Shaker Square owners unveil their ideas for public spaces, retail; ask for feedback

CLEVELAND — Courtney Laves-Mearini moved her dance studio to Shaker Square in 2007.

Since then, she's seen the ups – and the downs.

A recession and a pandemic. A foreclosure and receivership at one of the nation's oldest shopping centers. A rescue effort led by two local nonprofits – with substantial help from the city – to keep an East Side landmark from being auctioned to the highest bidder.

"We've adapted through all the changes," said Laves-Mearini, who is wrapping up an expansion at her business, Cleveland City Dance.

Now, more change is coming. On Thursday evening, planners unveiled a rough draft of their vision for reviving the Square. They're building toward recommendations that will be complete in December, setting the stage for a flurry of investments to begin next year.

"It's really critical that the community continues to see action," said Tania Menesse, the president and CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a co-owner of the Square.

"This cannot be a plan to sit on the shelf," she added.

Preliminary images show expanded crosswalks and more places to linger. Planners are proposing structures, such as a stage or a children's play area, at the four corners of the central green space. They're talking about better signs and ways that more tenants can spill out onto the deep sidewalks in front of their storefronts.

The sketches build on a public-space concept from 2019 – with a big difference.

Planners didn't resurrect a controversial proposal to close Shaker Boulevard where it cuts through the Square. Instead, they slimmed down the east-west street, added more parallel parking and suggested bump-outs and other tactics to slow traffic.

"The public discourse around it was pretty decisive in one direction," planner Allen Penniman said of the pushback against completely closing the street, which is temporarily blocked off for events like the longstanding Saturday farmers' market.

But the 2019 plan, he said, had "a lot of nuance. I think what we've been trying to do is pull out some of those, those good ideas ... but also respond to some of those concerns around parking and access. And I think we're pretty close to getting it."

'It's a tough time in retail'

Penniman works for Agency, a Massachusetts-based landscape and planning firm. The other consultants on the Square are Streetsense, an East Coast firm focusing on retail, and Seventh Hill, an urban design business based in Cleveland.

Together, they're trying to find the right look and feel for the Square's large outdoor spaces, from the lawns that line the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's Rapid train tracks to the patios and pedestrian cut-throughs. They're also studying the potential of the buildings, where the largest tenants are Dave's Markets, CVS and Atlas Cinemas.

"It's a tough time in retail everywhere, not just here," Penniman said during a walk around the Square on Thursday morning as painters freshened up the storefronts. "There's a lot of competition in the suburbs to the east. But at the same time, Cleveland, the East Side of Cleveland, is under-served."

Shaker Square holds about 109,000 square feet of retail space. But the consultants believe there's only enough demand for 54% of that – just shy of 60,000 square feet —in the area. That means the landlords will have to get creative to fill vacancies.

Menesse said Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and its co-owner, Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc., are thinking about arts and cultural tenants. Nonprofits. And other office users.

She also mentioned more casual restaurants to complement the sit-down dining.

"We have to lean into what we can do well and what people see as the Square," she said. "And what that really is, it's food, food and food. It's gathering places. ... Things that people need every day for their lives."

'Vital – and alive'

Built in 1929, Shaker Square has been reinvented several times. Laves-Mearini rents a space that used to be high-end toy store, FAO Schwarz.

Her dance studio draws students from the city and the suburbs, from as far away as Westlake and Chardon. The youngest dancers are three years old. The oldest are in their 80s.

"The people are very diverse here," she said. "So we are catering to as many people as we can. It is a community that is vital – and alive."

Cleveland City Dance just added a fourth studio, along with African dance classes and Saturday morning yoga. Laves-Mearini described that as a vote of confidence in where the Square is going, as the landlords shift from basic repairs to a bigger repositioning effort.

"We need the confidence and the energy of the community to start coming back to the Square on a regular basis. ... We have to give them a reason to come," Menesse said.

The Square tipped into foreclosure during the pandemic when the previous owner was unable to refinance before the mortgage on the property matured. A court-appointed receiver, an outside expert, took control.

And the octagonal shopping center, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, looked like it was headed for the auction block.

Then, the nonprofits swooped in, with $12 million in loans from the city of Cleveland. From the outset, the civic-minded landlords described themselves as short-term stewards. Their goal was to fix things up and, eventually, find a more traditional landlord to step in.

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Burten, Bell, Carr bought the Square in late 2022.

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Shaker Square wraps up $5 million in renovations

Dave's Markets recently renewed its lease and is making improvements to its store, aided by a forgivable loan – essentially a grant – from the city. A coffee shop, Café Indigo, is set to open later this year. So is a microbrewery that will serve up tacos and empanadas.

"We acquired. We stabilized," said Menesse. "And for the last 8 months, we've been thinking about the future with the community."

'Reasons to come every day'

It's too early to say how much the public space upgrades will cost or how long they will take. Those details —along with recommendations on future ownership structures for the Square— could be part of the final report slated to be finished late this year.

At a community meeting Thursday night, people who live and work in the area asked about long-discussed proposals to build apartments on properties surrounding the Square. They worried about parking. And they complained about crime.

Menesse said there's still a push for more housing construction. Parking isn't likely to change much. The landlords have added more security and cameras, but she said the best way to fight crime is to bring more people and activity to the neighborhood.

"Give people reasons to come every day, right?" she said. "Just simple things. A yoga class in the morning. A group of seniors meeting to gather to do calisthenics or walk."

The project team stressed that their designs are still evolving. They want feedback to help refine their plans.

"We really need to make sure that we're moving in the right direction," Menesse said. "That we've heard people. And that we are responding appropriately before we move to this next phase."