CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) – A massive fire destroyed new luxury apartments and retail development in Cleveland Heights burned all night Friday and into the afternoon on Saturday.
The $66-million Cedar-Lee-Meadowbrook project that boasts more than 200 luxury apartments and business space was unoccupied and still under construction when the flames broke out and began shooting through the roof around 7:36 pm on Friday.
11 neighboring fire departments stepped in to assist Cleveland Heights Firefighters who also had to battle bitterly cold temperatures that turned the water they used to put out the fire into ice.
In fact, hundreds of icicles hung from utility lines in front of the complex that remained roped off for safety reasons on Saturday evening.
Most of Cedar Road and Lee were reopened to traffic around 4:30 pm on Saturday.
The luxury apartment building is now just a shell after a fire destroyed nearly everything that was built inside.
Johanna Jones Hayes lives across the street from the complex and couldn’t believe the destruction, but he hopes the owners of the property will rebuild.
“I didn’t know it was this crazy. I didn’t know this much damage was out here,” said Hayes.
A number of businesses closest to the fire scene were forced to close on Saturday even after the raging fire was put out, because Cedar Road and Lee were still shut down, making it difficult for customers to get to their businesses.
The popular Cedar Lee Theatre wreaked of smoke, so 19 News was informed the theatre would be closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Cleveland Heights PC, a business located up the road, adjacent to the fire scene was open, and the owner who just asked us to use the name Dominic says it’s a monumental loss to the community and to neighboring businesses hoping for a big boost in regular customers because of the new luxury apartments.
“Those condos would have definitely helped out and increased the people in the area,” said Dominic.
Fire crews still on the scene Saturday checked for hot spots and wanted to keep the structure roped off for obvious safety reasons until the investigation is complete.
City leadership tells us more information will be released in the coming days.
Investigators have not provided information on a preliminary cause and have not said if there was anything suspicious about the fire.
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