By the slimmest of margins, the 45 West mixed-use development in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood won approval by the city’s Landmarks Commission. It was one of two projects on the west side to gain new life today (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Landmarks panel narrowly OKs one project
A pair of residential projects in the works for several years were brought to today’s Landmarks Commission meeting. And while they differed in size and use, both were an expression of the continued development and investment occuring on Cleveland’s near-West Side.
The first of two residential projects presented to the commission was for the 45 West apartments at West 45th Street and Lorain Avenue. NEOtrans previously reported on the revival of this project after a fire destroyed one of the buildings proposed to remain as part of the development.
That fire occurred right after the project received approval from the landmarks commission in 2023 and ultimately stalled the project, sending developer My Place Group back to the design table. Having visited the Ohio City design review meetings several times, the project has received mixed reactions from the community.
Twenty-one public comments were received at the most recent design review advisory committee meeting according to city planners. They varied from supporting the growth of the neighborhood’s residential and retail offerings to criticism of scale, density and traffic the site could produce.
Local design review ultimately voted in favor of the project 6-2. Despite being approved by Landmarks two years ago, the commission was even more divided on the merits of the project this time.
Site plan for the planned 45 West mixed-use development on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood (Vocon).
Echoing concerns of the community input, commission member Michelle Anderson noted that “the city’s embrace of density is in conflict with what the residents want. I don’t like seeing it continue to happen. It upsets me and I cannot support this kind of thing.”
“I’d like to respectfully disagree with my colleague [Ms. Anderson] on this issue,” responded City Planning Director Calley Mersmann, also a member of the landmarks commission. “People are constantly struggling to find places to live here in this neighborhood. I do feel like this is a [proposal] that responds to the context of the street and the surrounding residential area.”
“In general we want more residences especially along our high-frequency transit corridors. I think this transitions from the corridor to the neighborhood to the north quite reasonably,” Mersmann continued.
Lorain is a highly-traveled corridor into and out of Ohio City which would see a complete redesign if the proposed Lorain Avenue Midway project advances through the planning stages.
These six townhomes could rise at the southwest corner of Clifton and West boulevards near Edgewater Park in Cleveland (Smart Build Development LLC).
Several comments and points of clarification were exchanged between the commission and the developer. But as the meeting ran over four hours and featured a quick room change, Landmarks Chair Julie Trott summarized that “we [the commission] have had extensive conversation about this already.” Her personal view was that “beyond [the concerns described] I am in support of the revisions.”
Members Trott, Mersmann, Duluk and Williams voted in favor; members Anderson, Dreyer and Loeser voted against. The project ultimately received approval with four votes for the project and three against.
The second residential project presented to the commission was for the West Cliff Townhomes by Smart Build Development LLC. Planned are six townhomes at the corner of Clifton and West boulevards. The site — notably within walking distance of Edgewater Park — was already approved for six townhomes in 2022 but the project, called BigHaus, was tabled due to rising costs.
Three years later, six townhomes are proposed with two garage spaces each. The townhomes would be adjacent to an existing eastbound Cleveland State bus rapid transit stop. Previous design comments wanted more prominent frontage along the Clifton-facing sides of each building.
Site plan for the proposed West Cliff Townhomes with Clifton Boulevard at top or north of the image (Smart Build Development LLC).
The bulk of this iteration’s discussion revolved around similar themes, with commission members feeling that the designs could be improved through various methods. Options suggested for improvement included extending the patio canopies and wrapping them around to the Clifton facades, investigating the materiality and warmth of colors as well as increasing the size of the Clifton windows to match the rest of the design.
There was also concern about how close the proposed townhomes were to the neighbor’s home to the west. Cleveland’s townhome code was revised back in 2023 to address issues of frontage as townhomes continued to spring up throughout the city.
City of Cleveland Chief Zoning Administrator Shannan Leonard noted that the project would need variances for approval if kept the same, but missing information in the application meant it was difficult to perform a full zoning review of the site at this stage.
As the project was presented for schematic approval only, no vote was taken and the applicant received feedback from the commission on how to proceed with the design process.
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