Construction and Rehab Underway for Two New Housing Initiatives Through Cuyahoga Land Bank
One Community Update
April 11, 2025
Source: www.signalcleveland.org
Cuyahoga Land Bank CEO Ricardo León presented updates to the Board of Directors on two major neighborhood revitalization programs at the board’s March 28 meeting.
The Cuyahoga Land Bank is a partner in the City of Cleveland’s Southeast Side Initiative. Around $1.25 million was allocated to cover three in-house modernizations and to establish a grant program that would cover gap financing for a minimum of seven rehab homes in targeted Southeast Side communities with up to $82,000 in funding for each home.
“Our director of real estate met with the local CDCs in the last couple of weeks just to kind of get an understanding of the development capacity within the neighborhood, or trends, or things that are happening,” León said.
Land Bank Communications Director Rachel Trem explained that the term “gap financing” as used in the meeting is “a grant provided by the Land Bank to a builder that closes the ‘gap’ between how much it costs to build a house and the sales price the builder is able to receive for the house from a buyer.”
The Legacy Communities Revitalization Program will use $10 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to create 54 new housing units in the South Collinwood-Euclid Green area, the Central neighborhood, and the MetroHealth campus area of Clark-Fulton. Thirty units will be new construction, while the other 24 are rehabs. Construction is already underway on six units, including two on the Scranton corridor near West 18th Street.
The neighborhoods were identified by the need for housing, said León, and are “where we can move the needle on that market.”
All 54 homes will also seek to benefit from gap grant financing. One participant at the meeting expressed concern that financing amounts seemed higher than what is typical for Cleveland.
“The cost to build a house is the same whether you are building in a challenged or robust housing market,” explained Trem. “The more challenged the market, the greater the ‘gap’ between the cost of and sales price of a house.”
Brownfield cleanup grants could bring, retain local jobs
Cuyahoga Land Bank staff said the agency applied for about $46.5 million in brownfield grant funds from the state in February, adding that these projects could result in 2,000 new jobs in the area and retaining nearly 800 jobs.
A “brownfield” is a piece of land that’s been damaged by contamination from use as an industrial or commercial site. The United States began prioritizing brownfields for cleanup in the 1990s.
The Gus Frangos Act moves through state legislature
A bill named after Cuyahoga Land Bank founder Gus Frangos, HB 86, is currently making its way through the Ohio Legislature.
Said Trem, “This bill [and SB 102] improves Ohio’s existing laws concerning land banking and tax foreclosure by increasing protections for owners of tax foreclosed properties, clarifying ambiguities and inconstancies in those laws, and generally enhancing a County Land Bank’s ability to prevent vacant and abandoned properties from continuing the foreclosure cycle.”
The Cuyahoga Land Bank has more than 1,400 parcels in their inventory, including 618 in Cleveland.
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