South Broadway neighborhood? (Cleveland, Garfield Heights, Ohio City: apartment, crime, houses)

[Clevelander216]

Ok so Slavic Village is a little confusing to me. I know the official two neighborhood names are North and South Broadway and my impression is that Slavic Village is sort of in the middle around Fleet. I could be wrong, but anyway, I'm wondering what the area of South Broadway along Warner and Turney, bordering Cuyahoga Heights and Garfield Heights is like? I've been through it numerous times and it seems like a rather depressed area. Anyone know anything about it? How is the crime? Is there any activity going on there in terms of development and such? Any efforts from the community to fix it up, that kinda stuff I guess?

[j_ws]

The Mill Creek subdivision was the most notable investment I can think of. But since it's isolated like a typical suburban subdivision and not integrated with the existing neighborhood grid I think it's influence was more minimal than it could have been.

I think this area falls under the Slavic Village CDC. So while a lot of their efforts are concentrated on Fleet and Broadway, they are attempting to get new residents into all parts of the neighborhood.

[bjimmy24]

Mill Creek is not urban in any sense of the word, very boring. Personally I find that the North Broadway and South Broadway designations are rarely used. I think of it all as "Slavic Village."

It's an area that I REALLY want to be nice, but after walking around there a lot a couple months ago, I just don't see it there. It's a good 15 years behind North Collinwood. Hoping for a faster turnaround though.

[j_ws]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Mill Creek is not urban in any sense of the word, very boring.

Everything about it just looks so...off. Those weird ground-level garages under some of the houses. I think even in terms of just density, it's kind of comparable to the existing area around it. But somehow it still manages to look like it's out in a field in some rural suburb.

Have you been to Fleet since they finished construction? It looks good with the new SV branding. Hopefully some commercial stock starts filling up. I think that work was complete as of a few months ago.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by j_ws

Everything about it just looks so...off. Those weird ground-level garages under some of the houses. I think even in terms of just density, it's kind of comparable to the existing area around it. But somehow it still manages to look like it's out in a field in some rural suburb.

Have you been to Fleet since they finished construction? It looks good with the new SV branding. Hopefully some commercial stock starts filling up. I think that work was complete as of a few months ago.

It does look a lot better. There are some stretches of Slavic Village that I can see being the next Ohio City type area. But for right now, at least for me, the crime is just not worth it.

[bjimmy24]

The glory of Mill Creek!!!

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4394...7i13312!8i6656

Who wouldn't want to live there??

[j_ws]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

The glory of Mill Creek!!!

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4394...7i13312!8i6656

Who wouldn't want to live there??

I can forgive an alley looking bleak, BUT...

...was having attached garages so necessary that they all ended up with these weird dead zones between the garage and the alley? It seems like such a dumb setup.

It's like the developer offered color schemes that were anchored with three different shades of white: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4375...7i13312!8i6656

I think the biggest thing working against SV is how bland ALL of the housing stock is. Even the “historic” housing stock tends to be uninspiring at best, and at its worst small or kind of useless. If not small, it tends to be just awkwardly laid out since so much of the original housing was built to accommodate at least two working class European immigrant families and their seven children.
If you’ve been to Rooms to Let, walking through some of these houses shows how many odd, tiny rooms and disjointed staircases a lot of them seem to have. It doesn’t translate to a modern setup at all. SV is one of those neighborhoods where it wouldn’t be a huge loss to just have developers replace a lot of the housing stock with new infill. Unfortunately you end up with Mill Creek-looking suburban vinyl palaces scaled down and crammed onto city lots.

Streets like this are better, since the vernacular is just very typical Cleveland-style that you see from Kamm’s all the way to Shaker.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4378...8i6656!6m1!1e1

Zaremba is a bit of a better developer. They did Trailside which is also in Slavic Village (and also still bland but t seems we can’t get away from that) and they’re completing the St Lukes infill in Buckeyer-Shaker. Knez can be good as long as they can be limited to building proper-looking housing. They’re capable of it, they just seem to often produce really stupid looking infill.
Zaremba

I mean, if only Knez would build more properly-styled housing such as this: 1428 W 57th St, Cleveland, OH 44102 | MLS #3874038 | Zillow

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by j_ws

I mean, if only Knez would build more properly-styled housing such as this: 1428 W 57th St, Cleveland, OH 44102 | MLS #3874038 | Zillow

Note how the sides of these houses have no windows. Great for privacy and perhaps heating and cooling efficiency, but I wonder how it impacts the interior of the space. Humans also like to be able to explore noises near their residence without leaving the comfort of their refuge.

[j_ws]

This design trend has become common even in suburban houses on large lots, which I find particularly baffling.

My house (built 1910) is on a narrow lot with about 10 feet between houses. I have a lot of these smaller accent windows along the sides of my main floor with large windows in the front and back. I do, however, have a large pop-out window on the side in my dining room and another large set on the side of the kitchen. If privacy is a concern then these could be problematic, but I'm not hugely concerned with them, and also blinds/curtains exist. The rooms would definitely seem smaller without these larger side windows.

The one place I could see it being really problematic is on the second floor. I grew up in a suburban subdivision and I hated having no windows on the side of my bedroom. I'm way more partial to bedrooms that have windows on multiple walls.

I agree with your last statement about investigating noises. I think it also contributes to safety when you have windows on all sides as it eliminates blind spots or dead spaces where someone could easily hide.

[bjimmy24]

True about Slavic Village overall. This is one of the nicer residential streets: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4574...7i13312!8i6656

Still kinda uninspiring. Knocking down entire blocks (some of which are already half knocked down anyway) wouldn't really be a bad idea. Replacing them with some kind of apartment building would be ideal. I can't stand the aesthetics of modern houses like the ones that are popping up in Mill Creek and some places in Hough and Central. There is more than enough suburbia to go around in Greater Cleveland. Don't need the core areas to also be suburbia.