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At long last, construction crews are on location today to begin site preparation for the $115 million Downtown Lakewood mixed-use development called Lakewood Common. It’s a sign of progress that’s been pursued by two mayors and two different developers since the city-owned Lakewood Hospital was closed by Cleveland Clinic in 2016.
The trigger for the site prep activity was two ordinances passed by Lakewood City Council on Monday night. One of them authorized Mayor Meghan George’s administration to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with the development team Belle Ave Partners LLC, an affiliate of Columbus-based CASTO.
Execution of the agreement will transfer title to 5.7 acres of city-owned land to Belle Ave Partners for $1.5 million payable within 30 days. The land is bounded by Detroit Avenue to the north, Belle Avenue to the west, Marlowe Avenue to the east and single-family homes in the 1480 block of both Belle and Marlowe to the south.
Planned for Lakewood Common, 14519 Detroit Ave., are 293 multifamily housing units, 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail/office space, a 536-space parking garage, 31 ground-floor parking spaces in a mixed-use building, renovation of the historic Curtis Block and a new public plaza on Detroit at Belle.
The other ordinance created a tax-increment financing (TIF) district for the site of the Lakewood Common development following passage of a development agreement by the city and Belle Ave Partners in December 2024.
It does so by the city declaring the development project a public purpose and the land as a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). It is therefore exempt from property taxes for 15 years on the new buildings and a redeveloped, historic Curtis Block at Detroit and Marlowe.
Also as part of the TIF deal, it authorizes the George administration to enter into a service payment agreement with Belle Ave Partners for it to make payments to the city and schools in lieu of taxes.
This follows three tax increment financing (TIF) packages that were approved late last year by the city and school board for the project. They were a 15-year non-school TIF on the multifamily portion of the project, an 30-year, 85 percent TIF on the commercial uses and a 30-year, 100-percent TIF on the parking garage.
Although the TIF will outlive the tax abatement on the commercial uses and two parking structures, the schools will be paid an annual service payment equal to 100 percent of taxes that they would otherwise have received if there was not a TIF.
All three parties — the city, schools and developer — will equally split excess revenues generated by the this project’s TIFs. The school district will collect on any new voted levies outside of the term of the CRA on the multifamily component. And the school district will get a 50 percent share on all permanent income tax revenues generated over 30 years.
The city will also approved a $5 million loan to CASTO to build the parking garage with the first few years requiring interest-only payments. It has a 30-year amortization but is to be paid back over 10 years,
Revenue payments generated by this development, once the first phase opens in early 2027, will be used to retire some of the financing for the construction of the project. That includes $75 million in lease bonds approved by the Port of Cleveland in July.
According to a preliminary project schedule shared by Belle Ave Partners with city officials, the multi-level parking garage will be built first, taking about 12-14 months. Renovation of the Curtis Block will occur early on, too, in the first 14-15 months.
Construction of building one, the northernmost new-build structure on the site, will require about 18 months. It will have 31 indoor parking spaces plus about 25,000 square feet of retail topped by 132 apartments. Retail leasing is underway.
Future phases offer two more apartment buildings with 87 and 74 units in those, followed by seven townhomes at the southern end of the site. Envisioned is a 26-month construction timeline for all phases, the schedule noted. Of the 293 apartments, 20 percent will be designated as affordable to families earning a median income.
Although a formal groundbreaking ceremony date has not been announced, crews were on site today setting up barriers and new fencing around the construction site. Parking spaces on Belle were closed off and a bus stop shelter on Detroit was removed.
A more telling sign of progress is that Belle Ave Partners in June purchased for $260,000 a house-turned-dentist office at 1417 Marlowe, Cuyahoga County property records show. It will be used as a construction office for Lakewood Common.
A sign for Panizica Construction, a Mayfield Village-based general contractor, was posted on the property. Dimit Architects of Lakewood is the project’s designer.
Lakewood city officials said a press release will be issued soon about recent progress and a look ahead. This article will be updated when that information is released.
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