From The Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Growing seasons near end on Hessler Road

For years, residents near University Circle's Hessler Road have developed green thumbs at a local garden.

But those thumbs could begin to fade next year when development erases years of labor and care put into the spacious garden.

Construction of the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations, a part of Case Western Reserve University, is to begin in March 2005 where the garden sits at Bellflower Road and Hessler Court.

The Harmony Park Community Garden, which is filled with vegetables and sprinkled with flowers, gives the neighborhood a greater sense of community and beautifies the landscape, said Lee Batdorff, a Cleveland Heights resident who uses the garden and is involved in the annual Hessler Street Fair.

The now-thriving plants are divided into small plots throughout the garden with carefully laid wood planks and rocks - some of which are from the foundation of an old house once on the site.

Residents navigate the garden on small paths of wood chips, which sometimes serve as resting spots for pets.

The vegetables include peppers, tomatoes and onions. Batdorff's pole beans, though, have extra meaning that symbolize how many of the gardeners feel about the garden's impending fate.

Attached to the wood stakes the beans grow up is a ring of multicolored Tibetan prayer flags he added this season. "I figured this place needed a prayer," he said.

Residents have used the land as a park for years. About four years ago, Case officials agreed to lease it on a year-by-year basis, with the understanding the university would eventually develop the property.

Although Case officials made their intentions clear, some gardeners held out hope for a long-term solution, until Case announced it would reclaim the garden space, said Jay Bentoff, an 11-year Hessler resident.

There is some hope that a new garden location will spring up. But moving the plants, soil and other amenities would be hard, Batdorff said.

Some gardeners say they worry about what this development means to the future of green space in their area.

Their neighborHood has been labeled by the city of Cleveland as an historic district.

Despite the garden's dim future, preserving green space in University Circle remains a high priority, said Terri Hamilton Brown, president of University Circle Incorporated, via e-mail. She referred to $1.4 million UCI recently spent to improve Wade Oval and other parks in the area, such as Wade Lagoon and Freiberger Field.

Plans for the 20,000 square-foot building were announced in June. Mandel Center founders Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel donated $6 million to the university. The donation is expected to cover the cost of the building.

The Mandel Center, which trains nonprofit organizations' leaders, has outgrown its current facilities in the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center on Euclid Avenue, said Susan Lajoie Eagan, the center's executive director.

Limited possibilities for the location of the new center and proximity to the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences make the site ideal, said Michael Ruffner, associate vice president for university marketing and communications.

While some Hessler residents are disappointed about losing the garden, Morton Mandel said the land will be put to good use.

"It's going to be used to improve the quality of life in Northeastern Ohio," he said.

Because the garden is on Case-owned property, Hessler residents know they can't prevent the displacement of the garden.

"We never had any promises that it would last forever," said Cindy MacKay, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years. "We are grateful we've had this space to use."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jguillen@plaind.com, 216-999-4733