Stokes West housing project the latest in east side rebirth

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Construction is in full swing for the Stokes West Project on the border of University Circle, in the shadow of the Cleveland Clinic.

“Housing right here at the corner of Stokes and Fairhill,” said Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin. “(It’s at) University Circle and Fairfax, where they meet together, and then they’re going to do some townhomes on the Cedar Avenue side.”

A percentage of the project includes affordable housing units as Cleveland tries to use its strengths to spur new development.

“We have the largest employer in the State of Ohio with the Cleveland Clinic,” Griffin said. “The job growth is on the east side, but the housing market is not on the east side, so we took that to heart, and we tried to really jump start this corridor.”

The change in the neighborhood already noticeable, Meijer’s Fairfax Market, anchors the corner of East 105th and Cedar, a development that also features new housing, plus another new housing project, Aura, just to its south.

All this development was supercharged by Opportunity Corridor.

“It was almost like opening up an artery to the east side,” said Griffin. “A long dormant, dead neighborhood and now have an opportunity to bring that vibrancy back.”

The city also has plans for a property now vacant, negotiating with a foreign company to further development an area once known as Cleveland’s Black Wall Street.

“We’ve worked hard to really work with a company that I don’t want to disclose yet that the Cleveland Clinic and the City of Cleveland that’s really working hard to entice to build a campus here,” said Griffin. “We’re not trying to do anything other than bring Fairfax back to its glory days.”