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The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s Board of Directors today approved financing actions supporting two of Cleveland’s long-proposed major redevelopment projects. And it also approved a land transfer today to advance the Irishtown Bend Park in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.
The riverfront park, plus the long-awaited transformation of the Warner & Swasey complex in MidTown and the historic Westinghouse Building in Detroit-Shoreway, represent significant investments by the Port of Cleveland in the urban core.
Port officials said these developments underscore the Port’s commitment to strengthening neighborhoods, expanding housing options, supporting equitable development, and delivering long-term public access to the Cuyahoga River.
“These approvals reflect the core of the Port’s development finance mission — using creative, flexible tools to bring catalytic projects to life,” said Rhonda Winslow, the Port’s vice president of development finance, in a written statement.
“From affordable housing in MidTown to historic restoration on the West Side, we are helping close financing gaps, attract private investment and strengthen Cleveland’s neighborhoods block by block,” she added.
Warner & Swasey Phase One
The board approved a capital lease financing for Warner & Swasey Phase I, a $63.3 million mixed-use, mixed-income historic redevelopment of the iconic former manufacturing plant, 5701 Carnegie Ave.
Vacant since 1985, Pennrose of Philadelphia and the nonprofit MidTown Cleveland Inc. will redevelop the 3.15-acre site which Pennrose acquired from the city on Sept. 26 for $2,236,134, according to Cuyahoga County property records.
Phase I will transform 194,000 square feet of the massive complex into 112 units of senior, family and workforce housing. Much of it will be affordable to 30-60 percent of the area’s median income (about $39,000 per household).
However, there will be workforce and market-rate apartments that will be affordable to those earning up to 120 percent of the area’s median income, according to a project summary from the Port of Cleveland.