Shaker Lee Development Fund targets strategic property acquisition, investment in

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — A unique and innovative opportunity for local buy-in on the future of the Chagrin-Lee corridor will continue into the new year through the Shaker Heights Development Corp. (SHDC).

Up and running since September, the new Shaker Lee Development Fund remains open to all Ohio residents to invest in acquiring, upgrading, leasing and managing mainly commercial real estate properties located on Lee Road between Chagrin Boulevard and the Cleveland city limits.

“As a community-based economic development entity, the primary goal of ‘The Fund’ is to redevelop and revitalize the Lee Road Corridor to benefit the residents of Shaker Heights by providing affordable and attractive office space in an area currently underutilized,” the SHDC website states.

In an October work session, SHDC Executive Director Nick Fedor told City Council that The Fund is an outgrowth of previous projects that the nonprofit led and coordinated with smaller groups of civic-minded investors.

“This is not a traditional real estate investment trust — it’s much more of a social impact investing initiative,” Fedor explained. “Our goals are not profit-oriented; it’s really mission-aligned with the SHDC, inviting the community in to participate and have a seat at the table in decisions on what properties to acquire and finding locally owned businesses to operate in those properties.”

State guidelines allow the limited liability corporation 13 months to raise a maximum of $5 million, with up to 5,000 membership interests in individual $1,000 “Class A” and “Class B” units, based on net income and worth.

“And the minimum threshold — from once we can break escrow and start doing actual work — is $550,000,” Fedor added.

In the early going since its September launch, The Fund had already raised $475,000 through a combination of equity investments and property assets.

This included 3700-3704 Lee Road, the former Quality Security Door Co. at Nicholas Avenue, with a new facade designed by Shaker-based Gibbon Architecture. The property is now an occupied, three-storefront building, home to the Process Canine Training Center, Barbara’s Hair Salon and True Vibes Unleashed, a dog grooming, yoga and Reiki business.

Other properties owned by SHDC are:

— 3612 Lee Road, the former Shaker Heights Animal Hospital, which moved into the old Huntington Bank branch acquired and sold by SHDC on the corner of Lee and Kenyon Road. It opened in October. SHDC is marketing the vacant building, whose facade previously was refurbished through the city’s storefront renovation program, as professional office space.

— 3630 Lee at the corner of Hampstead Avenue, where a foreclosed car wash was cleared by the city. SHDC plans to hold onto this site, given the city’s mobilization of the Lee Road Action Plan, part of a proposed $13.7 million targeted reinvestment plan for the commercial corridor, primed for 2025, as well as the Forward Together initiative. The city is continuing to promote the current school bus depot for potential future economic development.

— 3725 Lee, formerly A.J. Lewis Realtors, a 2,000-square-foot building being marketed for a small professional services firm.

— The Dealership, a co-working community also serving as SHDC headquarters, formerly Zalud Oldsmobile and then the Shaker LaunchHouse. The back garage is now leased by the Verb Ballets dance troupe. There has also been an increased demand for small office business space, which has been running at full or nearly full capacity from the pandemic, Fedor said.

Responding to a question from Vice Mayor Tres Roeder, Shaker Heights Economic Development Director Laura Englehart told council that she and City Planning Director Joyce Braverman sit on the SHDC Real Estate Board to assure a “high level of coordination, given all of the processes and initiatives going on in the Lee Road corridor, so that we can align everything as best we can.”

After speaking with one of the attorneys who helped set up The Fund, Mayor David Weiss commended Fedor and the SHDC for the social impact investment offering.

“This is something that’s really unusual, that the state is actually watching closely, because you’ve put something together that’s very forward-looking,” Weiss said.

SHDC Vice President Kim Bixenstine said the new real estate revitalization fund is an exciting prospect for the city, its nonprofit economic development arm and the Lee Road commercial corridor, providing a potential new revenue source in a year that Fedor noted was dominated again by the pandemic.

Women’s business grant

With that in mind, Citizens Bank has again stepped in with SHDC to offer a “Women-owned Small Business Assistance Grant Program,” in another effort to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grants would offer one-time funding to qualifying businesses with two to 25 employees, with the goals of economic and social equity, business retention and lessening the burden on the small business community as they equip themselves to protect both their employees and their customers.

Shot slots added

The city and the Cuyahoga County Health Department added over the weekend a second day of vaccinations and booster shots for COVID-19 at Shaker Heights Fire Station No. 1.

And after those 120 new slots (a total of 240 in all, working out to 20 people scheduled every 30 minutes) were all filled by Monday morning, the hours for the Tuesday (Dec. 21) session were extended to allow for 80 more slots, some of which were still available Monday afternoon.

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