Crain’s Cleveland Look Back: Apartment boom was decades in the making – Crain’s Cleveland Business

Suburbanization, flight from crime, racism and other factors cost the city thousands of residents since the 1950s, but more was at play downtown. Ironically, the 52-story Terminal Tower was part of the Cleveland Union Terminal project that displaced 20,000 people from a corner of Public Square in the 1920s. Other city renewal and beautification efforts displaced more people. By the 1980s, downtown population dwindled to 9,000.

That's when the idea of boosting population to revitalize downtown took hold, first to occupy empty warehouse buildings and later to replace obsolete office space. A handful of people had taken up residence in The Bradley Building in the 1970s to make it the first residential loft between New York and Chicago. In 1987, an affiliate of Independence-based Dalad Group installed 30 suites in The Hat Factory, 1235 W. Sixth St., to take renovations to a grander scale.

However, turning visions of downtown living into reality took creating a track record.

Bob Rains, a partner with the Carney family in downtown apartment concern Landmark Management, recalled the difficulties in 1992 when it undertook its first rehab project, converting three buildings into the Grand Arcade, at 408 W. St. Clair Ave., which is now condominiums.

"No one wanted to make the loan for the project," Rains said. "No one wanted to buy the equity for the federal historic tax credits."

Breakthroughs came from several quarters, such as the carpenters union pension fund, and redirecting funds from unused federal Urban Development Action Grants helped finance pioneering projects.

Patience paid off.

"Once we had 200 units downtown, it took off," Rains said.

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Crain's Cleveland Look Back: Apartment boom was decades in the making - Crain's Cleveland Business