Affordable and senior housing hits Clark-Fulton

Walton Senior Apartments adds 52 units of affordable housing for seniors on the north side of Clark Avenue near Fulton Road (Harrison Whittaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Progress Pics: Walton Senior Apartments, Hub 27, more

Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood has seen its historic, pedestrian-oriented commercial district slowly give way to suburban-style retail and drive-through restaurants.

However, recent developments like Walton Senior Apartments have been restoring the area’s walkability while adding affordable and senior housing.

In the BVQ District, named for Barber, Vega, and Queen avenues, West Chester, OH-based Pivotal Housing Partners and the Metro West Community Development Organization (MWCDO) recently topped out on the first phase of their Hub 27 development.

At the north end of West 27th Street, Hub 27’s Phase 1 workforce apartment building has topped out (Harrison Whittaker).

The five-story phase one building at 2500 W. 27th St., designed by West Chester-based BDCL Architects and constructed by Ruscilli Construction of Dublin, OH, includes 53 units of “workforce” housing for households earning less than 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI).

Meanwhile, Völker Development of Fond du Lac, WI is wrapping up exterior cladding work at Walton Senior Apartments in La Villa Hispana, the heart of Cleveland’s Hispanic and Latino community.

The four-story development consists of 52 senior apartments for households earning 30-70 percent of AMI. While its main entrance and front façade face Clark Avenue, its driveway and off-street parking spaces are located in the rear at 3517 Walton Ave. in order to reduce curb cuts on Clark.

While Walton Senior Apartments faces Clark Avenue, its driveway and parking lot are tucked behind it on Walton Avenue (Harrison Whittaker).

In October 2025, local leaders announced that the senior housing project would be one of the first two developments to benefit from the nonprofit-managed Cleveland Housing Investment Fund’s (CHIF) initial funding commitment.

Walton Senior Apartments was designed by RDL Architects of suburban Beachwood. Cleveland-based John G. Johnson Construction is the project’s general contractor.

While some developments are pushing back against car-centric designs, others are reinforcing it — immediately next door, a Rally’s drive-thru restaurant is seeing major renovations.

Directly east of Walton Senior Apartments, a Rally’s drive-thru restaurant is wrapping up exterior renovations (Harrison Whittaker).

Still, other projects are infilling vacant lots with “missing middle” housing, or low-intensity multi-unit residences, which bridge the gap between denser apartment buildings and single-family homes to support neighborhood walkability.

At 3416 Seymour Ave., for example, Garfield Heights-based J Wall Homes is developing a three-story triplex on the site of a historic multifamily home demolished around 2008.

At right, current zoning rules required J Wall Homes to obtain a variance in order to redevelop a traditionally-sized urban lot on Seymour Avenue with missing middle housing (Harrison Whittaker).

While the property’s small lot size made it impossible to redevelop without a variance, proposed form-based zoning changes could enable owners of compact lots to develop a variety of missing middle housing types by-right.

In the BVQ District, North Royalton-based T & R Builders has achieved missing middle density another way: at 3034 Barber Ave., the contractor built two street-facing single-family homes, each with an Additional Dwelling Unit (ADU) or “granny flat” behind it.

On Barber Avenue, T & R Builders is finishing up two single-family homes — with a “granny flat” tucked behind each (Harrison Whittaker).

Form-Based Code reforms would expand property owners’ abilities to construct ADUs — often promoted as a way for extended family members (such as grandparents or young adults) to live near relatives while maintaining independent households.

For more construction updates around Greater Cleveland, check out NEOtrans’ other Progress Pics articles.

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