From the exterior, the new house at 18930 Pasnow Drive looks much like many of the other homes surrounding it. Recently built by Property Improvement Specialists Inc., the home is nestled among 1950s-built houses on a quaint street with single-family, middle-class homes, and frankly, it fits right in.

What passersby can’t see from the outside of the Pasnow home is its pristine modern interior. Situated between two traditional bungalow-style houses, this home differs from the rest in that it has a uniquely modern open floor plan. Even new builds themselves are somewhat of a rarity in Euclid, where the median home age is 61 years old.

Property Improvement Specialists president Adam Metz has doing renovations in Euclid since 1994, but the Pasnow home is his first swing at an open floor plan.“Traditional homes in the city of Euclid are designed so that each room is separated from the others by walls,” says Property Improvement Specialists president Adam Metz. “With an open floor plan, one can see from one side of the house to the other with no walls obstructing the view.”

Metz has been doing renovations in Euclid since 1994, but the Pasnow home is his first swing at an open floor plan—a growing trend, with 70% of recent and prospective home buyers preferring homes with completely or partially open kitchen-family room arrangements (according to a 2015 National Association of Home Builders survey).

“In recent trends, open floor plans have become increasingly popular with home buyers,” confirms Sarah Dolezal of downtown brokerage Coakley Real Estate Co., LLC.

According to Metz, the Pasnow home is 1,600 square feet with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and an attached two-car garage. The home is considered infill housing, which Metz describes as “when a home is constructed on a vacant lot that is surrounded by existing homes.”

With 1,217 vacant lots in Euclid, the use of infill construction could not only help turn blighted sites into tax-producing properties but also meet market demand. Studies show that more than half of buyers prefer a brand-new home, and Metz says that with more people moving toward the urban core, the use of infill construction provides an exciting opportunity to add what buyers really want—such as open floor plans—to the existing housing stock.

To help spur these types of projects, the city of Euclid offers city-owned properties for one dollar if the buyer commits to building within a year. New construction for residential homes is also eligible for tax abatement ranging from seven to 15 years in most areas of the city. 

Metz hopes the Pasnow home will be the first of many infill housing projects in Euclid. "This process will be driven by demand—while we are doing the construction, there is no buyer," says Metz. "Therefore, we will determine our next course of action after seeing the outcome of this project."

For Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail's part, she is excited to see new energy around construction and modern housing options in the city. “New houses demonstrate investment in the neighborhoods, help to increase property values of surrounding properties, and provide a greater diversity of housing options for residents,” she says. “New homes also attract new residents to Euclid and help to improve the overall median housing values.”