CentroVilla25, an upcoming Latino marketplace in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood, has been a dream in the community for 40 years, Latino leaders said at the project’s groundbreaking ceremony on Friday afternoon.
The Clark-Fulton neighborhood has the highest density of Latinos in the state. For decades, the city’s Latino community has longed for a place to celebrate their culture, Jenice Contreras, the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development (NEOHCED), told The Land last fall. After eight years of planning and fundraising led by Contreras, that dream is becoming a reality.
“Today, we stand ready to break ground on this dream come true in our community,” Hispanic Business Center board chair Carmen Verhosek told the community members and leaders gathered at the former H.J. Weber building at 3140 W. 25th St., the future site of CentroVilla, on Friday.
The vacant 32,500-square-foot warehouse will become a Latino marketplace with space for 20 micro-retailers, a commercial kitchen, and a business innovation center. CentroVilla25 will also have an outdoor plaza. (See a virtual tour of project renderings here.)
“It’s finally coming to fruition, and I’m excited to see it because I thought I would never see it in my lifetime,” lifelong Ward 14 resident Waleska Gachuk told The Land after the ceremony.
CentroVilla expects to have its grand opening in 12-15 months, Contreras said. The project needs less than $5,000 to reach its $12 million funding goal. It received $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding from Cuyahoga County, $1.5 million in ARPA funding from the city, and funding from corporations, development tax credits, and grants.
“This has been a lot of work behind the scenes by Jenice. This has been a lot of perseverance; this has been a team effort from Latino communities coming together and understanding how important and impactful this is going to be to our Latino families,” Ward 14 Council Member Jasmin Santana said at the ceremony.
Contreras said the title “developer” still feels unfamiliar to her, but the Clark-Fulton neighborhood is not. She grew up on West 30th Street and Clark Ave., where she could see the top of CentroVilla25’s future home from her mother’s apartment.
“CentroVilla is the physical manifestation of being in a space where people can thrive, where you can learn, where you can fail and start again. We often don’t have that when you’re a minority business owner,” Contreras said. “Here, you can test it and fail and have the resources and rise again and be successful, because you have an entire community that’s going to rally around you because they believe in you just like you guys believed in this girl from West 30th and Clark.”
NEOHCED’s Barrio Progreso training program will provide bilingual business support services to entrepreneurs who are interested in opening at CentroVilla, helping them build their business plans and marketing strategies.
Luis Roman, who graduated from Lincoln West High School in Clark Fulton and now owns Hola Island Kitchens, a Caribbean restaurant at 2235 E. 55th St., has plans to open a grocery store at CentroVilla. The project is a chance for the Latino community to leave a legacy and benefit future generations, he said.
“There’s a lot of love going into this building. It’s not just brick and mortar. There is love in this building,” Roman said. “Because it’s been eight years, eight years we’ve been doing this and just struggling and trying to find funding.”
Before the project leaders and city officials donned hard hats and dug shovels into a container of soil at the ceremony, Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz read a poem she wrote 18 years ago titled “Cleveland Rican Blues.”
“I’ve got the Cleveland Rican blues. I’m lost in a city that still don’t recognize my people’s history. We walk around this town, and we’re still a mystery,” Oliveras de Ortiz read from the poem, which she also performed at NEOHCED’s gala in late March.
“I want my Hispanic village. I want my Hispanic village,” Oliveras de Ortiz read, this time adding an extra line: “And guess what? We have it.”
CentroVilla25 will be located at 3140 W. 25th St. Read The Land’s previous coverage of the project here, and learn more on CentroVilla’s web page, Instagram page, and Facebook page. Get in touch with the team by emailing info@hbcenter.org or calling 216-281-4422.
Keep our local journalism accessible to all
Reader support is crucial as we continue to shed light on underreported neighborhoods in Cleveland. Will you become a monthly member to help us continue to produce news by, for, and with the community?
P.S. Did you like this story? Take our reader survey!
