North Coast Yard Pop-Up Meant to Give Clevelanders a Taste of Lakefront Makeover

The North Coast Yard pop up will be the something-rather-than-nothing space north of Huntington Bank Field come June. Credit: North Coast Waterfront Development

No one knows more about the difficult haul of making over Cleveland’s lakefront than Scott Skinner.

Skinner, the head of the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation, knows a heap of groundwork still lies ahead: extending sewer and water lines north of Huntington Bank Field, fortifying the bulkhead, confirming developers will actually build apartments.

And of course, one day realizing James Corner Field Operations’ dazzling plans for those 26 acres that are nothing today but parking.

“And it’s only used, like, 10 to 12 days a year,” Skinner told Scene. “I don’t think folks in the city should have to wait to be able to use that space.”

That kind of eagerness is what led Skinner and his colleagues to create the North Coast Yard, a temporary public park space set to go up on a tiny sliver of the parking lot’s eastern edge. A space with basketball and tennis courts, a stage for music performances, a potential roller skating rink, all lined by shipping containers that could, Skinner said, serve up food and drinks.

Something, that is, rather than nothing.

For the first two, three years after Mayor Bibb’s lakefront plan debut at City Hall in late 2022, the North Coast Master Plan and its accompanying land bridge seemed viable after decades of awkward false starts and disappointed Clevelanders. Nearly $150 million had been raised to downgrade the Shoreway into a boulevard and to construct the land bridge. Skinner’s waterfront authority would help carry out the rest.

No more dusty parking, at least somewhat. Instead: basketball and tennis courts, shipping container markets and food trucks will go where concrete alone once was. Credit: North Coast Waterfront Development

Clevelanders will get a tiny sliver of access to Lake Erie where parked cars reigned for decades. Credit: North Coast Waterfront Development

But this year spelled other problems. The Trump administration’s on-off freeze on federal grants to city governments put a wrench in lakefront progress. Skinner acknowledged to Scene that $130 million of funds awarded for the land bridge build out are still “currently under review.”

“Every indiction we have from the federal government so far is that these funds will more forward,” Skinner said. “That being said, it’s a very uncertain world right now. Good things change quickly.”

North Coast Yard, again, is proof that the authority can act. And without outside support: All of the money used to build it this spring will come from funds set aside for “near-term activation,” though Skinner declined to say how much.

As for fundraising that actual Master Plan—covering the entire 25-acre site in splash pads, esplanade and miniature beach—Skinner lauded City Council’s approval of Skinner’s nonprofit as a community authority. That, he said, will allow his board to raise construction funding outside of Cleveland’s bonds and its general fund.

In the meantime, North Coast Yard’s temporary hoop space and shipping container market will head to the City Planning Commission in April or May for final approval. Skinner said he’s had discussions with “20 to 30” real estate developers since starting the job last year.

And hopefully, ideally, tide eager Clevelanders over before any actual construction begins in 2027.

“I don’t see this necessarily as an appetizer,” Skinner said. “I just see this as starting dinner earlier. I don’t think it’s fair or right for folks to have to wait several years for the permanent thing when they could be enjoying the lakefront now.”

A grand opening for North Coast Yard is set for June.