lafont

I go to Beachwood Place all the time and don't see evidence of much struggling! Very few vacancies and they don't tend to stay long. As for the cop who spoke of "Beachwood Place-type stores," that would be really, really interesting so let's try to flesh out information on this, please! Of course, as most of us know, there was a period in the '90s when indeed - TC had a lot of the same stores as BP, but those were the days....

Yes, needs more density within a block or so - apartments/condos/workers with lunch breaks! Then the park, if it maintains a safe image, may be popular in the better weather. Right now it's a little difficult to imagine one's walking, say, five blocks to spend time in a park in that location. Let alone drive there as a destination....

Yes, Charlotte Russe was where Manhattan is. For many years it was Liz Claiborne. Believe it or not they even had men's in 1990.... I don't see much reason any particular store needs to concentrate on moving back to exactly where it had been. I associate The Gap with teens and not-necessarly professional types - not so much the downtown resident demographic. I'd associate Banana Republic, J Crew, or Eddie Bauer with the newer downtown types. They're all in many other downtowns where thousands of young professionals reside.

Answer is this is a dream scenario. Every once in a while a business leaves a mall and comes back. It happened with the bookstore in TC and actually with the Dakota, as well. Those security people have loose lips, which sometimes sink ships.... It was pretty darned clear the leather place was closing. These places frequently have had showy reductions - it's in the nature of the beast. :lol: Thanks for clarifying.

That's the usual situation but in this case I'm not sure there had been anything else between building and Euclid. All the more strange with building an entirely new wall of yellow bricks. I don't really go along with it. I suppose many of you have seen the front-page PD article today regarding the new park....

Was just in TC and saw no sign of Manhattan or Dario leaving. Rainbow had a "Clearance" sign but that's it. Some sort of "inner" knowledge displayed, here? These are among the stores I'd rather see replaced yes, along with all the jewelers except possibly the returned Dakota store. No, I'm not wishing for their death - just that they leave downtown Cleveland.

Frost building brick kinda' funny.... Facade on side street yellow brick, north side red brick, west side facing Tavern also red brick, I assume, and I can't be sure if south side was yellow (facing street) or red brick (because side of bldg.) but I'm guessing it was red before painted brighter red. Now it's becoming yellow brick, again. Like I said, terribly odd they're creating an entirely new brick wall. Btw, I notice the new apartment building going up with the matching twin facade will not be same window arrangement as teh '20s twin has. The main thing is that the facades facing Euclid match; just seems a little funny the majority of both twins will have different exteriors. But then, no reason for the new construction to entirely copy the '20s building if there are good reasons to make changes. I came across photos in my Euclid Avenue collection of two impressive, relatively highrise apartment bldgs. that used to be on Euclid just to the east of the "Frost" building. Such a shame they were demolished in the late 1970s, and for NOTHING, really....

Of course the Gap, J Crew, and Banana Republic would be coming back. House of Hoops might be good, but imagine a NikeTown, instead. And imagine of these were all on the street, instead !!...

Better stores will raise the image of the mall and bring more better stores.

So what's going on with the Frost Building? Instead of making a good effort to remove the red paint from the brick on the Euclid side they're covering over the entire wall with new pale yellow brick? They're just adding pieces that would jut out? I imagine the former, though I had expected the painted brick to be cleaned. How odd to cover it all over, and the extra layer can be seen from the facade. Are any of the other sides painted (no, I can't see the building while I write this....)?

Hours "back to normal?" What were they, say two months ago? It will be so interesting to see how the mix of stores shakes out. Two of what I consider the "schlockiest" have closed and, of course, I'd like to see stores of more quality in their place. I've followed it all, from the 1990 grand reopening (and for 17 years before that) - all through the Gucci, Calvin Klein, Fendi, and all the upscale rest....

This photo gives the idea of the wonderful lights along Main Street in Rochester, NY's central district: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbwendover/260150033/#

I was in my hometown, Rochester, NY, for a few days and the first thing I noticed when getting off I-490 and approaching West Main Street was the terrific new lights along West Main. Then the part of Main Street in central downtown has featured another style of wonderful decorative lightpolesf for over ten years. All are deep green with gold highlights. I'm quite disappointed Euclid Avenue planners chose what they did, considering what other cities have done with their Main Streets lighting. Ours are not ugly but not good contemporary design, imo, and certainly not attractive historical lighting. Or a combination. I mentioned this disappointment in my article on Euclid Avenue that appeared in AIA Cleveland's "The Voice" newsletter of 5/07.

Here's a photo of Givenchy, in Paris, with street surroundings: http://www.fashiontraveler.com/stores-givenchy-france-paris-9303-0.htm

Love the orangy garage. Saw it first time, today. Now, hoping not only Avenues highrise gets occupied pronto but new construction of the whole enchilada continues this years, as well!

New market rate apartments? Great. As for the street parking on the street, I'm thinking central Paris, where one doesn't see parking lots at all but cars (almost universally compact), motorcycles, and bikes are parked along about every street just about everywhere. Very close together, too. Fabulous city in so many ways.... And oh, so beautiful! I'm basically glad to see the few additional parking spaces - just wonder if they're to remain. :clap:

Does the above illustration of Cotman mean the current building on Euclid is to be demolished? It doesn't look too hot but it could be fixed up. Again - I hate to see anything from pre-WWII go.

Htsguy - are you referring to the street parking in the vicinity of MOCA or University Hospitals? When I've parked there and then walked around to see the new construction I've thought of myself as very lucky. Free parking right there. However, I don't expect any of this to remain very long.

nehpets19: What's being constructed is a new building to replace the one next to it on Euclid - Circle Vistas. It's institutional housing.

We went to the Hessler Fair last weekend, which was as good as ever and perhaps had the most booths ever (plus the very busy Harmonie Park). It seemed strange; I went through the little bit of woods to get to what had been sort of a mini-park and walked right into the Uptown parking lot, behind Constantino's. Put me into a whole different perspective.... Whereas I was trying to decide what Fair food was worth it (and not that much was but there were some choice items, as usual), I went right into Constantino's, which has an abundance of riches, and got one dinner item there. It was great to see that, unlike B&N, Constantino's is open very decent hours. I was curious about the parking lot during the Fair hours. It had been my second choice for parking, but we got a space in our first choice - to the rear of Church of the Covenant (like last year - amazingly close and there actually was not a sign in the exact space we took). But I was very curious about the Uptown lot. It was nearly empty, so I was wondering if Fair people could park there or what. I knew most wouldn't know about it. I saw a Police car at the entrance but couldn't tell if he was keeping people out (i.e. asking what they were there for - Constantino's?) or just guarding. If it was reserved for store customers I thought that would be rather mean-spirited, at such a time as the Hessler Fair; afater all, we visitors had lost that whole free lot by the former McDonald's (where we had parked for years but my wife actually got something at McDonald's). No, I didn't feel like askin' the cop but I wonder.

Still no sign of any of the lineup of restaurants planned for Old Chintown on Rockwell, but I see now there are a line of animal sculptures gracing the entrances on the sidewalk. Very dramatic. Now it's time for some action, though.

Great. Thanks.

What's going on with Juniper Drive's being cut off, please? Something about "one way," I see. I've only gone by quickly since I've seen the barrier; is it now that traffic is allowed only one way from the end where the dorms are? Is this a "permanent" setup and how is it being handled (e.g. signage, streetscaping, etc.)? Magnolia Drive, as a prime street of Cleveland's luxurious Wade Allotment, was lined with mansions on a lovely curved boulevard, and it's a real shame how it got cut it off in the middle to build the dormitories right in that spot. Then it was annoying when the piece that goes to East Boulevard was named "Juniper" - supposedly to avoid confusion but separating that segment from the Magnolia Drive association. Now I want to know if this is made even worse, with traffic permanently not even to be allowed to drive through from both directions. This is hardly a narrow street nor one of particularly bad gridlock; why on earth would the powers-to-be make it more difficult for the public to drive around the area, or discourage anyone from driving down the street and possibly stopping to patronize the business there? I've been following a lot of projects in the area, and hope to get to the Hessler Fair this weekend, but seeing this barrier recently was unexpected and sort of a new low from the standpoint of accessibility and attractiveness of the district. The more remaining from Wade Park's heyday (ca. 1895-1915) as a fine residential area the better. Dozens of very fine houses and so much else fine architecture (e.g. the "old" Cleveland School of Art) are gone.... Most people have absolutely no idea how many more mansions there were just along East Boulevard, Magnolia, and Bellflower, for example....

I've been following Uptown since the beginning and have been very excited about. I walked around the whole area yesterday, including E. 115th Street between Cornell and Mayfield. I'm wondering, though, now that the Uptown facades are nearly finished (on the south side at least it's nearly done on the Euclid facade), if some of the excitement in the design is reduced because of taller buildings around these two long, sleek - but relatively low - buildings.... Looking northeastward down Euclid from around Ford Drive, the apartments have nearly the final look but, with taller and more detailed buildings beyond, on both sides of Euclid, the sleek new apartments are just not quite as dramatic, not quite as bold, as I was hoping for. Does anyone else see these this way? Extremely happy to see Constantino's opening today (CASINO Day!), and disappointed how B&N is closed on Sundays. In this kind of surroundings they should be open! :oops:

Today I noticed the RTA mural is no longer on the monstrosity just to the west of Dunham Tavern. Is something finally going on there? Does anyone know what happened with the possible sale to either Dunham or that developer? I don't think the mural was in poor condition, not that I studied it that much, and it was the one redeeming visual quality of that horrendous-looking highrise, and now it's the blank wall. Sure hope this means something positive like either the building will go soon or, even better, something decent will be done with it. Meanwhile it's good to see the progress with the far smaller building just to the east of the Tavern. Hope they get tenants to occupy it soon, including commercial as advertised.