Woodhill Station East adds 69 housing units next to the 120 already available at Woodhill Station West. Previously, these blighted sites across from the Woodhill light-rail station held the remnants of a demolished Burger King and a vacant elementary school (Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Progress Pics: Buckeye Woodhill Choice Neighborhood Transformation
Replacing the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (CMHA) aging Woodhill Homes, hundreds of housing units are being constructed next to some of Cleveland’s most frequent bus and rail transit routes.
Called the Buckeye Woodhill Choice Neighborhood Transformation, the mixed-income redevelopment project addresses a long-running criticism of the city’s public transit system, operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA): the lack of transit-oriented development (TOD) around stations to support ridership.
The corner of Woodhill Rd and Woodland Ave this winter, after the Woodhill Homes complex was demolished (Harrison Whittaker).
Rapid transit has been the backbone of the Woodhill corridor for more than a century. In 1905, Luna Park opened at the corner of Woodhill Rd and Woodland Ave as a “trolley park”—an amusement park accessible to visitors by streetcar—and operated until 1931, when it was demolished.
Later that decade, the Woodhill Homes public housing project was constructed by the Works Progress Administration to replace the city’s outdated housing stock with modern and affordable homes. By the time of its demolition in 2025, however, it was one of the oldest public housing projects in the United States.
On Woodland Ave at East 114th St, a 4-story apartment building at Woodhill Center East added 61 units—with the vast majority reserved for former residents of the demolished Woodhill Homes complex (Harrison Whittaker).
Woodhill’s five-year redevelopment plan spans six phases across three sites, all in close proximity to frequent transit routes. Project partners include The Community Builders of Boston, the City of Cleveland, and CMHA.
Phase one was Woodhill Station West, which created 120 housing units (90 of them reserved for displaced Woodhill Homes residents) near the intersection of Woodhill Rd and Shaker Blvd, a 2-minute walk from the Buckeye – Woodhill rapid station on the Blue and Green lines.
Woodhill Center East created 19 affordable housing units in townhomes for new residents (Harrison Whittaker).
The second phase, Woodhill Center East, added 61 units (58 for displaced residents) in an apartment building on Woodland Rd at East 114th St, a 9-minute walk from the E. 116th – St. Luke’s Blue and Green line station. Nineteen affordable units for new residents were built in townhomes next door.
Now, Phase three will add 69 more units (54 for new residents) at Woodhill Station East, a five-story apartment building adjacent to Phase one and directly across from the Buckeye – Woodhill station. The building, already nearing completion, will be home to an early childhood education center as well as amenity spaces for residents.
Construction crews prepare the site of the former Woodhill Homes complex for Phases 4-6 of the Woodhill redevelopment (Harrison Whittaker).
Phases four through six of the redevelopment will add an additional 372 housing units (at least 162 for former residents), a new park, and a community center on the site of the demolished Woodhill Homes. The East 105th – Quincy Red Line station is an 8-minute walk from the northwest corner of the site.
In total, 638 homes are planned or completed—though at least half will replace demolished units. Every single one will be within about a 10-minute walk of Cleveland’s second-busiest bus route, the No. 10, which connects hospitals, employers, and schools in University Circle with some of the city’s most transit-dependent neighborhoods. In addition, each home will be within a 15-minute walk of rail transit to downtown and other destinations.
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