Cleveland Planning Commission approves new apartment buildings as vacancy rate rises in downtown

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland Planning Commission approved several apartment projects on Friday, including a new 23-story building that would replace a downtown parking lot.

The projects come as demand for higher rent apartments in downtown Cleveland has started to soften along with the rest of the economy. However, the developers believe there is enough demand to keep building.

The most prestigious project that the commission accepted during the virtual meeting is probably the City Club Apartments building, planned for construction on the south side of Euclid Avenue west of East 9th Street.

The Michigan-based City Club Apartments company that is developing the building is not affiliated with the City Club of Cleveland, although the new building is located next to the civic organization’s headquarters.

The building will be located on the site of the former Hippodrome theater, demolished in 1981 to make room for the parking currently on the property.

The plans include more than 300 units, about half of which are said to be studios. The units would be around 405 square feet to 1,400 square feet and could go up to three bedrooms, although the CEO of CCA said he sees demand for smaller, cheaper apartments for young professionals. .

The ground floor would include retail businesses, and the developer hopes to install a dog daycare, restaurant and café. Denver Brooker, director of the Cleveland Vocon architectural firm, which designs the project, told a design review committee on Thursday that the CCA wanted to begin construction in November.

CCA and Vocon have been tweaking the design, which will stand out from the skyline with its stripes of blue and orange across the facade, since its introduction earlier this year. This includes adding a walkway between the building and a parking garage.

Commission Member August Fluker said on Friday that he was initially “not in love with the blue colored and orange spots, but I think that pushed me.

“It’s well done, in my opinion,” he said.

The committee also gave its final approval to the following apartment projects:

– A 75-unit apartment building planned for West 73rd Street, developed by United Community Developers and designed by Lakewood-based Dimit Architects.

– A building of micro-units, or small apartments with elements that retract to make more space, which will occupy a site along Larchmere Boulevard in the East Side district. The project was developed by Rick Maron – who retired from MRN Ltd., the real estate development company he founded – and Russell Berusch.

The commission also approved the schematic design of the viaduct, a 27-story apartment tower on the upper viaduct in the West Bank of Flats. The project is expected to include 165 to 173 one and two bedroom apartments over 19 floors, six levels of parking and two floors of amenities.

The project is also developed by United Community Developers and designed by Dimit.

The new projects indicate developers still believe there is a demand for apartments in the city, even as downtown homeowners have started to see an increase in vacant homes this year.

The Downtown Cleveland Alliance said in a recent report that 13.7% of apartments were vacant in the neighborhood at the end of June, up from 7.8% in the same period last year. The slowdown came as the coronavirus pandemic forced the region and the country into recession.

“We’re way too overbuilt,” said Doug Price, CEO of development firm K&D Group, which owns the Terminal Tower and the Halle Building, among other things. “I have the impression that we currently have three years of housing. It doesn’t make sense at the moment to build a new building.

Price noted his opposition to the City Club Apartments building. He said the downtown apartment market had eased during this recession.

He’s not alone, as some downtown landlords have offered incentives to new tenants or those who decide to relaunch.

The NRP Group, which manages the newly renovated Luckman building on East 12th Street, is offering two months of free rent to new tenants, as it has seen leasing slow in the past two weeks.

“COVID has had an impact, and some potential tenants have expressed reluctance to move in general, as well as uncertainty over job security,” Hannah Haynam, community manager at NRP Group, said in a statement. . “Our motivation is also to remain competitive with the market.”

Price said he hoped more tenants would sign in in the spring, which is usually a busier time as interns and residents seek accommodation when working in hospitals in the area.

Other developers, however, say tenant demand remains higher in neighborhoods outside of the city center, and Price said the properties he owns in the suburbs remain strong.