Plans outlined

58 apartments, event center planned for Broadway Building

The rebirth of the Broadway Building will bring 58 “stunning” apartments with 100 new residents in downtown Lorain, said the developer who is planning renovation of the historic structure.

Plans include a new 300-seat modern event center built atop the parking garage immediately south of the building.

On Aug. 18, Spitzer Great Lakes Ltd. Co. and the Lorain Port Authority signed the needed paperwork for the Port to take control of the building at 301 Broadway. The Port Authority in turn will lease the building to 301 Broadway Partners LLC, a company that will be formed for the project.

Developer James Louthen on Aug. 24 explained plans for the structure, which is the former Spitzer Plaza Hotel and Lorain Renaissance Inn.

“This is a very exciting moment for the community of Lorain,” Louthen said. “The success of the Broadway Building is another step in the resurgence of this working and destination city.”

Louthen is president and managing director of ReTown, a Chicago-based company, and T2 Capital Management. ReTown and Louthen designed the Lorain Port Authority’s Black River Landing

festival site.

The needed agreements grant control of the property to the developers, which Louthen described as a true public-private partnership.

“Now that we have control of the property … we are poised to deliver over $10 million of investment into Lorain for the class A historic restoration of the Broadway Building,” Louthen

said.

The investment will create more than 100 new jobs, Louthen said, and he predicted it would spur future economic development estimated at more than $100 million in Lorain’s downtown and waterfront.

A development team is working to complete financing through a number of sources, Louthen said.

The financing will include private equity and investments through Ohio historic tax credits and state affordable housing tax credits, Louthen said.

The development could receive a Lorain Port Authority sales tax abatement. The city of Lorain could contribute through federal development funds for the city, and the developers have identified an energy efficient incentive for “green” construction, Louthen said.

The target market for the apartments will be people age 55 and older. The units will be affordable for people on fixed incomes, but the new development will not have subsidized housing for low-income residents, Louthen

said.

“Our residents will have disposable income to spend in the downtown,” he said. Rent will be in the range of $700 a month for a onebedroom unit and $1,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit, depending on the location in the building.

“This approach has worked nationally in other metropolitan cities and is a key strategy to revitalizing other downtowns and waterfronts by bringing residents into historic downtowns,” Louthen said. “It’s really exciting.”

The apartments will have amenities including a pool, sauna with private lockers, an exercise room and community room for events, Louthen said. There will be “quality finishes” and views of the downtown and waterfront, he said, and security and technology will be state of the art.

“With this design and investment, we know the demand for our units will be very high,” Louthen said. “These apartments are going to go like hotcakes.”

The event center will have an open floorplan with an urban industrial design motif, with masonry and glass, Louthen said.

The development team is recruiting a national operator for the center, which

will compete with similar spaces in Cleveland for gatherings, he said.

Heading south from West Erie Avenue, the building profiles appear to have a “missing tooth” between the Broadway Building and the former bank at 383 Broadway, Louthen said.

“It’s an opportunity so we’re going to put a new building in the middle and it’s going to be really vibrant,” he said. “We are so excited and we want the community to learn about the development and we want the community to be optimistic about the future of Lorain.”

To spread the word, Louthen plans a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31 to discuss the project. The meeting will be at Lorain City Hall, 200 W. Erie Ave.

As for work on the structure, the exterior remodeling could begin before winter, with a grand opening 12 to 18 months later, Louthen said.

To spread the word, Louthen plans a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31 to discuss the project.