The McCafferty Health Center on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood will be demolished for affordable senior housing to be developed by Pennrose. This view of the mostly vacant health center is from Fulton Court, an alley behind the property (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
City picks Pennrose to redevelop land
Affordable housing developer Pennrose, LLC. is looking to build on the success of its other Cleveland-area projects with its next venture, this time on the city’s west side. The national developer is partnering with Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) to construct a 72-unit apartment building geared towards seniors and charging rents between 30 percent and 70 percent of the area’s median income.
The development would replace the existing 19,000-square-foot Thomas F. McCafferty Health Center at the northeast corner of Lorain Avenue and West 44th Street. It’s a center that, according to city officials, should be redeveloped to better serve the needs of the Ohio City community as the building is only 25 percent occupied solely by the Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH).
In August 2024, the city released a request for qualifications (RFQ) seeking developers to meet the demands of the scope, crafted by the city’s Department of Public Health, Planning Commission, OCI and Councilman Kerry McCormack who represents the city’s 3rd Ward. Philadelphia-based Pennrose was ultimately selected for the project.
Previously operated by MetroHealth, the center, located at 4242 Lorain, changed hands to the city of Cleveland’s ownership and provides family health services including immunizations and pregnancy testing.
Along with communal spaces, the scope of the proposal includes a requirement for non-profit/social services on the ground floor to be provided for the community’s benefit. As a result, the existing CDPH services will move to the Clark-Fulton neighborhood, where they intend to lease space in the Northern Ohio Blanket Mills, 3160 W. 33rd St.
Property map of the McCafferty Center site at the northeast corner of Lorain Avenue and West 44th Street. The site measures more than 1.5 acres — large for an urban property and is near restaurants, shops and public transportation (City of Cleveland).
“The Blanket Mills building is a project that I’ve been passionate about since I first joined the council,” said Ward 14 Councilwoman Jasmin Santana. “Bringing the Cleveland Department of Public Health to our neighborhood will be a great addition to this historic building and will benefit our community along with the other partners on the first floor.”
Renderings have not yet been shared for the proposed building on the 1.3-acre McCafferty site but, according to the timeline outlined by developers, they will seek approval from the planning commission sometime in the second half of 2025. Construction would begin in 2026 and be completed by June 2027.
The project will also pursue 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, according to a press release from the city. Once built, Pennrose Management would take over operations of the property alongside OCI.
In their proposal, developers made it clear to the planning commission that their project would work in tandem with the Lorain Avenue Midway project currently in the community planning stages of development.
The road dieting of Lorain would likely require additional right of way be acquired from the site to expand bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and that area has been marked and set aside by Pennrose so as not to conflict with the project.
Affordable senior housing is proposed to be built on the McCafferty Center site. Also to be built past it is a redeveloped Lorain Avenue Midway corridor with enhanced pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure (City of Cleveland).
The country is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and the strain is no different in Cleveland. Cleveland City Council in October created the Cleveland Housing Investment Fund to and committed $18 million in city funds to leverage $20 million pledged by Cleveland-based KeyBank to support the development of affordable housing.
“Ohio City has seen a lot of market rate and luxury rental development in recent years,” said Trudy Andrzejewski, Cleveland’s bureau chief for neighborhood revitalization. “As rents rise, so does the need to increase the focus on affordable housing, especially for Clevelanders on fixed incomes. A thriving neighborhood balances growth with preservation and a big part of that is keeping longtime residents who built the community within the community.”
Other notable affordable housing projects include the transit-oriented development Woodhill Station West – opened in 2024 – and Woodhill Station East currently under construction, across Buckeye Road from the Buckeye-Woodhill light-rail station.
Sankofa Village, another Pennrose development, is expected to begin its fourth phase soon in the city’s Central neighborhood. The developers hope the McCafferty project will help alleviate the crunch of affordability on the city’s near-west side, uniquely positioned amongst a number of developments past and present along the highly traveled west-side corridor.
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