ExPatClevGuy

As much as I disapprove of a potential move to the burbs, I do believe landing in Brook Park might yield a higher-class airport hotel for CLE at some point. All that one can observe from Route 237 in every direction these days is a rundown visual blight. This includes the condition of all the surrounding roads & ramps, and lots of derelict airport infrastructure, apparently left behind by Continental/United. None of this infrastructure is being held or guided to a higher level of maintenance by CLE airport officials. For example, maybe paint some of those airport buildings? Maybe cover up the remnants of Continental signage still advertising itself in soiled & chipped paint to passers-by. The above may come off to some as crabby, but there's plenty of opportunity to be seized here that might bring drastic improvement to this part of the region.

Branding is one thing, but wow. I was prepared to be disappointed when I saw the initial garish red & blue circus-lighting plan. Still... yeesh, look at what has happened to our once proud and regal looking MLB stadium! Just about everything in this image looks like it was conceived by design school sophomores while the art professor was on a cigarette break. 1. What company was the Guardians' professional design consultant on this project? Have they only done work for minor league parks, cause that's what this now looks like 2. How much utility does Progressive Insurance get from this sloppily imperfect billboard? I'd say the look of the finished product devalues their corporate image. 😬😬😬😬😬

Maybe they were poorly/incompletely airbrushed out of the foreground and hint of things to come. Jk./Not jk.

Wow - I'm so very pleased! The earliest concept for the Shoreway Tower was shocking, and not in a good way. I remember comparing it to areas I've visited in Puno, Peru, where structures are never completed in order to avoid paying taxes on a "finished" construction project. Thank you to those community leaders who pushed back on this concept and looked askance at early the early designs - and demanded better. I often suggest the community challenge initial concepts. One potential result of doing so is that, when pushed, developers might also turn out delicious eye candy as shown in the new design iteration above. -- 👍👍👍👍👍

😆 I feel seen, but just partially, lol. Do bookmark and check back on the acoustics later after this room is reviewed post-construction. I'm probably wrong about half the time, but I also don't wet my pants over every airbrushed proposal flashed to the public in early stages. IMO - Early on is the time for criticism. Once things are built and done, you roll with what you get.

I'm dazzled by this dashing new tower. It has genuine élan. Although a simple form, the bold element on the roof adds unmatched visual interest, setting it apart from it's cubular cousins downtown. 😆 Heck, even the parapet @ 668 looks okay from this angle.

The second image looks like plenty of "dramatic" space that doesn't add up to a useful or memorable sense of place. LOL - Would individual seats have broken the budget on this performance place? 💰 I perceive this as a place for rock 'n roll fans, not high school football fans. 🙄 Wouldn't auditorium style seating also increase the capacity of this venue? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also - "Acoustic check please!"

100% - Yep, this gift isn't to Cleveland, but GM to itself. It's an over-hyped nothing-burger. It's the same amount of money they lose each time they crash-test a single SUV into a wall.

Great news. Thank you Mr. Prendergast @KJP "Cleveland will receive a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded innovation team (i-team) with up to three dedicated staff persons with expertise in data analysis, insight development, human-centered design, systems thinking, and project management." Did you happen to learn whether Cleveland's designated i-team will be funded directly out of the roughly $8M coming here, or if the i-team will instead be paid seperately using other BASC resources?

Like to age-discriminate much? This really doe not belong. I'm not a Baby Boomer myself, but I understand that making fun and painting an entire age group of people with one broad stroke is not acceptable. Age is a protected class and should be treated as such in all circumstances of commerce. I encounter this regularly in my work, and it serves no good purpose to poke at people for things that are outside their own control, like age.

😆 - Must we make such assumptions about people when they act one way or another? Who can say why they were scoffing? <<snap!>>

The interior snapshots above from @GISguy show how our expanding Huntington C.C. sports new suspended escalators. They give off vibes of Seattle's new vertically oriented convention center. This is a wise reuse of the Cleveland space. Moving conventioneers in and out of multistory meeting rooms is aided by this compact setup. It means attendees won't have to sprawl too far from their hotels or the urban core (restaurants & shopping) to get in and out of meeting sessions. - Nice!

UO Forumers really gave me the raspberries for writing negatively about this design problem during the early review phase. I sure felt shushed for suggesting these elements should be covered with a roof or screening element of some sort that would bring full dimension to the shape of the towers, and not deliver the same effect as 668. LOL, I was told I didn't understand what a preliminary massing is. I do hope it's not visible from the street, but probably yes for those in high-rise towers nearby.

This looks great to me. > Wasn't there a version of this with a gable that the neighbors (of course) hated? I'm all for community engagement: It pushes developers to introduce and produce better buildings in our communities. The Hessler group tho? - They certainly did go over the top in seeking to preserve a garbage-y vacant lot in U.C.

The executive washroom may already have been installed on the current expected uppermost floors.

Thanks All, @GISguy and @sizzlinbeef for digging up this helpful old snap of 700 Prospect. - This is the one! Back in the 1910s, if the windows had been arched, there would likely have been more ornament and articulation around those arches. The Bauhaus hadn't arrived yet, lol.

I've long been under the impression that the arches on the third floor are not original to the building. They look wrong and somehow cheap to me. Anyone have a good historic image of this building from an earlier age? I'll bet it will look smart with three floors of large rectangular glass.

That's a very old industrial building. I understand that long before it's days as a series of nightclubs, 620 Frankfort Ave was a repair garage for streetcars, and the ceilings are still hung with heavy gauged rails. Ostensibly the rails on the ceiling suspended streetcars while undercarriage work was performed. The last time I was inside was back in the 1990s, when it was a gay dance club called "Numbers." The interior space is much cooler than it's austere exterior and it had a hip urban loft vibe.

Nice and all. It is lovely and worthy of the oohs & ahhs. It prepares for a destination that will stil feel like we all need to cross a bridge over the railroad tracks to visit the Cleveland waterfront. It will still be - 'that place over there." Spend the money during phase one of this projec to connect the city to our lakefront - for real - with the broad parklike land bridge concept; not the Y bridge. Don't scarifice this one time opportunity to make the outstanding genuine connection between the water and the city that we're all seeking .

Yes. The Shoreway through downtown is Ohio Route 2, not US Interstate 90. For some reason, this remains popularly unclear.

@brtshrcegr Let's hope so. 'Tired here of this creeping trend.

Sigh... It is not okay that Americans are being conditioned & reduced to naming things for our fears rather than our aspirations. This feels like a sad societal resignation of - "Think about the guns first, because that's where the money is coming from." Passenger terminals & immigration checkpoints still deserve names that reflect our civil society in the US. A good name might be something like Port of Cleveland Passenger Center, or whatever. The CLE airport is still called Hopkins Airport, (named for Cleveland's 41st Mayor William R. Hopkins) even thought it features Homeland Security as as a primary component. - No name changes there too, I hope. ⭐When all is said and done It's a terminal for moving people & goods. National security is a key aspect but only a component of why it needs to be there in the first place. Visitors and those returning home from elsewhere still need a place to comfortably get into and out of their ship, plus process themselves and their belongings. ALSO: THE NARROWER LAND BRIDGE IS A FAIL. To HECK with the convention center needing ballroom windows. Build an observation deck or something, and cover that transit hub with a genuine park-like land bridge. Party-room windows are a lame excuse to have bad urban form remain an insult multiple more generations of Clevelanders. - Who is driving that terrible posture and decision?

That red & blue lighting intensity needs to be toned down and play at a softer level. Too much color can have the effect of looking noisy rather than impressive. Something a little more subtle will come off as higher class. it should look less a like a fairground attraction tent, a carnival ride, or <<clutching my pearls>> a minor league ballpark. 🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴🔵 This isn't a balloon to be popped, it's a significant piece of architecture in our major urban center. It can be lighted to look stylish & fun without coming off as silly. Edit: Maybe amp up this lighting during home-stands or special events. There is affordable technology to program brightness & color on-the-fly, and avoid the nonstop glow of a circus wagon .

Rather than just another Cavs mural, I suggest hanging a new a banner that resembles the finished facade of an office building. Gee whiz, that sad old brick wall has been un-welcoming visitors to Cleveland now for over 90 years. - The worst! Anything but a finished building here is just lipstick on a pig.

😄 'That world-famous NBA stars, their celebrity agents, plus-ones, families, other attached folk, (and their myriad security concerns) might park somewhere besides a secure self-contained facility. Below is a list of NBA players who walk to work 1. 2. 3.