Good morning, everyone.

Today is April twenty first.

I would like to call the meeting of development, planning a sustainability committee to order.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the role?

Present.

So ordinance number 403-2026 by Council Members Conwell and emergency ordinance designating the I'm sorry, let me put my thing on here.

Okay.

Saperstein.

Saperstein, garage and house as a Cleveland landmark.

Thank you.

Saperstein.

Saperstein.

Okay.

Saperstein.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Oh, so okay.

Yeah, close.

Yes.

Um, thank you all for your time this morning.

Um, my name is Rachel Pierce.

I'm staff with the Cleveland Landmarks Commission.

Um, my first time presenting to you all.

So thank you again for your time this morning.

Um, so we're looking at 852 to 854 East 95th Street, um, the Saperstein Garage and House.

Um, it's a two-family home in a masonry garage, all on the same property.

So the whole property is being nominated.

The current owner, uh, Henry Shepard is the one who brought this to our office.

I mean, he is in full support of the nomination, but couldn't be here this morning.

Um, but we've been in regular contact with him.

Um, so this was presented to the landmarks commission and the planning commission last month, and they both both voted in um approval of moving this forward for you guys to review.

Is it off?

Oh, is there?

Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, so this property meets four of our nomination criteria, one being eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.

A little bit closer, sure.

Sure, okay.

Yeah, so back in 2021, this was actually submitted to the um State Historic Preservation Office, and they concurred with us that this was eligible for listing to the National Register.

Um, and so that's one of the criteria this property meets.

Um, this is located in the Glenville neighborhood.

We have a couple historic districts nearby, um, as well as some other landmark churches, but in this immediate area, there's not a ton of landmarked properties.

So we are interested in you know, pursuing more landmarks in this area.

Um, you can see the general context of the neighborhood has changed in the last 10 to 15 years, um, particularly with demolition.

So the nominated property is shown in the images on the left there, um, especially the bottom left uh image from 2022 shows the nominated property and that the buildings on either side have been demolished.

Um so we see a great need for preservation in this area and think this might be a good example of starting there.

Um so I just want to show you um all the exterior conditions of the property.

This is the garage being nominated.

Um it's just a simple one-story masonry garage with two garage doors.

Um, and I'll get into a little bit about why we're nominating this property, but just to give you a little flavor, um, it was the founding place of American greetings, um, which is now in Westlake.

So that small garage right there.

Yes.

Interesting.

Um, and here's the home on that property, a typical Cleveland double wood siding, wood windows, beautiful columns.

Can see that as I move around the property here.

Let it glass windows.

Yes.

Okay.

Um, so it's a two-family home occupied by tenants currently.

The property owner lives across the street.

Okay.

Um, we were not allowed access into this uh property recently because it's tenant occupied.

Um so now to the good stuff.

Um, why are we nominating this property?

Um, it's for Jacob Saperstein and he founded American Greetings.

Um, but his history goes back into like the early 1900s when he first immigrated to the United States from Poland.

Um so he was from Poland and immigrated here to the United States due to the Russian uh Japanese war.

His mom, who's shown in the image on the right, you know, wanted all of her children, all eight of them, to come to the United States to avoid being drafted into the war.

Um, and so Jacob Saperstein, who is shown in the image on the left, uh, was sponsored by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to come here to uh Boston originally in 1905.

Then he eventually made his way to Cleveland in 1906 after a brief stint in Chicago.

So he got his start here in Cleveland at the Hollandon Hotel, uh which is now demolished.

It was on Superior Avenue, and unfortunately, we've lost that building.

Um but he worked in the card shop, and while he was there, he you know he had quite the entrepreneurial spirit, and so he just decided to create his own card company and this is the beginning of American Greetings uh actually is from starting in the Holiden Hotel.

He then started pedaling cards, postcards from a wagon.

So you can see in the image on the right, there's Saperstein and then three children who are Morris Irving and Harry, his children, are shown in that image, with an address of East 70th Street, which is one of the properties he lived in when he first got his start peddling postcards.

That property has since been demolished.

Oh then moved to East 95th Street next door to the property that we're nominating.

So this building has actually been demolished.

And so he moved to this property.

It was a two-family home.

You can see in the image at the center of the screen, it kind of lines up architecturally with uh, you know, the first floor of the home that was on this property and has since been demolished.

He then moved next door to the property that we're nominating.

Um we don't know why he moved or anything.

Um it doesn't entirely make sense to us, but he did own both properties and and uh sold the one next door to move to the nominated property back in 1919.

Uh this home was built in 1911, so he was the fourth owner of it.

Um you can see we have a permit here from 1919.

He built the garage on this property, um, and he built it specifically for his postcard business.

Um, so we have the permit here from the city office.

And so the image here on the left is from the 1960s.

It shows Jacob's son Irving in front of the garage.

Um, and I have a comparison here between 1960 and today.

You can see the fenestration pattern is relatively the same.

Um, the window in the center is original, it's just been modified, the garage doors have been changed.

Um, but we do have confirmation from Maury Weiss, who was a descendant of Jacob Saperstein, confirming that this is the garage that they say where American Greetings was founded, and that that is Irving Saperstein, his son.

And then this actually shows a younger image of Irving, who is shown on the right.

Um Jacob's sons, Maury and Irving were heavily involved in the business from an early age.

Their largest order while operating out of the garage was for Euclid Beach Park back in the 1920s, and they sold 48,000 postcards, which is pretty interesting.

Um, and from this order onward, it just catapulted the business because by 1932, they founded the Saperstein Greeting Card Company.

Um you can see in the postcard on the left, I've kind of put an outline around the name Saperstein Greeting Card Company, the official predecessor to American Greetings.

Um, and so over the next several years, they just grew and grew and grew because they started designing their own postcards.

And I actually have some with me to pass around.

Okay, so you do have those.

Um you can take a look at those.

And they moved to various warehouses after the garage because they outgrew it.

However, all of those warehouses are now demolished.

Uh, there was one on Yale Avenue, and then two on Superior Avenue, one of which is shown in the bottom right-hand corner on the screen, all of which are demolished.

Um, so as I did say, they moved out of that garage, they outgrew it.

They also outgrew the family home as well.

Um, so by 1938, they moved to uh 823 East Boulevard, and that property has also been demolished as well.

Um so they did retain ownership of the nominated property until 1943, and then eventually sold it as well.

So it was an income-producing property for a period of time for them as well.

Um, and then eventually they just outgrew all of their previous warehouses, and they did move to Berea Road, which is shown in the image on the right.

And that property is still standing and is occupied by an industrial company currently.

And so by 1952, the company went public.

Um, and so they were starting to grow throughout the United States, and then eventually internationally as well.

Um, and by 1956, they built their plant on Memphis Road, which is still standing and shown in the images on the right, that's now primarily occupied by Medical Mutual.

Um, so Saprerstein, who is shown in the image on the left, he's at the center.

Um, he ended up retiring in 1960.

Um, and then his sons, Irving and Morris took over as CEO after that time, and they're both shown in the image there as well.

And so by 1980, they had many, many subsidiaries, uh, one being Amtoy, who created the those characters from Cleveland brand, uh, which includes like the Care Bears, um, Holly Hobby, um, Strawberry Shortcake, and so actually one of my colleagues found the upper right-hand corner.

There's the I care for Cleveland bumper sticker.

We have that in physical form.

So I just wanted to include that to show that even though American greetings really catapulted during this time and became international, they had strong roots here in Cleveland and remained really relevant to the area.

Eventually, Jacob Saperstein did pass away.

He lived a very long fulfilling life, 102 years.

And then eventually Maury Weiss took over, who's in the image on the left, second from the left there.

That was his grandson-in-law.

And then his child, Maury's child, Zev took over.

And actually the woman who did a lot of this research back in 2021 has email correspondence with both of them about this project.

And so we plan on reaching back out to American Greetings again because this family still has minority ownership in the company still.

And today American Greetings has offices all over the world.

They have some in Australia, Canada, China, Romania, and the UK.

And then of course, you all I'm sure are familiar with their warehouse or their main headquarters in Westlake that they moved to in 2016 as well.

So ultimately the Saperstein House and Garage, it tells the story of Saperstein's entrepreneurial spirit.

And it's the birthplace of American Greetings, which is like a very influential Cleveland-based company that stands the test of time.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for that.

Can you go back to the property show?

The residential right there.

Sure.

Does that property look like that right now?

Yes, these are photos from just a month ago.

And so we've been wanting to connect the property owner with some financial assistance.

Someone on planning commission has ties with Cleveland Restoration Society.

But we also have previous correspondence with American Greetings, so we're hoping to reach out to them and potentially see if they would want to help fund maintenance of the home.

You don't have um photos of inside the garage, correct?

No, not currently, no.

Yeah.

It it does have some wear and tear, yes.

The roof um is not stable currently and it needs to be redone.

So essentially, if someone purchases property, they're probably gonna have to put some significant investment on the garage and this property.

That's right.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

Pretty bad shape.

But anyhow, um, any of my colleagues, Consulman Harsh?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I I'm used to seeing churches come in for historic landmarks of big buildings uh built by famous architects with a lot of like uh I don't know, grandiose history.

I this is the first time I've seen a garage.

Me too.

Yeah.

Um I have to admit I'm a little bit befuddled.

Sure.

Um I I'm I'm wondering what this accomplishes for the owner of the property, like why do they want to do this through the chair?

Is there a reason that they want to have an historic landmark for the garage?

Yeah, through the chair to the vice chair.

So he reached out to us probably 10-15 years ago, prior to my time, prior to Secretary Musson's time.

Um, and I think that he he's only the sixth or seventh owner of this property, so he's still kind of tied generationally with the Saperstein family.

He's not associated with them, but he bought it from the person who bought it from the Saperstein family.

Um, so I think he just wants that memory preserved, and that's been something a goal of his.

Um, I know from our office, we want to see more landmarks in this area.

We think this is a great start to getting that accomplished and hopefully bring on more funding for this property to be better preserved and maintained.

Um, but we think that even if for some reason there isn't funding found to bring this back up to 100%, that at least it can be preserved for a period of time that we did do some preservation effort by designating it before it would maybe be demolished.

So through the chair, do will the designation prevents a demolition from being issued, correct?

Like you can't demolish something that's got a historic preservation.

You you can, but we do have barriers in place with our landmarks commission and our design review process.

Um so unfortunately, sometimes we do have to approve demolitions.

I see.

Um, but this is something to prevent just demolition happening without any oversight from us.

Um that's how we're looking at it at least.

So through the chair, this gives them a fighting chance at making something out of it in terms of an historic landmark type.

I don't know if it's a place people would go to visit.

Yeah.

I don't know if you'd go see the garage where it all started.

I mean, I think this is just the beginning.

Uh through the through the chair, I'm sorry.

This is just the be the just the beginning.

Um, I think there's so many other steps we can take, and sometimes the first uh step is designation when you're in the historic preservation realm.

Um, but I think that we see the opportunity to talk to American greetings, talk to other community, you know, members, other resources like Cleveland Restoration Society, see what we can do to help the property owner, maybe bring, you know, we could also look into like an Ohio Historical Marker through the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, try to bring extra, you know, significance.

Two last questions then.

Through the chair, uh, was Councilman Conwell talked to did you talk to Councilman Conwell about that?

This is his word.

It is, yes, this is his ward.

Um he did sign on the council consent form.

He did sign off on that.

I was not present.

Um, actually, Carl Brunge's um secretary secretary muscle, they they talked to him and he seemed in support of the project.

Okay, last question then.

So if we give granted historical marker designation and everything falls through, and one day they're like, you know what, we're just gonna knock it down.

We just have to remove the historic des landmark designation, and they can it seems like we're really sort of like casting a uh a long fishing line, seeing if there's something crazy out there that could be reeled in, and if not, then we could just remove it and they can knock it down someday.

Through the chair, we would hope not.

I mean, like of course that's not the goal.

I understand exactly what you're saying, and sometimes that is the reality.

I think even preserving it for a short period of time is a worthwhile endeavor.

Just you know, because the the property owner is really, I don't know, he's really in favor of this, has been trying for 20 years to get this done.

Um, and I also think it just highlights more of our history.

So I I completely understand what you're saying.

Um, but I think we uh as staff with the commission have long-term goals of trying to help this property owner better maintain it or get more attraction.

Yeah.

If anybody ever wants to know, I know the uh the garage were a Grammy Award winning band Black Keys first played their show in Cleveland if we need to go see.

Yeah, you never know.

Yeah.

Thank you, thank you, madam chair.

Yeah, and I would like worry being a neighbor, right?

And then not finding resources to rehab or restore this garage and having to live looking at that, right?

Because it's a process for you to be able to get it demoed through the landmarks department.

It is, it is, and and we do have our design review process for any changes um to be done to the property just in general, uh, to better maintain it as well.

Um, but we're a resource to the owner um and we're trying to reach out to other people, but I understand what you're what you're saying.

Yeah, this area has seen a lot of demolition in the last 10 to 15 years.

I do hopefully they could get some paint at least that.

Yeah, yeah.

Um other questions?

Uh councilman Bishop.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Madam Chair, I'm sorry.

Um so I get I guess my I was just trying to figure out like Councilman Harsh.

Um you know, um I'm not exactly because I I'm a little I've never seen a property like this trying to be landmarked.

Um has the has your department reached out to the grand sons?

I I'm assuming those were his grandsons on a boat with them.

Are the grandsons interested in keep preserving their grandfathers uh legacy?

So they're just a city.

Yeah, through the chair.

They were contacted back in 2021 and in full support based on email documentation.

I was not here with the um with staff at that time, but we do have email correspondence, and the plan was to get through the landmarking process and then present this again to them to see you know if they want to do anything with the property um after we've already gone through the process.

So you you haven't got confirmation that they are interested, is that what you're saying?

Correct, interested in like five but giving any financials, yes.

Yeah, we don't have that.

Um, but they were contacted in 2021 and and excited about the pro possibility of this being landmarked, but they didn't indicate anything that they would contribute to maintenance of the property at that time.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Councilman Starr?

Yes, just just to piggyback on a couple things for ordinance number four, C Wor Three 2026.

Um, I know you mentioned that the council person is in support of landmarking this this property through the chair.

Um yeah, through the chair, yes.

And then also with this current house set up, um, is it up to code or are there any violations on this property through building a housing or code enforcement through the chair?

Through the chair, we did take a look at that.

Um, we did see he did have some violations in the past, and we don't know the current status of those um being taken back to code.

Um it is tenant occupied currently okay, and it's currently occupied by someone through the chair?

Through the chair, yes.

Okay, and within the standpoint of that, umce we landmark this or if this passed out of committee to become a designated landmark for the city of Cleveland.

Do we have any plans or funding um designated or airmarked for this project to possibly renovate or upgrade or or anything like that?

Because just viewing the pictures, it looked like it needed a little bit of love.

Um, do we have any plans from the city support or any plans from the family to support this initiative through the chair?

Through the chair, um, not definitively, but we've looked at multiple paths.

Um we have connections with Cleveland Restoration Society.

I have connected the property owner to the city's Department of Community Development.

Um we do have plans to reach out to the descendants who we've been in contact with before, um, as well as just American greetings overall to see if they have any interest.

Yes, and through the chair, um, because this looked very interesting, like we like you heard from some of my colleagues.

This is the first time we've seen well, I've seen a um property like this to be one to be landmark as far as a house.

Um, and also do we have any other properties or other uh parcels in uh landmark um portfolio that is similar to this that has been designated landmark and when were they landmark and where they are currently at as far as since it's been landmark, what has to transpire from those other projects if you could speak to any of that through the chair?

Um through the chair, I don't have anything in my pipeline currently, but I'm I'm keeping an eye out because we do have some projects that have been maybe sitting for a while that people are interested in landmarking um that are a little more unique, like this.

They're not you know, they don't catch your eye as being immediately like, oh, that could be a landmark.

Um so that's kind of what I'm trying to look into and see about moving forward with other projects, but we don't have anything in the pipeline right now.

Um but I think that this is our starting point to kind of take the temperature and see if this is something that um the committee is like willing to support doing different types of of landmarks like this.

Yeah, yep, and I'll and I'll wrap up uh madam chair.

Um just from the standpoint and obviously from the viewers at home, um, what is the reason we will want to landmark something like this outside of the historic context that you brought up from who home this was in the early um century?

Would can you can you just speak a little bit of why this makes sense so viewers can understand why we would do this through the chair?

Sure.

Um through the chair.

Um I think it's important to share some of these untold stories.

They don't come to your eye naturally.

Um, and I don't think that we have enough landmarked resources in this area um in this neighborhood.

Of course, we have some great examples.

We have the Rockefeller Historic District right nearby, um, the Superman houses right nearby, but we don't have a ton of landmarks that tell these very unseemingly oh, you know, they don't really come and jump out at you, and I think that's important because Cleveland has so many stories that need to be told.

Um, and this is just the beginning of uncovering some of those very untold stories.

Yep, I yield Madam Chair.

Thank you for that.

Um other questions?

Okay, here are no other questions.

Ordinance number 403-2026 has been approved.

Please sign on.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Um next up.

Next up, I have resolution number 375-2026 by council member Star Bishop Santana, an emergency resolution declaring the intent to vacate a portion of Central Avenue.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Hi, Rick.

To the chair to the committee.

Um we have a guest with us here today.

I'm sure you all are familiar with Norma Romanov with Bedrock.

Um also have Rick Swutowski, who is the engineering construction manager, and Katie Moore, who is our special projects manager for um engineering and construction in MOCAT.

Okay.

And we are here for um 375 2026.

Um, this is to um allow a portion of land to be vacated.

This is going to be for the purpose of fundamental parking, LLC and GPP Medical Facility LLC.

Um the request is for a portion of Central Avenue between West Third and Railroad tracks be vacated for future development as part of the Bedrock Riverfront project.

Is there a presentation?

Is there a presentation?

There's no presentation.

No, but we have Nora available for questions if there are any questions.

Nora hard.

Yeah, thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Um thank you so much for having me.

Um as we take this vacation through the process.

Um, I would note there there is a deck that we prepared if there is any need for clarification at future time.

I can certainly um touch base with anybody on the committee, but just for for spatial context, this portion of central is uh approximately 88 feet long.

Uh it's bordered by West Third Street at West Third and Stones Levee, and it terminates at the now vacated uh CSX railroad tracks.

The tracks are gone.

And the purpose of this vacation uh and the resultant area is really to serve as an access driveway that uh is the only uh public portion of the drive, it turns in into private portion.

Um so together with the city, we determined it was probably best to vacate uh just these 88 feet for you know clarity of of maintenance and and so on.

Uh so this will allow visitors access to the Cleveland Clinic building and certainly entry into things like storage and drop off.

Got it.

Um it's hard to visualize.

There were there was a map distributed to everyone, and we also have some here if it's not right in front of you.

We don't have do we have a map?

No.

We can share.

We have multiple at least before finance, if we could have that map.

Yep.

Do you want to see it now?

Oh there are multiple, there are multiple copies.

Is this the parking right here?

I mean, yes.

I'm sorry.

Where are we vacating?

Let me give you the back and white copy and you can see that better.

And you can overlap.

So where that hash mark is that is a portion that would be vacated.

So is that city owned?

That city owned.

And so we're vacated.

And are we is this is there another like a LLC taking over, or the city will still own it?

Yeah, okay.

To the chair, uh, it's a function of the vacation.

The air, the resultant area will then be um a portion of the LLC, the neighboring LLC, and that would be fundamental parking.

Um, so it assumes these 88 feet into the privately owned parking lot and access road.

Got it.

Under the bridge.

I see it.

Under the bridge.

That's no south.

Yeah.

Councilman Starr, this is in your ward.

It might be my ward.

No, oh, it's yours.

Okay.

Yeah, the resolution's mislabeled.

Oh, we did an immunity.

And it should be David's on there instead of me at all.

Yeah, there's under here.

Okay, so this resolution is under council member Star Bishop and Santana and Davis is not on here.

Okay.

No hard feelings.

So if we could correct that.

Okay.

Councilman Davis.

No, uh, through the chair.

I'd no no real comments.

This is uh dramatically underutilized chunk of central, 88 feet for a much bigger project.

So my full support.

Thanks for walking me through it.

Thank you.

Okay, so what does the LLC pay for this?

The uh to the chair, the the LLC is the LLC that governs the entire Global Peak Performance Center.

Um, so we have up until the edge or up until the curb of the right of way under that LLC.

This will just be extending it that way of approximately 14 feet, give or take.

Got it.

Um, so it the this dimension joins the overall acreage of where we are currently building the global peak performance center.

Got it.

Thank you.

Any questions from my colleagues?

Okay, hearing no other questions, ordinance number 375-2026 has been approved.

Please sign on.

Thank you, Nora.

Thank you.

But once again, if you could have some presentation before finance, yes, please.

Thank you.

Okay.

Yes, um, should I do the midline?

Uh okay, 401.

Okay.

Next up, we have ordinance number 401-2026 by council member Star Santana and Griffin and emergency ordinance to designate certain parcels located within the midline development area as a priority investment area persuading to Ohio revised code section 122.161 to declare said parcels as brownfield sites require environmental remediation suitable for redevelopment and to authorize a five-year exemption for improvements to such properties persuading to Ohio revised coach section 5727-76.

Trudy.

Thank you, Chair Santana.

Good morning to the DPNS committee.

Most of you are aware of the city's collaborative initiative to create and support the site readiness fund for good jobs a few years back.

Um today's legislation will help us bring significant new funding sources to one of the city's largest concentrations of vacant industrial land.

So I'll invite our project manager John Fosbender to share some brief opening comments and introduce our guests to walk you through this piece of legislation.

John Thank you to the chair uh one of the things that the site fund has been very, very good at since its inception is buying, assessing, and remediating properties at a touric pace.

Um another thing they've been very good at is leveraging the money that the city invests invested in the site fund to go out and get more money.

And uh since uh the site fund and the city have been working together.

Um the subject of this of this legislation really is the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program.

Uh the city and and the site fund have gotten over 12.6 million dollars from that program to support site fund projects.

And uh with the with the priority investment area designation, that opens up 10 million dollars of funding uh to the site fund.

And so I'll turn it over to Rick Barga, he's the property director for the uh of the site fund.

I also have Lando Grant, who's the uh community relations director.

And we have also Kathleen Caree, who is with TRC.

She is the uh she is has been helping with the specifics of the ODOD program, and she knows just about everything about that program.

So I'll turn it over to Mr.

Mr.

Barga.

Harder, yep.

Good morning.

Good morning, Rick.

It's always wonderful to be back at the table.

No.

I uh spent many days here when I was back in city economic development and wonderful to be with my good colleague John Fosbender and new assistant director.

Um, how long has it been that you've been at the table?

Well, I left the city the week that COVID happened.

Oh so I was I was in economic development for five years before that.

So thanks so thanks very much.

Um we are very excited to be here.

We are talking about uh, as John mentioned, the uh the Ohio Brownfield program, and as he mentioned, we have I am joined by my colleague Orlando Grant from Site Readiness Fund and Catherine Caris from TRC uh engineering, who is our environmental consultant.

So I will defer technical questions to her.

Um we're excited to be working on this project.

This is a special designation that the Ohio Department of Development was uh opened up with the rules that were created for the Brownfield program as of this year.

It is a new designation, a new um rule that, as John mentioned, will allow us the city to designate an area and then apply for up to 10 million dollars of brownfield funding.

Brownfields, I think, as everyone knows are former industrial sites that are contaminated, vacant, and uh require remediation.

Brownfield funding has become increasingly limited with changes in administration, and over the last few years, the state has actually changed the rules of the program a number of times, requiring us at the site readiness fund and uh with the city to be very quick and nimble to understand how we can access those programs.

As John said, we've been very successful in uh receiving about 12.5 million dollars for uh out of the state so far, but this new designation will help us uh apply for up to 10 million dollars of additional funding.

I would note that this designation was is really what we believe the state is trying to figure out how to allocate funds towards abandoned coal mines out in rural areas, but because of uh the complicated nature of industrial sites, the history that is required to be put together by our environmental professionals, and our ability to submit an application.

We believe that we may be the first in the state to designate a priority investment area.

The state has 90 days to review that application, and then tell uh give us feedback in which we can then apply for the funding.

Um so this legislation would designate about 52 parcels, around 89 acres, that is largely in the central neighborhood, uh an area where the site readiness fund along with the city is working uh very proactively on a number of different industrial sites.

The one thing that we would like to note, uh which I I believe there might have been some questions on the program includes a five-year tax exemption, but this is only for tangible personal property.

This is not a real estate tax or a property tax exemption.

Uh any real estate development that would come from the remediation of the site would have to come back through council to receive any type of property tax exemption.

And then the last thing I would note is that we are not there are no city funds being allocated.

This is a designation of an area in which we can then go seek that funding.

That's it.

I think that's it.

Does any of your colleagues want to comment or add on?

No, okay.

Well, Rick, first of all, I want to uh thank you for taking time to meet with me and help me understand the process.

I do want to ask just for our viewers, why midline, right?

Why these parcels, why this neighborhood?

Does this align with the overall you know, administration's plan for development?

That would be one of my questions.

Second um question that I have here, I was able to looking through this.

Um yeah, if you could just answer that one first, and then I'll go through my notes.

Absolutely.

Why this area?

So we've been working very hard to look across the city, and we have been working very proactively on a number of projects uh in the central neighborhood.

This is a historically disadvantaged neighborhood, not just from a residential component, but also from industrial brownfield redevelopment uh position.

These abandoned factories and vacant industrial parcels contribute to a number of different health conditions that we see that are prevalent in our neighborhoods, and we uh we believe that this collection of industrial sites uh is contiguous and can and is the best of available sites for us to apply to this program.

Okay, what's the timeline after this is if this is approved?

What is the timeline for you to apply, and then how long is the application process when you hear we get the approval?

Great question uh to the chair.

We have once we submit the designation, the state has 90 days.

The state does has actually not opened the application round yet.

So once the application round is open, which we believe is going to be in June or July, which would put us right up against the timing window, then we would be applying for uh for the the grant funds.

So um through the chair, and maybe director, you could answer.

We provide a 50 million dollars, right, for the site ready uh readiness field.

How does this align the 10 million with the 50 million?

What does this look like and how are like any future business going is going to be chosen to be able to build in this brown field?

Chairwoman Santana, I'll provide a quick response and then also ask our brown fields manager to shed any additional light on this.

Um the seed money provided to the sites fund was always meant to continue to try to leverage as many external sources as we could.

So we want to take advantage of those opportunities whenever they come across.

And this is a very unique one.

I want to emphasize that without a PIA designated in the city, we would still only be able to be applying to the state for one million dollars per project.

This opens us up to a great opportunity to leverage up to 10 million dollars.

So that's the purpose behind this.

I've had the good fortune to be working with the site fund since before its birth um here in the city.

And uh we've um Rick and I and his team we've been working together pretty closely ever since that time.

And um as the site fund in the city, we're looking at at what might be available.

What is so striking is that the midline is two sides of a railroad track that had all that had been historically industrial through central uh neighborhood that they've seen you know industrial jobs leave decades ago.

And so the opportunity to have a uh such a concentration of brown fields being addressed uh and being you know investigative mediated and prepared for redevelopment is is at this scale is is pretty remarkable.

Um it's fully consistent with and with what we are hoping the site phone would be able to do, and um you know I think the the site fund can speak to this, but they have they've done gangbusters trying to like looking at assembly, buying properties uh throughout the city to uh uh oftentimes you you can't just buy a single parcel and have a site, you have to assemble a number of different parcels that are owned by different people, and it can be pretty challenging.

But they become masters at that, and they also work with some of the best consultants, environmental consultants in in the state, if not you know, but they're they're nationally known, uh who'd be doing a really efficient and solid job trying to figure out what the environmental conditions are at these sites so that we can so that we can figure out how what we need to do about it to make them developable as new industrial sites where we can bring work and jobs uh for the application process, Rick.

Do you have to identify a business that may be interested in building in these parcels or through the chair, we do not, but I would invite my colleague Orlando Grant to talk about some of our uh the industries that we are trying to attract and the types of jobs that we are looking to create for our Cleveland residents.

Uh to the chair and to the committee, good morning.

Um to piggyback on what it is that we're trying to do.

Ultimately, these designation will help us.

One uh it's kind of a two-fold process.

One, it will uh give us the necessary resources to begin the foundational work for us to begin um laying the groundwork for developers for entities to come into the city.

And then the second aspect of that, which would then also give the foundation for um uh developers to bring in potential jobs that will ultimately lead to a new economic engine being driven for the city that will benefit the city, that particular neighborhood, as well as opportunities for employment for generational wealth for the individuals that would take advantage of that.

And that could look in over multiple multitude of different ways, where they're become leading for an example if we were to bring in a housing developer, a modular housing, those individuals that can work there could be individuals from that city and also specifically from that neighborhood that has been historically disinvested in over many a many a years, and then also opportunities for we have a unique opportunity where residents could take and particularly um become part residential owners of these particular companies and entities coming into the city.

So it has a a multi multi-pronged approach where we can create um uh uh uh infrastructure where individuals can come in and develop for particular um employment opportunities, jobs, as well as generational wealth pathways for not only residents or that community but residents in the city of Cleveland that will have long-term impact for that particular area.

Okay, but I'm guessing that you have a list of maybe potential businesses that are interested, right?

And moving.

I'm I'm curious to know.

I know people are gonna think I'm crazy, but let's just say a developer wants to open a detention center.

Does that have to come back to city council?

Umce we approve this, once we apply, and you know, you get the 10 million.

What is the process one you know to get a business in or for us to approve or not approve something?

Through the chair, did you say a detention center?

Like a like a jail, like an ICE detention center.

Okay.

No, not no, uh through the chair, not not at all.

Uh the the sectors that we are particularly working on, recruiting are in manufacturing and production.

And so those types of quality jobs that pay good wages for for our residents.

Thank uh we are not talking about data centers.

Okay.

And we are not talking about logistics companies.

So where our sites are, we are really targeting high uh employment industries where we can uh offer these type of job opportunities to our to our city residents.

I'll just add uh to the chair um two things.

One, this funding is purely to uh prep sites for development.

So any project that is still seeking city incentives for the project itself will absolutely be coming through city council as well as through the full entitlements process that's required of any project.

So there will be many uh more conversations once specific uh projects are proposed.

Got it.

Thank you.

Councilman Harsh, anyone else?

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, I think I understand what's going on.

Uh from a 30,000 foot view, basically, Cleveland is home to dozens, if not hundreds of acres of dirty land.

Uh we've got dirty ground where we used to have factories and they dumped pollution, they dumped chemicals, they dumped contaminants, they dumped all kinds of nasty stuff that makes it really unattractive for somebody that wants to build something new on this vacant land that we all drive past every single day to get down to City Hall.

Um, and so the state of Ohio has recognized many years ago that a brownfield remediation fund would be a good way to clean up dirty land.

However, the state also likes to change their criteria for how you apply for brownfield remediation funds rather frequently.

So we always have to adapt and change and be ready to uh to meet the needs of the new application process.

I I know this, madam chair, because uh I just applied for Brownfield Remediation Funds for a project in my neighborhood where we've got an oil tank, a gas tank underground from back when people use home heating oil and bought it down at the local store, and this thing is just sitting underneath there, and somebody's got to pull it out of the ground, and it certainly doesn't want to be the developer.

Um, so you get brownfield remediation money.

But that was two years ago, now they've changed the game.

So I think I have two questions here.

And I do understand that this corridor is a very active um uh uh uh th thought center where we're seeing a lot of food production go into the the central neighborhood.

Um we're seeing some some jobs coming back, so this this corridor sort of all fits neatly.

So here's my two questions through the chair.

Um, how many priority investment areas can the city designate?

Uh this being the first, maybe in the state, but is there a number, a cap?

If we do this, we're done, or is there like three or through the chair?

Is there a a number on that through the chair to uh the assistant chair?

Yeah, councilman Chris.

Chris Um the city could technically designate as many PIs as they want.

The question then would become are we competing against ourselves in Columbus?

Um the amount of acres that we have assembled here is uh unique, that is contiguous uh land.

Um but technically I think that, and I'd invite Catherine uh to comment.

Um technically, we could designate more than one PIA.

However, I would note that the timing of such would may not allow for other PIAs to actually get approved before the application route of this year.

If if in the future there are other chair, there is nothing to stop us if two years from now, three years from now, the program is the same, and we're like, you know what, there's also a big uh uh brown field that we would like to designate a PIA over, you know, I don't know, Bel Air or something.

We could add one later if we wanted to.

Absolutely.

Okay.

That's all the next question.

Uh through the chair.

Is there a financial ask here today?

Are you asking us to designate allocate money for this, or are you just asking us to give you the designation so that you can go do your thing?

Through the chair to councilman Harsh, just the designation.

Okay.

So, madam chair, this is a revenue neutral proposal.

They're not asking for money, they're asking for designations so that they can go out and pursue money.

Um, and uh this sounds like a great uh thing for us to be doing.

It sounds proactive, it has my full support, and thank you all for coming to the table with it today.

Agreed.

Councilman Starr, this is in your ward.

Any comments, questions?

Um, sure.

Just from the standpoint of this area, since this is a neighborhood that I grew up in, um, one of the biggest things for this opportunity when you look at uh what is going on is opportunity between Midtown, um central Kansan Opportunity Corridor area um as a targeted zone to clean up the contaminated land that's been there and vacant for decades at a time and prepare for possible major development.

When you look at on 401-2026, where it says the file it has on page one, it shows the continuous development corridor along Carnegie.

It shows central and the streets right there when you talk about Hawthorne, Thackeray, um other location.

Then when you scroll on that second page, it give you the list of those 52 parcels that you are from the committee, but then it also on pages between three and six, it just lets you know that it's been heavy in historic industrial uses from the foundries, such as those auto shops, those gas stations, manufacturing that took place long before um any one of us at this table other than Dean Polinsic was here, where contamination risk was happening.

Um require a lot of cleanup.

You know, you can't just say um bring a developer to an area and say these parcels are are available without being able to provide some assistance.

So being able to have what we call is that um the PIA, which is the priority investment area, um, actually helps us unlock funding that you can get from the state.

Um, in addition to federal funding, you also can go from Ohio EPA, um, jobs Ohio and federal infrastructure funding to be able to help and also assist with those tax credits that are instrumental into um environmental cleanups as well as the development.

So therefore, with this being accelerated from site readiness, one you have a couple different phases, phase one and phase two uh from that environmental assessment.

Then you also add that cleanup planning, and then you have the um prep for infrastructure, which is going to help this area so you can attract those developer um and obviously reduce the risk from private investment, and then also make land shovel ready, which can show to other individuals that Cleveland is ready for development, especially in particular war five, and what in the next development actually look like.

So I do support this initiative because we have the land in war five.

Um it's been vacant industrial land, it's been contaminated sites sitting on used for decades.

Um, but then also this is an opportunity um to convert liabilities into economic opportunities in that neighborhood, which I've learned from this committee uh of the members here who've been talking to me the last I say a couple years about this actual opportunity.

So, you know, I just believe that once this is clean, we can get the right manufacturing, the logistics all together, the clean energy, the green industry that I hear from my colleagues oftentimes, and then just bring that commercial uh mixed use development, which is something that is a top priority since I serve as the workforce education, training, youth development committee chair, and it also create those real um job pipelines for Warfy residents and residents of the city of Cleveland, and and like I said, this is a major, major opportunity.

Um, this is a corridor that sits right along, like I mentioned earlier, you know, that Carnegie area, the central area, but then it takes it all the way to um opportunity corridor where you're talking about East 79th area.

So it's a long designated area, but it also is a way to really really clean up and reduce environmental harm in our neighborhoods to bring the right project.

Um and when I think about this, I just do have a couple questions.

Um obviously with this timeline and this time frame.

When you you know, what can we actually start to believe or see when um cleanup will actually begin in this area once this is designated to the chair through the chair to the councilman?

Great question, thank you.

Uh first step would be to designate, get the designation approved by the state.

The second would be to apply for the funds, and then the third would be to actually receive the funds so that we could start the remediation.

Um the application round will open sometime later this summer when we would apply, and I don't believe that we would hear uh announcements of awards until probably the beginning of 2027.

It's traditionally been when uh ODOD gives us our announcements.

So I would imagine the spring uh of next year, if everything falls into place.

Thank you.

And from that standpoint, um, you know, equity and hiring is a top priority for me.

When you talk about um this cleanup and this initiative, will there be um local hiring requirements for this project?

I know Mr.

Grant spoke about different opportunity um and investments from the residents in the neighborhood.

Is there some things that we're gonna have in place that require those local hiring requirements on this initiative to the chair through the chair to the council person?

Through the chair to the councilperson, we will be following all of the state requirements for the grant, which I believe in previous years has uh required prevailing wage and uh some form of local participation.

I I can follow up with you about what those specific requirements are.

Uh on some of these larger uh grants, the the seven and a half million dollar grant that we received from the National Acme program.

I know that we worked hard to try to uh reach out to minority contractors to for them to be able to bid.

So we will continue that good faith effort and and and working through our partners at uh with at GCP, COSI, uh OEO, and all of and everyone to make sure that those opportunities are published.

Yes, and then um from the standpoint of the residents, how will Warfy residents be involved in the reuse of this planning stage for this for this area through the chair?

And I can I can review my to the chair to the councilman.

Thank you.

Great questions.

Um and just a late lay the foundation.

We've been working really close over the last year or so with uh Tyson Mitchell through the um community benefits agreements, and we're kind of modeling ourselves to look at those best practices to not only identify but to leverage opportunities to empower local, not only Cleveland resident-led businesses, but minority and female led residents as well.

Not making sure that everyone has that equal opportunity equal footing, but also as a part of that further down the road, we are continuing to, as we develop all of our projects, look at residents, specifically even residents in that particular area that they can be empowered through our community engagement efforts.

We've had approximately since our inception, maybe about six or seven uh community engagement efforts, including working with young people at East Technical High School that are a part of this effort, a part of the planning and development that's gonna help uh not only elevate from their perspective and from their experience and what they would like to see from their neighborhoods, but also using their experiences because they live work and play in these neighborhoods, and how can we use that experience from what they are going through on everyday opportunity to help uh structure um businesses to come into that community?

We also work with a several, we have several resident engagements.

We've working with faith-based faith-based institutions that are in that community.

So we're trying to check all of the boxes to make sure, not just for the person, just to see, you know, make sure we do our due diligence, but also making sure that they have specific buy-in as to terms what we they would like to see in their neighborhood to help create that uh buy-in and ownership of what they are what's going what's eventually gonna take place.

Thank you.

And and and Madam Chair, um, and then one thing that I've definitely want to point out from the creation of the site readiness fund through legislation that Cleveland City Council passed, um, within that um governed body and policy, um, I believe is there anything that states the support of the board members in order to determine the vote on how development actually happened into any areas or parcels that the site readiness require, what type of rules do we have a stipulation to ensure that the councilperson is in support of any development that takes place in those type of areas that you may acquire land usage through the chair.

Do we have any um language or something we can share that we know um to ensure that the councilperson as well as the board commitment or anything like that um is a part of all development projects that site readiness fund is looking to do through the chair.

Okay, right.

Through the chair to the councilperson, we are we want to be so connected with all of the council people that when uh development project is in your ward that we are communicating directly with you.

Now, the site readiness fund has a board where there are city council members that are uh appointed to we have a strategic plan that we follow, and we have board meetings where all of our development projects are vetted and voted on.

The uh every project that we uh that we are even thinking about, we are bringing to our board to talk to about ahead of time and get that buy-in and make sure that we are doing our own due diligence with regard to what uh what type of business that um that we are working with.

As I said, we file that strategic plan that uh that outlines what type of the target industries that we are trying to recruit, specifically in manufacturing and production uh and and are really looking for job-dense companies that our residents can work at.

Yep, and and from that standpoint, so um when you bring it to your board for approval, is there a certain percentage of votes for approval in order to move forward with the development?

And I'm just I always think of the pros, you know, the negatives as well.

Um say, for instance, if you have a six or seven-person board, and three of them are in opposition and four of them are opposition, and so happen to be a person that's on the board that is actual an elected official.

How do you proceed from your board rules to ensure that the development either goes or doesn't happen?

Like how do we ensure that um that the council person or or or uh the persons whose area is in has a top priority because what happens is, you know, we move we pass things and things sometimes people are in agreement, or sometimes people leave office, and it may be a new person in that position.

How do we ensure that um the residents' thoughts and their concerns is a top priority, and the only one that is close to that is normally typically the council person.

How do we make sure that is uh top priority before development actually happened, even with the acquisition of these parcels or anything like that in any um context through the chair through the chair too, Councilman Starr.

I think we're happy to work with you to get the specifics on sites funds for its you know uh standard operating procedures and all of that information from a city perspective though, um any project that moves forward again would still require council approval for any kind of incentive.

So we would be working directly with you on that at the front end before someone is even committed to, as well as of course the standard entitlements process.

So that's what we can do and and commit to, of course, from a project-based side from the city end, and then happy to provide um work with Sites Fund to get more details on their decision making process to you.

Thank you.

And now wrap up, Chair.

Um, definitely with this area, one thing that is always important for me is the equity.

And what I mean by that is that has been a predominantly African American neighborhood.

We're not about to just have a whole bunch of developers that don't look like the community just developing, and we don't have no equity as far as African American developers being part participating in this type of initiative.

I also will definitely say the CBA agreements must be intact and it must bring um opportunities.

I'm not just supporting no bland CBA and just saying that is cool.

We're going to make sure we do what's right for area that has been left um vacant as a as a I sort and not cleaned up for decades.

So in order for me to support initiative, there's certain things that I definitely have to see in a project, including the actual CBA that actually makes sense for the residents.

So I look forward to working with Site Readiness Fund as well as council colleagues and different departments in the city to support this initiative because we know that this area over in Central Carnegie, parts of Euclid, all the way to Opportunity Corridor have been left vacant for decades, and we need to do something with it.

And this is just a great opportunity for residents to see how City Hall, as well as a nonprofit organization is working together to bring this together.

So I thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilman, and let's just hope that we receive the 10 million, right?

That's the first start.

But thank you.

I mean, this is this is one of those pieces that makes me proud of being uh right a chair at such you know at such a time because I mean I would love to see a future business there where residents are working and they're walking to work.

So that's what I envision.

Good luck on the application process.

I don't hear any other uh questions.

Oh, you have a question, Councilwoman Gray.

Thank you.

Chair, I just have a question pertaining to the information that uh council star just shared.

My interest is uh area that I have in inherited uh per se with a lot of industrial and commercial uh businesses over in the Besson area uh per se.

Um I have um met a lot of the um owners who own those uh businesses in that area, and also prior to that I have walked a certain area with um with um with Atlando.

I walked a certain area over there with Orlando on the 93rd Street to connect the best in there to the uh industrial and commercial area that I have uh per se.

A lot of those businesses chair to the team, a lot of those businesses are inhibit with some activity that the owners are still running over there, but a lot of those uh commercial industrial businesses uh also shut down.

So, due to this uh fantastic information you guys are sharing on the borderline of what you will be doing in this Midland area pertaining to Front Street, uh Front Street Industrial Uh of Brownfield Cleanup as in the 55th corridor of the Midland that uh Consumer Star have per se.

Would this be effective in that industrial commercial area of the Bessener area that's half horrific and the other half are operational?

Would this be effective what you're doing uh to submit an application for Brownfield and also to the second half of question to Allando would your site readiness plan be effective in that area too?

Chair to the team through the chair to the councilwoman.

Thank you so much for that question.

The Bessemer corridor weighs largely on our minds.

We have many strategic areas where we are trying to do uh active brown field redevelopment.

There are 4,000 acres of disinvested brown fields uh in the city of Cleveland.

It is roughly a three billion dollar cleanup uh to do everything.

Um we have, as you know, we've we've made strategic investments in the Collinwood area.

We're looking at central right now.

Bessemer is uh right there.

Uh we have not we have made one strategic pickup uh in terms of acquisition, and we are working on the cleanup, which I think you uh you saw with Orlando.

Um, and we have been watching what's happening up and down Bessemer uh, but not yet taking an uh proactive approach there.

But we look forward to uh as we get further and further down our work.

Okay, I'm looking forward to uh continue the conversation with you as well.

The second half uh question could Orlando chair to Orlando uh to the Orlando, could you answer that second one with your site readiness plan?

So to the chair to the councilman, thank you once again.

Uh yes, we went on a walking tour on a very nice warm day, and I'm hoping to see a nice warm day very soon here back in Cleveland.

Uh, but as part of our overall strategy is really to once we identify these areas, really look at what are the assets and the areas that we can build upon for particularly that 93rd and lazy area where we did the walking tour is one of our key strategic areas that we look to be developing, and we're in constant communication with that, but then using that as a piggyback or a launching pad to really look at the entire Bessemer road to see what we can do as part of our overall strategic plan.

So we're starting to lay the groundwork for that type of long-term investment or what it will look like.

Um, as you know, development does take a long time, and we are really starting to do the due diligence.

And I know as uh the the maps or the areas of the new consummatic wars were um driven and redevelop, you know, you coming into the area newly, we're starting to build those relationships to help develop to see what it is that we want to ultimately have in those particular areas, and then working alongside not only elected official, current business owners, absentee business owners or owners of those properties, and then how we're gonna cultivate an environment we're all working together to have long-term impact.

But the ground foundation is being laid as far as our communication, and then we're looking at other um opportunities to connect with those current business owners to see what it'll look like on Bessemer throughout that entire area.

Okay, appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chair.

Appreciate you, team.

Sorry, here are no other questions.

Ordinance number 401-2026 stands approved.

Please sign on.

Thank you, Rick.

Thank you, Trudy.

Thank you, John.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmembers.

We have ordinance number 402-2026 by Councilmember Slife, Santana and Griffin and Emergency Ordnance authorizing the director of development to enter into a loan agreement with garden structure technologies LLC, or is that the need to provide economic development assistance to partially finance the acquisition of machinery and equipment associated with the company expansion to the to building located at 8 18105 Cleveland Parkway and other associated costs necessary to acquire the machinery?

Thank you, Chair Santana.

We're here seeking authorization to again provide an equipment-based loan for a growing manufacturing business that we're excited to be able to support, who will both be retaining and expanding employment opportunities within the city of Cleveland.

I invite our project manager Bobby Bruno to introduce our guest and walk us through the project details of this loan.

Thank you.

Good morning to the chair and to the committee.

Thank you for having the presentation.

You're welcome.

So Guardian Structural Technologies, they'll be uh the borrower for this loan.

Uh they're currently located on 4640 Manufacturing Avenue, which is in ward 13.

Uh they are facing a problem that is a good problem to have.

Uh they're out of space because they're growing.

Um so this project would see them lease an additional space at uh the project address 18105 Cleveland Parkway.

Uh that's just off Rocky River Drive north of the airport.

Uh and that's in uh ward 15.

Uh so this expanded space would be uh initially about 30,000 square feet, and they could grow into about uh the 40,000, 48,000 total square feet available in the building.

Uh and this will allow them to enhance their production capacity.

So uh what Guardian is doing as an advanced manufacturer here in Cleveland is uh building envelope systems uh consisting of insulative foam and galvanized steel.

And so as we've kind of seen this uptick in uh national housing sort shortages, uh it's created a great uh growth opportunity for them as communities all across the country look at at new ways to do housing.

As part of this project, uh they need to purchase a hot wire uh piece of machinery.

Uh that's probably not the best way to explain it.

Um and this will kind of like ramp up their production speed by like five or eightfold.

Uh and so it's about a million and a half uh equipment purchase.

Uh they'll contribute a million dollars of equity to this equipment purchase and is requested five hundred thousand dollars uh to fill that gap from the city in loan funding.

So the the proposed terms here, uh it would be fulfilling that that full half million amount.

Uh it would be a seven-year loan uh at five percent.

Uh and this would be a great thing from the perspective of job creation, right?

Uh we'll retain the 11 employees already working at Guardian Structural Technologies.

This will enable them to create up to 16 new uh jobs at their new location.

Um there will be uh corporate guarantee.

Uh there are two personal guarantees from uh the company, so between sort of those things and their equity, they certainly have a lot of skin in this project.

Uh and to secure the city's position in this deal, uh, they'll get a first position lien on the equipment purchased.

Sort of spoke to uh bless you.

Uh spoke to the jobs uh that will help us uh retain just over six hundred thousand in annual payroll.

It'll create almost a million in new payroll in the city.

That's just over sixty thousand dollars per new job created.

Uh and that will uh give us a boost to the income tax base of about twenty-four thousand dollars a year.

Uh this is a key sector uh as designated by the department in the city.

Uh and this loan will be subject to chapter 189 uh fair wage uh employment.

Uh with that, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Bruno.

Um, what is I know that you have the overall um annual payroll costs, but I mean how much does these jobs pay um hourly?

Roughly $30, $300.

Oh, good.

So good.

Okay.

Um let me see.

And I think you answered my how many jobs.

Uh is any of this loan forgivable at any point if they meet any goals or uh there's no balance of this loan that's forgivable.

Uh it's fully amortizing.

Okay.

Um, I'll start with Councilman Slife.

It's in his ward.

And then Councilman Hart.

Thank you.

I don't have anything significant to add, just that I'm very supportive of the project.

I'm eager for the investment.

Uh, this is a part of the ward where we've been really trying to lean into the opportunities that exist for this and other manufacturers.

So I'm I'm very happy to see this going and fully supportive.

Thank you.

Got it.

Thank you.

Councilman Harsh.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, I've had the uh opportunity to tour guardian structural technologies current location and see their operation firsthand.

It's very, very fascinating uh proje uh process that they have there for for building panelized housing.

Um I'm very excited to support this, and I'd like to ask if I can be added as a co-sponsor for the legislation as well.

Um do have a couple questions.

Uh are those garage doors big enough for you?

If I recall, you guys have like massive uh when your trucks come in, yeah, right there.

Are you gonna need to put in bigger garage doors?

Through the chair?

Chair, yes, we're gonna actually through the chair.

We're going to add that far door on the left-hand side.

It's gonna be a dock door, so we'll actually be able to drive right in.

Yeah, and then we'll loop around and we'll actually unfortunately we can't get out the back side.

So we'll actually have a turnabout in there where we drop the trailer off, load it, and then take it out through that same door.

So that'll be probably a 22-foot door.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, if I were if I recall, you had bigger access doors, and that was just one thing that crossed my mind.

Um through the chair, I also believe the the uh the hot wire cutting uh system.

Wasn't that developed by you?

Didn't you all come up with that?

And you hired a uh through the chair, you hired a manufacturing company to build that device for you.

Through the chair, yes.

We use Bosch engineering.

So Bosch Roth Ross is uh the engineering company that we use, but yes, we we engineered it through them.

We have the patent on the piece of equipment.

Right.

So madam chair, when we talk about advanced manufacturing, they're actually innovating new techniques for building panelized housing here in on on the West Side.

It's very interesting what they're doing.

Um and I know that some of uh your houses were recently built um through the chair.

Could you tell us where it was it L well?

I think we're sort of yes, it's on L well through Habitat for Humanity.

Right.

Doing three houses there.

And through the chair, are those houses done?

Can people walk through them?

Are they are they up?

Through the chair, no.

They're just now being roughed in now.

Okay.

But in about three weeks, four weeks, we can get a tour through them.

Okay, through the chair.

Uh, I don't know whose ward that is.

I don't know if that is that councilman gray?

My ward right now is Griffith.

Okay.

Nice.

Yeah, at 102 through the chair or through one of the two.

I don't know.

So if you're in that area, yes, right.

So, madam chair, it's it's it's great to have a local business that we can support that is building houses here in Cleveland, uh, that is uh uh tr pioneering some new technology and some new ways of building houses.

Um shockingly energy efficient, almost like negative energy, almost like you know, you you you save money by building the houses.

It's very bizarre um how how efficient these houses actually are.

Um last question uh through the chair to the uh the team here, the city team.

Is a per a guarantor on the loan, having uh one corporation and two individuals.

Is that a low number of guarantors, a normal number of guarantors, or a high number of guarantors?

I this is sort of a new part to me.

Uh through the chair to Councilman Harsh, uh I would say somewhere between normal and high.

Uh I would say it's a little bit unique to get two members of the company to provide personal guarantees.

Um that makes this a particularly strong deal for the city.

Through the chair, that's just how strongly they believe in this.

And uh that must mean that the uh the pipeline is built.

Through the chair, yes it is.

Purchase orders are ready to go.

Okay, Madam Chair, uh happy to support this today, and if I could be added as a co-sponsor, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

Good piece.

What's your name again?

DJ Kean.

DJ Keen.

These 60 um full-time positions, are there you already are they hired already, or are you is there an application process that will come soon?

Definitely want to connect any of our anyone in our city that would like to apply.

Through the chair.

Uh so these jobs will be created after they get the machinery signed the lease and move into the new facility.

Uh I can say that as part of this loan, uh, the company signed a workforce development agreement uh to kind of ensure that uh they're doing their best to hire locally through all those sorts of practices.

Perfect.

Thank you for your investment.

I really appreciate it.

So here are no other questions.

Um ordinance number 402-2026 has been approved.

Please sign on.

And uh that's it.

That's the last piece uh DPS.

Development sustaining and planning has been adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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