Lakewood firm ‘one of the premier architects for multifamily in Northeast Ohio’
By Mary Vanac, Crain’s Cleveland, 3/14/2020
https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/dimit-architects-small-shop-big-jobs
When Chris Goodrich and his partners in One University Circle needed an architectural firm to design their 20-story, luxury apartment building, they asked Lakewood architect Scott Dimit for a hand.
First Interstate Properties Co. of Lyndhurst, for which Goodrich is executive vice president, had already asked architectural firms nationwide to submit their qualifications for designing the tallest new residential building in Northeast Ohio in 40 years.
“Locally, we knew that Scott had done a lot of work with multifamily (buildings), and we liked his work; Goodrich said. So, First Interstate asked Dimit to review submissions from the other architectural firms to help select the best one for the job.
“I quickly learned that Scott had as much if not more talent than these national architectural firms that had vast staffs, and he also knew the local market;’ Goodrich said. “So, we stopped our national search and contracted with Scott as the architect of record for our building.
One University Circle, which is arced to echo the trolley turnaround for which its Cleveland neighborhood is named, features apartments with hardwood floors, quartz countertops, Shaker-style cabinets and up to 12-foot ceilings; a fully appointed fitness center; a dog-wash station and run; and a rooftop swimming pool. The $94.3 million, 533,000-square-foot building opened in May 2018 to critical acclaim, winning an Ohio Design Award from the Ohio chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
“Dimit Architects is one of the premier architects for multifamily in Northeast Ohio,” Goodrich said.
It all started in fall 2004, when Scott Dimit left the former GSI Architects Inc. in Cleveland, then the largest architectural firm in Northeast Ohio, to open Dimit Architects LLC.
Dimit, 58, a Pittsburgh native, grew up in Mahoning and Columbiana counties in Ohio and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic and State University in 1985.
Before going to work for GSI in 1996, he had worked in Chicago and spent much of his career on projects outside the United States. He also worked in Paris for four years for Spanish postmodernist Ricardo Bofill. At GSI, Dimit met and married fellow architect Analía Nanni.
Analía Dimit, 47, a native of Azul, Argentina, and a tennis player for the U.S. Tennis Association, graduated with a degree in architecture and urban design from La Plata National University in Argentina in 1998, working with several architectural and planning firms before moving to Cleveland.
Analía manages the interiors team at Dimit Architects as director of interior architecture, while Scott manages the design of most of the firm’s residential and restoration projects as chief design principal.
The Dimits employ 20 certified architects, interior designers and support staff. Their firm specializes in multi- and single-family residential, interior, commercial and restoration projects. It’s a small shop for the big work it does.
“Analía and I consider ourselves extremely blessed to be able to practice the craft of architecture on a daily basis in this city with clients who share, encourage and challenge our creative vision;’ Scott Dimit said in an email. “We approach every project as a unique challenge with new goals, opportunities and objectives evolved in the earliest phases of work.”
Dimit Architects’ portfolio includes historic renovations; interiors; single- and multifamily residential, hospitality and mixed-use buildings; and urban design and master planning projects.
In addition to One University Circle, recent projects for the firm include the Flats East Bank Apartments, Harbor Verandas and Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar in Cleveland as well as Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream in Shaker Heights.
The Mitchell’s store in Van Aken District is clad in mostly glass, so it rises like a jewel from neutral-toned concrete pavers, said Mike Mitchell, co-owner of the Ohio City-based ice cream maker and retailer.
“It’s a beautiful space;’ said Mitchell, whose flagship store, corporate office and ice cream plant are in the former Rialto Theatre on West 25th Street- one of the Dimits’ historic renovations.
“It’s unique. I don’t think there are any buildings like it on the inside or the outside in the Cleveland area;’ Mitchell said of his Shaker Heights store, which won a People’s Choice Award from the Cleveland chapter of the American Institute of Architects.”It’s a piece of art that we use and live in.”
Scott Dimit designed nine of the 10 Mitchell’s stores in the last 16 years. “I believe I was Scott’s first client” after he opened Dimit Architects, Mitchell said.
The Dimit-designed stores all are different. “Each one is its own artistic conception of a space. It fits the spirit of the place,” Mitchell said. He added that designing, building and renovating a unique space for each store is harder and more expensive than employing a cookie-cutter approach, but it’s worth it.
“We’re not a slick operation,” Mitchell said of the business that he and his brother, Pete, started in 1999. “We want to build something that makes the life of the community better, richer, more beautiful.”
Dimit Architects is working on The College Club renovation and townhome project in the Euclid Heights Historic District in Cleveland Heights. The project adapts a Garfield and Meade-designed, 1904 mansion and carriage house as 14 apartments .and adds 13 modern townhomes, Scott Dimit said.
His firm also is working with Paran Management Co. and The Gateway Group to convert the former University Club in Akron, built in 1918, into the Martin House boutique hotel, which will include 74 hotel rooms, a restaurant, coffee shop, meeting space, event space, historic ballroom and fitness center.
Dimit also was commissioned to craft potential designs for an education and events destination in Cleveland’s Rockefeller Park Cultural Gardens. “A one of-a-kind park needs a one-of-a-kind visitor education center,” University Circle Inc. president Chris Ronayne said in a tweet sharing Dimit Architects’ renderings.
“We work closely with our clients, community stakeholders, such as block clubs, community development organizations and other groups, to ensure that our projects reflect the desires of the community,” Dimit said.
An example of that is the Dexter Apartments, which are under construction in Ohio City. A public foot passageway that better connects pedestrians to the soon-to-be-restored Franklin Circle is part of the project.
Dimit Architects is “a great firm with a good vision and the heartbeat of Cleveland,” First Interstate’s Goodrich said, “Blended together, these things create a successful project for a developer and a city.”
