more strong & creative efforts for affordable housing in cle —
New Cleveland housing investment fund aims to fill gaps in the market as costs rise
The city and LISC, a national nonprofit, hope to raise $100 million for projects
By: Michelle Jarboe
Posted 9:37 PM, Mar 18, 2025 and last updated 11:03 AM, Mar 19, 2025
CLEVELAND — At a former elementary school on Cleveland’s West Side, the corridors don’t lead to classrooms anymore. Lockers still line the walls. But they’re waiting for tenants – not kids – to stash their stuff.
A local development group is almost done turning the historic Nathaniel Hawthorne School into 37 apartments, with rents starting around $1,100 a month. The goal is to build a community that nurses, schoolteachers and young professionals can afford.
“It’s really hard to do projects like that and make them this quality,” Christopher Rini, the project manager, said during a tour of the building on Monday afternoon. “But … there’s ways to do it with creative financing – and a lot of time and effort.”
Now, city leaders hope to make tricky projects easier to pull off.
more + video:
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...-as-costs-rise

Dennis Spronck/News 5 — The former Hawthorne elementary school on Cleveland's West Side is set to reopen in June as 37 apartments.