The former Dave’s Market in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood will be acquired by the city and included with adjacent properties to create a larger redevelopment site that will be re-envisioned with community input, then rezoned and offered to developers (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Metals recycling biz moving to South Collinwood
Cleveland city officials revealed their intentions today to acquire and redevelop a closed grocery store property, 15900 Lake Shore Blvd., in the North Collinwood neighborhood. Officials requested City Planning Commission approval to start assembling the land, then later rezone it and ultimately offer it to developers through a community-driven request for proposals.
The commission members unanimously gave their blessing, referring the matter to Cleveland City Council for final approval. The matter, in this case, is an authorization for the city’s director of economic development and the commissioner of purchases and supplies to enter into a purchase agreement with Qasim Properties LLC. The 4.24 acres of land would then be placed into the city’s land bank, also known as the Land Reutilization Program.
Cost of the acquisition is subject to negotiations. The property is valued by Cuyahoga County for tax purposes at $1,579,100, according to public records. Qasim Properties acquired the site and the 45,000-square-foot store for $1.3 million in September 2022. It reportedly marketed the property to new grocery store tenants but had no luck.
It and a neighboring, vacant restaurant, built as a Ponderosa Steak House and later operated as J.J. Fish & Chicken, could be part of a larger potential redevelopment site. The since-closed restaurant, 15800 Lake Shore, was acquired last year by the Cuyahoga Land Bank, a.k.a. the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., county land records show.
Outlined in red is the location of the vacant grocery store and restaurant properties on Lake Shore Boulevard in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood. Lake Erie is nearby and so is an expanding Cleveland Metroparks lakefront park as well as the Collinwood Recreation Center at lower right (Google).
Both the former grocery store and restaurant were built in the early 1970s and owned for five decades by members or affiliates of the Montlack family, based in Cleveland Heights. Montlack sold the grocery store property to Qasim Properties five months after Dave’s Markets closed it in April 2022. Dave’s had operated the store for 34 years. Its closure created a “food desert” — a lack of healthy food choices for the neighborhood.
“We have a critical mass of facilities (nearby) and with our lakefront plan we think this (purchase) is the action we should take,” said Ward 8 Councilman Mike Polensek. He said another grocery store operator offered to open there if the city gave them $6 million. “That wasn’t going to happen.”
The potential redevelopment site could be as large as 6 acres with neighboring underutilized parcels included, said Natane Deruytter, the city’s economic development sites specialist. She noted there are other emerging opportunities for the neighborhood following the Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s 2021 purchase of the 28.5-acre Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park across Lake Shore.
The residents of the mobile homes were relocated and their homes are being demolished. The mobile home community, previously the site of the Euclid Beach Amusement Park from 1894 to 1969, will become part of Cleveland Metroparks’ Euclid Beach at Euclid Creek Reservation, a lakefront park.
The site of the closed grocery store and restaurant measures about 5.75 acres. If the drug store property, owned by the Montlack Realty Limited Partnership is included, as shown on some city maps, a potential redevelopment site could grow by another 0.46 acres (Google).
“The site is strategically placed near one of the largest natural assets in the neighborhood which is the lakefront,” Deruytter said. She also noted that the city’s Collinwood Recreation Center is next to the grocery store and right across Lake Shore from the Metroparks’ growing parks.
Those could be magnets for residential development and neighborhood-oriented retail. The city will acquire the property and hold it for redevelopment. City officials plan to prioritize a use that addresses the neighborhood food desert. The property is zoned as a shopping center which will likely be changed with community input to allow for a potential of mix of uses on the large site.
“First, I think this is a fabulous idea,” said Planning Commission Vice Chair August Fluker. “But I think we need to be more global about this. We should encourage the administration to look at other sites throughout the city. Near my house, at East 82nd and Euclid, two Rite Aids closed.”
City Planning Director Joyce Pan Huang said the city’s development and planning departments along with City Council have created working groups to address the growing number of vacant drug stores in the city.
Proposed site improvements to accommodate the relocation of Victor Metals Inc. from Wickliffe to South Collinwood. Planning Commission recommended vacating a portion of East 166th Street south of St. Clair Avenue to accommodate the business (CPC).
In South Collinwood development news, the Planning Commission approved vacating a portion of East 166th Street south of St. Clair Avenue to accommodate a new business relocating from Lake County. Earlier this year, Jolet Property Management acquired 10 parcels of land totaling about 4.5 acres on both sides of East 166th for $650,000, according to county records.
That buyer is an affiliate of Victor Metals Inc., 29309 Clayton Ave., in Wickliffe. The metal recycling company has been in business since 1986 and is led by President Paul Varga. Vacating East 166th will help with the staging of trucks and provide parking for Victor Metals’ employees. Polensek welcomed the company in filling vacant buildings and removing a site of illegal dumping.
“It’s an old industrial area,” Polensek said. “It’s been a problem for years. We have this new company coming in from Lake County, investing in our community. They’re taking the entire site. They said it’s probably not going to be more than 50 new jobs. It’s better than having none than we have there and an abandoned building.”
The largest structure on the site is a 77,655-square-foot warehouse built in 1951 by the Viking Copper Tube Co., a manufacturer of seamless copper tubing. Viking was acquired in 1961 by Cerro Corp. but the Collinwood land still listed to Viking until 1975 when it was sold to Cerro. The copper tubing operation continued into the early 1990s.
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