The planned complex, on the corner of Hough Avenue and Ansel Road, just west of E. 105th Street and Rockefeller Park, will include studios, one- and two-bedroom units. It is anticipated that students at Case Western Reserve will be among the primary tenants.
The complex will be built on what is now Orr Park, and the city plans to build a new public park using proceeds from the sale (~$580,000) and an additional donation from the developer, Signet Real Estate (~$300,000). Among other projects, Signet developed Canal Park Stadium, home of the Akron Rubber Ducks.
But Signet won’t be purchasing the land outright. They’ve agreed to a long-term lease with the New Village Corporation, a subsidiary of the community development corporation Cleveland Neighborhood Progress that facilitates complex real estate transactions with public and private partners. New Village Corporation will make the payment using proceeds from that lease, and will use additional funds to create a neighborhood land trust, controlled by a community board of Hough residents, for the development of other real estate projects.
Ward 7 Councilman Basheer Jones told Scene Tuesday that while the land trust idea was still in its “infant stage,” the partnership with Signet and the development of the land trust were exactly the sort of achievements he’s most proud of and excited about as a first-term councilman.
“The most important thing for me is that our land is our wealth,” Jones said. “For any community, the wealth comes from the land and the people, and we have to maintain a sense of control over it.”
Jones said that while Signet is devoting additional resources and setting aside shares for community investments in the apartment complex, they stand a very good chance of recouping their investment.
“Ward 7 is one of the hottest areas for development right now,” he said. “Hough Avenue. Chester Avenue. [Signet] wouldn’t invest without knowing they could make their money back. It’s right down the block from Case. It’s a perfect place for them.”
Jones said that the Hough Community Land Trust is being financially supported by the Cleveland Foundation and guided by a national consultancy.
“The idea is to partner with developers so that the community makes money from new projects,” he said. “Grandma Johnson should always be able to get her roof fixed. Grandma Jones should always be able to get her porch fixed. This is an economic vessel that will allow us to create opportunity, so that no matter who’s the councilman, no matter who’s the mayor, no matter who’s the president, the people of Ward 7 will benefit.”
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This article appears in Mar 21-24, 2019.
Sounds like the community got sold out by this city government and further “ghettoized” by forcing the community members into a smaller footprint of the community. This new building does less to bridge the neighborhood to case but rather allows case and university circle to push into the neighborhood pushing the neighborhood further into a ghetto in itself.
Old saying from the Sixties: “Urban renewal means Negro removal…” Same stuff, different decade.
And, if Taxin Jackson and any of the other nefarious Cleveland council are involved, one can be sure they all have their hand in the pies too, and will benefit from kickbacks and developer handouts!!!
The PD said it is a rent by the bed arrangement. Sounds like a flop house. Who rents apartments by the bed? Do you have to live with a stranger if you dont rent all beds in a unit? Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
give those living in Hough free tuition to Case
Studios and, one- and two-bedroom units are apartments, not dorms. “Rent by the bed?” Who makes this shit up? Probably you did. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Go back and read it again…that makes no sense at all. it’s an apartment building for students, not a goddam Youth Hostel.
According to the PD–“The building will have about 160 units and more than 200 beds. It will be marketed to college students, who will lease space by the bed,”
Stupid PD asshats have laid off too many copy editors…it should be “WITH” more than 200 beds.
Obviously, these are independent and separate suites, not dorm rooms. The studios will have space for one bed, the 1 BR units would have room for one or two, and the 2-BR units would have space for two, three, or even four beds. And instead of renting by the number of rooms or by the amount of square footage, the rental rate would be based on occupancy…hence the “by the bed”…but the”WITH” makes all the difference.
I have never heard of doing it this way before, but when I went to college, we were not allowed anything in a 2-person dorm room but a radio, a clock, and a record player. And an ashtray, because everybody smoked. No cooking facilities, hotplates, fridges, TVs, or anything else. Including sex. One pay phone for a whole damn floor. And we walked for miles in the snow to buy our weed. Uphill. Both ways. in the snow.
So what the hell do I know?
Renting by the bed is a common trend is student housing. It means that the leaseholder is only paying rent for their bedroom and not liable for the cost of the entire apartment if their roommate graduates, transfers or what ever else. That does mean you can end sharing common space with someone you don’t know but it often is a huge savings.
A huge savings, but at what cost? Your psychological well-being? College is tough enough, academically and socially, when a student shares a space with someone you DO know. Willingly sharing a space with a stranger is a recipe for disaster, especially if you end up with some lowlife or thug or skank or some party-hearty weed-head moron who shouldn’t even be in college in the first place.
Get some shmuck like that sharing your common space and all you’ll be doing is sleeping there, if they even let you get any sleep. You’ll be spending all your non-classroom time elsewhere, in the library or the student union or somebody else’s living space, until they kick you out. Yeah, you’ll save money, but you’ll be a physical and mental wreck. You call that college life? I call it a living hell! Good luck with that noise!