Cuyahoga Land Bank wins $23 million to raze more than 1,100 blighted buildings (2024)

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — Jatana Burns-Reaves is tired of looking at the abandoned apartment tower down the block. The wadded-up mattresses and old tires. The holes where windows once gleamed.

“My grandkids used to have to walk that way to get to their bus stop,” she said. “And it was a fear that somebody might snatch them up in there.”

Now, that 13-story building, Huron Place Apartments, is finally going to come down. On Wednesday, the Cuyahoga Land Bank won $23 million in state grants to tear down more than 1,100 structures. Most of those properties are in Cleveland and East Cleveland, but a handful are in other suburbs – from Bedford to Lakewood to Parma Heights.

The money is coming from a statewide initiative focused on demolition and revival. Since that program launched in 2021, the Ohio Department of Development has awarded more than $200 million in grants for nearly 5,000 projects.

“These buildings are standing in the way of progress, so it’s time to knock them down,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a news release. “Once these structures are gone, we expect to see new economic development opportunities coming into these neighborhoods.”

The state announced $67.3 million in grants Wednesday, and Cuyahoga County was the biggest beneficiary – by far. The only other Northeast Ohio winner was Richland County, where $841,635 in grants will help pay for three projects in Mansfield and Bellville.

State development officials plan to announce another wave of grants later this year.

Ricardo León, the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s chief operating officer, is ecstatic.

“This is a huge win for the county,” he said Thursday. “This is gonna allow us to work with multiple partners … to really start tackling that legacy blight.”

Blight like that East Cleveland high-rise, which backs up to sprawling Forest Hill Park and looms over the grassy field where Huron Hospital once stood. The building on Terrace Road went through tax foreclosure and state forfeiture in 2017.

Developers tried to renovate it, but nobody could make the math work.

On Thursday, a few neighbors strolled by. They all said it’s beyond time for a change.

“It should have been torn down years ago,” said Burns-Reaves, who has seen people walking on the roof. She’s also heard gunshots echo across the street.

“It’s a relief. It’s a relief,” she said of the demolition news. “I’ll be standing here with my grandchildren, watching it come down.”

For years, the Cuyahoga Land Bank focused on tearing down homes. Now, the quasi-governmental organization is turning more of its attention to tricky commercial real estate – apartment buildings, industrial properties and other big challenges.

“Stuff that’s dirty, right? That needs to be cleaned up,” León said. “That’s what we have a lot left of. … The stuff that’s been around for a very long time. That’s really costly to bring down. And often has the worst impacts on our community.”

The land bank expects to complete all 1,104 demolitions by the end of next year.

Many of those properties are single-family homes. But 20% to 25% of them are large buildings, León said. Some of them are in state forfeiture. That means the owners lost them to property-tax foreclosure, but nobody bid on them at sheriff’s sales – public auctions.

In other cases, cities flagged the properties as nuisances and asked the land bank to step in. That’s the case at Huron Place Apartments, according to land bank records.

On Thursday, East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King stood outside and gazed up. “You can see as far as Downtown, the lake, Browns stadium, all from this building,” he said.

As a child, King had friends who lived in the high-rise. One of his relatives operated a restaurant in the building, he said.

“Growing up, this was a walking community,” he said. “It was more of a village. And it had that village feel. To see it like this, dilapidated and worn out, it’s hard to stomach.”

The state grants will help pay for 148 demolitions in East Cleveland, including efforts to clean up entire blocks. On Chapman and Elderwood avenues, for example, older brick apartment buildings are covered with boards. Garbage fills the streets, where a chain-link fence and concrete barriers warn passersby to stay away.

“I’ve always asked residents to be patient,” King said. “I know what the city looked like, how it functioned, growing up. When we had 40,000 residents and plenty of jobs. … Be patient as we take away the blight. Level the land. Market the land. And continue rebuilding East Cleveland together. Bringing back that village that I grew up in.”

He also expressed gratitude for the governor and the department of development.

“Incredible, right?” he said of the state funding. “And the city needs it.”

Burns-Reaves can see that plainly from her porch, where her grandchildren lounged on Thursday afternoon. She moved to East Cleveland as a child and recalls a lively city.

“It was a lot of homes still. Buildings. People occupied everything,” she said. “As I got older … it went downhill real bad.”

But now, she’s hopeful.

“I am seeing a difference,” she said. “They seem like they’re trying to get it together. … To get more people in East Cleveland, get more businesses in East Cleveland.”

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