Cleveland Sees Flurry of High-Rise Rental Plans, in Possible Race to the Top

By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio – More than 40 years after the 25-story Reserve Square apartments opened south of Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, this city is revving up for another skyline-shifting residential boom.

Local developers are eyeing at least four sites for tall apartment buildings, stretching to 20 stories or more, in the first such push since the 1970s. That drive comes as Northeast Ohio is seeing record-low rental vacancies and its swiftest rent growth since before the recession – trends that allow builders to consider towering projects that, for decades, haven't been practical or financeable.