CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s lakefront nonprofit has picked a developer to shape the future of a 50-acre slice of the waterfront – the sea of pavement north of Huntington Bank Field and the land where the NFL stadium now stands.
The North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation says a selection committee chose Brecksville-based DiGeronimo Development as the master developer for the site. Now the company will need to hammer out a series of agreements with the lakefront nonprofit and Cleveland City Hall.
“They’re a large, sophisticated organization that also has their own construction arm – that has executed on really complicated, large-scale master development,” Scott Skinner, the president and executive director of the North Coast nonprofit, said during an interview this week. “And then they also have deep knowledge of the Northeast Ohio market.”
A master developer takes on a large site and works to come up with a cohesive plan, looking at what kinds of uses make sense, where they should go and how to pay for all of it. That means DiGeronimo could build portions of the lakefront project itself – but could also bring on additional developers to tackle individual buildings.
“I think it’s likely we end up working with a number of different developers,” Skinner said, noting that 18 groups expressed interest in doing something on the lakefront when the North Coast nonprofit and the city sent out a solicitation to developers over the summer.
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It’s still early. But DiGeronimo and the North Coast nonprofit believe there are a few things that make sense on the waterfront.
Their preliminary plans call for housing, in multifamily buildings that could include retail spaces; a hotel, with dining options that would be open to the public; public spaces, including waterfront walking paths and places to sit; recreational uses, like roller skating, basketball and soccer; a food hall or similar collection of small businesses; and an indoor-outdoor music venue with 8,000 to 10,000 seats.
Those ideas build on Cleveland’s existing lakefront master plan, which was shaped by thousands of survey responses and public comments at hundreds of meetings.
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But that plan, which included a stadium, will be revised now that the Cleveland Browns are set to leave the lakefront for a new home in Brook Park in 2029.
The North Coast nonprofit expects to hire a planning firm for the lakefront early next year. A preliminary updated master plan could be released for public review in the summer.
“We will be bringing images and renderings and ideas back to the general public,” Skinner said, adding that the goal is to “put something together that is ambitious, visionary – and implementable.”
Construction on new buildings isn’t likely to start until 2030, after the Browns leave and pay to tear down the stadium. But site preparations and infrastructure work – on roads, utilities and new lakefront retaining walls, for example – could start much sooner.
And the city expects to begin construction in 2027 on a land bridge that will link the heart of Downtown to the lakefront, along with a reconfiguration of the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway as it cuts across the central business district.
The land bridge, largely paid for by federal and state grants, is scheduled to be completed in 2030.
“We’ve really spent a lot of time in the last four years, really laying a solid foundation to get us ready for development for this 50-acre site,” Jessica Trivisonno, the senior advisor for major projects at City Hall, said during an interview this week.
“One of the big benefits of this group … is their commitment to that lakefront vision, in making sure that the lakefront is a place that’s accessible for all residents, and that it is a benefit to all residents of the city,” she said of DiGeronimo Development.
DiGeronimo declined an interview request. In a written statement, company leaders said they recognize the significance of this opportunity.
“Projects of this scale require patience, coordination and a strong understanding of local conditions,” Vic DiGeronimo, the CEO of DiGeronimo Companies, said in the written statement. “We’re committed to working closely with NCWDC, the city, City Council and future partners as the lakefront planning process moves forward.”
More about DiGeronimo
DiGeronimo Development is part of a family-owned group of businesses that started out in excavation in the 1950s. Now the companies do everything from demolition and site clean-up to construction management and full-fledged development.
The development arm is behind more than $550 million worth of projects across the region. In Brecksville, DiGeronimo is leading the development of Valor Acres, a huge redo of a former VA hospital site off Miller and Brecksville roads. That mixed-use project sits next to the new Sherwin-Williams Morikis Global Technology Center.
DiGeronimo Development’s other projects include the transformation of a Vermilion lakefront estate into a resort community, called WaterWood and the mixed-use addition to the Browns’ headquarters and practice facility in Berea.
The DiGeronimos also were part of a joint venture that bought a former Ford Motor Co. plant property in Brook Park a few years ago and cleaned it up – selling the property to the owners of the Browns earlier this year for a new sports and entertainment district.
Members of the DiGeronimo Development group have worked on other complicated projects in the region, including the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights.
In Cleveland, sister company Independence Construction is part of the team tasked with renovating the West Side Market. The market is city-owned but run by a nonprofit.
The selection process
DiGeronimo emerged from a pack of developers and consultants who responded to the lakefront opportunity. The North Coast nonprofit and the city worked with the CBRE real estate brokerage to send out a request for qualifications – asking developers to show what they’ve accomplished and who’s on their team, instead of renderings and concepts.
A five-member selection committee went through the responses and interviewed 11 developers. That committee was made up of Skinner; Mayor Justin Bibb; Council President Blaine Griffin; David Gilbert, head of the North Coast nonprofit’s board and president and CEO of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission; and Mitchell Schneider, a North Coast nonprofit board member and longtime real estate developer.
As a private entity, the North Coast nonprofit doesn’t have to release the responses it received from prospective developers. Skinner declined to identify the other groups that responded. He said potential uses ranged from apartments and hotels to a hyperloop track and a soccer stadium.
“We were not asking for development partners to tell us what, exactly, they wanted to put on the lakefront,” he said. “And the reason is, we want to be a part of that process. Right? The North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation was created to help keep the public’s input and the public’s interest in mind, in partnership with the city.”
As part of the master-development deal, DiGeronimo and the North Coast nonprofit expect to ink a community benefits agreement with the city. That agreement will outline the city’s expectations for who’s on the construction and development team, including hiring of minority-owned, woman-owned and Cleveland-based businesses; housing affordability on the lakefront; and public space and infrastructure work.
“There’s been 100 years of people thinking about the lakefront. But I think once we really get going, people will be really surprised by how fast it moves,” Trivisonno said. “But there’s a lot of important back-of-house work to do to get us there.”
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
