Committee approves transfer and redevelopment agreement for former Martin Luther King Jr. High School site in Hough

The committee approved an emergency ordinance authorizing the mayor and the commissioner of purchases and supplies to acquire the former Martin Luther King Jr. High School site at 1651 East 70th Street from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and to enter a development agreement with Structures Unlimited for redevelopment.

Trudy (City staff) introduced the Structures Unlimited team and said the 11‑acre site in the Hough neighborhood (Ward 7) has been the subject of a joint city–school district disposition process since 2021. Structures Unlimited’s Kareem Abdul Salam said the project evolved through multiple design iterations and neighborhood engagement over four years. He told the committee the developer will pursue a mix of for-sale townhouse units (roughly 100), senior-accessible housing at the site’s north center, and two multifamily mixed-use apartment buildings on the south side with more than 20,000 square feet of commercial space along Huff Ave. He said the scheme centers on a roughly four-acre central park for events and neighborhood use.

Architect Dominic Durante described the site plan: Quimby Court bisects the site so it reads as north and south halves; townhomes and courtyard homes would face Lexington and the street with stoops and masonry fronts; the south half contains multifamily buildings with ground-level commercial space intended for anchors such as credit-union branches, restaurants or neighborhood-serving retail. The team said they are not seeking city subsidy at this time and expect to pursue a HUD 221(d)(4) loan and private capital commitments; they also said they will sign a community benefits agreement voluntarily, despite city participation not being required in this phase.

Council members, especially Ward 7 representatives, welcomed the design changes driven by neighborhood feedback and said they expect the developer to follow through on workforce, minority-business and neighborhood hiring commitments. The committee approved Ordinance 1116-2021; the transcript does not show a committee roll-call tally in the excerpt provided. City staff said final design approvals and additional details will proceed through local design review and planning commission processes.