In the early 1980s, Jackshaw Chevy had already been in business on East 185th Street for nearly 30 years. Dealership buildings and lots for cars and trucks were on both sides of the street. While the building at left still stands, the one at far right was razed exactly one decade ago (reprinted with permission of EuclidEvolution.blogspot.com). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Cleveland-Euclid site rebirth is simplified
For more than 75 years, there was a Chevrolet car dealership at the north end of East 185th Street, where the cities of Cleveland and Euclid meet. And for the last 17 years, there’s been stop-n-go efforts to revitalize those vacant lots with no success. But that could change with a new approach underway.
The most advanced effort to give new life to the 3-acre former Lake Shore Chevrolet, 543 E. 185th St., was two years ago. There was a public engagement effort to create a development masterplan and a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the City of Euclid for its portion of the former dealership.
But, according to the few developers who were interested in investing in that area, Euclid’s 1.41-acre site wasn’t big enough to elicit a formal response. It also needed to be coordinated better with Cleveland’s side of the dealership site which is slightly larger at 1.54 acres.
And, perhaps most importantly, the RFP needed a single sponsor with the kind of reach and access to more potential developers. So both cities are now working together and coordinating with the Cuyahoga Land Bank to deliver results here.
The red-shaded areas on both sides of East 185th Street are those which are likely to be included in a request for proposals to be offered to developers by the Cuyahoga Land Bank. The areas with red boundaries are those which were part of the operations of the Lake Shore Chevrolet dealership prior to 2008. This is a satellite view of the site straddling the Cleveland-Euclid line on May 31, 2007 (Google).
“Because of the project’s shared borders, the Land Bank was a natural fit to take the lead on this endeavor,” Cuyahoga Land Bank President & CEO Ricardo León told NEOtrans. “We are in the very early stages of this partnership, just finalizing the MOU (memorandum of understanding).”
The MOU, once agreed to by the City Councils and mayors of Cleveland and Euclid, as well as the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s board, would give the Land Bank the green light to solicit responses from potential developers.
“We hope to engage developers in the second quarter of 2026,” León added. “We look forward to progressing this partnership and providing updates as they become available.”
Patrick Grogan-Myers, director of planning and development for the City of Euclid, was careful to point out that the publicly guided masterplan, crafted by St. Louis-based consultant Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners, will continue to guide the redevelopment process here.
In 2019, the former Lake Shore Chevy dealership on East 185th Street had sat empty for more than a decade already. The vacant site that covers both sides of East 185th, with Cleveland at left and Euclid at right, has weighed on the surrounding neighborhoods but could lift them if redeveloped (Google).
“The Cuyahoga Land Bank will issue the RFP that reflects the community planning process that was undertaken in 2023,” Grogan-Myers said in an e-mail to NEOtrans. “Residents from Cleveland and Euclid participated in the community planning process that was facilitated by Steadfast City.”
The recommended site plan resulting from that effort, he explained, included mixed-use on the Euclid parcels and commercial space on the Cleveland parcels with outdoor recreation and green space on both sites. It may not include former dealership land on the Cleveland side north of Rosecliff because it is privately owned.
“Euclid and Cleveland have worked together on this and see the partnership with the Cuyahoga Land Bank as a way to facilitate a larger, complementary development that executes the vision of reenergizing the East 185th Street corridor,” Grogan-Myers added.
The Lake Shore Chevy dealership closed in December 2008, during the Great Recession. The dealership was doing well shortly before then, and was even considering relocating to a more visible location, such as alongside an Interstate highway as many urban car dealerships were doing then.
The remaining structure from the former Lake Shore Chevy, and the Jackshaw dealership before that, is located at the corner of East 185th Street and Rosecliff Road. It is privately owned and may not be part of the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s redevelopment effort (Google).
Lake Shore was the fourth Chevy dealership on this northern portion of East 185th, according to the Euclid Evolution blog. Prior to 1998, it was Jackshaw Chevrolet. But that and other Jackshaw dealerships were sold after founder Walter Jackshaw died in 1989 and his brother Stephen Jackshaw died in 1996.
Walter Jackshaw worked at the Chevy dealership that preceded his, Whyte Chevrolet, until Jackshaw bought it in 1956. It was at the same location, 543 E. 185th.
But the prior owner, Ray Whyte, had moved Whyte Chevrolet less than five years earlier from its previous location, 473 E. 185th, just north of its final location on the Euclid side. Whyte bought the dealership site from D.E. McCahan who had run McCahan Chevrolet since at least 1933, Euclid Evolution reported.
The first Chevy dealership is, today, the site of a Rite Aid drug store-turned-temporary Euclid Public Library. The library has temporarily located there while $300,000 of renovations are made to the 67-year-old Main Library, 631 E. 222nd St. Work is due to be completed in spring 2026.
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