Proposed for the northwest corner of Cedar Avenue and East 90th Street, Bikur Cholim’s Cleveland Comfort House would be next to Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus and near University Hospitals’ Cleveland Medical Center (studioTECHNE). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Fundraising under way for $10M project
Care by medical staff is only part of the recovery for the sick and the injured. The rest is personal care by loved ones, which is shown to make a big difference in helping patients recover more quickly, said Ari Jaffe, a board member at Bikur Cholim of Cleveland.
Toward that mission, the Cleveland Heights-based nonprofit organization whose Hebrew name translates to “visiting the sick” is making it easier for people needing to visit a family member in the hospital or for non-hospitalized patients to get treatments while accompanied by family or local volunteers.
Bikur Cholim is already doing that with its existing services. But the need is greater so it wants to expand that mission by constructing a new building at the heart of Cleveland’s health care community.
Proposed is the Jewish equivalent of the Cleveland Ronald McDonald House. Similar to an extended-stay hotel, the Cleveland Comfort House would serve the specialized needs of Jewish patients and their loved ones, Jaffe told NEOtrans in a phone interview.
That includes supporting kosher diets, providing a walkable location so visitors don’t have to drive on Shabbat (from sundown Friday to nightfall Saturday), and serving other needs. The Cleveland Comfort House is proposed to have 10 extended-stay suites, common area, kitchen facilities, meeting room, and small library.
The site for Bikur Cholim’s Cleveland Comfort House is shown in red on this parcel map, next to the Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus (MyPlace.CuyahogaCounty.gov).
Since Cleveland is a health care draw not only for Northeast Ohio but the world, it gets visitors from all over — some of whom must stay here for days, weeks and sometimes months for medical testing and treatments. That gets expensive not only for patients, but also for visiting families.
“We’re going to be building a facility for patients and their family to have close access to the medical providers of Cleveland,” Jaffe said. “We get visitors from Cleveland and over the USA. Cleveland is a center of medical excellence.”
The need is currently addressed by Bikur Cholim offering five houses in Cleveland Heights to visitors, plus volunteer staff, food and transportation. While that’s close to Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and other health care facilities in Greater Cleveland, it’s not enough to meet the need.
A site for Bikur Cholim’s Cleveland Comfort House emerged when Yitzchok Rokowsky, CEO of New Jersey-based financial and real estate firm Tryko Partners LLC, acquired a property one year ago at 8931 Cedar Ave. under the name YY Cedar Property LLC for $375,000, county and state records show.
He sold the property in December to Bikur Cholim at a discount. On the site was the closed Doc & Lennie’s restaurant plus its boarding house behind. At first, the nonprofit sought to renovate and repurpose the structures but they were beyond feasible repair, Jaffe said. So they will be demolished.
Looking northwest from East 90th Street near Cedar Avenue, the Cleveland Comfort House is seen at left with the Carnegie Tower at Fairfax, owned and operated by National Church Residences, just beyond (studioTECHNE)..
So too will a pair of neighboring structures that are in the process of being acquired by Biker Cholim — houses at 2116 and 2118 E. 90th St. Additional property may be acquired to round out the development site, located in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood.
The estimated construction cost of the Cleveland Comfort House is $10 million. The Web page for the Cleveland Comfort House offers ways to support the project, including gaining name recognition on various features of the new building.
If enough funding can be raised soon, demolition could start this spring and construction begin by the end of the year. Construction could take about 10-14 months.
Similar facilities are in operation in other major U.S. cities — Baltimore, Chicago, Houston — where Jewish families can stay and support relatives while they seek medical care, Jaffe said.
Only preliminary, AI-derived designs of the Cleveland Comfort House exist so far. They show a three-story structure and a parking lot plus some interior views. Marco Ciccarelli, an architect and founding principal at studioTECHNE of Cleveland, will design the new project.
The site for the Cleveland Comfort House has a parking lot and, at left, a closed Doc & Lennie’s restaurant in the foreground plus two houses in the background. All of those structures are to be demolished (Google).
The Cleveland Comfort House’s site is surrounded by development activity. It’s less than one block away from the Cleveland Clinic’s largest, most expensive building ever — the $1.1 billion Neurological Institute under construction on Carnegie Avenue at East 90th Street.
In the other direction, the Gardens of Fairfax Healthcare Center, 9014 Cedar Ave., is due to double in size. Dozens of new infill homes are repopulating residential streets to the south of Cedar, with more to come.
Jaffe, an attorney at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP in Downtown Cleveland, said Bikur Cholim is working with the city, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp., Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Clinic to have suitable facility here.
“We appreciate the community support,” he concluded. “This is the new area of Cedar. It’s an up-and-coming area and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
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