The latest development planned along Euclid Avenue is Silver Hills at Euclid Bell Tower — the 150-foot tower being the lone remnant of St. Agnes Church (Silver Hills). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
New apartments to adjoin historic tower
Cleveland’s Landmark Commission tomorrow is due to scrutinize how a proposed apartment building on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood would relate to its surroundings. No surrounding is more important that the former St. Agnes Church’s historic bell tower — the only structure to survive the church’s demise.
That bell tower is not just a registered Cleveland landmark, but it is also in the working title for the proposed development — Silver Hills at Euclid Bell Tower. NEOtrans broke the story of this proposed development in March and we’re the first to publicly share its conceptual designs.
Proposed at 2020 E. 81st St. in a five-story, gabled-roof building with high-ceiling lofts on the top floor are a total of 125 market-rate apartments. That would be the smallest development so far by Silver Hills, a national developer based in suburban Shaker Heights.
Among a dozen multifamily developments built, underway or officially planned around the country, its previous smallest project is the 192-unit Triton Cove apartments under construction in Fort Myers, FL.
Its only other Cleveland development is the former Silver Hills at Thunderbird, since branded as Triton at the Flats, a 300-unit property located at 1960 Carter Rd. on Scranton Peninsula. Silver Hills’ newest development is influenced by the growth of the Cleveland Clinic and other University Circle employers.
A unique site plan for Silver Hills at Euclid Bell Tower is prescribed by its surroundings, including the former St. Agnes Bell Tower at right and the former CVS store at left. North is at the top of this site plan (Silver Hills).
Early design concepts for the project indicated a portion of the building would rise as high as eight stories and offer 177 units. But even at 5.5 stories tall, the apartment complex would be more than half the height of the 150-foot-tall bell tower. The tower is located right next to the sidewalk on East 81st.
From the north elevation, plans make it appear as if the new apartment structure would be attached to the tower. But floor plans show the structure actually steps back away from the bell tower, as well as a planned, neighboring swimming pool and an amenity patio.
The proposed building footprint has an odd shape on its west side, too, opposite of the bell tower. That shape is caused by the property line for the neighboring, former CVS drug store that closed last year.
Silver Hills reportedly has a purchase agreement to acquire the 1.6-acre property from Good Karma Broadcasting of Milwaukee. The company has a transmitter tower in the center of the property. Its local media presence is radio station ESPN Cleveland 850 AM.
New, rapidly leasing developments in the area like Signet Real Estate Group’s Foundry Lofts, 7220 Euclid, included ground-floor retail spaces. But it is not clear what type of street-facing public space Silver Hills offers to meet the city’s zoning code. Across the street is the Shops at Church Square.
Sample floor plans, albeit not labeled, show how the layouts on different floors are proposed (SIlver Hills).
There is at least a office/lobby-type space, such as for a property management/leasing or commercial office with bathrooms behind it. Between this office/lobby space and Euclid, at least 60 feet away, is a 20-stall parking lot.
In total, 112 parking spaces are planned with 33 spaces in garages and another 79 spaces in outdoor lots, including the 20-space lot fronting Euclid. That lot can conform to the zoning code even though there is pedestrian-retail overlay (PRO) zoning district along this stretch of Euclid.
“No main building on a lot abutting a pedestrian retail street frontage shall be set back more than 5 feet from the pedestrian retail street frontage unless the City Planning Commission has approved establishment of a surface parking lot in such location as a conditional use,” the city’s zoning code notes.
The amount of overall parking is in recognition of the PRO which allows the minimum number of spaces to be reduced by 33 percent from non-PRO districts. But the roughly 70,000-square-foot development site is split among two zoning districts.
The PRO and general retail with a height district allowing buildings up to 175 feet exists on the northern half; multifamily zoning and a height of up to 115 feet exists on the southern half.
Still towering over Euclid Avenue 110 years after it was built to summon St. Agnes’ parishioners, the St. Agnes bell tower could soon have a new neighbor in the former of a residential building that is connected by the HealthLine bus rapid transit to University Circle and Downtown Cleveland (Google).
The entire site has an area district of E, meaning that no minimum lot area is required but the maximum gross floor area can be 1.5 times the lot area, or about 104,544 square feet in this instance. A variance may have to be sought as a 125-unit apartment building with indoor parking will almost certainly be larger than that.
Plans show the new apartment building would rise on the footprint of where St. Agnes Church‘s impressive sanctuary stood from 1916 to 1975. It was demolished due to a shrinking parish as many of its parishioners had moved to the suburbs. Preservationists fought to save the bell tower, however.
No similar effort existed to save the neighboring rectory. It was demolished in the mid-2000s for the CVS drug store that was built in 2007 and lasted only 18 years. The property is available for sale or sub-lease as CVS still has a lease on the property until Jan. 31, 2034.
There is a pending building code violation against property owner Good Karma Broadcasting for failing to register the facade of the church’s bell tower this year, public records show.
Any structure that is more than 75 feet in height is required to be inspected by a third party every five years to obtain the facade registration from the city. Good Karma Broadcasting may be fined a small amount, possibly $200, for failing to register by Oct. 11.
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