But in Cleveland there’s a more marquee reason people are moving downtown: the theater. PlayhouseSquare, a nonprofit that operates nine performance spaces in Cleveland’s theater district, has run its own real estate services division since 1999. With last fall’s opening of Residences at Hanna, Playhouse Square took its first step into the world of residential real estate, an unusual project for an arts organization that is usually more concerned with renewing subscriptions than leases.

The worlds of theater and real estate merge in several ways. In New York, performing arts organizations often benefit from mixed-use development. In 2012, Off Broadway’s Signature Theater moved into a multi-venue complex on the ground floor of the MiMA building on West 42nd Street. Regionally, theaters are landlords out of necessity; they lease or own apartments and other housing for out-of-state actors and crew members. Live-work spaces for artists are commonplace across the country.

Residences at the Hanna is anchored on the ground floor in part by the Hanna Theater, which was built in 1921 and once attracted stage luminaries like Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. Today it houses the Great Lakes Theater, a company that produces classic works. Rents there range from $750 for a studio to $1,600 for a two-bedroom.

Mr. Hawley, a jewelry designer, says he pays $1,275 for a 925-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment with unobstructed views of Lake Erie. All units in the eight-story building were leased before the project was completed in October. As with many other new buildings downtown, there’s a waiting list to get in.

Today PlayhouseSquare manages more than 2.3 million square feet of office and retail space in northeast Ohio. Just under half of that is in the PlayhouseSquare district, which includes five historic theaters, dating back to the 1920s, that after decades of neglect were renovated as part of a 27-year, $55 million campaign of public and private funds.