Shaker Heights enters preliminary agreement for mixed-use development of Van Aken District’s Qua site

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — The city announced a preliminary agreement for a mixed-use development featuring 140 market-rate, affordable rental units on the site of the former Qua Buick-Pontiac dealership in the Van Aken District.

Those plans will be discussed further in a City Council work session following its regular meeting Monday (Aug. 22), starting at 7 p.m. in City Hall, with in-person attendance as well as online streaming available at www.shakeronline.com/livestream.

The proposal comes from Columbus-based Metropolitan Holdings Limited for the intended purchase of 2.4 acres the city bought for $1 million in 2013 at the southeast corner of Farnsleigh and Warrensville Center roads near the entrance to Thornton Park, across from the first two phases of the Van Aken redevelopment and the Shaker Rocks climbing gym.

Initial plans at 3393 Warrensville Center Road call for a 250,000-square-foot building to house approximately 140 rental units including a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments units, and townhome-style rental units, as well as over 18,000 square feet of commercial/retail and office space.

Under the terms of the preliminary agreement, RDL Architects, a mainstay in Shaker Heights for over a quarter-century, will design the project with the intention of becoming the anchor office-end tenant.

According to a press release issued Friday (Aug. 19) Metropolitan Holdings Limited and RDL, the project will “blend urban and suburban design” providing:

• A “signature corner” with ground-floor retail and amenity spaces, second-floor offices, and three floors of multi-family apartments facing Warrensville Center Road
• Five floors of multifamily residential apartments facing Farnsleigh Road
• Two-and-a-half story townhouse-style construction facing Helen Road and complementing the surrounding single-family homes
• Parking for approximately 200 cars, largely contained within the building

“We are very pleased to be working with Metropolitan Holdings and RDL Architects on this next exciting expansion of the Van Aken District,” said Shaker Heights Mayor David E. Weiss announced. “It will add vibrancy to an already popular destination, increase the housing options within the district, while overall enhancing and complementing the greater Van Aken District.”

Weiss noted in the press release that residents of the new complex will have easy access to RTA rail and bus routes, shopping, dining, banking, and recreation.

“And the city will benefit with increased tax revenues while also having RDL Architects, one of our top employers, as an anchor for this project,” Weiss added.

Weiss said earlier that the city received “robust responses” to the request for proposals issued last year. City Law Director William Ondrey Gruber planned to release additional information on the rest of those RFP responses soon.

“We are honored and humbled that the City of Shaker Heights has chosen our proposal in this competitive RFP process,” Matt Vekasy, founder and CEO of Metropolitan Holdings, noted in the press release.

“The ability to work with the city and RDL Architects Founder and President Ron Lloyd on a signature corner of real estate within the established Van Aken District is an opportunity to align our collective visions to further smart urban development within Shaker Heights,” Vekasy added.

After the “strategic acquisition” of the Qua property, in large part to ward off speculative real estate interests in Shaker’s “New Downtown,” the city partnered in 2015-16 with the Cuyahoga County Land Bank and developers RMS Investment Corp. to demolish the existing buildings and prepare the site for redevelopment.

The land has sat idle since that time, after plans fell through in 2016 to rebuild the Fresh Market — the only building left from the former shopping plaza, now revamped and upgraded home to the Van Aken District’s Market Hall.

“RDL Architects has been committed to Shaker Heights for more than 25 years and we look forward to the next 25 years and beyond in our new office,” Lloyd stated. “We are extremely grateful to be Metropolitan Holdings’ selected architectural partner on such a dynamic and impactful project for this community.”

Work-in-progress

The initial agreement signed by the city, Metropolitan Holdings, and RDL Architects is a letter of intent to negotiate a binding agreement for the development of this project.

The project will be subject to local approvals by the City’s Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals, Architectural Board of Review, and City Council.

The parties will seek mutually acceptable financing arrangements for the project. The Qua property is located within both an existing Community Reinvestment Area (CRA), in which tax abatement is permitted for commercial and residential development, and a Tax Increment Financing District.

The city and development team principals will also be working with the Shaker Heights City School District, including any required school district approvals, as financing for the project is developed and finalized.

Weiss further noted that the second phase of Van Aken District development will feature more than 225 new rental housing units in a “dramatic 15-and-18-story structure” on the north side of Farnsleigh Road at Van Aken Boulevard, with construction scheduled to begin this month.

“We look forward to this continued growth of the Van Aken District, and the many benefits generated by this project for our community including job creation, increased tax revenues, enhanced property values, and providing an attractive, vibrant and inclusive gathering place for our entire community,” Weiss added in the press release.

The City of Shaker Heights has created a project webpage at www.shakeronline.com/3393-WCR. This page will be updated as the project proceeds.

(This is a developing story and will be followed up with coverage of Monday’s [Aug. 22] City Council meeting and work session.)

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