Cleveland State University students bring fresh eyes to downtown Lorain planning

LORAIN — A group of graduate students at Cleveland State University are the latest urban planners to offer suggestions for Lorain's downtown. Legacy City Planners, the capstone project design firm created by 10 Levin College of Urban Affairs students, offered Balancing Broadway as the latest plan to revitalize Lorain's downtown. Professors James Kastelic and Thomas Hilde said the plans done prior to the students' work — from the city's 2018 comprehensive plan to the Lorain County Lakefront Connectivity Plan from the year prior — alongside input from residents and other stakeholders helped shaped the outcome of the program's smallest capstone to date. It is Kastelic and Hilde's 20th capstone project. Kastelic noted last year students focused on Cleveland's Asia Town, while other groups have looked at the redevelopment of the former Geauga Lake amusement park site — and a lot of the capstone projects over the years have been incorporated into other cities' plans. Students also heard from Mayor Jack Bradley, Councilwoman Victoria Kempton, D-2nd Ward, business owners and other stakeholders to devise the nearly 160-page plan and accompanying website. All the class asked for was a $5,000 donation to the college, Kastelic explained, estimating the students provided about $80,000 worth of work. Two of those students, Greta Thomas and Shneur Kushner, spoke about the process to complete the project in a 16-week span. The main task was to look at downtown, especially the Pellet Terminal and City Hall sites to determine how best to use the space. The group's final suggestion included mixed-use residential and small retail along Reid and Washington avenues, public art near the Palace Theatre, public green space for a portion of the former Pellet Terminal site and mixed-use apartment complexes for the city hall site. The proposed City Square at the corner of West Erie Avenue and Broadway would require demolishing City Hall to bring more housing and retail to downtown. It suggests offering apartments from studio to two-bedroom units, with the first floor providing retail space as part of an estimated $16 million project. Under Legacy City Planners' proposal, City Hall would move to the city's historic district. As for the adjacent Pellet Terminal site, the plan suggests townhomes and greenspace, costing an estimated $59 million to build the Black River North townhomes where Lake Erie meets the Black River. The proposed townhomes would be similar to Cleveland's Battery Park in density and style, with the buildings costing between $110,000 and $303,750 to build, depending on the size. The Pellet Terminal site connecting to the Finger Piers would be left as public greenspace. The city received an almost $4 million state Brownfield Remediation Program grant to clean the Pellet Terminal site. Legacy City Planners' suggestions include stacking different funding opportunities, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and grant opportunities to fund the remediation and buildout of the redevelopment. For student Greta Thomas, the project was the first time she'd spent much time in the city — but not her first time in a lakefront legacy town. Classmate Shneur Kushner had more of a connection to the International City, as his mother worked at Lorain County Health and Dentistry. Both looked at the city as a unique destination, with the goal of bringing people into the heart of Lorain even though it doesn't have direct highway access. U.S. 2 bypasses Lorain, with the closest exits in neighboring Amherst. Their plan also touched on neighborhood needs like food access — with the suggestion of a marketplace or food hall across from the City Square apartments. Legacy City Planners' citywide recommendations included increasing connectivity, including biking and walking, and the potential to formalize Main Street Lorain as a community development corporation to spur redevelopment in other areas of the city. Lorain Building, Housing and Planning Program Manager Hannah Kiraly was excited to receive the framework provided by Legacy City Planners, as its clear objectives and phases give the city a fresh perspective on Broadway and other areas. She said one of her favorite parts was the suggested branding and wayfinding, as well as the culture and history the students connected to bring the International City to life. To read the entire plan, and browse the accompanying website, visit balancingbroadway.slavicvillage.org. Watch the students' presentation on the Levin College at CSU Youtube channel. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.