The Arcadia by the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights is scheduled to see construction start in March with completion set for Fall 2026 (RDL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Construction site to set up in 2 weeks
When one project is completed at a megaproject district, a good sign of its health is to see another project in same area start soon thereafter. That’s what is due to happen in a couple of weeks in the area of the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights, according to a Columbus-based developer.
Metropolitan Holdings Ltd. announced that it is about to start construction of the $62 million Arcadia mixed-use development at 3393 Warrensville Center Rd. In its latest update posted on its project Web site, company officials said while on-site activity will start in two weeks, actual construction is about one month away.
“After many months of planning, we are excited to announce that Arcadia will be breaking ground in March 2025,” noted a project update at the Arcadia Web site posted last week. “Site mobilization will begin on March 3, 2025 and construction activities will ramp up quickly after that.”
By Fall 2026, there will be a five-story, 250,000-square-foot building ready for leasing. It will have 141 rental units including a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments plus townhome-style rental units facing the residential area to the east of Helen Road, city officials said.
A low-resolution map of the Van Aken District area showing the site of the Arcadia development, at 3393 Warrensville Center Rd. Across Warrensville Center are the first and second phases of the Van Aken District as well as the Warrensville Station with Blue Line light-rail service to Downtown Cleveland (City of Shaker Heights).
More than 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space with offices above on the second floor will face west toward Warrensville Center. Largely hidden from view will be a 181-space parking garage. Shaker-based RDL Architects designed the new development and will be the primary office tenant.
Erosion controls will be established around the site staring on or about March 5 with set up of a construction trailer and other facilities to follow on the next day. By the end of the first week, perimeter fencing will be erected, Metropolitan Holdings says. Cleveland Construction of Mentor is the general contractor.
Site clearing and grubbing — the removal of trees, shrubs, stumps and rubbish from a site — is due to start March 13. A week later is when the actual construction will begin, by establishing the building layout and construction of the concrete pad on which the new building will set.
Monthly construction updates are promised, to be posted at the project’s Web site. The development site was a Qua Buick-Pontiac car dealership that closed in 2005. The city acquired the 2.4-acre lot in 2013 after which it has produced no tax revenue to the city or schools.
The northwest corner of Arcadia, at the intersection of Warrensville Center and Farnsleigh roads, will have ground-floor retail spaces with offices on the second floor for RDL Architects and others. Multi-family residential is along the rest of the visible perimeter here (RDL).
All structures on the site were demolished in 2015 and a request for proposals from developers for reuse of the property was issued. Metropolitan Holdings, which has numerous developments to its credit, won the bid in 2022 and will acquire the property.
It reached a tax-increment financing deal with the city in June 2023 that will exempt the building but not the land from property taxes for 30 years. During that time, Metropolitan will make payments in lieu of taxes to the school district. The city will receive income taxes from Arcadia’s residents and employees of its commercial tenants.
As part of its deal with the city, Metropolitan has a requirement in which it must set aside 25 units as affordable. Thirteen units will be rented to households earning 80 percent of the area’s median income (AMI) and 12 units rented to households earning 100 percent AMI. These income-restricted units will be held at the AMI levels indicated for 20 years.
Completed in December, the most recent major development project at the Van Aken District is the Raye Apartments — a pair of connected glassy towers 15 and 18 stories tall, 20005 Farnsleigh Rd. The 18-story tower is the tallest structure in Shaker at 170 feet.
The east side of the Arcadia, seen from Farnsleigh and Helen roads, reveals five for-rent townhomes to be built so as to transition the multi-family building and parking garage into the neighborhood to the east of Helen (RMS).
The 228-unit apartment complex is about 65 percent leased according to the Raye Web site and Apartments.com, at rents ranging from about $2.75 per square foot to more than $4. It was developed by The Max Collaborative and RM Investment Corp.
The Van Aken District is the result of a vision established by the city plus property owner and developer RMS going back 20 years. Both desired to create a dense, mixed-use downtown for Shaker Heights on the site of faded strip shopping centers, parking lots, poorly designed roadways and a former light-rail transit railcar layover yard.
The transit-oriented development is located at the east end of the light-rail Blue Line from Downtown Cleveland. Not only is a new Warrensville light-rail station part of the project, but a new bus station as well. Van Aken Boulevard was removed southeast of Farnsleigh and three new streets were built in a pedestrian-friendly grid pattern for the new district.
First phase of the Van Aken District, completed in 2019, included 100,000 square feet of retail featuring a food hall. Above the retail is 64,000 square feet of offices and 103 apartments called Upstairs at Van Aken. Public spaces, both indoor and outdoor, are mixed in throughout the district.
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