Lakefront Land Sold for Apartments Near Downtown Cleveland

By Stan Bullard, Crain's

Landmark Cos., the real estate development company that helped make downtown Cleveland living a going concern with a series of renovations of old buildings to apartments in the Warehouse District, has landed the land for a ground-up project on the city's lakefront.

John J. Carney and John M. Carney, the father-and-son duo that runs Landmark and legacy properties of their family, announced in a phone call on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 27, that a Landmark affiliate had consummated the purchase of a 4.5-acre site immediately east of the company's The Shoreline apartments at 545 N. Marginal Road.

The public record will show the company paid property owner Quay 55 E. Ltd. Partnership $1.65 million for the site, John J. Carney said. However, online Cuyahoga County land records did not show the transfer by 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

Closing on the land clears the way for the developers to secure incentives for the project from Cleveland City Council, with a tax increment financing package set to go to council on Monday, Dec. 2.

Plans call for building two, four-story apartment buildings with a total of 214 apartments. John J. Carney said the developers will seek a U.S.. Department of Housing and Urban Development loan for construction of the project. They hope to begin construction by the end of 2020, with an expected delivery date in 2023.

John M. Carney said the new complex will have mostly one-bedroom units, because the company's Shoreline building has more two-bedroom units than is optimum. In the years since Quay 55 was developed by an affiliate of Coffin Enterprises Inc. of Rocky River, one-bedrooms have surfaced as the premium property for downtown renters.

"We have experience with who wants to live downtown in a location removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown," John M. Carney said. "A lot of residents are from out of town who want to live on Lake Erie as they move here. Many work at University Circle-area institutions and hospitals and others want to be close to downtown.

Partners with the Carneys in the new apartments are Bob Rains, a Landmark principal, and investment banker Michael Gibbons, John J. Carney said.

The Landmark affiliate bought Quay 55 in 2017.