cleveland midtown district study
The Cleveland Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic foundation for community development and grantmaking, asked DumontJanks to lead a visioning effort for the Midtown District of Cleveland. The district lies at the midpoint between Cleveland’s downtown core and University Circle, home to Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Clinic.
The effort focused on catalyzing an historic African American mixed-use district by building on recent city and private sector investments in the Cleveland Rapid Transit line, and developing research needs spun off by the Cleveland Clinic and Case. The Cleveland Foundation wants to add energy to the district by relocating its downtown headquarters here. The goal of the effort was to lead a diverse group of constituents including city planning, Midtown Development Corp, Cleveland Foundation leadership, an historic adjacent non-profit, and private sector and community leadership to plan a long-term district vision for renewal and growth.
The program envisioned a 24/7 district, including research and tech incubators, corporate and non-profit headquarters, support retail and civic ground-floor uses and a major component of residential consisting of loft, townhouse, apartment, and mixed senior residential. The residential mix will serve all incomes and accommodate local residents who may want to downsize from their adjacent historic single family and 2-family homes, while desiring to stay within the neighborhood.
The effort focused on two distinct zones, both accommodating the mixed-use program, one integrating an historic community farm parcel, and the other centered on a dense crossroads location at the intersection of the elevated train line, surface light rail (the Health Line), and the historic Euclid Avenue and Prospect Avenue Historic District.
