(Plain Press January 2024) Site preparation is underway for CentroVilla25 at 3140 W. 25^th. The $12 million project by the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development (NEOHCED) is a key component of the long envisioned La Villa Hispaña. NEOHCED says it envisions La Villa Hispaña to be “Latino cultural district in the heart of the Clark Fulton neighborhood.”

     CentroVilla25 is expected to open in late 2024 or early 2025. On a video on the NEOHCED website, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development Jenice Contreras, speaks of her expectations for the future center, “CentroVilla is the center of the neighborhood. It is the heart of the Latino community in Cleveland,” she said.

     The CentroVilla25 marks a coming to fruition of an important component of this decades long vision for the neighborhood. According to the NEOHCED website “CentroVilla 25 is an adaptive reuse of a vacant 32,500 square foot warehouse and office building with an additional 12,500 square foot expansion. The market will feature twenty kiosk-style micro-retail spaces, commercial kitchen, business innovation canter and co-working space, office space for Latino and neighborhood-serving-organizations, outdoor plaza with restaurant, and a community gathering space for arts & culture programing.”

     NEOHCED envisions the CentroVilla25 as a place that will help entrepreneurs start up new businesses by providing a low-cost location where their businesses can get the support to help them succeed.

     The site being prepared for CentroVilla25 is just south of the bank building on the southwest corner of W. 25^th and Clark Avenue. In addition to the large warehouse being rehabilitated for the project, several houses just south of the bank building parking area have been removed as part of the site expansion for CentroVilla25.

     The Latino population in Cleveland represents a growing population, while overall the City of Cleveland is declining in population. The Latino community in Cleveland is represented by communities with a variety of ethnic backgrounds which include Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Columbians, and other nationalities.