Apartment tower backers win OK to demolish old building

A 1940s-vintage garage that’s highly visible on the northwest corner of the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Ohio City may be demolished as part of the project to construct a contemporary 15-story apartment and hotel building on the site.

The Cleveland Landmarks Commission at its Thursday, May 26, meeting authorized the structure’s demolition, with a provision that the developers could not raze the building until they launch construction of the tower. The commission also asked the Bridgeworks developers to document historic aspects of the property.

Developers of Bridgeworks agreed to try to reuse limestone from the building as part of a plan to refurbish a limestone ticket booth on the site that dates from the city’s trolley era.

Graham Veysey, a principal in the Bridgeworks team, said the group needed the demolition approval to proceed in securing financing to build the tower.

“Approval of this demolition request allows us to competently move forward with the drawings for the project. It’s OK to hold the demolition for the project, but to delay the approval would delay us more,” Marika Shioiri-Clark, an architect who is also a partner in Bridgeworks, told the commission.

Commission member Jonathan Bonezzi said during discussion of the project, “This is one of the few Art Deco buildings in Cleveland. It kind of missed Cleveland. However, the gain in economic vitality far outweighs what’s happening on that corner now.”

Bridgeworks developers on May 12 showed a conceptional plan for the apartment-hotel tower to the commission as part of a bid to raze the structure. However, the commission did not act on the plan because it lacked a quorum.

Developers of Bridgeworks will need to return to the commission and other city review panels for additional, more detailed design reviews before they may proceed with the multimillion-dollar project.

The proposed tower would consist of 130 hotel guest rooms, in a hotel with a so-far unidentified brand, and 140 apartment suites. The first floor also will include retail space such as a cafe.

Michael Panzica, a principal of M. Panzica Development of Cleveland, is the third partner in the proposed Bridgeworks ownership team.

The trio won a competition with other bidders to secure the site from the county for redevelopment of the parcel. The county moved operations from the garage in 2019.

At the May 12 meeting, the Bridgeworks partners presented substantial documentation that the building was too far gone to be repaired and function as part of the new development.

Saving the old ticket booth is part of efforts by the developers to retain access from the site to the undercarriage of the neighboring bridge. Trolleys once used it to dip to the lower level of the bridge and surface on the downtown side.

Many proposals for redevelopment of the bridge deck have been floated through the years, but none have proceeded. The deck provides outstanding views of the city’s Flats and Lake Erie.

Veterans Memorial Bridge was previously known, and still is commonly referred to, as the Detroit-Superior Bridge as it connects the significant streets on both sides of the Cuyahoga River valley.