Last year, the Fairfax neighborhood welcomed the opening of Griot Village, the area's first intergenerational housing project. In just a few short months, the project's success has mushroomed. To qualify for residency, a person 55 years of age or older must have custody of a minor. All 40 units are occupied and bustling with approximately 80 children. Most of the units are single-family households, many of which are headed by women, the oldest of which is 84.

"We did it because we kept getting more and more requests for this type of housing," says Denise VanLeer, assistant executive director of the Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation (FRDC). "It is a market niche that’s badly underserved and strained by circumstance. They need a lot of support."

So much so that there is a waiting list to get into Griot and queries from urban planners have come from Akron, New York and even as far as Japan to learn from the model.

On the heels of that success, the FRDC is unfolding its wings, so to speak, with an array of tentative projects.

The first is a large-scale mixed income community between East 101^st and 105^th Streets, which is currently inundated with vacancy.

"We don't know the exact number," says VanLeer, "but we're toying with 400-plus units."

Still in the "very preliminary planning stages," the FRDC team has been in communication with the Cleveland Land Bank and Cuyahoga Land Bank.

"We are in the process of land acquisition," says VanLeer.

While still off on the horizon, VanLeer believes the project will come to fruition as a dovetail to commercial development in the area.

Of the Cedar Road corridor, she says she hopes the Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center, 10000 Cedar Avenue, will act as a commercial development catalyst of sorts, but she words it in a much more charming way.

"We envision that project to have some babies or cousins."

Also of interest is the East 83^rd Street corridor, which garnered a significant anchor in 2013 when Rumi's Market launched at 8225 Carnegie Avenue in 2013. The brightly lit Middle Eastern supermarket and café has been doing a brisk business. Per VanLeer, the PNC Fairfax Connection, a community resource center, is another entity that makes East 83^rd "a major thoroughfare" and to further strengthen it, FRDC has trained it's sights on East 83^rd and Cedar.

"We're working with a church and private investors to bring that corner back." Details are preliminary and confidential.

The last project harkens back to the days when Fairfax populated with grand Victorian homes. The East 89^th Street Housing Project includes eight apartment buildings constructed to emulate the style of days gone by. While the FRDC has talked to developers and worked with the city architect on a vision, the project has unfortunately stalled.

"Right now the numbers don't work," says VanLeer.

VanLeer encourages any developer interested in learning more about the project to call Debra Wilson at 216.361.8400 for more information.

When asked why she believes the project will eventually come to fruition, VanLeer responds, "There's a market for it," she says, noting the project's proximity to the Cleveland Clinic. "This would be ideal for all nurses and people who work there, especially the residents who come for three years and then they're gone.

"They could actually walk to work."