Now, that’s about to change with the construction of a new single-family home located at 6107 Ellen Ave. The 1,675 square foot, three bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home will feature a first-floor bedroom as well as ADA-accessible design. The developer, who is offering the house for sale, hopes the idea will prove successful and spread to other neighborhoods.
“The idea is to do a prototype that could be built anywhere on any city lot,” developer James Todt told the city’s landmarks commission at its June 12th meeting, where the project received conceptual approval. Once the project receives final approval, the developer can submit for building permits.
The house is being built on a 40-by-70-foot lot, so that it could be replicated on any similar sized lot in the city. It’s also built on a slab with no basement or steps leading up to it, making it accessible to individuals who have mobility issues. There are several additional lots around the property on Ellen Avenue and scattered throughout Detroit Shoreway where similar projects could be built, Todt said.
The city has been trying to get developers to build more age-in-place housing for a while, and it’s been a particular mission of Jenny Spencer, council member for Ward 15, where the project is located. As of January 1st, 2024, the city began granting 100 percent tax abatement for projects that meet the city’s age-in-place criteria. A similar home that doesn’t meet this criteria would only receive 85 percent tax abatement in this area. All homes must meet the city’s Enterprise Green Communities criteria, meaning that they’re built to energy-efficient standards.
“Going back a decade, we’ve been looking for ways to incentivize or catalyze the development of age-in-place housing, but this is the first time a private developer has agreed to do this type of model,” Spencer said. “I’ve spoken with 15-20 developers, saying, ‘This is what the market needs, there’s a dearth of this product, we want this in our community,’ but there were no bites at the apple.”
Age-in-place houses have been built elsewhere in Cleveland, Spencer said, but they’ve mostly been built by nonprofit developers like CHN Partners and Habitat for Humanity, both of which built homes with first-floor bedrooms in Detroit Shoreway. Spencer said there’s a growing appetite for similar, market-rate units, as evidenced by how quickly these other developments were sold or leased. “You talk to people and they say, ‘There’s no place to live in the neighborhood,’” she said. “We just don’t have enough inventory (of age-in-place houses).”
According to the Cleveland city planning commission, there have only been two other homes in the city that have submitted for 100 percent tax abatement under the city’s age-in-place criteria, making this project somewhat unique.
Yet some say city officials haven’t been proactive enough. Detroit Shoreway resident Bobbi Reichtell is a member of the grassroots group Westside Village, which advocates for age-in-place housing in the community. There are many residents like her who are older and looking for homes with first-floor bedrooms and bathrooms, she said, but they’re tough to find.
“A lot of us are in these older houses that were remodeled, but they’re not accessible if you have mobility issues,” she said of living on Franklin Boulevard in Detroit Shoreway. “None of them have a first floor bedroom or bathroom. We’re stuck in these oversized houses we love, and meanwhile, our taxes are going through the roof.”
“The houses that are being built are luxury condos and apartments that are multi-story,” she added. “So, developers are missing an opportunity to actually build to what’s needed. Meanwhile, the city is not being proactive about this need. They need to make policy changes and initiatives to incentivize developers to build what’s needed instead of just waiting for developers to come to them.”
Reichtell floated ideas such as setting aside a portion of the city’s Housing Trust Fund dollars to create a pilot for age-in-place housing, creating a design competition to get architects and builders involved in coming up with ideas, and making age-in-place features a requirement to receive tax abatement.
Westside Village member Diana Cyganovich agreed. She advised city leaders, “Stop being reactive to developers and start telling them what you need and work to bring them to the table.”
Scene reached out to the city for comment about its plans to further age-in-place housing, but has not yet received a response. The city recently released the Age-Friendly Cleveland 2025-2028 Action Plan, which cites the growing number of seniors over 60 in the city of Cleveland and calls for action steps to meet their needs, including more age-in-place housing. The report cites the fact that as a result of feedback from residents, the city created a new program to help residents age in place. “The Age-Friendly Home Investment Program has completed over 415 home repair jobs totaling $4.2 million for senior and disabled adult occupied homes,” the report states.
Still, the report does not make mention of new housing and how it can be built to accommodate the city’s growing older population.
Nonetheless, at the planning commission meeting, city leaders praised Jim Todt’s efforts to build an age-in-place home on Ellen Avenue.
“We hear from a lot of folks who want to stay in the city and in their neighborhood, but the historic housing stock is a real barrier to folks who want to stay and age in place,” said Calley Mersmann, City Planning Director. “I really appreciate your work to make a design that can work in many places and can work for people who are very invested in the area to stay and continue to be part of the community.”
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This article appears in Cleveland SCENE 7/16/25.
