Urbanite107

In my view the convention center would do best at the TC location. It would greet people coming into the city and give the overall skyline from 71 90 east and 77 a much more impressive feel to it. Some people argue that an underground convention center would be much more impressive and that point is debatable. The upside to having the whole convention center shooting up and proclaiming "I am Cleveland" just speaks out to me, as well as many other Clevelanders who perhaps don't go to conventions and simply enjoy the architecture, much more. It is a matter of pride for Clevelanders all around. On top of having such a symbolic building, I'm sure that conventioners would also welcome the added advertising that position offers. As far as the old convention site goes... I believe that the Greater Cleveland Film Commission is currently looking for a headquarters. You might come back rightly and say "I don't believe that there's that big of a future for the film industry in Cleveland" and I would have to agree with you (at least for the foreseeable future). Another option that I think would work best is to create the Cleveland Aquarium in this area. As many other people advocate that this convention center is open to the views of the lake... what better opportunity to tie it into aquatic life in a museum? It would be a much better transition than just a plain convention center in my opinion and would connect many of the other retail and hotel areas around the mall as well. This works well for people that want the space filled and not abandoned. All in all the TC site just keeps speaking out to me to be the best. FC has expressed interest in developing the peninsula opposite the Cuyahoga if they get the convention site they want.. so why not? Yes yes I know there will be some people here that'll come and say that they don't like FC and their plans for the convention center at TC because they've made too much profit off of Cleveland already. Well sirs, that is what business and corporations are for - to make money. FC is not going to invest in something that it doesn't believe will make them profit. If it works out with the whole overview layout of Cleveland then I stress again, why not? Let FC build its convention center, let the old convention center become an aquarium, but most importantly - let the developers develop! There indeed has been too much bickering over which project is best and the longer you wait the more likely people will get fed up and burn the project altogether!

I think that one of the problems in deciding what type of products to showcase on Euclid Ave. is the fact that Cleveland really hasn't had this type of outdoors shopping opportunity available to it in a long time. What stores would represent Euclid the best as the "Michigan Ave" or the "Rodeo Drive" of Cleveland? What impact will all the other downtown development projects with all their retail space have on the ECP? These are important questions vital to understanding the supply/demand of the downtown area. I have read and agree with previous posts about how having too many duplicate retail stores will cause market saturation and will prevent an optimal revitalization of downtown Cleveland. This makes one wonder what unique opportunities are available specifically for Euclid Avenue. Furniture stores were suggested by many people, and this very well could be a viable business for the area. With all the new developments in condos, apartments and office space, I could certainly see a furniture or a few furniture stores open on Euclid. However, I wouldn't want to have more than a handful. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see Euclid Ave. become "Furniture District" but this certainly is a viable option. One idea that I've thought of is perhaps placing a new "high-end" auto dealership on Euclid. Porsche, Lotus, Mercedes, BMW, or possibly a combination of these. If you think about it Euclid is the central business district of Cleveland. What better area to advertise to executives than right when they're walking around on their lunch break? These cars will look slick in the showroom as well as giving the area itself a much more luxurious feel to it. I also like the idea of having art from CIA exhibited in a gallery viewable from the street. Something specifically Cleveland that shows part of our class and culture. Aside from that it's tough to think of what else would work. The problem is the retail chains such as banana rep., Express, NY & co., and others of the similar category have a good chance of moving back into tower city if FC builds their Convention center in front of TC. They also might be likely to open stores in the Pesht plan or FEB. Granted, Michigan Ave. has many repeated stores in side-malls and such, but that's because they have such massive foot traffic. And as soon as you have that type of foot traffic you could very well start courting the high end stores such as Gucci, Armani, and Hugo Boss... but not yet! ;) I think overall though, since everything (at least to us who aren't involved in the decision making processes at all) seems so up in the air and unorganized, all we can do is speculate. It's an exciting time for everyone. Opportunities are vast within all of this new construction. I suppose we just have to see how things develop!