Project Updates
On December 6, 2022 The Irishtown Bend Park project received a $5M Challenge grant from The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation to create fundraising momentum around the Park's $45M capital campaign.
July, 2019 - The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $9 million towards the stabilization of ITB through a grant from the department’s INFRA program, or Infrastructure For Rebuilding America, and will go to the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA). The money will enable installation of ~2,600 feet of sheet steel bulkheads along the river’s edge. As of July, 2019, partners in the combined project have raised nearly $19 million in government and charitable grants, with commitments for another $4.5 million worth of donated land.
February, 2021 - Construction fencing has been erected around one of two parcels of land on W. 25th Street - the former CMHA multifamily housing complex known as "Big 8", as one of the first chapters of many toward the stabilization of the Irishtown Bend hillside. The next building targeted for demolition, the former Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) administrative building, will immediately follow. Demolition of the “Big 8” building may begin as early as Noon on Monday, February 8, 2021.
The fencing and imminent demolition signal the first visible steps towards the reality of Irishtown Bend for a coalition of nonprofit and government partners which aim to clear and stabilize the Cuyahoga River hillside and transform it into a 23-acre park. Demolition of these buildings will open access to the edge of the Cuyahoga River valley and potentially reveal dramatic views now obstructed.
Following a community-based effort to create a vision for a future greenspace, a coalition of nonprofit and governmental partners have been working together to both stabilize this portion of the Cuyahoga River shipping channel and use this opportunity to build a 23-acre riverfront park on this currently impenetrable land. Demolition of these buildings will open access to the potential of the Cuyahoga River valley and reveal dramatic views of the downtown skyline, which have been obstructed for decades.
LAND studio obtained a $1.4 million grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission’s Clean Ohio Conservation Fund, which covered the cost of land acquisition and demolition of these structures, which have sat vacant on W. 25th street for nearly a decade. Cleveland Metroparks is leading the demolition project.
Joel Wimbiscus, project manager at the nonprofit LAND studio, explains, “We are fortunate to have Cleveland Metroparks manage this demolition project. The clearing of these buildings will now give the community a better sense of the incredible potential this uninhabitable space offers. Once razed, the space the buildings will leave will offer Clevelanders a unique view none have seen for more than 50 years. This is an exciting time for this project.”
”Cleveland Metroparks estimates that this entire demolition will be completed within one month. Once the engineering and abatement recommendations were solidified, we were able to move quickly in hiring a contractor for the removal of these buildings with efficiency,” reports Sean McDermott, Chief Planning and Design Officer for Cleveland Metroparks.
Irishtown Bend is located in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Tom McNair, Executive Director of Ohio City Inc., offers, “Ohio City is a waterfront community from which you can neither see nor touch the water. This demolition marks the start of truly connecting our community to the waterfront and creating the first waterfront park in the nation directly attached to public housing. We are excited to enter this final phase of something so transformational, and working with our partners, the residents of Riverview Tower, Lakeview Estates and the broader community to create a regional asset.”
The Irishtown Bend project is made possible through a collaboration of both public and private partnerships. Alongside LAND studio, Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio City, Inc., West Creek Conservancy, Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, The Port of Cleveland, City of Cleveland, NOACA, NEORSD, and Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless are working to stabilize the Irishtown Bend hillside, creating a trail that connects to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and a greenspace with spectacular views of the downtown skyline and the Cuyahoga River.
