The Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund is changing that. As the City’s industrial real estate redevelopment arm, we transform contaminated, overlooked sites into engines of job creation, community wealth, and environmental sustainability.
Land is only part of the story. We’re working just as hard on placemaking.
We are positioning the city to compete—and win—in the modern industrial economy.
SRF works closely with the Cuyahoga Land Bank as our execution arm and partners with the City of Cleveland, JobsOhio, Team Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga County, The Cleveland Foundation, the Fund for Our Economic Future, Ohio Means Jobs and community development corporations across the city. We maintain close ties with neighborhood groups to ensure development is consistent with the aims of residents. We also nurture relationships with real estate developers, financiers and impact investors across the region and country.
Cleveland was once an industrial powerhouse—home to names like Rockefeller, Mather, and Wade and Hanna, and powered by working-class neighborhoods where residents walked to nearby factories that drove American manufacturing. But starting in the 1950s, global economic shifts and automation dealt a heavy blow to the manufacturing base in Cleveland and other Midwest cities, leaving behind thousands of acres of vacant industrial land and generations of lost opportunity. Today, those same sites represent untapped potential. Greater Cleveland leads the state in manufacturing jobs and GDP, and Ohio ranks third nationally. The Site Readiness Fund is already making progress. We are advancing 11 priority sites— over 300 acres across—with three sites ready for listing.
Meanwhile, global business is in the midst of a massive realignment and industrial investment – in clean energy, defense, semiconductors, and electric vehicles. But without ready-to-build sites, Cleveland risks being left behind. That’s why, in 2023, Mayor Justin M. Bibb, in partnership with City Council, launched the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund – starting with a $50 million commitment to clean up and prepare industrial sites across the city.
Target: SRF is working to reactivate 1,000 acres of underused industrial land—clearing the way for job creation, neighborhood vitality, and a stronger future for Clevelanders.
Progress: SRF is already advancing 11 priority sites—328 acres across 597 parcels—with control of 31% and three sites ready for listing. The goal: transform 1,000 acres, catalyze 25,000 jobs, and power the next chapter in Cleveland’s industrial legacy.