The following article was published as part of an exclusive content partnership with neo-trans.blog.
Another one of Lakewood’s former car dealerships on Detroit Avenue is about to come down. Next to fall is Steve Barry Buick, 16000 Detroit Ave., that closed in 2018, to be replaced by a pair of four-story apartment buildings plus a stand-alone bank branch. Site work could potentially start in a few months, said a Lakewood city official.
Lakewood Detroit LLC, an affiliate of Rocky River-based NewBrook Partners, plans to demolish 36,732 square feet of structures built between 1915 and 1948, most of which was for Barry Buick that was in business for 62 years. The former Bobby O’s Place, a bar built in 1915 at 16013 Detroit, will also be razed.
And a pair of 120-year-old houses will be demolished as well, according to plans approved by the city. In September, NewBrook acquired a 2,705-square-foot, two-family home at 1412 Rosewood Ave for $450,000. In July 2023, it bought a 1,979-square-foot single-family house at 1408 Rosewood for $370,000, Cuyahoga County property records show.
To aid the demolition, the project was awarded just over $2 million from Ohio’s Brownfield Remediation Program, according to a summary from Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik. The Lakewood project was one of 61 hazardous brownfield sites in 33 Ohio counties to receive a total of $58.2 million to help clean up and redevelop those sites.
“The (Lakewood) project includes asbestos abatement, demolition of five vacant structures, and soil remediation at a former automotive sales and service facility,” an Ohio Department of Development spokesperson said in a written statement.
“The property will be redeveloped to include 190 residential units, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, and approximately 200 parking spaces,” the statement continued. “This transformation will support housing needs and create 10 new jobs.”
Designs for the project were approved in July by the city’s Planning Commission and its Architectural Board of Review. In 2021, the city rezoned the property and granted a previous development a 30-year tax increment financing (TIF) district that will not touch school tax revenues.
That TIF was awarded to the Barry family’s Fairlane Realty Company Inc. with the understanding that the land would be sold, used for redevelopment and the TIF would transfer to help finance it. Under Ohio law, a TIF can continue to apply to a property even after it’s sold to a new owner. Other public financing could come into play as well.
“We have remained in contact with NewBrook Partners as they have continued the work to submit the necessary applications and plans towards all required permits to get this project into implementation within the next few months,” said Dave Baas, assistant director of planning and development for the city of Lakewood, in an e-mail to NEOtrans.
“As part of the implementation process, NewBrook Partners has also applied for the city’s existing tax abatement program for the construction of new multi-family projects with 100 or more units — which carries an affordable housing requirement for 20 percent of the project’s rental units,” Bass added. “The abatement application, along with the other submitted construction applications, is currently under review.”
The south building, as planned along Detroit between Rosewood and Orchard Grove avenues, will have 58 apartments and measure 55,875 square feet. The north building, wrapping around the northwest corner of Detroit and Brockley avenues plus a driveway to Cranford Avenue, will have 66 apartments and 1,573 square feet of ground-floor retail in a 68,949-square-foot structure, plans show.
A roughly 3,000-square-foot, single-story Huntington Bank branch is proposed next to the sidewalks on the southwest corner of Detroit and Orchard Grove avenues. A landscaped area is shown on plans to be added south of the bank’s 13 parking spaces and drive-through lanes to separate it from the neighborhood to the south.
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NewBrook normally develops housing near colleges and universities. In Northeast Ohio, it has constructed housing for the Cleveland Institute of Art, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and Kent State University. But with enrollment down at most colleges nationwide, NewBrook is expanding its market while building in pedestrian-oriented communities like Lakewood.
An e-mail sent by NEOtrans to NewBrook Principal Mark Conzelmann seeking more information and comment about the project was not responded to prior to publication of this article. As noted at the outset of this article, this is the second of three Lakewood car dealerships due to be redeveloped.
Already demolished and redeveloped was Fairchild Chevrolet at the city’s east end, replaced by the Rockport Square Townhomes eight years ago. Two blocks farther east, at 11801 Detroit, the old Jackshaw Pontiac dealership turned National Tire & Battery store was demolished last year thanks to an Ohio Brownfield grant for a development that has yet to occur.
Solove also wanted to redevelop Barry Buick but, after the pandemic, the developer lacked the financial wherewithal to pursue it. The developer, with many Central Ohio buildings to its credit, had an option to buy the five-parcel property totaling 2.75 acres from the Barry family’s Fairlane Realty Company Inc. but never exercised it.
Fairlane Realty’s five parcels were sold as a package last year to NewBrook for $2.6 million, according to county property records. One of those parcels wasn’t needed by NewBrook. A 0.3-acre parking lot at 16200 Detroit was sold in March for $290,000 to I&J Properties which already owned a nearby building at the northwest corner of Detroit and Cranford avenues.
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