“It kind of felt like we got smacked in the head with (moving),” said Rosenbluth, who started LEI fourteen years ago with programming director Cynthia Larsen and hosted hundreds of programs a year in the former school building. “It was like Covid. It was kind of like, ‘OK, you’re going to have to do it this way.’”
LEI had to move because the Cleveland Heights-University Heights public library, which owns the former Coventry school, decided to “mothball” the building after renting it out for years. The cited various reasons — it’s too expensive to maintain, the tenants did not offer free public programs in keeping with the library’s mission, the library wanted to use the space for their own purposes. The organization gave the tenants six month leases in April, telling them they had to be out by the end of the year. The future of the building is unclear. Some speculate the library will tear it down and turn it into a park, whereas others believe they’ll renovate it and use it for their own programs.
“This decision was made after careful consideration of the Library’s mission and financial responsibilities,” said Heights Libraries Board President Vikas Turahkia in an October 23rd, 2024 press release. “While we understand the importance of the nonprofit tenants’ work, our commitment as board members is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used in a way that aligns with our mission: providing free access to educational resources, safe spaces, and programs that directly benefit the public. Subsidizing private organizations that do not offer free public services is beyond the scope of the library’s purpose.”
While it came as a rude shock to the tenants, who had previously negotiated to stay in the building and had been paying rent (albeit at an affordable rate), so it goes. Artists and small nonprofit organizations are migratory creatures who must constantly be on the hunt for cheap space. Yet unlike with other artist buildings in Cleveland that were converted to lofts, office spaces or other uses, in this case the Coventry tenants only got six months’ notice before they had to be out. Now, with just a month left in their leases, some artists are still living in limbo.
Some of the other tenants in the building include Reaching Heights, a nonprofit that supports the CH-UH schools; FutureHeights, a community development group; Cleveland Heights Teachers Union; and Coventry PEACE, the nonprofit that serves as an umbrella for groups within the building. Three tenants, Dance Cleveland, Do Good Day Hub, and People’s Choice Payee Service, have leases that extend beyond December 2025, and the library is negotiating with them to end their leases.
The CH-UH library is helping tenants with moving expenses. Library director Nancy Levin said in an email, “All of the original tenants have been offered financial assistance for moving expenses, with receipts, up to $1,000. We are negotiating with the three other tenants who have longer leases to facilitate their exit.”
Lake Erie Ink is one of the lucky ones. Rosenbluth said she “investigated everything,” looking everywhere from Glenville to Slavic Village, before she found the storefront at 2108 South Taylor. The bright, light-filled space will offer classes in the front of the building, while LEI’s offices will be in the back. With public parking on the street and in a nearby lot, as well as a location that’s on a bus line and within walking distance of Cain Park, it’s a sweet spot, she said.
“It’s a great location and it’s a storefront,” said Rosenbluth, who modeled LEI after 826 Valencia in San Francisco, the youth writing center created by author David Eggers two decades ago that is still going strong in a storefront in the Mission District. “We’re going back to our roots of making kids visible. People walking by can say, ‘Hey, what are you doing in there?’ That felt important.”
Not everyone’s been so lucky, however. Shannon Morris runs the nonprofit organization Artful, which leased studio space to 30 artists in Coventry. With less than a month to go in her lease, Morris said she still doesn’t know where she’s going to go. The $1,000 that the library has offered in moving assistance isn’t enough to make a dent in her costs, which number in the thousands, she said. So far, she’s spent her holidays packing up art, furniture, and supplies.
“The combination of people kind of organically springing up out of nowhere – we just worked so well together,” said Morris of the Coventry PEACE Campus. “We won’t be able to replicate that anywhere, unfortunately.”
Even as she looks for alternative spaces, Morris is still paying rent on the Coventry space – yet because artists are leaving, she’s no longer earning enough rent to cover her costs. Artist Robin Van Lear, who worked for the Cleveland Museum of Art for years and helped create Parade the Circle, is one of Artful’s tenants. Her husband Jesse Rhinehart, who had a space in the Artcraft building, was given more than a year’s notice as it was announced the building would be turned into the new Cleveland police headquarters. By comparison, the six months’ notice the library gave to Coventry tenants was paltry, she said.
“It cost me thousands of dollars to move into this space, and it’s going to cost me thousands of dollars to move out,” Van Lear said.
Brian Anderson, assistant director for economic development with the city of Cleveland Heights, said tenants are in a tough spot. “Finding spaces that work at a rate that works for them is the major hurdle to get through,” he said. “Whatever they end up with is probably going to be a jump from what they were historically paying.”
The city is working to help them. “We’ve been keeping an eye on landing places for some of the tenants there,” he said. “We want them all to find a place, but keeping them all in Cleveland Heights is the goal.”
While Rosenbluth is thrilled to be staying in the Heights, there are downsides to the new space, too. It’s more expensive and they have to pay utilities. Whereas they had tons of classroom space at the old Coventry school, they now have room for only about 18 students. LEI has already begun holding programs off site in preparation for the move. For example, the annual youth ComicCon is now held at the PIVOT Center in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood, while LEI’s teen writers symposium is held at Mather Mansion at CSU.
With the new space, Rosenbluth plans to make it “super inviting” and use the storefront windows to feature student work and other creative displays. The group is working with teens to get their input. Rosenbluth is also planning to build a Little Free Library in the front of the building and do workshops with local businesses. “We want to activate this neighborhood just like we activated Coventry,” she said.
During a recent visit, LEI staff and community volunteers were scrubbing and scraping old glue residue off of the vinyl tile floors in the storefront. One volunteer earlier in the week had even gotten momentarily stuck to the floor before prying herself free. After they finish cleaning up the floors, they plan to put down carpet in the front and keep the tile in the back.
“We could not have done what we did 14 years ago without a massive community effort, and we’re not going to do this without a massive community effort,” said Rosenbluth. “That’s our roots. That’s why we survived.”
LEI is moving to South Taylor at a time when the neighborhood is beginning to pop, too. Rising Star Coffee opened just down the street. There are existing businesses like Cafe Tandoor and Mister Brisket. There’s housing renovation going on at the Taylor Tudors building, and the city of Cleveland Heights is working on developing a new streetscape for Taylor Road, as well.
Anderson, who helped Rosenbluth find the space, said he’s glad the city was able to retain LEI, and he wishes the same for the rest of the tenants in Coventry. “We’re excited they were able to land a place on Taylor,” he said. “They serve a larger community than Cleveland Heights, and it would have been unfortunate if we lost them. This is hopefully a win for everyone.”
Editor’s note: Some members of the author’s family have been tenants or advocated on their behalf.
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This article appears in Dec 4-17, 2024.