Shaker Square rescue deal in limbo after councilwoman withholds support

Cleveland officials and nonprofit leaders answered questions about a proposed $12 million deal to buy and fix up Shaker Square at a public meeting at York Rite Masonic Temple on Kinsman Road Friday morning, pledging to make improvements and engage the community if the deal is passed by Cleveland City Council. Yet Ward 4 interim councilwoman Marion Anita Gardner withheld her support, leaving it to her successor to decide.

“No, I don’t support it, I’m sorry, because I live in the real world,” said Gardner, a community activist who was appointed Ward 4 interim council member after former member Ken Johnson was indicted and removed from office. “I’m actually looking at what’s going on outside my door. Is it the wrong time? I don’t know. Is it the right time? I don’t know. And until I can answer that intelligently, no, I can’t support it.”

“I’m not opposed to rebuilding Shaker Square,” she said. “I love Shaker Square. But I’m pissed off because this is my community. Shaker Square is a bunch of feudal lords. Everybody has their opinion, which they’re entitled to. But when I’m listening to everyone arguing about the money, where it’s coming from, and how it’s going to be spent, I’m sad.”

Gardner, who said that she is “not a politician” and prefers helping the community through her nonprofit organization, Concerned Citizens Community Council, pointed to the building across the street on Kinsman, where she has shoes and coats waiting to be sent out to needy families. Outgoing city council president Kevin Kelley and Ward 6 council member Blaine Griffin have said they will not move forward with the deal this year without Gardner’s approval.

In an interview after the meeting, incoming Ward 4 council member Deborah Gray said she wasn’t sure yet if she’d support the $12 million deal to rescue Shaker Square, leaving it in limbo for now. “I have meetings lined up to discuss it, and I need to talk to the councilwoman,” she said. “When she said it was on my plate, that was the first time I knew that was happening.”

City and nonprofit leaders who are behind the deal to buy Shaker Square, turn it over to nonprofit owners for improvement and resell it to a for-profit owner after three years, acknowledged they’d made mistakes in not briefing Gardner on the deal sooner. 

“When I step in it, I step in it,” said Tania Menesse, President and CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, the nonprofit organization spearheading the rescue along with Burten, Bell, Carr Inc. and the city. “We did not sit down with Ms. Gardner. I apologize profusely.”

In a text message, Menesse later clarified that while Gardner had been involved from the outset, they hadn’t met with her recently. “She was involved since July but our project team didn’t brief her on the particulars of the final city deal which was a big miss,” she said. “Normally, city development staff does, and Ward 6 Councilmember Blaine Griffin did, but we should have done it.”

The city’s economic development director, David Ebersole, said the city supported the deal because it would protect and improve Shaker Square, rather than risk it falling into the hands of an out-of-town investor who may not share the community’s vision. “We wind up driving the bus and figuring out what is the long term future of the property,” he said. “That’s why we’re here today.”

Joy Johnson, director of Burten Bell Carr Inc., said that Cleveland has seen many real estate investors purchase distressed assets out of foreclosure and neglect them, leading to further deterioration, whereas local owners could be held accountable. “It’s not a question of do we pay $12 million or $5 million, it’s a question of whether we pay $12 million now or gamble and hope for the best,” she said. “They’re only concerned about the bottom line. We spend our resources stabilizing Buckeye, Central and Kinsman. That’s all we do everyday.”

Brandon Chrostowski, leader of EDWINS Restaurant and Leadership Institute, who had sought to purchase the square through a $5 million bid that was rejected by the bank, said he opposed the deal because the receiver was making improvements and there was no urgency to make a deal happen right now. “The same price you’re about to fork over today you can pay later,” he said. 

Menesse said that buying the property at a later date could cost more, and in the meantime it could further deteriorate, causing tenants to leave. She said that the receiver had spent about $18,000 to far, which is a small investment compared to what she believes the property needs.

The conversation later turned aggressive when Chrostowki confronted Menesse and Ward 6 council member Blaine Griffin. “Why would you go behind Anita Gardner’s back? Why would you go behind my back and my family’s back?” he said.

Menesse and Griffin said they hadn’t done that, and there had been plenty of community engagement. “Why do you need to attack people, Brandon?” said longtime community activist and East 128th Street resident Bob Render, causing Chrostowski to heckle him, “Sit down, Bob” and “Hit the road, Render.” 

Terri Hamilton Brown, project consultant for the Shaker Square deal, pledged that residents would see improvements right away if the deal went through. “Immediately, we want it to look better,” she said, citing planned improvements to landscaping, lighting and the property exterior. “We want it to affect and improve conditions that our merchants are experiencing.”

Many of the audience members who attended the meeting said they supported the public-private partnership to purchase Shaker Square. Dozens of residents spoke in favor of it, while only a few questioned it or thought it was a bad idea. However, most agreed the deal should be tied to improving surrounding neighborhoods that had suffered from decades of disinvestment.

“I don’t believe this is being rushed at all,” said one Buckeye resident. “Why should we wait?”

Former Playhouse Square CEO Art Falco, who lives in Shaker Square, cited Playhouse Square’s resurgence as an example of what could happen at Shaker Square, but said don’t rush it. “If that hadn’t occurred, there would be no Playhouse Square today,” he said. “Now we have an economic benefit of $100 million per year. So I’m a strong proponent of public-private partnerships.”

Former council member and mayoral hopeful Zack Reed said that the eastside of Cleveland needs investment. “If it can happen on the west side of Cleveland, why can’t it start happening here on the eastside of Cleveland?” he said. 

Lee Chilcote is editor of The Land.