Cleveland gives blessing to 132-unit apartment building set to go up in Tremont

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland City Planning Commission on Friday approved a project with 132 apartments and 10 townhomes set to rise in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood.

Developer Michael Panzica plans to build a five-story, 134,000 square-foot building along Abbey Avenue, between West 19th and West 20th streets, along with two smaller complexes to house the townhomes.

About 1,800 square foot of storefront space will also be part of the project, at Abbey Avenue and West 20th Street. The U-shaped building will also have about 90 parking spaces.

Panzica has a deal to buy the roughly 1.7 acres on which the new apartments and townhouses will sit.

Most of that site is a vacant lot, though current owner Matt Berges has let workers building the nearby 240-unit Waterford Bluffs apartment complex on Lorain Avenue stage their equipment there. It is also the site of the now-closed Abbey Market convenience store, which will come down to make way for the new apartment building.

Panzica and his development team have spent the past few months in front of the Duck Island Block Club, the Near West Design Review Committee and the Planning Commission. They have tweaked the design in the process.

Friday’s unanimous approval came with a recommendation that the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals or another department allow Panzica to add a parking lot exit on West 20th Street that would require motorists to turn right. The gated entrances would be on Smith Court.

Architect Brandon Kline of Geis Cos. requested the commission’s overall approval, though, so construction could begin while they await a decision on the parking lot exit.

It was not immediately clear when construction would start but Kline told the commission that the development would take 20 months to build. Berges, known in the Duck Island enclave of Tremont for building houses, said he expected the sale of the property to Panzica to close in late spring.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Panzica following the meeting.

The development is not far from other major apartment buildings being constructed on the near-West Side. In addition to Waterford Bluffs, the 298-unit Intro apartment building will be nearby, and developer Ari Maron has a deal to add about 125 apartments off Columbus Road, near the West 25th Street Rapid stop.

Some residents, however, expressed concerns about more cars in the neighborhood with the new building.

Elaine Borawski, chairwoman of the Duck Island Block Club, told the commission Friday that she wanted assurances that city officials would properly address concerns of increased traffic. She said similar complaints fell on deaf ears in the past.

“Yes, there may not be a lot of traffic currently, but we can see what’s coming,” Borawski said. “And so we would really appreciate if everybody would at least take our concerns as valid concerns.”

Planning Director Joyce Huang said the department she leads would keep residents updated as it studied traffic in the area.

“This is a new administration and we are very interested in practicing what we promise,” she said.

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