Construction underway at new Ohio City music and early childhood education facility
Without fanfare, construction quietly began on the newest Music Settlement location in Ohio City in October, marking a huge step for the 104-year-old music education, music therapy and early childhood education institution.
“We’ve already started the initial groundbreaking,” says Patricia Camacho Hughes, the Music Settlement’s interim president. We’re moving forward and on schedule to open in August or September 2018.”
Settlement officials announced late last year that they had committed to 19,000 square feet on the first floor of the Snavely Group’s mixed use project on the corner of W. 25th Street and Detroit Avenue.
“It’s been really exciting to be doing it from scratch after 104 years of music,” says Lynn Johnson, the Settlement’s director of marketing and communications. “We’ve learned a lot.”
The Music Settlement was founded in 1912 and the institution has spent most of its time in an historic mansion in University Circle.
Hughes says they looked at multiple options for a second location and adds they are pleased to be constructing a building from the ground up.
“Starting from scratch, knowing what the square footage is and working with early childhood [education] requirements, we were able to work with the architects [VOCON],” she says, adding that factors like adequate soundproofing and layout were important.
The new location will house approximately 125 early childhood students and about 75 music and music therapy students. The settlement will employ a staff of about 50 at the W.25th campus.
The campus will include two music therapy suites with observation rooms and six ensemble rooms and a computer lab. The early childhood center will have six classrooms, a multipurpose room, dance studio, science lab, library, a secure playground, and a large-muscle room so children can move indoors during inclement weather.
The playground on site will help the Settlement fit right in with the neighborhood’s usual activity. “You’ll always hear the laughter of kids,” Hughes says. “But we’re used to hearing all those noises. People will understand what to anticipate – street noise, sirens, the sounds of music and kids laughing.”
Hours will be from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the classrooms used as practice areas once classes are over, in addition to the separate practice and music studios and therapy rooms. Instruction will run six days a week.
With the Music Settlement’s Bop Stop just steps away on Detroit, Johnson says the Ohio City community has already embraced the Settlement's growing presence in the neighborhood. “Ohio City and Hingetown have been so warm and welcoming,” she says. “They understand the value of keeping music and enrichment here.”
Hughes adds that the established artistic community in the neighborhood contributes to the excitement. “I love being on this corridor off of Detroit and the building is really a connector,” she says. “We’re actively working with other artists and nonprofits because we’re not in competition with each other.”
The Ohio City location is also a welcome addition for west side residents, who right now must make a rather long commute to University Circle. Hughes points out that some students come from as far away as Bay Village.
“There’s a distinction between the west and east sides for those who use our services,” says Hughes. “Part of why we’re feeling so welcome is they’re aware of us, but they don’t have to travel across the river.”
Total enrollment at the Music Settlement is between 800 and 900, says Johnson, in addition to people who are served through the organization’s outreach programs at area high schools and community centers.
With the west side location, Hughes says she hopes community services will expand – especially with Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (CMHA) Lakeview Community Center just two blocks away.
“It’s also our mission to engage those residents to take part in our activities,” says Hughes. “We have fundraisers to expand endowment money to serve the underserved.”
The Music Settlement announced in early November that Geralyn Presti has been named the new president and CEO, coming from Forest City Realty Trust, where she served as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. Presti has an extensive history with the Music Settlement, and her real estate law experience will prove helpful in the development of the new campus when she takes over in early 2017.
