CLEVELAND — By the end of the summer, most of the homes along Arthur Avenue near East 105th Street will be gone.
At the edge of Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood along the Opportunity Corridor, city leaders are preparing to tear down nine dilapidated and vacant homes to make way for new development.
"Because there’s so much being done on the corridor, it’s strategic land, so hopefully it will be redeveloped into something more favorable," Sally Martin O'Toole, Cleveland director of Building and Housing, said.
The homes, which consist of 10508 Arthur Ave., 10508R Arthur Ave., 10512 Arthur Ave., 10518 Arthur Ave., 10528 Arthur Ave., 10600 Arthur Ave., 10612 Arthur Ave., 10617 Arthur Ave. and 10718 Arthur Ave., are currently owned by the City of Cleveland Industrial Commercial Landbank.
It's all part of a plan called the “New Economy Neighborhood,” which involves redeveloping 42 acres right next to a redevelopment that includes a Meijer and new apartments.
Back in April, News 5 highlighted other development happening along the Opportunity Corridor.
RELATED: Development begins taking shape along Opportunity Corridor
Brett Ervin lives one block over and watched the homes along Arthur Avenue crumble over the years.
"It’s kind of sad to see the state the street is in now," he said. "Had a lot of friends over there, grew up with them."
'Aggressive strategy' underway to remove blighted homes in Cleveland
Within the next week, the city is expected to unveil the results of the city’s door-to-door survey of nearly 170,000 homes.
Earlier this year, News 5 followed along as city inspectors graded properties from A to F.
"'F' properties we fully intend would be the next demolition targets unless, by some miracle, they‘re salvageable," Martin O'Toole said.
While the full results aren’t public quite yet, Martin O’Toole told News 5 the survey should lead to the demolition of about three thousand blighted homes, mostly on the East Side of the city.
RELATED: Cleveland survey of 167,000 city homes and structures hopes to finally reduce city blight issues
"It’s our oldest housing stock," she explained. "It’s been disinvestment, cash buyers coming in and buying. Unfortunately, a lot of that has led to what we see on the East Side. We want to address the blight, and residents shouldn't have to live next door to that."
The $17 million demolition of those blighted homes will be paid for using money allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act, Martin O'Toole said.
Martin O'Toole told News 5 she expects the homes along Arthur Avenue to be demolished before the end of the summer.
"Hopefully, they do something good and bring some shine back to that street," Ervin said.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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