The article is published as part of an exclusive content-sharing agreement with neo-trans.blog.
Amid all of the big development news happening around town, there’s lots of smaller commercial projects that can have a big impact on individual neighborhoods. And nearly all of these are new or expanded commercial offerings that are due to pop up on the landscape in the coming months.
Perhaps the biggest news is that, after years of expansion in the suburbs, Chick-fil-A will open its first storefront in the city of Cleveland. The national chain offers fast-food chicken sandwiches, nuggets, salads and sides. Its first location opened in Atlanta in 1967. There is no opening date yet for the Cleveland storefront’s opening but is probably still months away.
Chick-fil-A has service counters inside Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Cleveland State University Student Center downtown, plus two lunchtime-only kiosks at Tower City Center and the Galleria in the central business district. But if you were passing by on the street, you’d never know they were there.
That will change with its newest location at 11435 Euclid Ave., in the Uptown section of Cleveland’s University Circle. The chain plans to spend $3,900 on storefront signage to be provided by Clayton Signs of Lake City, GA. The sign application is being reviewed by the City Planning Commission.
The surrounding area has many other restaurants and retailers that are popular with students from Case Western Reserve University which adjoins Uptown. No other construction permits have been requested for Chick-fil-A’s buildout of that spot yet, according to the Cleveland Building Department’s Web portal.
Filed in March with Cuyahoga County was a lease subordination agreement between Chick-fil-A, American General Life Insurance Co., and property owner AJAPPJR Uptown LLC, an affiliate of Cleveland-based MRN Ltd. that built this section of Uptown in 2012.
The new restaurant will occupy just over 2,000 square feet that was occupied for nearly 10 years by CLE Clothing Co.‘s second location. CLE Clothing Co.’s first location continues in business at the corner of East Fourth Street and Euclid Avenue downtown. It also has stores at Crocker Park in Westlake, Van Aken District in Shaker Heights and Summit Mall in Akron.
Over in the Flats just west of downtown, a fast-growing distillery business is planning a big move and expansion. While River Roots Barrel Company has been in business for two years, it will have its first storefront at 1826 Columbus Rd., leased from Columbus Street Partners Inc. But the site is intended to be more of a production and storage facility.
“(This is a) tenant buildout of a 6,087-square-foot space for liquor bottling and barrel storage with limited on-site sales to the public,” wrote John Reyes of Star Builders of Amherst in Lorain County in a city permit application. Renovations and site build-out are estimated at $585,000, the public record shows.
That will be a big step up from River Roots’ current location — a storage unit at a climate-controlled self-storage facility, Triskett Road Storage, at 3236 W. 121st St. in Cleveland’s Jefferson neighborhood. There, they are open weekdays only from 1-5 p.m., according to a Web page at the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.
However, River Roots sells its whiskeys, bourbons and ryes through west-side retailers like Warren Village Beverage in Cleveland, Simone’s Beverage & Deli in Lakewood and Minotti’s Wine Shop in Rocky River, the state’s Web site shows. River Roots could soon have more new company on the Columbus Road Peninsula of the Flats, with the Cleveland Metroparks seeking new development.
In Downtown Cleveland, Encore Lounge plans to open in a 1,120-square-foot space on the ground floor of the Lumen Apartments’ parking garage, 1580 Euclid. While the proprietors are still finalizing a lease with the Playhouse Square Foundation, they filed a construction permit application to make tenant improvements to the space. Larsen Architects of Lakewood is designing the Encore Lounge.
That space, fronting on the theater district’s Euclid Avenue sidewalk, has been vacant since the Lumen opened in 2020. It is the tallest residential building in Ohio at 34 floors and 396 feet. It is next to the First National Bank branch which opened in an 804-square-foot space in late-2022.
In related news, Playhouse Square Foundation will be constructing a pedestrian linkage from the third-level of the Lumen parking garage to between floors two and three of the neighboring Hanna Building, which the foundation also owns.
DLR Group of Cleveland has submitted plans for the $300,000 connector with stairs and a wheelchair lift. The goal is to improve access to more parking and enhance the marketability of the Hanna Building which has several floors that are entirely vacant and available for lease. NEOtrans broke the story earlier this month that a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop will open on the Hanna’s ground floor.
Staying downtown, PS Salon & Spa is about to undertake a 2,980-square-foot expansion on the 20th floor of the glassy, 1958-built, 22-story 55 Public Square, owned by the K&D Group of Willoughby. The project represents a $340,000 investment.
“Expansion includes new entrance lobby, private offices and meeting room,” wrote Sheila Kovach, president of Cleveland-based Epiq Construction Inc. in a permit application to the city. “Remodel includes new finishes, ceilings, HVAC, sprinklers and lighting.”
Between downtown and University Circle, at 8118 Euclid in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood, a stand-alone former KFC turned Pho Viet & Grill Vietnamese restaurant, since closed, is being sold along with the 1.1 acres of land on which it sets, according to a certificate of disclosure filed with the city. The site is just west of the expanding Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.
The owner, 8118 Euclid Avenue LLC, which in turn lists to Ly Hoang of Twinsburg, is selling the property to an affiliate of Roschman Enterprises of Fort Lauderdale, FL. The company, whose late founder John “Jack” Roschman had Ohio roots, focuses on real estate investments — office buildings, warehouses, strip centers, hotels, marinas, education, fast food, retail and residential.
But its portfolio is heavy on fast food restaurants and national chain retailers. The property it is purchasing includes almost the entire block fronting Euclid between East 81st and East 82nd streets. The exception is a strip of parking lot along East 82nd, owned and used by Liberty Hill Baptist Church, 8200 Euclid, built in 1912 as the Euclid Avenue Temple.
For more updates about Cleveland, sign up for our Cleveland Magazine Daily newsletter, delivered to your inbox six times a week.
Cleveland Magazine is also available in print, publishing 12 times a year with immersive features, helpful guides and beautiful photography and design.
