From the central green in Valor Acres, the rest of the $678 million mixed-use development takes shape in Brecksville (Ian McDaniel). CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM
Progress Pics: Browns’ stadium leads billions in investment
While billions-worth of development is underway to revitalize downtown Cleveland and adjacent neighborhoods, billions more in mixed-use developments are rising in communities throughout Cuyahoga County.
New developments are slowly transforming previously-abandoned areas into opportunities for new apartments and retail.
The whale of the developments is the Cleveland Browns’ new stadium in Brook Park. Having broken ground in April, the three-year project will construct a state-of-the-art covered stadium surrounded by a mixed-use district.
Featuring retail, restaurants, parks, a 350-room hotel and over 1,500 apartments for roughly 2,000 new residents, Haslam Sports Group (HSG) is leading the charge on with help from AECOM Hunt and Turner Construction.
The project’s cost has recently risen to $2.6 billion dollars and is the most expensive project in Northeast Ohio history, according to the team. However, there are other megaprojects.
Massive cranes and pile-driving machines can be scene in the distance on the site of the new Cleveland Browns Stadium in Brook Park. Digging of the stadium bowl is underway (Ian McDaniel).
It alone accounts for nearly half the total cost of all mixed-use developments currently underway in the county not in Cleveland proper. The first phase of the project will include the stadium and roughly half of the total proposed mixed-use district.
A timeline for the second phase has not yet been announced. HSG has stated that they will personally cover the cost of any project overruns.
As of June, large cranes and pile-driving machines used to pound or vibrate structural columns into the earth have been assembled on site. The Browns’ Brook Park land is so large that the various machinery can barely be seen from Engle Road and nearby Interstate 71.
Not visible yet is the pit the stadium will be sunk into to avoid conflicts with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport’s airspace. Nonetheless, as construction progresses the stadium will be the first piece to rise out of the former Ford Motor Company plant followed by the surrounding mixed-use district.
Nearby in Berea, the Browns continue work on District 46, a $200 million expansion of their CrossCountry Mortgage Campus training facility. District 46 is named after the year the football team was founded — 1946.
Exterior finished are being applied to the University Hospitals building at District 46 in Berea on the left while the combined hotel and apartment building begins to rise on the right (Ian McDaniel).
The final product will be a mixed-use development featuring a University Hospitals healthcare facility with office space, a hotel, and several apartment buildings surrounding a community sports field with seating for 6,500 visitors.
The project broke ground at the corner of Lou Groza Boulevard and Front Street in June 2025 and is expected to open to the public in early 2027. HSG is working with DiGeronimo Companies of Brecksville to deliver the project.
Just to the east in Middleburg Heights is the mixed-use redevelopment of Southland Shopping Center led by Pride One Construction of Medina.
Pride One has worked on other high-profile residential projects in Cleveland including the Shoreline Apartments, Dexter Place in Ohio City and the recently-completed Terra Hilliard Bluffs apartments in Rocky River.
Smith Road streetscaping improvements at Southland include a new multipurpose path shown here, fronting land where new apartment buildings and retail will be constructed in the fenced area on the right (Ian McDaniel).
The Southland project began with a complete redesign of Smith Road between Pearl Road and West 130th Street. The new streetscape buried existing utilities, introduced traffic calming measures and center islands along with new lighting, pedestrian crosswalks, traffic signals and landscaping.
A new multipurpose trail also runs along the north side of the road. With Smith’s reconstruction nearly complete, the stage is set to redevelop the former department store lots.
In recent years, the former Sears and Burlington stores have been demolished to make way for four-story buildings with new retail spaces and topped with 170 apartments.
The former Sears site will be home to a new Meijer grocery store which is already far along in its construction — a tentative opening date has been set for April 2027. On the south side of Smith, additional parcels are up for sale to construct new retail buildings from the ground-up.
The majority of the new Meijer grocery store is framed at the Southland redevelopment in Middleburg Heights (Ian McDaniel).
Whether coincidence or not, Southland is one of several mixed-use projects in Northeast Ohio to feature a new Meijer. An urban format Fairfax Market operated by Meijer also opened under the Medley Apartments in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood next to the Cleveland Clinic on East 105th Street.
And most notably, the $285 million Belle Oaks redevelopment of the former Richmond Town Square shopping mall is well underway and features a Meijer as well.
Spearheaded by DealPoint Merrill, LLC, based in suburban Los Angeles, that project is rolling out dozens of apartment buildings in phases. The first two residential buildings under construction include 116 units across approximately 168,000 square feet.
The redevelopment is expected to support approximately 1,400 construction jobs and 500 permanent retail and service positions while attracting new residents to the area. Look for a future Progress Pics article featuring the Belle Oaks development and others throughout the east-side Heights.
Skybridges connect to a parking garage at the Valor Acres development in Brecksville. This view will soon transform into a street lined with retail options and apartments (Ian McDaniel).
Yet another Meijer was proposed for the massive Valor Acres mixed-use development in Brecksville, but no additional word has been heard on the future of that location.
In the meantime however, the $678 million mixed-use district has been pushing full-steam ahead in the warm weather months of 2026 to construct hundreds of new apartments and hotel rooms off of Miller and Brecksville roads.
The site of Valor Acres was formerly home to a Veteran Affairs hospital before it consolidated to University Circle in 2011. The name “Valor Acres” is a subtle nod to that history using the same initials: “VA”.
Anchored by Sherwin-Williams’ 600,000 square foot Morikis Global Technology Center, the first phases of Valor Acres included the Canvas apartments, Limelight co-working space and a duplex residential neighborhood on the northern end of the site.
A new Marriott hotel rises in the background of this view overlooking the site of a new Cleveland Clinic outpatient facility in the foreground. (Ian McDaniel)
On the southern end of the site, the new headquarters for DiGeronimo Companies — who are leading the redevelopment along with Independence Construction — sits atop newly-opened restaurants Flour and Masu, serving Italian and Japanese fare respectively.
The Post is an indoor/outdoor bar that serves as the hub for those attending community activities and enjoying a rotating food truck schedule. It was recently announced that local bakery Luna would be opening a fourth location at Valor Acres, adding to the district’s food offerings.
A Marriott hotel is far along in construction, which will serve visitors to Sherwin-Williams’ R&D facility and the recently-announced relocation of CSA Group into a new $102 million headquarters just north of the central green on Brecksville Road.
CSA Group is an international product certification and standards company headquartered in Toronto and maintains their US headquarters in Independence.
The Canyons development across from Pinecrest and Whole Foods continues to take shape, with several townhome units like this rising (Ian McDaniel).
The move to Valor Acres is expected to be complete in 2028 and will create 97 new jobs thanks to a Ohio Department of Development tax credit. It is believed the majority of their current 400+ staff will relocate to the new facility.
Also recently-announced for Valor Acres is a new Cleveland Clinic outpatient facility. Construction will start later this year on the new four-story, 60,000-square-foot medical office building. It will rise at the northeast corner of Miller and Innovation Parkway, just east of Interstate 77.
Finally on the East Side, developments surrounding the popular lifestyle center Pinecrest progress. First is the $75 million neighborhood The Canyons, a 55-and-up community on the south side of Harvard Road with a mix of townhome-style units now leasing and retail spaces currently under construction.
On the north side of Pinecrest, the former Beachwood Inn hotel has been demolished to be replaced by the Walnut Hills Residences. This large residential project will bring 395 units to the area in a mix of apartment, townhome- and single-family-style living.
Land at the southeast corner of Harvard Road and Orange Place has been cleared for the mixed retail and residential portion of The Canyons with machinery on site (Ian McDaniel).
Walnut Hills Road south of Chagrin Boulevard was vacated for this project and will be reconstructed to include a pedestrian-friendly connection to Pinecrest. Bialosky of Cleveland and RSA Architects of Chagrin Falls are overseeing the design.
The long-vacant Bahama Breeze building is also slated to be demolished this summer to make way for a mixed-use commercial project, expanding Pinecrest’s influence closer towards Interstate 271. The tenants for the project have yet to be revealed, however.
While there are many other mixed-use developments throughout Cuyahoga County, these represent some of the largest and most notable in their scale, cost and community impact. NEOtrans estimates that the total value of all developments listed in this article alone amount to over $4 billion.
Check back in with NEOtrans for future Progress Pics articles tracking developments throughout Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
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