Developers aim to build a 22- to 25-story apartment tower on the Flats' West Bank, where a recent zoning change allowing for taller buildings is prompting heightened real estate investment and speculation.
The slim tower, with just over 180 apartments atop six floors of parking, would rise on a small, sloping site on the north side of the Superior Viaduct. Preliminary architectural drawings show a structure that could stretch 237 feet above the remnants of the old bridge, across from the Stonebridge Towers condominiums.
Local developer Wayne Jatsek described the plans as "very, very conceptual" during a block-club meeting Tuesday evening, May 26. Jatsek's group has a contract to buy the property, at 2208-2210 Superior Viaduct, and hopes to start construction during the second quarter of next year.
The proposal comes as other real estate investors are circling buildings on the West Bank and Jacobs Entertainment Inc., the dominant landowner in the area, is offering up 5.6 acres of riverfront parking lots for sale. Residential construction is creeping toward the Flats from Ohio City to the west and south, and from downtown Cleveland.
"There's a number of really thoughtful projects that are about to happen," said Scott Aylesworth, a neighborhood resident who leads the Waterfront District Block Club and sits on the board of Flats Forward, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
Late last year, Cleveland City Council approved legislation that cleaned up zoning in the area and better positioned it for new housing. The city barred certain types of projects, such as strip clubs; applied a pedestrian-friendly zoning overlay to much of the district; and raised the height limits for buildings.
On the viaduct site — just 0.3 acres wedged between the bridge, Washington Avenue and a pair of four-story buildings — developers can build as high as 250 feet. The tower would replace a two-story industrial building that's home to a few small businesses.
"The greatest asset of this building would be the views, everywhere," Paul Glowacki of Dimit Architects told block-club members, many of them wearing masks, during a strange and socially distanced gathering at the Tenk West Bank building on Center Street.
The apartments would include studios and one- and two-bedroom units. Jatsek said it's too early to talk about rents. The building lobby and, possibly, a coffee shop would face the viaduct. Residents would access the garage only from Washington.
A Northeast Ohio native with a background in construction, Jatsek has worked on other residential projects ranging from townhouses to senior living. In the Flats, he's teamed up with one of his brothers, who also has a real estate background, and a longtime land surveyor and civil engineer. The trio looked at properties across the region before selecting the viaduct site, which sits in a tax-advantaged Opportunity Zone.
"There is a core group of principals here that have a lot of experience in development and construction and design," said David Mrachko, a CBRE associate who is representing the buyers. "They've put together a very good team, and that is important."
Jatsek's proposal isn't the first residential plan to surface for the property.
In 2006, an investor group led by Daryl Kertesz bought the site and gained conceptual approval from the Cleveland City Planning Commission to build an 11-story tower. But that project never moved forward, and Kertesz put the property up for sale last year. The asking price was $1.5 million.
Neither party would say what Jatsek's group has agreed to pay.
"I think that the plan looks pretty good," Kertesz said Wednesday, "and if the transaction goes forward, then we will all be very happy."
The new development team expects to make a second block-club presentation in June, with hopes of appearing before a city design-review committee and the planning commission in July. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed, but not stopped, the group's progress, Jatsek said.
Core investors and potential lenders haven't wavered, he added. And he's not worried that COVID-19 will cause long-term pain for the apartment market.
"By the time this particular project is done, I think we're going to be advanced past this," he said. "People will start getting a little bit more comfortable each day."
Councilman Kerry McCormack, who represents the district, expressed hope that new development will bring more attention — and investment — to the viaduct, an 1870s piece of infrastructure that now functions as parking and public space. The bridge closed in 1920 and was largely dismantled by 1940 to make way for widening of the Cuyahoga River.
Before the Great Recession, the K&D Group of Willoughby developed apartments and condos along and near the viaduct. However, housing construction stalled after 2006.
"So many other cities have much more vibrant riverfronts," McCormack said. "The Flats west neighborhood could be so much more, from a residential perspective, from a visitors perspective, from an events perspective, from a public-access perspective. There's just so much potential in the neighborhood, and I'm happy to see that someone's finally moving forward with investing."
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