Midtown’s Momentum
A Unique Look at the Euclid Corridor Project

What’s behind the orange barrels, anyway? It’s a question asked by anyone who frequents Euclid Avenue these days. As crews start to clear the barrels away and a rejuvenated streetscape is unveiled, everyone’s wondering if the project will deliver the promised bang for the buck. Lower Euclid is showing a pulse, with the House of Blues lighting up a stretch of dark, historic buildings, and in Fairfax, ever-present cranes hover above the new Cleveland Clinic Heart Center.

In the middle of it all is Midtown. There are acres of vacant land between East 55th and 79th Streets along Euclid, in the heart of the Corridor. It’s like an eerie urban frontier – like an old Western movie set, minus the tumbleweed. Most of all, Midtown is a place that makes you wonder – if you build it, will they come?

“The real test of the Corridor project is what happens in the middle,” says Mike Schipper, Deputy Manager of Engineering and Project Management for RTA. “Much of the overall development that is happening in Cleveland is happening along Euclid Avenue,” he adds optimistically. “By the time we broke ground, there was already $750 million in investment. Now, there is about $2.5 billion in real design that is either funded or under construction.”

Jim Haviland, Executive Director of Midtown Corridor, Inc., sees potential in Midtown’s vacant land – the urban equivalent of a parceled-out subdivision. Most of the vacant land has been cleaned up and is owned by RTA, the city, and Midtown Corridor. “People are starting to get off the fence, starting to invest,” Haviland argues. “The affordable, flexible real estate that we have here is an asset – it can be built out. We have a great fabric of older loft buildings.”

Haviland lists off the projects in the works on Euclid Ave. – the new Aldi’s grocery store at East 79th and Euclid, now open for business; new tenants planned for the Midtown Place building at East 55th; a proposed mountain bike park just east of that intersection; a potential new Board of Mental Health headquarters at East 69th; and the conversion of an historic building at East 71st into one hundred market-rate apartments called Victory Lofts. Haviland also claims that the long-planned renovation of the Ohio Knitting Mills at East 61st into the Midtown Technology Center is regaining momentum now that the Corridor project is nearly complete. (The project faltered when Midtown Corridor and the Ferchill Group, the co-developers, couldn’t land a 20,000 square foot anchor tenant needed to start the project.)

Midtown has also adopted new zoning standards that mandate transit-oriented development – including structures built at least three stories tall, close to the street with rear parking. Completed projects that reflect the new face of Euclid include the Midtown Innovation Center (a mix of tech companies and start-ups in a building owned by Heartland Developers) and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District headquarters, both of which are located between East 40th and East 55th Streets.

In celebration of its 25th anniversary and completion of portions of the Euclid Corridor, Midtown is throwing a Block Party on Euclid on Thursday, September 27 from 4:30-10 pm. The event will take place in front of the Agora at 5000 Euclid Ave. The cost for Midtown members is $10, non-members $25. Participants will be able to tour Midtown on the new RTA Silver Line transit vehicles. (See this week's Cool Cleveland events for details).

Much of the media coverage of the Euclid Corridor project has focused not on the project’s draw for investors, but on how the orange barrels affect current business owners. A recent Plain Dealer story by Sarah Hollander highlighted short-term impacts on businesses – lending credence to the complaints of some owners, while failing to reference those investors that are moving to the street because of the project. (Perhaps the most bizarre coverage was the Plain Dealer’s championing of the owner of the “New Best Steak and Gyros House”, a struggling proprietor on the CSU campus that many were glad to see go, but who deemed his greasy spoon the victim of a torn-up Euclid Ave.)

Hollander’s story also raised the question of whether or not Clevelanders with cars would choose to ride the “Silver Line,” the new bus rapid transit (BRT) system that will arrive every five minutes, have dedicated lanes, and shorten the bus commute from downtown to University Circle to twenty minutes. What the article did not explain is what’s most difficult to see beyond the construction zone – that the Euclid Corridor is far more than a new $200 million bus line.

“A lot of people aren’t aware that, beyond the bus rapid transit system, we’re talking about completely new utilities, sidewalks and curbs, a new street, and an enhanced streetscape along Euclid, all the way from Public Square to University Circle” says Schipper. “This is a nested core of infrastructure that will last for a long time. That kind of investment is very attractive to investors.”

Dick Pace, who together with partners Joe Lopez and Ariel Investments is working to redevelop the historic Baker Electric Company building at East 71st and Euclid, has a cross-stitched pillow that sits on his office desk. It reads, “Have You Taken a Risk Today?” His mother made it for him.

It’s a motto he apparently takes seriously. Pace purchased the building, originally a showroom for electric cars when built in 1910, in the spring of last year. Since then, he and his partners have put together layer-cake financing that includes Historic Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits, and a low-interest loan from the county. In under a year and a half, they have nearly completed the exterior renovation, leased enough space to achieve 25% occupancy, and signed leases on another 25% of the space that they’re building out. They aim to meet their break-even point of having 75% of the building leased by the end of 2007.

“This building will clean up and be as pretty as anything in the Warehouse District,” says Pace, who had already moved in one tenant when his loan from Key Bank closed in June. “We took a risk, and so far, it has proven out. We’ve been able to attract tech companies and medical start-ups. We wouldn’t be here without the Euclid Corridor project. We’re not just near the Cleveland Clinic anymore – we’re at the Clinic.”

Pace and his partners have found a market niche that few private developers in Cleveland have addressed – the demand for affordable, smaller space for start-ups, especially those in the medical field. Such companies often don’t want to sign long-term leases, given the unpredictable nature of their work, and they often want space that is done, or can be built out quickly on short notice.

“I just rented an office to a venture capitalist from Pittsburgh,” says Pace. “I asked him when he wanted to move his stuff in, and he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ He’s here. Now, he’s trying to attract some of his clients to our building.”

Pace’s other tenants include Volcano, a medical technology company that outgrew their space at the Cleveland Clinic. Volcano’s 5,000 square foot space features trendy, painted steel trusses and a floating ceiling. Another tenant is Bunge, an applied technology company based in St. Louis that opened a small office in Cleveland to do paint research for companies that do not have the capacity to do so in-house.

The renovation of the Baker building includes state-of-the-art technology such as a geothermal heating system (the project will be LEED-certified as a “green” building), free wireless Internet (people waiting for the bus will be able to tap in), and both a security system and heating and cooling system monitored by Internet. The building is custom-designed for professionals that travel for their work and require remote access.

“The old days were five years ago,” quips Pace. “While this kind of technology is still relatively new, it will be standard in office buildings in a few years.”

The developers are also restoring the Baker building. With its ornate brickwork, tower-like structures, and the Baker Electric Company logo emblazoned in tile above its doorway, it is now listed on the National Historic Register. During the renovation, Pace and Lopez removed a maze of dropped ceilings and drywall to expose high ceilings and original wood-paneled sales offices. They pulled up carpet and glue to uncover the original foyer tile. The building’s exterior was also returned to its former grandeur, the windows replaced with new glass, the brickwork tuck-pointed, and the trim colors brought back to red and green.

The Baker Electric Company itself has an interesting history. Baker Motor made electric cars in the 1910’s, before the gas-powered automobile gained dominance. At the time, electric cars were more popular with women, due to the fact that they did not require a crank to operate. Baker Motor developed a marketing campaign to try to attract more men to use their cars, with their ads announcing that the vehicle was “no longer a woman’s car”.

Interestingly, the building now seems to be returning somewhat full-circle, as it is served by a bus line that operates on diesel-electric hybrid buses.

“One hundred years later, we’re half of a technology behind,” Pace says, and smiles as he points to his green hybrid Prius, parked in the building’s lot.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Lee Chilcote leechilcoteATgmail.com

Crane image by Lee Chilcote, bus image in newsletter by Mike Sands (:divend:)