Refined Development Proposal For One Lakewood Place Submitted

LAKEWOOD, OH — A revised proposal for the mixed-use development at the former Lakewood Hospital site was submitted to the city's Architectural Board of Review this month.

The amended proposal is the result of the developers working through the commercial design, according to Bryce Sylvester, Lakewood's director of planning and development. He added that the Architectural Board of Review (ABR) and city officials have been meeting with residents on Marlowe and Belle to gather their input on the submitted designs — and to further refine the proposals.

The $72 million project will convert the former 5.2 acre Lakewood Hospital site into a mix of residential units, office space, and shops. Carnegie Development and Management, said Sylvester, will be back in front of Lakewood City Council within a few months to present the refined proposal.

Residents on neighboring Marlowe and Belle have expressed concern over the aesthetics of the project — raising questions about the height of the proposed housing units, the integration of the lighting with the neighborhood, and more. Sylvester believes the developers have reached a more comfortable compromise with surrounding residents.

The refined proposal is at the bottom of this article.

However, the revised proposals do not represent a delay in the project timeline, Sylvester said.

Addressing Speculation

Sylvester said he has been flooded with questions on the development of the former Lakewood Hospital site. In a suburb like Lakewood, where the economy thrives on a diversity of businesses, the construction of a large mixed-use development on one of the city's key corridors — Detroit Avenue — was always likely to spur rumors and speculation.

One such rumor suggests the city is running behind its timeline for the project, Sylvester said.

While the One Lakewood Place website notes that officials were hoping construction would commence as quickly as possible, possibly even in 2018, officials also built-in time to refine the proposals for the mixed-use development. In late 2018, Sylvester publicly stated the city was targeting fall 2019 for the beginning of construction.

Sylvester said the city's timeline for the development of One Lakewood remains unchanged. He further clarified the city's original plan was to prepare the site for demolition by the summer of 2019 and to start construction on a new site in the fall of 2019.

Sylvester also addressed rumors that there is a river running beneath the former hospital site, the presence of which may have led to delays. He said those rumors are untrue. There is, however, a stream near the property.

"There is a culverted stream running close to Belle," Sylvester told Patch in an email. "The city, the demolition contractors, and the developer have all been aware of the culverted stream from the beginning of the project. SafeCo is required to remove all underground utilities on site (including storm sewers), and the developer has accounted for underground conditions in their plans. Most of this sewer was abandoned during one of the hospital expansions."

Sylvester also provided a map of the with the culverted stream on it. He said the stream was identified as a "42-inch brick sewer." Here is the map in question:

The proposal: