Business View - May 2015 163
Millennials -- 20- and 30-somethings – who want a lo-
cal, walkable community.
“Our community was almost entirely built by 1939.
It was built in the streetcar-design era. We have 180
miles of sidewalks, and the whole idea was you walked
down to the end of your street and hopped on a street-
car and rode it downtown to work. Our local design is
really favorable to folks who want that sort of local ex-
perience.”
The youthful infusion has hastened the return of vi-
brancy to a previously moribund bedroom community,
signaled by a resurgent housing environment in which
available homes are being snapped after only a few
days on the market – often after multiple offers and
for more than the asking price.
Summers said about 20 percent of the city’s working
residents have jobs in Lakewood, while the remaining
80 percent are heading elsewhere for primary employ-
ment – primarily Cleveland.
The city itself has an infrastructure-centric workforce
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
City of Lakewood
WHAT:
City in Cuyahoga County that is part of the
greater Cleveland metropolitan area and had a
population of 52,131 at the time of the 2010 U.S.
Census, making it the county’s third-largest city
behind Cleveland (396,815) and Parma (81,601)
WHERE:
Northeastern Ohio, bordered on the
north by Lake Erie and on the east by Cleveland
WEBSITE
:
INFRASTRUCTURE
