ExPatClevGuy

Mea culpa. I was premature in my rush to negative judgement earlier up the feed. Overall this is a winning collection of elements, and it's all turning out to be pretty great.

It needn't be as ugly as it currently is. It also doesn't have to be as ugly as what they came up with here, in Sydney Australia, but wow, if this could happen in Clevo too... Our old Justice Center tower could be up-cycled into something completely chic. I have my doubts, but Cleveland never stops surprising me. We can always leave room for something to go surprisingly right. Disclaimer - probably many dollar signs needed for something like this to happen. Article above sourced from CNN's "Life, but Greener" news feed.

Eastern downtown? Call it wrongheaded Erieview Urban Renewal Part II. Tearing down a nearly viable neighborhood for the same as what we already have on the lake? - 👎 With this, we will never weave the other side of the stadium back into the heart of the city, ever again.

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If our goal is for Cleveland to top America's lists for innovation, quality, liveability, and style... we will keep pushing.

For people who care about good design... Bad design knows know age. 'Serif font here, sans serif there. Plastic coated pastiche all around... Yeah, it's a poor assortment. They're fun somehow, but as far as excellence they come off as a swing and a miss. Installing a jumble of ill-coordinated choices doesn't add up to anything passing for pizzaz.

That overwrought 90s fountain was such an ill fitting throw down to me. It was fine as fountains go and the sound was pleasing, but I won't miss it in exchange for the sensitively re-imagined new use of that interior. I would often see kids enjoying the big fountain, yet it was a monolith that was never a match for the elegant proportions of the historic lobby. Over the past few years, I'd stopped bringing guests to the Renaissance or recommending it. The luster has been long gone, except to view the holiday decorations and skaters on the ice over hot toddies. This latest transformation is a thrill for me. That ballroom is getting what it needed. It looks the same today as it did in the early 80s; when we partied all night to the WBBG Big Band Orchestra in a swing dance marathon fundraiser. There were a few Red Cross Balls here and there in the 90s when the room looked great, but it was showing it's age even then. -Welcome Hotel Cleveland! There won't be anyplace like it in town.

@Cleburger , you speak to my ❤️.

@dave2017 "Does anyone know why they removed so many of the panels? The design doesn't look like it impacted the need to remove. Will they be reinstalled?" 🎅 - "I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I'll fix it up there, and I'll bring it back here." ...😃

Sorry, but no new historic districts will be created in Cleveland's future. The governing voices of our fair city plan to tear down the fabric of this area to widen a boring bridge with extra layers of flat, stale, boring-ness. There is a likelihood though of even more dead urban trees, which in their own way are a historic indicator of Cleveland and will thus lend a true sense of Cleveland as a place. Extant structures with 20th-century architectural interest, that define the progressive optimistic history of our town, have no place now and do. not. belong. UPDATE: Please pardon my facetiousness in this post , but ugh! Losing this will hurt and will surely be felt. Those who examine future collections of photos showing Cleveland's demolished structures (and that is a long sad book, I will tell you) are likely to ask - " Why in God's name would they tear down something like this in order to basically do nothing better in its place.

Uninspired dehumanizing buildings serve neither the "global customer base" nor the community. - It's not a zero-sum game. C.C.'s global customer base isn't interested in Avon.

Okay, so not ideal for a pathogen lab(?), but what does the Clinic want after soooo-many unfriendly builds have gone up in a row that there is truly no excuse, and and the city has finally had it? 'Good opportunity here for C.C. to offer - "Okay, so no street retail here, "but in exchange we're going design the exterior of the building appear at-least less hostile, and to do X" on whatever other building(s) might help the campus feel less cold, insular, and anti-community than is currently perceived by C.C.'s neighbors.

I wonder if they know something we don't(?) 'Like who owns the vacant properties across the street where a newer-taller building might rise and potentially block that incredible view - maybe even in the near term. Why spend on rooftop improvements in lieu adding other attractive resident amenities. A friend of mine in Arlington, VA bought an exclusive upper floor condo overlooking the Potomac River and National Mall - and was SHOCKED that another skyscraper went up in a few years that completely obliterated all of it from being seen at all.

'A little smile for me to see this detail from a photo in Susan Glaser's article yesterday "What new hotel projects are planned for downtown Cleveland? A look at W, the Delta, Fidelity, Renaissance and Bridgeworks" Updated: Feb. 24, 2023, 9:51 a.m.| Published: Feb. 24, 2023, 9:30 a.m. Link to article: https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2023/02/heres-a-look-at-new-hotel-projects-planned-for-downtown-cleveland-including-the-w-the-delta-fidelity-renaissance-and-bridgeworks.html

I'm responding to posts about closing down Huron Rd behind Tower City (so trucks will only spend 30 seconds to go another way) and the suggestion about removing parking form Prospect Ave altogether as mentioned above in this thread.

OMGoodness, it's been so long I thought "Club I" had been demolished for a new hospital development or some-such. Welcome back old friend! I'll be by to see you again when I'm in Cleveland during March. 😍 #collegeyears

Cyclists have too much say in traffic engineering projects these days, haphazardness and inconsistency, poor overall vision, and strange experiments in my new hometown of DC are unfolding to the detriment of city dwellers like me who are less single-minded. - That said, center bike tracks are great for cities and resolve several problems involved with sharing the road along curb lanes. I commute by bike into the very of core of DC daily, yet at other times I'm in my car picking up the kids, bringing home groceries, delivering supplies of one sort or another, and navigating across town on work assignments to more far-flung neighborhoods of the city. Balance is essential. Closing off major downtown streets and calling it "progress" is selfish and should not be happening. From what we experience thanks to the bike lobby(WABA - of which I admit I'm a member) in DC, I'm not optimistic. Cocktail party conversation among my set of Logan/Dupont/NoMA/Truxton Circle friends is that it's become just too much and it's time to move further from the downtown core where the overkill is less cumbersome for all - at least until the kids are grown. Nearly all of us use bikes for most things these days when we are on our own or with our mates. IMO Here comes the next major urban exodus, and the cities, once again, city governments have only themselves to blame. DC used to do its damned best to support getting car-loving office workers out of the city at 6pm. Traffic engineers ruined neighborhoods like mine (Logan) to do it. This has ended, but been replaced with a new tyranny on DC. - an inability to get around. Cleveland, take heed.

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Architects: "Voila, our signature architectural feature for this rendering will be a garage door." U.O. Commenters: "Oh yes, very nice!" Me: Laughing hard at this other illustration, with all those people filling Cleveland sidewalks, broad and rimmed with shrubs & wide lawns, and all walking together toward this monolith as if they're crowding to go to see a rock concert. 'Only two cars too during mid-day is also very realistic. They sure know how to try and sell it, lol.

I think the Galleria has aged well visually. It brings lightness to the corner of 9th & St Clair. It was a high quality project then and it still shows. That there arent enough options right now for it is okay. It's a 90s building for sure, but not a bad one IMO, and buildings from every era offers something worthy to the Clevo mix.

'Thanks. 'Love these images! 'Happy here with the timeless classic elegance and continuity that shades of grey & tan bring to our city. They are the canvas for great colorful storefronts & awnings and as a backdrop for the trees & sidewalk amenities that should be going into place at the human scale. Someone mentioned on a U.O. thread once, and it still rings true for me; Paris, Rome, Chicago, & NYC are mostly shades of grey & tan - to excellent effect. IMO, faking up a building with bright colors is no substitute for what is supposed to organized at street level. Pink & teal look great on buildings & homes in Miami. To me such trendy colors looks ridiculous everywhere else.

So, we need and desire concrete, but it should be made where other people live. 'Perhaps in a place with lower property values, and not in my own back yard.

Midway? Those are some great broad sidewalks down Superior. I haven't been to one in a while, but will Cleveland's big-city style parades need to travel up Prospect/Huron or 9th, or Lakeside in the future?

@Cleburger Untrue. I invite you to visit Puno, Peru as I have, and to study this matter as I have. The government does not charge property tax on unfinished structures. Regardless of intent though, it creates a blight on the Peruvian landscape that I would not wish upon Cleveland. Perhaps the principal architect of the Shoreway tower is Peruvian and this is a loving homage, but I don't believe it adds that winning touch to the view beheld by Edgewater beach-goers. NOTE: Maybe if the developer also installs a tall decorative crane atop this tower it will forever look like an exciting new development project - like there is perpetual construction progress happening in Cleveland. 😆

Blech! This design failure brings to mind the perpetually unfinished skyline of impoverished areas in Peru. "Peruvians finish their homes just enough to be comfortable to live in but not all the way, so they can avoid taxes."