LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- City Council early next month is expected to approve the proposed $72 million One Lakewood Place. The major mixed-use project is set for the city-owned former Lakewood Hospital site located at the southwest corner of Detroit and Belle avenues.

“We’re at the final approval stage for basically what amounts to a rezoning of the property to a planned development (PD) district designation in our code,” City Council President Sam O’Leary said. “The underlying PD has been approved by our planning commission and architectural review board.

“So where we’re at in the process currently is we know what’s proposed to be built, where it’s proposed to be built and what it’s proposed to look like. Now we’re at the point of signing off on the work that’s been accomplished through those various planning commission and architectural review board processes.”

The 5.6-acre One Lakewood Place is the vision of Westlake-based residential, retail and office developer Carnegie Management & Development Corp.

Mayor Mike Summers said the redesign and reuse of the Lakewood Hospital site began with the first community meeting in August 2015. When finished, One Lakewood Place will provide more than $1.5 million annually to the city and schools in the form of property and income taxes.

“From that initial discussion, the community recognized the best approach was a mixture of some retail, commercial office and residential components,” Summers said

“The long process of developer selection, developer negotiations, City Council approval of the development agreement, designs, redesigns and further redesigns have resulted in a final proposal that meets with neighborhood approval and will add a $70-plus million addition to our downtown.”

Lakewood Director of Planning & Development Bryce Sylvester described the project as a significant development for the community.

“It will bring new office space to help Lakewood attract and retain companies,” Sylvester said. “It will introduce a multi-functional public plaza space at the corner of Detroit and Belle, and bring in new housing types to our city.

“More importantly, it will compliment and build on the vibrancy of the downtown district. The project calls for 100,000 square feet of office, 80,000 square feet of retail, 200 housing units with both lease and for-sale options, a .5-acre public plaza, parking garage and the historic renovation of the Curtis Block at the corner of Marlowe and Detroit avenues.”

The City Council president noted that the entire process has been resident-driven, with community-visioning sessions through various boards, commissions and public meetings.

“We’ve had really a number of opportunities for robust conversation with adjacent residents and businesses to make sure the development is reflective of what they want to see and sensitive to what they need,” O’Leary said.

“It’s really creating a new neighborhood in our downtown. The office space component seeks to fill a niche in the Lakewood market. We currently don’t have new-build, class A office space. That type of construction would attract a major anchor tenant, corporations or businesses with younger workers and a desire to be located in a state-of-the-art building.”

As far as the demolition of the former Lakewood Hospital building, O’Leary said interior work is nearing completion.

“We’re at the point where next week we’ll start to see the building come down,” O’Leary said. “We expect the external demolition process will take probably three weeks.

“From there, you’ll see a fairly quick turnaround from demolition to site preparation work with construction activities going on this summer.”

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