Union Trades will Build Little Italy Apartment Project

A new apartment project in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood will be built by building
trades members.

Work on the Baricelli Inn Housing, a new 44-unit apartment building, is set to begin along Cornell Road on the edge of Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Located just a half-mile from both the Little Italy and University Circle rapid stations, and along the most traveled bicycle route in northeast Ohio, this new apartment building is designed to bring and keep young families in one of Cleveland’s most well-known ethnic neighborhoods.

Dave Wondolowski, Executive Secretary of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, said there is no Project Labor Agreement in place, but the developer will go with an all-union construction workforce.

He expects this project to employ about 100 highly skilled building trades members.

On May 14, the Baricelli Inn Apartment project received about $17 million in financing from the Cleveland Port Authority. Wondolowski, who sits on the Port Authority board, said the board required Prevailing Wage on the project.

The building is being designed by Cleveland-based LDA architects and the general contractor is Fiorilli Construction. The project consists of a new three-story, 44-unit apartment building over a parking garage.

The exterior materials will consist of brick, fiber cement panel and windows. The building will house a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

“This project will help revitalize this part of the neighborhood,” Wondolowski said, adding that construction is expected to take about 15 months.

According to The Plain Dealer, the majority of the new structure’s footprint will fill the current site of a parking lot behind the Washington Place Bistro & Inn, located at the northwest corner of Cornell and Murray Hill.

The name of the new structure is a nod to one of Cleveland’s legendary restaurants. Nearly 10 years ago, the Baricelli Inn closed its doors after 25 years of providing northeast Ohio residents with a fine dining experience.

As noted in The Plain Dealer, between 1985 and 2010, the Baricelli Inn was routinely named among the region’s – and the nation’s – finest restaurants.

Initially planned to be a four-story structure, the building was reduced to three floors in order to satisfy community demands. Last year, the design was trimmed from 60 to 44 units in order to win a certificate of appropriateness from the Cleveland Landmarks Commission.