Design + Build

These English fluency & GED programs are helping La Villa Hispana residents find higher-paying jobs
When Spanish-American Committee executive director Ramonita Vargas submitted 25 nursing candidates to a major medical institution for hiring consideration, she felt positive about their prospects—but was dismayed when all 25 were turned away “because their English wasn’t perfect.”
Literary Lots turns vacant lot in Slavic Village into robot-themed playground
Kauser Razvi says she became motivated to create a literary lot based on the children's book The Wild Robot after the 2016 election. “It’s about identifying, bullying, isolation, and belonging,” she explains. "It's about having value in your own space."
5 up-and-coming artists to watch in Cleveland
From a dynamic duo bringing back Glenville to a Sudanese designer working on a welcome center for Irishtown Bend, these artists are changing the city's creative landscape.
Portrait of a neighborhood: Fairfax is ready to enter its long-awaited renaissance era
For the last two decades, Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood has been master planning for a renaissance—and now its golden age is in sight. With an ideal location on the $331 million Opportunity Corridor and an array of developments and initiatives coming to fruition, the area is preparing to round the bend on a four-pronged Strategic Investment Plan that began in 2008.
Voodoo Brewery to bring its magic to Lee Road
Meadville, PA-based Voodoo Brewery is slated to open its first tap house outside of Pennsylvania and its eighth location overall later this year.
MetroHealth goes all in on affordable housing for the Clark-Fulton neighborhood
MetroHealth recently announced an investment of $60 million to construct three new buildings housing 250 apartments—along with community-centered amenities including a grocery store, job training center, childcare facilities, and more—near its main campus.
Cleveland Heights moves ahead with ‘living street’ Cedar-Lee-Meadowbrook plan
A 1.07-acre plot of land at the corner of Lee and Meadowbrook Roads is about to be developed to comprise a total of 4.8 acres in the heart of the city's commercial district.
Secret passages and childhood fantasies: Historic 1910 Harcourt Manor restored to its original glory
When Anya Rudd was a child living in University Heights, she imagined what it would be like to live in the majestic house at 2178 Harcourt Drive in Cleveland Heights. In 2016, Anya and her husband John made her dreams come true when they bought the 1910 Elizabethan Revival, 7,422-square-foot mansion known as Harcourt Manor.
LGBT Community Center to triple its footprint with new home
On the heels of Pride in the CLE, good news out of Gordon Square: after 20 years of operating out of a 5,000-square-foot basement at 6600 Detroit Ave., the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland is ready to move into a prominent, custom-designed and -built, and proud new home across the street at 6705 Detroit.
 
Army veteran and family surprised with renovated Cleveland Heights home
“Welcome home,” the crowd cheered as retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Charlie Pepinrivera and his family saw their new home on Canterbury Road in Cleveland Heights for the first time on Saturday, May 18. The four-bedroom, 1,736-square-foot home was purchased and renovated by Citizens Bank, in partnership with Homes 4 Wounded Heroes, then donated to Pepinrivera and his family.
Shiny and not-so-new: Celebration of Preservation honors CLE's shining stars in historic restoration
Cleveland has had its shares of ups and downs in the 223 years since Moses Cleaveland first set up shop, but many of the city’s homes and buildings have remained—largely due to those who have put forth tremendous efforts to preserve and restore the structures that form Cleveland’s unique history.
Nature Center begins major renovation project on beloved All People’s Trail
For more than 50 years, the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes has stood as both an environmental haven and educational resource on 20 acres that were once proposed as highways to connect Cleveland’s eastern suburbs to downtown. Now, the Nature Center is about to undergo a $2.5 capital improvement project to renovate the All People’s Trail (APT)—built in 1983 and perhaps the focal point of the preserve.
From career builder to woodworker: How this retired recruiter transformed his hobby into a business
Shel Myeroff spent the better part of his professional life helping executives find their perfect jobs. He founded Solon-based Direct Recruiters in the late 1970s and spent 35 years growing the company. But at the end of the day, Myeroff would go home and unwind by making furniture in his basement.
Aspen Place marks first new construction project for affordable housing in Detroit Shoreway
The Detroit Shoreway Community Development Corporation (DSCDC) owns more than 300 affordable housing units in the neighborhood, but Aspen Place apartments marks the agency’s first-ever new construction project for affordable housing.
Heights citizens just want great designs for Top of the Hill development
As the Top of the Hill project—a mixed-use development with apartments, retail, and parking at the top of Cedar Hill—nears approval from the city’s Architectural Board of Review (ABR), a group of Cleveland Heights residents are voicing their disapproval of the planned design.
To raze or not to raze? Beaumont's decaying Painter Mansion begs the question
Surrounded by a historic stone wall in Cleveland Heights, Beaumont School's 21-acre campus is rich in Cleveland history, but the on-site Painter Mansion is showing all of its 114 years. School officials say they have no use for the deteriorated mansion, and the renovations would be too costly, so it’s time to tear down the house—but Cleveland's preservation community wants the historic home to get a second chance.
The 8 most interesting houses in Cleveland, second edition
In a city with architecture as unique as the people who call it home, we decided it was time to take another look at some of Cleveland’s most unique houses. From a pre-Civil war homestead to an ultra-modern villa, all eight of these local homes have a captivating story to tell.
It's Design + Build Month at Freshwater! Find out what's on our radar.
As part of our editorial calendar for FreshWater, we select a different theme to highlight each month in line with our 15 focus areas (which range from social change to technology). For March, we're turning our lens on Design + Build—find out what's on the FreshWater team's radar right now.
A new chapter: Cleveland Public Library prepares for the next 150 years
The "People's University" will enter its next era with an ambitious, library-wide revitalization project and a yearlong CPL150 celebration, along with the announcement that it will now be fine-free.
LAND studio is putting the 'public' in public art with a community-designed gathering place
It takes a village to build a community gathering place, and LAND studio is looking for that village to help build its latest public art project—Forum, a large, permanent outdoor pavilion designed to be a setting for public engagement and community gatherings.