Coral Co. ramps up residential construction next to Crocker Park

WESTLAKE, Ohio -- The Coral Co. is dusting off its plans and building homes again next to the Crocker Park shopping center in Westlake.

The developer, based in University Heights, has started construction of 11 homes and just received city approval of plans to build 11 lofts along the western edge of a parking garage.

Despite the sluggish real estate market, Coral and several other Northeast Ohio homebuilders saw sales pick up in 2010 - and they are hopeful about this year.

"We think that 2011 is a stabilizing year," said Peter Rubin, Coral's president and chief executive officer.

New home construction in Northeast Ohio slid from 8,023 housing starts in 2006 to 2,625 in 2009, according to data for nine counties tracked by Atwell, a real estate services company. Atwell research specialist Trista McClelland expects last year's housing starts to be in the 2,700-range.

After several slow years, Coral sold off the last of its 24 completed homes at Westhampton in 2010. The project eventually could comprise 125 homes, and buyers already have committed to five of the 11 that Coral recently started building to the south of Dick's Sporting Goods. Construction could start on the second group of 11 homes in June.

Coral's buyers generally are empty nesters and young professionals. Many residents at Westhampton have lived outside Northeast Ohio and are familiar with more urban-style home designs, such as a garage on the first floor, a living room and kitchen on the second, bedrooms on the third and a rooftop patio. Prices at Westhampton range from $309,000 for a two-bedroom loft to $495,000 for a four-bedroom manor home.
View full size

Crocker Park, which is inking deals with retailers including Anthropologie, according to public records, is a huge draw. Steve Rubin, the chief operating officer for Crocker Park developer Stark Enterprises, would not identify any potential tenants at the shopping center but said almost all the space is spoken for or is the subject of negotiations with retailers.

Westlake isn't the only community where residential builders are pushing ahead. On Cleveland's west side, Vintage Development Group closed a dozen sales last year and is building eight more townhouses and two freestanding homes at Battery Park.

In Cleveland Heights, developer Ken Lurie plans to break ground for 16 townhouses at the Bluestone community, after averting a foreclosure on the project's condominium building last year and slashing prices.

WXZ Development is building another cluster of homes at East 118th Street and Euclid Avenue in University Circle, and sales have been steady at 27 Coltman, a high-end townhouse development in Little Italy.

Westhampton is about 18 months behind schedule because of the recession and the real estate crisis, Coral's Rubin said. But the privately held company, which also owns and manages apartment buildings and shopping centers, has the money to move forward and the patience to see the project through.

"It's going to be another challenging year," he said, "but the trajectory is getting better."

(Courtesy of Cleveland.com)