Unlike most Cleveland buildings which are of a gray or beige color, the “Soap Site” apartments next to Herman Park in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood won approval from a city design review panel for being different and for embracing its surroundings (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Mixed-use Herman project follows The Welleon
Projects can move fast in Cleveland when you coordinate with stakeholders and align with the Planning Commission. That’s what happened with a proposed mixed use development in the Gordon Square neighborhood dubbed the “Soap Site” went from a conceptual plan revealed publicly only a month ago, to unanimous final design approval today by commission members.
Located at 6400 Herman Ave., the project would continue a trend of transforming obsolete industrial buildings in that area into high-end housing. The Soap Site is planned with 135 market-rate apartments atop 10,867 square feet of ground-floor mixed uses including a lobby, co-working spaces and possibly a coffee shop or similar neighborhood amenity. The building would replace a vacant light-industrial warehouse built in 1931 and have footprint shaped like a reverse-C.
Within that C would be 141 parking spaces mostly in a landscaped surface lot but with 39 spaces “tucked under” the new building. Trees to provide shade for the parking lot would be added. The lone vehicular entry to the parking area would be at the southwest corner of the property which measures 2.2 acres. The land is owned by Rosemary Stibrick of Westlake. But multiple real estate listing Web sites show the property to be under a purchase contract.
But what won over the Planning Commission members today was how the outer part of the proposed building related to its surroundings. To the south, the building interacted with the street, especially at sidewalk level with the commercial uses and lobby.
Site plan and ground-floor uses for the “Soap Site” development at 6400 Herman Ave. in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. The gray area shows 39 parking spaces tucked under a portion of the proposed building (Dimit).
To the east, it would face Herman Park with all of the proposed apartments having balconies. A similar concept was taken with the northern part that overlooks a former railroad spur that once served local industries. Instead, Developer Justin Strizzi told commission members the rail spur is planned to be converted by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy into a hiking/biking trail linking Herman Park to Edgewater Park.
Strizzi, who is founder and principal of Bond Street Group of Pepper Pike that developed The Welleon, located nearby at 5454 Detroit Ave., is actually pursuing 6400 Herman under a new firm called Heirloom Company LLC incorporated just two days ago by attorney Adam Rosen, state records show. Rosen is the former economic development director of the Detroit-Shoreway Community Development Organization.
They reached out to the community — residents, businesses, civic and government leaders — to get input on the project. That included working with city planners Adam Davenport and Nathaniel Lull, and revising plans most recently after getting input and a recommendation from the Far West Design Review Committee one month ago.
“The number one priority across the board from every conversation we’ve had so far is really maximizing the engagement with the park that is non-existent today,” Strizzi said. “Treating that east façade really is one of the main architectural façades visually. And also taking a front-door approach to the design typology of that façade and of our programming there.”
East side of the proposed new apartment building as viewed from Herman Park. Each of the apartments facing the park would have a balcony, putting eyes on the recreation area which helps with neighborhood security and safety. Right now, the park is pretty isolated by vacant industries (Dimit).
Strizzi walked the commission members through the presentation, designed by Dimit Architecture of Lakewood, one side of the building at a time, showing how the project would relate to its surroundings. The darker shaded building also was noted by Strizzi and noticed by the commission. It features wire-cut Endicott brick complemented by a wood-appearance material near the top of the building and dark ceramic tile inset on the balconies.
“I think this is one of the best presentations I’ve seen in Planning Commission by thoughtfully laying out a narrative,” said commission member Andrew Sargeant. He is also director of open space and planning at the Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, which provides financial support and technical assistance to local community development corporations.
Planning Commission Vice Chair August Fluker said he was impressed by how every side of the building, which had to address something in the neighborhood, addressed it. He also said he was pleased to see that the building will not have cheap materials for its exterior finishes.
“Right now, maybe it’s just the rendering is coming off a little dark,” said Fluker, a retired architect. “And not that I’m a proponent of gray because we do too many beige and gray buildings. So I think this should come off pretty well depending upon how the wood texture and the color shows against that brick. I think everything looks good to me.”
The 93-year-old building at 6400 Herman Ave. was most recently used by Young Chemical and Strib Industries, Inc., doing business as Products Chemical. It made aerosols, carpet care, deodorizers, disinfectants, sewer treatment, herbicides, plus hand and face cleaner products, lending to the current redevelopment project’s name “Soap Site” (Google).
“I totally agree,” said commission Chair Lillian Kuri who is president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “I love the architecture. I love the expansiveness of the windows. I actually think that the execution with these materials it will be warmer than with any other combination. I think it’s beautiful.”
Additional residential developments are planned next to the city-owned Herman Park, which Strizzi described as under-invested and under-programmed. Progress continues to made by TurnDev on developing a 193-unit housing complex at 5901-6001 Breakwater Ave. on the Premium Metals factory site.
That development, dubbed Breakwater Residences, won design approval from the city a year ago and a $817,598 Ohio Brownfield Program grant last month for site demolition and remediation. It could see construction start next year. The 6400 Herman development could also see construction start in 2025 considering how fast it is moving.
“I also want to commend Adam Davenport and Nathan Lull for their work in coordinating this site because there’s multiple developers, there’s a park there that is owned by the city of Cleveland,” said City Planning Director Joyce Pan Huang who is leaving next month to work for Kuri as chief impact officer at the Cleveland Foundation.
Herman Park, looking westerly toward the 6400 Herman development site with another proposed development, The Breakwater, to be located at right on the other side of the park (Google).
“And as we are moving into more of a friends of the park, there’s going to be more coordination among everybody to support the success of this particular city-owned park,” Huang added.
Often, building plans are submitted to and first reviewed by the commission in conceptual form with few details. Next, plans are refined in a schematic form for additional input. Lastly, once additional changes are made, those plans are submitted for final approval by the commission. This project went from conceptual plans a month ago, to schematic plans today. Finding no elements to change, they were approved unanimously as final.
“I hope we see more presentations like this in the future,” Sargeant said.
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