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The City of Lakewood would pay $300,000 for the playground at the former Franklin School, 13465 Franklin Boulevard, under an agreement now before City Council. The building’s owner, Inner Peace Cleveland, says the sale has to close by the end of November.
The Lakewood Provisional Post read the purchase agreement, deed and survey filed with the resolution, and watched the November 2 meeting where it was introduced.
The deed would restrict the land to public park and recreation use for 30 years. The city may replace the equipment with more accessible equipment.
About a third of the 23,435 square feet is street right-of-way, the survey shows, leaving about 0.36 acre at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Lewis Drive.
SOURCE · portal.laserfiche.com · Checked November 3Resolution 2026-50, purchase agreement and survey (November 2 council docket)Lakewood City Schools sold the building at a public auction in June 2025, after the Franklin School of Opportunity moved into Lakewood High School. Inner Peace, which runs an adult day program for people with developmental disabilities, bid $775,000, the highest of eight bidders. LakewoodAlive, a neighborhood development nonprofit, asked the city that September what would become of the playground, which it called “a defacto park for the neighborhood.”
Neighbors told council the playground was closed after the sale. Council President Sarah Kepple said a resident told council in June 2025 that Inner Peace was hesitant to let the public use it because of liability. She also noted that the Safe Routes for Children petition now before council, if passed, might require street improvements before the playground could reopen, since it could draw 50 children.
Council’s Committee of the Whole discusses it Monday, November 9, possibly partly in closed session, and a vote is expected Monday, November 16.
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