EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — An old car dealership in East Cleveland is poised for new life as a biomedical hub – a flexible workspace for scientists and researchers who need offices and labs.
The Cuyahoga Land Bank recently struck a deal to sell the former Mickey’s building at 12550 Euclid Ave. to a Massachusetts-based developer called Verdynt. That sale, set to take place by early fall, could bring more than 100 jobs to one of Ohio’s poorest cities.
And the project is a building block for a much bigger vision: Remaking 33 acres just a few hundred yards from University Circle, the region’s medical, educational and arts mecca.
“This is the first critical piece,” said Dennis Roberts, the land bank’s director of real estate development. “Because … people can actually see the investment. This company is going to dump millions of dollars into this particular location.”
The land bank, a quasi-governmental organization, just finished cleaning up the building and preparing it for new uses. That $3.5 million renovation transformed the long-empty space into a blank canvas with white walls and high ceilings.
Roberts wouldn’t say how much Verdynt has agreed to pay for the property. But the company and a related business, SKYLIIT Labs, expect to spend more than $12 million to fill the building with labs and shared offices – a sort of high-tech coworking facility.
“It’s not closed until it’s closed. But we’re extremely confident,” Roberts said of the sale. “We feel good about this particular company. They share our values, and they share our goal of creating jobs and helping East Cleveland grow and prosper.”
Doug Medvetz, a Verdynt principal, wasn’t available for an interview on Monday.
His LinkedIn profile says that he grew up in Elyria. Medvetz and co-founder Khadijah Hindi both studied chemistry at the University of Akron.
“Akron was actually where they were looking, because it’s got hospitals, it’s got a university, and they were more familiar with it,” said Kamla Lewis, the land bank’s project manager for East Cleveland. “Our broker introduced them, and we sold them on this as an alternative.”
The life sciences space could open in mid-2025, she said.
In an emailed statement, Mayor Brandon King said the project is exactly the kind of investment city leaders hoped to see when they started talking to the land bank years ago.
“This is the beginning of the revitalization of East Cleveland,” the mayor wrote.
The land bank owns more than 200 vacant lots in the area, flanking streets that bear the scars of the foreclosure crisis and housing bust. Remaking that district, which officials are calling Circle East, could cost more than $120 million and take five years or longer.
That timeline will depend, in part, on how quickly the land bank and its partners can build and sell homes. The land bank expects to break ground this fall for five houses on Woodlawn Avenue at the East Cleveland-Cleveland border.
Three local builders – Cleveland Bricks, Greenlight Building Co. and Martin Premier Homes – also have signed on to the project. Some new homes will cost between $300,000 and $400,000, Roberts said, but others will be less expensive.
“One of the biggest challenges that we have in this city is a lack of resources and a lack of hope,” he said. “And it’s our belief by recruiting a company to come here and create jobs, coupled with the new homes … that we can create that hope.”
Lewis said water-line replacements in the neighborhood will start later this summer, beginning on Woodlawn.
The land bank also plans to begin construction on a park that will cut across four residential streets. The narrow green space will include a walking trail, a play area, exercise stations and a community garden.
Lewis is working with existing homeowners to fix up their properties, with a focus on safety and health hazards. That means new roofs, new porches and other basic repairs.
The median household income in East Cleveland is about $23,000, and many of the homeowners in the Circle East district are elderly. Gus Frangos, the land bank's president, has been advocating for changes in state law to cap property tax increases for longtime residents as home values rise.
“Change is coming,” Roberts said. “And sometimes we have to change our attitude and just believe that there really is an opportunity for growth.”
He said Verdynt is already considering a second phase of its project, which would involve new construction on a gravel lot on Euclid Avenue. That property is earmarked for apartments under the land bank’s master development plan.
But adding more jobs – and income-tax revenues – would be even better, Roberts said.
“We have to repopulate the city,” he said. “And the people that are here have to have a job and they have to make money. That’s the way the city is going to generate revenue. And that’s what’s going to lead to amenities, better schools and essential city services.”
The Circle East project has won financial support from the federal government, Cuyahoga County and JobsOhio, the state’s private nonprofit economic development corporation. In 2022, East Cleveland City Council awarded the land bank $4 million in federal pandemic-recovery money for infrastructure and construction subsidies.
Donte Hilton lives in the district on the north side of Euclid. He’s a homeowner who has noticed the changes – demolitions at first and now, construction.
“I knew big plans were in place when I saw this being redone,” Hilton said of the old Mickey’s building, a one-time Buick dealership that later housed a rustproofing business.
The renovated building also includes a café and a community space. But that café, called Loiter, isn’t open yet. It’s the subject of litigation between the land bank and the operator.
That dispute isn’t impacting the pending sale, Roberts said.
Hilton said he’s ecstatic about the recent investments.
“It seemed like University Circle is creeping on our way,” Hilton said. “So just keep on coming east, baby, ’cause this is where I’m at.”
