Developer seeks rezoning for large mixed-use retail project in Orange, an affluent Cleveland suburb
By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer
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on April 09, 2013 at 5:00 PM, updated April 10, 2013 at 6:39 AM
The East Side needs quality shopping centers. Does it need shopping centers? If it's a typical, run-of-themill thing, I would say no.
ORANGE, Ohio -- A Northeast Ohio developer hopes to build a high-end shopping center and roughly
250 homes on what real estate experts describe as one of the most attractive retail sites in the region.
Orange, an affluent village in Cleveland's eastern suburbs, is considering developer David Lewanski's
request to rezone more than 70 residential acres at Harvard Road and Interstate 271 for 400,000 square
feet of stores and restaurants and an equal amount of housing. Dubbed Pinecrest, the wood-and-stone
town center would be Greater Cleveland's first such project since Crocker Park -- a larger, more vertical
development in Westlake -- opened in 2004.
All but one of the homeowners along Pinecrest Drive and Walnut Hills Avenue have agreed to sell their
properties to Lewanski and move. If the developer and the village agree on new zoning language, a
development agreement and deed restrictions for the property by August, the Pinecrest rezoning could
head to a public vote in November.
Lewanski needs approval from a majority of voters in Orange and the local precinct. And he'll need to
demonstrate to public officials and voters that there's room for more retail on the East Side, just
minutes from the bustle of Chagrin Boulevard and a few miles from Beachwood Place mall and the
Legacy Village shopping center in Lyndhurst.
First discussed at an Orange planning meeting last month, Pinecrest is a $100 million idea more than six
years in the making.
Local retail brokers and other developers said the site boasts enviable visibility and excellent
demographics. Tucked behind hotels and a University Hospitals health center just east of 271, the
neighborhood lies across the interstate from the 630-acre Chagrin Highlands property, where Eaton
Corp. just opened a new headquarters and UH finished building its Ahuja Medical Center in 2011.
Local and out-of-state retail companies have studied Pinecrest and Walnut Hills, in Orange's northwest
corner, during the last decade. But for most of them, the potential reward didn't outweigh the risk of
referendum rezoning or the challenge of assembling nearly 50 residential lots for a project.
"We were never told that it's a bad site. Everybody loves this," said Kevin Cooney of Realty Marketing
Associates, a Euclid real estate brokerage that saw the potential along Pinecrest before the recession
and started sending letters, calling residents and knocking on doors. As Cooney and his colleague Kevin
Holdash secured commitments from homeowners, they started pitching the property to potential
developers.
Lewanski responded, first proposing big-box stores -- which Orange Mayor Kathy Mulcahy rejected.
After years of discussions with the city, the developer came up with a pitch that village officials are
willing to entertain. Documents posted on the village's website in March show nearly 300,000 square
feet of stores, 40,000 square feet of restaurants and a small, 580-seat theater, which would serve
alcohol and dinner to patrons in cushy chairs.
"They are representing that it's going to be everything one could hope to bring into a community to
maintain its desirability and enhance it," Mulcahy said. "At this point of the planning, all I am saying is
'Let's start opening it up. Let's get public input.' There are a lot more details that need to be worked out
before I can tell you that it's the right project."
During an interview Monday, Lewanski described his plan as a concept, one subject to change as talks
with the city progress. His vision for the site might include an 80-room hotel and 18,000 square feet of
offices. The northern section of the property would include townhouses and other homes -- all for sale,
the developer said, despite sketches of the project that also show apartments.
House prices would start around $350,000, he said. And Lewanski claims the stores would be new to
Northeast Ohio. He would not identify potential tenants but pointed to properties like Easton Town
Center in Columbus and Kenwood Towne Center in Cincinnati. Those markets boast mid-size retailers
including the Container Store and furniture store West Elm, which aren't in the Cleveland area.
"Over time, change is natural because leases come up for renewal and people say that they need a
bigger store or a smaller store or hate their landlord," said Bobby Benjamin of Goodman Real Estate
Services Group, which conducted a market study for Pinecrest.
"We can't help that. But we're not going to go out actively poaching. The goal would be to get people
whose nearest store is in Detroit, Columbus or Pittsburgh."
Mitchell Schneider, who developed Legacy Village, was not available this week to comment on
Lewanski's plans. Steve Rubin of Stark Enterprises, which developed Eton Chagrin Boulevard in
Woodmere and Crocker Park, declined to comment.
Tiffany & Co. committed last year to opening its first Northeast Ohio store at Eton. Rumors abound
about the Container Store opening on the East Side; however, a spokeswoman wrote in an email this
week that "we do not have a location confirmed at this time." And General Growth Properties Inc.,
which owns Beachwood Place, has talked about rezoning land along Richmond Road for a potential
expansion.
"The East Side needs quality shopping centers," said Emerick Corsi, a Forest City Enterprises Inc.
executive who is familiar with the Lewanski's proposal. "Does it need shopping centers? If it's a typical,
run-of-the-mill thing, I would say no. But it needs quality shopping centers, an area where you can live,
work and play. ... I think you can do a good shopping center that compliments and doesn't steal."
In the Pinecrest footprint, Lewanski has long-term purchase options on most of the homes. Neither he
nor Cooney, the real estate broker, would comment on the purchase prices, beyond saying they are
"significantly above market value."
Several homeowners along Pinecrest did not return phone calls this week. Neither did nearby residents,
who recently met with village officials about expansive buffers and landscaping meant to shield them
from the project.
"So far there has not been a lot of opportunity for the community to altogether weigh in on it, but the
presentations have not been met with overwhelming opposition," said Jud Kline, a longtime architect
and a member of the village's council. "It is a big project. In the words of Daniel Burnham, 'Make no little
plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood.' This one fits that very well."
Pinecrest would be built in stages, with the first stores opening in 2015.
In an economic-impact report provided to the city, Lewanski says his project would create 652
construction jobs and sustain nearly 1,390 permanent jobs. He predicts the village will collect $1.28
million in new tax revenues each year when the project is finished and filled. At that point, the
development would generate nearly $2 million a year for the local schools.
Lewanski said he will not seek incentives for Pinecrest.
The 43-year-old developer, who has worked for Forest City and the Richard E. Jacobs Group, said money
from unidentified investors will carry him through to November. Other investors are willing to step in if
the rezoning effort succeeds. From there, he will build on relationships that he, and his father before
him, established while working for Jacobs, a onetime mall titan.
"The site is unbelievable," Keith Hamulak, who handles retail deals for the CBRE Group Inc. brokerage in
Cleveland, said of Pinecrest. "We've known forever that there have been boxes that wanted to go to the
Chagrin Highlands site, but there are deed restrictions on the land. It's a trade area that includes some
of the strongest incomes in Northeast Ohio. ... If David is successful in getting the rezoning, I would not
be surprised if he had significant demand."
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