News

August 3, 2023

What is the Mickey's Building Project?

We are making significant progress on the Mickey’s Building Project, which will be CSC’s (and Ohio’s!) first community-owned solar array. The Mickey’s Building was once a car dealership on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodland Avenue in East Cleveland. Now, the Mickey’s Building is owned by the Cuyahoga Land Bank and is currently under renovation as an important part of the Land Bank’s Circle East District development initiative. The Mickey’s Building will be a mixed-used space, offering a place for community members to gather, in addition to commercial and residential spaces.

The overall purpose of the Circle East District plan is to revitalize East Cleveland, building a stronger, more inclusive and equitable community. The main goals of this project involve housing development, economic development, community engagement, and improving East Cleveland’s infrastructure – all to transform the East Cleveland community by offering new opportunities to residents and businesses.

As the Land Bank makes progress toward the transformational redevelopment of East Cleveland, we hope to embed economic democracy within this initiative to create opportunities for community wealth-building for East Cleveland residents. We are honored to be a part of this innovative project, and we are excited to extend the benefits of CSC membership to East Cleveland Community members!

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CSC in the Community

On Friday, July 14, we attended the public open house at the Mickey’s building, hosted by Connect East Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Land Bank. The open house offered several engagement activities, allowing local community members to provide their input on a variety of options for public art, crosswalks, green spaces, and other placemaking ideas for the Circle East District.

We also attended the Forest Hill Park Fun Days on Sunday, July 23, one of several events held throughout the summer. Many community organizations have partnered to hold these events, including the Black Environmental Leaders, Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland Water, Greater Cleveland Food Bank, Greater Cleveland RTA, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Open Doors Academy, and See You At The Top, with support offered by Trust for Public Land.

We were grateful for the opportunity to talk with the attendees at these events, sharing our vision for our solar project on the roof of the Mickey’s Building. After meeting with us at these events, several people decided to join our co-op – bringing our current membership to 41 CSC Member Owners! We’re looking forward to meeting more friends and neighbors to promote CSC’s commitment to building community-owned, community-led power. If there are any upcoming events that you would like to see us at, please let us know!

Also, don’t forget to mark your calendars for CSC’s Know Your Bill Event on Tuesday, August 15, 2023! We will be gathering with Member Owners and friends to discuss what we’re actually paying for when we pay our utility bills, and why community-owned solar is so important for building our collective power. Know anyone who may be interested? Feel free to bring them along! You can learn more about the event and RSVP here.