There’s good news coming out of the Ohio Development Services Agency for hopeful residents of Cleveland’s hippest neighborhood. The state office announced $35.9 million worth of state historic preservation tax credits in December last year, a chunk of which will be used in conjunction with federal historic tax credits to bring three new Ohio City residential projects to life: The Jay Hotel, 3000 Bridge Avenue and Ohio City Apartments.

Developers Rick Foran, Damon Tasseff and Tom Gillespie are looking to fill the neighborhood’s need for market rate apartments by rehabilitating vacant properties – all within a short walk from the heart of the neighborhood, the Market District.

All cite the neighborhood’s nationally renowned comeback over the past decade and continuing opportunity as the primary reason for making the investment. Rick Foran of Foran Group Development sums up their mentality. “Action begets action, and we think a lot of great things are going on.”

3000 Bridge Avenue

Damon Taseff of Allegro Realty Advisors sees this as another opportunity to be active in his community. “We love this neighborhood,” he says with a nod to his wife and three children. “There’s great opportunity in the neighborhood, so that’s why we’re doing the project.”

The $3 million project is at the site of the former West Side Community House built in 1920 for orphaned immigrants, vacant since 2006. A $480,790 tax credit was awarded to the development.

Taseff and his partners plan to renovate the building into 22 market rate apartments with the possibility of a coffee shop on the first floor. “I think there’s a real deficiency for apartments in the neighborhood, so we’re going to try and capitalize on that,” he notes.

The interior design is still being conceptualized, but Taseff assures they will be high-end one or two bedroom apartments with outdoor porches and a rooftop deck. Details with the bank lender are being finalized, putting the ground breaking on track for sometime this year with an eight-month construction schedule.

Ultimately, this is a development that aims to return the city to its urban roots. “Cleveland’s urban neighborhoods need more density to support retail,” Taseff says. “This is a little project that helps us move a little further towards that goal.”

The Jay Hotel

Tom Gillespie is no stranger to Ohio City. “I invested back in 1992,” he chuckles. And he hasn’t stopped since. The owner of Gillespie Environmental Technologies is also responsible for the renovation of three commercial spaces inside the Near West Woodworks building at the corner of Jay Avenue and W. 25th. “I don’t know what else to do with myself!”

As he nears signing his third and final tenant of the building – possibly by the time this story prints – Gillespie is happy to share news of his latest $2.6 million development, The Jay Hotel at the former Ohio City Post Office building. The project received a $522,376 tax credit.

“There are eight units going in there with two units at 1,800 square feet, six at 1,100 square feet, and 16,000 square feet of retail space,” Gillespie says, describing them as “higher-end apartments.” Following the development trend of what young professionals are looking for, the building calls for commercial space to be included in the basement. Gillespie is looking for “something that would complement the neighborhood.”

Capital for the project is currently being finalized, including a two-year loan with the City of Cleveland’s vacant properties initiative. Nonetheless, work is well under way. “We already started on some aspects, building stabilization and things of that nature,” Gillespie explains. “We would like to be swinging hammers in the next couple of months” with residents moving in during the fall of 2014 following an 18-month construction schedule.

Gillespie views The Jay Hotel as the bookend for a once-blighted area of Ohio City. “I think it’s a very important piece as far as the broad picture of the Market District,” he says. “Between the Woodworks Building and this, it really cements the neighborhood.”

West 25th Street Lofts

It’s been a long time coming for the West 25th Street Lofts. Plans for the 98,000 square foot complex of vacant industrial buildings along Church Avenue and including the former home to Baehr Brewing Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows, and Lester Engineering came to a halt when the economy collapsed several years ago. Now Foran and his partner Chris Smythe believe the project is back on track for an August groundbreaking with residents moving in September of 2014.

“The development is going to be loft style living with exposed brick, beams and posts whenever possible,” Foran explains of the $21.5 million apartment rehab, which received a $7.2 million federal and state historic tax credit. Units will offer a mixture of industrial-style steel windows and gothic arched windows. “Some spaces will be one story, others will be duplexed,” Foran adds.

A highlight of the project, financed in part by a loan program for market rate housing, is an atrium being carved into the center of the building. “It will be an interior courtyard where people will be able to see their neighbors on a regular basis and create a community inside the building,” says Foran. “We’re also going to have windows facing out into the atrium and into the street.”

Like Gillespie and Taseff, Foran plans to reach the young professional demographic that’s increasingly returning to the city from the suburbs. Though Foran in particular believes there’s a place in Ohio City for an older generation as well.

“I think that Ohio City is maturing to the point that empty nesters from the suburbs are expressing a desire to move into this area,” he explains, adding his belief that mixing demographics helps to ensure the long-term viability of the neighborhood. “I think our location across the street from where the city and port authority intend to create a big, new park overlooking the river -- which leads out to Wendy Park -- is going to be the kind of environment that empty nesters are going to be interested in locating in.”