Description. This neighborhood began to urbanize as far back as the 1870s and 1880s as industries sprang up north of St. Clair Avenue to be near the rail lines that ran along Lake Erie?s southern shore. In 1910 as many as 29,000 people lived in the neighborhood but that has decreased to less than 5,000 in 2000 as many residential uses have been replaced by businesses over time. The remaining housing tends to be a mix of single-family, two-family and small multi-family building built before 1900 and located in clusters on relatively small residential blocks between major commercial and industrial districts and corridors.
Assets. Among the neighborhood’s most significant assets are:
- close proximity to downtown and easy access to Interstate 90
- close proximity to Lake Erie
- warehouse buildings being converted into spaces where artists can live and work
- the neighborhood’s rich ethnic diversity including the City’s largest concentration of Asian-Americans
- numerous commercial and industrial businesses in the LADCO area
- portions of the neighborhood are in the City’s Empowerment Zone
Challenges. Among the challenges faced by the Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhood today are:
- rail lines, industries, and the East Shoreway which combine to form a major barrier for the neighborhood’s residents to Lake Erie
- incompatibility between residential and industrial uses
- ability of older and lower income residents to maintain property
- lack of parking and streetscape amenities for Payne Avenue businesses
- updating industrial properties to meet modern needs
- redevelopment of major obsolete facilities like the Richmond Bros. building on East 55 th
Vision. The neighborhood?s ethnic diversity and potential concentration of unique live-work spaces lay a foundation for developing as a center of creativity in the City. Among the development opportunities and initiatives proposed are the following:
- establish an arts and live work district along Payne, St. Clair and Superior Avenues
- provide a variety of housing options for new and existing residents through a wide variety of strategies including rehabilitation, infill, and adaptive reuse
- target housing for sites shown on the Waterfront Plan such as Quay 55, Kirtland Bluffs and Royal Brass
- improve roadways in the LADCO industrial area to maintain good truck access
- reuse vacant and underutilized land and convert old structures to accommodate new businesses
- create pedestrian linkages over the Shoreway to better connect the neighborhood to the lakefront
- create recreational opportunities in Kirtland Park that provide alternative recreation for all its residents
- undertake streetscape improvements to upgrade the appearance of the Payne Avenue retail district and to highlight the city’s Asian-American community
Printable version: can be downloaded here.
Maps (current as of May 2007): Assets, Development Opportunities, Land Use (existing and proposed), and Retail Strategies are available here. (PDF)
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