MayDay

Thanks everyone - glad you've enjoyed! :-) Rob, that vantage point would be from the Terminal Tower observation deck. It's from the northwestern side of the tower.

Folks, as a graphic designer who goes through hundreds of photos a year - one word of advice: if you are having your photo taken where your hands might be visible, PLEASE make sure they aren't flaky/dry or more importantly, full of GANGRENE!!! Anyways, great article - I'd be curious to see if the mega-rental companies try to get in on the action.

Folks, the upper floors of the "bowling alley" building (and the buildings immediately east) are indeed being renovated for residential use. That's been part of the plan all along :-)

Normally I wait until December to post my year-end thread, but with less-than-desirable weather forecasts for this week it's safe to say I won't be out taking photos any time soon. The formatting of the forum requires you to use the scroll bars within the post, so let me know if that's a problem. So, without further adieu - what I saw in Cleveland in 2005. Enjoy :-) Good night!

Ask and ye shall receive. I can't say that I'd care to live there but the project has excellent highway access along with being close to Ohio City/Tremont/Downtown. http://www.ameri-conhomes.com/communities/community.aspx?comID=17

^Not sure if they're occupied or just prepping, but Pinnacle has had a few lights on lately - mostly on the northeast corner's upper floors.

Dear god... I'm glad to see things have picked up. It's just that I remember going to Cedars back in the day when it was the ONLY place downtown to go.

Roldo isn't brain-dead, and his accomplishments as a journalist when he was in his prime are to be admired. The problem is - decades later, his muckraking journalism (which was once relevant and needed) hasn't changed - Cleveland has. Cleveland isn't at that low point any more, so he has to resort to commentary that is so typical of what I call 'native negativity'. It's as though he's entitled to make comments that most people would find slanderous simply because he's a relic of Cleveland's regrettable history. What's worse is that there are a few people who take him as seriously as he takes himself. What I find more disturbing about Roldo isn't that he's so bitter and irrelevant - it's that the proprietors of 'Cool Cleveland' - people who purport to have Cleveland's best interests at heart, give him a podium and by doing so - give a stamp of approval for his venom. They may as well say that he speaks for the next group of leaders - fortunately he doesn't. For all her faults, Jane Campbell has made City Hall a place that functions, and functions with clean books. One of Roldo's most famous moments was being tossed out of a meeting by none other than George Forbes. I'd like to see George brush up on his skills once more.

Dan, I appreciate what you're contributing to the debate but lay off with the personal insults, ok? You have a lot of information about the topic and I'm glad you're here to offer it but you're turning off more people than you're educating. You have a caustic approach that you've carried over from the cleveland.com forums. While I'm glad that you contribute a lot of great info to the forum, I will not tolerate the unnecessary insults.

wimwar, I was just going to mention something about the required setback. That setback requirement at that site would result in a seriously ineffecient floorplate by current office standards. That site is particularly small compared to the adjacent lots to the west.

MGD, great photos - just to clarify: the "some old, some new" image shows the Schilling Square condos - they're relatively new (1999) and sell for around $250K a pop. Here's a link to a sample condo: http://www.results.cc/PhotoTemp/10803BDetroit/index.html Also, the Chicle development is calling for 36 units (instead of 12).

"is anyone gonna do anything about the building facades along south side of Euclid between e.4th and e.9th? they look pretty scary if you ask me, especially with all the empty storefronts. thanks to the canopy along the way, people hardly notice the deserted upper facades. but when you do look up... it's like... whoa~ what the hell is that???!!! " If you mean the buildings between East 4th and the Colonial Marketplace, that's called facade restoration and I'm happy to report that people - Maron in particular are fixing them up. If you're referring to the 668/Atrium Building, that's owned by the Goldberg family (who own Ohio Savings Bank). They removed a 60s era facade to reveal the original stone facade underneath. They're hoping to get historic restoration credits to renovate the building - the process is unfortunately slow-going.

When I worked at Tower City for a holiday season - there were reps from Forest City who would come around the stores at closing time. If the doors were closed any earlier than the posted Tower City closing time, the store would be assessed a penalty.

It's a good idea initially - as you mentioned, there are quite a few storefronts already doing something along those lines. I imagine that there could be some obstacles - mainly with getting the owners on board. In many cases the buildings aren't owned by a single person. Quite a few are owned by trusts, or divided up amongst a lot of people and before anyone can do anything to a building - those individuals would have to be tracked down so they could approve of that use of their building. I recall that when Maron was acquiring properties along East 4th - some of the buildings had a list of "owners" that was in the hundreds.

Ouch :-(

What are you saying? My point is that most of us don't have kids and have no plans to have kids. Thus, there's more money available for home expenditures.

"Is Cleveland gay- freindly or gay-tolerant enough as to where openly gay people can actually be in the kinds of proffessional & managerial jobs that pay enough to support restoring old houses?" Yes. Amongst my friends who are all openly gay at work - several attorneys, bankers, CPAs, doctors, real estate brokers, VP-level execs, CFO of a major non-profit, etc. As an art director, I'm waaaay down on the scale. And remember, most of us aren't saving up for the kids' college funds.

It could be worse - Detroit voters re-elected Kwame Kilpatrick :wtf:

^That's one of my biggest concerns. Campbell may not have been the greatest leader, but she certainly was able to appoint people who had a mix of passion for their job and they knew what they were doing, Ronayne being a perfect example. If Jackson ditches the staff simply because they worked for Campbell, expect to see a return to Mike White cronyism.

"Good point and example, but the two do not depend on each other (urban revitalization and homosexuality)." In and of itself, homosexuality has nothing to do with urban revitalization. However, I can assure you that the gay community (and the intertwined creative class) has a LOT to do with urban revitalization. I might also suggest that if you're going by what you see in Cincinnati, you're not going to see as much of a tangible influence. The community in Cincy is scattered and as I've said before, as cool and interesting as Northside is - I was surprised to see that the main "gayborhood" of Cincy was pretty rough around the edges - particularly in comparison to Columbus (Short North) and Cleveland (Edgewater/Clifton). I'm not suggesting that Cincy's community doesn't exist - it's just that it isn't as visible.

Interesting use of the personals I suppose :wink: Match isn't really considered a desirable portal by most. Yahoo, and the Out in America sites are a better reflection. "this mentality that a city's "progression" or "vibrancy" depends on it's homosexual population." I'm not going to give statistics or anything. I'm just going to make a little list: Warehouse District Tremont Ohio City Detroit-Shoreway At one time, all of these neighborhoods were crime-infested, downtrodden and mostly written off for dead. It wasn't the hetero crowd who came in and renovated all those once boarded-up old homes that now sell for $200K + (and sit next to new construction selling at $500K + ), or put lofts in those old warehouse buildings (which are now seeing new condos as their neighbors). It wasn't the non-artsy people who saw raw space and converted abandoned buildings into galleries and studios. Everything you see that's desirable about the above mentioned neighborhoods was started by "my people". And almost everything you see about areas like Edgewater/Clifton and pockets on the east side? That's "my people" protecting their investment. You simply cannot discount the impact and influence (financial or otherwise) that the gay community has in a city like Cleveland.

I've said before and I'll say it again - I don't think we'll ever see Tower City's retail mix return to the days of Gucci, Fendi, Barneys, etc. I really think that a healthy mix of moderate stores (Gap, Old Navy, etc.) and "better" outlet stores. Outlet malls offer approachable price points for lower-income residents but they also draw people with disposable income who like bargains. As it stands the only outlet malls are in far-flung areas like Aurora and Lodi - I think Tower City would benefit from that approach. I've never been to a Mills mall but from what I understand, they have a good handle on how to get the right mix of retailers to make such a project work.

Their mayor threatened to bust some caps in plenty of asses would be my guess. :lol:

I have to say I'm watching the 2nd debate and Mayor Campbell (and the questions from the audience) is putting the screws to Jackson's record.

They're going to be installing red-light cameras at prominent intersections in Cleveland - and I couldn't be happier. As someone who crosses Clifton Boulevard to catch my bus, I can't tell you how many people brazenly blow through red lights, creating a danger to cross traffic AND pedestrians. We aren't talking an "oops, the light changed while I was IN the intersection". They're usually people commuting from ex-urbia in Lorain County - I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it if I took an SUV and plowed through their precious subdivision the way they plow through my neighborhood. :x And for those of you crying foul about Big Brother BS, re-read this: "We've said it over and over again. The amount of leeway between the speed limit and the number we're using to pick people up is extremely generous. It's a generous amount above the speed limit. If they get picked up, they deserve it,'' he said.