Construction Begins on Five-Story, 240 Unit Apartment Building Near Cleveland’s West Side Market

This article is originally from cleveland.com by Eric Heisig on January 13, 2021.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Construction is underway for a $65 million apartment building near the West Side Market that will add 241 apartments to the city of Cleveland.

Workers with Marous Brothers Construction broke ground last month for Waterford Bluffs, a building that will sit on a 75-foot high bluff at the western end of the Hope Memorial Bridge at Lorain Avenue and West 20th Street in the Duck Island area of Cleveland, according to a news release sent Wednesday by Stoneleigh Cos. The suburban Chicago-based developer aims to finish the building by late next year.

The apartments will range from 445 to 1,055 square-foot units, going from micro apartments to two-bedroom spaces. The release boasts that the building will have numerous amenities as well as the views residents will have of the West Side Market and the city as a whole.

Those amenities include an outdoor dog run, “Zoom rooms” for video conferencing and a street-level storage and repair facility for bicycles. The project’s location capitalizes on the future Lorain Avenue Cycle Track, a two-way bike path separated from traffic, and it is close to the Towpath Trail and the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail.

Stoneleigh bought the parcel, which is more than three acres large, from Brickhaus Integrity Ohio City LLC in March for $7.6 million. Cleveland architecture firm Vocon designed the building.

Cleveland City Council in October passed legislation approving a 30-year tax-increment-financing deal for the building. The project qualifies for a 15-year tax abatement on revenues. The special tax designation will kick in after the abatement expires, though it does not affect taxes that go toward Cleveland schools.