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With Opportunity Corridor's funding and environmental approval in place, attention is shifting to how the boulevard can recharge the impoverished neighborhoods along its path.

(Ohio Department of Transportation)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Now that the Opportunity Corridor is on a fast track to a 2018 completion, neighborhood advocates say it's time to focus on the pledge the $331 million road project came wrapped in.

"We believe it will be considered unsuccessful if economic development doesn't occur for the betterment of the neighborhoods," said Vickie Eaton Johnson, executive director of Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. "We're very passionate about that."

The Fairfax neighborhood includes East 105th Street, which is to be rebuilt and widened in the first phase of Opportunity Corridor getting underway this fall.

Being home base for the project's launch is causing a great amount of excitement and with it, a huge sense of responsibility to see that the road delivers on its twin mission to not only speed drivers to University Circle, but also to support the revival of Cleveland's "Forgotten Triangle," Johnson said.

A triangle of land south of Cedar Avenue and east of 105th Street is a development focus in the Fairfax neighborhood. Named the New Economy Neighborhood, the area is planned as a campus-like setting with office space and commercial businesses at prominent corners. Another section, Innovation Square, between East 100th and East 105th streets, is envisioned as a combination of mixed-income and executive rental housing. Planners hope the projects are invigorated by construction of the Opportunity Corridor linking Interstate 490 and University Circle.

Fairfax recently released a five-year redevelopment plan that calls for an area south of Cedar Avenue and east of East 105th Street – which it's branded the New Economy Neighborhood – to be transformed into a campus-like setting with office space and ground-floor commercial development at prominent intersections.

Even further along are plans for Innovation Square: Replacing vacant lots and below-market housing with 400 apartments targeted to renters with a mix of incomes. Some units would be furnished suites for long-term stays by patients of the Cleveland Clinic. The centerpiece is to be Playwright Park, a one- to 1.5-acre green space. Fairfax Renaissance received $500,000 out of the state capital budget this year to acquire land for the park.

Fairfax also wants to create an arts and culture district that would have a new African-American cultural center, branch library, preschool and artists' housing; an "arts walk" along East 90th Street; and a refurbished Karamu House as the glue that holds it all together.

A rendering of the Fairfax Arts and Culture District, one of the projects that the Fairfax neighborhood hopes will gain traction from the Opportunity Corridor. The arts district is to be anchored by a renovated Karamu House. The drawing comes from a 2014-2019 master plan for development in Fairfax.

The neighborhood's ambitious plans were in motion even without the Opportunity Corridor. But the boulevard can increase the likelihood and pace of Fairfax projects, Johnson said.

Cleveland Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland is co-chair with Johnson of a recently formed subcommittee of the Opportunity Corridor's steering committee (which is co-chaired by Jamie Ireland, managing partner of the venture capital firm Early Stage Partners, and Terrance Egger, former publisher of The Plain Dealer.)

Cleveland said the corridor is being constructed for the benefit of people who commute through Ward 5's Central, North Broadway and Kinsman-Union neighborhoods and other nearby communities, not for local residents.

"The roadway's going to happen with or without my support," Cleveland said. "I recognize that. But I also recognize the opportunity to benefit the neighborhood.

"We just can't sit back and not be actively engaged."

The steering committee announced last week that it has hired Marie Kittredge as its civic liaison and project director. Kittredge, the former executive director of Slavic Village Development, will oversee and coordinate infrastructure construction as well as community and economic development activity, and identify private, public and philanthropic funding sources for economic development.

Urban planning expert Terry Schwarz said how the 3.2-mile link between Interstate 490 and University Circle affects people who live near it is the project's "$331 million unanswered question." It's not too late to get a thoughtful design in place, the executive director of Kent State's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative said.

According to Schwarz, what would really help right now is for the city of Cleveland and its planning commission to jump in with guidelines that would establish key parameters for spinoff development, such as building heights, connections to public transit and where parking would go.

The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, hoping to spark more discussion about the new Opportunity Corridor, put together this image. Collaborative Director Terry Schwarz said it's intended "to plant a positive picture in peopleâs minds about what Opportunity Corridor could be, if we get it right." With a government sign-off on the roadway linking Interstate 490 and University Circle, attention is turning to the economic development the boulevard is intended to help generate. Schwarz said key planning details will affect whether Opportunity Corridor creates real and lasting benefits for Cleveland.

Absent that kind of planning, construction could end up a hodge-podge, especially since Cleveland will be under enormous pressure to approve proposals given the price tag of the road, Schwarz said.

Opportunity Corridor can open up acres of vacant land in one of the most distressed parts of Cleveland, she said. Large parcels can be assembled for significant development that will create jobs. The eastern neighborhoods it traverses are "transit-rich," served by RTA's Red, Blue and Green lines, and they have great potential for assembling large swaths of shared green space.

But the corridor plan as it now stands is flawed because it has no comprehensive vision about how to create lasting benefits for the neighborhoods most affected, the design collaborative said in a March 2014 report. Opportunity Corridor is currently set up as a high-speed bypass for cars and trucks, with weak transit connections and intersections that aren't well-tailored for pedestrians and bikers, the report found.

Deb Janik, at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, which has been a driving force for the Opportunity Corridor, pointed to features of the boulevard that build ties to existing homes and businesses. Among them are the 13 intersections along the route that are major arteries into the neighborhoods, pedestrian/bike bridges at East 59th Street and East 89th Street, and an extension of the Red Line platform at East 105th Street and Quincy Avenue.

Janik said the steering committee and its public and private partners have been working together to lay a careful groundwork for off-road development, "and we all agree that we have to continue to do so -- and be even more aggressive and comprehensive in our efforts."

Janik said Schwarz's group has been invited to participate by putting a representative on the neighborhood subcommittee led by Johnson and Cleveland; and working on stormwater management, green space and connectivity with the communities on either side of the boulevard.

Although the project has a great team assembled, Janik said, it may take a decade, or multiple decades, for widespread regeneration of the neighborhoods.

The steering committee wants to identify funding sources by the time the second phase of the road -- new construction between East 55th Street/Interstate 490 and East 105th Street -- breaks breaks ground in 2016, she said.

Ned Hill, dean of the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, said significant change will take a lot of buy-in from government and private investment.

"It isn't as if the land is just sitting there waiting to be developed. It's going to take money," he said. "There's no reason to believe that developing land that's been abandoned for almost 70 years is going to be a quick and easy process."