Second Mass Timber Building Planned in Cleveland, OH

In May, real estate developer Dan Whalen left a Cleveland Landmarks Commission meeting with design approval in hand and the idea of using mass timber for his next project, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio boutique hotel in Ohio City, NEOtrans reported (8-9-25).

Since then, plans have advanced. Whalen’s team submitted a construction permit application to the city for a seven-story, 129-room hotel with two food-service venues. If approved, it would be Cleveland’s second mid-rise mass-timber structure.

On Wednesday, Places, Cleveland-based architectural firm DLR Group, Vancouver, BC-based Aspect Structural Engineer, and Cleveland’s Karpinski Engineering submitted the permit application to the Building Department for the hotel’s foundations and superstructure only, with an estimated price tag of $7 million.

“The hotel will be seven levels today, constructed as a one-story concrete podium and Type IV-C mass timber construction above,” wrote DLR Project Manager Amy Haney in the application.

“It (selective use of mass timber) is the current intent,” Whalen confirmed to NEOtrans, while noting the plan still requires city approval. Under the International Building Code, Type IV-C allows mass timber in buildings up to nine stories or 85 feet and requires a two-hour fire-resistance rating for the structural frame.

The hotel is estimated to cost about $55 million. Places has a purchase agreement to buy the site—currently a parking lot—from an affiliate of Ohio City Inc., a nonprofit community development corporation.