A more than half-century-old office building on Pearl Road that once sat over 90% empty has been transformed into a bustling hub for kids and families, and Parma Heights officials are calling it a landmark win for the landlocked suburb. The Heritage Building at 6500 Pearl Road recently celebrated a re-grand opening ceremony after a roughly $2 million renovation turned the property into a restored multi-business center offering educational, recreational and hospitality services.
According to Cleveland.com, the 59,000-square-foot building now includes Ukrainian Academy Kindergarten, Polyhedral Academy Afterschool Care, Nest of Dreams Center for Children with Special Needs, Café Blanc, and Magic Forest Kid's Café & Playground. Parma Heights Mayor Marie Gallo said the investment in the Heritage Building represents a major economic-development win for the city, and that the renovation could encourage more businesses to move into the area. She also called the building a landmark in the city, per the same report.
The building's transformation traces back to a 2023 sale, when the property changed hands for $800,000 through a court-appointed receiver sale, according to Realty.com. At the time, the two-story, 61,262-square-foot structure built in 1965 had fallen into high vacancy with deferred maintenance. Private investors Roman and Helena Dutka purchased and redeveloped the site, expanding their local footprint beyond their existing Ukrainian Academy, as previously reported by CNN, which had featured the Dutkas' educational venture following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A Landlocked City Leans on Old Buildings
Parma Heights covers just 4.2 square miles and is home to 20,863 residents, according to 2020 U.S. Census figures, and the city is geographically boxed in by neighboring communities including Parma. That lack of open land is why municipal leaders point to projects like the Heritage Building as critical to growing the local commercial tax base — there's simply nowhere new to build. Gallo has said economic development is especially important because Parma Heights is landlocked, with limited land available for new construction, city officials note.
The city itself worked with the Heritage Building's owners during the renovation process, part of a broader push tied to the Parma Heights Master Plan and the Pearl Road Complete and Green Streets Initiative, a Cuyahoga County-supported planning effort aimed at transforming the corridor into a walkable commercial boulevard, according to the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. That corridor-wide effort has also included public investment nearby: a new 22,000-square-foot Cuyahoga County Public Library branch opened at 6188 Pearl Road, as reported by WEWS News 5 Cleveland, replacing an older facility in the area.
Kids' Café Adds Whimsy to the Mix
Among the Heritage Building's new draws is Magic Forest Kid's Café & Playground, a whimsical, forest-themed indoor play space and coffee shop aimed at young children, which launched inside the building in late April. The business joins a tenant lineup built almost entirely around families — from early education to afterschool care to a center serving children with special needs — reflecting the kind of everyday commercial activity city officials hope will keep drawing residents to Pearl Road.
Next Target: A Blighted Office Tower Nearby
Gallo is now hopeful the next renovation project will involve 6929 W. 130th Street, a six-story, 44,255-square-foot office building constructed in 1973 near Southland Plaza. The property has an out-of-state owner and needs repair and renovation, and it's currently inaccessible, Parma Heights officials say. The city is working on getting the site cleaned up, according to Cleveland.com's report, after the building faced city property maintenance nuisance assessments in 2023, according to a resolution from the City of Parma Heights.
For now, the Heritage Building stands as the city's proof of concept that aging, underused commercial real estate can be reimagined rather than abandoned. Gallo, who took office in January 2022 as the first female mayor in Parma Heights history after four terms as city council president, has staked much of her economic pitch on exactly this kind of adaptive reuse. Whether 6929 W. 130th Street can follow the same path remains an open question the city is still working to answer.
