Developers Update Cleveland City Council on Lakefront Plans
Crain's Cleveland Business reporter, Jay Miller, summarizes the lakefront development plan's progress.
The presentation was designed to explain the developers' need for an additional year to start construction."
Plans for office buildings and apartments on Cleveland's lakefront aren't moving as fast as originally expected, but the developers told Cleveland City Council that prospects for landing the key office tenants to make the project move ahead are promising.
At a meeting of council's transportation committee on Wednesday, May 30, co-developers Cumberland Real Estate Development and Trammell Crow Co. updated the committee on plans for 18 acres along the Lake Erie shore north of FirstEnergy Stadium. The presentation was designed to explain the developers' need for an additional year to start construction.
The business of the day, which the committee passed on to the finance committee, was legislation to move several deadlines up by one year. The legislation extended until June 14, 2019, the deadline for starting construction on the office and residential portion of the lakefront development, and the completion deadline to June 14, 2022.
James Murray-Coleman, a Trammell Crow senior vice president, told council that real estate brokers are working with two companies — one local, the other from out of town — that are very interested in taking at least 100,000 square feet of office space on the lakefront. Murray-Coleman described the planned office development as world-class space and that the successes of the 2016 Republican National Convention and the Cleveland Cavaliers have made companies take notice of Cleveland.
"We think this is a live-work-play environment and we think these companies want to build out a space that they can attract the highest quality talent in the country," he said. "We think the beautiful lake here, the proximity to downtown and, because of the Republican convention and your sports teams, you guys have gotten a lot of attention."
Murray-Coleman told Crain's after the meeting that landing key office tenants is needed to trigger the residential development and street infrastructure of the new lakefront neighborhood.
Richard Pace, of Cumberland Real Estate Development, updated council on Harbor Verandas, the small apartment building under construction behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that is part of the lakefront development plan. He said he expects the 16-unit building to be ready for tenants by October. He said later that he's in talks to bring an ice cream shop, a coffee shop, a restaurant and bicycle rental firm to the retail space in the building.
A restaurant, Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar, opened near the lakefront in 2016.