Orange Village Council voted 5-0 to approve two setback variances clearing the way for a new commercial building at 3900 Orange Place, the long-vacant former Bahama Breeze site along the busy Orange Place corridor. The approval, tied to a project for a new lighting showroom building, caps months of municipal review for a parcel that has sat empty since the Caribbean-themed restaurant chain closed its doors in 2020.
The vote followed a public hearing tied to a request from an entity identified in the village's own notice as 3900 Orange Place Beachwood, LLC, which sought relief under Section 1173.06(a) for the front setback and Section 1173.06(b)(3) for the side and rear setback, according to a notice posted by Orange Village. As reported by Cleveland.com, council granted a front building setback variance of four feet from the required 75-foot setback, along with a rear-yard setback variance that the outlet described as four feet. The municipal notice lists the proposed rear-yard setback as 34 feet instead of the required 50 feet, a 16-foot variance.
Council member Lisa Perry, who also served as acting mayor for part of the related Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, voted in favor of both variance requests. Per the same Cleveland.com report, Perry said the site is the proper place for a commercial building, adding that the alternative proposed use would be a commercial building or a parking lot. Fellow council member Staci Adelman Vincent also said she supported approving the two variances, the outlet noted.
An Oddly Shaped Lot Squeezed by Utility Easements
Jordan Berns, a Beachwood-based land use and zoning attorney representing the developer, told council the parcel's odd shape was a central criterion for variance approval and said the changes would have no impact on adjacent properties, according to the same account. Berns, who is also an Orange resident, pointed to a sanitary sewer easement cutting across the property and a CEI easement running along the western boundary that carries power lines parallel to Interstate 271, which sits west of the site. Those two easements limit the buildable area of the property, the report states.
The Planning and Zoning Commission and Architectural Board of Review had already weighed in on Sept. 1, voting 3-2 to recommend approval of the variance requests before they reached council, per the outlet's reporting. The variance requests followed earlier project review.
A Mayor's Recusal Tied to His Old Employer
Mayor Judson Kline recused himself from council's discussion of the project, a step Cleveland.com linked to his financial relationship with partners of Onyx Creative, the Warrensville Heights-based architectural firm handling the project. Kline was formerly employed by Herschman Architects, the firm from which Onyx Creative evolved, according to the same reporting.
Developer Flicore is identified as the project's developer. Plans for the site include design center-type businesses and second-floor offices, Cleveland.com reported.
From Tropical Chain Restaurant to Design Showrooms
The Bahama Breeze restaurant that once stood on the site operated there for 17 years after opening in April 2003 as a tropical plantation-style chain venue under Darden Restaurants, according to Cleveland Scene's inaugural review of the restaurant. It closed permanently in 2020 amid early COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and the vacant building was ultimately demolished in summer 2026, clearing the parcel for the new project.
Getting design showrooms onto the PM-UD zoned parcel required its own regulatory path. In March 2025, Orange Village Council held a public hearing on a petition by Real Estate Acquisition, LLC seeking a determination of similar use that would permit showrooms accessory to interior design services within the district, according to municipal council records.
Part of a Broader Orange Place Makeover
The 3900 Orange Place project is one piece of a larger commercial transformation reshaping the Orange Place strip near Interstate 271. Just down the road, a proposed 132-room hotel is under review for 3655 Orange Place, the former Red Lobster site, as Hoodline previously reported. That corridor sits directly across from Pinecrest, the 640,000-square-foot mixed-use town center that retail REIT Tanger acquired for $167 million in early 2025.
The commercial buildup is also creeping closer to new residential construction. Pulte Homes is building The Canyons, a townhome community in a wooded setting, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage of the area's zoning fights.
