Final designs for six modular townhouses called Arcade Place were unanimously approved yesterday by the Cleveland Planning Commission's Design Review Committee. They will be built on a vacant lot on East 156th Street at Arcade Avenue, north of the Waterloo Arts District (HEART Design Group). Click on the images to enlarge them.
A half dozen mods near the Waterloo Arts District
Six townhouses may not sound like much, but their builder says they're a “historic” next step in increasing the number of modular housing in Cleveland. City officials and some home builders say more modular homes are needed here to address the lack of quality, affordable housing, fill vacant lots, repopulate the city, increase home ownership in Cleveland and build equity.
The design of these six townhouses, called Arcade Place, to be built on a vacant lot at the southeast corner of East 156th Street and Arcade Avenue, received final approval yesterday from the Cleveland Planning Commission's Design Review Committee. That authorized their developer, Rebuild Cleveland LLCto obtain building permits for the project.
Plans for the project call for the six townhomes to be built along the sidewalk of East 156th, with a patio and grassy yard behind it, as well as a garage with vehicle access via an arcade driveway. The design is similar to many 19th-century Cleveland neighborhoods, which had garages behind houses that could be accessed by vehicles from an alley.
Seth Task, partner and co-founder of Rebuild Cleveland, said he expects to break ground on Arcade Place by the end of the second quarter of 2025. The project is about a four-minute walk from the Waterloo Arts District, Collinwood Recreation Center and great potential developments. Assembling the six townhouses should only take about two days, although on-site preparations would take longer, he said.
Site map for Arcade Place with East 156th Street on the left and Arcade Avenue at the top of the site. A driveway from Arcade to the six garages behind the six townhouses allows the townhouses to be built along the sidewalk of East 156th ((HEART Design Group).
“I am pleased that the City of Cleveland is accepting modular housing as an acceptable form of construction and am extremely proud of our team for reaching this milestone with the first-ever development of its kind,” Task said in a written statement. “We look forward to continuing to partner with the city to make the dream of homeownership in Cleveland a reality.”
He explained that their goal in developing these townhouses is to provide affordable, high-quality workforce housing at an expected price point under $300,000 – thereby making it easier for Cleveland residents to access homeownership and, in particular, building custom homes .
Rebuild Cleveland was successfully completed and sold first modular single-family home on Colgate Avenue in the southern part of Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. This project was launched in the second half of 2023.
The Colgate House was assembled and the power turned on within five hours, Task told the Planning Commission yesterday. Commissioners said they were excited about the North Collinwood project, but also wanted to ensure quality and diverse designs are delivered for this and future housing products.
This view of the Arcade Place townhouses is from Arcade Avenue and shows vehicular access to the garages. Between the garages and the townhouses there is a lawn and terraces for each house ((HEART Design Group).
“Congratulations – I can’t wait to see you,” said commission chair Lillian Kuri, who is also president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “I want a tour when they’re done.”
The Arcade Place townhomes are being built by Troy, MI-based Champion Homes, which has more than 30 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Europe and employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. It is a subsidiary of Skyline Corporation, a company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the name “SKY”.
Last week, Cleveland has issued a request for proposals to modular home manufacturers so the city could locate a factory on Cleveland's Near East Side. While the city government has said it wants to repopulate about 25,000 vacant residential lots across the city and inner-ring suburbs with affordable, high-quality homes, the nearest modular home manufacturer is more than 100 miles away.
“I would urge the city, as we decide which company should build a factory here in Cleveland, that we feel strongly about creating a company and a factory that offers diversity in design, as many of these “This is not the case for large companies,” Task said.
The Arcade Place townhouse site is a short walk from the Waterloo Arts District to the south and the Collinwood Recreation Center and future development sites to the north ((HEART Design Group).
Rebuild Cleveland is moving forward with a new modular single-family home on Westropp Avenue, also in the Waterloo Arts District. The permits have already been secured and construction is about to begin. Task said they are working on gap funding applications for several other properties in Cleveland's Wards 8 and 15 and have the support of City Council members Jenny Spencer and Michael Polensek.
Task noted that they do not limit their focus to the city of Cleveland. He hinted at going beyond the city limits by saying they are in the preliminary planning stages for “an exciting development in an inner ring suburb – with more to come,” he teased.
In 2021, Rebuild Cleveland was founded by Chris Grimaldi, President of Grimaldi Property Management, Ilya Palatnik, Executive Vice President of Cross Country Mortgage, and Task, leader of The Task Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
They said their mission is to contribute to the revitalization of Cleveland and surrounding communities through high-quality, innovative and sustainable real estate development.
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