"CSU picks developer for $50 million first phase of North Campus Neighborhood"

Repost from Cleveland.com:

Cleveland State University picks developer for $50 million first phase of North Campus Neighborhood

 

By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer 

Polaris Real Estate Equities/Massaro Corp./MCF ArchitectsCleveland State University is negotiating a ground-lease deal with Polaris Real Estate Equities, a Highland Heights developer, on 6.8 acres along Chester Avenue between East 21st and East 24th streets. Polaris will lease the land, now used for parking and the university's Theater Arts building, and build 275 to 300 market-rate apartments and retail on it. The project is the first phase of CSU's North Campus Neighborhood. This artist's rendering shows how the retail portion between East 22nd and East 23rd streets might look.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Construction could start next year on a $50 million apartment-and-retail project intended to be the first phase of a new neighborhood at Cleveland State University.

The university has selected Polaris Real Estate Equities, a developer in Highland Heights, to remake 6.8 acres along the north side of Chester Avenue, between East 21st and East 24th streets. Polaris will lease the property from the university and will build 275 to 300 market-rate apartments, aimed at graduate students, faculty members, staff and young professionals. The buildings could open in summer 2012.

The project is the first step in CSU's vision for its North Campus Neighborhood, where more apartments and a new baseball field eventually could replace a sea of surface parking. Since early 2009, the university has been seeking developers, assessing proposals and considering how much construction is possible in a challenging economy. And from the start, Polaris has been angling to participate -- first to develop all 27 acres, then to build on the strip along Chester, after CSU downsized its initial plans because of concerns about the cost of new parking and infrastructure.

View full sizePolaris Real Estate Equities/Massaro Corp./MCF ArchitectsThe buildings along Chester Avenue would have retail space at street level and apartments above.

"This location along Cleveland State, on the campus, it doesn't get any better," said Polaris partner Guy Totino. "We normally don't pursue [requests for proposals], that's usually not our thing. But we're in Cleveland, and we've watched Cleveland State's transformation over the last 10 years or so from a commuter college to a residential campus."

In addition to new academic buildings and a student center slated to open in July, CSU has been adding 1,038 student beds to its campus in renovated and new dormitories. The North Campus will extend that growth, but the buildings will be owned by private developers, who bear the responsibility for financing and maintaining the projects. The university will receive lease payments for use of its land.

Totino is confident that he and partner Rob Vadas can find construction money, even though developers in Cleveland and across the country are strapped and struggling. Proximity to CSU and the university's 6,000-strong graduate-student population gives the campus project an edge, Totino said. Polaris is considering financing a deal through the Federal Housing Administration and private lenders.

One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood could rent for $850 to $1,550 per month, according to information provided to CSU by Polaris. Jack Boyle, the university's vice president for business affairs, said CSU was focused on making the project desirable and affordable for law students, international students, young families and workers from nearby institutions such as Cuyahoga Community College and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.

"We don't want four single bedrooms and a community kitchen," Boyle said.

Along Chester, Polaris will build 10,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet of ground-level restaurants and stores, such as a dry cleaner and other student-serving businesses. The project also will include 300 parking spaces, tucked into one or two low-lying garages surrounded by five apartment buildings.

Two structures, the dilapidated Doan building on East 22nd Street and CSU's Theater Arts Building at East 23rd Street and Chester, occupy the site. If Cleveland planning officials approve, Doan will be demolished. CSU hopes to move its art department, theater classrooms and rehearsal space to better digs in PlayhouseSquare, thereby broadening the university's reach into the theater district.

CSU has been negotiating a deal for the building at 1901 E. 13th St., owned by Middough Inc., an architecture, engineering and management company. The university hopes to move performances to the Allen Theatre, a remodeling project being tackled by PlayhouseSquare and the Cleveland Play House.

"We haven't completed a deal with either PlayhouseSquare or the owners of the Middough building," Boyle said Tuesday. "But we're in the process of trying to bring resolution to these two issues."

If the relocation drags out or stalls, Polaris could start construction around the Theater Arts building.

Four other developers submitted proposals for the first phase of the North Campus Neighborhood. They were Signet Enterprises of Akron; the Geis Cos. of Streetsboro; Place Properties of Atlanta; and Associated Estates Realty Corp., a publicly traded apartment company in Richmond Heights.