FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio (WJW) — In T-minus six months, people should be able to live and stay in two former NASA buildings in Fairview Park.

“This building previously housed over a thousand NASA engineers who worked very diligently on a rocket that helped lift things into space,”  said Director of Citiroc Real Estate Company Eric Purcell. 

Located across the street from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and NASA Glenn Research Center — the K-shaped building once known as the Development Engineering Building and the L-shaped annex next to it are being converted into luxury apartments and a hotel respectively.

Developers Ceres Enterprises and Citiroc Real Estate Company say they wanted the names of the $46 million project to pay homage to the work that was done there. 

“[The] Centaur was actually the name of the rocket program that developed here and [The] Orbit just made sense for the hotel,” Purcell said.

In the planning process for 10 years, construction started in the fall. The hotel will have 54 rooms and there will be 84 units in the Apartment building. Combined, the space is 200,000 square feet.

“Every one of these units has a huge amount of natural light,” said Purcell.

He says the amenities will include a pool, fitness center, wellness room and indoor and outdoor dog parks. But with planes taking off nearby, some may be wondering about the noise. 

“Believe it or not, this building was originally designed to get around that,” Purcell said. “All the windows were patented technology back in the day and there were actually using historic tax credits to keep the character of the building as well as maintain those windows.”

Residents will be able to enjoy views of the Rocky River Reservation and the runway. 

“It’ll be really neat to be able to sit in your apartment, see all the runway lights and just be able to have a glass of wine and watch things take off while you’re having dinner or something,” Purcell said.

In keeping with the theme of technology, the building will have keyless entry and wifi throughout the property.

Purcell says they hope the location and environment will help spark the next giant leap for mankind. 

“The work that was done here by these engineers,” he said. “It should not be forgotten and we wanted to create a lifestyle community that would essentially support someone that lived here to do great things as well, too.”

The units will be a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. Prices start at $1,099 a month. They plan to have the project done and people living inside by December.

You can learn more about the apartments here. You can learn more about the history of the buildings here.