Foraker

Bad for the environment, awful for our health and terrible for public space – this is the case for banning cars https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cars-climate-change-environment-air-pollution-congestion-health-a9034841.html

Ha! Good one! Be sure to check the lead levels in your blood when you're done ... and you probably won't want to rent to anyone after that unless you've thoroughly cleaned up all the dust. I can imagine Misny and Elk & Elk salivating over future tenants found to have elevated lead levels.

I would agree -- the technical problems and construction expense has to be ridiculous. But I do fear that all this hype and investment will lead to someone actually trying and blowing a few billion on the project. That money would be far, far better spent on building some high speed rail like 20+ other countries have already done. What if we get Musk to dig Cleveland a nice "hyperloop" tunnel that we can turn into an actual subway system?

Are they putting any money into freshening up (rebuilding would be nice) the parking behind TC?

Once you determine that the flaking paint contains lead, and before you paint a flaking lead-painted windowsill, you have to remove the flaking lead paint. And how do you do that without creating lead dust or leaving lead paint dust or chips behind? That is the problem -- that task is not in everyone's skill set, and in many of the homes that still have lead paint the homeowner does not have the resources to pay someone else to do it for them. That is the how and why it is so complicated.

Yes!

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/will-cleveland-heights-new-development-lead-new-government

I think this is a point that resident transit-expert KJP makes frequently -- RTA needs a real estate division to actively acquire and develop land near transit lines. That may be the only way RTA becomes more self-sufficient given the state and federal reluctance to support mass transit alternatives.

A disappointment, yes. But if outrage is useless, nothing will change. Except the weather. Keep pushing for signal prioritization! GCRTA has a LOT of competition -- huge government support for highways, Uber, Lift, private car ownership, etc..... If we wanted government to stop playing favorites, GCRTA would be getting a lot more assistance relative to Cuyahoga County roadways (yes, buses use roads too, but more efficiently) than it is. Americans like independent go-anywhere, go-anytime private cars, even if it is more expensive to maintain all of that infrastructure so that we can avoid having to ride the bus with our fellow citizens. Sounds like my time at GM. But seriously, that is a pessimistic take on government and the world. In every organization, even the government, there are superstars and there are shirkers. Being in government or in a private business doesn't change that. Can't argue with that unfortunate fact. There are always going to be services that are valuable to a community but not profitable for the private sector -- see daily mail delivery, street sweeping, city parks, and don't forget how eager the railroads were to unload their passenger rail service to Amtrak! Yes, I would say that is past time to challenge deep-seated yet flawed assumptions that mass transit is only for the poors and deserves less funding than other modes of transit. I am hopeful that the next generation will finally ditch the car-centered development America has promoted for the past century, but not very optimistic. It is never too late to hope for meaningful change.

Just wait....

The floor-to-ceiling glass is pretty, but that looks like some pretty thin insulation at the floor and it seems like it will be cold next to those windows. I wish architects would take a more energy-efficient approach. Even the best windows don't provide as good an insulation value as a cheap wall.

Admittedly, I too have always wanted to live in Thankfully, Cleveland Heights has lots of those! ?

Architectural Board of Review unanimously approved the “overall concept” for the Top of the Hill project. Construction expected to begin late in the 4th quarter, 2019 https://www.cleveland.com/community/2019/07/cleveland-heights-architectural-board-oks-concept-for-top-of-the-hill-project.html City working on a temporary parking plan during construction. https://www.cleveland.com/community/2019/07/temporary-parking-plans-almost-in-place-for-top-of-the-hill-construction.html

Yes, it is the "concomitant infrastructure obligations" that are really going to bite future generations.

If you could somehow work with or buy out the owner of the adjacent '007 parcel, you could really do something transformative on that site.

Final design presentation. Doesn't look much different from the previous version. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/06/final-design-recommendations-for-revamping-shaker-square-earn-mixed-reviews-at-sunday-unveiling.html

So what do you think Namdar is going to do here? The Walmart lease runs out and they lose revenue. If they sell the HD lease, they're left with even less revenue. Assuming you're right that they have no interest in development, when do you think they will be looking to move the property out of their portfolio?

I think it's something like this: "I complained at the LAST meeting that five stories was too tall, and the developer still has a ten-story building in the plans! Why won't anyone listen to me?!?" [Apparently, the developer reducing the height of the building closest to Nighttown, adding an additional and lower step to the building at the point, and pulling back the top floor to reduce it's apparent height and smoothing the increase in height from the existing business district just didn't go far enough.]

https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/06/best-cities-to-live-list-monocle-ranking-zurich-vienna/592492/

Someone posted a reminder on Nextdoor -- Walmart's lease is up this year. In other words, Severance's owner has been collecting lease payments on the empty Walmart for some time. That might be why they haven't been so motivated to do any improvements at Severance. Maybe (hopefully) that will change. Was this the impetus for the timing of the zoning update? https://www.cleveland.com/business/2015/01/severance_town_center_could_be.html

Who knows. This is a very preliminary design, I wouldn't count it out just yet.

Just a brief report on the community meeting last night. Almost uniform praise for the changes that the developers have made. Lots of concern (and strong feelings, including some rude language) about the height at the corner, traffic, whether there was enough parking, and whether the parking could be further hidden. A number of people were concerned about whether the developer was targeting the right demographic for the apartments. A number of people still object to anything over four stories tall, apparently, as there were repeated complaints about the height at the corner. There were also complaints that the corner wasn't unique enough for Cleveland Heights, and that the project was ugly (I feel for the developer and architect taking all this abuse, mostly without any suggestions for what would actually be an improvement; "not this" is not helpful). There were also a number of people who praised the project and said they were looking forward to the project moving forward, who questioned the need for so much parking, and some people did offer up some concrete suggestions for improvements. The developer said that they would provide answers to the questions on the city's Top of the Hill website by Monday. Some suggestions that seemed popular were to provide infrastructure for seating and public performances in the pocket park, providing space for a rotating collection of public art in the small park at the point, putting a public restaurant/pub on top of the tower at the point rather than a pool, and using lighting on the building at the point to provide more character to the building. And despite this being a meeting about the high level design, there were a number of people there to object to how the project was financed.... Several members of city council were in the audience (none of them spoke). The city manager and traffic engineer were not there. The next step is the presentation to the Architecture Board of Review (which will be on July 9 at the Cleveland Heights Community Center to accommodate more people) and the developer said that they do not envision making very significant changes to the plans before going to the ABR. Since the developer has already been working with the city planning department, it seems likely that the ABR will approve the project, probably with conditions. Once approved, the developer will begin working on the details, and the developer will be back before the ABR many times as those details and any changes are worked out. So there will be many more opportunities for public input.

Also, here's a link to the winning Cedar-Lee-Meadowbrook proposal. https://www.clevelandheights.com/DocumentCenter/View/5131/Cedar-Lee-Meadowbrook---Proposal-from-Cedar-Lee-Connection-LLC---5-17-19?bidId=

The recent master plan for the city calls for the Severance area to be more walkable, mixed-use development -- the zoning is just being updated to reflect that to influence future development. I thought the owner of Severance was still responsible for maintaining the roadway. I hope I'm mistaken -- can a road be a public right-of-way and still be privately owned and maintained?

This is just a request for an updated zoning plan. As discussed in that article, this area has its own Board of Control, which is unique in Cleveland Heights. My understanding is that the private owner of the mall owns the ring road and all of the land inside the ring road. The out-of-town mall owner/real estate investor has no interest in redeveloping the property, so this is just wishful zoning for the future.