Located near the iconic University Circle and Cleveland Clinic’s main campus, in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland sat a dilapidated and abandoned ten-story apartment building that was once home to low-income families in the community. Built in the 1970s, the tower has sat vacant for over a decade and was in desperate need of repair.

RDL worked closely with the Owner and the City to rehabilitate the tower and restore the housing complex, maintaining its affordable housing component and revitalizing the neighborhood with updated, energy-efficient housing and added amenities. In the site adjacent to the tower, a freestanding amenity building with a community room, fitness center, medical offices, and a co-working space for the residents and surrounding community will be developed.

RDL was faced with the typical challenges of rehabbing a decades-old building. Much of the building was in a state of decay, and creative, careful design was needed to bring the building up to today’s code standards.