by Lynette Filips

     (Plain Press January 2026) December has just ten days remaining as this January issue of the Plain Press is prepared for the printer.  Based on the headline on the article in the Old Brooklyn News Winter issue, “Momentum Builds at Memphis & Pearl:  REMEDIATION ANTICIPATED TO BEGIN BY THE END OF 2025, I feared that construction fencing (more accurately, demolition fencing) would soon encircle the historic corner.

     To my delight, the fencing which has been erected at Pearl and Memphis is on the other side of Pearl Rd. at the two buildings most recently vacated by Citizens Bank; happily, they are on the verge of becoming Pearl Road Residences. I wrote about these them in August 2025, in one of my articles about the South Brooklyn Commercial District on the National Register of Historic Places.  Most older Old Brooklyn residents think of them as the Broadview Savings and Loan buildings, but the news releases describing the historic adaptation project refer to the northern building as having first been occupied by the South Brooklyn Savings and Loan. They further state that both structures were built in 1930 and that they are connected by a tunnel built in 1949. 

     The 2004/2005 application to make the buildings part of the National Register states that the first floor of the Broadview Savings and Loan building, 4221 Pearl Rd., was constructed in 1948 and that the building at 4209 Pearl Rd. was constructed in 1930.  It refers to the 1930 building as the Broadview Savings and Loan annex and makes no mention of a former bank having been there. It further states that the second floor of the main Broadview Savings building was added in 1955 and that the tunnel connecting the two buildings was a 1963 addition. I am inclined to trust the research done by the individuals who submitted the application for downtown Old Brooklyn’s place on the National Register over that of the developer who submitted (conflicting) historical information on his applications for grants and loans. 

     At any rate, last month the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority Board of Directors chose the future Pearl Road Residences as one of two recipients of their final funds distribution for 2025. (The redevelopment of Richmond Mall was the other project which received revenue from the Port Authority in this round.) The Residences received $6 million in capital lease taxable revenue bonds, and in combination with the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits which Pearl Road Residences were previously awarded (in two different rounds), the Beachwood-based Turn Dev company — which specializes in historic rehabilitation and urban redevelopment — is now able to begin their $8.9 million project in Old Brooklyn. Without altering the exteriors, it will put 5 townhouses and 24 apartments into the historic buildings. The site, which is immediately next to MetroHealth’s Old Brooklyn campus, will also include adequate parking, pickleball courts, a dog park and other amenities for the tenants. 

     Some readers may be wondering how a project this far from the mouth of the Cuyahoga River has anything to do with the Port Authority. Since 1993, the Port has expanded from just being interested in the freighters on the Cuyahoga and has also made the economic health of all of Northeast Ohio a priority.  To accomplish the second goal, they sell bonds to investors at a higher-than-average rate of return on the dollars invested.  Then the Port Authority, a non-profit, loans the money at a lower-than-average rate to developers. There are also tax advantages to the process. Visit portofcleveland.com for more specific information about what the entity does.

     Now for some updates about the businesses/ organization who have been affected by the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation’s (OBCDC’s) plans for the extreme makeover of the northwest corner of Pearl Rd. and Memphis Ave. — My article last month “ran off the page” and was thus continued on the Plain Press website, http://www.plainpress.blog.  When my words in the newspaper abruptly stopped, I was relating how employees from Weleski Transfer were packing the contents of the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB) Museum/archives into crates to be stored at the business’ facility on Tiedeman Rd. and how the HSOB’s relocation committee was hoping to soon be signing a rental lease for an undisclosed storefront in Old Brooklyn. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. The crates are still in storage and a new lease has not been signed.   A lawyer representing the HSOB and a lawyer representing the building owner have been working out the details of a possible lease. The HSOB is still planning on meeting on January 9th (as usual, the second Friday of every other month) but they don’t yet know where it will be held. 

     OBCDC also evicted Maria the Barberette from the shop had she operated for 18 years in the Greenline Building complex at 3432 Memphis Ave.  Because she has children and cutting hair is her livelihood, there was no possibility for Maria to put her business into storage. 

     The two places on Pearl Rd. that OBCDC’s agent suggested to her (one next to Pearl Road Tavern and the other across the street from Urban Kutz barber shop) were not acceptable relocation spots. Fortunately, a customer found Maria a place that would work for her. With the help of family and customer-friends, in November Maria moved into a vacant building at 4748 Broadview Rd., next to Metropolitan Coffee. Her two-year lease has already been paid in its entirety with relocation funds.  But Maria’s rent is now almost three times what she was paying on Memphis Ave. and Maria could not afford to pay it by herself after this lease is over. Because it is a bigger space, Maria is hoping that eventually she will find another barber(s) to rent a chair from her.  She’s received her license from the State of Ohio and is usually at the shop 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. – 8 p.m. (The missing 45 minutes is for picking her young daughter up from school.)  During the week she just cuts men’s hair but on Sunday she will cut women’s hair as well. 

     Pearl Road Methodist Church (PRUMC) still doesn’t know when they will be told to vacate their building (which technically is no longer their building since they gave it to OBCDC). They were able to celebrate one last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service in their familiar worship space. Presuming that the vacate date is imminent, they have given away virtually everything in their Fellowship Hall, in the kitchen and throughout the building. And the secretary has the files in the office packed up for the move.  They don’t have another church/worship space to move to yet, but they have been looking. There is a vacant church on Memphis Ave. in Brooklyn which has drawn some interest, but no lease agreement has been signed. The previous quarter-time pastor, Rev. Matt Whisenhunt, has been gone for months, but a new quarter-time pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lisa Zambarano, officially replaced him in October. Her full-time job is Spiritual Director at the Cleveland Clinic, as well as being the mother of three children of high school and college age. The Zambarano family lives in Fairview Park. 

     The Community Meals which PRUMC has held in their fellowship hall on various days over the decades ceased at the end of October. At that time the meals were sponsored by the “Brookside Cluster Community Meals” program and were offered on the last two Sundays of the month.  The people who regularly attended were subsequently advised of another community meal on Sundays, held at the former Blessed Sacrament Church on Fulton Rd. at Trowbridge. It is called The Wholeness Project; doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the meal is served from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

     I haven’t heard of OBCDC yet securing adequate funding or parking spaces to complete the project they so desperately want to do. The time wasted waiting is all so unnecessary. I have a copy of the 2004 National Register application which speaks to the historical value of each of the buildings. And I have a copy of the November 30, 2022 plans drawn up by Sandvick Architects which Tom Yablonsky submitted to OBCDC. The total cost was projected to be between $13 and $14 million and because no historic structures were going to be destroyed, funding was available to cover most — if not all — of the cost. The project had an expected finish date of early 2025 and the most highly respected local preservation architect was behind the design. The historic adaptation teams Tom Yablonsky has brought together in the past have successfully transformed over 70 historic buildings in downtown Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Why didn’t the OBCDC Board select who (to me as well as to many others) was the obvious choice for their Memphis-Pearl Project?  What am I missing?