owns the land but has an option to sell the property for the new development.
NEOtrans reached out this week for comments and more information from Allison Peltz, NRP’s senior vice president of marketing and communications and Midtown Executive Director Ashley Shaw. Emails sent to both were opened but neither responded prior to publication of this article.
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