RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Richmond Heights School District Superintendent Renee Willis said Tuesday (June 12) that groundbreaking will take place in March on the new sixth- through 12th-grade building, which will also house a new gymnasium, community center, Board of Education offices and Cuyahoga County Library branch.
The building, to be constructed on the current middle school and high school grounds at 447 Richmond Road, was made possible in November when voters approved a three-in-one ballot measure that included a bond issue, permanent improvement levy and operating levy.
The tax passed with about 51 percent of the vote, and the annual cost to the owner of a home valued at $100,000 totals $422.
Willis spoke Tuesday before City Council's Committee-of-the-Whole and said that the internal design process has begun and that all bonds pertaining to the project have been sold.
Then Design Architects (TDA) is designing the building, and Ozanne Construction Co. will build the structure, which will measure nearly 100,000 square feet.
"The Cuyahoga County Library Richmond Branch will have 4,000 square feet in the building, and there will be another 1,000 square feet that will be used for the YMCA Silver Sneaker Program," Willis said.
"The building will be a mix of one and two levels. The high school will occupy the second level."
Willis said that the high school and middle school gyms will be adjacent to each other to allow for a conversion into a three-regulation-court complex that can accommodate the city's basketball leagues and other tournaments the school may sponsor.
Other features will include a weight room and trainers room, and, for music students, instrumental and vocal rooms.
One classroom will be designated for aviation studies, with the hope that grants or partnerships can be formed that will allow for a full aviation program that would include experiences for students at the nearby Cuyahoga County Airport.
The school board offices will occupy the building's first floor, next to the school administration offices.
The projected construction completion date is fall 2021, although Willis said that pace could be accelerated.
Willis said she has spoken to a representative of the Cleveland Browns Foundation in an effort to have the foundation pay for rebuilding of the school's varsity football field. The foundation has already provided new football fields for Cleveland City Schools.
Willis said she was told that the foundation is not planning to do such work with inner-ring suburban schools, but that Richmond Heights would be kept in mind if it does. She called the talks with the foundation "not promising" at this time.
The first community meeting at which residents were asked to give input was held last March. The next such meeting will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. June 21 in the Richmond Heights Middle School gymnasium, 447 Richmond Road.
Residents will again have the opportunity to give input and to meet the architect and construction company representatives.
New development director
Also at Tuesday's council meeting, Mayor David Roche ceremonially swore into office Brian S. Gleisser as the city's new economic development director.
Gleisser, who is also a lawyer, worked for 14 years, until last September, for the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland. Before that, he worked in development for University Circle Inc. (from 1984 to 2000), and for the city of Cleveland's Planning Department (1981 to 1984).
Gleisser, 61, fills the part-time position left open when Christel Best recently resigned as economic development director to devote full time to her law practice. Best had served Richmond Heights since 2014.
When asked what interested him about the job, Gleisser said: "There are some large projects that are challenging and interesting in Richmond Heights. There's re-imagining Richmond Town Square; the offer we made to Swagelok (the city and Gleisser just made an offer for the Solon company, which may move, to move to Curtiss-Wright Parkway); working with the county airport and the industrial park; and of course Richmond Medical Center and the small businesses."
Gleisser and wife, Pamela, live in Shaker Heights. He served on Shaker's City Council from 1999 to 2013 and was vice mayor in 2004-05.
Roche said that of 60 initial applicants, he interviewed five candidates for the job.
"(Gleisser) had the best background, and he is very knowledgeable in what we were looking for," Roche said. "He actually started with us (June 4, after an official swearing in) and has been very well received since then."
Starting work
Building Commissioner James Urankar said that CubeSmart began its internal demolition work June 11 at the former Macy's building at Richmond Town Square. After demolition, it will begin installing storage space in the mall building.
Macy's vacated the 162,000-square-foot building in 2015. The California firm DealPoint Merrill bought the building for $2 million, and plans to invest $8 million into it for use as a CubeSmart self-storage location.
Free swimming
The city's swimming pool at Richmond Heights Community Park opened for the season on June 11.
The city is opening the pool to residents for free swimming from 1 to 7 p.m. June 14, 15 and 16.