jborger

Every unit in Riverbend on West 10th has a balcony. They're condos, but many are being leased out by their individual owners.

Very interesting design with shipping containers as walls. And a good fit for being so close to the port. Interesting.

Ha! I was there, too! Were you the guy sitting down that first announced it?

We need to fix the roads before any automotive dealerships start building downtown. Maybe the RNC will spur some action there.

Where are you getting this? They have a website (http://the9cleveland.com/). The hotel, residences, etc are all labeled as "at The 9": "The Metropolitan at The 9", "Concierge Living at The 9". Seems pretty clear to me.

LeBron being here will help the casino in the same way that anything that brings people downtown will help the casino (and other businesses). Now, whether LeBron is the tipping point between Phase 2 not being built and Phase 2 being built, I can't say. But I don't see how it can hurt. The current phase of the casino feels cramped. I'm sure all the execs there would love to have the chance at building something brand new from the ground up. I just hope the land becomes more mixed use with residential and not just the casino. And I think that's possible, given Dan Gilbert's history in Detroit.

Rode my bike down to see the Merwin's Warf site last week and I gotta say it's really awesome. The restaurant has great outdoor seating and a fire pit, but what I really enjoyed was the asphalt path right along the river. People were rowing down the Cuyahoga, the other bank of the river is very lush and filled with trees and then you turn around and have the bridges and the industrial history. Just a very cool site.

That was my question. Gottaplan offered some reasons. Seems like the "relatively low rents" piece is starting to shift somewhat, so hopefully that continues.

No, far be it from you to belittle. Must you find a combative angle to every post made around here? But ok, I'll bite... To all the questions in your second paragraph, no. My point was that I would think news of 97% occupancy and multi-unit projects selling out before a shovel is in the ground would be enough to get the attention of large developers across the country and around the world. "Hey, we have projects going in DC, SLC, Denver, Houston, Tampa and Atlanta, but have we looked at Cleveland yet? I hear the market's hot right now. Let's look at putting an apartment building there." Out of town developers would mean something for us: that there's enough money to be made here building residential buildings that it's attracting more than just small to mid-sized local developers. In the same way that it would mean something if an out of town Fortune 500 company decided to move its headquarters here. Further proof or affirmation of our city's comeback.

Well, SixthCity, everyone knows that making places new and clean keeps the poor away because they would much rather prefer to visit dirty, urine soaked places. (end sarcasm)

Yep.

One thing I hope they consider in the redesign is the current "gauntlet" setup around the bus stops. For example, take the northwest quadrant: if you're walking east to west down Superior, you have a long, marble/concrete bench to your right and multiple glass/steel bus stops to your left. People are sitting on the bench, starring at you and the actual space to walk isn't that wide. I could understand how some would find that intimidating. So get rid of that bench. Make it all one level. And instead of having everyone sit in one long line, have multiple clustered seating areas. That one change alone could help alter perceptions. One of the reasons the quadrants don't work is because we further subdivide an already smaller space. For example, in that same northwest quadrant, there's a brick square sidewalk within the existing concrete square sidewalk that goes along the outer edge. "Do I walk around in a circle (or square) to nowhere on the outside or the inside? Why is that even an option?" From the designs I've seen, it looks like everything they'll be getting rid of these unnecessary steps and squares within squares within squares. I haven't seen any details about new bus stops and seating, though.

Ding ding! Balconies would also be a great way for Forest City to differentiate their apartments from other redevelopment projects going on right now.

The Cuyahoga County sign is hard to read coming north down East 9th. "Cuyahoga County" is ok, but the "Administrative Headquarters" part is hard to make out in that smaller font when you're not looking at it straight on.

I hear this story again and again and again in the city: new projects selling out or close to selling out before the project is even complete. With news like that, you'd think even more construction projects would be going on. We have some good ones, but I'd think that kind of demand would get the attention of some out of town developers.

Hingetown is the name created by the developer of that building and the old firehouse across the street that houses Rising Star and Urban Orchid. It's just marketing.

What are the orange buoys in the water for? They're not aesthetically pleasing. Is it to keep boats from getting too close to the shore?

What a great quote from Wes Finch, the out of town developer spearheading this project: "I've been saying for a while, I think Cleveland is booming," Finch said. "The only people that don't seem to know that are the people who live here. Especially in University Circle, the major institutions out there, they're expanding and growing. There are 1,400 kids who come in every year as an intern, a resident, a researcher, a fellow. From what we've seen, 60 percent can afford these higher rents. Demand continues to eclipse supply." Mr. Finch, please tell this to all your developer friends!

I understand we live in a rough climate, but that's not a secret. It gets cold here and we throw salt around - every year. Hard to believe there's not materials that can withstand that or that people don't have the foresight to use them. Unless it just comes down to saving money.

I've always been surprised at the number of items I see rusting downtown: railing, tree grates, etc. Are people buying cheap materials?

Well, the rental market downtown is much healthier than the owning market, so those former owners probably got a pretty good deal and it will make it easier to market and manage the building.

And NYC and Cleveland are very different as well.

How does this math work? "The city core’s daily population has now risen to nearly 125,000 people and 12,000 residents, more than ever before in the city’s history. 28.4 percent of those who work in Downtown Cleveland are also Downtown residents." So... 28.4 percent of 125,000 is 35,500. Wouldn't that mean there's at least 35,500 downtown residents, plus the ones that don't work downtown? Saying 28% of those who work in Downtown Cleveland are also Downtown residents seems high.

Here's some pictures I took of them yesterday. This is right in front of the PNC building:

Could someone explain to me why we can't seem to keep trees alive on Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland between Public Square and East 9th? (and beyond?) It seems like every year they plant these trees along the sidewalk and the next year they're dead. So they rip them out and plant new ones that are dead the next year. Some have seems to survive and thrive, but that's the exception to the rule. Are they not taken care of? Does the person planting them not know what they're doing? Wrong type of trees?