In our work at the Cuyahoga Land Bank, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to bring new life to vacant and abandoned property. A new home construction project currently underway in Lakewood surely fits the bill. On May 18, the Cuyahoga Land Bank joined LakewoodAlive, developers Prairie Stone Group, Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers, and dozens of community residents at the Scenic Park House Project launch party to celebrate the beginning of excavation and new home construction on a formerly vacant lot.

The new home will stand tall among neighboring houses as a true community collaboration project.  The Cuyahoga Land Bank oversaw the demolition of an abandoned home on the property three years ago and had maintained the lot ever since.  After assessment by LakewoodAlive, the City of Lakewood and the Cuyahoga Land Bank, it was determined that a new single-family home could be built on the site, bringing new life to the Scenic Park Neighborhood, the westernmost neighborhood in Lakewood overlooking the Rocky River Reservation.

The Cuyahoga Land Bank transferred the property to LakewoodAlive in January, and in March, the title was transferred to Prairie Stone Group, which was selected as the project’s developers after a thorough proposal process.  Construction on the home should be complete in about nine months! Freshwater Cleveland also highlighted the story.