Part 5 – Ohio Lifestyle Centers: Legacy Village

(Image from Dorsky Hodgson + Partners Website)

(Image from Dorsky Hodgson + Partners Website)

(Image from Dorsky Hodgson + Partners Website)

(Arial View Looking North)

We head back to Metropolitan Cleveland for this ongoing Ohio Lifestyle Center series.  Opened in 2003, Legacy Village is located just east of Cleveland in the upscale community of Lyndhurst. 

Dorsky Hodgson + Partners (Cleveland) designed the $145 million development that sits on a 67-acre parcel and contains 650,000 sf of retail and restaurants in a “Main Street” configuration.  An additional 25,000 sf of office space resides above the retailers.  When originally opened, the center boasted that 60% of the retailers were new to Northeastern Ohio.  Stores like Expo Design Center, Crate & Barrel, Galyan’s, Cheesecake Factory, Z Gallerie,  and Restoration Hardware were all new and exciting destinations entering the Cleveland Market.

Although Legacy Village has done quite well since its opening, many of those original stores have since closed (exiting the center have been Expo, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, and Z Gallerie to name a few, while Galyan’s was purchased and became Dick’s Sporting Goods)

First Interstate Properties LTD developed the property and the project is noteworthy not only because of its high end destination for east siders, but also because of its proximity to the 1.2 million sf Beachwood Place, a well known and visited mall across the street.  And before Legacy Village and Beachwood Place, there was Shaker Square, built by the legendary Van Sweringen Brothers in 1929.  It is purported to be the second planned shopping center in the country at that time.  With upscale apartments, office space in proximity, and Cleveland’s RTA (commuter trains) running right through the center of the square – it truly was an original mixed-use project that still maintains itself as true town center.  Here are some aerials of Shaker Square.

Today, the center boasts over 70 stores and still maintains an impressive store directory.  Although the Lifestyle Center model may have taken a hiatus over the past several years, those well placed and with the right tenant mix continue to thrive.


Here are some relevant books that you may be interested in (mouse over for the details).