Menlo Park Academy

Menlo Park Academy (Menlo) is Ohio’s only tuition-free community school focusing solely on gifted learners in grades K-8.  Menlo is an approved partner of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and Cleveland residents are given priority for admission.  To accommodate the school’s projected growth and desire for a campus-like setting, Menlo acquired the 78,000 SF abandoned Joseph & Feiss Building and surrounding 7 acres in the Stockyard neighborhood.  The new location will enable Menlo to increase its enrollment by 300 students.

Project Partners:  PNC, Foss and Company, Reinvestment Fund, IFF, Cuyahoga County, State of Ohio

Project Details

Completed 2017
Location 2149 W 53rd Street, Stockyards neighborhood
Project Type Education facility; Historic renovation
Program 78,000 SF commercial
Sponsor Menlo Park Academy
CDA Investment $10 million NMTC allocation and Ohio NMTC allocation; $3.1 million loan
Total Project Costs $17.1 million
Community Demographics Poverty Rate: 51.4%
Median Income: 31.35%
Unemployment Rate: 34.9%

Impact

  • Job Creation

    The project is expected to create 30 full-time jobs.

  • Goods or Services to Low Income Community

    The new location will enable Menlo to increase its enrollment by 300 students. City of Cleveland residents are given priority. Menlo has adopted an Outreach and Enrollment Growth Plan to address reaching beyond the historically suburban audience to recruit students from low income families and underserved communities.

  • Diversity and Inclusion

    The project sponsor committed to construction participation goals for Minority, Female, and Cleveland Small Businesses (MBE/FBE/CSB) as well as minority, female and City of Cleveland resident workers.

  • Environmentally Sustainable Outcomes

    The renovation is incorporating sustainable design.

  • Executed Community Benefits Agreement

    The project sponsor has committed to quantifiable community impacts by executing a Community Benefits Agreement.

  • Advances Neighborhood Revitalization

    The renovated school will be an anchor for a neighborhood ripe for redevelopment.