With construction of the Depot on Detroit apartments due to start later this year, there is renewed interest in realizing a neighborhood plan to redesign streets in the vicinity of the West Boulevard rapid transit station, seen to the right of the rendered apartment building (City Architecture). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Apartments to break ground this summer
In two weeks, the board of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is expected to approve the sale of land for a planned apartment building just west of the West Boulevard rapid transit station in Cleveland’s Edgewater-Cudell neighborhood. But that development is renewing interest in a neighborhood plan for redesigning streets next to the station to make the area a more comfortable place to walk and could avail more development sites.
GCRTA’s Audit, Safety Compliance and Real Estate Committee today recommended that the agency’s full board of trustees approve the sale of 1.37 acres of vacant land at 10300 Detroit Ave. to Indianapolis-based developer Flaherty & Collins Development LLC. GCRTA staff and the developer negotiated a sale price of $150,000 for the property, which was once used as an overflow parking lot for the train station.
The sale is a good sign. Only if the $20 million Depot on Detroit development was due to move forward would Flaherty & Collins proceed with purchasing the land. According to GCRTA’s Senior Real Estate Manager James Rusnov, construction on the 62-unit, affordable-rate apartment building could start sometime in July-September.
“I’m pleased to report the developers have completed their financing effort, securing funding not only from the state of Ohio but from several additional sources,” Rusnov told the committee’s members.
As first reported by NEOtrans, GCRTA’s board authorized a purchase option agreement in October 2022 to initiate the development and project financing process. He said giving the developer site control advanced its efforts to secure tax credit financing from the state of Ohio and capital from other financing sources, and to perform due diligence on this parcel.
Depot on Detroit is planned to rise on the north side of Detroit Avenue, immediately west of the rapid transit station which is just out of view in the background (City Architecture).
“The development of a new, affordable, high-density residential community adjacent to our rail station remains a high-priority TOD (transit-oriented development) goal and objective,” Rusnov said. “We anticipate the development will result in increased transit ridership as the developer will be purchasing a monthly transit pass for each of the planned 62 units as documented by a transit fare agreement with RTA.”
The agreement is part of GCRTA’s Commuter Advantage program to benefit employers, apartment building owners and GCRTA. In this case, the agreement will represent an operating cost to the Depot On Detroit project with the transit pass included in the base rent for each tenant. Rents at Depot On Detroit are to be affordable for families earning 60 percent or less of the area’s median income.
Flaherty & Collin got from GCRTA a pair of one-year purchase options at $5,000 each, both of which were exercised to give the developer site control which was necessary to secure financing. The property sale concludes the option phase in anticipation of a construction start in the third quarter of 2025.
In November 2023, the developer won City Council approval to finalize a purchase agreement with the city to acquire its vertical development air rights to the site left over from when Cleveland Transit System owned the parcel before 1975. Rusnov said that agreement hasn’t been finalized.
“The developer has initiated a land entitlement and permitting process with the city,” Rusnov added. “An affordable residential project at this location is enthusiastically endorsed by the city, county, state and community development organizations and other agencies.”
An aggressive redesign of streets in the vicinity of the West Boulevard rapid transit station (in blue) includes narrowing Detroit Avenue from seven lanes to four, realigning Berea Road to slow down traffic at its intersection with Detroit and make the northern end of West 101st Street pedestrian-only or possibly one-way. This could avail two more transit-oriented development sites in addition to the Depot on Detroit at lower-right. North is at the bottom of this map (City Architecture).
Depot on Detroit has received $1.25 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and a $1.75 million Housing Development Loan (HDL) from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) plus a $1 million HOME and Emergency Rental Assistance loan from Cuyahoga County.
“Many folks looked at this two-year delay between the option agreement and this next step — really it’s reflective of the very challenging environment that developers are facing, trying to secure commercial financing,” Rusnov explained. “The reason I was enthusiastically supporting and participating with Flaherty and Collins was because of their due diligence and their sort of tenacity to get projects done. So we have a result and I think it’s a positive one.”
In 2017, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) which distributes federal transportation and air quality funding, identified the area near the West Boulevard station as one of the three best sites in Cleveland for TOD pilot projects. The other two were the hinterlands of the East 116th Street Blue/Green light-rail station and the Broadway corridor in Slavic Village.
Some planning and development activity has been brewing along Broadway in Slavic Village. And while the East 116th station area has been quiet development-wise, the next station west has attracted two large apartment building developments. The first opened a year ago and construction is well underway on the second. And now the West Boulevard area is seeing activity.
“As a benefit and as a result of our project, RTA, the city and the county are now planning public-area improvements to enhance pedestrian access, circulation and safety along Detroit Avenue public rights of way at several of the intersections,” Rusnov said.
Angled intersections and wide streets encourage motorists to drive faster and make for dangerous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. Planning efforts are underway to calm traffic and open up new development sites to create a more vibrant urban setting around the West Boulevard rapid transit station (City Architecture).
A neighborhood masterplan for the area near the West Boulevard station, sponsored by Westown Community Development Corp., was developed in 2020 by City Architecture, the same firm that designed Depot on Detroit.
The plan proposed multiple features to make walking near the rail station safer and open up additional development sites. Westown CDC Executive Director Rose Zitiello called the existing roadways and traffic patterns “death-defying” for pedestrians.
The masterplan’s recommendations proposed reducing the number of lanes on Detroit from as many as seven lanes to as few as four, thus slowing traffic and availing space for wider sidewalks, dedicated bike lanes, improved wayfinding and lighting.
It could also offer more space for developing the GCRTA station parking lot which is seldom full. Additionally, Berea Road’s intersection with Detroit could be “squared off” to slow down traffic and open up yet another development site.
Also, West Boulevard may be redesigned to host bike lanes extended to Lake Avenue and Edgewater Park. West 101st Street’s intersection with Detroit may be eliminated, but its public right of way would be preserved for use by pedestrians and cyclists to access the train station, Cudell Recreation Center and ground-floor retailers in future developments.
A conceptual rendering of Flaherty & Collins’ next proposed transit-oriented development, West Park Apartments. This affordable housing development at the West Park rapid transit station on Lorain Avenue is still seeking financing, unlike Depot on Detroit which already has its (City Architecture).
“While Detroit Avenue currently provides a variety of transportation opportunities, it does so in a way that does not provide an equal level of safety for all users,” the masterplan notes.
“The experience here lacks a feeling of place, despite being surrounded by local public assets,” the plan continued. “Near-term improvement to the transit station in the form of public art and extended covered walkways and waiting areas for riders were suggested as possibilities for beginning to enhance the user experience.”
Through an affiliate called West Park FC LLC, Flaherty & Collins also is planning the 60-unit West Park Apartments on 1.35 acres of GCRTA land at the north end of the 15-acre West Park rapid transit station, 14510 Lorain Ave.
It is still seeking tax credit financing from the state for the $21 million project. GCRTA Public Information Officer Robert Fleig said he had no updates on the progress of a land sale agreement there.
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