ExPatClevGuy

In other news related to wind turbines on Lake Erie: How about that anti-wind HB6; and multibillion dollar First Energy; and Larry Householder in prison? With anti-green energy criminals (allegedly, lol) in charge of Ohio, is it any wonder renewables account for only 2.7% of electric power in the state? In other states it hovers around 15%. Does anyone believe that a repeal of HB6, perhaps now a real possibility, will help grow legs again under LEEDco and other sustainable/renewable project in Ohio?

Every time this board comes to the top, my heart leaps. It can't be long now before we see something of their plans. Can it?

I daresay the new concept seems awkward and ungainly. It reminds me of a weird passing stage at another beautiful though younger model who lives just up the street. Stay classy as you get older Erieview and rock your still-great lines with integrity. Those fakey looking updates are nothing more than an ill-advised silicone job. Stay true to what you are; graceful & timeless. Sing it now Barry! ...

It's "a HUGE wine for Cleveland," so don't worry.

Okay, Señor VP.

Planting trees is NOT going "hide" that sucker. The giant parking lot is a useful thing yes, and a win, okay that too, but will not be a visual delight. Placing trees among all those cars vans will only serve to make Amazon look better, not worse. The idea that trees are a problem makes me laugh out loud (LOL) and make me grateful for my urban design training at one of America's top urban planning schools, Cleveland State University. If Amazon can plant this many trees in their parking lot in Nampa, Idaho, it can just as easily plant this many trees, and more, in the parking lot they have planned for Cleveland, Ohio

I am not one of his constituent voters. Those of you who vote in Cleveland will be the ones who's voices will make the difference. Also, we can be pretty sure that Brancatelli, Planning, CLE Council and their staff keep a close eye on the U.O. blog. - Fools if they don't. FYI: We already know that Amazon will push back on this. The City must be prepared to argue what is right for Cleveland.

?????? Forest City! ?????? Forest City! ?????? The City of Cleveland really must demand some trees are a part of this giant Amazonian parking facility. Trees (perhaps also some shrubs, grasses and peripheral wetland) need to be added within islands and/or on the periphery. Trees should be provided or required as an element of Cleveland's support of Amazon's investment package. There must be a requirement placed on the plan in advance, then approved, then ensured during construction. This plan should include planting and maintenance of pollution resistant trees on the perimeter of the facility, like willow oaks, or some other tree variety that is appropriate for urban spaces. Also, this will likely be very visible from the southern interstate gateway to our city. Trees will help to lift the current rubbish-ey look for commuters and visitors who view it from I-77. Also trees add value, and show care. Don't let this opportunity for a more beautiful & sustainable Cleveland to get brushed aside by a company like Amazon. Amazon stands to profit mightily from our region at the expense of small local businesses. Amazon needs to be in this location to support making plenty (plenty!) of money off Clevelanders. City Council and Tony Brancatelli, Do not allow for graceless, treeless, overall design. Even a parking lot can look like thoughtful contributing infrastructure when properly sited and nicely landscaped. A nicely treed site can contribute to Slavic Village pride and have a positive, image-improving community spinoff effect. Finally: Don't just settle for a minimum number of trees either. Go for an effect that is actually gorgeous, and see what we can get.

Those outdoor lampposts and planters tho, are an abomination against good taste. ? I sure would love to see a successfully scaled version of Eataly in there. (at least then the lamppost kitsch would make some kind of sense, but then again... No!) A triumvirate concentration old-world style food halls in Cleveland would be unique, and from this locale it could create a walk-able bridge destination between Heinen's/WSM.

Before building on Public Square, the Sohio Headquarters was in the Midland Bldg and Sohio was in terrible need of office space. Sohio inexcusably chopped this Art-deco lobby all to Hell in 1981 by inserting a mezzanine floor in the area shown above. The ceiling coffers were even punctured with the hardware needed for the institutional drop ceiling. The grand Art-deco lobbies of the Midland, Builders Exchange, & Medical Arts Buildings were all lost at around the same time It was basically a sterile cubicle farm that replaced this space for a number of years. What we are looking at in KJP's photo (with that great medallion ceiling) is a 1980s restoration of the banking hall. I'm uncertain if Sherwin Williams oversaw the restoration of this space, now referred to as The Van Sweringen Arcade - but probably, since it was restored in 1986 after Sohio left to occupy their new tower on Public Square. I'm unable to handily get into the Cleveland Public Library news archives from where I live now in DC. ? My Cuyahoga & CPL library cards have both expired. I'll check in with family back in Clevo to try and regain access and find the article about the restoration I remember reading about while an undergrad at CSU. Hyde Park Steakhouse is the caterer you can use if you'd like to book your event there. If you search for Van Sweringen Arcade, there are more opportunities for a good photo hit, like these https://treve.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/1488-Cleveland/G0000xRHIGBIHvNE/I00004o4mQe38_m8/C00004B1RgXavHzk Also, Doesn't the ceiling of the Midland Bank lobby bring to mind the loose geometry of a 1990s medallion necktie pattern?

The other portions of the building facade were covered up for quite a while. This portion of the building was exposed for the entire time. Also, I have no beef with it looking a little aged and scarred tho. I think it adds some credibility and dignity to the old gal. - The Union Commerce/Huntington/925/Centennial is sure to get a complete cleaning in the near term when that project finally starts to wrap up.

Bravo on 75 Public Square. Molto, molto bravo!

Hah! Better never late.

-

Thanks GIS. Sorry no snapshots, but lots of memories. Back in those days photos were expensive to take and develop for a poor CSU Levin College of Urban Affairs undergrad like me. Also, back in the 80s-90s & prior - you knew who your friends were. They were the ones who would take photos of you with their precious last photos on the roll, and not "save them for something special." ?

There is a new link in the May Co. thread to a Scene article with 129 vintage images of Cleveland department stores. One image shows the B.R. Baker Company store aka Baker's, and incorrectly identifies it as being a suburban location at Southgate, USA. The Southgate store was very "mod" when it went up, and not at all like the flagship location downtown. The image shown below is from the article and shows the B.R. Baker storefront in the John Hartness Brown Bldg., site of the current Euclid Grand project. I worked in this building for a time, as well as in the Union commerce Bank building next door (I was a bank teller during college in that grand old banking hall,) and both my father and my grandfather kept offices at Union Commerce Bank/Huntington Bldg. I'd know this storefront in a heartbeat. - Reflected in the windows is the dome of The Cleveland Trust across the street.

Forgive me, but ssp proposals?

@downtownjoe Van Huesen, Bose, Levi's, Mikasa, Ray Ban, Timex, and Body Glove are not going to open factory outlet stores on Euclid Ave, Asiatown, or E 55th, period. - Also, none of them; under any circumstances, period.

Prohibiting an outlet mall on the lake is not going to put fresh retail stores onto the streets of downtown Cleveland. - Really folks, it's not.

Stylin'.

LOL, ? I misread your comment as "two tonned panels," which made sense to me at first because mesh or not, they do seem to have the visual weight of two tons apiece

It's fine exactly where it is. Done with sidewalk-sensitivity and style it might look fine on any side of the building. The enormous Amazon delivery box, which appears to be the central architectural statement at street level needs to be put someplace else, far away from U.C..

Yes, I'm pretty sure designers and approvers of that time considered those ramps to be an interesting sculptural element; a feature no less, which invited people to use their car to leave home rather than walking out the front door. Behind those joggers on Chester Ave. I see what looks like an almost three lane driveway apron with a built-in speed curve; a dumpster garden(?); a blank back wall; a two story door-less wall of glass; and a deep curb cut that narrows the sidewalk to almost nothing. I see this side of the building as resembling a freeway ramp. 'Nothing more. I don't a see a single tree or consequential shrub except for some pampas grass near the revolving door; signage; any features at all that approach a human scale; a storefront; any type of traffic calming elements; and nothing at all that looks more appealing than the Béton brut wall facing the street at Reserve Square. Allowing this to be approved without considerable modification will only encourage an entire neighborhood in UC of similarly featureless frontages at street level, so beware. The entire interaction at street level on this side of the conceptual structure is an imaginative vacuum. - It is a dud, and to my mind those who enjoy Cleveland Clinic style architecture or Le Corbusier's "Tower in the Park" concepts are surely the only ones who will truly love this design in its current form.

Separated at birth? Something looks very familiar between Circle Square & Reserve Square. - Fort Cleveland! LOL - Maybe if "Park Centre" (Reserve Square) downtown had some delightful colored panels on its garage, the community/pedestrian experience would have been soooooo much better, ?. Seriously tho, Cleveland is still suffering with this awful design at the corner of Chester & 13th. That intersection continues to languish, because pedestrian traffic is too dangerous and uninviting for many to consider walking there. Also, the traffic from the nearly 300 households and staff of Circle Square will not be as shown in the pic; with one solitary car politely stopped for joggers. To glimpse a similar urban design disaster wrought from this same style of development, visit downtown Orlando, FL, where buildings like this hover above similarly unacceptable monolithic garage structures. The garages in-turn loom with imposing & unengaging emptiness above pedestrian-unfriendly traffic sewers. - It's a truly awful place to walk, and we should not attempt to replicate it in Cleveland's newest potentially excellent residential "neighborhood." "

WEWS this week on DCA & the push for more downtown condos... https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/originals/while-hundreds-of-apartments-go-up-in-cleveland-dca-pushes-for-more-for-sale-properties