CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council passed legislation on Monday night that provides a nearly $5 million loan to help develop the Woodhill Center East affordable housing development.

Matthew Schmidt, the director of Modernization and Development for the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, said he is excited about what this will do for the community. 

What You Need To Know

  • CMHA got a nearly $5 million loan through Cleveland City Council 

  • It's part of a six-phase plan to change the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood 

  • This loan is targeted to help fund the second phase of the plan 

“Revitalizing the neighborhood, of adding, you know, adding new resources, building on existing resources and really wonderful partners and businesses that are in the neighborhood today that we can help to continue to kind of foster their growth,” said Schmidt. 

This development is part of an even bigger project, the Buckeye-Woodhill Choice Planning Grant. Schmidt said it’s a six-phase project and that the approved loan is for the second phase.

Schmidt explained how it all began.

“Buckeye-Woodhill Choice Plan is an initiative that was funded through a series of competitive grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in their choice program,” he said.

Schmidt also detailed what the second phase will look like once completed.

“Seventy-seven units in it. It will consist of a series of one, two and three bedroom apartments in a four-story apartment building and an adjacent town home building,” he said. 

Construction on phase one began this summer and the plan is to have phase two begin construction in the spring or summer of 2023.

Schmidt hopes to have all six phases completed in the next five to six years.