6611 Euclid - Transit Oriented Design - RTA property - liability or asset?

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Thu, 03/01/2007 - 15:02.

During the Transit Oriented Design presentation at CSU’s Levin College last week, one of the RTA personell – Mr. James DeRosa  jderosa [at] gcrta [dot] org  - presented a few RTA owned properties as development opportunities.  One of the properties is 6611 Euclid, the 7 story mill style building in the photo above. 

 

I went by 6611 and took a few photos because during the RTA presentation  I had  learned:  The RTA took the building by eminent domain – paying $1,000,000 -  from a Cleveland landowner who also owns other properties in the area.  I went up to the podium after the TOD presentation and asked Mr. DeRosa why it was that the building was required by the RTA for the Euclid Corridor Silver Line development.   It seemed to me that if the building had existed on Euclid for decades, why was it that it was suddenly in the way of the Euclid Corridor project? 

 

Mr. DeRosa told me that the rubber-tired street cars which will be used on Euclid have a “docking arm” – or something to that effect – which requires that there be additional width to the existing Euclid street right of way.   Mr. DeRosa said that the RR underpass at 55th, and the historic Dunham Tavern to the east of 6611 precluded widening Euclid at those locations, leaving the only alterative being to buy the mill at 6611.   Mr. De Rosa also explained that under Ohio eminent domain law a public agency can’t take a slice or a portion of a property – if the agency needs a little piece – it has to take it all (I assume at fair market value).  So that’s what the RTA did, and now it owns 6011 all the way through to Chester.  Basically a city block with a 7 story building shell on it. 

 

Back to the photograph.   So I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m thinking about the size/width of the concrete bays in the building.  And I’m thinking about the edge of the concrete where the RTA demo contractor has sliced off the floor slab and concrete beams which used to extend one more bay towards Euclid.  And it dawned on me that the RTA has a real liability risk here:  there is no fencing, railing or fall protection anywhere along any of the 7 floors.  Sure the building is fenced, but look at the graffiti which was painted on the outside wall of the building from on top of the fence sections which are leaned stacked against the building.  Clearly kids are already getting into the building.   If someone falls off the unprotected edge of the building, the RTA will be held partially, if not entirely, liable.  Hopefully, the RTA will sell the property fast and get out from under this liability.

 

The other feature you can see in the photo is that the floor slabs are quite sagged.   Put a straight edge on the photo, you can see the center span of the concrete beam is 4 or 5 “ lower than over the columns. Is this a structural deficiency (which affects floor loadings/leveling) which was considered when the fair market value was assessed? 

 

I wonder how long the prior owner of the building owned the property before the RTA bought it?

I wonder if there was another way to proceed with the Euclid Corridor project without involving the demolition of the façade of this building?

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So who wants to live at 60th and Euclid?

I find the Mid-Town and Euclid Corridor redevelopment visions interesting but I do not have a clear vision of what will be the outcome. This building is a good example - is anyone looking at developing a "neighborhood" around this or any of the other property in this part of Cleveland. What goes into a neighborhood includes walkable streets with things worth walking to, and quality schools, and an affordable mix of housing, and lots of small businesses, etc. I don't see any of that in any plans for MidTown so it is hard to imagine what should be done with this big building... office/business park, I suppose.

Disrupt IT

SEARCH CLEVELAND LAND RECORDS - 6611 EUCLID

The correct address for the above photographed mill building is 6611, not 6011

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/gis/cpc/basemap.jsp  is a link to the City of Cleveland's web site where real property ownership can be tracked.  First click on "identify" on top tool bar, then if you click on the "owners" tab (after you have clicked on a parcel) it links to the County Auditor's web site where the property transfer records can be reviewed.

6611 used to be owned by the Digeronimo family - is JJ Digeronimo who used to work for JumpStart - the same Digeronimo family?

Might be interesting to see who has been buying and selling property under the I90 bridge - on the North side where ODOT says the new bridge just has to be - before any alternatives study is completed.

6611 Euclid

Yes it is the same family.

Let's keep this building, for context

I'm not sure what we should do with this building, either. I do know that I really really want to see it preserved.

Why preserve it? Context. The Dunham Tavern, the oldest building on its original location in the city, as was noted above, next to it. It would be one thing to see the Tavern standing among a group of low to mid-rise buildings, but it's quite another when we can see just how close industry came to it.