Anyone driving down state Route 21 through Brecksville’s thriving downtown and the budding South End Corporate District can see that the city’s economy is booming.
“This influx of new businesses, large and small, has added to the vibrancy of our community,” says Monica Bartkiewicz, Brecksville’s director of planning and development.
In 2023 and early 2024, the city welcomed new businesses and celebrated many ribbon cuttings. The community also celebrated the placement of the final steel beam at the Sherwin-Williams Global Technology Center, which is slated to open this year; the groundbreaking for the new headquarters of DiGeronimo Companies, which is currently under construction; the completion of Canvas at Valor Acres, a 157-unit luxury apartment building; the grand openings of Primer, a coffee and wine bar located within Canvas; Limelight, a coworking space at Canvas; and the completion of Memorial Park, established to honor veterans and the former VA Hospital.
Five additional mixed-use buildings comprising retail, restaurants, office space and luxury apartments have received approval from the Brecksville Planning Commission and Brecksville City Council.
Other current and future projects include a 110,000-square-foot expansion at Applied Medical Technology; reuse of the Central School site; anyseals’ implementation of a pioneering robotic warehouse system called AutoStore; and Julie Billiart Schools’ campus at the former Chippewa Elementary School.
“This type of economic development is one of the ways in which the city has worked to ensure that property tax rates have not increased in nearly 40 years,” Bartkiewicz says.
