It’s back! Solove Real Estate’s The View on Detroit’s mixed-use development has a new project leader. DiGeronimo Companies is seeking to build a project very similar to what Solove proposed four years ago on Detroit Avenue just east of Bunts Road. It is just one of four current and planned large developments on Detroit in Lakewood (RDL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Totals four new multifamily sites on Detroit Ave.
Detroit Avenue in Lakewood is becoming a hot zone of multifamily developments. One project at the Steve Barry Buick site is well underway. Another, Lakewood Common, is just getting started. And two new developments are planned at sites where other, similar buildings were sought before.
This time, the two new developments have added experienced, well-heeled corporations and thus more resources to get them to the start and finish lines. Those two developments are the revival of The View On Detroit just east of Bunts Road and a senior housing project at Coutant Avenue on the city’s east end.
CHN Housing Partners of Cleveland will partner with The McGregor Foundation of East Cleveland to build McGregor Lakewood Independent Living at 11801 Detroit Ave. The four-story, 82,520-square-foot building will have 101 one-bedroom apartments for seniors 55 years and older, earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income.
The partnership, to be called Lakewood McGregor IL LLC, will be 51 percent owned by CHN Housing Partners, according to an Aug. 12 letter sent to Cleveland City Council by Mark Whipkey, chief of asset management for CHN. His company is one of Greater Cleveland’s largest affordable housing developers.
The yellow-shaded parking lot with “Studio West 117” painted on its pavement is where an experienced affordable housing development partnership wants to build McGregor Lakewood Independent Living, a four-story, affordable senior apartment building (Google).
Even though the project is in Lakewood, Cleveland wishes to be notified when a developer seeks state financial assistance for an affordable housing development within one-half-mile of the City of Cleveland. This site is one block west of Cleveland.
The 1-acre property formerly had a National Tire & Battery (NTB) shop but is currently used as a district parking lot for the neighborhood and Studio West 117 across Detroit. If Lakewood McGregor IL LLC secures city approvals for the project, it will buy the property.
West 117 Development Flagship LLC, a partnership of Daniel Budish and Betsy Vuillemot-Figgie, acquired the property in 2021 for $350,000. They also secured a $4 million Ohio Brownfield grant to the demolish the NTB shop and clean up the site. They also proposed an apartment building but twice as large as what is planned now.
A project summary for McGregor Lakewood Independent Living was submitted to the Oho Housing Finance Agency as part of an application for Low Income Housing Tax Credits and an equity bridge loan. The project has an estimated development costs of $32.4 million and direct construction costs of $22.5 million.
Lots of amenities for seniors on a budget exist near the proposed site for the McGregor Lakewood Independent Living at Detroit and Coutant avenues. Not only is there frequent, 24-hour bus service, there are two clinics, a 24-hour pharmacy, grocery store, multiple restaurants, a thrift store, barber shop and more (Google).
“I do support the project,” said Ward 4 Lakewood City Councilwoman Cindy Marx. “They (developers) are waiting to hear on tax credit rewards that will be made in mid-October.”
Whipkey said in his letter that the development would be a 20-minute drive from the McGregor Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Brooklyn clinic which provides community-based aging services.
“Property management will be provided by the McGregor Foundation, which will offer attentive service and connected support to the McGregor PACE Brooklyn facility,” he wrote.
Farther west, closer to the center of Lakewood, is another planned development on Detroit Avenue. The View on Detroit is the same name that was proposed at 13815 Detroit the last time, but there are some important changes now.
A site plan from the prior submission of The View On Detroit in 2021 was resubmitted to the city along with the rest of the development’s plans, including exterior building design and landscaping (Solove).
As before, it would rise on the site of the former Spitzer Chrysler-Plymouth dealership that closed in 2010 shortly after Chrysler went bankrupt. The former dealership, the Educators Music store, 13701 Detroit, that closed in 2018 and a house behind the store on Wyandotte Avenue are proposed to be demolished.
An affiliate of Solove Real Estate of Columbus in 2021 acquired 2.2 acres of land spread across two street blocks for $2.29 million after getting approval from the city to construct a pair of four-story buildings. Now, Brecksville-based DiGeronimo Companies is taking the lead on the new development.
As before, 65 apartments are planned in the east building, between Wyandotte and Parkwood avenues with a ground-floor, leasable commercial space at the corner of Detroit and Wyandotte. In the west building, west of Parkwood, 55 apartments are planned. A total of 110 units and 140 off-street parking spaces are sought.
After the addition of DiGeronimo, the next biggest change to the development is its cost which was about $20 million four year ago. With inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it may be nearly $25 million today. A 30-year tax-increment agreement with Solove was approved by the city in 2021 but will probably have to be updated.
An aerial rendering that shows the angles and placement of the two new buildings on the site, which is spread across two city blocks along the south side of Detroit Avenue. Bunts Road is at the lower-right corner (RDL)
Although their basic shape and scale is roughly the same, the proposed exterior design, color and materials of the two proposed buildings has changed. The facades would be built with a more cost-effective Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS).
The proposed use of EIFS became a bone of contention when the plans were reviewed Aug. 14 by Lakewood’s Architectural Board of Review. EIFS, especially earlier versions, had a reputation of being vulnerable to water infiltration, leading to wood rot, mold and structural degradation.
But it is inexpensive to buy and, if professionally installed, sealed and maintained, it can perform well, said DiGeronimo Development’s Managing Director Mackenzie Makepeace. She told the board members that if EIFS was not allowed to be used, the development could not proceed. The matter was tabled by the board to a future meeting.
Solove previously sought another two-building apartment development farther west in Lakewood on the 2.75-acre site of the former Steve Barry Buick, 16000 Detroit. But Solove abandoned the project. It was picked up by Lakewood Detroit LLC, a partnership of NewBrook Partners of Rocky River and The Krueger Group of Cleveland.
Looking north to Detroit Avenue along Brockley Avenue, this is how the rapidly building Westline Apartments on the former Steve Barry Buick dealership property could look by next summer (Vocon).
The partners are well underway on constructing the Westline Apartments — two buildings containing a total of 190 residential units, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, and approximately 200 parking spaces. Look for leasing information soon and completion in spring 2026.
Meanwhile construction is finally underway on the $115 million Downtown Lakewood development called Lakewood Common, 14519 Detroit. NEOtrans broke the story earlier this week on this long-sought project getting the green light after two enabling ordinances were approved by City Council.
Belle Ave Partners LLC, an affiliate of Columbus-based CASTO, is due to take title within 30 days to the 5.7-acre site of the former city-owned Lakewood Hospital. The city will be paid $1.5 million for the land which has sat largely unused since the hospital closed in 2016.
Planned for Lakewood Common are 293 multifamily housing units, 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail/office space, a 536-space parking garage, 31 ground-floor parking spaces in a mixed-use building, renovation of the historic Curtis Block and a new public plaza on Detroit at Belle.
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