Proposed hotel-residential tower in Ohio City gets a trim

A revised plan is in the works for the Bridgeworks apartment-hotel project on the northeast corner of the Detroit-Superior Bridge and West 25th Street in Cleveland.

The height of the proposed tower has been trimmed to 162 feet from 186 feet in an update of the building’s design. The prior conceptual approval for the tower has expired, as it’s more than a year in the past.

Instead of 16 stories, it now will rise 15 floors. However, the revised footprint keeps the contents of the project unchanged. It still includes 130 hotel guest rooms and 140 apartment suites.

Proponents of the project on the site of the former Cuyahoga County Engineers Building complex on Thursday, May 12, also asked the Cleveland Landmarks Commission to permit the demolition of an art deco service garage building from the 1940s that was previously going to be restored in the project. It was one of several buildings that would be leveled that do not have historic significance.

However, Marika Shioiri-Clark, an architect who also is a principal in the proposed project’s ownership, told the commission that the section of the former garage abutting the bridge was beyond repair. Moreover, it had been damaged by a car hitting it since plans were unveiled in 2021.

The new plan dramatically changes the ground level of the proposed project. It is stepped back from the bridge more than previously. It also is stepped back, or east, from the West 25th side of the site. That preserves the view of the neighboring landmark St. Malachi Catholic Church immediately to its north.

“Some folks felt it overshadowed the church,” Shioiri-Clark said.

The latest iteration also uses the western edge of the landmark ticket booth on the site as the building’s western edge. The ticket booth, which provided access to trolleys that once traversed the Cleveland Flats on the undercarriage of the bridge, would be restored. Stairs leading to the subterranean level of the bridge would be temporarily blocked until a future use for the subway section surfaces.

Jonathan Evans, a principal of MASS Design Group of Boston, told the commission the changes in the building would allow it to be moved further north from the bridge’s north side to create a larger public area between the bridge and building.

“The design has been streamlined,” Evans said. Other changes he referred to include dropping a boxy appendage from the tower that would have connected the old garage and a new parking garage. Instead, a separate building houses the new parking structure east of the proposed tower.

“We are excited to make a moment here,” Evans told the commission. He added that this version “calls attention to the bridge. It’s more elegant in how it meets the sky.” The new design allows for a promenade, perhaps also serving as a location for food trucks, on the east side of the proposed tower.

Shioiri-Clark told the commission that the Bridgeworks ownership group was drawn to putting the building on the site because of the iconic bridge.

“We love the bridge,” she said. “We love the aesthetics of it. We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure it adds to the vibrancy of the entrance” of the proposed project.

Shioiri-Clark’s husband, Graham Veysey, and serial apartment developer Michael Panzica, the principal of M. Panzica Development of Cleveland, also are involved in the project’s ownership. Veysey and Shioiri-Clark are best known as the couple who created what’s now seen as Hingetown in the nearby West 28th Street and Church Avenue area.

However, the developers did not receive approval of the demolition or the conceptual plan. The commission, which had started the virtual meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, lost a quorum as members exited the session for other obligations before the issue came to a potential vote after noon.

Shioiri-Clark told the commission that the design development process would be impeded without knowing if the building could be demolished.

However, Karl Brunjes, a senior assistant city planner, told the Bridgeworks owners and design team the earliest they could get formal action would be at the commission’s next meeting June 9. The added time, he suggested, could allow more time for design development.

Evans also told the commission that the proposed tower would have a copper patina that would allow it to have a contemporary look. That would also give it, over time, a blue-green appearance that would recall the tops of the West Side Market and St. Ignatius High School, two landmarks on the surrounding Ohio City skyline.

At the online meeting, Veysey said finalizing whether the building could be demolished plays into additional steps needed to make the project a go, such as final drawings used for securing financing.

Although none of the parties voiced it, the clock is clearly ticking for all such multimillion-dollar projects as a historic era of record-low interest rates is coming to an end. The Federal Reserve Bank has hiked interest rates twice this year, and indications are it may hike rates two more times this year before putting the brakes on a quest to quell the highest inflation in the U.S. in 40 years.