Cleveland Announces Largest Industrial Redevelopment to Date

The City of Cleveland, in partnership with the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund, recently announced a redevelopment initiative that will convert long-vacant Cleveland industrial land on the city’s near-east side into a 350-acre connected employment district, public greenway, and community asset linking major job centers.

Several years in the making, Cleveland’s largest-ever industrial redevelopment was dubbed The Midline and is located between downtown and University Circle, stretching from Euclid Avenue to the Opportunity Corridor. The Midline promises to create family-sustaining jobs; new parks; and a two-mile trail that will better connect the surrounding communities to jobs, green space, and each other.

Located within convenient reach of bus rapid transit routes, two RTA rail stations, and interstate highways, The Midline Business District sits within a 30-minute commute of nearly 900,000 workers. It’s designed to attract employers across advanced manufacturing; research and development; and related industries, as well as office and supporting service sectors.

“For generations, neighborhoods like Central and Fairfax were places where Clevelanders could live, work, and build a future within a few blocks of home,” said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. “When industry left, and jobs disappeared, contaminated land was left behind — creating barriers to opportunity that held these neighborhoods back for decades. Today, we are changing that. This is one of the most ambitious neighborhood revitalization efforts Cleveland has undertaken. The Midline is exactly what the Cleveland ERA is about — reconnecting neighborhoods, creating opportunity, and ensuring every resident can share in Cleveland’s growth.”

Work on the project will first remediate more than 200 acres of industrially contaminated land. The cleaned and restored site will transform an environmental liability into an economic asset for the near-east side, which will also include a continuous greenway, as well as parks and an open space network designed to improve walkability, expand the tree canopy, and restore ecological function along the corridor.

“This project is about taking land that has sat idle for decades and making it usable again in a way that works for the city and its residents,” said Brad Whitehead, managing director of the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund. “When we prepare sites like this, we are attracting investment, creating real pathways to jobs and economic mobility for Clevelanders.”

According to data analyzed for our monthly national industrial real estate report, Cleveland is home to one of the fastest-growing industrial real estate markets in the country — in April, the pipeline here totaled 4.2 million square feet, which marked a 112% growth over the previous year.