Builder Bo Knez acquires parcel in another big Tremont land deal

Another potential project is in the mix for the future in the Lincoln Heights section of Tremont between West 25th Street and Scranton Avenue.

Triban Investment LLC, an affiliate of Concord Township-based builder Bo Knez, has acquired a 3-acre parcel on Brevier Avenue that sits on a ridge immediately south of its prior owner, the Cleveland Animal Protective League.

The grass-covered lot with views of the downtown skyline also sits between the Treo apartment building, rising to its west, and the proposed West 20th Street Apartments, and is a short distance from The Lincoln, an apartment building nearing completion at Willey Avenue and Scranton.

Knez said in a phone interview that he plans to pursue development of an apartment building and townhouses on the site, but the specifics are in flux until his team works with the Lincoln Heights block club, the Tremont West Development Corp. nonprofit, neighbors and other stakeholders.

There is no firm timeline for the project, because the company is juggling multiple major projects in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Knez said his team had queried the APL about the site several years ago, but it was not ready to sell then.

That changed last year when the APL listed the site with Conor Coakley, a first vice president with CBRE Group’s Cleveland office. Coakley said in a phone interview that there were multiple suitors for the site. However, he said he believed Knez prevailed because he seemed to embrace the nonprofit’s vision for the site.

Sharon Harvey, APL president and CEO, said the group’s board decided it was unlikely to have any use for the additional acreage after completing its most recent expansion and renovation project.

“We’ve used the part of the property most beneficial to us and feel this has no future strategic use,” Harvey said. “As a nonprofit, it costs us money to maintain the land. And given the appetite for land now, our board felt it might be an advantageous time to sell.”

She added that the nonprofit liked Knez’s vision for the property and feels his firm may be a good long-term neighbor for the institution, along with being willing to work closely with neighborhood groups.

Although Knez said larger details are not yet clear, the site benefits from neighborhood planning that has already been completed.

Indeed, the Cleveland City Planning Commission, with participation from neighborhood stakeholders, on March 6, 2020, completed “#Reaching Lincoln Heights: Land use and neighborhood plan.”

The plan shows a residential building of undisclosed size on the ridge overlooking the APL and Willey, and two rows of about 30 townhouses on the rest of the parcel.

The plan shows Brevier Avenue, which currently ends in a dead end on the east edge the parcel, being extended across it to where the current Moltke Court intersects West 20th Street. Some of the townhouses in the city plan might have an exit on Lamontier Avenue.

Councilman Kerry McCormack, whose Ward 3 includes that area, said in a phone interview that he’s glad the city plan for Lincoln Heights is in place, because it includes conclusions from neighborhood discussions and gives real estate developers a clear idea of expectations for the site.

“Some developers may call that cumbersome,” McCormack said. “I say, ‘Tough luck.’ There’s some apprehensiveness about change (from multiple multifamily Tremont projects). But our city has lost so much population that we need more people. Moreover, when I talk to building owners, their properties are full. When we create more vibrant communities like this, it’s better for the city and for business.”

Knez’s Triban paid $550,000 for the parcel, according to Cuyahoga County land records.

The site for the so-far unnamed development behind the APL is also a little less than a quarter-mile from the Knez-built Nineteen West townhome project, where units fetch more than $700,000 each.