For 92 years, a seafood business has operated out of this riverfront location at Merwin Avenue and Center Street in Cleveland’s Flats. That will come to an end when Catanese Classic Seafood relocates to Collinwood in the coming months. Cleveland Metroparks bought this building as well as the Grain Craft flour mill, visible in the background at left in this wide-angle view. Soaring overhead is the Detroit-Superior Bridge (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Biz to make way for Metroparks riverfront redo
A familiar face in Cleveland’s Flats district is packing up and heading to the city’s east side to make way for the Cleveland Metroparks’ expanding makeover of the Cuyahoga River waterfront. Catanese Classic Seafood, 1600 Merwin Ave., is making a move in the coming year to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s facility at 15500 S. Waterloo Rd.
The move will also accommodate its growing workforce. When Jim and John Catanese founded Catanese Classic Seafood in 2004 in a 7,500-square-foot warehouse on the city’s East Side, they started out with just three employees. Today, they have 120.
But not all of them work at their Flats location, comprised of eight disconnected buildings dating from between 1880-1980 and total 56,825 square feet, Cuyahoga County property records show. Some of their workers — salespeople, truck drivers and others — are based out of other locations. But most will make the move to the East Side.
“Please accept this letter as certification that we will have a maximum of 80 employees working at our new facility on South Waterloo Road,” wrote CEO John Catanese in a filing with the city Building Department, submitted this week.
NEOtrans e-mailed Catanese seeking more information and comment on their planned move. No response was received prior to publication of this article.
A streetview of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s Community Resource Center and Market on South Waterloo Road, next to Interstate 90. Catanese Classic Seafood plans to relocate to a space at the right-rear corner of this building (Google).
Their move to Collinwood will renovate a 42,2320-square-foot rear portion of the food bank’s Community Resource Center and Market. Project architect Shokalook and Associates Inc. of Strongsville has designed their new space and submitted the plans to the city. Project costs are estimated at $1.8 million, according to city Building Department records.
The new Waterloo site, owned by the Greater Cleveland Food Bank Waterloo Real Estate Holding Co., has a 117,163-square-foot warehouse and office built in 2003 and a 13,072-square-foot cold storage warehouse that was added in 2015, county property records show. The food bank also has a new, 200,000-square-foot distribution center nearby on Coit Road that opened in 2021 and freed up space at the Waterloo location.
The Catanese brothers have more than 30 years of experience in food distribution. In 1982, they and their father Dominick founded Waterfront Seafood. Catanese Classic Seafood distributes fresh and frozen seafood to restaurants, hotels, country clubs and retailers throughout Ohio and nearby states.
In May 2024, the Metroparks closed on a $4 million purchase agreement with Marlin Investment Group LLC which is owned by the Catanese family. Marlin owned the 1.24 acres of riverfront land and the eight buildings set on them. Catanese Classic Seafood leased the property from Marlin and now leases it from the Metroparks.
The image at left shows the orientation of the overall Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s Community Resource Center with north at the top. The image at right, with north at the bottom, shows the portion of the building to be renovated and utilized by Catanese Classic Seafood (Shokalook & Associates).
The site has been home to a seafood business for 92 years. State Fish Inc., a family-owned fish market began operations there in 1933. It was one of the largest seafood distributors in Northeast Ohio, selling to customers in Michigan, Western Pennsylvania and throughout Ohio. Specializing in clams and clambakes, State Fish went bankrupt in the Great Recession in 2008 and closed.
The Metroparks may demolish some of the seafood buildings, potentially those next to the Cuyahoga River to enhance waterfront access for the public as it is doing elsewhere on the Flats’ Columbus Road peninsula. But it is not clear at this early stage which structures may be kept or razed. The regional park system will start that planning work after Catanese Classic Seafood moves out.
Last week, the Metroparks began seeking $2.2 million Ohio Brownfield Program funds for the remediation and possible demolition of the neighboring Grain Craft flour mill. Those funds will be matched by about $1.8 million from the Metroparks, some of which was already spent for site assessments and property title work.
Like the Marlin property, the Metroparks acquired the flour mill land to increase public access to the riverfront. It paid $3.5 million to acquire 3.3 acres of land owned by Cereal Food Processors Inc. and leased by Grain Craft. The focus of that acquisition was a 1.22-acre parcel on the riverside of Merwin Avenue and having an address range of 1636-1656 Merwin.
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