Built around The Treehouse Pub in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, a new apartment complex that borrows on the pub’s name could see construction start by the end of this year (GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Project met fire department’s constraints
Sometimes a proposed development in Cleveland sees a flurry of public activity when it’s first announced, then fades into the background for months or even years, then suddenly pops back up again when everything finally comes together for that project.
That appears to be the case for the Tremont Treehouse Apartments, 2291 Professor St., planned for the Cleveland neighborhood of the same name. And above its L-shaped footprint, it would be built around the The Treehouse pub, 820 College Ave.
Planned is a $13 million, 45-unit apartment building that will have a 3,300-square-foot restaurant or retail space on the ground floor facing Professor. No tenant has been announced yet for that commercial space.
Based on the development team’s exchange of e-mails in late July with the Cleveland Building Department that were posted on the department’s Web portal, construction permits may be pulled soon for site preparations and foundations. Those emails determined the price of the next construction permit.
Updated site plan for the Tremont Treehouse Apartments showing access locations for fire department apparatus which was critical to getting the project approved by the city (GLSD).
The development team is lead by a joint venture of The Dalad Group of Independence and the Property Advisors Group of Beachwood. In June, the same partners broke ground for The Thomas apartments, 2422 W. 7th St., also in Tremont.
At that groundbreaking ceremony, Dalad’s President of Development James Asimes said he anticipated there would be another groundbreaking ceremony by the end of this year — for the Tremont Treehouse Apartments.
Neither Asimes or Brad Nosan, vice president of leasing and development of Property Advisors Group, would comment further on groundbreaking details for the project.
Construction cost of the project was kept low due to a value-engineered design by Geis Companies of Streetsboro and Cleveland. Geis is also the project’s general contractor. Designs for the project were approved by the city in July.
View of the commercial space fronting Professor Avenue. At right is the patio for The Treehouse pub (GLSD).
Permits for construction are being sought in a phased approach. First was demolition of two houses, followed by one more demolition pending. Then comes the site preparations and foundation. And finally will come the structure, plumbing and electrical permits.
According to sources familiar with the development, construction financing is due to close by November. They also noted that the project was almost killed by the Cleveland Fire Department which had initially rejected the original plans.
At issue was fire apparatus access to the back of the proposed structure. NEOtrans has learned that a large number of proposed developments in Cleveland had faced resistance from the fire department due to their density and layout, including large setbacks on all sides for fire apparatus access.
But a fire department official who served as the senior building and fire plans examiner recently retired and was replaced by another person who interpreted the city and state building codes differently.
View of the Tremont Treehouse Apartments as seen from College Avenue with The Treehouse pub seen at far left (GLSD).
To win support from the fire department, site plans added a fire apparatus accessway from Thurman Street, in addition to the tenants’ vehicular driveway entrance from College Avenue.
The Thurman access is the result of Property Advisors Group acquiring a parcel at 2290 Thurman. On that parcel is a two-story house built in 1880 and described by Cuyahoga County property records as being in average condition. It will be demolished.
Additional space for fire apparatus is proposed on a vacant lot at 2287 Professor and currently owned by 2287 Professor LLC, an affiliate of the neighboring coffee shop Roasted Tremont.
But before construction can begin, the six parcels on which the Tremont Treehouse Apartments will be built must be consolidated into a single, 0.6-acre parcel.
END
