Development projects on the horizon

Planning underway for new uses for former school building

Amid the coronavirus, area developers seem to be looking for suburban possibilities, including the City of Willoughby.

“They’re looking at their job flow for the next five, 10 years and they’re probably thinking Willoughby looks like a good market,” said Thomas Thielman, economic development director for the City of Willoughby.

Due to the amount of people who have inquired about building in Willoughby, a step back has been taken to do a marketing study to look at city needs, Thielman said, including for residential and retail downtown and the north end.

Mayor Robert Fiala refers to the city he’s been in involved with for more than 20 years as a Mayberry — a small town outside of a big city. It’s a tightknit, close community, with residents always reaching out, he said.

Shana Boyd, communications coordinator, agrees. Exploring the city and having interests met is always an opportunity for people, she said.

“It’s exciting to be able to see the growth and that Willoughby is attracting people who want to have businesses here, who want to raise their families here” — Shana Boyd, communications coordinator

“There’s a lot of community pride here, which is always great to see,” Boyd said. “There is something for everyone with downtown, shopping and restaurants, but also the park system and access to the lake.”

Places to hang out, eat dinner and shop, as well as industry, parks, historic neighborhoods, new construction and modern homes, turn Willoughby into a microcosm of everything in Lake County, Thielman said.

“We have a great, jazzy, fun vibe going on,” he said.

With a historic downtown, it’s always a challenge to insert new construction, Fiala said.

“These are projects that were initiated four years ago and they’re adaptive uses of historic buildings,” Thielman added, referring to the former Memorial Junior High School building and the former Willoughby Union High School building.

The city put out a request for proposals in order to get a developer interested in changing the former school buildings into primarily residential uses, Thielman said. One of the buildings ended up rising to the top to be an office for an architecture firm, he said.

The initial development team that was put together hit some snags, but a new developer has stepped in recently to re-energize the project, Thielman said.

“We’re right in the midst of planning it right now,” he said.

The former junior high school, which will be turned into the office space for the architectural firm, is under construction now as well,

Fiala said. The firm also specializes in K-12 education, he said.

“It’s a big deal for our community because there are still a lot of people who went to those buildings for school,” Fiala said. “One of the architects on it went to Memorial Junior High School. This, for him, is a labor of love.”

Fiala is hoping for something new and fresh in an “old skin” to come out of the former high school, he said.

In addition, Marous Brothers Construction, Inc. has proposed an infill apartment complex project downtown, Thielman said. Roughly 35 units are being proposed on the corner of Clark and Second streets.

“That’s significant in itself because it adds more density to downtown,” he said, “and then they’re also across from Andrews Osborne Academy, on Mentor Avenue, proposing about 160 more apartment units there.”

The Marous projects are also in the early stages of the planning commission process, Thielman said. The company is also in the process of building its new, $9 million headquarters on Vine Street, he said.

Other industrial expansions coming to the forefront include Cast Nylons and Preston’s Sun Control, Thielman said, but also stores such as Achilles Running Shop, based in Mentor, coming to Willoughby.

“It’s exciting to be able to see the growth and that Willoughby is attracting people who want to have businesses here, who want to raise their families here,” Boyd said, who is a mother of two boys — one in middle school and one in high school. Economic development opportunities came to fruition within the past six months, Fiala said, and Willoughby is becoming a more desirable place to live. Roughly $70 million worth of projects will be going on in the community.

“One thing we’re really conscious of right now, given how much is going to happen in Willoughby, is transparency,” Fiala said. “We owe it to our citizens to make sure they know what’s going on.”

The city is striving to organize public meetings to communicate information to citizens, Fiala said, but it’s troublesome due to the pandemic. Roughly 23,000 people currently live in Willoughby, he said, with an average age of 44.

“The last thing we want to do is have our residents call us and say, ‘What were you guys thinking,’ “Fiala said. “So, we want to be thinking with them right now.”

In the next one to four years, projects currently at the forefront will be completed, Thielman said, but there may be other proposals as well, including a Chagrin River trail.

“It’s an extremely aggressive program, but we’ve got the support of 16 agencies and cities, and we’re trying to secure funding for it,” Fiala said. “It’s a complex deal.”

Fiala is anxious to get 2021 started, he said, even though Lake County is doing very well, and has managed the surge and the mortality rates amid the pandemic. All procedures and policies the governor has implemented have been followed, he said.

“I give credit to our bars and restaurants because they are really fighting,” Fiala said. “We’re a good market and interest rates are low right now, so it’s a good leverage for developers right now and our community.”