LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- The driving force behind the proposed $3 million adaptive reuse plan for the former Trinity Church includes Scalish Construction, along with partners Dimit Architecture and Historic Preservation Group.

Last fall, the entities were selected as the best and most qualified team to redevelop the .7-acre Detroit Avenue lot, which the city purchased last year for $625,000.

The plan calls for the transformation of the former church and two vacant commercial storefronts, while maintaining compatibility with the commercial corridor and surrounding neighborhoods.

“I live and work in Lakewood, so I know the site,” Scalish Construction President Frank Scalish said. “The retail portion of it has almost been cursed. It’s kind of crazy, but that sort of intrigues me.

“I’m always after these underdog locations. I had my eye on it, but when it went to market previously, I didn’t think the timing was right.”

At that point, a fast-food franchise developer was interested in the property. The notion of demolishing the existing historic structures and adding a new building with a drive-thru didn’t sit well with the city and residents.

“We’ve lost our share of historic buildings, and this church is super special,” Scalish said. “That caused a lot of uproar in the community and was a call for action for the city to step in and do the right thing to make sure it went into the hands of a qualified developer with the right vision.”

At that point, the city put out an RFQ for interested parties, with Scalish Construction and its partners selected to redevelop the property.

Currently based on Madison Avenue in Lakewood, Scalish Construction submitted a site proposal that included an adaptive reuse of the church as its future home, up to 10 new residential units, the addition of several public areas and repurposing existing retail buildings for small businesses.

The new development will be built with TRUE certification, which strives for zero-waste goals -- cutting carbon footprint, supporting public health and ecosystems, and advancing a green economy.

In addition, on the commercial side, Scalish said the development calls for a WELL building plan, with the possibility of adding sustainable features such as a small solar array, educational community garden with rainwater recycling, bicycle parking, electric car-charging stations and a green roof.

Historic Preservation Group’s role in the project will be securing state and federal historic tax credits.

“Going after state and federal historic tax credits is something we’re pretty familiar with,” said Scalish, who has called Lakewood home for more than a dozen years.

“We were the first to go after state historic tax credits in Lakewood at a Birdtown property on Madison Avenue. That was on our Veronika project a couple of years ago," he said.

Lakewood Director of Planning and Development Bryce Sylvester previously told cleveland.com that the project will bring more than 30 jobs to the site, with estimated new real estate taxes of more than $100,000 annually.

The latter is key, considering that the majority of this site has not collected real estate taxes due to the church being a tax-exempt use.

Scalish said the goal is to present the adaptive reuse plan to City Council in January, with the hope to break ground this year and a 2021 completion date.

“We’re seeing adaptive reuse gaining in popularity, because -- let’s face it -- you can’t build a church or any structure nowadays like they did back then,” Scalish said. “It’s just interesting contextually.

"This is the fabric of our neighborhoods. More people really are catching on as they see what can be done with these spaces and the creativity involved, rather than knocking them down and building new.

“Price is a factor, but also it’s good for the environment. A lot of building materials nowadays are full of chemicals, and 100 years ago they weren’t -- a two-by-four was a true two-by-four," he said.

"These buildings are solid. They’re built to last. So if we give a 100-year-old building our TLC, it’s going to last another 100 years.”

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