CLEVELAND — A new apartment community boasting 120 affordable homes opened Thursday in Cleveland's Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood.
Officials from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) attended the grand opening of Woodhill Station West. The building, once an empty lot across from the RTA Woodhill-Buckeye train station, features 42 one-bedroom, 62 two-bedroom and 16 three-bedroom apartments as well as 4,520 square feet of community space.
“The Woodhill community has experienced years of neglect and abandonment," Cleveland City Council President Blaine A. Griffin said in a news release. "With phase one completed, it’s the first concrete step of a project that will transform a neighborhood, a community. The impact on the neighborhood and the legacy residents cannot be overstated. Something special is happening here in the Woodhill community.”
The apartment building is the result of a partnership between the city, the CMHA and nonprofit The Community Builders. It is part of the first phase of the Buckeye-Woodhill Choice Neighborhoods Implementation, a government program funded in part by grants from the Department Housing and Urban Development.
“As President Biden has recently reinforced, we need to meet the urgent housing supply challenges in this country by building more quality housing,” said Richard J. Monocchio, HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. “The $46.4 [million] mixed-income, service-enriched housing at Woodhill opening today in Northeast Ohio is testament to the power of HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program in meeting supply challenges and making critical investments after decades of disinvestment.”
Officials say the Choice Neighborhood Implementation is a six-phase plan that is set to include approximately 638 homes and other public amenities like "outdoor gathering spaces, recreational fields, and playgrounds."
“The opening of Woodhill Station West is a fabulous start to a transformative project,” Cleveland City Councilwoman Deborah Gray said. “It’s location near public transit is a real bonus to help improve and positively impact the residents in the neighborhood.”