Stark Enterprises, which owns the La Quinta Inn By Wydnham at left, will buy the land it is leasing from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The transit agency owns property here for its Puritas-West 150th Red Line station, visible at right (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Puritas-West 150th property offers promise
A land sale recently approved by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) went largely unnoticed beyond the agency, as did the creation of a fund where the sale proceeds will be deposited. But when combined, both could have long-term implications for the cash-strapped transit agency which is considering significant service cuts.
The property GCRTA sold was a 2-acre plot of land to be carved out of three parcels totaling 11 acres that comprise the Puritas-West 150th Rapid Transit station and its parking lots, next to Interstate 71. Set on that 2 acres at 4222 W. 150th St. is a La Quinta Inn by Wyndham, built in 1991.
The hotel is owned by Cleveland-based developer Stark Enterprises, doing business a this site as CA Five, LLC. It has leased the property from GCRTA but at below-market rates. Stark could exercise options to extend its lease until 2089 but GCRTA wanted to increase the lease payments.
To break the impasse, GCRTA offered to sell the land to Stark. GCRTA’s appraiser Smith & Nedjedlak Inc. said the land has a fair market value of $875,000. Stark agreed to the price, including access easements, restrictions on the use of the property and giving GCRTA right of first refusal to buy it back if Stark ever decides to sell it.
But what to do with the money? If allocated to the agency’s general fund budget, the sale proceeds might be enough to save for one year a single, bare-bones, weekdays-only bus route operating hourly in daylight hours.
Outlined in red is the 2-acre property the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is selling to an affiliate of Stark Enterprises. The remainer of GCRTA property outlined in orange, including a portion of the station parking lot that’s leased to 2 Birds Shuttle & Detail LLC (Google).
On the other hand, the funds could be used to set into motion meaningful, long-term, structural revenue streams from transit-oriented developments (TOD) at GCRTA stations, busy transfer points and along high-frequency transit routes.
“The funds for this sale will go towards transit-oriented development efforts and not back into general fund activities for operations or capital,” said GCRTA General Manager and CEO India Birdsong Terry at the last agency board meeting.
To that end, the GCRTA board on Dec. 21 also created a new reserve fund for TOD. It is generally described in an amendment to Chapter 60 of GCRTA’s Codified Rules And Regulations as a sub-account where funds received from the sale of properties may be placed for use in TOD projects.
GCRTA board and staff at recent meetings also broadly described the account as one that would facilitate or help accelerate TOD efforts. There may be more formal actions for the board to consider in the future, but allowing for the account was the first step, they said.
There are federal restrictions on transit agencies identifying, selling/leasing or otherwise repurposing excess properties. But in recent years, GCRTA staff have told NEOtrans that the Federal Transit Administration is increasingly encouraging transit agencies to develop excess properties to diversify revenues, boost ridership and improve transit access to jobs and housing.
Like all park-n-ride lots at Cleveland train stations, the Puritas-West 150th Rapid Station lot is never full and usually looks like this. There are 30 acres of parking lots at 12 GCRTA Rapid stations which, when including lawns, landscaping and driveways, total more than 80 acres (Google).
Since the pandemic, GCRTA appears to have a lot of excess of properties, especially its park-n-ride lots at rail stations and suburban transit centers. It has done some limited development of its excess properties, as the La Quinta Inn by Wyndham or, more recently, the Depot on Detroit, signifies.
Identifying, surveying and replatting excess properties costs money. So does establishing goals and master plans or requests for proposals. The funds could also be used to leverage federal grants and loans for site preparation work, parking structures and other joint-development efforts.
There may be potential redevelopment opportunities at the Puritas-West 150th station site. When asked if Stark Enterprises has any plans to redevelop the hotel or any nearby land, Stark’s Vice President of Marketing Stacie Schmidt offered an intriguing “No comment.”
In April 2024, GCRTA’s board authorized a long-term lease extension to 2 Birds Shuttle and Detail LLC for its airport parking and car detailing operation at the Puritas-West 150th station. Customers park their cars at the station and either take the train or a shuttle van to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport’s terminal.
The tenant began its lease and services in 2020. It planned but has yet to build a two-bay service building with a small office and customer retail convenience amenity on its leased portion of the site, next to Interstate 71.
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