jborger

So Metropolitan turned into Metro and had its grand opening on Thursday. (patio to open in a month or so) I took a picture of their new signage on Friday. I think it looks good - much better than that vinyl sign they used to have on the side of the building...

The team that took over ABC Tavern on West 25th is taking over the old Perry's Family Restaurant at 6421 Detroit Ave next to Cleveland Public Theater. The new neighborhood tavern will open in the fall and be called.... XYZ Tavern. Clever. Read more here: http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/bites-randy-kelley-and-linda-syrek-power-food-couple/Content?oid=1893017 There's also a great article on Alan Glazen, one of the guys behind the project here: http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/alphabet-scoop/Content?oid=1893041 He talks about being a part of bringing the city back and looking for locations in Cleveland's neighborhoods to do so. "He hopes to seed his beloved city with upward of 20 new small businesses..." Great article about a great guy.

Wasn't the Rock Hall skate park basically given to the city as a result of the X games? I don't think it was ever meant to be permanent.

Yes, but The Flats could be a better location. The proposed location is near Hooples, a pizza shop, Ohio City bike co-op and right next to the spot where the new rowing association building will go. It would be good to have a skate park there.

I agree. But I wonder if they're actually "hurting". On game nights, they seem to be pretty busy. So maybe they make enough money on those nights, plus they're in the hot new district so they can get away with it... That would almost be worse! I'd rather they went out of business and something better go in there instead of being sub-par forever...

My girlfriend has said the same thing for a while. She loves the food there (as do I) but it never seems busy. I'm guessing it does a better lunch crowd than dinner crowd.

The windows still open for the breeze, and you will still be able to "walk right out" to the patio from the bar via that new doorway. So... do you know what the code says that Zocalo was violating? In a nutshell...

NO. the "Aloft" brand is a "vision" of the W Hotel Brand. IE...the W with a lower overhead and cost. clvlndr - I was told "scaled down W", so I'd assume MTS is correct.

It's too quiet in here... Sources say Johnny's may be moving from West 6th to Flats East Bank. The owner of La Dolce Vita and La Strada has been talking about putting something down there as well as the owner of Lago in Tremont. And the hotel will not be a full service hotel but a scaled down W.

Ah, finally the embargo on this news has been lifted. Glad we didn't derail the entire project by posting about it here before it got on cleveland.com. :) (on a side note, I'm surprised that The Plain Dealer publishes articles online before they reach the newstand or doorstep. Glad, but surprised.) Anyway, I think this is great news. I agree with the other posters that seeing frozen human remains before dinner might make me shy away from getting a spring roll at Saigon, but the article says 270,000 people saw a similar exhibit when it was at the Science Center for five months. Downtown needs unique offerings that the suburbs don't have. This will be a destination exhibit. It will bring people and families to East 4th that wouldn't otherwise come. There isn't a giant parking lot in front of it, so people will park in lots and garages and walk down East 4th and Euclid Avenue. It's definitely unique.

Yep.

So clue me in on your secret sources here. Is this non-public information that you somehow have access to? Otherwise, why can't you say? I don't understand the point of posting on a forum, "Hey, I know what this space is going to be, but I can't say anything, but just you wait! And beg me for it because I know SECRETS!"

I would think they'd want to be on as many screens as possible.

I'm not a huge fan of Tower City Cinemas due to the types of crowds it can draw and the occasional technical difficulties (sound too loud, too soft, poor image, etc), but I do go there a lot since I live downtown and have never experienced rats or any other types of critters. Never really struck me as dirty, either.

Are these trees native to the area? ;)

What incubator?

The casino could technically be built on any of these areas in blue... http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cleveland,+Cuyahoga,+Ohio+44113&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111073887364519458387.00047612c522c1d845dd8&z=15

Ugh, please don't bring that discussion here. :)

I think it would have been better if the entire neighborhood as Zaremba envisioned it could have been created at once. One building like that sticks out like a sore thumb. But if multiple blocks of development had been done at once, shops and restaurants opened, etc, it would have worked. Oh, well. Money doesn't grow on trees...

Love to read more, but that purple text on a brown background makes me want to gouge my eyes out...

Sad that the city that hosts the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can't even keep a rock icon like this open. I mean, are we really as passionate about rock and roll as the CVB would have outsiders believe?

I think there should be an aquarium on every corner downtown.

The tail end of a story in the Plain Dealer today about the FBI meeting with Gilbert to discuss casino security mentioned that a spokesperson for Gilbert said private discussions about opening a temporary casino "the old Higbee's building has been mentioned as a possible site" are continuing but there's no new developments. Mayor Jackson supports the temporary plan... I just hope a temporary casino does not slow down development of new construction. Plus, I'm sure people will walk into the old casino and say, "This is it?", not knowing it's temporary. I would imagine the entrance to the temp casino would be at Prospect and Ontario because the Public Square side of the old Higbee building is pretty much full, right? Besides the upper floors which might not be as conducive as ground floor access.

But to mick7012's point... If the date has been changed, update your website. It's 2010.

Fast Track Cycling has announced a real estate purchase option agreement with the city to acquire a nine-acre vacant site formerly occupied by St. Michaels Hospital in Slavic Village. Fast Track plans to create an indoor recreational facility which will include a velodrome – a custom-built, banked bicycle track! There's 25 velodromes in the US, but this will be only the third one that will be indoors. It will be a 150,000 square foot dome (air supported, like the Sports Dome in Valley View, I think) and have a 250-meter wood track, 75,000 square feet of turf field and 20,000 square feet of court space. They'll have cycling (of course), soccer, track and field, football, baseball, volleyball, basketball, running, walking, and more. Estimated costs are $6.5 million.. And since everyone loves renderings, you can find some here: http://www.edwardhoward.com/holding/fast-track/ And more at the Fast Track website: http://www.fasttrackcycling.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2