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A map describes the neighborhood development nodes examined in a new study of the future of West 25th Street on Cleveland's West Side.
(Cleveland Neighborhood Progress)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- West 25th Street could become a fresh epicenter of revitalization on the city's West Side, especially if more robust transit service could spur new housing construction.
Or should that work the other way around?
Planners studying those and other issues over the future of a wide swath of Cleveland west of the Cuyahoga River will present their latest findings this evening at an open house at the Metroparks Zoo Auditorium, 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland.
The come-and-go-as-you-like meeting is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The nonprofit Cleveland Neighborhood Progress will present an updated iteration of a $100,000 study funded in part by the Cleveland Foundation and by Enterprise Community Partners, a real estate investment company specializing in affordable housing.
It's possible within several years that the 3.8-mile corridor along West 25th Street from Pearl Road in the south to Detroit Avenue in the north could support express bus service, said architect Wayne Mortensen, director of design and development for Neighborhood Progress, who has helped lead the new West Side study.
A map shows transit routes along West 25th Street in Cleveland.
A version of bus rapid transit – with rapid boarding like that along Euclid Avenue's HealthLine, could become possible on West 25th within seven to 10 years, he said.
But first, developers and community development organizations would need to coordinate efforts to increase population density along the corridor, where roughly 13,000 people now live.
"What kind of housing is necessary along the corridor, where does it take place and in what quantity and density?" Mortensen said.
"Other groups of questions involve what kind of transit is needed for the corridor and what would we aspire for it to eventually become?"
A final version of the study will be released in December, Mortensen said.
The study area includes the neighborhoods of Ohio City, Tremont, Clark-Fulton, Brooklyn Center and Old Brooklyn. Mortensen said the median household income in the study area is $20,185, significantly lower than the median income of $42,589 for Cuyahoga County.
Most surprising is that only 10 percent of the employees who work at area institutions, including the MetroHealth main campus, live within the area under study.
Other big employers and institutions in the corridor include Lutheran Hospital, the West Side Market, Voss Industries and the zoo.
One goal on the West Side could be to persuade institutions to provide strong incentive programs to lure employees to live closer to work, and to use transit.
A map displays population density along the West 25th Street corridor in Cleveland.
The proposed $400 million redevelopment of the MetroHealth main campus represents a chance to rethink how employers can encourage workers to settle nearby.
"We're hopeful -- and they are as well -- that in the rebuild [MetroHealth] can reorient their campus to be more conducive to engagement with the community and accessible by it, and part of that includes consideration of employment housing incentives" like those offered in University Circle, Mortensen said.
Another goal of the planning study is to encourage neighborhoods and community development corporations to coordinate development plans around a larger vision that could also help developers secure historic, new markets and low-income tax credits for housing projects.
Council representatives have been closely involved in the study, which is based on several earlier analyses. About 60 residents and stakeholders have been involved in eight task forces organized to study education, housing, workforce development and other facets of community life.
"It's certainly a corridor with a lot of potential," Mortensen said. "We're trying to negotiate a preferred future for this area."