The left side of this corner of an historic building in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood is where a drive-through for a new Starbucks Cafe is planned. The cars from this drive-through will exit here onto Abbey Avenue. In the background is the Intro development. Out of view to the right is the West Side Market and, behind this camera is the Ohio City Red Line train station Avenue (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Drive-through driven to traffic commissioner
A plan to renovate an historic car dealership with retail uses, including a new Starbucks in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, was approved today by the city’s Landmarks Commission. But the question of whether a proposed drive-through should remain in the design was referred to the city’s Division of Traffic Engineering to decide.
The commission recommended that, in determining the permissibility of the drive-through, Traffic Engineering Commissioner Robert Mavec should consider a right-turn-only exit from the drive-through onto Abbey Avenue. Northbound traffic on Gehring also cannot turn left onto Abbey.
The developer of the retail strip at 2061 Gehring Ave. will also have to return to the Landmarks Commission for a review of all signage and site improvements including a proposed outdoor patio for the Starbucks.
The 7-2 vote with one abstention came despite an outpouring of public input opposed to the project, and specifically the drive-through. Of the 49 people who submitted comments to the commission, 43 were opposed — or 88 percent. Also the two commissioners who opposed the design were Landmarks Commission Chair Julie Trott and City Planning Director Calley Mersmann.
Most of the concerns were about having the drive-through in an area with a lot of pedestrian and bicycle activity. The site is across the street from the West Side Market, the Ohio City Red Line train station and the huge Intro development.
This cropped site plan for the 10,000-square-foot retail building at Gehring Street and Abbey Avenue shows the location of the drive-through. The Starbucks Cafe will be at the right, or north side of the building next to Abbey (LDA).
But developer Tom Gillespie said the project depended on gaining Starbucks as a tenant, and Starbucks wanted the drive-through pick-up window. NEOtrans broke the story last month that he had signed Starbucks as tenant for the retail strip and that the plan included a drive-through.
“We’ve got the historic tax credits and the financing for the project from CFBank based on this tenant (Starbucks),” Gillespie told the commission today. “Without this tenant, everything falls apart. The tax credits fall apart. Financing falls apart. Everything falls apart.”
Called the Brennan-Hogan Co. Building, it was built 79 years ago as a De Soto-Plymouth car dealership. Gillespie acquired the property under the name of Gehring Property Company LLC which received $410,000 in state historic tax credits in June 2024 for the $4.3 million renovation and redevelopment.
His general contracting company, Gillespie Environmental Technologies Inc., or GETCO Inc., is overseeing the most of the renovations. Exterior work is due to be completed in June. Starbucks will probably open by the end of the year, Gillespie said.
According to a lease memorandum filed with Cuyahoga County, Starbucks signed a 10-year lease Dec. 24, 2024 with options to extend it for four consecutive five-year periods. Starbucks will occupy about 2,388 square feet of the 10,000-square-foot building.
Rendering of the former car dealership turned retail strip showing the west or pedestrian side of the building, including a sidewalk patio next to the Starbucks Cafe (LDA).
A garage space in the back of the building will be occupied by an undisclosed bicycle business, Gillespie said. Three other tenant spaces offering 700 square feet each to business start-ups are available.
But while all of the commissioners welcomed the historic renovation of the retail strip, many had at least some concerns about the drive-through. Not all of them were alleviated by the condition that the city’s traffic engineers would review it and other data, including traffic projections which have yet to be provided by Gillespie, said Mersmann.
“Personally, from a building restoration (perspective), I don’t have issues with what is being proposed,” Trott added. “It’s the site planning that I’m mentally struggling with because, similar to the community (input), how are all of these paths (of traffic) going to work together?”
Donna Grigonis, economic development director of Tremont West Development Corp., welcomed the renovation of the historic building but spoke in opposition to the drive through, calling it “a significant land use decision.” Tremont is to the east of the Red Line tracks, next to Gillespie’s retail strip.
“People really value the walkability of this part of the neighborhood,” Grigonis said. “This use (the drive through) simply does not belong in this dense, people-centered area. And while there is some irony here that the building was once an automobile showroom, really a symbol of early 20th century car culture, this proposal also gives us this twist of a line of idling vehicles wrapped around the outside of the building is it would really be, waiting for a type of fast food.”
Outlined in light-green, the Ohio City retail redevelopment that will accommodate a Starbucks Cafe is set between the Red Line train station at left and the Intro development at right, amid the intersection of Abbey Avenue, Gehring Street and, in the foreground, Lorain Avenue (Google).
Gillespie said Starbucks requires that there be enough room for at least seven cars to stack up at a drive-through. He said says this site has room for 15 cars to stack before they back up onto Gehring. No new curb cuts are required for the entrance from Gehring or the exit onto Abbey. The right-turn restriction is sensible, he said.
“It’s not in our proposal but it makes sense to me,” Gillespie said. “I haven’t brought it up to Starbucks but I’m sure they will understand that that’s a necessity and they’ll have to accommodate it.”
Dan Musson, secretary of the Landmarks Commission, said the commission’s charge is to adhere to historic preservation standards set by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the drive-though falls outside of that charge.
As a former Ohio City resident and commercial coordinator for Ohio City Inc.’s predecessor 20 years ago, he said he understands the community’s desire for a walkable and bikable area, and concerns about larger corporations coming in.
“But, frankly, 20 years ago, we were seeking out this type of investment but we didn’t have any willing takers,” Musson said. “Through the organic growth and the many small businesses that have taken root and invested in the area, as well as significant private investment in housing and commercial property, this has become a very desirable neighborhood. Now larger businesses have noticed and view it as a profitable area to invest in.”
Interior demolition at the planned retail strip got underway this past winter to prepare for renovations and the division of new retail spaces (Sam McNulty).
Sam McNulty, dubbed the unofficial mayor of Ohio City, also welcomed the renovations to the historic retail strip. He called the existing building, which has sat empty for more than 20 years, “an eyesore.” But he was concerned about pedestrian safety as someone who walks past the site every day on his three-minute commute to his office at Market Garden Brewpub & Restaurant, which he owns.
“The safety hazards this would create will no doubt result in a huge spike in traffic accidents at this already dangerous intersection of Lorain, Gehring and Abbey,” McNulty said.
Gillespie contended that his redevelopment will generate less traffic than an alternative he was presented with. The Intro development next door, developed and owned by Harbor Bay Ventures of Illinois and includes the Truss Event Space, has sought a future phase along Gehring.
“The Truss people have tried to buy this repeatedly,” he said. “Their plan is to build a six-story building there. You look at the amount of traffic and density and the things that I’m doing versus what the other developer will do is, it all falls apart. I have the least traffic impact and probably the best walkable use for that neighborhood.”
The proposed drive-through may violate the city’s pedestrian retail overly zoning that Map Change 2670 imposes under the item approved by the City Planning Commission last week. The relevant section prohibits “Any business served by a drive-through lane providing access to windows or other facilities at which food or merchandise can be ordered or picked up, or business can be transacted by a person in a motor vehicle” within the overlay district.
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