A new senior apartment complex is planned in the vacant lot at left, across Waterman Avenue from Hyacinth Park in Cleveland’s Slavic Village (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
New-build a first for Hyacinth enclave
In the early 2000s, the Hyacinth Lofts were developed in the old Cleveland School Book Depository, offering hope for a revival of the Slavic Village enclave named after an historic St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church. Then the foreclosure crisis hit, devastating this once working-class, ethnic neighborhood.
Instead, the Hyacinth Lofts were the last major redevelopment to occur here. But now, a new development is planned that its backers hope will reinvigorate this community while retaining its longtime residents as they age.
That development is the Waterman Avenue Senior Housing, a 62-unit, affordable-rent apartment building aimed for seniors 55 and older. The site is at 3051 E. 63rd St., across Waterman from the Hyacinth Park.
“The project will consist of 49 one-bedroom units and 14 two-bedroom units along with a community kitchen, lounge, patio, on site management and supportive services,” wrote James McCune, vice president of development at Wallick Communities in submitting plans to the Cleveland Building Department.
Except for underutilized and vacant factories, and a smattering of single-family homes amid vacant lots, there isn’t much to walk to from the planned site of the Waterman Avenue Senior Housing development, shown here in red at the center of this map (MyPlace.CuyahogaCounty.Gov).
Wallick Communities, based in the Columbus suburb of New Albany, is getting active in developing multifamily projects in Cleveland lately. It is beginning site preparations for the first of several buildings planned at its Hub 27 development in the BVQ District, off West 25th Street at the north end of the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
And Wallick recently won City Planning Commission approval for its Wade Park Station development, planned on a former parking lot of the long-closed Hough Bakery, at Wade Park Avenue and Lakeview Road in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood.
In Slavic Village, projected construction costs of the three-story, 64,000-square-foot Waterman Avenue Senior Housing are estimated at $14 million. But overall development costs will be much higher, totaling about $22 million, according to Wallick’s filing with the city.
Slavic Village Development is a partner in the project, including as the owner of most of the parcels needed for the 2-acre development site. The largest parcel in the development site was owned by The Meyer Dairy Products Co. until 1990, county records show. The company operated a dairy plant here until it closed in 1979.
The Hyacinth neighborhood in Slavic Village was a working-class neighborhood where people walked to work at places like The Meyer Dairy Product Co. But the dairy was closed and demolished, leaving a vacant land to be redevelopmed with senior housing (contributed).
The land has sat vacant for nearly three decades after Slavic Village Development acquired it in 1999 and demolished the dairy plant. Because a multifamily development is planned here, the land will have to be rezoned from a two-family classification and a current height limit of 35 feet, city records show.
An e-mail sent by NEOtrans to Slavic Village Development Executive Director Shauna Sanders seeking more information was not responded to prior to publication of this article. The development team has yet to request Low Income Housing Housing Tax Credits from the state for the project.
Although the Hyacinth Park is across the street, there are few other amenities nearby like stores or restaurants. The nearest bus stop is on East 55th Street, a 1,500-foot walk to the west. The East 55th Street Rapid Transit station is nearly twice as far to the north.
The historic, 1907-built St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church for which this neighborhood was named was demolished about 15 years ago. It was replaced by a newer church built next door in 1952, at 6114 Franchis Ave. But the Hyacinth parish has since given way to the Elizabeth Baptist Church, located in the 1952 church.
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