CLEVELAND, Ohio - Groundbreaking was held Thursday for The Lumen at Playhouse Square, a 34-story, 318-unit apartment building.

This Playhouse Square rising star is expected to make its grand entrance in the summer of 2020, according to officials for the nation's second largest performing arts center after Broadway. The 602,000-square-foot apartment building, which will stand 396 feet, is the focal point of the what Playhouse Square officials say is the largest residential project in downtown Cleveland in 40 years.

Playhouse Square District officials said the building's name was chosen "to reflect the energy surrounding Playhouse Square," the important role light plays in theater as well as to pay tribute to another Playhouse Square star: the GE Chandelier. The one-acre site at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 17th Street will also include 528 parking spaces.

"The Lumen lights the way toward the bright future of Playhouse Square," said Playhouse Square President and CEO Art J. Falco, in a news release. "If you think about it, we've come full circle from the days when the theaters almost became parking lots. Now we are turning what is already a parking lot into something much more beneficial for our neighborhood and for downtown Cleveland, which is really what Playhouse Square's not-for-profit mission is about: driving economic vitality in the region."

Playhouse Square officials say they soon expect to complete financing for the $135 million project, which is being designed by Chicago-based SCB, an architecture, interior design and planning firm. Playhouse Square says funding already includes a $15 million gift from the Richard J. Fasenmyer Foundation. Officials said the construction project is expected to employ 2,000 people.

"This investment is an example of our long-term real estate strategy, which is to build a working endowment to help secure the future of our historic theaters, and the entertainment and educational programs people enjoy in them," said Jim Ratner, chairman of the Playhouse Square Board of Trustees, in a news release.