You Belong at Irishtown Bend Park

You Belong at Irishtown Bend

Park

Bringing together people, nature, industry, and history

You have the chance to be a part of something special.

Irishtown Bend Park represents a generational opportunity to create a 23-acre green space that connects downtown and Cleveland neighborhoods to the Cuyahoga River, Lake Erie, and beyond.

The plans for Irishtown Bend Park elevate resident empowerment, collaboration, and equity considerations. The voice and vision of our community have shaped every aspect of the plans for this Park, which will bring together people, nature, industry, and history in an inclusive and accessible space.

Partners from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are working together to preserve riverfront land, enhance community health and connections, and establish the missing link between the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Lake Erie.

Welcome to Irishtown Bend Park.

Wow … This park is amazing …

it’s so uniquely Cleveland!

That’s the reaction we hope to receive from the family who lives around the corner in Tremont, the small business owner in Ohio City, and everyone who visits Irishtown Bend Park.

This Park will be unlike any other. It will dramatically reshape our waterfront, connect our neighborhoods to the Cuyahoga River, and serve as a catalyst for tourism and continued economic growth. And yet it’s so much more.

This Park will instill a deep sense of civic pride.

Irishtown Bend Park will celebrate the cultural, ecological, and industrial heritage that has shaped our great city. It will also demonstrate the power of engaging and empowering diverse communities to create a greener and more equitable future for all.

Please join us in making this transformational vision a reality for our city because everyone belongs at Irishtown Bend Park.

Tom McNair Executive Director, Ohio City Incorporated

Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) is the community development corporation responsible for preserving, promoting, and developing the Ohio City neighborhood. OCI serves the community by providing assistance to both neighborhood residents as well as businesses and institutions through the vehicles of advocacy and engagement, community building, marketing, special events, neighborhood planning, and housing assistance. Furthermore, OCI is engaged in tenant attraction and retention. The work of OCI is aimed at making Ohio City a vibrant and livable community.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and

This Park had to be different.

Its design had to be unique — yet reflective of the history, development, and communities that came before it.

Everyone had to have a voice. Not just architects, planners, and engineers, but those who are often excluded from major public planning efforts, especially residents of the neighboring public housing developments.

This Park had to be different. And it will be different.

Irishtown Bend Park will be a connector — of trails, of people, and of neighborhoods. This Park will be the final link in several regional trails, connecting Downtown Cleveland to Ohio City and far beyond

Northeast Ohio. Its design fosters interactions among individuals with diverse backgrounds and abilities. It invites communities to come together to enjoy a green space where nature, industry, and people co-exist.

This Park is designed to benefit our collective future by helping Northeast Ohioans better understand local history. The stretch of land that is now Irishtown Bend Park has been an important part of Cleveland’s story for generations: a community for Irish settlers, a neighbor to an Underground Railroad stop, and, now, the site of a community-designed Park restoring access to the Cuyahoga River and offering improved connections between Cleveland neighborhoods, trails, and waterways.

Greg Peckham Executive Director, LAND studio

For more than 30 years, LAND studio has managed a wide range of public art installations, cultural programming, and civic space development projects across the city of Cleveland, engaging residents, civic leaders, and a wide range of organizational partners. LAND is committed to creating and maintaining public art and public space investments in Cleveland for everyone regardless of race, gender, ability, or the community in which they live — ensuring that projects meet the needs of the city’s diverse residents.

IRISHTOWN BEND PARK By the Numbers

Irishtown Bend Park will be a park unlike any we have ever seen before. With its unique location, its community-driven riverfront design, and its adjacent, dynamic neighborhoods, there is a lot to say — and learn — about this Park. Let’s discover this Park by the numbers:

including a two-acre event lawn, a half-mile riverside boardwalk, and an urban farm.

1,000 new and mature trees

are planned in and along Irishtown Bend Park.

Ths Park offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity and provides a safe, welcoming space for residents to enjoy.

This Park will help move Cleveland from 6% parks and open space towards its goal of 15% —the median for cities in the United States

Irishtown Bend Park will be the missing link connecting the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail to Lake Erie.

23 -acre It will be a community-designed green space

● The Irishtown Bend Park project is a collaborative effort of public, civic non-profit, and private partners.

● Local, state, and federal agencies have committed $53 million for hillside stabilization.

● The Mandel Foundation is assisting Irishtown Bend Park through a challenge grant of $5 million to support park implementation and incentivize additional philanthropy.

● The Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA) contributed $3.3 million to support multi-purpose trails within Irishtown Bend Park as part of Ohio’s Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Program.

● The George Gund Foundation granted $3 million to Irishtown Bend Park in support of early park planning and project implementation.

The stabilization of the hillside will ensure the shipping channel along the Cuyahoga River remains open to connect businesses with the supply chain, protecting the $3.5 billion local maritime economy.

The state also provided $1.4 million in Clean Ohio Funds to LAND studio for the acquisition and demolition of vacant buildings along West 25th Street, which borders the Park to the northwest.

The neighborhood surrounding Irishtown Bend Park has more than $500 million in private investment within seven blocks of the site.

There are almost 2,000 new residential units completed or under construction since 2014*

Ohio City’s population includes more than 10,000 residents*

Nearly 2,000 Ohio City residents live in public housing†

Downtown

Cleveland is home to 20,000

There were 1.8 million riders on the RTA’s MetroHealth Line in 2021§

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NURTURING EQUITY

Irishtown Bend Park prioritizes equity through diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. This Park will be the new backyard for residents of local Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority apartments. The Irishtown Bend Park project elevates community engagement, collaboration, and equity considerations. People who are often excluded from development projects played key roles in shaping the design and use of this Park.

NURTURING CONNECTIONS

Irishtown Bend Park is a connector: of trails, of people, and of neighborhoods. This Park will be the final link in several regional trails. It will connect Downtown Cleveland with the city’s neighborhoods. It will encourage residents with diverse backgrounds and abilities to come together and enjoy a mutually beneficial green space where nature and industry co-exist.

NURTURING OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Irishtown Bend Park provides local residents with more dedicated green space, enhanced tree canopy, and a river that is closer to its natural state. This Park will support the inclusion of native plant species that contribute to climate resiliency, tree cover, and wetland retention— and will provide a safe, welcoming space for residents to enjoy the health and wellness benefits of outdoor activity.

NURTURING A COMMUNITY ASSET

Irishtown Bend Park is a premier example of how a community asset can bridge racial and economic divides — while adding long-term beauty and value to the community. Irishtown Bend Park will provide an opportunity to spur equitable economic development, elevating Northeast Ohio, the city of Cleveland and, most of all, Cleveland’s neighborhoods, through a collaborative, neighborhood-first process. When complete, this Park will provide significant benefit to local residents, local businesses, visitors, and industry.

NURTURING OUR LEGACY

Irishtown Bend Park benefits our collective future by helping Northeast Ohioans better understand local history. Irishtown Bend is an important part of Cleveland’s past and development, from the earliest Indigenous inhabitants to the Irish settlers of the 1800s, and the residents of some of the first public housing developments in the United States. Designed by the community and providing access to the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland’s neighborhoods, Lake Erie, and several regional trails — Irishtown Bend Park will now be a critical piece of the site’s story.

If you think Irishtown Bend Park will be just like any other park, think again. It will be a community-designed gathering space celebrating the culture, history, nature, and industry that have shaped Cleveland.

The significance of Irishtown Bend Park will be unlike any other.

As a foundation, we look for projects that lift communities and address pressing racial and social justice needs.

Irishtown Bend Park is an outstanding example of such a project. It’s righting a historical wrong created by the decision to locate a highway through the neighborhood, disconnecting residents from the waterfront and downtown Cleveland. The entire process has shown deep respect for the community and will result in a spectacular asset for generations to come.

— John Mitterholzer Program Director — Climate and Justice, The Gund Foundation

Nurturing Equity

Where everyone belongs

The plans for Irishtown Bend Park intentionally reflect the needs and desires of those who live closest to it — many of whom are people of color, older adults, and people whose incomes are below the federal poverty threshold.

Diversity considerations

A Committee of Champions, comprised of Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority residents and broader community members, helped shape the future Park — improving accessibility, equity, use, and enjoyment — and served as neighborhood ambassadors —  engaging residents from different cultural, generational, and socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities. Their voice and vision will continue to inform every aspect of Irishtown Bend Park.

An engaged community was essential in the design of Irishtown Bend Park and can be used as a model for inclusive urban planning through the lens of social justice.

Accessibility considerations

Accessibility is a primary consideration for Irishtown Bend Park, including the ability of individuals to get to this Park and to use its amenities.

• Irishtown Bend Park, near one of the largest transit hubs in Cleveland, is accessible by bus and rapid transit from both the east and west sides of Cleveland.

• This Park will incorporate recreational and rest areas that are fully accessible for individuals with disabilities, including walking trails and play spaces.

A foundation of respect for the community

Irishtown Bend Park will provide nearby residents — regardless of their social or economic status — with equitable access to a large, waterfront Park.

This Park will help reconnect parts of the Ohio City community that were splintered when a freeway was built through the middle of the neighborhood, disconnecting residents — many of whom are people of color — from the waterfront and downtown Cleveland. Irishtown Bend Park will restore the

connection to the water. It will also provide green space, trails, and accessible play areas — amenities that have not been available to many residents, including the 2,000+ public housing residents now directly connected to the Park.

Creating Irishtown Bend Park — versus developing the land for profit — is an intentional decision by a committed group of partner organizations dedicated to the long-term vitality of this community.

Where social justice occurs … naturally

IRISHTOWN BEND PARK

Nurturing Connections

Where diverse communities come together

Irishtown Bend Park will bring communities together in an inclusive, equitable, and accessible green space. It will serve as common ground for all — because it was designed by diverse residents from the area.

Irishtown Bend Park will be a local , regional , and out-of-town attraction. This Park will be welcoming, safe, and enjoyable for all, including people with limited mobility and those who use wheelchairs, strollers, and walkers. Its unique features include a two-acre event lawn, a playground with rocky climbing areas, an Irish archaeological site, connections to the Ohio City Farm, and a natural outdoor amphitheater oriented toward ship traffic. Trails will meander down the Park’s slope, connecting Ohio City to the river’s edge, which boasts an expansive, half-mile boardwalk.

The impact of Irishtown Bend Park will go far beyond the green space. It will carry over to the near west neighborhoods, downtown Cleveland, and to all who visit.

Where industry and nature co-exist

Before Irishtown Bend Park is created, its hillside has to be stabilized to eliminate the risk of collapse into the Cuyahoga River, a vital shipping channel.

The Park design team has partnered with stabilization engineers and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority to maximize its design, creating a location where nature and industry will co-exist in a mutually beneficial  —  and beautiful — way.

From barrier to bridge

For decades, the Irishtown Bend hillside has sat vacant, disconnected from the bordering neighborhoods.

By reclaiming this land and building a world-class Park, we will break down historical boundaries and reconnect residents and the riverfront in a way that has not been possible or accessible until now.

This Park will be transformative in its ability to provide access to trails, neighborhoods, natural features, and attractions.

Irishtown Bend Park will include the last half mile in 101 miles of trails that connect Cleveland to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and beyond. Additionally, Irishtown Bend Park users will enjoy improved connections to:

Creating a multicultural draw

Irishtown Bend Park — with its walking paths, open air, and green space not often found in the heart of a city — will be a place for families, cyclists, hikers, and people from across the region to come to relax. People who can’t ordinarily access green space and the waterfront will now be able to reap their benefits because of public transportation. Irishtown Bend Park will be a multi-cultural draw that can totally rejuvenate our community.

— Dr. Donald Malone, Jr., M.D. President, Cleveland Clinic Ohio Hospitals and Family Health Centers; former President, Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital (Ohio City); Ohio City resident; Irishtown Bend Park Strategy & Campaign Committee member

Nurturing our Natural Environment

Where trees provide refuge

Upwards of 1,000 trees are planned for Irishtown Bend Park, including West 25th Street.

Climate change impacts are especially grave for older residents and those with limited income or mobility living near urban heat islands. The tree cover, vegetation, and green space at Irishtown Bend Park will mitigate these impacts by helping to reduce summer peak temperatures and air pollution.

Irishtown Bend Park will support better health outcomes for all Clevelanders — especially at-risk populations.

The Park will also improve neighborhood aesthetics, provide wildlife habitats, enhance property values, and attract new businesses.

Where a natural state is restored

Irishtown Bend Park will support the inclusion of native plant species that contribute to climate resiliency, tree cover, and wetland retention.

The Cuyahoga River is showing signs of long-term recovery following more than a century of industrial pollution. Stabilizing the Irishtown Bend hillside, growing native plants in place of invasive ones, and preserving the Park’s wetlands will help ensure continued water quality improvements.

Irishtown Bend Park’s wetland areas will improve water quality, provide wildlife habitats, and encourage opportunities for recreation. This Park’s green bulkheads will also support local wildlife, creating a habitat for larval fish along a stretch of the river that has been heavily altered from its natural state.

Irishtown Bend Park is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the course of history for Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River.

An area once riddled with industrial pollutants, an abandoned hillside town, a burning river, and an unstable slope on the verge of destroying a thriving shipping channel … this place has a long history and, now, an opportunity for a bright future.

Irishtown Bend Park will turn a neglected hillside into a beautiful, riverfront green space celebrating the convergence of nature, history, and culture.

Where industry and nature coexist

For anyone who cares about social or environmental justice, this is an exemplary project. A river that once was a polluted fire hazard is now a place for rowing, fishing, and wildlife; neighborhoods with virtually no green space will now have a 23-acre, riverfront park; an area that once divided communities, industry, and nature will provide room for them to coexist. Irishtown Bend Park — when complete — will be a beautiful comeback story.

— Scott Cataffa Professional Landscape Architect and Partner at Plural; Northeast Ohio native; lead designer for Irishtown Bend Park

Where a new Cleveland story takes shape

Nurturing a Community Asset

Where the neighborhood benefits

Over the long term, Irishtown Bend Park will add significant value to the Ohio City neighborhood and all of Cleveland — enhancing residents’ quality of life, increasing interest in community and economic development, and attracting new residents. This Park will also strengthen Ohio City’s reputation as a walkable neighborhood, rich with bike- and pedestrian-friendly amenities.

The plans for implementation of Irishtown Bend Park will spur new development and improve land uses in Ohio City. The Park’s leadership is committed to balancing revitalization with the needs and interests of current residents.

And we know the impact a park redesign can have on a community — because we’ve been there before. LAND studio was intimately involved in the redevelopment of nearby Public Square. Strategically located in the center of downtown Cleveland, this park is an oasis in the middle of an urban landscape. But through eight years of planning, 15 months of construction, and $50 million in public and private funding, the project came together. It has been nationally recognized as a catalytic investment that helped rejuvenate Cleveland’s urban core — and it continues to spur economic activity nearby.

Public Square’s redesign triggered $559.3 million of office investment, with adjacent asset values significantly increasing.*

Multifamily construction around Public Square totaled $382.5 million, with more than 1,300 apartment units added.*

The residential population in the neighborhood grew from below 500 to more than 2,300 in just five years.*

Retail occupancy in the immediate vicinity grew 20% as the area experienced a net gain of 30 retailers.*

A legacy for future generations

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impact the city of Cleveland with a shared green space that will be here in perpetuity. Irishtown Bend Park — with its waterfront access, neighborhood engagement, design, and equity considerations — will join the ranks of such esteemed locations as the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the West Side Market, and the Emerald Necklace. It will be our legacy for future generations.

— Tiffany Graham Charkosky Senior Project Director, LAND studio

Where Visitors Belong

Irishtown Bend Park will become a top Northeast Ohio attraction, drawing visitors from around the region and across the country due to its unique features and the connection to a previously inaccessible waterfront. This Park will draw cyclists, runners, and hikers who want to explore new connections formed by this critical link in the Ohio & Erie Canalway trail system.

Planned Park features include:

Irish Archaeological Site

Network of Multi-Purpose Trails

Wetlands

Riverfront Boardwalk

Southern Park Gateway

Universally Accessible Play Space

Overlook with Downtown Views

Community Event Lawn

Outdoor Amphitheater

Centennial Lake Link Trail

Hilltop Park Plaza

Red Line Greenway Gateway

Hilltop Grilling Area

Riverview Towers (CMHA)

Ohio City Farm Connector

Northern Park Gateway Welcome Center

Coal Dock Remnants

IRISHTOWN BEND PARK

Nurturing Our Legacy

Where others came before us

Indigenous peoples

Although this area is named for its Irish settlers, we know they weren’t the first to reside on the hillside. Indigenous peoples have a centuries-long history along the Cuyahoga River and in Cleveland, including the area of Irishtown Bend Park.

Irish immigrants

Irishtown Bend Park derives its name from Irish immigrants who settled in the area — then known as “the Angle”— in 1825. By the 1830s, the growing Cleveland economy drew more Irish to the area,

doubling the enclave. Many residents were working-class dockworkers; poverty and disease were common. Even though most Irish settlers were gone by 1900, freighter crews navigating the river continued to call this area Irishtown Bend — a name that has been used for 200 years. A portion of the site, known as the Irishtown Bend Archeological District, is on the National Register of Historic Places, based on excavations by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Cleveland State’s Urban Archaeology program. The design of Irishtown Bend Park will

showcase foundations and household objects to commemorate the neighborhood’s past.

Riverview Tower residents

Since 1964, more than 500 residents at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Riverview Tower atop Irishtown Bend have been able to see, but not touch, the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie. This Park represents a unique opportunity for these residents — many of whom played a significant role in shaping its vision — to create an amenity that celebrates their past, present, and looks toward a new future on the hillside.

© 2022 Estate of Margaret Bourke-White / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY Image courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Where industry shaped us

Irishtown Bend and the Cuyahoga River played a significant role in establishing Cleveland as an industrial center of national prominence, as evidenced by the buried warehouse and coal dock foundations, as well as the still-active Cuyahoga River shipping channel.

Two tunnels from the former Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, a mid-19th-century short line connecting Cleveland to the coal fields of east central Ohio, pay tribute to the city’s industrial history while providing unique features for this Park and its trails. Irishtown Bend Park is adjacent to the Cleveland Foundation’s Centennial Lake Link Trail, which repurposed an abandoned rail line into a multipurpose trail that leads to Lake Erie.

The Park will be built on the site where pioneering female photojournalist Margaret BourkeWhite captured her iconic 1928 photo of the Terminal Tower rising through industrial smoke and clouds. The photo helps tell Cleveland’s story, from pre-settlement to present.

The Cuyahoga River, with its rich, 200-year history as a major industrial asset for the region —  will be this Park’s most notable feature.

Where we make history

When complete, Irishtown Bend Park will make history as one of the first U.S. waterfront parks directly connected to public housing.

Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) — the first chartered public housing authority in the U.S. — owns and manages Riverview Tower, a gateway into Irishtown Bend Park. Residents from the Riverview Tower and nearby Lakeview Terrace, another CMHA property, significantly contributed to the design of the Park through the Committee of Champions.

Long-term economic and community benefits

The Mandel Foundation remains committed to urban engagement and the neighborhoods of Cleveland. The empowerment of community members to champion and lead efforts in park planning ensures the sustainability of the Irishtown Bend Park project and the long-term economic and community benefits for Cleveland’s near west side.

— Stephen H. Hoffman Mandel Foundation Board Chair

The City Behind the Park

Where collaboration creates a legacy

Fostering just and inclusive communities of choice

The Irishtown Bend Park project will have an extensive impact on our community. The Mandel Foundation believes in the growth and vitality of Cleveland’s neighborhoods, which ultimately spurred our decision to invest in this project through a significant challenge grant. The efforts to increase leadership through the involvement of all residents bordering the location of the park closely aligns with the Foundation’s mission and commitment to investing in community leaders and fostering just and inclusive communities of choice.

— Jehuda Reinharz Mandel Foundation President & CEO

The vision for Irishtown Bend Park is made possible by a unique collaboration of community partners from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors working together to transform vacant land into publicly accessible green space, preserve maritime operations vital to Northeast Ohio, ensure continued water quality improvements, and spur economic development and recreational opportunities along the Cuyahoga River.

Project partners have spent more than a decade assembling over a dozen parcels, enabling a massive, 23-acre green space that will transform the Irishtown Bend hillside, near west neighborhoods, the city of Cleveland, and the entire Northeast Ohio region.

Thanks to partner collaboration, funds have been raised and work is underway to stabilize the Irishtown Bend hillside, but significant additional support is needed to capitalize on the generational opportunity to make Irishtown Bend Park a reality — creating a spectacular community asset and a legacy for future generations.

PARTNERS INCLUDE:

Strategy & Campaign Committee

Partner organizations have gone above and beyond to make Irishtown Bend Park come to life. However, there is a core set of individuals who serve as partners and strategic advisors to the project. The members of the Irishtown Bend Park Strategy & Campaign Committee work as one to advocate for the project, to finalize Park plans, raise funds toward the $45 million capital

Committee of Champions

goal, and ensure long-term programming, maintenance, and operations.

This group assists in making connections to key partners, potential donors, civic organizations, government agencies, and elected officials. The group also advises, supports, and participates in the development and implementation of the project team’s fundraising strategy.

The Committee of Champions is a team of community members that help ensure diverse stakeholder perspectives are equitably and inclusively heard, acknowledged, and acted upon throughout the development process for Irishtown Bend Park. The Committee of Champions supports and promotes engagement by:

● Advising on how best to connect with the community

● Identifying stakeholders to participate in events and activities

● Promoting opportunities that encourage participation

● Sharing feedback from the community with the project team

● Communicating with the residents about the design process

● Coordinating engagement activities

● Participating in regular committee meetings

A long-term goal for the Committee of Champions is to develop a framework for other regions to incorporate community engagement into development projects, giving community members a stake in decision making.

Equality and accessibility are top priorities

Equality and accessibility have been top priorities as we design and develop Irishtown Bend Park. We want it to be as culturally inviting to as many people as possible. We formed the Committee of Champions, comprised of residents of Riverview Tower and Lakeview Terrace — public housing connected to this Park—to provide a voice that often goes unheard in development projects. They are speaking on behalf of 3,000 public housing residents that are just now gaining access to healthy green space. It’s a powerful group, and they have contributed greatly to this Park already.

— Whitnye Long Jones Director of Community Engagement, Ohio City Incorporated

You belong at Irishtown Bend Park.

But we need your help to make it a reality.

By now, you can see that Irishtown Bend Park will be unlike any other.

It will bring together people, history, nature, industry, and culture in an inclusive and accessible green space. It is remarkable in its resident empowerment, collaboration, and equity considerations. And it will be the missing link between the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Lake Erie.

Show your support for:

● the cyclist who can now ride from Peninsula to Lake Erie.

● the child who can frolic on the playground alongside his grandma who uses a wheelchair.

● the multi-generational family who meets every Sunday to barbecue together at this Park.

● the freighter captain who navigates through Irishtown Bend, supporting Northeast Ohio’s industrial sector.

● the resident of Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Riverview Tower who now can enjoy the wellness benefits of outdoor activity.

● those who put down roots in Ohio City and are curious to learn more about the people who came before them.

● the tourist who visits Northeast Ohio and seeks ways to soak in its nature, history, and culture.

Help bring to

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Please consider giving a gift to the Irishtown Bend Park capital campaign to provide significant benefit to local residents, businesses, visitors, and industry.

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life this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will change our city’s landscape today and for generations to come.