May 23, 2016 [Karin Connelly Rice, Freshwater Cleveland]
As the saying goes, good things come in small packages. In Lakewood, that package is tucked away at 1427 Scenic St. near the city’s westernmost border, the Rocky River.
Three years ago, the Cuyahoga Land Bank took over a tiny abandoned house on a 35- by 95-foot parcel in Lakewood’s Scenic Park neighborhood.
As the Land Bank razed the 348-square-foot house, cleared the property and laid grass seed, LakewoodAlive, a community-centered non-profit organization focused on maintaining vibrant neighborhoods in Lakewood, took notice.
“We identified this vacant property in March 2015 while knocking on doors to introduce ourselves and our Community Engagement Program,” recalls LakewoodAlive executive director Ian Andrews, adding that the program focuses on the Scenic Park and Birdtown neighborhoods to make sure everyone has the resources to create healthy and safe homes. “We saw this vacant property and thought: what can we do with that?”
After neighbors on either side of the property declined to annex the approximately 3,300-square-foot parcel, LakewoodAlive began working with the Land Bank and Lakewood officials to build a new house. The organization took title to the property in January and then transferred it to Lakewood developer Dana Paul with Prairie Stone Group in March.
Paul broke ground on a 1,425-square-foot, two-story home with three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths on April 30. “It has a deck overlooking the Rocky River Reservation,” says Andrews. “It’s going to be a beautiful home.”
Last Wednesday, May 18, a group of community members, mayor Michael Summers, Paul and LakewoodAlive representatives gathered at the site to celebrate the project. Because construction has already begun, with concrete work well underway, officials dubbed the event the “Scenic Park House Project Launch Party” instead of a groundbreaking.
Attendees honored the future home by breaking beer bottles over a rock at the construction site.
Andrews says the market is hot for a house like the one being built on the pint-sized parcel. “There’s a big market for historic, other people want funky,” he says, adding that the neighbors are pleased. “They’re glad to see this little lot is finally getting some love.”