cleveland1979

This is the article I was thinking about... it says this.. "To prevent a competitor from moving in, the grocer placed deed restrictions on the church that make it nearly impossible to build a sizable grocery store on that property or the surrounding land. Those restrictions don't roll off until late 2022. Giant Eagle is the only party that can lift them." So for all of us who wanted a different grocer there, that is why. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/giant_eagle_plans_small-format.html

Isn't that land on W 117th owned or at least co-owned or leased from Giant Eagle still? As much as we'd love Whole Foods, Heinen's, Trader Joe's or another "trendy" grocery store on that corner, Giant Eagle simply wouldn't allow it. The developer claimed at one of the meetings that he approached Dave's and Heinen's and they rejected it, but later that week the Plain Dealer's article said that Giant Eagle still "controls" that lot, so why would they allow another store to move in there even if they didn't want to build on it?

I initially opposed the whole notion of another Giant Eagle in my backyard, but it sure as hell beats a Dollar Store or some discount retail shop. They promise a Giant Eagle Market District (which I GUESS is suppose to be nicer?) The rock climbing thing will get attention for being "new" and somewhat "innovative," but once that news wears off I can't see how this neighborhood, nor the city as a whole, would support this kind of place for the long term. How many times can I rock climb in a week? I understand they might provide other things to do there, but with such a saturation of gyms in our area I can't imagine anything support this facility. If someone said they wanted to turn the church into a restaurant, sure! Look at what Crop did in Ohio City to that old bank. Our city certainly goes to restaurants and bars -- but rock climbing facilities? I think not. I stand firm -- bulldoze the church down, build the townhomes, get the Giant Eagle Market District thing built -- and move this neighborhood forward!

I wish we could all just get passed this "Save The Church" stuff... as a homeowner, I want to see new opportunities built in this neighborhood and no more far-fetched rock climbing ideas presented which simply serve as speed bumps to the development of the neighborhood. Build the Giant Eagle and accompanying retail, build the town homes, try to use part of the church as an architectural remembrance and let's move this area forward!

^^ Go Brickhaus, their proposal is amazing and as a homeowner in the area this is by far the most attractive and elegant design I've seen! I would love to live next to this.

Why can't Giant Eagle and the church renovation work together? Why does Giant Eagle need so much parking? The Starbucks across the street has about 4 parking spots and seems to be crammed full of people and does extremely well...

Sorry to hear about the owner! I hope it gets bought by someone else or somehow remains open... it seems a number of gay bars have closed over the last year or two, and with the Gay Games coming up, it would be nice to have at least a few gay bars remaining! This is a lesson in not believing everything you read on the Internet. The owner is NOT in hospice and there are NO plans to close the bar. Not sure where this original poster got his/her information but it is completely inaccurate.

I used to live off West Blvd and took this Rapid to the airport often. I can't remember a time when those escalators actually worked. They were particularly noticeable on NYE as a crowd of people walked up them together... very slippery! I'm not saying we need escalators everywhere, but if there's no money to keep repairing them, how about just put in regular stairs with at least some kind of traction on them... the metal strips on escalators can get slippery, full of garbage like cigarette butts, etc. Some basic concrete stairs would be so much better than inoperable escalators.

Lots of frustrations from the folks at the W 117th Rapid station on NYE. Of course one of the machines was out of order and the line wrapped around the hallway because most people were traveling with friends and the ONE functioning machine wouldn't let you specify a quantity greater than 1. So everyone had to buy an individual ticket which took in inordinate amount of time because it kept rejecting the even smallest crinkle in a dollar bill. And most people had to squint or slouch over to line up the buttons with the selections on the screen. Lots of boo's from customers, I gotta say. Also, I noticed the escalators at the West Blvd station are still inoperable. I overheard several people joking that "RTA will never fix these and the elevator rarely works!" Any truth to this? I haven't ridden the Rapid in a while and with all these new customers riding on NYE I didn't exactly hear great reviews of the transit lines.

And to clarify, I did notice RTA will run rail service continuously. I'm referring to the buses.

I can't find information on this on RTA's website... I'm curious with the new and improved New Year's celebration happening downtown if RTA plans on running with extended hours or more buses. I know several people in my neighborhood hoping to take and return on either the 55 or 26. With all the extra people and attention on this New Year's celebration on Public Square this year I would hope RTAS would seize the opportunity for additional riders and give them a good experience. Please don't tell me that RTA plans on cutting back service to holiday hours... ??

I knew there was more to the story about Giant Eagle and that land. Their deed restrictions effectively prevented anyone from building on there who would compete. The guy from Carnegie made it sound like Heinen's, Traders Joe's, etc. simply "didn't want to" build there. Of course they wouldn't want to, the restrictions on their building were probably so prohibitive that they said screw that! Giant Eagle Market District... put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig.

I was at the meeting last night. There was disappointment from MANY people there that this space will be a Giant Eagle, and not a Heinen's, Trader Joe's, Dave's, Constantino's, etc. The head guy from Carnegie said many of those grocers turned the site down for various reasons, probably because of the proximity to their other locations. We don't know what went on behind-the-scenes so it's all speculation, but Carnegie and Giant Eagle have been in bed together on this lot before so I'm not surprised to see this happening again. I spoke at the meeting, saying that I really hope they look to University Circle's development... particularly the brand new Constantino's (which would have been PERFECT for this Clifton site!) The University Circle development "looks" appealing, it's very walkable, even though it ALSO has a busy street (Euclid) cutting right through it. I found the visual mockups of the Clifton site to be okay, nothing particularly unique. I really hope they spend time with landscaping, artwork, and lighting. What about a nice sign welcoming you to Cleveland? Similar to what Lakewood has on the CVS corner. We'll see. In any case, really happy to see the crowd we had tonight. The Giant Eagle representative got plenty of criticism, some compliments. The neighborhood spoke up... it was great to see it in action.

Oh gawd.... more?

What is happening to that space where the parking garage that was demolished on the corner of Superior and W. 6th recently?