A “topping-off” ceremony was held last week to celebrate completion of the structural work for the seven-story Skyline on Stokes apartment building. The three-story townhomes along Cedar Avenue, seen here at East East 107th Street were almost topped-out. Stokes Boulevard is on the other side of the apartment building (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Latest UC apartments to meet housing shortage
A new apartment building and row of townhomes called Skyline on Stokes have taken form in Cleveland’s University Circle. The last structural features of the seven-story apartment building, formerly called Stokes West, were added and celebrated last week in a “topping-out ceremony.”
Attending the Oct. 22 event were developers, financiers, city and county officials, and of course the many construction workers who made the topping-out possible. The construction progress means that the $40 million housing development is on target to be completed by summer 2025.
But leasing of the 261 apartments will begin well before that, said Brent Zimmerman, principal of Brent Zimmerman Development LLC. His firm is heading up the project along with Finance Michigan, Rust Belt Development, ACRE of Atlanta and New York City, as well as Geis Companies of Streetsboro and Cleveland.
Geis is the project’s construction manager and also helped design the building along with LDA Architects. Geis will also manage the property once construction is completed.
A furnished studio apartment at Skyline on Stokes is taking shape. In fact, about two-thirds of the apartments at this new building will be furnished studios for students, professors and medical workers like surgeons or residents who need a place near work to crash between shifts (KJP).
Finance Michigan, the project’s primary financial backer, rebranded the property as Skyline on Stokes in July. It also rebranded its other current Cleveland project, Skyline 776, formerly the City Club Apartments, a 22-story tower which began opening in August on Euclid Avenue, downtown.
Skyline on Stokes, located in the 2100-block of Stokes Boulevard, will have a 253-unit apartment building along Stokes and a row of eight leasable townhomes along Cedar Avenue. East 107 Street rounds out the development’s boundaries.
“It’s coming along nicely,” Zimmerman said of Skyline on Stokes. He was also celebrating the announcement last week of his Saucy Brew Works partnering with former Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer to bring Meyer’s first Pint House to Northeast Ohio in 2025.
Urban Meyer’s Pint House will open in the former Winking Lizard space, 811 Huron Rd. in downtown’s Gateway District. Saucy Brew Works provided the food and beverages to the Skyline on Stokes topping-out ceremony.
One of the unique features of Skyline on Stokes is the high structural ceiling above the first level. It is high enough that it allowed a loft to be sandwiched in between the ground floor and structural ceiling. So the ground-floor units all have a second level within them (KJP).
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne attended the event and was in a nostalgic mood. He recalled that, on his second-to-last day as president of University Circle Inc. (UCI) in 2021, he signed a ground lease agreement with Skyline on Stokes’ developers for the 2.2-acre UCI-owned property. Two days later he began his election campaign for county executive.
“This project brings more density and vibrancy to University Circle by filling in gaps in between the Circle, Fairfax and the Cleveland Clinic,” Ronayne said. “I have a sense of satisfaction in helping to create a place out of a parking lot here in the Circle.”
Also in attendance was Ward 6 City Councilman and City Council President Blaine Griffin. He said he welcomed the project because its smaller apartments will be more affordable and offer housing that’s an easy walk, bike ride or transit trip to the growing number of jobs in University Circle. He said the new apartments will help address a shortage of quality, affordable housing in the neighborhood.
About 66 percent of the apartments will be furnished. Those can provide a home to newly arrived workers at the growing employers in and around University Circle — Ohio’s fourth-largest employment hub. Or Skyline on Stokes can provide housing to students at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Long corridors exist on each of the seven floors of Skyline on Stokes. Drywall was just starting to arrive and the building is getting enclosed so interior work can continue throughout the winter. At right, a bathtub-shower combination piece awaits installation in one of the apartments (KJP).
“We’ll market them to students, medical workers, professors and even surgeons who need a place to sleep in between shifts,” Zimmerman said. “A new tenant will come in literally with a suitcase in their hands. We will pre-model the units with basic furniture and you pay one fee that includes your rent, utilities and internet. They will be super affordable.”
The project will retain 12 dedicated low-income restricted units. The furnished apartments will be studios and offer rents that will be affordable at 80 percent of the area’s median income. Skyline on Stokes will have rents that are 13-21 percent lower than other recently built apartment buildings nearby, he said.
In addition to the apartments, Skyline on Stokes will have on its first floor 1,990 square feet of co-working space, a 1,510-square-foot games/lounge area and an 8,900-square-foot outdoor, ground-level amenity deck at the north end, said a Geis spokesman.
The parking lot behind the building has only 89 spaces — 35 percent below what would normally be required. To allow for the reduced parking, the project adopted and will maintain transit demand strategies in the city’s building code including subsidizing transit passes at 40 percent of value to tenants who are not already eligible for free or discounted transit passes.
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