When a building overextends its useful life, the knee-jerk reaction might be to tear it down and construct something newer or more modern in its place. After all, a building where an event takes place might seem like an insignificant part of a memory. But, if it’s where your children were baptized or where they learned to ice skate, returning to these familiar places ignites a sense of nostalgia that can’t be erased from memory.
Much like your own history and the memories collected over time, buildings have that same vault. As the years become decades, the buildings’ familiarity becomes a source of comfort for the community members who frequent them. And when the community rallies behind a structure to breathe new life into it instead of tearing
Birdietown
Tim Frazee is breathing new life into the old Bi-Rite building on Madison Avenue with the introduction of Birdietown Mini Golf and Lounge in the Birdtown neighborhood.
Opened in January, the historic project was a labor of love that now spans 12,000 square feet throughout the first-floor lounge and nine-hole mini golf course and the basement bar designed to resemble a speakeasy with another nine-hole mini golf course.
While many mini golf courses attempt to capture the hearts of children with bright colors and overblown features, Birdietown aims to catch the eye of adults looking for a night on the town in a stylish but casual atmosphere.
Frazee explains renovation of the building began in 2020 with careful attention not to disturb the architectural integrity — including the tin ceiling on the first floor — all the way down to the sign that hangs on the outside of the building, which is recognized by the state of Ohio as a historic building.
“It’s fun to work with the different features that you inherit with these old buildings,” Frazee says. “It makes it interesting, and it gives it character. And in a neighborhood like Birdtown, which is an older neighborhood, if you built something new, it would lose a lot of that charm.”
With Cleveland-based Shred & Co designing the holes and the course and locally known Chef Jill Vedaa creating the menu, the details are what really make the project sing, Frazee notes.
“We wanted to bring something fun where people could escape their day-to-day life, play a fun game like mini golf that everybody knows how to play already, and do so in a setting that has great food and great cocktails and all the things that adults enjoy,” he explains. “That’s what we were trying to do here. And I feel like we’ve done it.”
The Trinity Project
When Trinity Lutheran Church held its final mass in the 7,000-square-foot structure that was built in 1921, a national fast-food restaurant expressed interest in tearing it down as well as the 6,000-square-foot classroom addition and a 4,300-square-foot retail strip on the site to make way for a drive-thru restaurant.
Once the public caught wind, city officials decided to purchase the three-quarter-acre parcel in 2018 and invite developers to share their vision for it. That’s when Scalish Construction stepped in with a plan to rehabilitate the buildings and create a mixed-use destination on the west end of the city. It would also become the Lakewood-based construction company’s new home.
Owners Maria and Frank Scalish assembled what they dubbed the Lakewood Dream Team, which included Dimit Architecture and Historic Preservation Group LLC — all Lakewood businesses.
One painstaking project after another, the developers rolled up their sleeves and dug into asbestos abatement, tuckpointing, utility work, roofing, masonry, rebuilding the church’s front steps and removing every piece of stained glass in each floor-to-ceiling window in the sanctuary.
“After those windows were replaced with aluminum replicas of the original wooden windows, the surprise was the amount of natural light that it brought into the building; it was pretty unbelievable,” notes Frank Scalish. “I think that was the biggest transformation.”
As the first building within Lakewood to be awarded state and federal historic tax credits, Frank says, the stakes were high in ensuring the project met the standards for maintaining historic accuracy.
“[The guidelines] are pretty strict as far as what you can and cannot do, like alterations to the building, so it really kind of set the stage for a proper historic restoration, which we did,” he says.
In June 2024, Scalish Construction moved into its new space, and other tenants, such as The Cleveland Bagel Co., Jersey Mike’s, Lakewood Bottle Shop, Makeup by Meredith and Megan Cox Bridal began to trickle in to fill the retail spaces while a Body Fit Training studio opened in the former sanctuary.
“This project is adding energy to a street corner that was dead. There was nothing going on here,” Frank notes. “And while a fast-food restaurant certainly would have brought energy here, it’s not the energy and momentum that we’re bringing to this block, especially considering all of the positivity that’s happening with folks coming here focusing on their health and well-being.”
With a June 2025 grand opening planned to officially welcome the project to the neighborhood, Maria teases the promise of more tenants as well as additional opportunities to create community gatherings and events.
She adds that as residents of Lakewood since 2006 as well as developers who specialize in historic preservation, she feels a duty to capture the beauty of the buildings that mean something to the community.
“I consider us like stewards to these buildings. We are in charge of the story of this building,” she explains. “And ethically, it’s our job to bring that to the forefront and to tell that story and to preserve this building and to let it breathe another form of life.”
The Winterhurst Renovation
Perhaps no project in Lakewood has undergone as big a transformation as Winterhurst Ice Arena. After all, it didn’t even have walls until 1976, according to the facility’s official website.
Originally built in 1931 by The City Ice & Fuel Co., the 30,000-square-foot rink on Lakewood Heights Boulevard was the largest refrigerated skating area in the country at the time, according to the website. In 1957, the rink was purchased by John Nolan, and it remained private until 1961 when it was purchased by the city, which hired several management teams over the years to run it. It is currently operated by Lakewood Community Ice, a partnership that includes Russ Sinkewich, Michael McNeill, Tim McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy and Don Rodgers.
“We recognize the importance of the facility in the community,” notes Sinkewich, a former professional hockey player who also spent time at Winterhurst as his home rink for St. Edward High School. “We also recognize the nostalgia and the historical relevance in Northeast Ohio, and we’re really proud to be a steward of the city and bring this facility into the next chapter.”
Since the management company took over, there have been several upgrades, mainly behind the scenes, but perhaps some of the most important. For instance, a project that replaced the facility’s 30-year-old ice plant and cooling tower at a cost of $1.5 million was not obvious to guests, but it was necessary to reduce energy consumption.
“Basically, all of the refrigeration above ground was replaced,” Kevin McCarthy notes.
In April, the building began a new construction phase that will give the locker rooms a complete refresh — something that has never been done at the facility — as well as add space for a total of eight mixed-use locker rooms, a dedicated female locker room, a dedicated referee’s room and a coach’s room. Lakewood High School will also have its own dedicated locker room in this new configuration, Sinkewich says.
Additional plans that are being discussed include an elevator that will provide access to a new second-floor, 6,000-square-foot community space complete with a turf field, weights and fitness equipment for performance training with the hope of eventually adding a physical therapy component as well.
“The goal is that for any athlete who calls Winterhurst home, they never have to leave that home,” Sinkewich explains. “Now they’ll have every aspect of training, development and competition.”
For spectators, wheelchair-accessible bleachers with lifts and ramps will replace the existing noncompliant bleachers.
“I think the next phase of the project is where the community is really going to get excited, because we’re talking about things like making the entire building ADA compliant,” Sinkewich points out.
Video boards, which resemble oversized TV monitors, will also flank both sheets of ice and be used to display upcoming programming and events at the facility as well as provide an opportunity for local advertising, Kevin says.
As for how residents can support the facility and their approval of the renovation, Sinkewich says to come and use it.
“The ultimate sign of gratitude and appreciation is to use the space,” he asserts. “We love doing this because we love providing a space for families and kids. So come and take advantage of the services; from learn-to-skate and open skates, and learn-to-play programs, just come and participate.”
Spectacular Vernacular Traffic Boxes
Not every project requires a building as its canvas. Every year, the city taps into its prolific art community to find talented individuals to inject life and vitality into public areas. In 2023, the Spectacular Vernacular project focused on wrapping bus enclosures in vibrant scenes meant to make the public smile. This year, the call is for artists to decorate the traffic boxes along Madison, Hilliard, Warren, Athens, Woodward and Franklin, says City Planner Amanda Cramer.
“There’s a big opportunity to infuse some color into some of our infrastructure that we have to have as a city to be functional,” she explains. “And this is a really good opportunity for that.”
Between three and five artists will be selected by the Lakewood Public Art Advisory Board to embellish up to 42 boxes that contain the electrical equipment responsible for controlling the sequence of the traffic lights at each intersection.
“[The focus is on] some of the areas of the city that we’re not able to touch as often with our public art, because they’re a little more residential,” Cramer explains.
Applications were due in March, and the artists were selected in early April. With a deadline of mid- to late-June to submit final designs, the intent is to install the vinyl wraps by the end of the summer.
Cramer adds Mayor Meghan George’s dedication to artists has been a driving force behind the beautification program.
“Lakewood has a very strong artist community,” she relates. “So, it was an important piece of the mayor’s administration to have a standing public-art budget to showcase those unique talents that we have here, as well as to make it as welcoming to the community as we can.”
