CLEVELAND — An economic engine that sputtered out 40 years ago is almost ready to rev up again in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood.
Environmental clean-up and repairs are likely to start in March at the historic Warner & Swasey Co. complex on Carnegie Avenue near East 55th Street. Construction to fill four floors of the main building with 112 apartments could begin in the fall — if the development team can fill a $2 million funding gap.
Project representatives say they’re closer than ever to making the deal happen after a decade of work. And they’re under pressure to get moving. Some of the financing for the makeover will expire in the spring if renovations don’t get underway soon.
“It is the most complex project I’ve ever worked on,” said Geoff Milz, the Ohio director of development for Pennrose, a Pennsylvania-based real estate developer. “And it’s among the more complex projects that we’ve worked on in Ohio. But, you know, it’s worth it. … This is the project that gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Pennrose is tackling the redevelopment with MidTown Cleveland Inc., a nonprofit neighborhood group that’s been fighting for years to save the old Warner & Swasey plant, an effort that News 5 documented in 2020.
The brick factory opened in the early 1900s and once housed one of the world’s top machine tool makers, a company that employed thousands of workers who made everything from turret lathes to telescopes and binoculars.
The plant gradually emptied out, then shut its doors in the 1980s, a casualty of industry consolidation and overseas competition.
The City of Cleveland acquired the property in 1991 as the potential site of a municipal service center. But that project never happened. Now, the complex is set to become mixed-income housing, with commercial space on the first floor.
A parking lot will fill the central courtyard, an area that’s partially shaded by a saw-toothed metal roof today. Milz said that shed-like structure is too far gone to save.
The first phase of the project will cost about $58 million and could be done in 2027.
The team expects to close on part of that financing for cleaning up, stabilizing and securing the buildings next month. Another financial closing could happen by late fall to kick-start construction on 112 low-income apartments – 56 for seniors and 56 for families.
For a tenant living alone, the income limit would fall between $20,450 and $40,860 a year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those limits are slightly higher for larger households.
“We would love to see the people that have been looking at this vacant building for decades actually be the ones to access the housing here,” said Ashley Shaw, executive director of MidTown Cleveland Inc.
She fields frequent questions from neighbors about the status of the building. And she’s keenly aware of the significance of the place, in Midtown and across the region.
“People still tell stories about how they had family members who worked in this building,” Shaw said. “People from the neighborhood still remember when thousands of people came to work here every day.”
Milz, who is based in Cincinnati, echoed that.
“All across the state, in fact, people know this building and have similar stories,” he said during a tour of the property on Monday afternoon.
“It’s hard to look at a building like this, in a neighborhood like this, and not just fall in love with it,” Milz said. “It’s got so much character.”
MidTown and Pennrose are firming up a funding plan that includes almost two dozen sources of financing, from federal and state tax credits for historic preservation to Cleveland Foundation money to grants and loans from Cuyahoga County and the city.
"We're hugely supportive of the project," said Jeff Epstein, the city's chief of integrated development. "We've got a lot of money that we're planning to put into it. We've got to take it through legislation still. We've obviously been working on it a long time, and we're all in with Pennrose and MidTown."
The partners are exploring at least three different paths – a federal earmark, different tax credits or a grant – to get the final $2 million they need for the first wave of construction.
The project’s second phase will add commercial space and 26 more apartments – mid-priced rentals Milz described as workforce housing. He said it’s too early to put a price tag or a firm timeline on those renovations.
Councilman Richard Starr, who represents the area, said the project is one of his top priorities.
“This building has been vacant for my entire life,” said Starr, who grew up on the East Side and remembers passing the shuttered factory and wondering about its past.
He said the neighborhood needs high-quality, affordable housing. Midtown is seeing an influx of residential development, much of it new construction with higher rents.
“This is going to be really transformative,” he said while standing outside the graffiti-filled building, which is a favorite of artists and urban explorers.
The Warner & Swasey plant sits just a block south of East 55th and Euclid Avenue, a once-bustling area that MidTown Cleveland hopes to revive as a gateway to the East Side.
“It opens up the door for other developers to say yes, we’re open for development and opportunities in our community. … There’s opportunities to do great things together if we collaborate,” Starr said.
He lauded MidTown and Pennrose for keeping the project alive. The partners have navigated a pandemic, interest-rate spikes and dramatic swings in construction pricing.
They haven’t quite arrived. But they know where they’re going. And they're hopeful.
“It has been a roller-coaster,” Shaw said. “Our team is so emotionally invested into this project, into making this a reality. We all eat, sleep and breathe this project. There’s been many tears and many celebrations. … We are all just so excited to even be talking about being at this point.”
