Howard Thompson's appraisals of Cleveland Heights bring to mind the phrase "target-rich environment." The city's new development director, on the job about three weeks, enthusiastically rattles off the opportunities he sees for the inner-ring suburb in 2011.

There's the old Coventry School, parts of which will be used next year by Ensemble Theatre. In the rest, Thompson imagines an entrepreneurial development center. There's the on-again, off-again Top of the Hill plan, which would bring some combination of new housing, commercial and office space to the 3.5-acre city-owned site, most of it parking lot, at Cedar Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard (behind Nighttown). There's the former Oakwood Country Club, which many would like to see preserved as green space but is also a rare large tract (144 acres) in an otherwise densely packed city.

Heights' commercial and residential density -- and close proximity to each other -- are desirable traits, says Thompson, who worked most recently in Beachwood. "But it's also a bit of a challenge at the same time," he adds, "because you have to create development opportunities."

There are many small-scale opportunities in Heights' many architecturally intriguing but technologically lacking buildings. "Some properties just need to be updated or renovated," he says. And as businesses in nearby University Circle grow, Heights could become an attractive place to expand.

Thompson's career began in Cleveland Heights. He interned in city hall while earning a master's degree in public administration at Cleveland State in the early '90s.

Source: Howard Thompson
Writer: Frank W. Lewis