Five townhomes rise on Brevier Avenue in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. When these are complete, Marks Building Co. will build three more across the street (Marks Building). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Builder capitalizes on Cleveland’s new growth
In Greater Cleveland, there’s new life in the townhouse market after a recent slump. And in the City of Cleveland, there’s a new builder tapping into that rekindled market interest in new and remodeled townhouses.
To be sure, Marks Building Co. of Painesville, isn’t new. The company was started 36 years ago by Kent Marks who focused on building and remodeling residential and commercial structures in the suburbs.
But now his son Casey Marks has taken over the day-to-day operations and is paying more attention to building in Cleveland than the family business used to, thanks to its improving jobs market.
Townhouses are the urban product Casey Building is often delivering. Although the for-sale townhome market is coming back, it’s still not as strong as it was before 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Rental townhomes are often filling the void.
In the years immediately following the pandemic, townhouse construction, like most new housing starts, faded due to rising interest rates and cost of supplies. But the townhouse market is picking up to the point where its share of the overall housing market is the highest it has been since 1985.
Marks Builders’ first new-construction house they built in Cleveland was this 1,600-square-foot rental on West 6th Street in Tremont that was completed in 2021 (Google).
“I started getting into the City of Cleveland because I thought the architecture was pretty cool,” said co-owner and Chief Operating Officer Casey Marks in a recent interview with NEOtrans. “I like the more modern designs. They intrigued me. So I personally like doing things in the city but give me an acre to put up a home and I like that too.”
Marks’ first home they built in the city went up five years ago, at 2462 W. 6th St. in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. It was built on speculation, meaning that there was no tenant or other end-user identified when construction got underway.
Their largest Cleveland townhome project is under construction right now — five attached, three-bedroom townhomes at 1831 Brevier Ave., in Tremont, next to the newly opened Park Apartments. Tentatively, they’re called Brevier Place Townhomes.
The townhomes, each measuring about 1,668 square feet, are rentals and should be completed by the end of winter. Cost of constructing the five townhomes was estimated by Marks at about $1,175,000.
A second phase is planned at 1830 Brevier, on north side of the street. Here, a three-unit development of flats in a common building is planned, offering garages and rooftop decks. Another five to eight units are under consideration here.
Rendering of the 1831 Brevier Ave. townhomes that are under construction and due to be complete in early 2026 (Marks Building).
The Brevier homes are rentals, like most of the 14 Cleveland homes they’ve built, rebuilt or are building so far. Some of them are duplexes. And not all are new construction. A few are “investor specials” — properties that needed renovation to make them marketable again.
Ohio’s housing market has seen construction starts of single-family homes drop by half since 2000. Starts of two- to four-unit housing clusters are also less, but not as much. Only multi-family construction is higher now than it was in 2000.
Marks also builds housing under contract by others. For example, Marks is building two high-end duplexes on West 6th and 7th in Tremont with high-end finishes and rooftop decks under contract.
“I don’t do a ton of for-sale in the city,” he said. “Some have better locations than others. I like to play around in the up-and-coming areas.”
Marks says he’s building mostly for-rent townhome products for two reasons. First, the for-sale housing market hasn’t fully come back. And second, the cash flow ensures a consistent stream of revenue for the company.
Site plan for the next phase of development on Brevier Avenue in Tremont. This is a three-unit development of flats in a common structure (Barrington).
“Investors only want two or three new townhouses at a time,” he explained, despite the strong leasing demand. “If I had my way, I would build more townhomes in the city.”
Others directly approach Marks to custom-build a house for them. He said some customers are actively involved in the financing, design and construction or remodeling of their home.
“We’ll do a full development for a customer,” Marks noted. “People can hire us to do that for them. We would do the architectural designs, the design-review hearings, build it and then hand over the keys.”
Based on the strong leasing of new housing inventory, the urban housing market has yet to run its course. It’s why Marks Building is the latest suburban developer to enter Cleveland’s home construction market. And it probably won’t be the last.
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