ExPatClevGuy

Yes, yes, It may partially miss the point, but car-free urban utopias aside - TOD is a plan for developing higher density, affordable mixed uses close to transit. The density diminishes with increasing distance from a transit node, and by all accounts Intesa accomplishes this very well. As a degreed city planner, a member of three different car shares, a bike share, and a full time cycling commuter to work and most of my entertainment, I still can't deny the practicality of people owning and storing personal cars for use from time to time. Cleveland is simply not densely populated enough to make car free living a reality for those with means. Besides, Intessa is indeed oriented towards the transit hub, and space for cars there has been nicely managed so it isn't the dominant form in the design. I'm not sure what more people could ask from these investors on this one.

biker16, I would call it TOD, Cleveland Style. Even for folk who prefer and use transit, Cleveland is still affordable enough to also keep a car parked close by for weekend trips to Amish Country, (or wherever). This type of development does help Clevelanders use their car less often, even though much of what Clevelanders want to enjoy is sprawled across a wide region.

Re: freethinK: smallboxcle 11 hours ago Because we can't keep it to ourselves any longer... Stayed tuned for a big announcement this week! EXCELLENT! "The Cleveland Browns have signed on to the project, with the team opening a merchandise store just in time for football season. In a few weeks, two additional independent stores, the Banyan Tree and the Wandering Wardrobe, also will open new ventures inside refurbished containers." http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/smallboxcle090914.aspx

I don't live in Cleveland, but I'm very curious. Does anyone have a snapshot or two of any fresh improvements to the Swetland Building (1010), or any new cleaning that's been done on Post Rotunda? Thanks

LaFont, Wealth is subjective, but I think my guidelines for income and class are more closely aligned with this chart. Middle Class Americans can earn quite a bit of money, and there are enough jobs (and other income sources) in the Cleveland that provide incomes at and above the $200K + range. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/United_States_Class_Structure_Comparison%2C1984-2014.jpg

Gotta, I would think that with Cleveland being a $111B economy with around 1.7 million residents, there should be enough middle-class SINKs and DINKs around with a taste for urban living to more than fill up several more than one of these types of places. As public taste and national trends shift away from suburban living, a full tower will hopefully inspire a second one, and soon.

- They ARE ugly, but also wildly popular with baseball fans who arrive early and linger long after Nationals games.

Thanks PaulI for some snapshots of this new little "pocket park." Makes me wonder what would it take to get all that awful looking equipment off the roof of the old Ohio Bell Tower. It really could be one of the most stunning contributors to the skyline.

Hi Teddlers55, In my neighborhood, the couple of hotels (The W, Donovan House, & Beacon Place) with rooftop bars operate in a way that allows guests use their room keys to swipe themselves up to the roof bar. Non-hotel guests are greeted in the lobby by a host (bouncer) with a velvet rope, and sometimes a reservation list. The host swipes his/her own card, allowing guest to ride the elevator to the top. I think This also helps control over-crowding on weekend nights and big events, and keeps the roof bar private for special events. Hotel Guests may have to enter the sky-bar only from the hotel lobby - to keep the room floors secure from intruders. Also, adding a mechanical elevator door on every floor for 30 floors would be no small undertaking compared to a single unbroken elevator shaft. They'd have to sell a lot of Brandy Alexanders just to break even, esp. since not every hotel guest will visit the sky bar. ExPat

RANT ALERT! IMHO - Too much hard-scaping to make it an inviting public park. Erieview Plaza anyone? Where are the trees? Also, we're going to make a historic building disappear as part of the budget for this plan? Shame on the illustrator for that one. Also, Where will the Teamsters Rigs and Police Bomb Squad park their enormous view-blocking vehicles (so famously on display at every public event on Public Square) for special events? Aesthetics of this important public space always seem lost on the people who produce events on Public Square and it always comes off as a dump. Especialy for the annual tree lighting ceremony. How will that change when it gets turned into a Potuguese tile inspired fantasy of faux paving and pubic baths for the homeless? Call me a downer, but these are my concerns about this plan. I'm forever embarrassed by the way this space is programmed. I never bring out-of-towners with me to events on P.Sq. Acres of brown resembling all of Cleveland's many surface lots should not be the inspired choice for this park. - Sigh!

From Page 25 of this thread, posted by by KJP in November, 2012 - "This was the rotunda in 1964, shortly before the buildings south of it were demolished for the Cleveland Trust tower. But the bank made a commitment to the rotunda too with a nice facade cleaning, and would soon be incorporated into the tower plan that was surely on the architect's drafting tables by now...." http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb90/Peepersk/Clevelandhistory/ClevelandTrustRotunda-c1964.jpg P.S. - Man, it was filthy too.

What's with all the talk of closing every street downtown from Playhouse Square to Public Square (& Euclid is hardly a great way for people in cars to get into town.) - ? You know it is a city after all, and closing every other street can also be a vitality killer. I don't even own a car myself because I bike and cab and transit around DC, but to my own mind closing every other street is hardly the way to go. Access for cars and cabs to drop people off curbside is not the worst thing that ever happened to a town. East 4th Street is a unique experience that doesn't have to be perfectly replicated a few blocks away. I can hardly think of a closed street in all of central DC, but it is vibrant at all hours with lots of traffic, and the entertainment districts seem to do just fine. Think a little harder about it before jumping to close more downtown streets. Cleveland hardly has the luxury of traffic congestion compared to other major cities. I'd give the closure of Huron some serious review before pushing too hard.

The Power of Color Enhancing Sealer on Stone "Color Enhancing Sealer's are one of the tricks of our trade. What is Color Enhancing Sealer? It is a no-sheen penetrating sealer that is formulated to darken, enrich and highlight natural stone. It rejuvenates the color and improves the appearance of worn or weathered stone. We use it all the time when we do a Honed Finish on natural stone. The Honed Finish can lighten up the color of the stone. Some people like the lighter look, but generally we'll put the Enhancing Sealer on it to bring the color back out. Here's an example of Absolute Black granite that we put a Honed Finish on.. As you can see, when we honed it the stone went grey. The left side of the picture is Honed Absolute Black without any sealer. On the right side I put a coat of Enrich 'N' Seal on it. Huge difference right? "[/size] SOURCE: GraniteGurus.com[/size]

Not paint - it's a black granite finish, so I'll bet it looks dull from the recent cleaning. A Good polishing will look amazing, and be much more maintenance free than any type of painted coating.

Thanks rockitect, Which company or companies are responsible for the specialty carving (cutting?/molding?) of the more distinctive stone or terracotta elements? Any idea when those things will begin to be installed? I'm curious about how they researched and modeled the elements so they might be as close as possible as replicas of the original details on the building. Were original plans stored someplace, or will they have to improvise from photos, etc?

From Today's NY Times - Cleveland’s Thriving Theater District Makes Downtown Living Alluring http://nyti.ms/QDHjCj "Residents of Midtown Manhattan are accustomed to walking to the Theater District to see what’s new on Broadway. But Mr. Hawley’s trip to and from Cleveland’s gilded Palace Theater was something much more significant. It was a sign, decades in the making, that this city’s efforts to create a thriving residential real estate market in its downtown core was starting to look more like a box-office hit than a flop."

♫ Shut your mouth.

Many companies will only reimburse employees for self-park. Families traveling together often prefer self-park too. - anyway, the fastest retrieval for valet parked cars are those that are right there, and not across the street and a block away, tucked behind a giant government building.

Why this color combo? Cream, steel-grey & that nasty old brown? I like everything about this project except the poorly told color story.

Well, Here's the list of Marriott brands: http://www.marriott.com/marriott-brands.mi This logo would certainly support the idea of "The M on 9th" I'm surprised at myself for not thinking of it sooner.

I found this nice little photo essay yesterday on construction. Cuyahoga County Administration Building Posted on September 20, 2013 by lrpacini Progress on the new Cuyahoga County Administration Building is evident as iron is coming up out of the ground. The site is located at the former site of AmeriTrust’s P&H Building, south of the historic Cleveland Trust Rotunda and the former 29-story AmeriTrust Office Tower, at the intersection of Prospect/Huron and East 9th Street. The once housed the massive data-processing center and Bond and Stock Administration for the bank’s Corporate Trust Division. The 8-story http://www.artographyonline.com/blog/2013/09/20/cuyahoga-county-administration-building/

That Hyatt at McCormick Place in Chicago is way outside the center (interesting parts) of town. The only people likely to the McCormick Hyatt are those who need to be tied by the neck to a convention center. Those attending conferences don't want to stay there, they stay downtown in the middle of things - um like where the new CLE Convention center is going.

Happy to see this news today about K&D Closing on the East Ohio Bldg. - http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/kd_closes_purchase_of_east_ohi.html

Agreed - this design & site layout is appalling. How could CSU allow this to happen? I hope city hall doesn't just roll over and do nothing. (again)

Point of fact: The Main Ave (Route 2) Bridge is not of the same design as the collapsed I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis. People seem to be confusing the Main Ave Bridge Design with I-90. The similar (to I-35) bridge design in Cleveland is the old I-90 Innerbelt Bridge, which is why there has been such a rush to replace it. http://www.csuohio.edu/academic/success_in_math/posters/CSU/Cleveland_innerbelt.pdf