A model home for another 10 to be built on East 67th Street in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood is already being marketed. The Port of Cleveland is financially supporting the construction of these for-sale, owner-occupied houses (Knez Homes). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
St. Clair-Superior houses, Euclid assisted living OKd
The Port of Cleveland Board of Directors on Thursday approved financial support for two projects that will bring new housing, jobs and investment to two Northeast Ohio communities.
The developments includes 10 new single-family homes in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood and a 120-unit affordable, assisted-living building in Euclid.
“Through strong public-private partnership, we are creatively using our capacity to assist in the conversion of vacant land into lasting homes, workplaces, and thriving communities, said the Port’s Vice President of Development Finance Rhonda Winslow in a written statement.
“This is an example of the Port using our financing tools creatively to support innovative efforts by partners like the City of Cleveland and City of Euclid on projects that address real community needs while creating lasting economic and neighborhood benefits.” she said.
In Cleveland, the Board approved a low-interest loan to support the construction of 10 new, for-sale, owner-occupied single-family homes on vacant Land Bank lots on East 67th Street in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood and within the City’s recently announced Housing Innovation District.
The Port is supporting the construction of 10 homes with an 11th home, shown here as home No. 7, to be built as the model. It is the one marketed on Knez Homes’ Web site and shown in the main illustration of this article (Port of Cleveland).
The project is being developed by Knez Homes, which was selected alongside Legacy RED through a competitive City of Cleveland process. The homes will serve as the St. Clair-Superior component of the City’s Housing Innovation District Market Pilot.
This pilot program is focused on expanding the for-sale housing supply in neighborhoods that have experienced decades of vacancy, deterioration, and high rental concentrations. The pilot will test scalable, cost-effective approaches to rebuilding the community’s housing markets.
The 10 homes will be approximately 1,303 square feet (about half the area of a tennis court) each and estimated sale prices range from $169,900 to $201,400, with the gap between cost and sales price supported by public and philanthropic support and savings based on the Port’s reduced interest rate loan.
The project is intended to expand homeownership opportunities, return vacant land bank lots to productive use, and stimulate the housing market.
Silver Birch assisted living facilities are popping up all over Ohio and the Midwest. Three are planned in Greater Cleveland — Painesville, Parma Heights and Euclid — with the latter gaining support yesterday at the Port of Cleveland (Vermilion Development).
“For too long, St. Clair-Superior residents have carried the weight of disinvestment while watching opportunity flow somewhere else. These 10 market pilot homes are a starting point for changing that pattern,” said Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
“Through the Housing Innovation District, we are putting new housing on vacant lots, creating homeownership opportunities, and bringing investment back to a neighborhood that deserves it,” he added.
The work complements more than $365 million in nearby public and philanthropic investment, including the Port’s investment in CHEERS, a project that will transform dredged material into 100 acres of new parkland, trails and habitat along the Lake Erie shoreline in St. Clair-Superior.
This is also part of a new Port strategy to leverage its balance sheet and bonding capacity to put more flexible capital into the market to help address the housing crisis.
The grassy, vacant site for the planned Silver Birch assisted living community as seen in July from Interstate 90. Euclid Avenue is below (Google).
In Euclid, the board approved support for Silver Birch, a new purpose-built, affordable, assisted living community planned for 27981 Euclid Ave., next to Interstate 90. Vacant for 25 years, the site previously hosted the Euclid Inn hotel.
Developed by Vermilion Development and expected to be operated long-term by Silver Birch Living, the approximately 100,000-square-foot community will include 120 apartments with approximately one-third of units available to lower AMI residents. The community is designed to provide affordable, high-quality assisted living for elderly and disabled residents.
Vermilion Development has built and is building Silver Birch Living facilities of similar size in other communities, like Cuyahoga Falls, Mansfield, Painesville and Parma Heights. Although the cost of construction for the Euclid project wasn’t revealed, the others are in the $30 million to $38 million range.
Together, the two Port-supported projects represent an investment in new housing, neighborhood revitalization and job creation while demonstrating how the Port’s Development Finance work can help communities move projects from vision to reality, Port officials said.
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