MetroHealth System and NRP Group are beginning construction on the first of three affordable residences in their US$60 million mixed-use project on the health system’s main campus. VÃa Sana, the first building, will have 72 affordable rental apartments and an on-site job training center at W. 25th Street and Sackett Avenue, said the trio of developers, which includes MetroHealth’s nonprofit affiliate CCH Development Corp. The one, two, and three-bedroom apartments will be available to individuals and families earning between 30% to 80% of the area’s median income, said MetroHealth in a statement. The apartments and career centers are aimed at providing opportunities for people who live in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
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MetroHealth’s CEO, Dr. Akram Boutros, in a statement said, “factors like having access to good, safe, affordable homes, access to healthy food and access to economic opportunity can have more of an impact than doctors and hospitals.” Once completed, the mixed-use development will include more than 250 affordable and market-rate apartments, 36,000 square feet of retail space and the 5,000-square-foot MetroHealth Economic Opportunity Center. Operated in partnership with Cuyahoga Community College, the job training center on the first floor of VÃa Sana will offer job training, financial and digital literacy training, and access to Tri-C classes. VÃa Sana is expected to be completed in early 2022.
The retail portion of the development will include a grocery store, restaurants, childcare, and other community spaces. MetroHealth plans to give priority to neighborhood businesses when filling the commercial spaces and will relocate the headquarters of its MetroHealth Police Department to the property, the health system said. Funding for the project, designed by RDL Architects, is coming from KeyBank, the state, and Cleveland’s Housing Trust Fund. Clark-Fulton community is part of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative and is receiving federal funds earmarked for “affordable” housing through a program created to honor the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, the health system said.
