Lakefront Project Moves Forward, Takes One (Year) Step Back

The developers of Cleveland’s downtown lakefront plan told city council on Wednesday that they have something to show for their work so far, while seeking to push the remaining construction schedule back about a year. 

The city chose Cumberland Development and Trammell Crow Company in 2014 to turn the pavement and parking lots near FirstEnergy Stadium into something closer to a neighborhood. The development area also includes North Coast Harbor, the location of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Great Lakes Science Center.

The developers asked council to move the start of construction north of the stadium to 2020.

“I think the city departments understand that we’re in good faith and making progress,” Cumberland president Dick Pace said. “And I think that’s the intent, that we are going to get to the finish line, and hopefully soon.”

The Mexican restaurant Nuevo Modern opened adjacent to Voinovich Park in 2016, and other work is underway around the harbor.

A nearby 16-unit apartment building will open by the end of the summer, Pace said. He said the building would house a restaurant and coffee shop on the ground floor.

North of the stadium, the developers plan to build two office buildings, apartments, retail and garages with 4,000 parking spaces. A boardwalk would ring the 18-acre site. An earlier proposal for a school didn’t show up in the plan given to council.

Trammell Crow vice president James Murray-Coleman said the developers have been talking with potential tenants for the office space.

Councilman Martin Keane called the schedule extensions “minor adjustments.”

“We wanted something done, and we wanted to see if you can do it,” Keane said. “And you look out the window and you can see that that’s good faith. There’s things being built on our waterfront today where someone’s going to live. And that hasn’t happened in a very long time.”