CLEVELAND — Sheila Wright’s Valentine’s Day gift to her Hough neighborhood is an Allen Estates project that she hopes will break ground in more ways than one.
In the literal sense, Frontline Development Group’s construction project is starting this week, weather permitting, on the first six single-family homes named for Carolyn Watts Allen and Robert Allen, who moved into the Hough neighborhood in the early 1990s, inspiring others to also invest there.
“We’ve been saying for years, ‘Why aren’t people investing in neighborhoods,” said Wright. “Well, people are investing in neighborhoods now.”
Eventually, she hopes to build 237 housing units, broken up between single-family homes, townhomes, and mixed-use buildings that could also bring street-level retail back to Hough. When professional baseball was played at League Park, it was in the middle of a densely-packed, diverse community.
The project will figuratively be breaking ground after overcoming pandemic delays, rising construction costs, and generations of redlining and disinvestment that prevented Hough residents from buying homes and building generational wealth.
Allen Estates is designed to make homeownership more attainable for residents and could help make future development nearby easier by increasing property values and bringing more people to the neighborhood.
“These six homes represent pioneering and will set the comps for our entire development,” said Wright. “It’s almost like a rocket taking off. The rocket meets its most resistance getting off the ground.”
Already, the Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park is working on a new project just down the block from Allen Estates, expanding the museum’s room for exhibits and visitor activities.
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