Five years ago, the 1930 apartment building at 2804 S. Moreland Blvd. was in danger of being torn down. It was vacant – except for the squatters living there. It had no working heat and water, and its foundation had been damaged after a plow truck ran into it. Now, the historic apartments have been brought back to life and are ready to welcome their first new tenants.
Beachwood-based investor Rakefet Landes purchased the property at sheriff’s sale for $119,250 in 2018. She has spent the past five years renovating it in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, it’s been completely restored as a 23-unit building featuring affordably priced studios and one and two-bedroom apartments.
“Nobody wanted this building,” said Landes during a recent tour of the property on a sun-splashed April morning. “Four different developers walked through the building, and everyone turned it down.”
Landes, who lived in New York City before moving to Cleveland with her family, has a background as a real estate agent and property manager. Yet this was the Israeli-born Landes’ first renovation project. After attending three or four sheriff’s auctions, she saw 2804 South Moreland was going up for sale because of tax foreclosure (the previous owner lost the property to the county due to unpaid taxes). Landes said after no one bought the property the first time it went up for auction, she felt compelled to make a move on it.
“I went home and couldn’t sleep and I said to my husband, ‘We have to take it,’” she said. “The second time, we made a bid, and no one countered.”
At the time she bought it, Landes had never been inside the property. “I got in the building and said, ‘Oh, this is not bad,’” said the sunnily-dispositioned real estate developer.
Over the next five years, Landes obtained state and historic tax credits, lobbied for funding from the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and got to work. Today, the building has been completely overhauled with new wood windows, rebuilt and tuck pointed brick exterior, restored tile floor in the hallway, and all-new units featuring hardwood floors, new kitchens, and individual heating and cooling units in every suite. The units are all affordably priced, with studios renting for $650, one-bedrooms for $750, and two-bedrooms for $1,200 per month.
Because of the city and county funding, Landes was required to make 30% of the units affordable to individuals meeting 50-60% of area median income. Area median income for Cuyahoga County is about $55,000, so 50-60% of AMI is about $29,000 for an individual at current levels. Landes said she’s making all of the units affordable – not just 30% of them as required – and she is also accepting Section 8 vouchers. There are a total of nine studios, nine one-bedrooms, and five two-bedrooms in the building.
“People need a nice place to live, and there’s nothing for them,” said Landes, noting that the property is located in the city of Cleveland but is in the Shaker Heights school district. “It’s driving them out of the city and the school system, and it isn’t right.”
The city of Cleveland granted $760,000 and lent $75,000 to the project, and Cuyahoga County granted $450,000, Landes said. The project, which cost about $3 million, was financed by CF Bank and Marble Cliff Capital.
Landes said there is high demand for affordably-priced, high-quality housing in the Shaker Square area. Many of the units that are available elsewhere in the area are either unaffordable or in substandard condition, she said. So far, she has been flooded with tenant applications from students, divorcees, and Section 8 voucher holders, among other applicants.
The investor has an office in the building and reviews and signs leases herself. Now that 2804 S. Moreland is done, she’s looking forward to filling it with new tenants and finding another project. She has her eye on obtaining a city land bank lot behind her building and constructing for-sale townhomes there.
Landes said she is saddened by some of the irresponsible investors she sees in the area, such as the New York apartment owners who purchased the buildings at 12701 Shaker, 12500 Shaker and 12600 Shaker and are facing a nuisance lawsuit from the city because of the living conditions in the buildings.
“I see people from out of town investing, which is very sad because they don’t care about the square or the Cleveland area,” said Landes. “Cleveland is special.”
Jay Westbrook, a former city council member who is one of the founders of the Morelands Group, said his advocacy group would like to see more investors like Landes. “She’s come here to do this and she’s doing it and God bless her,” said Westbrook. “Anyone who’s got the taste for doing it right, we want them in the kitchen. Mostly, it’s been smash and grab around here, and we gotta get away from that.”
Learn more about Cuyahoga County sheriff’s sales at Foreclosure Sales – Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office. Rakefet Landes can be reached at rakefetlandes@gmail.com. Read The Land’s previous coverage of Shaker Blvd. apartment residents protesting poor conditions in their apartments and meeting with owners to ask for action. To learn more about The Morelands Group, a grassroots organization that is an offshoot of Shaker Square Alliance and seeks to improve housing conditions in and around the square, contact Meg Weingart at morelandsgroup@gmail.com.
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