Map Boy

wow, the great news around this continues to pour in! my only fear is that they're going to try to build another FBI bunker over on the Davenport Bluffs...

On that note, it's unlikely that Progressive will be considering a move to the city anytime in the near future. Unless it's on April 1st, like last year (thanks for that MayDay!). They've got so much invested in their Mayfield Heights campus and have room to grow... I liked your comment, MetroCity, "Oh yeah....like all that urban life and funky stuff around the Progressive HQ." Not that we'd really want them to create another Crocker Park out there, but it's a good jab at PBL's knack for hypocrisy anyway. As for Progressive's role as a corporate citizen, I found nothing but this on the Progressive Insurance Foundation: "The Progressive Corporation does not contribute or provide any financial support to any organizations or causes other than two non-profit organizations working to reduce the human trauma and economic cost of auto accidents. The Progressive Corporation does contribute annually to The Progressive Insurance Foundation, which provides matching funds to eligible 501©(3) charitable organizations to which our employees contribute." I'm curious, as well, to see what the actual Foundation is supporting. Cleveland has such a rich tradition of foundation support of local initiatives. I know PBL gives to his own causes, but what about the foundation that his company has spun off?

Just look at how it connects (not) to the surrounding neighborhood! And notice the continued diligence in PD reporting on this, Bob Stark's ONLY development project in Cleveland! I have still not been to the site and you all can chastise me for doing so, but I couldn't keep from laughing at this quote: "The architecture will evoke Dupont Circle in Washington and residential neighborhoods in parts of Manhattan and London." If by "evoke" you mean "fabricate something authentic in something nearly completely inauthentic," then I accept the statement. Sadly, if there were a development in Cleveland right now that had the same said about it, I'd probably be peeing my pants right now. It's interesting, too, that all of these developers are working on, have worked on, or are proposing major projects in Cleveland. How is it possible that they cannot see the connection between the failure of our inner city's retail market (our housing market isn't failing) and the proliferation of developments like this (a 180-acre development in North Royalton?!)?

From Crain's 450 jobs exit Halle Bldg. For space on Superior By STAN BULLARD 6:00 am, January 23, 2006 Snapping a string of office tenant wins for Cleveland’s Theater District, First American Lenders Advantage plans to leave the Halle Building and move to the 1100 Superior Avenue Building. Although the company, which formerly went by the name First American Title Solutions, is little known, the loss is a big one for the Halle Building. Lenders Advantage is a growing provider of title services to lenders, particularly for quick-turnaround home equity loans. It’s a Cleveland-based division of First American Corp., a national title company and business information provider headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif. The late-summer move will transfer about 450 jobs to 1100 Superior, said David Petro, Lenders Advantage vice president and national sales manager. The company has leased two-and-a-half floors at 1100 Superior, or 68,000 square feet of offices, he said. That’s about the same amount of office space the company occupies at the Halle Building, but it occupies all the fourth floor and parts of three others in the Theater District building. “It’s difficult for us to operate the way we are,” Mr. Petro said. “This will make for more efficient work flow. We need more meeting rooms, more break areas and dining rooms.” Lenders Advantage tried to remain in the Halle Building, but the structure couldn’t accommodate its need to consolidate from smaller offices to a larger, more efficient one, Mr. Petro said. Lenders Advantage looked at Halle’s third floor as a site to consolidate but was told it wasn’t available because of the pending move of Case Western Reserve University’s back-office operations to the building. Pat Lott, senior vice president of office leasing at Halle landlord Forest City Enterprises Inc., said, “We were disappointed to lose them. We tried to keep them.” Mr. Petro said Lenders Advantage found the space it needed downtown after a six-month search that included sites outside the central city. He said the company elected to stay downtown because of the lease it secured and the desire to minimize the disruption to employees, many of whom use public transportation. While some of the company’s increase in personnel downtown is from America’s appetite for home-equity loans, Mr. Petro said Lenders Advantage grew in Cleveland because it decided to centralize operations here. During the last year, the company closed 12 regional production offices around the country to centralize operations in Cleveland and moved to the city employees who were willing to transfer here. Mr. Petro estimates those moves and job growth connected with rising business levels helped boost its Cleveland work force to 450 from 350 a year ago. He put the division’s national work force at 550. Lenders Advantage has applied for Cleveland’s Job Creation Grant program, which rewards companies that add office jobs downtown by giving them annual grants equal to about 1% of their prior year’s payroll. Two calls to Greg Huth, the city’s interim economic development director, to request the grant data weren’t returned by Crain’s deadline last week. Al Wiant, a principal of the Brandon Wiant Converse real estate brokerage who assisted Lenders Advantage in its search, said the grant is justified because the company is making a big commitment to the city. Lenders Advantage will become 1100 Superior’s largest tenant, said Mark Ferris, property manager for building’s manager, the Gerald Hines Interests. The Halle Building will be about 85% leased once Lenders Advantage leaves and Case moves in. .................. This must mean that the building was going to be damned near 100% full before this latest move was announced! It's too bad, but at least they're staying Downtown. The Halle Building has a lot going for it, though, and should be better able to find a replacement tenant, or allow existing tenants to lease the space, than many of our buildings with large amounts of vacant space.

well, that's the rumor I heard anyways...that Cimperman wanted them to covert the building to housing, but it was just too difficult the way it was built and the condition it's in. I believe the commitment to rebuild is just a "genteman's" agreement, but again, this is heresay from me to you... thanks for the photo MayDay!

hee-larious KJP! I know quite a few kids who would be drawn to that. Obviously, to each, his/her own. You could make a poster out of a half-empty bottle of boones farm sitting in an alley off of euclid avenue and draw a certain type of clientele to live in Downtown Cleveland if you really wanted to... I really like what we've got going here. I'm going to do my best to come up with something of my own. Not coincidentally, my Christmas card was a collage postcard of Cleveland pictures that I'd taken since returning home. YSOH and I sent it out to about three dozen people, several of whom used to rock it C-town style. My subliminal intent? Get people thinking, "wow, Cleveland's really pretty! Let's go visit!" or "maybe it's time to leave NYC and go back home!" The returns are still coming in, but I'd expect the Cleveland population to grow by about 6 in the next two years from this year's Christmas card alone. As for my votes at present, I like the aesthetics of MayDay's a bit more, but I'm really sticking to my affection for KJP's "Come Home to Cleveland" catchphrase. I also appreciate Smackem's mixed-bag of approaches, especially the "not just for millionaire's" angle!

I think we could all do well to make our own... new thread anyone? This could be fun... a sort of poster or post card competition. We could really make something of this!

So, your criticism would be more of Litt's article than of Lewis's comments, leading me to believe that you share my impressions of Lewis's angle...that he's trying to keep the pressure on. Correct? And yes, the article started on he front page, above the fold, and continued on page 16.

The questions running across my mind this morning as I attempted to enjoy my first cup of coffee went like this: What is up Peter B. Lewis's bum? Why does he hate Cleveland? What the heck does "palaver" mean? Well, I looked it up. According to dictionary.com, palaver means "idle chatter" or "flattery intended to persuade" and it was the Word of the Day on August 23rd, 2000. Incidentally, yesterday was the first time that the word was used in print since that date some 5.5 years ago and Lewis was so miffed about it that he used it twice! For those of you who are completely lost, the front page of Sunday's PD featured an article by Steven Litt titled "Princeton gets a gift, Cleveland a knock." The article was basically about how Peter B. Lewis gave a $101 million gift to Princeton University and has instituted an unwritten moratorium on philanthropy in C-town until the powers that be get their thumbs out of their bums and learn how to work together to make things happen. Quotes of note: "Cleveland is not high on my list because it's all palaver." "It's individual palaver. It's people not cooperating with one another. There's no apparent leader to the enterprise." and my personal favorite: Case and other institutions should "collaborate to develop restaurants, movie theaters, poolhouses, whorehouses and bars in the University Circle neighborhood." (Litt acknowledged that this was exaggeration for the sake of impact.) Now, I know that Cleveland has its issues with cross-agency collaboration over the years and UC is perhaps the primary example of this, but how is it possible to think that we haven't made progress in recent years and months? The cooperative planning efforts taking place in UC are inspiring, if you ask me, and should lead to nothing but a brighter future for the district. Add Chris Ronayne to the equation and the acquisition of land at Ford & Euclid, construction progress at neighborhood institutions and an increasing understanding of the need to improve surrounding neighborhoods and ameliorate the insular nature of the Circle and you've got quite a promising set of developments! Here's my take on Lewis's comments: He can't be oblivious to this progress, so unless someone has done something to personally offend him, I'm guessing he's just continuing with his incendiary commentary in an effort to "light the fire" under the rear ends of those institutions that are still not on board. Until he sees some products from these plans, he's not going to stop. He may slip a $100k bill to one or another cause in the meantime if he likes what he sees, but he's not going to be dropping the big dollars until he sees major progress. And hey, it's his money and his call, but I'm not going to sit here and buy the old "Cleveland's on the verge of implosion" story that we're all too familiar with. Not with $171 million in venture capital funding for NEO bioenterprise firms...not with a rapidly growing UH and Cleveland Clinic...not with the sincere plans of area developers to rebuild Downtown Cleveland and the neighborhoods...and not with the people I've met who are working their asses off to make this all happen! If you want to read the article, check it out: http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1137933154133230.xml?exoth&coll=2

Wow, that's incredible! And many of those "first nine months" numbers are for entire states, correct? NEO's got it goin on!

so, with the absence of freezing ground, it may mean accellerated construction timelines...yes?

Yes, very well done, KJP! I wonder if any of these developers/realtors/officials are reading this thread and thinking "damn, it may be time to hire these people!" Seriously, we're good at what we do!

While on a nice jog with some friends (and Urban Ohioans) this morning, I got to check out this site for the first time since...well, since I was born! Saint Luke's Pointe holds a special place in my heart, as I was born here some 27 years ago. This project, much like Beacon Place, Battery Park and Mill Creek, will be reconstructing several blocks of a Cleveland neighborhood (Buckeye-Shaker) that needs and deserves new investment of this magnitude. The homes will be modest and, in my opinion, attractive and will be located close to several great amenities, including those listed below. The views of Downtown are pretty incredible, as the site is located on a slope, proceeding west from nearby Shaker Heights. From Progressive Urban Real Estate's (www.progressiveurban.com) listings: Blocks away from Shaker Square, Larchmere and University Circle, a new neighborhood of neo-traditional, single-family homes and townhouses, set in an 80+ unit development. Special offer: $1,000 credit available to any buyer that pays city of Cleveland income taxes. $1,500 credit available to Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic employees. Starting at $154,900 The site plan (via PURE): The northern half and current construction site: The site from the front of the first new units: There are about 9 units currently completed, this is an attached row of 5. The hospital (now closed) from the front of the units: The rear of the main building: We jogged from here down to Buckeye, which looks to be in pretty good shape, over to Shaker Square, up to Larchmere and back down to the site, in just about a half-hour. There's a lot to do in this very short distance! Also, the re-use of the St. Luke's building is still uncertain. Perhaps with UH's recent upswing in construction, they'll look to re-open here. They were the last operator of the hospital, but I've heard nothing as to this being a possibility... I've heard that apartments may be an option, but I would imagine that the developer would prefer to locate another hospital/employer here.

With the quiet, brick street and the historic and scenic cemetery just north of this site, I was hoping for some housing on that side as well. I understand the transitional use as a parking lot, but I really hope that it doesn't get stuck in that state for too long... as we can see all over town, it's tempting to just sit on that income for decades!

In response to Wimwar's comment, I would like to believe that serious employers who really want to court talent would have some sort of arrangement with local realtors. Unfortunately, until recent years, the major realtors in town had no Cleveland presence. PURE was really a pioneer in this regard, but the big ones are following suit and opening offices in town, which should definitely lead many of those "new to cleveland" types to actually get tours of city neighborhoods. Whether or not they're any good, I don't know, but there's a major incentive for those realtors to be the best at what they do!

I'm kind of afraid to ask what's going on here, but I suppose it could be something good: The former Peterson's Nut Company on Carnegie, just east of 9th. (photo credit goes to YSOH) I'd like to think that this is one of the more premier development sites in the region, considering its proximity to major freeways, Jacob's Field, the Q, Cleveland State, Downtown, an east/west bridge, and a major local thoroughfare. Oh, and there's a hotel across the street.

A funny (but not crazy) idea hit me when you mentioned the need to get the word out, Wimwar. With all the talk of friends, peers and others who have left town for the big cities of Chicago, New York, Boston, SF, and the like, why not take out a couple ads in the real estate pages of their major dailies? Imagine the eyes of apartment/condo hunters as they peruse a page of Trump Towers and Park Slope Brownstones for homes and see "new construction: 2,000 sf lofts with waterfront and Downtown views...starting at just $200k!" They'll defitely read on and discover that this project (picture included) is in Cleveland...but think about it... Maybe 1 in 10 readers have ever been to Cleveland. And maybe 1 in 10 of those 10% are from Ohio and would ever consider coming back. But imagine the curiosity that would arise and the word-of-mouth as more and more of these pop up. Seriously, if Stark expects to pull some tiny (but significant) percentage of Northern Ohio to live in "Pesht," why not expand that to include the wayward Clevelander in L.A. or London who knows deep down that Cleveland is home!

Actually, an interesting aside... Much like the Census is inaccurate on many accounts, how accurate do you think transit ridership numbers are? Are these figures based on fares or actual counts or are they based on samples? The reason I ask is that I feel like my fare is often not counted. Namely, because I'm a student and just wave my ID. No one HAS to press anything when I get on a bus or train in Cleveland. They SHOULD, but they often don't. I sometimes think I'm a dork for wanting to tell the booth attendant or driver to punch me in, but then I think about how numbers add up and lead to big decisions... Just curious what you all think about this...

The way some of the leadership is presented here, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to keep this info "hush-hush." Negativity aside, I'm really excited to see these figures and I'm proud to say that I'm one of the numbers!

well, that's definitely progress from the last time I was there! I wonder how much headway some of these projects (Stonebridge, Battery Park, Steelyard, etc.) have gotten with this ridiculous weather we've been having. I would imagine that the construction season grinds down quite a bit around here when the snow really hits and the ground starts to freeze. I'd love to hear what this has done for project timelines and construction budgets!

KJP, great editorial and a relevant follow-up to your series! It is kind of ridiculous to see how much there is on the table or nearly on the table in Cleveland for the near future. We have lots of inspiring projects in the early phases of construction and so much more in the pipeline. And as positive as I am about everything that I've seen in Cleveland since coming home (from one of those walkable cities that still didn't have what I needed to get my creative juices flowing), I still have to remind myself that I can't get attached to every little (or big) project that comes across the drawing board. I think that's one of the things that Clevelanders get bogged down in...they see many of them being publicized and may even fall in love with one or two of them, but it's always seemed that more often than not, our big projects don't see the light of day. And that's the norm anywhere. People dream a lot of dreams and make a lot of plans before putting their money and resources into risky developments (they're all risky). But we have to keep our heads up about it and realize that we're poised for some of the most transformative urban development that this town has seen in quite some time! So, I commend the developers, investors, buyers, and so on who are trying and succeeding in making so many of these work in Cleveland today. I look forward, with much optimism, to the plans of tomorrow and I actively search out ways to contribute what I can to the big picture. Step one was moving back home. The next steps will present themselves daily as I continue to uncover more and more opportunities in Cleveland. If you're not here already, "Come home to Cleveland!" (thanks KJP!) And if you're already here...spread the word and look for ways to make a difference in your own way.

I like that idea, MTS, but is anyone exploring it? It does seem like the East Shoreway Boulevard concept has been scrapped and the potential to develop Burke is too muddled to predict right now. Besides, there's no reason why another branch can't spin off in that direction when the whole thing happens. Why not try to run the WFL up into St. Clair-Superior? Is there any way we can use the existing rail right-of-way that moves along this route? Would tying this into the innerbelt project be a possibility? ODOT's really got to work a little harder to ameliorate its standing with the locals...this may help!

When I first arrived in Brooklyn in 2002, fresh off the airplane from Portland, Oregon, I got involved with the Brooklyn Historic Railway for a hot minute. A friend of a friend told me about it and I was so enthusiastic about the possibilities after seeing the Portland Streetcar built and christened the year I was there. I met with them a couple times, toured their facilities in Red Hook, looked at lots of maps, but nothing ever really materialized. The warehouse was an amazing place, with old streetcars jammed in and antique, donated equipment in the back that was being used for bending rails and mending old streetcar machinery. The track that ran down the dock to the garage was all screwed up because some boat had rammed into the pier, making the transportation into or out of the garage impossible, without serious work on the pier being done first. Also, their stock in the Navy Yard was clearly visible from public roads around its exterior. In fact, the place first caught my eye one day as I passed and saw an old RTA train, with its shades of rusty orange stripes, sitting amongst the others. Alas, the operation didn't seem to be "rolling along" as smoothly as it should have been and funding was pulled. I only hope that the salvage operation sold those historic cars to another collector...

Check out the Front Street Lofts site plan, posted on a new thread at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7120.0. This may be the Ferchill development from page 8 or so of this thread?

A little digging today turned up this site plan from the web site of Kelly & Visconsi (www.kelly-visconsi.com). It appears that this could be the proposal for the site directly east of Wolstein's Flats East Bank project that was referenced in page 8 or so of the FEB thread (http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1823.300). Perhaps being done by Ferchill? My best attempt to read the site plan (sorry about the resolution, but this is all I could get from their web site), finds that the 2.73-acre site will feature the following: 30,000 sf of retail space 400+ parking spaces in a 3-story garage 7 townhouses 200 - 300 loft units (this one was unclear) in 3 buildings, topping out at around 15 stories. Sound exciting? aerial: site plan: