Port of Cleveland Approves Financing for Multifamily Project
The authority will also provide debt for a hotel and a mixed-use development.
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority Board of Directors has approved up to $20 million in special obligation revenue bonds for Phase 1B of Belle Oaks, the 70-acre redevelopment of a former enclosed mall site in Richmond Heights, Ohio.
Developed by DealPoint Merrill, Phase 1B will include Buildings 4, 5, 6 and 7, totaling 270 market-rate apartments.
At full build-out, Belle Oaks is expected to comprise 798 market-rate units across 13 buildings, along with roughly 105,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. The development also includes a completed 157,000-square-foot Meijer grocery store.
Across all phases, Belle Oaks is expected to create more than 1,400 construction jobs and roughly 500 permanent jobs in retail, restaurant and other businesses. The project is also anticipated to bring between 1,100 and 1,900 new residents to Richmond Heights once completed and stabilized.
The latest approval comes after DealPoint Merrill obtained $55 million in construction financing for the first phase of Belle Oaks earlier this year. That financing backed the redevelopment of the former Richmond Town Square Mall site, with Genesis Capital providing the floating-rate, interest-only loan.
Built in the mid-1960s by Edward John DeBartolo Sr., Richmond Town Square Mall closed in 2021. That year, Kohan Retail Investment Group sold the site to DealPoint Merrill. The first phase will comprise two buildings totaling 181 units.
Cleveland’s multifamily development pipeline is expected to remain limited in 2026, helping ease some pressure from recent supply additions, according to a Marcus & Millichap report. The metro is forecast to add 920 units this year, expanding inventory by just 0.5 percent, about 30 basis points below its prior five-year average.
More financings from the Port of Cleveland
The Port also approved financing for two other Northeast Ohio projects. In Middleburg Heights, the board authorized a capital lease and up to $50 million in lease revenue bonds for The Allium, a mixed-use development tied to the city’s Southland District redevelopment plan. The project is expected to include approximately 14,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space and create 66 full-time jobs within three years of completion.
In Strongsville, the board approved a capital lease and up to $25 million in lease revenue bonds for a dual-branded Hampton/Home2 Suites hotel near SouthPark Mall. The four-story, 132-key project is being developed by J-Roc Development LLC and Spark GHC and will total approximately 73,000 square feet on almost 2 acres.
The approvals add to the Port’s recent development finance activity across the region. Earlier this year, the board approved up to $285 million in bond financing for three Cleveland projects: Project Scarlet, an adaptive reuse of the historic Rose and Sloan buildings; Gateway 66, an 80-unit affordable housing development, as well as the next phase of Circle Square, a 24-story mixed-use tower in University Circle.
