This two-level parking garage has been closed for more than a year due to its poor condition and is part of a site that’s listed as available for sale or lease. The garage is too frail to support an overhead vertical development like the Ten60 Bolivar Apartments, seen at far right, which was built atop a decades-old garage (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Property at E. 9th-Prospect for sale/lease
A small, decaying parking garage on an available property near Progressive Field in Downtown Cleveland is likely to be demolished soon. The question is, what might replace it now and for the long term?
The two-level parking garage, called the Oppman Garage because it was owned in the early 2000s by the late real estate investor Harvey G. Oppman, dates from 1950. It is located on several parcels at 944 Prospect Ave., just east of East 9th Street and owned by an affiliate of the Geis Companies.
Tomorrow, Geis representatives will ask the Design Review Committee of the Cleveland Planning Commission for approval to raze the Oppman Garage. They are likely to get it because there is no reason to keep it. It’s not architecturally significant and rebuilding it isn’t cost effective, Geis officials said.
The parking structure would be replaced by an interim surface parking lot. The Planning Commission has discouraged more “temporary” parking lots downtown because such lots tender to linger, are unsightly and contribute less to economic development than buildings do.
Geis’ Vice President of Design Brandon Kline told NEOtrans the garage is beyond repair and needs to come down. Plus there are sometimes homeless people staying in the garage that’s been closed for several years, creating safety and liability issues plus additional burdens on police to remove them.
Location of the Oppman Garage and the 1.12-acre site on which it sets, a property that is for sale or lease (JLL).
Geis was cited in October 2023 by the Building Department regarding the garage’s condition, records show. An inspector reported “Deterioration and damage on concrete ceilings and walls, observed indication of rust on steel columns.” The demolition permit was submitted to the city a year later by Geis.
The garage, located in the Gateway District, is too far gone to support future development, unlike a five-decade old parking garage nearby on Bolivar Road. That garage was renovated and used to support development of the overhead Ten60 Bolivar Apartments that opened earlier this year.
Instead, demolishing the Oppman Garage will remove a cost for redeveloping the 1.12-acre site, making it more attractive to buyers or tenants. The property has been on the market for four years.
Kline said he and other Geis officials hope the Oppman Garage site can be developed someday “but today’s economy isn’t that time,” he said.
To win demolition approval from the city, a land use plan must be submitted. If the plan is for a surface parking lot, it can be for only a limited period of time however subject to renewal.
A 17-story condominium building with ground-floor retail and several levels of parking was planned for the Oppman Garage site prior to the pandemic. The property has been for sale since the pandemic (GLSD).
Last year, Bedrock Real Estate won city approval to demolish the Arena Parking Garage, 611 Huron Rd., replacing it with a 36-space interim parking lot. That parking lot was approved for one year but was renewed by the Planning Commission earlier this year.
Geis in 2015 won commission approval to demolish the 1927-built New York Spaghetti House on East 9th at Bolivar. Part of the site that contains the endangered Oppman Garage.
Demolition approval of the New York Spaghetti House, which closed in 2001, was contingent on keeping the interim parking lot for only five years. Geis hasn’t requested or received renewal of that interim use.
At the time, Geis was actively seeking redevelopment of the site, including a possible high-rise mixed-use development. A rendering of that development is shown in a marketing brochure for the property.
But that 17-story development — condominiums over parking over ground-floor retail — never advanced beyond the conceptual stage before the pandemic killed it. The site is zoned to allow the construction of buildings up to 600 feet tall.
The two-level Oppman Garage as seen from Prospect Avenue with the eight-level 900 Tower Garage to the right of it (Google).
A smaller project was sought by Geis to test the downtown condominium market — The Avenue Condos. A five-story, 31-unit condo building started construction in 2019 at 1325 E. 12th St. But when the pandemic hit, it was redesigned while under construction to be an apartment building.
Geis was seeking to expand its new-construction know-how into high-rise projects. The tallest building it has built from scratch is Cuyahoga County’s eight-story administrative headquarters, 2079 E. 9th.
The Oppman Garage is next to the eight-level, 1972-built 900 Tower Garage. It is also owned by Geis Companies. The 900 Tower Garage is used by the Cuyahoga County administrative headquarters, The 9 hotel and apartments, Geis’ Cleveland offices, and events at Progressive Field and Rocket Arena.
Geis acquired both garages in 2013 as part of its redevelopment of the former Ameritrust headquarters tower into The 9 and the neighboring Cuyahoga County administrative offices.
The Oppman Garage property was purchased by Cuyahoga County in 2007 for $5,145,000, county records show. A survey of the garage by Desman Associates, requested by the county in 2006 prior to its purchase, recommended “immediate structural repairs” to the garage.
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