A three-building apartment complex is planned by Signet Real Estate Group with one building fronting Euclid Avenue shown here, another on Chester Avenue and a third in between. A driveway to the parking lot and the middle building runs under the Euclid building which will also have a retail space at the far end (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Conceptual plans seek city planning input
After experiencing success with two other apartment complexes it built in recent years on Cleveland’s East Side, an Akron-based developer is pursuing a third. But each of the three developments by Signet Real Estate Group has used a different design approach,
Signet’s latest is a three-building, mixed-use development temporarily carrying the working title of Midtown Site, as it would be located at 4209 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood. The site is currently used as a parking lot.
The project’s architect, Vocon Partners, will present conceptual plans for the development at tomorrow’s meeting of the City Planning Commission’s design-review committee. There, it will gather input on the plans for refinement and, eventually, seek final approval at a follow-up committee meeting.
Proposed among the three buildings are 159 apartments — a mix of one-bedroom units, studios, micro apartments and two-bedroom suites. For those, 153 parking spaces are proposed on the 2.7-acre property, with gate access to and from the neighboring parking lot for the MidTown Innovation Center is planned.
A conceptual site plan for Signet’s Midtown Site apartment complex between Euclid and Chester avenues. It shows a driveway under the west end of the Euclid building, next to the East 40th transit station. A retail space is at the east end of Building 1 (Vocon).
A 1,931-square-foot, ground-floor retail space is proposed at the east end of Building 1 on Euclid. It is the only leasable commercial space in the development. Next to it in the same building is a fitness center to provide another active use fronting Euclid. Above in the four-story building will be 51 apartments.
A driveway from Euclid to the parking lot for Signet’s Midtown site will go under the west end of Building 1 due to the lack of property frontage on Euclid. Another reason is that the site is in the Midtown Mixed-Use District.
That’s a form-based zoning district to encourage dense, compact land development with a pedestrian-oriented mix of uses built along sidewalks to support the HealthLine bus rapid transit corridor on Euclid. A transit station is located just to the west of the site, at Euclid and East 40th Street.
Fronting Chester Avenue will be Building 3. It will have three stories and contain 36 apartments. This building is the smallest of the three is designed with the neighboring, historic Midtown Colonial Townhomes in mind.
Building 3, fronting Chester Avenue, is a lower-scale, all-residential building designed to mesh with the neighboring Midtown Colonial Townhomes that were built in 1910 (Vocon).
In fact, Midtown Site’s property wraps around the 115-year-old, for-sale cluster of townhouses. In between the Euclid and Chester buildings will be Building 2, a three-story structure with 72 apartments. Total gross square footage among all buildings is 106,255.
NEOtrans broke the story about this proposed development in December 2024, shortly after Signet affiliate 4209 Euclid LLC paid $400,000 for 2.4 acres from 4415 Euclid LLC, owner of the Midtown Innovation Center, Cuyahoga County property records show.
That parcel extends north to Chester and included the MidTown Innovation Center at 4415 Euclid plus its parking. It was the second such land acquisition since November 2023 in that area and allowed Signet to redesign the parcels for its development while leaving enough daytime parking for the neighboring office building.
The markets for these apartments are students and workers who go to school or work in downtown Cleveland or University Circle but can’t afford market-rate housing in those fast-growing residential districts. That marketing approach has been successful for Signet before in Midtown.
Building 3 is the mid-block building and the largest of the three in terms of floor space. While it will be surrounded by parking lots, it will also have a courtyard to provide some greenspace (Vocon).
In late-2022, Signet opened the 160-unit first phase of its Foundry Lofts, 7240 Euclid. The apartments and a retail space facing Euclid leased out in six months.
So Signet pursued a planned second phase that added another 82 apartments fronting Carnegie Avenue which also leased out quickly. Foundry Lofts’ design for its five buildings was inspired by Cleveland’s foundries and factories that were once common nearby,
Previously, Signet built the Axis At Ansel, 1750 Ansel Rd., a 163-unit market-rate apartment building with ground-floor retail. It opened in 2020 — in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, the building leased out in less than a year.
Signet put the Axis At Ansel up for sale but later withdrew it, deciding to keep the single-building property. That project was built as modern-style apartment building featuring a sleek, contemporary design.
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