Geauga Lake lands apartment development, Meijer store

Vision Development, a Columbus-based real estate developer, has bought a 20-acre site where rides once stood at Geauga Lake Amusement Park for a complex with about 330 units overlooking part of the namesake lake.

Through Vision Acquisition LLC, the developer of apartments and industrial properties shelled out $2.8 million in late 2021 for the site, according to Geauga County land records. Vision has yet to receive final approvals from the township to build on the site, although it has preliminary approvals.

P. Brent Wrightsel, president and CEO of Vision, said the company was pleased to find such a development site in Northeast Ohio, which he considers a market with “high barriers to entry.” He acknowledged that by saying that, he referred to the difficulty of finding large sites in the region’s suburbs that are zoned for multifamily development or sites in cities that are open to zoning changes for such projects.

“The history of the site is unique,” Wrightsel said. “We will build a highly amenitized community there. We will locate our outdoor activities, such as the volleyball court, places to watch the sunset, our gym and the patio of the clubhouse so they have views of the lake.”

Wrightsel said the company has developed 14 such multifamily communities and will call this one “VC at Geauga Lake Park.”

Jeffrey Markley, a township trustee, said Vision had agreed to comply with the township’s requirements for building on the site. The project will incorporate one- to three-bedroom suites. He also said the developer had spent substantial time working out the preliminary layout of 14 buildings on the site and access with the township’s police and safety forces. Vision has agreed to incorporate elements of the park’s history in elements of its project.

The three-story structures will overlook the lake and will border a stretch of lakefront at least 30 feet wide that will provide public access to the lake. The township will require public access through the complex to the lake between various uses on the former Geauga Lake land. The multifamily development will have substantial frontage on Aurora Road and access from the proposed Big Dipper Lane in the park and Depot Road.

The developer acquired land that includes the concrete footings of several rides at the park, which will have to be removed. It also will have a slope to cope with in its designs.

“Over the last year-and-a-half, we have developed a comprehensive planning process for Geauga Lake,” Markley said. “They’re anxious to get started, and we’re anxious to see it get started. It’s bittersweet we still don’t have the amusement park there.”

Wrightsel said removing the foundations of the old rides is “expensive.” Based on when the township approves its final plans, he said the company hopes to start preparing the site in May and have a leasing center at its clubhouse open by year-end. It will not phase construction of the project over time but will build all the suites — ranging from flats to townhouse-style designs — at the same time.

Dan Lhota, Vision’s chief operating officer, said the company has found it provides homes not only to young professionals, but to people who wish to stop spending their weekends doing yard work and to downsize after their children leave home.

“It’s a varied community,” he said. The company has previously developed an apartment community in Green, so it is familiar with Northeast Ohio.

Wrightsel said, “There’s a lot of opportunity (in central Ohio), but we’re expanding our footprint outside the area and even out of state.”

Vision bought the land from an affiliate of Solon-based Industrial Commercial Properties, which acquired 377 acres in Bainbridge Township in 2020 from Sandusky-based Cedar Fair LP. The operator of Cedar Point shut the amusement park in 2006. The adjoining Wildwater Geauga Lake water park closed in 2016. Another big swath of former Geauga Lake Amusement Park land is being separately developed in Aurora.

Austin Semarjian, a vice president at ICP, said his company is pleased it found a developer who shares its vision for a high-quality development at the site, which it has dubbed the Geauga Lake District.

Other additions to the former amusement park include a Menard’s store, which may begin construction this summer, and Markley said the township approved preliminary plans for a Meijer in the project.

Meijer has pursued plans to develop at the former Geauga Lake park since 2015, long before ICP became the owner of the Bainbridge part of the park. Both would be on the Aurora Road part of Geauga Lake closest to the existing Four Corners shopping center.

Semarjian declined to comment on a proposed Meijer deal.

Meijer only discusses new projects when it can set an opening date for them.

Most multifamily development in Northeast Ohio has been located in downtown Cleveland, with baby steps underway in downtown Akron, as apartment development boomed in the region the past few years while interest rates have been at low levels.

Ralph McGreevy, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Northern Ohio Apartment Association trade group, said he believes there is still substantial room to develop additional apartments in the region without the market becoming saturated.

“Imagine how many people that development will bring to Bainbridge, and how much of an improvement it is over the existing parking lot facing Aurora Road,” McGreevy said.

Bainbridge had a population of 11,400 in 2018.

Although hundreds of apartments have gone up in Northeast Ohio the last few years, the Yardi Matrix consultancy estimates occupancy in Northeast Ohio was 92% as of the end of 2021. In neighboring Solon, which has more apartments than surrounding communities, occupancy was 93% at the end of last year.