FitzGerald’s 3-part proposal would consist of a $1.5 million loan to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance and the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation to beautify and improve the Gateway District, with a scenic walkway, truss canopy, and benches and planters.
Then a $3.3 million loan to Stark Enterprises for its nuCLEus Project near the Quicken Loans Arena. It’s a mixed-use, $330 million development which – through new, high-rise construction -- aims to add retail, office, hotel, residential, and parking space in an area flanked by the Quicken Loans Arena and the historic 4th Street district.
Speaking at the southeast corner of Public Square, FitzGerald detailed the third project…converting the historic May Company building into “high-end” residential space.
"It’s an old historic building. We are proposing providing a $4 million loan. It’s going to end up converting about 700,000 square feet. It’s going to create 350 additional apartments and 387 parking spaces. It’s going to create approximately 500 construction jobs.”
Last year, Cuyahoga County channeled $7 million of casino tax revenue into helping two residential developments, and beautifying the Playhouse Square area.
FitzGerald was joined by Bob Stark, President of Stark Enterprises, a Cleveland-based real estate developer. Stark says these initiatives all help Cleveland compete against cities like New York and Chicago.
“And the only reason that we’re not still shoulder to shoulder with them is because sprawl had a different type of effect on us than it did on those cities, and mostly because we didn’t have sufficient residential population within the city proper. We’re correcting that problem now.”
The plan will have its first reading before the Cuyahoga County Council Wednesday.