[ad_1]
Built in 1892, the former Superior Street Baptist Church may be transformed into a place where the good times roll on Superior Avenue east of downtown Cleveland.
Located at 2445 Superior Avenue, the church is the oldest surviving building in the Superior Avenue Historic District. The former State Chemical office, manufacturing and warehouse building attached to 2435 Superior dates back to 1926 and may be converted into an entertainment center with a food hall, live entertainment and multiple indoor games.
That’s the plan for Cleveland real estate developer GBX Group, which owns the property near its headquarters, and is raising money to rebuild the site to accommodate the operator of an entertainment center called Roar in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Like other projects GBX has completed in the Superior Avenue Historic District, the proposed project will be an adaptive reuse of properties that qualify for federal historic tax credits and, if successful, Ohio historic preservation tax credits .
“We’re lucky that Ohio has the National Historic Preservation Tax Credit because we have to do a lot of restoration work here,” said Rachael Price, Senior Associate, GBX -Story Warehouse. Also participating in the tour were Yuliya Litvak, the complex’s GBX project manager, and Phil Winton, vice president of strategic information.
GBX proposed installing a food hall on the first floor of the building, surrounded by a “beer wall” with taps for a variety of beers. The complex will also feature live music, axe throwing, duck bowling, arcades, an e-sports field and electric miniature golf. According to plans, the property’s backyard will be home to a beer garden.
The operation will provide employment to an estimated 80 to 100 people, Litvak said.
No cost estimate or timeline available.
Zoning in the area allows for operations. However, on May 15, GBX won the consent of the Cleveland Zoning Appeals Board to allow it in because it is within 50 feet of nearby homes and the sound it produces could be heard within 50 feet of the property.
Winton said the approval of the variance allows GBX to start consolidating its plans and securing financing.
The proposal is the latest example of GBX Group’s vision to create a mixed-use historic district on the Superior East side of downtown.
GBX has installed its own headquarters and opened a short-term rental apartment building and other lofts nearby. The area is also home to CrossCountry Mortgage’s new headquarters in a refurbished building. The new Cleveland Police Headquarters is proposed in the ArtCraft building across the street.
GBX chose the entertainment center because it could occupy a 30,000-square-foot center.
“Initially, we thought it might be office space,” Price said. However, that idea was dismissed as the future of the office market became uncertain during the pandemic. Another factor is the extensive car park on the north side of the property, while GBX has a car park on the west side of the building.
During the tour, Litvak showed how GBX deciphered how some of the spaces were originally used. In churches, for example, removal of planks revealed a sloping floor, likely where the choir sang.
Ironically, in this case it was not the old church that provided the basis for the historical designation. Instead, its industrial period provides historical significance. The National Chemistry Building, west of the church, is part of the area’s history as the site of the expansion of the city’s commercial and manufacturing enterprises in the 1920s and as the site of factories for many years during Cleveland’s heyday.
Tom Yablonsky, a noted landmarks expert and special advisor to the nonprofit Downtown Cleveland Coalition, emphasized commercial use rather than the age of the church, which was converted to be part of the state complex in 1941 more important.
“A recreation center will help create a more vibrant community,” Jablonski said.
However, Cleveland Councilwoman Stephanie Howse, who represents the area as part of Cleveland’s 7th District, is less convinced.
“We always welcome development opportunities that enrich our community,” Howse said in a phone interview. “The campus district (the local community development company) is trying to get feedback from the community and we want to hear their voices. We want to incorporate that with input from our community partners so it doesn’t become an exciting place to be. “
State Chemical moved further east and in the 2010s moved its headquarters to the Monarch Center in Mayfield Heights, which was acquired by an affiliate of the company. In 1941, with State Chemical buying the chapel, the pastor of the former Baptist church moved to another unidentified church in Hove, according to state historical documents filed with GBX.
GBX purchased the complex in 2017 for an undisclosed sum in Cuyahoga County property records. However, the county has assessed the building and land at $410,000.
Although GBX has paid a total of more than $80,000 in property taxes on the building since then, this is not the largest cost of being a landmark manager.
The brick wall on top of the State Chemical building was water damaged and was replaced, Price said. On the building’s second floor, floor-to-ceiling jacks provided support for the south side until renovation work officially began.
Several windows that could not be saved have also been replaced. However, the glass blocks that replaced the tall skylight on the south side of the church will remain. That’s because they date back to the building’s industrial use, which is its oldest period, Price said.
Churches have suffered more damage than floods over time. In 1901, the bell tower was struck by lightning and the church burned down. It was rebuilt in 1902. However, Price noted, the clock tower was never replaced.
The operator of the Roar, which is based in a restored old car dealership in Winston-Salem’s GBX, did not return three calls from Crain’s Cleveland Business about the proposed entertainment center.
Roar’s operators would not comment on whether they would pursue the Cleveland location until GBX secured funding for the work, Winton said.
[ad_2]
Source link