Cleveland is lining up $1 million in incentives to redevelop a vacant factory into a producer of modular homes.
This summer, the city announced that MMY US would set up shop in an old industrial property at 7000 Central Ave. The company produces homes in large pieces that can be assembled on vacant land.
The Cleveland Citywide Development Corp. this week approved a grant and a loan of $500,000 each for the project. The loan dollars come from federal funds that the city uses to help companies pay for equipment. The assistance still needs approval from Cleveland City Council.
Cleveland is considering an income tax credit for the project, which is expected to bring 120 jobs, according to a city spokesperson. The nearly $25.7 million project is also receiving almost $2.6 million in state historic tax credits.
Mayor Justin Bibb has been putting greater emphasis lately on the city’s effort to attract new industry to town. He cut the ribbon this week on a new headquarters for Kinomatic, a company that plans knee and hip replacements using virtual reality and artificial intelligence. He wrote on social media that the move began with an email from a friend from grade school.
Changing of the guard on Bibb’s Southeast Side plans
Bibb’s senior advisor for redeveloping Cleveland’s Southeast Side departed the job this month. Marvin Owens Jr. joined City Hall in 2023. He stepped down Sept. 2.
Owens oversaw Bibb’s promises to renovate homes and attract businesses to such neighborhoods as Union-Miles, Mt. Pleasant and Lee-Harvard.
Once a suburb in the city for middle-class Black Clevelanders, the Southeast Side felt the devastating effects of the foreclosure crisis that swept through many city neighborhoods in the 2000s and 2010s. Bibb spent much of his youth there, living on Dove Avenue in the home of his grandmother, Sarah Presley, who died in 2022.
Owens marked his departure in a LinkedIn post, writing that he was “passing the baton.” Current and former city employees, among many others, commented to wish him well.
He also shared some lessons from his time at City Hall. Cleveland needs to close its gap between the East and West Sides — and it will take time to accomplish this “generational” project, he wrote.
“City government has tremendous capacity, but it cannot do this work alone,” he wrote. “We need philanthropy, corporate leaders, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, community organizations, faith communities, and residents working together.”
Aja Aaron, who serves as a Southeast Side community development liaison for the city, will take over Owens’ work, according to the mayor’s office.
