Gold Coast Makeover: Carlyle Slated for $5 Million Restoration

The Carlyle, a 546-suite condo building located on the shores of Lake Erie in Lakewood, is getting a facelift. Throughout the remainder of 2008 and 2009, it will undergo a $5 million restoration program to spruce up the building.

The redevelopment, funded by the owners through a special assessment, will include the restoration and waterproofing of the building's parking deck, a complete overhaul/replacement of the heating system (ancticipated to lower utility costs), replacement of the electrical distribution system, restoration of the outdoor pool and re-landscaping of the pool area and lawns, refurbishing of the exercise room, and the redecoration of the lobby and corridors.

"Our goal is to make the best use of our very special location on the lake," suite owner and Marketing Committee Chairman Steve Casselman told "Lakewood Alive". "We're capitalizing on our shoreline location, getting rid of asphalt, and adding green space to create more of a park-like feel."

With 546 suites, the Carlyle is "almost a city unto itself," Casselman points out. Services available within the building include a dry cleaner, restaurant, deli, beauty salon, exercise room and racquetball court. (We ask: why would you *ever* leave? Especially in the winter!)

The Carlyle also offers an excellent location in proximity to downtown Lakewood, the Rocky River metroparks, Lakewood Park, Edgewater Park and downtown Cleveland. The grounds include a private beach area, picnic grounds, volleyball courts, and an outdoor pool overlooking Lake Erie.

Condominiums at the Carlyle are surprisingly affordable, with some units priced below or slightly above $100,000.

Cassellman recognizes the importance of buildings such as the Carlyle to the city of Lakewood. "We recognize that our ongoing success is inextricably linked with Lakewood's success," he says.

If Lakewood's story is one of reinventing itself through projects that breathe new life and vibrancy into the city, then the Carlyle's restoration shows that it is a critical chapter in that story.

The Carlyle is just one of the many condominium buildings on the Gold Coast. To search for condominiums in Lakewood, visit the PURE website, go to the search function, check "Gold Coast" in the neighborhood section, then click search. To contact an agent at PURE's Lakewood office, call 216/228-6440.