Map Boy

Just catching up here... really confused about why the site/unit plans don't take advantage of the auto court and back load all the Bridge units. It's not like they're getting backyards or anything and the impact to the sidewalk is going to be fairly negative with this (essentially) block long curb cut... Any clue as to how this was received at City Planning last week?

I'm also going to amend last week's post and say that I believe the University Center will be under way first half of next year!

That's Dick Fleischman's place and he's renovating it for himself. In regard to new projects going to construction, Hazel Drive is just getting going, as are Circle East Townhomes. I'd presume the hotel will be next in line, followed by CIA. I don't think the CWRU University Center is that close yet... Case will also be building a field house on E. 118, completing the NRV master plan. That's likely to begin before the University Center. CSA will obviously start mid-to-late next year. There's other stuff out there, but I'll have to let you all squirm for a bit...

And what is being built at the harbor right now? East of 9th, north of the Marginal?

I will rephrase what I just wrote: Blazing Saddle Cycle is relocating from the rear of the building at 76th/Lake to the former Lakefront Hardware space at 7427 Detroit. I haven't been by this week, but I'm assuming they're doing some facade work. I haven't seen any activity at Cheerios in some time. But again, it could certainly be happening without me knowing!

Might this be the Blazing Saddles relocation to the old Lakefront Hardware space?

This is the New Circle Vistas project, as visible on the site map posted by Murray Hill. It received design review approvals more than 2 years ago and has been working on financing ever since. I believe that with financing in place, they are now wrapping up variances and what not to move forward. Also of note (didn't see it elsewhere on here, but I haven't looked everywhere...), the CircleEast Townhomes project broke ground last Friday on Euclid Ave/Lakeview. A formal groundbreaking ceremony will take place this Thursday at 4:00 on the site.

This project is CWRU's renovation of the Triangle Tower 2's ground floor retail facade. The purpose is to provide a needed facelift, making the spaces more marketable and the exterior fit in more appropriately with the neighboring Uptown project and alley. The project will also create a pedestrian "arcade" between the rear parking lot and the alley, which is important because retail customer parking for this side of the development will be on the rear of Triangle 2.

On the former, it's called Blazing Saddle Cycle and I'm looking forward to checking it out. On the latter, I have no good information, but I did see some guys taking the boards off the windows over the weekend. They looked legit, so I didn't call the cops...

It seemed like the point of the presentation and dialogue yesterday was exclusively about the new construction, as the Columbia Building itself was scarcely mentioned. I'm not sure, but I suspect that they proposed demolition in a previous session and the Commission asked them to return with more details on what would replace the structure and why. Then again, they could've talked more about it in the 3rd hour of the hearing... From the developer: a structure attached to the south end of the Gateway North Garage would be too far from the Higbee Building (I guess wealthy valet parking types are lazy). On the flipside, wouldn't it be that much closer to the site you initially planned to build on? Lastly, this all hinges not only on the demolition of the Columbia Building, but also on the sale of the City-owned GN Garage. Since the City knows just how CRITICAL it is for the developer to have their parking in this precise location and since they know how much they've doled out for unimproved land south of Tower City, if they do sell, they'd better not let it go cheap. Next steps include another Landmarks Commission hearing, City Planning Commission hearings (on sale of garage and on design), and City Council (for sale of the garage).

Since we're being snarky... I know it's just a rendering and the lights and color are in there for flair, but it's a little contradictory to broadcast "green design" and then frivolously shoot a bunch of light up into the air. I'll say that I agree with the sentiment that this is not what we were sold on, and by we, I mean the public, the tax payer, the philanthropic supporters, etc. Banks will hold a developer to the letter of their contracts. The "we" in these equations tends to be much more forgiving and also just happens to get screwed when everything goes belly up. I know, it's the riskiest "last in" money and that's why it has to come from these sources ('cause banks don't take risks, right?), but I'm just saying. So, I know they plan to do a full build-out, but I'm going to count myself among the disappointed/disgruntled at this stage. If the parkland wows me, I may start to change my tune.

You guys ever bump into each other taking pics from the top of the UH garage? :wink:

See all those little colored "tags" in MayDay's photo? Each of those is a 600' deep geothermal well that will serve the new MOCA facility. Nice!

All of this, to me, has to be taken with a grain of salt. While these will be the "official" numbers, there are plenty of professionals and city advocates out there who believe that the Census systematically under-counts urban areas. I'm not saying that there's a clearly agreed upon methodology that would be more effective (or feasible), but it's something that I will always have in mind when reviewing these figures. Social Compact did their neighborhood drilldown (http://www.nhlink.net/socialcompact/) in 2003 and found much more positive numbers across Cleveland's neighborhoods. I'm not sure if there are plans to do this again after the 2010 Census, but I hope they do.

Oh, crumbumsquare... I haven't been to XYZ yet, so I can't speak to how horrible it is, but every time I walk past in the evening, it's full up, so it can't be all that bad! I've been to Roseangel once and it was delicious. Good service, good food, even ran into some friends. That's my kind of experience, but I'm sure they've had some bumps along the way (who hasn't?). I am SUPER EXCITED about Sweet Moses. My 3-year-old daughter has been talking about it all week (probably because I won't shut up about it and I walked her by it about 100 times!). We're going to go on Saturday afternoon. RE: Parking - there's PLENTY! DSCDO owns three lots within a two block radius. The least known one (on Detroit, between 64th and 61st) is rarely anywhere near capacity, with the exception of big event nights, which aren't all that often. It's probably perceived as a little more risky because it's in between the two main intersections (65th and 58th), where most of the activity is, but it's not like it's in a no-man's land. CPT also has its own, newly polished lot in front of Parish Hall. Ultimately, I know DSCDO wants to build structured parking (with retail on 65th, I believe) in the lot behind the GSA. Unfortunately, structured parking is not remotely cheap to build and they'll never get their money back simply by charging visitors to park. It would have to be subsidized/earmarked beyond belief to make it affordable for them to build and own and that just isn't happening today (Anyone seen the federal Transportation Bill lately?). Also, would you pay to park in a garage in Gordon Square? I wouldn't. Then again, I can walk there, which is one of the many reasons why I bought a house in the neighborhood! (BelievelandD1, feel free to PM me).

The cut through on the corner of E. 115/Euclid will be on the first two floors (20' commercial space) only. The residential units will continue above. So, it's not as shown in the massing posted a page back, but there is a substantial arcade/alley that will allow people to park in back and walk to the corner. I believe there will be retail entries in there as well. As for the plaza, nothing has been designed yet, but the plan is for E. 115th Street to bend a bit to match up with a new E. 115th Street on the opposite side of Euclid. This will open up some space for either a) a lot of bare concrete or b) a "plaza" or pocket park with some seating, plantings, etc. The idea will be to match the style of the remainder of the public spaces throughout the development as designed by Field Operations.

University Circle Station should be going to design review later this month.

North Campus is not supposed to have new dorms. The focus there is on market rate housing, but I guess that remains to be seen. Sorry to bring up an old topic - I've been absent for quite some time and hadn't kept up on the discussion. There's really no excuse for the shoddy materials here and yes, multiple interests dropped the ball.

Walked by here yesterday. This project is humming along. The ground floor windows are going to be remarkable.

Love the boost in vitality and foot traffic that these developments have brought to Euclid Ave over the past 5 years, buuuut, I'm wondering why they went so cheap with the exterior finishes on the Euclid Commons project??? I don't recall City Planning making a stink about it, but I've got to imagine someone brought it up. They went to the next level with Julka and the administration building, so why cut back here? Maybe they're planning on adding some finishing touches to the first building when the second is completed, but you can see on the NE corner that the siding is just plain sloppy. It's bothered me for months!

Adding to KJP's list: - UH Visitor Parking Garage (Euclid & UH Drive), $30M (Complete) - Courtyard Hotel (Cornell at Euclid), $27M (Planned, partially funded) - Commodore Place Renovations - Apartments & Retail (Euclid & Ford), $10M (Complete) - Maximum Accessible Housing of Ohio - New Circle Vistas (E. 115 at Euclid), $10M (Planned, funded) - Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, $16M (Complete in 2009) Have you decided to skip the Clinic or did they fall outside of the 12 month window?

Has Viking Hall cleared out yet? I would imagine the W-W building is "in the way" of developing something big on that block. No reference to it or the Rascal House building in the 2009 Master Plan. Bob Keiser - Landmarks Commission Secretary - would also be a good place to start with questions about the building. He's very knowledgeable and accessible.

My understanding is that the plan has always been to put CSU offices on the ground floor facing Euclid. I believe that these could be modified as storefronts at some future date if the market demanded it.

Also, in Gordon Square (from DSCDO's Catalyst Newsletter): New Store Blooms in Detroit Shoreway's Gordon Square Arts District PETALS x THREADS has opened next to duoHOME, in the former Detroit Studios space. Offering a fabulous fresh floral selection, PETALS x THREADS caters to everyday occasions, weddings, birthdays, events and more. They also offer a Cleveland clothing line to provide outfitting for the City Cleveland and area neighborhoods. Many of you already know the owners, Ricci and Danni. They operate Ohio City Blooms at the West Side Market. While they are already open for business, an opening reception will be held February 4-5. Stop by, say hello, and pick up a bouquet of flowers and a great shirt from the newest retail spot in the neighborhood. Welcome to PETALS X THREADS! They are open: Mon-Tues: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wed-Thurs: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fri-Sat: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Sunday

Tina's on 54th & Herman