Northeast Ohio Properties, October 2024

Page 9


Gateway to Greater Opportunity

Kent State University unveils innovative, $83.5 million home for business education

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mark Watt mwatt@propertiesmag.com 216.251.2655

OFFICE

Lisa Larissey llarissey@propertiesmag.com 440.429.6153

CONTRIBUTING

Doug Bardwell, Scott Esterly, Dan Holland, Christopher Johnston, Alec Pacella

MEDIA

Matt Lehnert mlehnert@propertiesmag.com 216.251.6753

Larry Overbey loverbey@propertiesmag.com 216.251.6649

OWNER

Real Estate Publishing Corporation

Jeff Johnson, CEO jeff.johnson@rejournals.com

Cover photo: Crawford Hall at Kent State University, by Doug Bardwell

FEATURES

by Sonny Lindsey

DEPARTMENTS

Photo

PROPERTIES PEOPLE

Highlighting notable industry events

1 Michael T. Buell (DBIA)

2 Jonathan Morschl (Four Points Architectural Services, Inc.), Brian Rice (Intertek/PSI), Ryan Shahan (Kleingers Group) and James Elsfelder (Scheeser Buckley Mayfield)

3 Omar Saad (Osborn Engineering), George Pasiadis (Osborn Engineering), Don Obermeier (CESO), William H. Webb (Infinity Studio Inc.), Lori Howerton (HBA of Portage & Summit Counties), Drew Shultz (Shultz Design & Construction) and Phil Adkins (Adkins Building Company Inc.)

AIA Akron Networking Social & Leadership Presentation

AIA Akron hosted a networking and educational event at MAPS Air Museum in Green recently, bringing together construction industry professionals from across Northeast Ohio. Attendees enjoyed an informative presentation by Michael T. Buell, FSMPS, CPSM, Assoc. with Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), with a focus on developing personal leadership skills and working with others in the industry.

5th Annual NAIOP

Charity Clay Tournament

NAIOP Northern Ohio recently presented its fifth annual Charity Clay Tournament at Hill ‘N Dale Club in Medina with approximately 110 attendees. All proceeds from the event benefit NAIOP Charities’ initiatives, which fund local health, social services and real estate-related causes in the region.

1 Craig Miller (Duffy + Duffy Cost Segregation), Alexis Omillion (Corix | Cleveland Thermal), Mario Mastrandrea (Duffy + Duffy Cost Segregation), Tim Bergant and Joe Calvey (Independence Construction)

2 Jon Mokri (Cooperative Business Services), Mike Maniche (Guardian Title), Roman Paich and Herb Kramer

3 Dave Mader (Chicago Title Insurance Company), Jose Casanova (Lakeland Construction), Nate Wynveen (Caledonia Commercial) and Brendan Breen (Covered Bridge Outfitters & Lodge)

4 NAIOP Northern Ohio Charities Committee Chair Nate Wynveen (Caledonia Commercial)

5 Patrick Dowd (Sequoia Realty)

Otero Signature Homes 20th Anniversary

1 Shane and Suzi Horner (Horner Networks)

2 Kelly Otero and Ted Otero (Otero Signature Homes), with State Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.)

Otero Signature Homes recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a cocktail party for 200-plus guests at Barrington Golf Club in Aurora. The evening included a magician, stilt walkers, cigar rolling from Royal Havana Cigars, dueling pianos from CLE Keys and dance music.

3 Cindy Intorcio and Angela Catania (Salon Patrick)

4 Father Max Cole (Holy Angels Church) with Kelly Otero and Ted Otero (Otero Signature Homes)

5 Front Row: Lindsey Monger, Kristen Martinez, Tristan Pearl, Kelly Otero, Ted Otero, Sharon Wolfe, Shayna Holp, John Capitoni, Tracy Zelle and Jack Kuret; Back Row: Brain Eichler, Luke Yopko, Mike Yopko, Eric Channell, Ashleigh Barton, Dan Stafford and Mason Coleman (Otero Signature Homes)

Photos by Tony Palmiere
Photos provided by NAIOP Northern Ohio

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Hands-On + Future-Focused

ACE Summer Career Experience students continue to impress partners, parents

Apark on Chester Avenue in the developing MidTown community, reimagining the former Hough Branch of Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland’s Ward 7, improvements for the Veteran Memorial Bridge Street Car Level that spans across the Cuyahoga River to connect the city’s east and west sides, at Superior and Detroit Avenues – and now, a land development plan for Cleveland’s Kerruish Park.

This is the portfolio of projects that ACE Mentor of Cleveland Summer Career Experience students have worked on over the last four years. This year’s program concluded with a Summer Experience final presentation at Cuyahoga Community College’s Jerry Sue Thornton Center.

Kerruish Park, located on the southeast side of Cleveland at I-480 and Lee Road, is 150 acres of land. With 50 acres developed and 100 undeveloped, ACE Summer Experience students proposed bike trails, hiking trails and other recreational opportunities.

“Our projects are always community-centered,” says Glen Shumate, executive director and board chair of ACE Mentor Program Cleveland. “The students went out and talked to the residents to get a feel for what they want. So it’s a great experiential, wellrounded program.”

The ACE Mentor Program is a notfor-profit organization that helps to prepare high school students for careers

in architecture, engineering and construction. Through mentoring by industry professionals, the mission is to engage and enlighten students as well as support their continued advancement and achievements in the industry.

Since its inception in 2008, the Cleveland affiliate of the ACE Mentor Program has provided more than $1.6 million in scholarships to more than 200 students and guided more than 2,000 students through the program. ACE works in partnership with Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), Warrensville Heights and Shaker Heights high schools. Approximately 120 volunteers from more than 70 local firms from the design, engineering and

construction industries participate in the program.

And, for the last four years, the Summer Experience, along with strategic partners such as Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), has provided high school seniors and college students with this enriched, paid, six-week, projectbased experience. Students receive $22 per hour and three college credits.

“Beyond the community projects, the program provides additional insights into design, engineering and construction,” Shumate says. “The program provides significant career development opportunities like job shadowing, interviewing, resumé and LinkedIn development, and

Exploring Opportunities

The Trust for Public Land partners with ACE

The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. The organization’s belief is that everyone should have access to the outdoors so they create parks and protect land for people, aiming to ensure healthy, livable communities for generations to come.

As The Trust for Public Land is working on a mountain bike trail project at Cleveland’s Kerruish Park, they partnered with ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland to engage 2024 Summer Experience students in the process.

Sean Terry, associate vice president, Ohio state director for Trust for Public Land, says that due to the size of the land, the mountain bike trail is very unique to Kerruish Park. It’s not easy to replicate in other city-owned parks. And, the students’ idea is complementary.

“The students’ concepts connect to the current activity and mountain bike trail,” he says. “Their ideas could create more synergy in the park.”

The 150-acre Kerruish Park, located in Cleveland’s Ward I, on Tarkington Avenue, between Lee Road and E. 173rd Street, currently has four basketball courts, five baseball fields, a swimming pool, two playgrounds, eight shelters and three tennis courts. Approximately 100 acres are undeveloped.

Terry says that, with the mountain bike trail, he can envision a youth-led bike repair and bike rental shop at Kerruish Park. He also says the Summer Experience students’ work provides the justification for such additions.

“The students demonstrated that the community has an appetite for such amenities,” he says.

Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones says he was “very impressed” with what the students proposed the park could look like. “Some of their ideas could be further explored for implementation,” he says. –RC

completion of the Dale Carnegie Skills for Success course.”

For the Summer Experience, ACE students receive a request for proposals (RFP) on a community-based project. This year’s project was conducted in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, as their staff wrote the RFP; presented four to five sessions; and toured Kerruish Park with students on three occasions.

Students were required to research, discuss and develop a design concept. Their concept took into consideration site analysis, cost and sustainability. For example, the students proposed that any trees that need to be removed be relocated to a different area of the park. They also proposed reusing dirt from ongoing sites and introducing birdhouses to replace any lost habitats from tree removal.

Sean Terry, associate vice president, Ohio state director for Trust for Public Land, says the student presentation complements Trust for Public Land’s existing plan to develop a mountain bike trail at Kerruish.

“The student’s proposal is a catalyst that can move us toward additional activities and programming as well as economic opportunity at the park,” he says. “I get excited when I think about the potential.”

Eric Gordon, Tri-C’s senior vice president of student development and education pipeline, was part of the original leadership team who started with the ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland 15 years ago. Following the students’ final presentation, he commended the

students on the details they took into consideration: “I hope people in the room observed and noticed the very careful attention you made to making sure that the bike lanes were right where the forest is. Those are things that typically when students are doing these kinds of projects, they’re not giving that level of attention in detail to, and you didn’t miss it. And then most importantly to me is the really deliberate and really creative ways to program apart in ways that it will actually happen.”

Cleveland Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones witnessed the ACE Mentor Cleveland students present for the first time during the Summer Experience final presentation. “[They] did such a fantastic job. It’s on the scale of the professionals who would come to our community and lay things out,” he says, adding, “I’m proud to be a part of Cleveland City Council and the City of Cleveland who dedicated $10 million to the workforce development program that has made part of this possible.”

Summer Experience student Kaiden Finley says the program shows students how much everything works together. “When we were able to come up with this proposal, we were able to use what we learned and the advice given from other companies like Turner and Gilbane,” he says. Finley, who served as project manager, is attending Tri-C part time and is working to become a construction manager. “I was able to use my aspirations to be able to go into this role in this project,” he says.

STEPPING AHEAD 2024 Summer Experience participants included (from left) Derek Tran, Cedric T. Infante II, Kaiden Finley, Christopher Bonilla- Vazquez, Sean O’Sullivan, Amon Mims, Ronaldo McEwan and Aaliyah Hill (Not pictured: Camron Dillard).

Michael Finley, Kaiden’s father and an ACE board member, says he appreciates the program. “For me, on this side, I just became a board member in October of last year,” he says. “So for me to see other young men and women go through the program, again for me to experience it firsthand with my son was really eye-opening because it actually changed his outlook on life, his con fidence. I’m just really excited to see where his future could go from here.”

Kaden’s mom, Zara Finley, says, “To see my son blossom and grow into the young man that’s vocal is tremendous to me. I am excited. I’m excited for him to come back after his senior year next summer and grow and blossom even more and be a guide to the other students.”

Jeannie Wiedt, of Dale Carnegie, works with the students on their speaking and presentation skills over

“The [Summer Career Experience] program provides significant career development opportunities like job shadowing, interviewing, resumé and LinkedIn development, and completion of the Dale Carnegie Skills for Success course.”

the summer. She explains that, in Dale Carnegie, students work on developing people skills, communication skills and confidence, to be able to get up in front of a group and communicate their ideas.

“I’m so excited for all of them because their future’s so bright,” Wiedt says. “These people, they’re the ones who you’re going to want working for you.”

Rachel Friend, human resources generalist with Turner Construction Company, is in her second year with ACE. She says she’s impressed by the students’ eagerness to learn. She also says a big foundation for Turner is “Building the Future” and a huge aspect of “Building the Future” is building the local talent available in Cleveland.

“That’s who we have here today in front of us,” she says.

Reaching Forward in Rocky River

ORRIS apartment complex delivers classic style with modern, upscale amenities

With no new apartment complexes built in Rocky River since 2014, the market was ripe for a fresh offering. The demand has been answered this year with the opening of ORRIS, which provides upscale, luxury living with a host of unique, modern amenities and a sharp, forwardthinking design aesthetic.

Located at 22603 Center Ridge Rd. near the center of town, the 90,000-square-foot, four-story, 54-unit residential complex completes phase one of the redevelopment of two empty parcels at the site, totaling 3.3 acres, with a second complementary multifamily building expected to be built in the near future.

The two parcels, which were already zoned for multifamily use, seemed the perfect locale to provide an upmarket project in the city, according to developer Bobby Krueger, president and partner at The Krueger Group, who grew up in the city.

“Rocky River hasn’t had a new product since Brighton Chase Apartments opened in 2014,” explains Krueger. “With the exception of that property, most of the product is probably 50 to

60 years old. So, we thought this was unique in that it already had the underlying zoning, and it filled a gap in the housing market.”

Groundbreaking took place in October 2022. Tenants, who encompass a broad demographic, began moving in May 1.

Assembling a team

The Krueger Group teamed up with RHM Real Estate Group, which leases and operates the property, to develop the prime space. The two firms have teamed up on prior projects in the Cleveland area.

“I have construction expertise, and John Joyce [founder and CEO of RHM Real Estate Group] is on the management/leasing development side, so it seemed to be a good complement of

skills,” says Krueger. “John introduced me to Pride One Construction, and they ended up being the general contractor for this project and also came in as a partner/minority owner.”

Dimit Architects, of Lakewood, who had previously worked with The Krueger Group on similar projects, was chosen as the design team.

“We [and Dimit] started studying this concept together to model it,” says Krueger. “The biggest driver in a multifamily property is always the efficiency; the underwriting. We do a market feasibility study to make sure that we’re delivering a product that the market will absorb.”

“Paul Glowacki [principal with Dimit Architects] helped us navigate that phase of the design process, and then he was involved in the entire entitle-

ment process,” he continues. “Although we had the entitlements here, it still took a long time, but it moved as quickly as possible. Dimit was part of the team from the beginning.”

Exteriors

The exterior of the building is a combination of red-brick face along with Hardie board and dark ACM panels. The front of the building features a dark first-floor brick. A number of design changes occurred over time, according to Glowacki.

“We were involved early on from concept design,” says Glowacki. “When the building was initially designed, it had a modern appearance, but in discussions with the city, we talked about how it could take on more of a Rocky River feel. The building evolved into a more transitional architectural style.”

All units, with the exception of six studio/junior apartments, feature a semi-private balcony with a black metal railing.

The front outdoor area includes extensive landscaping around a concrete deck area with a fire pit and seating, which connects with a paved walkway that extends along the west side of the property to the rear.

Interiors

Entering the complex beneath a

room with 13-foot-high ceilings, an electric fireplace, floor-to-ceiling storefront glazing and a variety of seating options sits to the right of the main lobby. A leasing office, mail room, large package room, restroom, mechanical room, workout studio and fitness center are all included on the ground floor, as well as access into the first-floor covered parking garage.

A subterranean parking garage, with access from the rear of the building, provides 72 total covered spaces in addition to 38 exterior parking spaces.

All apartments feature nine-foot-high ceilings, an in-unit stackable washer and dryer, a kitchen island with quartz

“I think when we’re asking the community to come and live here, we want to make sure we are delivering something that we would want to live in ourselves, and that informs a lot of our decisions.”
Bobby

Krueger The Krueger Group

off bedrooms to maximize space in the main living areas.

Design considerations

The exterior was made to match up with the common architectural styles found throughout Rocky River.

The complex offers junior/studio, onebedroom and two-bedroom units ranging in size from 625 to 1,160 square feet.

countertops, stainless-steel appliances, a walk-in closet and an electric hot water tank and furnace. Balconies are located

“It is a mix of materials with the traditional brick and the modern metal panel, and the detailing of those and where they happen in the building respects that mix of traditional and more modern materials,” says Glowacki. “Adding details like a substantial brick cornice is traditional as opposed to just capping it with metal coping. To counter the traditional details, the fenestration and balconies are framed with ACM panel.

BUILDING COMMUNITY A club room, featuring 13-foot-high ceilings, an electric fireplace, floor-to-ceiling storefront glazing and a range of seating options, is available for all tenants’ use.

LIVING WELL Floor plan options include junior/studio, one-bedroom and twobedroom units, ranging in size from 625 to 1,160 square feet.

That adds more of a modern aesthetic, and I think there’s a good mix of that on the exterior.”

“In terms of breaking down the scale of the building a bit, if you step back, it can look like big townhomes, so, it has that breakdown of that rhythm,” he continues. “The ground floor has a dark, rich brick, and then the rest of the building is traditional red brick. The front onto Center Ridge has that pop of a nice, high-quality dark brick, along with the canopy coming in and accenting the entrance. The windows and storefront have black mullions and dark gray windows versus a traditional white-case window. Those elements all work nicely together.”

The club room was designed to align with Center Ridge Road.

“An interesting thing on this project is that Center Ridge is on a slight angle to the site,” says Glowacki. “So, the

“There’s nothing else in Rocky River that compares with this

property. The finishes, the look and feel and the community space – nothing was missed. Our heart and soul was poured into this project.”

John Joyce RHM Real Estate Group

single-story club room and entry to the building respects the angle of Center Ridge, while the rest of the building is rectangular as it goes back. It also helps step back the taller mass of the building from the street.”

Attention to detail in units was another component of the design process. “If you’re going to spend the time, energy and money – it’s a number of subtle things – whether it’s a closet, flooring, under-cabinet lighting or a window treatment, you get accustomed to a certain package,” says Krueger. “I think when we’re asking the community to come and live here, we want to make sure we

are delivering something that we would want to live in ourselves, and that informs a lot of our decisions.”

Sound attenuation was another design consideration.

“We make sure that we go above and beyond in terms of the envelope, and also from a sound attenuation standpoint in the way we assemble the ceilings, the interiors and thinking about the corridors,” says Krueger. “We want people who move here to stay here, and so we want to make sure it’s a quiet building.”

“There is a high insulation value in the walls, and the windows are a step up from the builder grade model window,” adds Glowacki. “Between units, there is a double-wall with space in between that gives substantial sound attenuation. Corridor walls are 2-by-6 construction with resilient channels that provide decoupling of the drywall to the studs, and the doors are all gasketed. It gives a nice quiet unit for a multifamily building.”

Building systems

The structure is built on a concrete podium comprising the first-floor and below-ground level, with additional floors consisting of wood stick-built framing. Standard RTUs provide HVAC needs for the common areas and corridors.

The building is topped with a TPO roofing system.

Flooring throughout consists of LVT, ceramic tile and carpet tile.

Challenges

Although no major constructability challenges were encountered, time constraints and weather factored in.

“We started in October 2022 – obviously going through the winter months – so there was some de-mucking, some raining and de-watering, which is added cost,” says Krueger. “There’s also winter conditions that require heating.”

“Time is also expensive, so we kept pushing through that, but I don’t think there were any real challenges aside

TABLE SETTING Each residential unit at ORRIS includes stainless-steel appliances and a kitchen island with quartz countertops.

SHARED SPACES Situated on the first floor are a mail room (top) and fitness studio (bottom), as well as a leasing office and access to covered parking in a bi-level garage.

from time, weather and navigating the space,” he adds. “It was a pretty simple build, and once you understand the language of a post-tensioned slab – with Donley’s doing the concrete work – it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”

Parking requirements by the city necessitated construction of the bilevel parking garage.

“The city zoning code is probably 70 years old, but they are trying to adopt a little more current code,” explains Krueger. “We have 54 units here with 110 parking spots. So, that was a hard thing to develop from a finance perspective. Half of the parking spots had to be enclosed, so we had to add subterranean parking due to that. But the city gave us a 10% variance on that, which was helpful.”

“Because of the parking requirements and having to go underground, we had to have that area ventilated,” adds Glowacki. “So, that brought in a whole host of other mechanical equipment and insulation, which increases the price of the parking garage.”

Team effort

In the end, a team effort produced a first-rate residential facility.

“In working with this team, I had a very positive experience,” says Ronnie Soltesz, project manager for Pride One. “I felt like we always had meaningful conversations during the weekly meetings, and we solved problems as there was always an open line of communication. The project turned out great, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

“It was all very malleable. Everyone knew where we wanted to be in the end and, as long as we were all looking toward that, the day-to-day made it a lot easier,” adds Glowacki. “You’re working together to solve problems.”

“This was Bobby’s vision; he brought me in, and it’s been a great working relationship,” says Joyce. “We’re looking at several other projects together, and we have a longstanding history with Dimit over the years. There’s nothing else in Rocky River that compares with this property. The finishes, the look and

feel and the community space – nothing was missed. Our heart and soul was poured into this project.”

“I always try to come from a position as not only a partner, but also understand-

“Predevelopment for me is key. You have to have the team at the table from day one. The main thing for me in construction is everyone aligning and working toward the same goal.”
Bobby Krueger

The

Krueger Group

ing the challenges,” says Krueger. “There were definitely challenges, but we worked through them – we communicated well – and if there was a problem we couldn’t

resolve, we would table it to spend a little more time thinking it through. Overall, it was a positive experience.”

“Predevelopment for me is key. You have to have the team at the table from day one,” he adds. “The main thing for me in construction is everyone aligning and working toward the same goal, and that’s why we assembled this team.”

The project brings a new level of residential living to the city, adds Krueger. “This signals to the community that things are changing; that there is better product that can be delivered, as there has not been any new product here in a long time. Rocky River is well-established and a great community, but I think part of what Rocky River is has been built on the past, and I think this signals what future opportunities can look like.”

Gateway to Greater Opportunity

Kent State University unveils innovative, $83.5 million home for business education

The first time I experienced Kent State University’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, I arrived just before sunrise, and the building literally glowed. This purposefully transparent, four-story, approximately 150,000-square-foot building anchors what is intended to be the university’s new north campus gateway, at the corner of East Main Street and Midway Drive.

Prepare to be impressed no matter how you arrive at the building. Coming from the west, you’ll recognize the four-story glass curtain wall at the northwest corner and inside, the impressive Walter G. and Judy A. Van Benthuysen Collaboration Staircase rising to the second-floor Donald S. and Johnna F. Grant Atrium. Or, arriving at the southeast corner, the striking James R. Unger Global Forum with its suspended 360-degree projection drum towering over a 380-seat multifunction space.

Starting from scratch

Kent State University has been turning out business professionals and entrepreneurs since 1935. It’s the largest university in Northeast Ohio, with students from 102 countries, many of which are in the College of Business. Its programs are consistently ranked among the top programs in the nation. And, for the last 10-plus years, the new Crawford Hall has been a dream in progress.

“I joined Kent State University in January of 2013, reporting to Todd Diacon, who’s now the president of Kent State,” says Deborah Spake, dean of the College of Business. “At the time, he was

“Looking at the plans, [we knew] this was going to be a very unique building. It’s like a pearl in the middle of the campus.”
Bassam Sfeir Gilbane Building Company

the senior vice president and provost for academic affairs. The first year I was here, our faculty were teaching in nine buildings across campus. I think within the first month, because I’ve worked at four other universities, I said ‘this is not the kind of building that meets the modern-day needs of business pedagogy. We’re not putting our best foot forward with our students.’”

She explains that the Business Administration Building, the college’s former home, was built in the early 1970s, when business education classrooms would be set up for “a sage on the stage.” That meant there would be a faculty member who was the expert on the stage, and then students would sit in a tiered classroom and take notes.

“Then-president Lester Lefton indicated that there were no plans for a new building at the time I joined the College of Business and that we would need to raise a certain amount of money to help pay for the cost,” recalls Spake, “and, it should be noted, at the time that I joined, I had no fundraisers on my staff. Not to mention, a former dean had disbanded the college advisory board, so there were no industry leaders working with my office either.”

That led Spake to spend her first years building back an advisory board, which took a few years to get to what it is now. Next came hiring an experienced

Story by Doug Bardwell | Photos by Doug Bardwell, Bob Christy & Mark Watt
Photo by Mark Watt

fundraising team to help her go on the road, meet with alumni and raise funds. By 2017, they foresaw the fruits of their efforts and began to envision what a modern business college might look like.

“Business education today also involves quite a lot of technology,” Spake says. “Among other degrees, we currently offer our 3,350 Kent campus business students curriculums of business analytics, marketing, accounting, economics, information systems and finance, all of

which require specialized pedagogy and specialized technology to go with it.”

Drafting dreams: Designing the future of business education

In 2017, the university issued an RFP (request for proposal) seeking a developer-led team with additional member expertise in design, construction and finance. The delivery method was referred to as P4, which stood for PublicPrivate Partnership with Philanthropy.

“We were really hoping to bring some very unique financing models to the university,” says Jay Graham, executive director and university architect with Kent State’s Office of the University Architect. “We had some experience with the design competition following the College of Architecture project, and we learned from that experience and led a really thorough process with the design teams.”

The design team for the project would include Perkins&Will, as design archi-

Photo by Bob Christy

BIG BUSINESS At approximately 150,000 square feet, the newly opened Crawford Hall is the largest academic building to house a college on Kent State University’s main campus.

BARBER & HOFFMAN

tect, with The Collaborative as architect of record. “We had an existing relationship with Perkins&Will for other previous projects,” says Brandon Andrzejczak, prin-

“We have a full floor of difference between the south entrance and the west entrance, right from level one to level two. So, it created a lot of opportunity to really embrace the gateway concept, both back to the City of Kent and into campus to the south.”

Jill Vowels Perkins&Will

cipal with The Collaborative. “We worked with Jeff Ziebarth and Jill Vowels in their Minneapolis office, who lead their business education expertise. Our team was shortlisted from approximately 30 teams to four, and then given 60 to 90 days to develop a preliminary concept for the project in 2018.”

Jill Vowels, associate principal of higher education with Perkins&Will, explains how design could benefit the fundraising.

“When we were in the competition, it was all about how can the design support the fundraising effort for the college and Kent State, and how can our team

BEHIND THE NAME The facility is home to the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, named after Edward F. Crawford, the former Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland and founder of Park-Ohio Holdings. His $28 million gift to the school was the largest ever recorded by Kent State.
Photo by
Mark Watt

ENCOURAGING COLLABORATION The Donald S. and Johnna F. Grant Atrium is the largest collaboration space in the building and is flooded with north-facing natural daylight.

support the programming to do less with more, ensuring success for the project. During the competition is when we imagined and branded the Student Success Center, the Global Forum, the big main community space and the Trading Lab. Creating an ecosystem of spaces such as those could support the funding of the project.”

After winning the competition, full CDs (construction documents) were completed in February 2020, but progress paused while fundraising continued, looking for a major donor. The project was officially stopped when COVID-19 hit later in the spring of 2020.

Several events unfolded during that time, leading to rethinking much of the entire project. Hybrid technology led to new ways for students to learn, remote work became common, and the benefits of collaboration became ever more evident.

Meanwhile, the City of Kent was considering a tree-lined median along East Main, so the master plan was revisited, and the corner of East Main and Midway Drive was finally determined to be the logical north gateway entrance to campus.

“The site had a lot of opportunity for the building itself because there is such a significant grade change,” explains Vowels. “We have a full floor of difference between the south entrance and the west entrance, right from level one to level two. So, it created a lot of opportunity to really embrace the gateway concept, both back to the City of Kent and into campus to the south.”

Graham explains they also canceled a planned garage to the east of Crawford Hall, and to its west, they will extend the campus green space with tall shade trees and a fountain, similar to the one outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland.

“By October of 2021, Ambassador [Edward] Crawford had come forward with his gift,” recalls Graham, “and the decision was made not to follow the P4 development model. At that point, we realized we could self-finance the project and advertised for conventional CMR (construction manager at risk) ser-

vices. Through that interview process, we brought Gilbane on board.”

With the company’s history of working on campus since 2004, and experience building other business schools for other universities across multiple states, Spake felt they were an obvious choice.

Building Kent State’s business legacy

As Gilbane began to mobilize, multiple other contractors were working in and around the site. The remains of Terrace Hall were being demolished to clear the site. Terrace Drive, on the southern side of Crawford Hall, was being reconfigured. New subgrade utilities with domestic water, sewer and storm sewer were being extended from the south. To the west, the university constructed a chilled water plant in the College of Education, Health and Human Services’ White Hall building, producing 2,400

campus facilities, including Crawford Hall. Hence, there are no cooling towers and no chiller equipment required in the new business building.

“Looking at the plans, [we knew] this was going to be a very unique building,” recalls Bassam Sfeir, project executive for Gilbane Building Company. “It’s like a pearl in the middle of the campus.”

“It’s a very unique project where there are several high bay spaces,” adds Nick Fields, project manager with Gilbane. “You have in the north atrium, four stories that tie together and connect. And then immediately south, you have connecting bridges within the building, and another two-story space on an elevated deck. So, there are challenges with constructability. And then when you go to the southeast Global Forum, it’s actually cantilevered over a green space. From the outside, it

tons of chilled water that serve north
Photo by Doug Bardwell

FIRST CLASS The three-level MBA student lecture hall (top) and 196-seat Business Theater (bottom) are two of the more traditional academic spaces at Crawford Hall.

looks like a rectangular sort of university building with a lot of glass. But once you step inside, several of these spaces really open up. It’s quite complex.”

Gilbane began construction in March 2022. The construction team encountered much more groundwater than anticipated, with the topography sloping down from the south toward East Main Street. Besides coordinating with others working around the site, they also needed to guarantee the safety of students and protect newly finished streets and landscaping.

Structural steel on spread footers began in February 2023, topping out in June 2023. The building was then essentially enclosed in December.

The largest steel beam in the building is 70 feet long and weighs 13 tons. It spans the James R. Unger Global Forum area, supporting the enormous suspended circular projection enclosure.

The exterior consists mainly of glass curtainwall and buff-colored Ambassador brick from Ohio’s Belden Brick. “Glazing is six-foot by 10-foot, four-inch panels of Low-E energy efficient glass with two different coatings,” says Fields. “One is a bird frit to protect migrating birds, and the other is an alloy to keep out harmful light rays.”

“Four air handlers in the first level mechanical room combine with hot water piping throughout the building,” explains Fields. “Chilled water goes to the air handlers, and we get air to about 55 degrees. We then have ductwork throughout the whole building distributing that chilled air. With hot water piping throughout and valves in each room, when we turn the thermostat, it adjusts up from 55 degrees.”

Around the curtain wall, fin tube heating provides additional comfort. Because of the four-story atrium space, floors three and four are enclosed with glass to minimize the size of the mechanical smoke exhaust system, explains Andrzejczak.

“We have a backup generator,” says Graham, “for three automatic transfer switches. We have our emergency

Photos by Doug Bardwell

lighting, our normal loads, and then we have our smoke systems. We’re also supplied by campus utilities. We distribute and produce our own electricity with a 13,200-volt utility feed as well, so we have our own transformer.”

“One of the last items to be ordered was all the technology items,” states Sfeir. “We intentionally delayed to the latest possible moment, because if we bought them two years ago, by the time they got into the building, you would have outdated equipment already.”

First floor: East Main Street level

Inside the entry vestibule in the northwest corner are 10 concrete risers for seating, with either blue cushions or wall-mounted fold-down seating. Alongside the seating area is a stairway leading to the second level. The entire area comprises the Walter G. and Judy A. Van Benthuysen Collaborative Staircase.

“We also envision using it on weekends, speaking to groups of prospective parents and students that are being hosted by the university. We can seat them here, speak with them about the college, and then take them on a tour,” says Spake.

The design of the collaboration stairs centered around allowing equitable engagement for all members of the com-

munity to participate through various types of seating and access.

Moving along the northern wall are four distinct classroom experiences. First is a suite of offices in the Fastenal Sales Team Lab where students preparing for a career in sales can practice making their pitches in six different typical business settings.

Next is the John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship,

“From the outside, it looks like a rectangular sort of university building with a lot of glass. But once you step inside, several of these spaces really open up. It’s quite complex.”
Nick Fields Gilbane Building Company

where teams can meet, plan and review their projects with large, moveable vertical whiteboards and team-appropriate seating. This space is host to cross-disciplinary team-based projects, linked to the university’s Innovation Hub.

“The modern way to teach business education is very collaborative, which is why all the chairs and all the tables are on wheels in all but two classrooms,”

explains Spake. “That’s to allow the faculty to arrange the room’s configuration to best meet the needs for the lesson that they’re teaching that day.”

The Robert M. and Janet L. Archer Business Analytics Lab is a large classroom with two large projection screens and a modular monitor wall comprising a dozen separate monitors capable of displaying individual students’ screens for comparison and discussion.

The northeast corner houses the three-level MBA student lecture hall. This is one of the two classrooms in the building without moveable furniture.

On the opposite side of the connecting corridor that runs the length of the building are suites of classrooms and offices for Information Technology, Behavioral Research and a production studio for professors to create online learning sessions. A double glass screen “whiteboard” will electronically reverse the image so students will see the illusion of the professor writing in the air. Four universally accessible restrooms on the first floor also have showers built in for those who ride bikes to campus or want to exercise during the day.

Second floor: Terrace Road and parking lot level

Most students will enter from this level via the southern entrance and be

STEPPING UP Inside the entry vestibule in the northwest corner of the building is the Walter G. and Judy A. Van Benthuysen Collaborative Staircase. The space includes 10 concrete risers for seating, with either blue cushions or wall-mounted fold-down seating.
Photo by Doug Bardwell

INVITING ENTRY Entering from the south, visitors are greeted by a statue of Ambassador Crawford (top) and the glasswalled trading lab (middle). Just beyond is the Commerce Café (bottom), offering a healthy choice of prepared foods.

immediately greeted by a slightly largerthan-life statue of Ambassador Edward F. Crawford, the former Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland and founder of Park-Ohio Holdings.

His $28 million gift was the largest ever recorded by Kent State and enabled the creation of Crawford Hall. Behind him are commemorative plaques denoting donors with gifts of $100,000 or more. This and the Level 1 west donor wall were recreated from trees onsite reclaimed during the Terrace Hall demolition.

The Robert M. and Janet L. Archer Trading Lab is just off to the left. It’s set up to be an actual trading floor for

“The trading lab can be an iconic space for a business school, so the idea here was to put it on display and make it really an immersive experience.”

finance students, with 50 seats, 12 of which will be equipped with Bloomberg terminals. This immersive, ultra-prominent lab is a glass-wrapped, oval-shaped room with a moving LED ticker streaming around the ceiling line – visible inside and outside the trading lab.

“The trading lab can be an iconic space for a business school,” states Vowels, “so the idea here was to put it on display and make it really an immersive experience.”

“Kent’s teams use the Golden Flashes as our mascot for athletics, and our finance students refer to themselves as the Golden Flash Asset Management Group,” says Spake with a smile. “They manage $1.4 million in real money through the finance department. Since 2019, they’ve been competing each year in New York City in the Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum sponsored by Quinnipiac

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Photos
Doug Bardwell

University. There are about 120 schools that compete in that competition. Every year since, including 2019, they’ve come in first, second or third place in one of the tranches that they manage.”

Further ahead, the Donald S. and Johnna F. Grant Atrium is the largest of the collaboration areas in the building and is flooded with north-facing natural daylight. Seating for just under

100 students is accommodated with conventional tables and chairs, rust and blue single and double upholstered seating, and a large gray Parsons table suitable for a group of 12 or more. The flooring is Kaswell edge-grained white oak and polished concrete, which is nicely maintained with three robot cleaning machines. The ceiling is covered with perforated GypSorb drywall

panels, which successfully balance the acoustics. Throughout the building, other large spaces use the same material for sound absorption. A floating staircase enables quick access to classes on the third and fourth floors.

“The east wall is a large video monitor wall,” says Vowels, “as the Atrium was also envisioned to be flexible enough to host events, lectures and provide a type of banquet setting.”

Off to the left is the Commerce Café, offering a healthy choice of prepared foods using the Fitwel program for occupant health. Large menu boards have initials after each selection indicating if it’s vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc. After ordering at a cashless kiosk, your cellphone will receive a QR code when the order is ready, and after scanning the code, an associated locker door will light up and pop open.

In the southwest corner, an extensive suite of offices makes up the Student Success Center, where students will find one-stop assistance from undergraduate academic advisors, career services advisors and graduate program advisors, as well as study-away and education-abroad information. Five small offices along the corridor do double duty by opening out to the

BACK TO BUSINESS The third floor is home to the iconic James R. Unger Global Forum with ganged seating for up to 400 people, under a free hanging two-sided circular media wall drum assembly, with the speaker on a raisable stage in the center.
Photo by Bob Christy

TRANSPARENT BY DESIGN Key spaces within the building, such as the Global Forum (top) and north-facing atrium (bottom), are fully visible to passersby through expansive walls of glass.

public space so that visiting recruiters can hold interviews with students there, and open into the center for advisors to use during the day.

In the northeast corner, students can enter the lower level of the Business Theater. As the largest traditional classroom in the building, it has 196 seats aligned in 12 rows of comfortable theater-style seating, rising 15 feet toward the third floor. Behind the highest row, accessible from the third floor, is a spacious area of flat flooring. “We did that on purpose,” explains Spake, “not only for accessibility such as people in wheelchairs, but it’s a place where we could set up technology, such as cameras and audio, for the media, for press conferences and for recording of speaker series.

Third floor: Global Forum

The third floor is home to the iconic James R. Unger Global Forum with

“The modern way to teach business education is very collaborative, which is why all the chairs and all the tables are on wheels in all but two classrooms. That’s to allow the faculty to arrange the room’s configuration to best meet the needs for the lesson that they’re teaching that day.”
Deborah Spake Kent

ganged seating for up to 400 people, under a free hanging two-sided circular media wall drum assembly, with the speaker on a raisable stage in the center. The Global Forum creates the KSU brand of business education to the exterior building community, while providing a collective and equitable “in the round” learning experience.

While the seating capacity is quite large, none of the students are more

Photo by Doug Bardwell
Photo by Mark Watt

2025 Media Planner

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Contact your rep or email info@propertiesmag.com and a team member will be in touch!

FLASH FORWARD The newly opened Crawford Hall is part of a $1 billion, 10-year master plan initiated in 2018 to transform facilities throughout Kent State University’s campus.

than eight rows from the speaker. Eight projectors are concealed within the drum, and the presenter can show eight duplicate presentations simultaneously, or use four sets of two screens so all students have a perfect line of sight, no matter where they are seated. Adjacent is a purpose-built AV control room to run the projection for visiting speakers.

“Faculty members can also control the presentation with a tablet or iPad in their hand,” explains Graham. “They’re walking around, supported by their graduate assistants who are helping students who are asking questions through their devices, maybe even off campus – remotely taking the class. So, there can be this synthesis between the instructor and the students, and the technology supports that.”

Two entrance and exit corridors to the Global Forum serve as pre- and post-function areas for registration or hospitality.

This third floor is also the location of offices for all the Business Analytics, Information Systems, Management, Marketing and Entrepreneur faculty and staff, as well as Ph.D. offices, classrooms and department conference rooms.

Fourth floor

Similarly, the fourth floor has offices for Accounting, Finance and Economics faculty and staff. Interconnecting stairs within the faculty/staff areas allows departments to intermix and increase col-

laboration across business programs. Five large classrooms flank the center corridor, known as the Business Boulevard.

In the northwest corner, the Dean’s Suite includes several offices and the large Timothy D. Eippert Boardroom.

Along the west wall is an inset outdoor terrace that opens to the Donald S. Grant Donor Recognition Lounge and Donor Porch with magnificent views to downtown Kent.

From vision to reality

Today, this building has 48 named spaces, the largest number of named spaces and the largest philanthropic support for any building at Kent State. It’s also the largest academic building at Kent State, 50% larger than the business school’s former home.

“There were lots of conversations early on about this being a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the College of Business at Kent State,” recalls Vowels. “They had long been located in a dark and gloomy older building on campus. This was an opportunity to reframe and make sure that it was a clean, fresh, bright, daylit building in a way they didn’t have.”

They’ve certainly succeeded, not only with the architecture and curriculums, but with high sustainability goals, featuring both LEED and Fitwel certifications, making the new building a healthy, fresh and comfortable space for its occupants. P

Photo
Doug Bardwell

FINANCIAL STRATEGIES

Smart use of fiscal planning & action

Keep It Simple

One of the highlights of my youth was the day when the newest monthly issue of Sports Illustrated showed up in the mailbox. In the days before podcasts, the internet and cable TV, this was one of the few ways to find out what was going on in the sporting world. I recall reading an article of an NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders. It included all sorts of analysis and background on game plans but what really struck me was the last few sentences. The late, great John Madden, then head coach of the Raiders, was asked for his opinion of what happened. His response was strikingly simple – “they scored more points than we did.”

We often get hung up on the “whys and what fors,” but the real reason is often very simple. I thought about this recently when reading a story comparing the economies of Ohio’s three major cities. The article contained all sorts of analysis and history of the local economies of Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland and, while it was all correct, it failed to underscore the key determinate of economic growth. To better understand the straightforward yet not-so-simple reason, read on.

There are many ways to measure economic growth but all have one thing in common – money. Imagine all of the money in a local economy being contained in a huge bucket. The money swirls around inside of this bucket, continually moving from person to person, business to business, person to business. A person buys a house and a bank makes a loan.

The loan officer buys a new car. The car salesperson buys a new computer. The computer store owner pays for routine maintenance on their HVAC unit. The HVAC tech buys lunch at a local restaurant. Throughout this chain of events, the money is swirling around the bucket, moving from place to place and person to person. But there are holes in the bucket. When that car is purchased, a good portion of the money leaves the bucket and goes to Detroit, Tokyo or wherever that car was manufactured. When that computer is purchased, a large share of the money is going to Austin, San Jose or wherever that computer was made. In addition to swirling around the bucket, money is also continually leaving the bucket through these holes. To offset this loss, the local economy needs to continually add money back into its bucket. And the primary ele-

ALEC J. PACELLA

ment responsible for replenishing money is something called “basic employment.”

Job creation is the straightforward way to explain economic growth, as more jobs lead to greater growth. But it’s actually a bit more complicated than this, as there are two types of jobs: basic and non-basic.

Non-basic jobs refer to activities that produce goods and services for the local economy and is produced for internal consumption. It is generally considered to be service employment and circulates money that is already in the bucket. Examples include retail, banking and utilities.

Basic jobs are activities that produce more goods and services than can be consumed in the local area, with much of the consumption happening outside of the area. These are the types of jobs that truly drive the local economy as they help refill our bucket by bringing in money leaking out of holes in other areas’ buckets. Examples are the auto plant in Detroit or the computer manu-

Job creation is the straightforward way to explain economic growth, as more jobs lead to greater growth. But it’s actually a bit more complicated than this, as there are two types of jobs: basic and non-basic.

facturer in Austin. Money is coming into these local economies from many other areas as a result of cars and computers being purchased from these other areas. And while the vast majority of jobs in a typical local economy are non-basic, it is the addition of basic employment that has a substantial impact as a result of a concept known as the multiplier effect.

An economic impact study by Policom underscores this concept. A new manufacturing plant moved into a community, creating 1,000 jobs with an average pay of $60,000. This study found the impact of these basic jobs to be two-fold. First, it created an estimated 1,700 additional jobs, mostly non-basic; 180 jobs in retail, 180 in medical, 250 in wholesale and transportation, 150 in financial and professional, 170 in service and restaurant, 400 in manufacturing support and 300 in construction and other sectors. In total, it increased the

Don’t be afraid of the environmental emergencies that may be lurking around the corner at your site.

EA Group has been providing hazardous materials assessment and management services to the construction and real estate industry for over 40 years. We can evaluate your site, prepare abatement plans and monitor the remediation work. Put our team to work early to avoid environmental emergencies that can cause costly delays and unexpected liabilities. We offer:

• Pre-Construction Hazardous Materials Surveys

• Abatement Design and Management

• Air Monitoring and Exposure Assessment

• Mold Assessment and Remediation Management

EA Group can take the fear out of unforeseen conditions that cause costly delays and keep your project running smoothly.

How Bad is t H at Leak?

What I C @ PVC

CHASING IT DOWN Akron Centre Plaza, a prominent part of Akron’s downtown skyline, traded hands last month as a result of an online auction. The 195,000-square-foot building was sold for $4.5 million or $23 per square foot. It is approximately 80% occupied, including Chase Bank. –AP

payroll in that community by more than $86 million, supporting 2,100 households in the process and resulted in more than $550 million in economic transactions. And second, it helped to refill the bucket – the product that was manufactured by this new plant was largely purchased by money coming from other areas and flowing back into the local economy.

At this point, you may be thinking that the key to economic growth is simply to add more basic jobs. But there is another twist. Creating jobs of any kind is not the answer, even if they are basic jobs. In fact, this can actually hurt the local economy, especially if the jobs are secured by offering a cut-rate wage. The true key is to create what is termed “quality basic employment.” The type of basic employment in a local economy will determine the quality of that economy. The average area wage will seek the level of, but cannot exceed, the wages that are paid in the basic industries. If a local economy has a large number of basic employers that pay a high wage, the overall quality of the local economy, including the non-basic employment, will get pulled up towards those wages. But if the area is dominated by basic employers that pay a low wage, the overall quality of the local economy will be pulled down to that level.

John Madden went on to have a Hall of Fame coaching career as well as an accomplished sports-announcing career but he never lost that sense of straightforward simplicity. The same is true for economic growth. In order for a local economy to improve, it needs to create more basic jobs that pay a high average wage. And while this often get lost in the “whys and whatfors,” the local economies that can successfully execute this are the ones that reap the rewards. And maybe even get a six-legged turkey.

Alec Pacella, CCIM, president at NAI Pleasant Valley, can be reached by phone at 216-4550925 or by email at apacella@naipvc.com. You can connect with him at www.linkedin.com/in/ alecpacellaccim or subscribe to his youtube channel; What I C at PVC.

Freeman Building Systems has been a part of your community for 32 years. Our dedication to our work has always been focused on providing the

and performance for

Some of our notable buildings/projects in Northeast Ohio include Hinkley Lighting Distribution Center (Avon Lake), Baker Properties Distribution Center Complex (Wooster), Battle Motors Company (New Philadelphia), Wooster Brush (Wooster) and Schaeffler (Wooster).

BILLBOARD

AIA Cleveland Hosts 8th Annual Sand Fest

The Cleveland chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA Cleveland) held its eighth annual family-friendly SandFest event recently at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland. The chapter’s unique signature event features a sand castle construction competition and sand volleyball tournament between several teams comprised of Northeast Ohio-based architects and designers, while participants and guests enjoy refreshments from visiting food trucks.

This year, the theme for the sand castle competition was “Adventures in Pop Culture.”

RDL Architects took the top prize for its homage to Jurassic Park, while Vocon’s Supermanthemed sculpture was recognized as runner’s-up and People’s Choice winner. The winning 2024 AIA Cleveland Sand Fest volleyball team was Vocon.

The event raised $8,500 to benefit the ACE Mentor Program Scholarship Fund, which provides education and scholarships for students pursuing degrees in architecture, construction and engineering.

Hahn Loeser & Parks Welcomes Associate

Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP recently announced the addition of Matthew F. Wagner, who joins the Cleveland office as an associate in the firm’s litigation and construction practice areas. He brings a wide variety of civil litigation

experience, including government investigations and white-collar criminal law.

Wagner’s investigation experience has included healthcare fraud, banking regulations and miscellaneous violations of company policies. He has worked on complex discovery, theft of trade secrets, cybersecurity,

Title VII, breach of contract and various labor and employment matters.

He earned his J.D. from the Cleveland State University College of Law, where he graduated with honors in 2020. Since graduating in 2020, Wagner has stayed involved with his law school alma mater by serving as a Moot

Court coach at the Cleveland State University College of Law. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America.

Gardiner Expands Offerings with Gardiner Data Services

Solon-based HVAC and building technology services company Gardiner recently announced the launch of Gardiner Data Services. Gardiner DS is an advanced building analytics offering that leverages cloud-based fault detection

Photo provided by AIA Cleveland
RDL Architects’ winning Sand Fest entry
Matthew Wagner

and diagnostics (FDD) technology to help improve the way clients approach building maintenance.To deliver this new service, Gardiner announced a partnership with Clockworks Analytics, which provides FDD for the built environment. The move will add Clockworks’ FDD platform to Gardiner’s physical service offerings, including a custom 24/7/365 client access portal and dedicated analyst team to prioritize and act on diagnostics.

The Gardiner DS platform integrates with any brand of existing building automation and HVAC systems to change how clients approach preventive maintenance. The software allows Gardiner’s team to

continuously run in-depth diagnostics across its clients’ HVAC systems to pinpoint root-cause issues before they become costly repairs. The goal is to not only improve operational efficiency but also help extend equipment life and reduce energy waste.

IRG Realty Advisors

Names New COO

Industrial Realty Group, LLC (IRG) recently announced the promotion of Greg Hipp, formerly the president of IRG Realty Advisors (IRGRA), to chief operating officer (COO) of IRG. In his new role, Hipp will oversee the company’s operations at a

& INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICAL

national level, leading both IRG and IRGRA.

Cleveland Metroparks, Partners Announce Plans for Sailing Center

Cleveland Metroparks recently revealed plans for the Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center, a world-class community center coming to E. 55th Street Marina in Cleveland.

In this expanded role, Hipp will spearhead national operations across the IRG group of companies, providing leadership in strategic planning and execution for both IRG and its service company, IRGRA. He first joined the company in 2005. During Hipp’s tenure, IRG has expanded its workforce to over 300 associates across the country and grown its portfolio to over 100 million square feet of space, including various industrial redevelopment and adaptive reuse projects in Northeast Ohio.

Southside High
Tulane University Freeman Business School Wooster Community Hospital
Public Square Cleveland
Greg Hipp

News about people, products, places & plans

The Sailing Center will be the first of its kind along Lake Erie in Ohio, providing unprecedented public access and sailing opportunities to the region through the support of project partners, including the Parker Hannifin Corporation and Madeleine S. Parker; the Jack,

Joseph and Morton Mandel

Supporting Foundation; and The Cleveland Foundry.

The two new facilities that make up the center will feature multi-purpose learning spaces, indoor and outdoor community areas, concessions and dining, a rooftop deck, overlook tower and a

boathouse that will serve as the sailing hub. Construction on the $15 million Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center is expected to be completed in 2026.

Scheeser Buckley Mayfield Announces New Hire

Akron-Canton based consulting engineering firm Scheeser Buckley Mayfield recently announced it has added Alec Cummins to its team. Cummins has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Akron. Prior to coming to SBM, he was a mechanical co-op student for a year and a half at an Akron-based architecture and engineering firm. Before that, he was an electrical intern at an electric services company in Canton.

For complimentary coverage in Billboard, send company news & project information to billboard@propertiesmag.com.

We were honored to serve as CMAR to recently complete Riverside Capital’s Headquarters

Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center
Alec Cummins
Rendering courtesy of Cleveland Metroparks

Summer Camp Dining at the Beach Sunset Café feeds a lot of happy campers in Vermilion

Boasting sizable windows that overlook the rolling waves and ever-changing cloud formations over Lake Erie’s shoreline, the brand new Beulah Beach Sunset Café provides an idyllic setting for summer campers to enjoy their meals.

Situated at Beulah Beach Camp and Retreat Center, a Christian camp in Vermilion with overnight and day camps geared toward youth and families, the sparkling, spacious building delighted hundreds of campers and staff during its inaugural summer 2024 season. The facility will also be used throughout the year by retreat and special events participants.

“Our previous cafeteria was built in 1960, and it was great for the time,” says Jeremy Krauss, director of support services for Beulah Beach Camp and Retreat Center. “But we had outgrown it to the point that we were doing three breakfasts, three lunches and three dinners for 200 people each, so it was just not big enough for what we have grown to be.”

Currently being repurposed, the previous dining facility remains nearby on one of a group of parcels that combine to create an approximately 130-acre lakefront campus owned by the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church.

Inside & out

Built on what was approximately two acres of vacant land on the edge of a hill, Sunset Café features a wide patio with colorful Adirondack chairs and an existing picnic pavilion where people can enjoy observing the mercurial Lake Erie setting from an ideal lakefront overlook year-round.

Inside, the new, 12,800-square-foot facility includes a dining room that can seat 300 people at once, supported by a kitchen that accommodates approximately 50 staff members who prepare the meals. In all, the facility enables Beulah Beach to serve up to 600 campers in two seatings for the three meals.

“We wanted to make everything work well with the kitchen, and we had a restaurant equipment specialist on the team to help integrate the existing equipment with new equipment,” says Bob LaRosa, director of business development

for Strongsville-based J.L. Moore. Inc., which built the facility. “The client had also given us some photographs of other facilities they liked that they had toured that helped with the design.”

A lot of thought went into the placement of where to line the kids up as they are waiting to get into the serving and dining areas, LaRosa says. A long hallway

“The client was great to work with. They had a good sense of what they wanted, which made it easy from the beginning to design.”
Steve Moore J.L. Moore, Inc.

on the east side of the building starts inside the main entrance and enables the camp to line up children before meals.

The client also did not want children to have to carry food trays up and down stairs, which was another reason to keep everything on one floor. Double doors lead into the food area where the graband-go buffet section offers numerous food and beverage options.

To the east of the new building is a fully equipped playground and a multipurpose gym facility erected about 10 years ago.

Meeting the client’s budget

“Faith-based clients are always my favorite, but any client we get to work with directly adds another level of great interest for me,” says Steve Moore, president of J.L. Moore, Inc. “Personally, I have a lot of connections through my church to the place. It’s a place my kids have been.”

J.L. Moore submitted its first proposal for the design/build portion of the project in August 2022, LaRosa says. After that was approved, J.L. Moore hired Don Highlander, president at ConnectingSpaces LLC in Hudson, as the project architect. Highlander and J.L. Moore met with the client to understand their needs.

“They are a nonprofit organization, so we had to keep the project to a strict budget and keep it fairly simple but also very functional, and then take advantage of the views of Lake Erie,” says Highlander. “You can see from the site plans, we didn’t line the building up with

SERVING NEEDS Sunset Café, located at Beulah Beach Camp and Retreat Center in Vermilion, serves as a dining facility for hundreds of campers and staff during the summer. It will also be used throughout the rest of the year by retreat and special event participants.
Photo by Gavin Wild

INSIDE + OUT Sunset Café features a wide patio overlooking Lake Erie (top).

Inside, the new, 12,800-square-foot facility includes a dining room that can seat 300 people at once, supported by a kitchen that accommodates approximately 50 staff members who prepare the meals (bottom).

the road, Ohio Boulevard, but instead aligned it with Cedar Point to the northwest to orient the building toward the sunset views over the lake.”

Completed in time for camp season

J.L. Moore broke ground in August 2023 as soon as Beulah Beach Summer Campers exited for the season. The construction company wanted to have the maximum amount of time to erect the building in time for the next season to start when the camp’s busy season opened on May 1, 2024.

“We wanted to get out in front of the pre-engineered metal building portion of the building,” recalls Michael Gordon, director of construction, project manager for J.L. Moore. “So that was the first work that had to be submitted, reviewed and approved because of the lead time needed. We started at the right time of the year to get that done when they needed it.”

Special features include timber supports for the two canopies to give the entrances a “summer camp flare.” Inside the space, durable but easily cleanable and replaceable carpet squares were installed in recognition of the likelihood that kids carrying food sometimes make messes.

Additionally, Gordon explains that they worked directly with Iron City Structures, LLC, the pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) fabricator, and the structural engineer, Jeffrey Dennen, to ensure that the 85-foot-long folding partition that can be used to divide the dining room was safely and properly installed.

“The PEMB structure above the partition is not designed to carry that weight,” he says. “So, we needed to install the correct size columns at each end so that the I-beam could carry the weight without being welded to the structure above. When it’s in fully opened position, the weight is not pulling down on the roof system and is fully independent of the PEMB.”

Another special feature, and one that had to address the challenge of tight

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space, is the HVAC system installed in the mezzanine area. The systems are especially critical to serve the sizable commercial kitchen demands and compensate for the large glass wall facing the lake.

“We all know what Northeast Ohio winters are like,” says Mark Gregory, project superintendent for J.L. Moore. “What you don’t see are the design elements and mechanical equipment that it takes to keep that room comfortable when that glass gets cold. A lot of thought and effort went into designing and installing those elements and getting them up and running to make that room comfortable. That was a great effort to get that HVAC room right.”

Sunset in sight

“We had a lot of good subcontractors, and everybody worked well together on the building, and it all went very

smoothly,” Gordon says. “I can’t think of one item that was a hiccup that we weren’t able to resolve with one phone call or one email.”

LaRosa adds: “A lot of the credit goes to Beulah Beach and how easy and knowledgeable they were to work with.”

“The client was great to work with,” Moore says. “They had a good sense of what they wanted, which made it easy from the beginning to design.”

From his perspective, Krauss says there was a personal connection for a lot of the people involved. “Don specializes in designing churches and ministry buildings, while Steve grew up going to camps in the summer, and our kids go to the same school, so the connections were great,” he says. “They really wanted to do something special here with the ministry.”

Now, every day at the Sunset Café is just another day at the beach.

Photo
Aaron Duarte
Photo by Gavin
Wild

A Shore Thing

Working in partnership with SmithGroup, Cuyahoga County has taken a unique approach to solving this challenge, asking 3,800 landowners across six municipalities to grant easements for large-scale coastal improvements – including a new public lakefront trail – in exchange for erosion control, restoration and protective measures provided largely by government funds and grants.

This endeavor builds off the success of a similar SmithGroup-led project in nearby Euclid. In both locations, this unprecedented project delivery model is advancing coastal resilience initiatives that safeguard shorelines while ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, ability or socioeconomic factors, has equitable access to Lake Erie and its shores.

How’d we get here?

Until 2023, 78% of waterfront property in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County was privately owned and inaccessible to the public. Not only did privatization of land block public access to Lake Erie, it also left shoreline management and resilience issues to the discretion of individual landowners. This resulted in inconsistent, often ineffective restoration and repair solutions that, over decades, have not

resulted in improved coastal resilience nor equity.

Developed by SmithGroup in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission,

the Cuyahoga County Lakefront Public Access Plan (and subsequent related projects) facilitates large-scale climate resilience improvements along 30 miles of the Lake Erie shoreline and provides opportunities for lakefront access to a large number of low-to-moderate-income residents on the east side of Cleveland.

For the betterment of many

While this novel arrangement unburdens homeowners of the substantial costs and responsibilities attached to maintaining waterfront property, it also speaks to the community’s desire to achieve a greater, more altruistic objective – to ensure that everyone has equitable access to Lake Erie and its shores. The plan also deepens the public’s connection to the lake, a source of pride since the 1972 Clean Water Act

cleanup

TAKING SHAPE

The Cuyahoga County Lakefront Public Access Plan is an unprecedented public-private agreement that enables communities along the Lake Erie coast to restore and protect land, buildings and infrastructure while unburdening homeowners of the substantial costs and responsibilities attached to maintaining waterfront properties. The plan proposes a series of connections, such as trails and bike lanes, linking points of lakefront access and adapting to the varying conditions.

of the polluted waters that tarnished Cleveland’s image for decades.

The plan proposes a series of connections, such as trails and bike lanes, linking points of lakefront access and adapting to the varying conditions – and willingness of contiguous groups of landowners – that comprise the lakeshore. Several projects recommended in the plan have already been implemented, adding five miles of public trails, amenities and lakefront access within historically underserved and underinvested areas, including Lakewood Highland Bluffs, Euclid Beach Connector and Eastern Shoreline.

More improvements are planned, but this is far from one-size-fits-all work. The team is continuing to evaluate existing property conditions; each neighborhood requires customized solutions that benefit Cuyahoga County at large, yet also address the unique environmental factors impacting each and every waterfront parcel.

Big thinking sparks big results

In times of divisiveness and governmental distrust, it’s hard to comprehend that a large-scale coastal erosion crisis propelled many of the 3,800 individuals to unite and relinquish private properties to help advance a common objective – to transform Lake Erie’s waterfront into an equitable, inclusive place for all to enjoy. This unprecedented shift in mindset and vision has created an exciting new opportunity to disrupt the status quo and change how communities view and approach access and coastal resilience.

Jason Stangland, PLA, LEED AP, ASLA is waterfront director with SmithGroup. For more information, visit www.smithgroup.com.

Building Blocks

An inside look at mass masonry assemblies as resilient, sustainable + durable wall systems

Mass masonry assemblies comprise buildings in every city in the United States, many of them historic, or constructed 50 years ago or more. A mass masonry wall assembly is a load-bearing system that includes brick, stone, terra cotta and/or concrete masonry units. They are the oldest wall system known and will last for thousands of years with regular maintenance.

Load-bearing mass masonry walls are unreinforced multi-wythe assemblies that change in width as the wall gets higher. Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a wythe (w-eye-th) is a “continuous vertical section of masonry that is one unit in thickness,” and it is not uncommon for the foundations in these structures to be three to four feet in thickness, while the parapet is 16 inches thick.

Mass masonry was one of the most common types of walls constructed until the late 1800s when steel began being mass-produced in the United States, which gave way to a hybrid system of steel and masonry known as transitional masonry wall assemblies.

Both mass masonry and transitional wall assemblies are very different from

today’s modern cavity walls. Moisture management in cavity walls is achieved by a system that may include an air space or drainage plane, an air/

Mass masonry walls manage moisture by shedding bulk water at the surface and by absorbing, storing and releasing moisture over time through both the brick unit and the mortar joints.

vapor barrier, sealants and a flashing system that includes end dams, drip edge, sealants and weep vents. Mass masonry walls, however, manage moisture by shedding bulk water at the surface and by absorbing, storing and releasing moisture over time

through both the brick unit and the mortar joints.

Where modern cavity walls are anchored with adjustable ties that span the cavity to attach the veneer to the structure, mass walls are multiwythe walls tied together by masonry header units. A header is a unit placed perpendicular to the exterior plane of the wall (see Figure 1). In addition to tying the wythes together, headers have been used to create architectural features in masonry walls by using various bonding patterns. The most used were the English Bond, English Cross Bond, Flemish Bond and the Common or American Bond (Figure 2).

The mortar that was used in early masonry walls is different from today’s masonry cement. Up until the mid-19th

Figure 1: Stretcher & header
Figure 2: Masonry bonding patterns

MATERIAL DIFFERENCE Quite different than with mass masonry walls, moisture management in today’s modern cavity walls is achieved by a system that may include an air space or drainage plane, an air/vapor barrier, sealants and a flashing system, which includes end dams, drip edge, sealants and weep vents.

United States, it was added with ground limestone and hydrated lime that when added with sand produced mortar. Mortar is used to bond masonry units together and will range in compressive strength depending on the cement content in the mix design.

The most common repair or main tenance required on historic masonry buildings is repointing of the mortar joints. Repointing is defined as the pro cess of removing deteriorated mortar from the joints of a masonry wall, then replacing it with new mortar. There are several things that should be considered when undertaking a repointing cam paign but one of the most important would be to use a mortar that has a mix design that matches the existing mortar as closely as possible and is compatible with the masonry units.

The types of mortars we use today as described in ASTM C270 are M-SN-O-K with M having the highest

Project Profile: One Eagle Valley

Max & Associates renovates facility in Broadview Heights, adding dance studio + play café

Max & Associates Inc., a family-owned-and-operated commercial general contractor in Brecksville, was tasked with building an 8,000-square-foot dance studio (Creative Movement Center) and a combined 3,000-square-foot play café (Main Street Play and Café).

The project was originally set as a new build, but due to the condition of the desired land and soil doubling the proposed cost to build, efforts were redirected into renovating an existing, multi-use space at One Eagle Valley Court. Tenants at One Eagle Valley range from medical, recruiting, law and even a tennis club. The building’s exterior also includes a 25-meter short-course pool and four courts for sand volleyball. The challenge was to design and build the café and dance center in an existing space that formerly held a gym and indoor pool, along with a second-floor indoor track. Project discussion began in the summer of 2023, with a formal design kickoff in September of 2023. Challenges proved noteworthy from the start. Chlorine exposure from the former indoor pool had rusted all existing exposed steel and electrical conduits. In addition, existing sanitary lines proved necessary for an outside tie-in. Demolition of the track required

the removal of 16-foot I-beams. A dozen 40-yard dumpsters would haul away old construction debris.

An extension of the second floor was needed to acquire necessary square

footage. Soundproofing was also imperative due to the nature of the multi-use building and tenants. An existing entrance to the outdoor pool needed to be relocated. The space would require

KID-SIZED Main Street Play and Café features a spacious play area with life-size vignettes and a floor-to-ceiling mural, as well as a commercial kitchen, dining area and party space.

READY TO PERFORM The existing space (top), which formerly held a gym and indoor pool, was extensively renovated to accommodate the new play café and dance studio (bottom).

four commercial-sized HVAC units. The existing gym’s floor would leave behind such a strong adhesive when demoed that it required extensive grinding of the remaining concrete in order to install new flooring. Each dance studio also needed a custom sprung subfloor as well.

A sprinkler system, deemed necessary per city requirements, proved challenging getting sprinkler heads into existing ceilings that were to remain. Existing skylights, once roofed over years ago, were requested to be brought back to original use to provide desired lighting. In the café, a 20-foot by seven-foot-high opening had to be cut into an existing load-bearing CMU

The challenge was to design and build the café and dance center in an existing space that formerly held a gym and indoor pool, along with a second-floor indoor track.

wall, in order to open up seating. An old atrium, destined as the new cafe’s party room, had thermally broke storefront walls and ceiling, thus needing to be demoed and later incorporated into an above tenant’s concrete balcony. In the play area, a unique flooring combination of both rubber and carpeting were needed to create a realistic road and grass setting.

Max & Associates contracted area tradesmen, as well as a local muralist, for the job. Major cost-saving techniques were utilized. They reused certain walls, ceilings and doors when able. Two existing saunas were able to be transformed into bathrooms. An existing rooftop HVAC unit was incorporated. The company has its own carpentry division,

which was also used for most of the carpentry on this project.

With over 30 years of experience in renovating existing commercial spaces, Max & Associates transformed a very unlikely space into exactly what the client desired. The dance center is equipped with a front reception, four studios (including one with a 20-foothigh ceiling), two viewing areas, two offices, two bathrooms and one large

dressing room. The finished café features a commercial kitchen, large dining area, party space and boutique play area with life-size play vignettes and a floor-to-ceiling Cleveland mural. Max & Associates credits Pete Shokalook of Shokalook and Associates for the architectural design and prints. The project was completed on time in September of 2024 and within budget – a $1.5 million dollar renovation.

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Photo
Dan Holland

Preservation Projects Receive Financial Support

Department of Development awards historic tax credits to 11 area projects

Story & photos provided by Ohio Department of Development

This summer, the Ohio Department of Development announced that the state is supporting 35 projects to preserve dozens of historic buildings across Ohio. More than $68 million in tax credits will be awarded to 12 communities as part of the Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program.

The program, which provides financial incentives for the private redevelopment of historic buildings that are vacant and/or generate little economic activity, is highly competitive and receives applications bi-annually in March and September. With 32 rounds of funding complete, tax credits have been approved for 706 projects to rehabilitate more than 960 historic buildings in 91 different Ohio communities.

The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program is administered in partnership with the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office. Tax credits are issued once project construction is complete and all program requirements are verified.

“The rehabilitation of historic buildings through the program and federal historic tax-credit programs can revitalize main streets, help the environment – because nothing is greener than using what is already built – and create jobs, with the added bonus of preserving local history,” says Mariangela Pfister, department head and deputy state historic preservation officer for technical preservation services in the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office.

In total for the program’s 32nd round, $68,546,752 in tax credits will support the preservation of 43 buildings in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton, Newark, Toledo, Warren, Youngstown and Zanesville. The projects are expected to leverage approximately $691 million in private investments.

Among those, 11 projects are located in Northeast Ohio. (An asterisk denotes that a project has been awarded a tax

credit in a previous round and has reapplied for increased credits.)

Peoples – Evans Savings Bank

333-335 S. Main St., Akron, OH 44308

Total Project Costs: $6,158,080

Total Tax Credit: $1,500,000

The classical revival style structure was built in 1916 in downtown Akron’s Main-Exchange Historic District. It was the first high-rise building in the area. The nearly vacant building will be transformed into a mixed-use space, complete with a restaurant, conference space and 35 residential apartments on the upper floors. Much of the historic material will remain, such as the terrazzo and marble floors, wood trims

and doors, as well as the historic plaster ceilings, which will return to their original height.

1220 Old River Road

1220 Old River Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113

Total Project Costs: $19,215,721

Total Tax Credit: $1,919,000

Located in the Old River Road Historic District in Cleveland, this project will help revitalize the area along the Cuyahoga Riverfront. The Italianatestyle building was built in 1870 and used as the offices for a Great Lakes shipping chandler and marine supply store. The building is well preserved but has been vacant for a decade. A new waterfront restaurant and bar will fill the space and

Peoples – Evans Savings Bank

is part of a larger project that includes the development of adjacent greenspace and new construction.

Alcazar Hotel

2450 Derbyshire Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44106

Total Project Costs: $16,245,848

Total Tax Credit: $2,000,000

The Alcazar Hotel was built in 1923 as a residential apartment hotel, making it one of the earliest suburban hotels in the Cleveland area. Designed to resemble hotels constructed in St. Augustine, Florida, the hotel features a red tile roof with Spanish baroque details and Moorish tiles. It is set to be converted into 125 apartments. The first-floor lobby and historic public spaces will be preserved, and the majority of the renovation work will

focus on repairing the exterior masonry and ensuring that the interior meets current building safety codes.

The Electric Building

700 Prospect Ave. E., Cleveland, OH 44115

Total Project Costs: $46,420,000

Total Tax Credit: $4,050,000

This Neo-Classical, nine-story building in the Lower Prospect/Huron

Historic District in Cleveland was constructed in 1900 as office space. Its construction utilized new practices, allowing the building to rise higher than many other structures. The building will be rehabilitated to a mixed-use commercial and residential space, with 120 studio, one- and two-bedroom marketrate apartments. While the building has undergone modifications over the years, it retains historic pink marble and stairwells with marble floor landings that will

Alcazar Hotel

be preserved. The historic barrel-vaulted ceiling, taken down by the previous owner, will be replicated in the main floor lobby. Restoration of the historic appearance of the main and second-level storefront system will also occur.

Brennan – Hogan Co. Building

2061 Gehring Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113

Total Project Costs: $4,322,339

Total Tax Credit: $410,000

Located in Ohio City’s Market Square Historic District, the circa 1946 building, formerly known as the De Soto-Plymouth Car Dealership, is one of the last remaining landmark buildings in the district. Vacant for over a decade, the interior structure is in a state of disrepair. The historic preservation of the building will restore the historic storefront and masonry. After renovation, the site will be turned into a mixed-use

building with restaurants, commercial space and four residential units.

Heller – Keller – Kohn Buildings

2202-10, 2212-30 Superior Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114

Total Project Costs: $50,023,763

Total Tax Credit: $5,000,000*

The Electric Building
Brennan – Hogan Co. Building

Cleveland in the Superior Avenue Historic District: the Heller Building and the Keller-Kohn Building. Both were once associated with the area’s garment industry and housed manufacturing operations until the latter part of the 20th century. The rehabilitation plan calls for the buildings to be converted into 134 residential units, parking and some commercial spaces on the first floor.

2621 Lorain Avenue Building

2621 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44103

Total Project Costs: $1,525,000

Total Tax Credit: $250,000

Built in 1866, the Lorain Avenue Building operated as a residence and shoe retail space until 1887. It was later occupied by a bank, realty office, restaurant, art gallery and boutique. Located in the Lorain Avenue Historic District, the building will remain a mixed-used commercial space with eight market-rate residential units.

This project will involve the construction of five new residential units, as well as the repair and replacement of clapboard siding and windows at the front of the building.

YMCA Building

210 High St. NW, Warren, OH 44481

Total Project Costs: $18,799,572

Total Tax Credit: $2,000,000

The YMCA Building in Warren’s Commercial Historic District was constructed in 1928 and designed by local Warren architects in the Second Renaissance Revival style. What once boasted numerous amenities, such as lounges, a swimming pool, multiple locker rooms, club rooms, educational classrooms, a kitchen and grill, a gymnasium, multiple handball courts and 68 dormitory rooms, will be rehabilitated into 42 residential units. The project will restore some historic athletic facilities and reuse them for resident amenities, like the gym

and basketball court. Other work includes masonry repair and weatherization.

Mahoning National Bank

26 Market St., Youngstown, OH 44503

Total Project Costs: $12,954,724

Total Tax Credit: $2,000,000*

The Mahoning National Bank building, built in 1910, is located along historic Market Street in downtown Youngstown. This 13-story building will be rehabilitated into 71 residential units while maintaining commercial spaces on the first four floors. Historic wood paneling, decorative brass doors and Grecian-style marble will be preserved.

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church

1319 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44108

Total Project Costs: $9,040,772

Total Tax Credit: $2,000,000*

The St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, built in the late Gothic Revival style in

Heller – Keller – Kohn Buildings
Mahoning National Bank
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church
2621 Lorain Avenue Building
YMCA Building

1912, was home to three different church communities before it was vacated in 2014. The current owners plan to use the rehabilitated building for their offices, community-focused events and meeting spaces. Work will include extensive repairs to historic features of the stone building, stained glass windows and a staircase.

Young Women’s Christian Association

146 S. High St., Akron, OH 44308

Total Project Costs: $31,752,725

Total Tax Credit: $3,143,834

This 10-story building in downtown Akron was constructed by a National Young Women’s Christian Association branch to provide assembly and athletic facilities for young women. Owned by the YWCA until 1982, it contained a large auditorium, chapel, gym, swimming pool, locker area, lounge and club spaces. It was later sold and converted into office space and eventually vacated. The rehab project will create 114 apartments, with plans to repair all masonry work-ins, install tall new historically compatible windows and retain all historic decorative plaster ceilings where they remain.

Ohio’s Department of Development and the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office are now reviewing and processing applications for Round 33, with award announcements anticipated this December. For information on the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program and details on upcoming Round 34 applications, visit development.ohio.gov.

Cleveland Chemical Pest Control

Young Women’s Christian Association

LEGAL PERSPECTIVES

Navigating property laws & regulations

Mitigating Impact of Hidden Risks Behind the Walls

It’s no secret that the pandemic caused sizable rifts within the construction industry, ranging from labor and material shortages to extensive delays. While the industry as a whole has roughly rebounded and more projects are making it past the drawing board, the nature of these projects themselves has also changed.

Now, more than ever before, project owners are electing to forgo new builds and instead choosing to restore or renovate existing properties.

Benefits of renovation/restoration

A renovation or restoration project rather than a new build offers several enticing benefits to a project owner. For one, a renovation of an existing structure can often be cost-efficient as the upfront costs to perform the work are generally less than to build an entirely new structure. In addition to cost effi ciency, rehabbing or restoring an older property can result in the resurrection of the building’s original character or charm

that is often lost in new builds. Third, a renovation or restoration project is usually completed faster than new builds as the existing structure and foundation are already in place. Finally, restoring an existing property eliminates the challenges of locating available spaces suitable for a new build that may not exist. All of these factors certainly paint a pretty picture for a prospective owner; however, these projects are not without risks and, if ignored, can often cause an owner or contractor more problems than a new build.

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toration project are unknown conditions behind the walls. These distressed or dated structures have borne significant wear-and-tear stress throughout their prior use. It’s impossible for an owner to fully contemplate these risks prior to construction as, in most cases, they are latent or hidden behind the walls.

The most common of these unknown or unforeseen conditions include, with out limitation, asbestos and/or lead paint; cracks in the foundation; HVAC deficiencies; electrical failures; water infiltration; violations of building codes

The largest risk that an owner and contractor faces on a renovation or restoration project are unknown conditions behind the walls. These distressed or dated structures have borne significant wear-and-tear stress throughout their prior use. It’s impossible for an owner to fully contemplate these risks prior to construction as, in most cases, they are latent or hidden behind the walls.

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enacted after the structure was built; plumbing inadequacies; pest or rodent infestations; and defective workmanship.

Mitigating unknown risks + unforeseen conditions

The best time for an owner or contractor to protect themselves against the damaging impacts an unforeseen risk can cause is at the outset of the project when the contracts are being negotiated. A well-drafted contract should contemplate the potential for the existence of an unforeseen or unknown condition and provide mechanisms to alleviate the impact of that condition.

Construction contingency allowance

A contingency allowance built into the budget is a predetermined amount or

Efficient Energy

With district energy, customers control how much heating or cooling they need so you only pay for what you use.

percentage of the contract value that is dedicated for compensating the contractor for unknown conditions or changes in the project that were not foreseen at the time of contracting. The money is essentially a reserve for the contractor that can be tapped into by a contractor in the event of an unforeseen condition or material change in the project. Any unused funds in the contingency that remain at the end of the project are either returned to the owner or split between the parties, depending on the terms of the contract. The creation of a construction con tingency provides the contractor with the necessary flexibility to efficiently manage the discovery of an unknown or unforeseen site condition.

Preconstruction services

It’s impossible to completely shield against the unknown. For this reason, owners and contractors need to act

mented and followed to mitigate the impact that these unknown conditions can cause.

By performing preconstruction services, the construction manager and owner can identify and document areas of concerns within the existing structure, which is crucial to ensure that the parties all have realistic project expectations and can prioritize any documents concerns from the start.

Andrew (“Drew”) Hanna, associate with Frantz Ward LLP, focuses his practice in the areas of construction law and related litigation. He represents construction owners, managers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, materials-and-equipment manufacturers, design professionals and surety companies. He assists construction professionals in all aspects of the construction

True to name, preconstruction ser vices are frequently provided by the construction manager before the com mencement of construction. This method reflects a modern shift in proj ect delivery in which the owner brings in a contractor early on to evaluate all facets of the project. These services include project evaluation, constructa bility reviews, cost/budget estimating, schematic designs, engineering and site analysis. By performing preconstruction services, the construction manager and owner can identify and document areas of concerns within the existing struc ture, which is crucial to ensure that the parties all have realistic project expecta tions and can prioritize any documents concerns from the start.

Insurance

Requiring the parties to have ade quate insurance policies and coverage while the project is being constructed can mitigate the impact of an unknown or unforeseen condition. Common policies that the parties should con sider include builder risk policies, commercial general liability policies, professional liability, inland marine and construction bonds.

Contractors

ACAR CORNER

Issues in the real estate industry

Survey Shows Pets’ Impact on Remodeling Choices

Commercial real estate professionals are figuring out ways to showcase pet-friendly property features to attract consumers. There are more American households with pets than children, and studies show that home buyers’ furry friends increasingly influence the type of remodeling project buyers choose. Real estate professionals need to be tuned in to the needs of their clients’ pets.

“Whether selecting pet-friendly materials or incorporating built-in feeding stations and cozy nooks, homeowners are designing spaces that prioritize the needs of all family members, including pets,” says Marine Sargsyan, an economist at Houzz, a home remodeling website. “This highlights the important role pets play in shaping how people invest in and customize their homes.”

Nearly 80% of consumers say that if they saw signs of a pet in a home, it wouldn’t deter them from making an offer as long as there was no damage to the property, according to a recent survey conducted by Quicken Loans. Two in 10 people even said a pet-friendly home would make them want to increase their offer.

Judging pet appeal

Sixty-six percent of American households own a pet, according to the

American Pet Products Association. And about one-fifth of recent home buyers said they considered their pet when deciding what neighborhood to live in, according to research from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

An entire residential design movement, called “barkitecture,” has been inspired by pets. The style centers around incorporating pet-friendly features throughout the residence, from washing stations to discreet food and watering stations incorporated into kitchen islands.

About half of homeowners say they prioritized pets in their decisionmaking process when upgrading their home, according to the newly released 2024 Houzz Pets & Home Report. The most common considerations include choosing pet-friendly materials and a design or functionality specific to

MARK VITTARDI

their pet, such as an animal bed or feeding station.

Common projects for remodeling petowners include:

Flooring

Scratch-resistant and hardy flooring may be a priority. Common pet-friendly options include laminate, tile and vinyl. Laminate floors, which can resemble hardwood, can come with added protection against claw marks, according to tip sheets from National Floors Direct.

Landscaping

About 34% of pet-owning renovators say they upgraded their landscaping specifically with their pets in mind, the Houzz survey finds.

Custom areas

Nearly one in 10 homeowners prioritize custom feeding stations and outdoor enclosures for their pets, even adding “catios,” or outdoor patios for cats. Some homeowners also add sleeping or relaxation areas, grooming stations and play structures for their pets’ enjoyment.

A few pet peeves

Pets aren’t perfect. Nearly three quarters of pet owners say they’ve had to replace a household item because their pets damaged it. Carpets and rugs were the most replaced items, followed by furniture, bedding and door frame replacements, according to the Houzz survey.

Also, homeowners acknowledge that pet messes happen, saying their biggest pet-related challenge at home is an abundance of fur and hair, followed by dirt, mud and other outdoor items being tracked into the home. More than a quarter say organizing and storing petrelated items is a challenge to keeping the home clean.

NAR REALTOR Magazine. For more info, visit www.akronclevelandrealtors.com.

NAIOP

Leveraging Innovation to Support Preservation

Preserving historic buildings is a complex task that requires both an appreciation for architectural heritage and a commitment to modern engineering solutions. Each project presents a unique challenge: how to update a building’s systems to meet today’s standards without compromising its historical integrity.

In every preservation project, innovation plays a key role in bridging the gap between the past and the present.

Understanding the building

Each preservation project begins with a thorough investigation of the building’s history and current condition. The historic features must be maintained, and the existing structure becomes the foundation upon which new systems are integrated. A comprehensive assessment of the building allows engineers to identify potential challenges early in the design process.

This analysis helps pinpoint the critical areas, guiding the team in determining where the systems need to be

placed. Through close collaboration and early involvement of all stakeholders, alternative routes are found to warrant the building’s functional and historical needs are satisfied.

Catalyst for revitalization

Preserving historic buildings can be the key to revitalizing communities, especially in emerging neighborhoods. By restoring architectural landmarks, communities can attract new investment, create economic opportunities and celebrate their heritage. Historic buildings become the foundation for neighborhood renewal, helping reshape identities and breathe new life into forgotten spaces.

RAYMOND HOON

Historic tax credits play a crucial role in bringing projects to life. They provide vital financial support, often bridging the gap between a building being left to decay and transforming it into a revitalized community asset. These tax credits encourage developers to invest in preservation, aligning it with broader economic development goals.

Innovative solutions

One of the primary hurdles in historic preservation is modernizing a building without altering its defining features. This is where innovation is essential. From HVAC systems to electrical infrastructure, it’s essential to find ways to

Preserving historic buildings can be the key to revitalizing communities, especially in emerging neighborhoods. By restoring architectural landmarks, communities can attract new investment, create economic opportunities and celebrate their heritage.

incorporate new technology into existing frameworks.

By using systems like water-source heat pumps or variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems, buildings have been brought up to modern performance standards without detracting from their original design.

In addition to these upgrades, technologies like BIM (building information modeling) enable the creation of detailed plans that respect the building’s historic integrity. The combination of cuttingedge technology with thoughtful design addresses preservation challenges while maintaining the unique character of these irreplaceable structures.

Advantages of local expertise

Preserving a historical building requires a deep understanding of local architectural history and regulatory

environments. Local firms offer a unique advantage, as they are familiar with regional building codes and historical preservation guidelines.

By working closely with local preservation boards and historic commissions, valuable insights are gained into the original design, ensuring solutions align with historic tax credits

or financing conditions. This collaborative approach ensures the building retains its original appearance while meeting modern requirements.

Successful preservation relies on collaboration between local architects, contractors and a preservation specialist. Each stakeholder offers a distinct perspective, helping preserve the historical

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significance and functional performance of the building.

Innovating for preservation’s future

The future of preservation will continue to be shaped by sustainable and energy-efficient technologies. These advancements need to be integrated without sacrificing the historical elements that make these buildings special.

At Hahn Loeser, our Construction Team was listed for the fifth year in a row in Construction Executive Magazine’s Top 50 Construction Law Firms. Further, we are ranked as a National Tier 1 practice for Litigation – Construction in the 2024 “Best Law Firms” report by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® and our attorneys are recognized as industry leaders by Chambers USA®, Best Lawyers® and Super Lawyers®

We offer our clients exceptional strength, leadership and industry knowledge. Our responsive team of hardworking professionals is committed to seeking outstanding results for our clients around the corner and across the country.

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Innovative techniques, such as hidden mechanical systems or minimally invasive installation methods, help maintain a building’s character while achieving sustainability goals. Tools like energy modeling and smart building technologies offer new opportunities to optimize building performance without comprising its historic value.

Ultimately, the future of preservation lies in the ability to harmonize the old with the new. As sustainability becomes increasingly important, preservation projects must evolve to address environmental concerns while remaining true to the craftsmanship and design of the past.

Merging innovation & preservation

Preserving historical buildings requires a careful blend of innovation and tradition. By leveraging modern solutions and drawing on local expertise, spaces can be created that honor the past while meeting the needs of the present. This commitment to preservation ensures these landmarks remain a vibrant part of communities for generations to come.

As historic preservation continues to evolve, the role of engineers is even more critical. With advancements in sustainable design, energy efficiency and smart building systems, engineers can push the boundaries of what’s possible in preservation. By staying at the forefront of these technologies, it is possible to safeguard both the cultural significance and the long-term functionality of historic structures, ensuring they remain part of the architectural landscape for generations to come.

Raymond P. Hoon, PE, LEED AP BD+C, is a principal with Karpinski Engineering (www. karpinskieng.com). Visit NAIOP Northern Ohio online at www.naiopnorthernohio.com.

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS REPORT

Updated info on important projects in the region, provided courtesy of ConstructionWire (www.constructionwire.com)

Project: #3339054

COPLEY HIGH SCHOOL RENOVATIONS

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Schools (K-12)/Athletic Facilities (25,000-49,999 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: Renovation

ESTIMATED VALUE: $5-$25 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 3807 Ridgewood Rd. Copley, OH 44321

DETAILS: Plans call for the renovation of Copley High School. The project will incorporate a new fieldhouse, stadium renovations, new home and visitor bleachers, a new track, locker-room upgrades, auditorium upgrades, kitchen and cafeteria renovations and security upgrades.

Estimated Schedule (as of 8/15/2024)

STAGE: Early Construction

CONSTRUCTION START: 6/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q4/2024

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER: Copley-Fairlawn City School District

Contact: Brian E. Poe, Superintendent Brian.Poe@copley-fairlawn.org

3807 Ridgewood Rd. Copley, OH 44321

P: 330-664-4800

GC: Infinity Construction 18440 Cranwood Pkwy. Warrensville Heights, OH 44128

P: 216-663-3777

F: 216-663-3778

WINTERGREEN LEDGES

Project: #3687668

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Multifamily (120 units), Social (2,500 sq-ft), Athletic Facilities (< 10,000 sq-ft), Office (< 10,000 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $19 million

SECTOR: Private, Public

LOCATION: 1841 Vernon Odom Blvd. Akron, OH 44320

DETAILS: Plans call for the construction of a residential development with 120 workforce housing units across 10 three-story buildings. There will be 60 one-bedroom and 60 two-bedroom units. Amenities include a community room, fitness center and office.

Estimated Schedule (as of 8/20/2024)

STAGE: Planning

CONSTRUCTION END: N/A

BID DUE DATE: N/A

DEVELOPER, GC, OWNER: Tober Building Company

Contact: Todd Tober, President ttober@toberbuilding.com

3351 Brecksville Rd. Richfield, OH 44286

P: 330-659-0598

ARCHITECT: The Hecky Group

Contact: Larry Hecky, Principal 122 Broad Blvd., 2nd floor Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221

P: 234-571-0030

PROPERTY MANAGER: The Orlean Company 23925 Commerce Park Beachwood, OH 44122

P: 216-514-4994

Project: #3408476

CLEVELAND CLINIC GLOBAL PEAK PERFORMANCE CENTER

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Athletic Facilities (210,000 sq-ft), Medical

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $80 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: Canal Rd. beside the Cuyahoga River Cleveland, OH 44113

DETAILS: Plans call for the construction of a more than 210,000-square-foot sports performance center and training facility

that will anchor the Bedrock Riverfront Development. The facility, a joint-venture between Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Cavaliers, will offer personalized expertise in training, treatment, nutrition and recovery from Cleveland Clinic’s professional medical specialists.

Estimated Schedule (as of 9/26/2024)

STAGE: Starts in 4-12 months

CONSTRUCTION START: 3/2025

CONSTRUCTION END: Q4/2027

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER: City of Cleveland (OH) 601 Lakeside Ave. Cleveland, OH 44114

DEVELOPER: Bedrock Detroit

630 Woodward Ave. Detroit, MI 48226

P: 313-373-8700

ARCHITECT: Populous

Contact: Jonathan Mallie, Senior Principal jonathan.mallie@populous.com

4800 Main St., Ste. 300 Kansas City, MO 64112

P: 816-221-1500

TENANT The Cleveland Clinic 200 Southeast Hospital Ave. Stuart, FL 34994

P: 772-287-5200

TENANT: Cleveland Cavaliers 1 Center Court Cleveland, OH 44115

P: 216-420-2000

GC: Whiting-Turner

Contact: Mark Kilpeck, Project Manager mark.kilpeck@whiting-turner.com 1001 Lakeside Ave., Ste. 100 Cleveland, OH 44114 P: 440-449-9200

Project: #3699479

CWRU DENTAL BUILDING GROUND FLOOR FITOUT

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Office/Universities/Colleges (21,930 sq-ft), Medical

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: Renovation

ESTIMATED VALUE: $1-$5 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 2124 Cornell Rd. Cleveland, OH 44106

DETAILS: Plans call for the renovation of a 21,930-square-foot space on the ground floor of the School of Dental Medicine Research Building to provide offices, meeting rooms and support areas.

Estimated Schedule (as of 9/20/2024)

STAGE: Starts in 1-3 months

CONSTRUCTION START: 11/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q2/2025

BID DUE DATE: N/A

Mike Hicks President

OWNER: Case Western Reserve University

Contact: Joanne Brown, Assistant Director of Planning, Design & Construction

jsb124@case.edu

10900 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH 44106

Planning Design and Construction

P: 216-368-8622

ARCHITECT: Perspectus Architecture

Contact: Amie Rini, Sr. Project Director arini@perspectus.com

13212 Shaker Square, Ste. 204 Cleveland, OH 44120

P: 216-752-1800

MECHANICAL ENGINEER: Heapy Engineering

Contact: Paul Trentanelli, Project Manager

pmtrentanelli@heapy.com

1422 Euclid Ave., Ste. 1162 Cleveland, OH 44115

P: 216-862-5846

Project: #3685657

NEW HOSPICE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Medical

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $12 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 18245 Lakeshore Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44119

DETAILS: Plans call for the construction of a hospice center for Hospice Of The Western Reserve. Estimated Schedule (as of 8/22/2024)

STAGE: Groundbreaking

CONSTRUCTION START: 9/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q2/2025

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER: Western Reserve Care Solutions

Contact: Bill Finn, President BFinn@HospiceWR.org

17876 St. Clair Ave. Cleveland, OH 44110

P: 216-430-2800

ARCHITECT: E4H Architecture

Contact: Evan Champagne, Project Manager evan.champagne@e4harchitecture.com 129th South St., 2nd Flr. Boston, MA 02111

P: 617-772-0260

CONSULTANT: Harlan+Associates

Contact: Eric Greenberg, Project Manager egreenberg@siteconsult.com 3601 Green Rd. Beachwood, OH 44122

P: 216-245-6227

STOKES WEST

LOCATION: 10723 Cedar Ave. Cleveland, OH 44106

DETAILS: Plans call for a mixed-use development on 2.2 acres. The project will include the construction of a seven-story, 150,000-square-foot building with 261 affordable apartments including oneand two-bedroom units and furnished studios, and with a fitness center and co-working space.

Estimated Schedule (as of 7/22/2024)

STAGE: Construction

CONSTRUCTION START: 3/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q1/2025

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER: University Circle Inc. (UCI)

Contact: Elise Yablonsky, Senior Director of Communications

Elise.Yablonsky@universitycircle.org 10831 Magnolia Dr. Cleveland, OH 44106

P: 216-791-3900

ARCHITECT: LDA Architecture & Interiors

Contact: Steve Jennings, Senior Principal The Offices at the Agora 5000 Euclid Ave., Ste. 104 Cleveland, OH 44103

P: 216-539-5326

DEVELOPER: Brent Zimmerman

Contact: Brent Zimmerman, Owner 1481 Lindazzo Ave. Cleveland, OH 44114

P: 419-483-5113

OWNER, PROPERTY MANAGER: ACRE

Contact: Jeff Goldstein, Development Manager

jeff@acremgt.com

670 Dekalb Ave., 100 Atlanta, GA 30312

Atlanta Office

GC: Geis Companies

Contact: Brandon Kline, VP of Design brandon@geisco.net

10020 Aurora Hudson Rd. Streetsboro, OH 44241

P: 330-528-3500

Project: #3246657

SAINTS PETER AND GEORGE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Office/Schools (K-12) (9,800 sq-ft), Athletic Facilities (10,200 sq-ft), Religious Facilities (11,550 sq-ft), Cultural (14,250 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $5-$25 million

SECTOR: Public

Project: #3285320

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Multifamily (261 units), Office (< 10,000 sq-ft), Athletic Facilities (< 10,000 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $23 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 25796 Hilliard Blvd. Westlake, OH 44145

DETAILS: Plans call for the construction of a new building totaling 45,800-squarefoot on 5.89 acres. The plan includes a 11,550-square-foot church with 450 seating capacity, a 14,250-square-foot social hall with 400 seating capacity, a

10,200-square-foot gymnasium with 150 seating capacity, and a two-story classroom wing with nine classrooms and an office covering 9,800-square-foot.

Estimated Schedule (as of 9/18/2024)

STAGE: Starts in 1-3 months

CONSTRUCTION START: 10/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q2/2025

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER, TENANT: Sts. Peter and George Coptic Orthodox Church 25800 Hilliard Blvd. Westlake, OH 44145

P: 440-558-8732

ARCHITECT: Meraki Architects, LLC

Contact: Richard Jozity, Principal rjozity@meraki-arch.com

6887 Smith Rd., Ste. # 5 Cleveland, OH 44130 P: 440-783-4290

GC: North Coast Design Build 4205 E. Lake Rd. Sheffield Lake, OH 44054 P: 440-653-5191

Project: #3679438

SOLON LIBRARY EXPANSION

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Libraries (4,000 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: Addition/Expansion

ESTIMATED VALUE: $7 million

SECTOR: Public

LOCATION: 34125 Portz Pkwy.

Solon, OH 44139

DETAILS: Plans call for a 4,000-square-foot expansion of the Solon Library, which includes construction of the Solon Innovation Center.

Estimated Schedule (as of 8/19/2024)

STAGE: Construction

CONSTRUCTION START: 5/2024

CONSTRUCTION END: Q1/2025

BID DUE DATE: N/A

OWNER: Cuyahoga County (OH)

Contact: Tracy R. Strobel, Cuyahoga County Public Library Chief Executive Officer tstrobel@cuyahogalibrary.org 2111 Snow Rd. Parma, OH 44134 P: 216-749-9420

ARCHITECT: CBLH Design Inc.

Contact: Marc Bittinger, Principal mbittinger@cblhdesign.com 7850 Freeway Circle Middleburg Heights, OH 44130

P: 440-243-2000

GC: Infinity Construction

Contact: Jeff Young, Sr. Project Manager jyoung@infinityconstruction.com

18440 Cranwood Pkwy. Warrensville Heights, OH 44128 P: 216-663-3777

Project: #3697115

920 WEST OSBORNE STREET CONVERSION

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Multifamily (< 50 units), Social (< 10,000 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: Renovation

ESTIMATED VALUE: $1-$5 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 920 W. Osborne St. Sandusky, OH 44870

DETAILS: Plans call for the conversion and renovation of the existing Osborne School building into an affordable senior housing development. There will be a

minimum of 20 living units. Units will be one and two bedrooms and age restricted to 55 and older. There will be an interior common room to host wrap-around services such as healthcare consultation for residents.

Estimated Schedule (as of 9/19/2024)

STAGE: Starts in 4-12 months

CONSTRUCTION START: 6/2025

CONSTRUCTION END: Q2/2026

BID DUE DATE: N/A

DEVELOPER: Praxia Partners

Contact: Laura Recchie, COO laura@praxia-partners.com

3758 Lancaster Rd. Granville, OH 43023 P: 614-216-4377

ARCHITECT: Moody-Nolan, Inc. 1621 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH 44115 Cleveland Office P: 216-432-0696

3663 PARK EAST

Project: #3346211

DRIVE REDEVELOPMENT

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Multifamily (414 units), Retail/ Office/Restaurants (10,000-24,999 sq-ft), Parking Structures

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $200 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 3663 Park East Dr. Beachwood, OH 44122

DETAILS: Plans call for the demolition of an existing hotel and the construction of a 568,000-square-foot mixed-use development with retail space, an office building, underground/garage parking, and four apartment buildings totaling 414 units.

Estimated Schedule (as of 8/20/2024)

STAGE: Planning

CONSTRUCTION END: N/A

BID DUE DATE: N/A

DEVELOPER, OWNER: My Place

Chad Kertesz, Owner 3210 Sulgrave Rd. Beachwood, OH 44122

P: 216-292-5767

BARRY BUICK MIXED-USE

Project: #3448479

PROJECT TYPE/SIZE: Multifamily (151-250 units), Retail/Office (< 10,000 sq-ft)

CONSTRUCTION TYPE: New

ESTIMATED VALUE: $23 million

SECTOR: Private

LOCATION: 16000 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107

DETAILS: Plans call for the construction of more than 160 apartments and commercial space in a mixed-use building.

Estimated Schedule (as of 9/5/2024)

STAGE: Starts in 4-12 months

CONSTRUCTION START: 1/2025

CONSTRUCTION END: Q1/2026

BID DUE DATE: N/A

DEVELOPER: NewBrook Partners

Contact: Guy Totino, Principal guy@newbrookpartners.com

North Ridge Annex, Ste. E 20033 Detroit Rd. Cleveland, OH 44116

Construction project reports are provided with permission through ConstructionWire, courtesy of BuildCentral (www.buildcentral.com).

BuildCentral specializes in planned construction project leads and location analytics for CRE, hotel, multi-family/single-family, medical, mining & energy, and retail construction spaces. Properties Magazine makes no warranty of any kind for this information, express or implied, and is not responsible for any omissions or inaccuracies. To notify Properties of any reporting errors, we encourage you to email cpr@propertiesmag.com.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code. Title of publication: Properties Magazine. Frequency of issue: monthly (12 per year). Annual subscription price $30. Company mailing address: 8305 Chesterfield Ave., Parma, OH 44129-1813. Publication owner: Jeff Johnson, 7767 Elm Creek Blvd. N, Ste. 210, Maple Grove, MN 55369-7033, Publisher: Lisa Larissey, 8305 Chesterfield Ave., Parma, OH 44129-1813, Editor-in-Chief: Mark Watt, 719 Park Ave., Kent OH 44240-2233. The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months. Average for each issue during the past 12 months: total copies printed, 5,620; total paid and/or requested circulation, 5,490; free distribution, 83; total distribution, 5,573; copies not distributed, 47. For September 2024: total copies printed, 5,603; total paid and/or requested circulation, 5,487; free distribution, 83; total distribution, 5,570; copies not distributed, 33. –Lisa Larissey, Publisher

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Spiral Ductwork

Self-sealing gasketed single wall & double wall spiral pipe, fittings and registers, creating a clean consistent look.

CO/NO2 Monitoring

Gas and Diesel engine exhaust detection.

Exhaust Extraction Systems

High temperature, high quality vehicle exhaust and fume extraction systems including spring hose reels, motorized hose reels, underfloor and rail systems, source capture arms, and more.

Exhaust Fans & Make-Up Air Units and HVLS Fans

Air movement products (fans and blowers) can draw fresh, outdoor air and circulate air throughout a space and can exhaust contaminated air and fumes from a building.

HVLS (High Volume Low Speed) Fans address air circulation in vast industrial spaces and displace stagnant air, ensuring a consistent temperature throughout the area. Great for technicians comfort.

Pictured: Performance Toyota Dealership - Columbus, Ohio

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