A single-family infill home by Cleveland Bricks wraps up on East 84th Street (Harrison Whitaker). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Progress Pics: Chester 82, Hough Senior Living, Birthing Beautiful Communities, more
Following decades of decline and disinvestment, public and private players are working to rebuild a city neighborhood which once boasted a population density exceeding that of modern-day New York City.
Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood will soon benefit from a pair of city-led initiatives intended to make housing easier to build. The Housing Innovation District, encompassing parts of Fairfax, St. Clair-Superior, and Hough, will implement tax-increment financing and reduced development fees within its borders.
Meanwhile, the Form-Based Code (FBC) pilot program currently in place at the south end of the neighborhood will be extended north to St. Clair Avenue from East 55th Street to Crawford and Ansel roads.
The expansion of the Form-Based Code beyond the current pilot area, outlined in black, would allow developments to be approved more quickly while encouraging designs that fit their neighborhood contexts (City of Cleveland).
Until now, the city’s archaic zoning code has required developers to seek variances for the vast majority of projects, even those consistent with the neighborhood’s older housing stock — much of which was built prior to those regulations and grandfathered in.
Form-based codes, on the other hand, encourage structures compatible with a neighborhood’s urban form. On some streets, that includes a range of low-intensity mixed uses.
Hough Senior Independent Living, located within the FBC pilot zone at 8910 Hough Ave., was the first project approved under the new zoning. The FBC allowed the three-story, 55-unit affordable senior apartment building to be constructed without a variance, receiving approval significantly quicker than it would have under the previous zoning.
At the southeast corner of Hough Avenue and East 89th Street, Hough Senior Independent Living has begun vertical construction (Harrison Whitaker).
The $17.5 million senior living project is being led by nonprofit developer CHN Housing Partners and was designed by Hiti DiFrancesco and Siebold, Inc. (HD+S), both of Cleveland. The development received Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) in May 2024.
That’s not CHN’s only residential development in Hough — the organization is also wrapping up 12 infill homes at the north end of the neighborhood as part of their scattered-site Parkside Homes project.
Another nonprofit, community development corporation Famicos Foundation, recently delivered Henrietta Homes — consisting of 40 newly-built infill residences near League Park. Their construction was led by DSS Builders of Cleveland.
On the north side of Chester Avenue between East 81st and East 82nd streets, the Chester 82 development is rising (Harrison Whitaker).
Hough won’t have to wait long for its next infill project, with local Frontline Development LLC expected to restart work on Allen Estates shortly and begin construction on the related two-building, 80-unit Gateway66 apartments before the end of the summer.
Another apartment complex, Chester82, is already rising along Chester Avenue at 1898 E. 82nd St. The $31.7 million, 131-unit development is being built by Cleveland-based Marous Development Group and was designed by Sullivan Bruck Architects of Columbus.
Nearby, the Cleveland Foundation recently led the demolition of 7107-7113 Euclid Ave., formerly a showroom and warehouse for the Baker Motor Vehicle Company — a historic manufacturer of electric cars. Akron-based Signet Real Estate Group was identified by the nonprofit as a development partner for the site, alongside the reveal of conceptual renderings for a potential mixed-use development.
The Baker Motor Vehicle Company building mid-demolition on May 25 (Harrison Whittaker).
Hough’s development boom is not exclusively residential, however. Further west on Chester, a new headquarters and birthing center for local nonprofit Birthing Beautiful Communities recently topped out.
The maternal health campus, located at 1802 E. 65th St., aims to reduce inner-city infant mortality rates by offering facilities and support for new mothers. The building will include offices, birthing suites, a community room, and more.
Its construction is being undertaken by the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Cleveland, while City Architecture designed the structure.
Looking north across Chester Avenue near East 65th Street, Birthing Beautiful Communities’ new birthing center and headquarters has topped out (Harrison Whitaker).
Nearby at the Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens — home to the oldest unmoved building still standing in the city, built in 1824 — a new park featuring a Heritage Walking Trail is well underway.
The green space, set to transform the northern section of the property at 6709 Euclid Ave., was made possible through a $287,326 Green Infrastructure Grant from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD).
A new Heritage Walking Trail at Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens makes progress on the south side of Chester Avenue (Harrison Whittaker).
For more construction updates around Greater Cleveland, check out NEOtrans’ other Progress Pics articles.
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