MayDay

"I think the only ones with a national reputation are Case and Oberlin... "" I agree but as I said, certain programs at other schools attract students from outside the region. Some good examples that are often overlooked are the School of Fashion Design and Merchandising and the School of Journalism at Kent State. The FD&M school is consistently ranked with Parsons, FIT, and Pratt and manages to place graduates in high-up spots in the industry, and the School of Journalism has a great reputation. "Cleveland area businesses need to recruit in the top schools around the country. Only one Cleveland-located office came to recruit at my Ivy, and it is a branch office of an Chicago firm." Yep - and again the negative image of Cleveland has to be overcome without seeming trite. I mean, can a recruiter suggest to students that "come to Cleveland, it's really not THAT bad!" :wink:

Lindsh, I think you've touched on something - that there a lot of positive messages being sent out about Cleveland but there's a noticeable lack of direction and backing. I see it as a problem that comes from one of Cleveland's greatest strengths - the city truly offers a little bit of everything, but it isn't big enough in any one area to truly have a strong identity. On the same level, the region has universities with under 1K undergrads to larger state institutions like Kent State. But none of them have a presence on the national level with the exception of certain programs at each. Does that kind of presence develop on its own, or can it be nudged into existence?

oallostavros - as much as I agree that the shot from Quay 55 is awesome, I have to ask you to 1. remove the image from urbanohio.com and 2. please don't post any photos by Tucker here *unless* you have explicit permission from them. Check your PMs, and thank you :-) bizbiz, welcome to the forum and thank you for posting those pics! I always love the view from the East 30th/Lakeside area - do you remember if that was on South Marginal Road?

Guys, this is why the pope called me a dork - because I posted a lot of renderings from that site. You can also go to the Board of Zoning Appeals site (also on the city planning site) and go through the past few years of proposals. It includes little things like Joe Schmoe wanting to add a fence to signage to re-zoning requests for major projects. These are my tax dollars at work :clap:

punch is right on (except for Lola, I'll explain later) with his suggestions. As far as location - as I've said before, the area is getting better but it's also still in transition. You have the Lakeview Terrace (public housing) and St. Malachi (church with homeless outreach center) within walking distance. On the other hand, you have Stonebridge, the Federal Knitting Mills Building lofts, and the nightlife of the West Bank. As long as you maintain a sense of awareness (as anyone should, in any inner-city area), I think you'd be fine during the day - at night, I can't really say as I haven't been in that area much at night. Honestly, I carry pepper spray with me at all times and I live in one of the city's safer areas - that's just me. It also wouldn't hurt to spend a day or two driving around just to get a sense of your surroundings. Getting to know Cleveland and getting involved ... the outlets are there if you look. I would recommend visiting coolcleveland.com and getting on their mailing list. They have a weekly newsletter that gives info about happenings in a nice one-shot format. Depending on your professional interests, you may want to consider joining the Cleveland 20/30 club - it's not my cup of tea but I've heard that they are well attended http://www.cleveland2030.com Finally, if you have any volunteering interests (arts, social services, etc.), I've found that's a great way to meet people - after all you have something in common and if you care enough to volunteer - it shows you're interested in making a difference. Also, I'd be more than happy to coordinate a walking tour of downtown if your schedule accomodates it. I'm the author of Cleveland's Downtown Architecture, published by Arcadia Publishing and if it would pay my bills, I would be a downtown walking tour guide. About Lola - Lola is indeed a fantastic bistro, however they are relocating to downtown and revamping their original Tremont location into a less-pricey (but still great food) spot. So if they're open when you arrive, by all means check them out - but if not, you may have to wait until their new spot is open.

Welcome to the forum, Lindsh and congrats on your new condo! I presume you mean a pedestrian bridge to get from Stonebridge to the East Bank? That's a great concept - however as with all things in Cleveland, the problem is how to pay for it. I've heard of proposals for such a thing but nothing ever surfaced. The best bet for now is walking across the Center Street (swing) Bridge. Of course, we could always try to get the jackknife bridge back in use :wink: When you are asking about Cleveland - perhaps you can give us an idea of what you would like to know. Some things have changed for the better, some for the worse, but those may or may not be issues you're concerned with. Let us know what we can help with. Welcome again :-)

Yeah, when I met him at the forum meet in Columbus he was so happy to show off his handiwork with clippers :-P Just kidding - that ain't him by a long shot!

"And you all thought I was a white guy." No, not really. You do bear a striking resemblance to one of my exes though.

I think this thread can be merged with the existing Stonebridge thread - it's Phase 4 of Stonebridge (and I posted pics of the rendering) in that other thread. Can you help me with that, grasscat? Here's the existing thread http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2239.0

nsc, I think that rendering is a 'concept' that they presented for the East 55th bridge. This was along the lines of "other cities did this with their bridge overpass - perhaps Cleveland could try something similar, or even more innovative".

Geez guys, it's not like I'm a paid member of the media! :wink: Anyhoo, here are some admittedly bad shots of the Powerpoint presentation. The meeting was informative as far as the overall process and concepts but they haven't selected finalists yet. First, they discussed things that will be installed over the entire scope of the project. Things like lighting, tree grates, etc.: More of the overall stuff - hardscaping (aka pavement with a stylized treatment): They also discussed some of the inspiration for the concept artists (artists who were selected as overseers, not necessarily the final artists): Use of 'applause' imagery and textile industry motifs: This concept is by Nancy Dwyer who did the "Who's On First?" and "Meet Me Here" sculptures at Gateway: Signage will be unified with a similar style - districts identified by distinctive color and symbols: Oral histories will be installed with infoscreens: They designated four areas as "landmarks" of the corridor and these are the places where the bigger installations will go:

I'm not sure if I understand your question, nsc. I believe they'll be presenting the artists and the designs that will be implemented along with the new bus stops and streetscaping. I'll be taking plenty of photos and I'll post them asap.

I think it's one of those designs that will 'grow' on people. I like what I'm seeing - I think Cleveland has plenty of handsome, older masonry buildings and it's a nice change to see something all-glass. As much as I liked the concept of District Park, the buildings were pretty tame - not bad, but not really attention-getting either. I'm not a fan of where the garage meets the tower but I think they might be planning to add some facade treatment to better integrate it. oallastavros - have you seen the renderings of the views? I see what you're saying but I think the views will be relatively un-impeded:

Yes, it's the long awaited update of the next pane of glass for Pinnacle! Well, actually there is a little progress - the northern facade's glass is mostly in place and they're adding the glass panels to the balconies. I also checked the web site and it seems like about 33 of the 80 units are spoken for. Considering they start at $350K, it's good to know there is indeed a market!

"Plus they pay for crap like Columbus's bus system used predominantly by poor people in the city, which depends heavily on subsidies (probably tens of thousands of $ a year per regular rider) to get by. Is that fair? Soo, let's deprive the people with limited means of any transportation (other than foot or bike) and prevent them from potentially obtaining gainful employment, increasing their income, and improving their quality of life and lowering the tax burden which you so unbearably deal with :clap: :roll: Ever hear of a term called 'noblesse oblige'?

nsc, they also sell those lamps around Christmas time at Clifton Web (on Clifton at West 115th). Love that movie!!! :-D

I like what's happening in this area and I agree with you wimwar, I think there would be enough interest to sustain both Cedar-Lee and a west-side equivalent. Just north of this area, the 3rd phase of the Lake Point townhomes has sold out and the whole area (Detroit between West 45ish and West 65th) is really accessible.

No offense but if it were my decision, I'd make a recommendation for demolition. It's a faceless suburban box plunked right into the middle of the CBD and has no relationship to the streetscape. Plus, with everything else going on - I doubt it would retain any sort of national chain tenants. That land is in too good of a location to allow an ailing albatross to stand in the way.

^I *believe* that they may have been at Summit Mall and Chapel Hill Mall.

Keep you posted?!?!? Ha! You'll most likely end up as the ringleader :-)

" I'm also curious about what Euclid & 9th Tower (across from Ameritrust) looked like back in the day..." She was a beaut, alright:

From what I gather, the Atrium building is being submitted for approval for Historic Pres. Tax Credits. To the best of my knowledge, it has not received that approval. I've also heard that the building has some structural issues in the levels below the street which would throw a wrench into any re-use plans.

The facade of the tower is composed of black granite and pre-cast concrete. Honestly, it's not unlike another reviled modernist monstrosity, the Pan Am (aka MetLife) Tower in NYC. The most you can do with the concrete "honeycomb" is to clean it (which did actually make a noticeable difference in the MetLife building). The black granite is pretty much fixed in place. I've wondered if it was possible to make "inserts" that would fasten right over the 'bathtub' forms of pre-cast concrete. Of course, I'm not sure what materials would look right in that 'honeycomb' pattern... :?

I honestly see the Ameritrust site being selected as the finalist - just a gut feeling but if I had to place a bet...

The First and Main project isn't anything like the larger lifestyle center projects like Easton, Crocker or Legacy. Hudson's downtown basically consisted of a strip of retail on the north-south route of Main Street (aka Rt. 91) which sat west of the village green (town square from the old Western Reserve days). West of that strip was a manufacturing plant that lived out its usefulness. The First and Main project converted that site into another village green with angled-in parking, a small parking deck, and a few blocks of smaller niche retailers. If you go there expecting Easton, you'll be disappointed. It does mesh well with the historic downtown - in other words, it blends well - because on its own, it's not much to write home about.