High Rise Apts for Lorain’s West Side – August 1970

A 1969 view of the area

Here’s another one of those interesting ‘what might have been’ scenarios that are so much a part of Lorain’s history.

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were still large undeveloped properties on the West Side of Lorain in the Masson School area. One of these big chunks of land was south of W. 40th Street, bordering on Marshall Ave. to the east, Temple Ave. to the west and Tower Boulevard to the south.

Developer Anthony Murello hoped to get part of this land rezoned so that high rise apartments and townhouses could be built. The architectural renderings of the proposed buildings were quite nice; naturally, however, the homeowners in that area were not crazy about the idea.

The article above from the August 7, 1970 Lorain Journal tells the story of the developer’s presentation of the proposal to the community, and the expected resistance that was encountered.

As we know, the rezoning ultimately didn't happen, because W. 41st Street was eventually extended through that area, populated with single family homes. 

South of W. 41st Street, however, things get a little odd, with the various churches and their parking lots eating up much of the real estate and preventing W. 42nd Street from going through to Temple.

Ironically, with the Lighthouse Village Shopping Center nearby, as well as ongoing redevelopment of the old Emerald Valley Golf Course and surrounding area, the proposed high rise apartments would not have looked out of place there today.