As seen from the Interstate 90-Inner Belt bridge, the Tremont hillside land above the Cuyahoga River includes a flat “shelf” where the dump truck and piles of aggregate are located. It was the site of a railroad yard for 125 years and is proposed to be redeveloped with mixed uses (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
J-Roc considers biz development instead
A potentially massive mixed-use development at the north end of Cleveland’s vibrant Tremont neighborhood, next to the Towpath Trail and overlooking the Cuyahoga River, may be on hold for a while. Instead, if there is a hillside development here, it could be mostly commercial — at least for the foreseeable future.
That was confirmed this week by the senior manager of development at the company that owns 8.5 acres of the hillside land, and is a successor-in-interest to another 8 acres of adjacent property.
“There has been recent interest from industrial users so we are evaluating our options, but no decisions have been made,” said Adam Comer at J-Roc Development, whose corporate office is nearby on Literary Road in Tremont.
The current industrial interest in the area comes mainly from Shelly Materials Inc. which uses the land to operate the company’s largest asphalt plant in Ohio, according to recent statements by Shelly officials.
The land in question was part of a lawsuit involving J-Roc, Shelly and Holcim Quarries NY, Inc. that was settled out of court nearly two years ago. Its resolution resulted in a division of properties among different owners and with their own legal conditions.
Outlined in red are more than 16 acres of Tremont hillside land either owned by an affiliate of J-Roc Development or subject to an active purchase option by J-Roc. Other nearby properties mentioned in this article are also identified (MyPlace.CuyahogaCounty.gov).
Through an entity sale in 2022, J-Roc gained title to approximately 18 acres of Tremont hillside land that was historically the Erie Railroad’s Literary Street Yard until 1981. Penta Holdings acquired the old rail yard and leased it to Shelly for its asphalt plant which operates 24 hours a day.
Holcim Quarries NY sued, saying its lease gave it a right of first refusal to acquire the land from Penta Holdings. But J-Roc acquired the corporate entity Penta Holdings and said it could use the land as it saw fit. The lease expired in July 2023.
“We still own the land you’re referencing in Tremont and intend to develop it at some stage,” Comer told NEOtrans.
Aside from being based in Tremont, J-Roc has been actively developing properties in Tremont. It recently built the Driftwood Apartments, 1111 Fairfield Ave., and previously constructed the Electric Gardens Apartments, 425 Literary Rd., next to the Towpath Trail.
It is currently building the 13-story Shoreway Tower near Edgewater Park and was an active partner in the 25-acre Thunderbird redevelopment of Scranton Peninsula in the Flats, also on the Towpath Trail. The Electric Gardens and Thunderbird have elements that J-Roc seeks to instill in a future Tremont hillside development.
This is a massing for a pair of multi-family buildings proposed by J Roc Development just downslope from the Towpath Trail in Tremont. This rendering suggests that buildings built to a proposed height of 60 feet would not block views of downtown from the trail and the homes south of it. A massing is a mostly featureless box showing the potential scale of conceptual buildings in a proposed development (J Roc).
“A primary organizing principle of the site layout is the engagement to the Towpath (Trail) by way of a landscaped embankment,” according to a 2023 J-Roc presentation about the Tremont hillside.
“The elevation of the public Towpath above the site allows for substantially unobstructed views of the city skyline, and its many bridges,” it continues. “The project envisions multiple connection points from the site to the Towpath and vice-versa, knitting this once-industrial site back to the vibrancy and activity of the Tremont neighborhood.”
The 8.5 acres of J-Roc-owned land by its affiliate Emerald Dock LLC is located in the 360-block of Literary Road. A Shelly lease on that land was terminated, becoming effective at an undisclosed future date, according to a lease memorandum filed with Cuyahoga County.
As a result of the legal settlement, J-Roc transferred to Shelly, doing business as EDSMI, LLC, about 8 acres of land to the west of its Literary property. J-Roc has a 20-year option, executed Jan. 15, 2024, to acquire that land, county records show.
Nearer to the river, other lands were conveyed as a result of the settlement to Holcim Quarries NY and accessed off West 3rd. Street and Cuyahoga Avenue. Those appear to be used by Shelly but no publicly filed lease documents could be found.
Access to Shelly Materials Inc.’s Asphalt Plant 76 is via a public right of way called Mahoning Avenue, next to the former private right of way of the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad that became the Erie Railroad and had its Literary Street Yard here. That rail yard became the asphalt plant and is proposed to become a mixed-use development someday (Google).
The City Planning Commission in January 2023 recommended rezoning 25 acres of Tremont hillside land owned by J-Roc and the city, at 260 Mahoning Ave., from general industrial to general retail with an urban form overlay. It came despite the objections of Shelly’s representatives who said their industrial use of the site would be a non-conforming use.
Planning Commission staff and commissioners said the rezoning was consistent with the city’s land use plans, namely its Vision For The Valley. But City Council unanimously tabled the proposed rezoning on June 2, 2025, city records show.
NEOtrans learned about the potential change of development plans for the Tremont hillside site as a result of discussions by members of the North of Literary Block Club at its regular meeting held on Nov. 18 at the Polish Veterans Alliance Post in Tremont.
A member who attended the meeting told NEOtrans, on the condition of anonymity, that the discussions described J-Roc’s mixed-use development as “dead” because of ongoing disagreements with Shelly.
In his e-mail to NEOtrans, Comer did not refer to any disagreements. E-mails sent by NEOtrans to Chad Reel, vice president and general manager of The Shelly Co., and block club co-chair Kathleen Sullivan seeking additional information were not responded to prior to publication of this article.
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