Newell Creek targeted for medical offices

The final piece of a 380-acre Mentor property once owned by the David Z. Norton family is being sold for a potential medical office complex.

Mentor Planning Commission on Dec. 20 will consider an application to construct a two-story office building and create three sublots from the 10 acre parcel at 8140 Norton Parkway in the Newell Creek Development.

The proposal includes a 40,000-square-foot building on one sublot, totaling about 4.4 acres, and indications of a 15,000-square-foot building on another sublot and a 10,000-square-foot building on the third.

The proposal before the commission is just for the 40,000-square-foot building and the minor subdivision.

“The other two buildings were mentioned in the trip-generation study as possibilities, but no plans for the buildings have been submitted for review,” said city Planner Larry Rastatter.

The property is being developed by Hplex Solutions, a healthcare development and property management company based in the Columbus area.

The main tenant of the first building will be Macy Family Dentistry, said Mentor Economic Development

Director Kevin Malecek. The business plans to relocate from the Lake Health Mentor Campus at 9485 Mentor Ave.

It has been 20 years since a representative of the David Z. Norton estate, “Woodnorton,” announced plans to develop the land, bordered by Route 84, Route 615, Interstate 90 and Garfield Road. It had been in the family since the 1920s.

Some of the land south of Norton Parkway has been developed by CT Consultants and Avery Dennison. Cleveland Clinic also purchased property there in 2012, but has yet to proceed with a project.

“This is the last parcel that we own on the south side of Norton Parkway,” said Robert Gale III of 8090 Norton Parkway, LLC. Gale, who still lives in Lake County, is the grandson of Norton family member Miriam White.

“It’s a very emotional thing to get rid of the last of your family property,” he added, “but everything in life changes and you need to move on and go forward, and we’re looking forward to selling the remaining of our property and seeing it being used in the future by someone who enjoys it.”

He said the lack of a buyer until now may have had something to do with Cleveland Clinic’s plans for a healthcare facility on the other end of Norton Parkway.

“I think everybody, to be very honest, was waiting for Cleveland Clinic to develop the property they bought a number of years ago and, for whatever reason, the Cleveland Clinic has not come forward to develop that property,” he said, noting that an improving economy may have contributed to the sale as well.

In December of 2004, the Commission approved a revised development plan for the Newell Creek Development that substituted 40 acres of residential land for office use on the south side of the property.

An amendment to the development plan was considered in February to allow for a senior living facility, but the Planning Commission considered it to be a substantial deviation from the approved plan.

“The proposed medical office building conforms with the last amended development plan approved by City Council in 2014 for

the Newell Creek Development,” says a staff report to the commission. “Any use proposed to be located within the building or on the adjacent parcels other than an ‘office’ use will require application for an amendment to the approved development plan for the Newell Creek Development.”

Land was cleared at 8020 Center St. in 2015 for Cleveland Clinic. In September 2012, the commission approved an amendment to the Newell Creek plan allowing the substitution of a medical campus for a lifestyle center on the spot. Allowed uses include a hospital, heliport, hotel, office building, retail store, gift shop, floral shop and parking garage.

No new information was available Dec 18.

“It’s a very emotional thing to get rid of the last of your family property, but everything in life changes and you need to move on and go forward, and we’re looking forward to selling the remaining of our property and seeing it being used in the future by someone who enjoys it.”

— Robert Gale III of 8090 Norton Parkway, LLC