Nucleus.JPG

A photomontage shows the location and general form of the proposed nuCLEus project, but does not characterize its architecture, which has yet to be designed.

(Stark Enterprises of Cleveland and J-Dek Investments Ltd. of Solon)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Developer Robert Stark wowed the city's planning commission Friday morning, easily winning unanimous conceptual approval for a proposed, $250-million to $350-million development he calls nuCLEus that could transform a moribund part of downtown near the Gateway sports complex.

The commission voted 6-0 to approve Stark's early diagrammatic plan and a proposal for tax increment financing in which the city would allow the non-school portion of increased real estate tax revenue from the project to help finance project debt.

"My interest is in restoring the sense of energy in Cleveland I knew as a boy," Stark said during a 20-minute presentation in his typically energetic speaking style.

A colored diagram shows the general shape, or "massing" of the proposed nuCLEus development in downtown Cleveland, and the arrangement of uses within the project.

Wearing a charcoal suit and a white shirt without a tie, he spoke in a deep, booming voice and gestured broadly toward dual screens filled with projected images of diagrams sketching the basics of the plan.

Stark's previous projects have included Crocker Park in Westlake, a large, development that mixes retail, offices, housing, restaurants and public spaces in an attempt to create a downtown for the western Cuyahoga County suburb.

Stark characterized the new downtown Cleveland project – a collaboration of Stark Enterprises and J-Dek Investments Ltd. of Solon – as a turning point that would bring significant new mixed-use construction to the downtown core after more than a decade in which other developers have concentrated on renovating existing warehouses and offices for apartments and hotels.

"What we haven't done yet to date is we haven't seen the new construction of new residential units," he said, "and we have not seen the construction of iconic, world class architecture in our environment - the kind of architecture that lets the whole world know that Cleveland is back and proud and out there in the global economy to make its mark."

The nuCLEus project - whose name is a play on the idea of the central role it intends to play downtown - would be located primarily on two blocks sandwiched by Prospect Avenue and Huron Road, just north of the Q and east of East 4th Street.

It would encompass 120,000 to 140,000 square feet of retail, a 150- to 200-room hotel, 200,000 square feet of office space, 500 residential units and 1,500 to 1,600 parking spaces in garage levels stacked above street-level restaurants and stores.

Tax increment financing could generate a revenue stream large enough to finance in excess of $10 million in bonds to support the project, said Ryan Sommers, director of financial services for Project Management Consultants of Cleveland, which is advising the development.

Sommers said that the TIF would be the "most significant form of public support for the project." He said it was not yet clear whether the Cleveland Cuyahoga Port Authority or some other entity would issue the bonds.

In addition to the tax increment financing, other potential public support for the project could include funding from the Cuyahoga County's pool of casino revenues intended for downtown projects, The Plain Dealer has reported.

The residential portion of the project would also be eligible for the city's property tax abatement for new housing.

Robert Stark speaking at the Cleveland City Planning Commission meeting Friday.

Tracey Nichols, Cleveland's economic development director, has told The Plain Dealer that the project could generate new parking and income tax revenues of $1.2 million a year.

Colored diagrams describing the shape, or massing, of the project, show it could include several towers, the tallest of which could reach 500 feet, or roughly 30 stories.

Stark and J-Dek acquired most of the development site in September from L&R Group of Companies of Los Angeles.

"I feel blessed we were able to wrestle this site away from intransigence in California and represent it with native Clevelanders in the greatest way we can," Stark said.

L&R could not be reached for comment Friday morning.

The developer said he envisioned the new project as an extension of the dynamism of East 4th Street between Euclid and Prospect Avenues, where Cleveland developer MRN Ltd. has combined shops, restaurants, apartments and entertainment venues.

But Stark said nuCLEus would bring national retailers and restaurant companies back downtown. He also predicted the development would convince suburban office tenants to return to the urban core.

As for design aspirations, Stark said he wanted to activate every street edge around the project with restaurants and storefronts.

He said it was a mistake in the 1960s, '70s and '80s when the city allowed an earlier generation of developers to build modern-style office towers without lively shops and eateries lining their lower floors.

"The mistake is that the buildings did not think about the streets, did not think about walkability," he said. "They were not designed with interactive conditions to encourage interactive relationships."

Stark said he wants the residential units stacked above the shops and parking in nuCLEus to have balconies and operable windows. And he wants to echo a system of intimate, revitalized retail alleys he admires in Melbourne, Australia, called laneways.

"If I sound nutty, it's because I'm talking about alleyways like they're my girlfriend," he joked.

A diagram shows the site plan of the proposed nuCLEus development.

The developer said he planned to announce a design team soon, but that it would pair a national or international firm with local designers because, he said, "right now we don't believe there is a Cleveland architecture firm that has the experience yet" to work on a high-rise project of such scale.

But he said he hoped that by pairing a local and national firm, the project would "launch a new era in Cleveland architecture."

Stark said he was certain that the project could complete roughly half of the garage parking spaces before the Republican National Convention in 2016, and that street-level retail and restaurant spaces could be open later that year or early in 2017.

After Stark's presentation, a smiling Anthony Coyne, chairman of the commission, said: "OK, I'm exhausted, listening to this."

But it was clear the commission liked the presentation and the project.

Coyne praised Stark for his intention to line the street frontages of the project with stores and restaurants, rather than allowing the garages to come down to sidewalk level.

"Surrounding parking with retail should almost be a requirement of the city code," Coyne said, calling it "a failure of large developments in the 1960s and '70s" when the city allowed garages to front long stretches of the city's major streets.

Commission member Lillian Kuri told Stark, "I really want to commend you for the goal of world class architecture."

She said the project "will be extraordinary on the skyline if it comes together with the kind of architecture you're describing. I'm very excited and commend you."