clevelawesome

I haven't gotten a chance to visit it in person, so I've only seen pictures, so that's a big part as to why I'm asking these questions. It's a 200 mile drive one way that I've already made 4 times this month and I'll be back Nov. 7th, but I want to get moving on things so I thought getting some inside info. could be a good start beyond the internet researching of the development I've already done.

MTS, do you mean 4or5 people on this forum live there? I assume that's what you mean and not 4or5 people live in the complex. I read through the thread on Stonebridge in the Northeast Ohio Projects and Construction folder; I didn't see a thread in the Ohio photos thread but I didn't look more than a couple pages in...if there is one in that folder I will dig deeper. But as far as the thread on the development, it had interesting discussions in the involvment of casinos, the arch at the entrance etc., but I wonder if anyone familiar with the project might offer insights into if the building was constructed with quality materials, if it was designed well, if people living there or familiar with it are happy with the quality/cost/size/layout, or any other information people might think would be helpful to know before buying a condo there. If there's a thread with those types of discussions already, could you mention the folder they're in and I'll go find it. Thanks for the help.

off topic and I don't want to get anything nasty started, but I love the idea of getting my paycheck from the suburbs and spending it downtown...as much as I'd rather work downtown, that is kinda nice to think about. Here in Lansing I refuse to shop/spend money in the suburbs/townships. Not that I want them to fail, but they have plenty of people already working downtown and spending their money out there.

So an offer was made from Steris, so now I am trying to find the best housing option before I make a final decision. I like the Avenue District, but I'm also interested in the Stonebridge Tower condos...I like the townhouses at Avenue, but I also like higher condos with views and the Stonebridge has 2bed/2bath for $234k which is a really good deal in my mind and Avenue District condos won't be ready in time. So does anyone have any dirt or great things to say about the Stonebridge Tower (not Plaza) condos? Feel free to PM me if you're not comfortable mentioning on he forum.

Great story...most of the merger/buyout deals are worked out over the weekend and announced Sunday night or early Mondays so I was holding my breath after all the news articles about NatCity selling out on Friday. But this story today sounds like things are stabilizing. Also in good news (which probably led to today's good news) was that all day Friday the major story on NYTimes was about Bush switching focus from the $700b bailout to directly buying risky mortgages from banks. Altogether, today is the first time NatCity is getting some good news for standing alone. National City, Bank of America Lead Regional Bank Stocks Higher By Linda Shen Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- National City Corp., Bank of America Corp. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. led lenders higher after governments in Europe, the U.S. and Asia agreed to support banks. National City, the largest Ohio lender, rose 18 percent in early New York trading. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=avGGQSWp5Q7U&refer=us

I certainly will MTS! Thanks for the help. We are open to anything downtown, preferrably on the east side of downtown such as the Ave. District seeing how I would be commuting to Mentor.

They paid for me to fly in, stay at a hotel and a rental car yesterday for my 3rd (1st in-person) interview yesterday. It went well so I think they'll probably make an offer; it's more a matter of how good of an offer. So now my wife is starting to look for work downtown. The interview was 9am-3pm so we just had enough time to look at the Avenue District townhouses and they were awesome. We probably couldn't afford them until my wife finds a job, so hopefully that works out. We originally preferred the lofts on St. Clair, but the home owner's dues are ~$200/month compared to ~$60/month at the townhouses. (Townhouses have alot less common area for upkeep compared to the lofts: elevators, parking garage, etc.). They seem to be very customer service oriented; maybe it's just a sign of the market but they are very open to alot of different scenarios, rent-to-own, letting us live in one place renting until another one is finished and then paying for movers to move us to the new one, and on and on. Also, I'll add the roof-top terraces on the townhouses were incredible. The skyline to the west was truly amazing, and if you're in the homes on the west side of the complex and facing north there's a great view of the lake.

Thanks KJP and everyone for your comments! Well, the first interview yesterday (Friday) went well and 4 hours after it they called me back for the 2nd interview with the manager for 4pm on Monday so things look hopefull. So hopefull, that my wife (who's the public relations director at a media company in Lansing) and I decided to make a last minute trip back to Cleveland last night to see the nightlife and sightsee some more to make sure it's what we want. We stayed at the Mariott at the Key Center and wandered around last night and today before leaving and we're pretty sure that a condo in downtown Cleveland is what we're looking for. We're both in our mid-20s and have friends in Philadelphia, Chicago and D.C., and we've travelled alot to NYC and Stockholm and Cleveland seems to have the best all around set-up for us...decent sized city, good night life in the warehouse district, some good touristy things for visiting friends, mass transit, decent skyline, clean city and affordability. Don't want to put the cart before the horse, but we're hoping this works out. I might be coming back to this forum in a while to see about some of these ideas, but it sounds like carpooling is going to be my best bet. Hopefully my wife can find a job downtown that she can walk to or ride the bus/train.

I am considering a move from Lansing, MI to Cleveland after visiting the city for a random event and being surprised by how much I liked the city. To be honest, I think I was expecting a rustbelt city and not something as nice as what I saw. I have an interview at Steris in Mentor; but I would really prefer to live in downtown Cleveland and commute out there. Does one of the light rail lines or a bus route make it all the way out to Mentor from downtown Cleveland? Probably not, but I thought it was worth asking. Thanks for your help!!!