In December we shared the story of Mel Lalich, the small-time real-estate investor who bought a ramshackle mansion on Franklin Boulevard with dreams of seeing it become the youth hostel that Ohio City boosters have long envisioned.
Lalich plunged tens of thousands of dollars into fixing up the longtime boarding house, then secured a ready buyer.
But problems arose when the second-in-command at Cleveland’s Building and Housing Department outlawed Lalich’s intended use for the building — never mind that the same city department had already approved Lalich’s plans.
