The new plan for the 45 West mixed-use development offers a more commanding presence on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. But a design-review committee suggested that larger presence at the south end should allow it to reduce the building’s scale at the north end, next to smaller homes (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
45 West to fill out Lorain Avenue frontage
At 1 a.m. April 10, 2024, a former funeral home dating to 1865 at 4434 Lorain Ave. in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood went up in flames. So too did real estate developer My Place Group’s plans for renovating it as part of a larger mixed-use development called 45 West.
The fire couldn’t have come at a worse time for My Place Group. Only days before, a project-specific zoning change was recommended by the City Planning Commission to City Council to allow the project to move forward.
But structural damage from the fire was too much to rebuild the historic former Nunn Funeral Home. It was razed a month later. Without a redevelopment of the ex-funeral home as part of the plan, My Place Group had to start over.
It has done just that. Today, the project was back to restart the trip through the city’s development approval process, winning a conditional recommendation from the Historic Ohio City Design Review Advisory Committee by a 6-2 vote.
Updated site plan for the 45 West development which links West 45th and 44th streets with a one-way alley to separate the development from the neighborhood to the north (Vocon).
“Unfortunately, within a couple of days of it being approved, the building that was supposed to be staying was burned down,” said My Place Group President Chad Kertesz at today’s meeting. “That’s ultimately why we’re back.”
In the prior plan, a new five-story, multifamily apartment building flanked by two smaller apartment buildings was to wraparound behind the historic building which was to add a retail presence. Planned were 87 apartments and 48 off-street parking spaces in total.
The absence of the former funeral home meant the multifamily building no longer had to be notched around it. Not only did that allow the multifamily building to have a greater street presence on Lorain, the building’s southern façade has six stories although the rest is still five stories.
Now, 45 West is proposed to offer 96 market-rate units — studios, one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom suites — plus 58 off-street parking spaces underneath the buildings. Parking for 97 bicycles is provided, roughly split between indoor and outdoor bike parking spaces.
A 24-unit garden-style residential building is proposed along West 45th Street as part of 45 West. This view is looking south toward Lorain Avenue (Vocon).
Among the conditions recommended to the Landmarks Commission, which is due to review this project on Aug. 14, was to step down the multifamily building’s height to four-stories at the north end where it reaches into a neighborhood of mostly one- and two-family houses.
Committee member Whitney Anderson, who lives nearby, said she had hoped to see a shift of density south to Lorain since the funeral home is no longer there. Instead, the density of the development was increased.
“The project lacks respect or recognition that it’s in a residential district and doesn’t transition or step down to the north,” Anderson said.
Other conditions included a study of providing more windows on the south side of the multifamily building, moving an interior stairwell now located in the plans near Lorain, and not using vinyl materials on public-facing exteriors. The committee’s recommendations to the Landmarks Commission are not binding.
A 10-unit apartment building, looking more like townhomes, is seen here from West 44th Street along a new alley planned as part of the 45 West development (Vocon).
Nine letters or e-mails of public feedback were submitted to the committee. All were in opposition to the project due to concerns about too little parking, too much traffic, and constructing buildings they considered out of scale with others in the area.
But most of the committee members said they were fine with the scale of the proposed development. Several said they live in Ohio City and noted that the neighborhood has numerous four- and five-story residential or commercial buildings plus large churches next door to smaller houses.
Kertesz said he tried to acquire the car dealership to the west and the gas station to the east, but neither owner was willing to sell. However, he said a representative of Lutheran Housing Corp. recently expressed a willingness to sell their neighboring parking lot property at 1967 W. 45th St.
My Place Group has developed apartments, townhomes, commercial and mixed-use buildings throughout Ohio City. The company recently developed 41 West at 4010 Lorain and has another project planned, 50 West, at Lorain and West 50th Street.
END
