Cleveland Metropolitan School District is moving ahead with adaptive reuse of Joseph M. Gallagher School on the city’s west side, townhomes in Ohio City stir up controversy, and a neighborhood recreation center in Central is about to get a re-do. Here’s what we’ve learned from city planning meetings this month.
A long-awaited new school
Joseph M. Gallagher School, a currently vacant K-8 Cleveland school at West 65th and Franklin Blvd. in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, will be getting a long-awaited makeover. The 1970s-era brick building is slated for a full renovation that will include brightly-colored panels on the exterior, a new entrance, covered canopy and drop off area, reconfigured interior spaces, and a completely revamped track and field. The school serves more than 700 students (they are currently at a swing site in the former Garrett Morgan School on Woodbine Ave. in Ohio City).
“As it exists currently, Joseph Gallagher school is a non-functioning structure for students and educators alike,” said Ward 15 council member Jenny Spencer in a letter to the Cleveland Landmarks Commission that was read aloud at its March 9 meeting. “Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s planned improvements to Gallagher … are an absolutely crucial and catalytic investment in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.”
Spencer noted that she attended a Feb. 8 community meeting and has also met with adjacent property owners. “Across the board I encountered positive feedback about the masonry and glazing changes,” she wrote, referring to design changes made since the last meeting.
The Landmarks Commission approved the designs for the new school with several recommendations for further study and improvements at its March 9 meeting. Architect Murtaza Abbas from Architectural Vision Group (AVG) said that the school district will submit a permit application for partial demolition and then proceed with construction documents.
Ohio City townhomes get pushback
Cleveland-based Gold Key Builders has plans to build three single-family homes and four townhomes on Clinton Ave. in Ohio City, but the project is getting pushback from community members and design review officials who worry that it’s too dense and inappropriate for the neighborhood.
Recently, the Ohio City Design Review Committee, an advisory body to the Landmarks Commission, voted 5-1 to deny the project, citing concerns about the site plan and the quality of materials proposed for the townhome units.
The plan calls for building three single-family homes facing the street at 4303 Clinton Ave. and an additional four townhomes in the rear of the lot off Vine Court. The driveway for the seven-unit project would be off Vine Court.
In the ongoing density wars of Ohio City, where new homes cost upwards of $500,000 in many cases, community members and design review officials are clearly worried that allowing more townhomes to be built along Vine Court in this location will encourage more alleys in the city to be developed with dense new housing that some believe isn’t historically appropriate.
Ryan Grass of Grassroots Architecture, the architect for the project, said at the March 9 meeting of the Cleveland Landmarks Commission that more units would allow for a lower price point, adding to the economic diversity of the neighborhood. He added that the townhomes would be screened by the single-family homes in front so they wouldn’t be highly visible to passersby.
“Occasionally in these neighborhoods a little bit of density is a good thing,” he said. “We’re talking about social and economic diversity. We’re talking about different products. And visually the impact is negligible.”
Ultimately, the Landmarks Commission didn’t buy it and said the townhomes need to be reworked to gain support. The builder agreed to table the project, go back to the drawing board to take a fresh look, and bring it back to the commission in a few weeks.
New look for Central Rec
The city of Cleveland is making plans to revamp the Central Recreation Center at 2526 Central Ave. with a glassy new entranceway, signage, and a refreshed site plan. It’s all part of a plan to help revive the rec center as a “hub for Central” that is now underway, Mark Duluk of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects (MOCAP) told the Cleveland Planning Commission at its March 3 meeting.
The city was seeking schematic design approval. Preliminary designs for the site include new playing fields, playground equipment, a basketball court, and a possible splash pad. However, Duluk stated that the city still needs to undertake a community engagement process to find out more about what the community wants.
Overall, commission members were excited about what the project could do for the community, one of the poorest in the city, but felt that the design needed to be improved and put in the context of the overall site plan for the project. “I want the story of not just the building, but how the site is going to be developed for the community,” said planning commission chair Lillian Kuri. “How people will approach the site and what it means both civically and ceremonially is as important as the building itself.”
The project was approved schematically with the conditions that the city further explore the landscaping plan, evaluate changes to the entranceway, and engage the community in its design work.
Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that the Cleveland West design review committee of the Cleveland Planning Commission voted 5-1 to deny the Clinton townhomes project. The Ohio City Design Review Committee, an advisory body to the Landmarks Commission, voted 5-1 to recommend the denial of the project. The Landmarks Commission voted to table the project.
Learn more about the Cleveland Planning Commission and Cleveland Landmarks Commission, how to participate, and how to submit comments here: Cleveland City Planning Commission (clevelandohio.gov).
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