Map Boy

Now that that's out of the way, I can say that my inspiration for this thread is found in the experience I've had over the past two weeks of winter running in the Garfield and West Creek Reservations. As part of this little running group I'm in, we're picking a new 'hood each week to explore on foot. Last week, we did a bit of the South Broadway section of Slavic Village, which included a visit to the Mill Creek Falls and a run along the fairly new path that follows the Mill Creek into the Garfield Reservation. This also takes you behind the new Mill Creek housing development that was built by Zaremba homes over the past several years. A beautiful run, indeed, with the falls beind the clear highlight (for me) and a destination that every Clevelander should visit sometime soon! The West Creek Reservation, having only recently changed hands, is still under renovations. Modifications will be made through 2008, but even in the dead of winter and prior to many of these improvements being made, this park was beautiful! Of course, we only covered a few dozen of the park's 300+ acres, but it was a good appetizer that will definitely be bringing me back for more! Some of the features of this new reservation are trails, scenic overlooks, a 40-acre meadow, a Stewardship Center (for community activities and education), and views that stretch all the way to Cleveland and Lake Erie! On a side note, to all of you hibernating winter hum-buggers (I'm usually one of them!), getting out to the Metroparks in the winter is so refreshing! Check your nearest park for activities or visit www.clemetparks.com to check 'em all out. Just a sampling: toboggan chutes, ice skating, ice fishing, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. Nice!

The Cleveland Metroparks, also known as Cleveland's "Emerald Necklace," has long been one of the region's most valuable and accessible attractions. Seeing as I couldn't find another thread on here that focused solely on this subject, I figured I'd start one myself! Founded in 1917 as the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District, the park system was an early attempt to conserve open space in the region as urban development grew rapidly into the hinterland. Today, many of these "reservations" have seen urban and suburban growth expand around and beyond them, illustrating the invaluable foresight of the Metroparks' founders in seeing the need for preserving a large amount of land as public open space. Today's Metroparks contain over 20,000 acres of recreation and wildlife area and 100 miles of parkways. Over 42 million visitors enjoy a variety of active and passive options at the system's 16 reservations and facilities each year. The newest additions to the system are the 59-acre Washington Reservation, which was added in late 2003, and the 325-acre West Creek Reservation, which officially joined the Metroparks this month!

Welcome brtshrcegr! Thanks for all the goodies! I hope to get a tour sometime as well. It sounds fantastic! Also, about WoolyBear's post...do you think the negative press has gone far beyond our little musings here on UrbanOhio? I don't think most people are as perceptive as we are and may just think positive things about highly visible new construction. Anyway, great post and uplifting info!

KJP, I look forward to hearing the updates. The posted article does sound more positive than what you're saying the reality is right now. Of all the existing and proposed museums in Cleveland, this would be the one I'd be happiest to join! Of course, the third initiative would be the most exciting. I plan on working for that personally...

Sorry, where is this? 51st and what? This is great news and completely new to me!

change of pace here... anyone know about the demolition of the former St. John's Nursing College building? I'm not picturing it right now, but I heard at a meeting this morning that this nine-story 40 year old building behind St. John's (E. 9th & Euclid) will be demolished due to outdated heating systems, lack of handicapped access, asbestos, and the fact that the elevators only stop on half-floors, requiring riders to walk up or down a half-flight to get to their floor. Apparently, Joe Cimperman tried to save it, but it just wasn't feasible...

yes, but how much of this interest will actually turn out to be from buyers? I like what they've done so far and I don't know what else I would have done to make the pre-pre-sales period more productive, but we're now into the period where the actual interest comes into play. I'm hoping that local real estate agencies are all over this...

Cleaner, but not yet where they should be by any standard... I agree that the aquarium would help to educate people about water ecosystems and the species that live in them, but I'd still rather see the money spent on creative and impactful efforts to actually repair our natural systems. That's not to say that this money is an "either/or" sort of thing...I'm just making a general comment. Of course I'd love it if we had a great aquarium. And if we did, I would hope that part of its function would be to work diligently on the natural systems in our region through research, education and implementation. That's all.

It is an outstanding structure, but from what I've heard, it's been stripped of pretty much everything of value and the condition of the structure is bad enough (including the environmental contamination) that it would cost too much to do an adaptive re-use. I don't know how much I buy into this, but it seems to be the case in a few other examples as well (55th & Euclid comes to mind). Brook Furio (USEPA & City of Cleveland Brownfields) told us a story in class about a guy who came to one of the public meetings for this site and demanded that he be allowed to reclaim all of his cars that were in the building. The guy had apparently been running an illegal chop shop on the first three floors and the safety concerns got to be so significant that they locked the whole thing up and he was all miffed about it. Furio & others told him that even if they did let him back in the building, the elevators had been stripped of all their wiring, so the cars on the upper floors were a lost cause anyway. What a ridiculous situation! Personally, I'd love to see this building re-used, perhaps as the centerpiece of a sizable "village" of housing and creative or light manufacturing space. (Think the Pabst development in Milwaukee) Thing is, these sites are all over Cleveland, from the Midland Steel site to Battery Park and the East Side's St. Clair Superior (Tyler Village) neighborhood. Battery Park is the only one that's actually moving and even that involved the demolition of all but one of the old industrial buildings. How about some photos? Ok! Welcome to the Ferry Cap & Screw (Trinity) site! The west side of the building, with the sign posted by the City of Cleveland: What's left of the site: A glimpse of the neighborhood directly west along Detroit...several Middle Eastern specialty shops, a housing complex and in another couple blocks you'll find the W.98th Street Red Line station:

I get the feeling that that this is going to be a very loooong and drawn out project...

wow, there are some really crappy names out there! Personally, I think all the abbrevs along the lines of SoHo, NoHo, DUMBO, SoLo, NoLita, etc. etc. are getting really f-ing annoying! (Though, the South of Canada reference was pretty funny) I think my favorites so far are the Docklands (i like the London reference), the Docks and Northside (much different from Cincy's Northside). And you know what the Docklands have in London? Their own light rail line! It's a bit bigger...but there are some commonalities.

that was my point! of all the places where a city would need to create an aquatic environment for people to experience something new, Atlanta makes a lot of sense! we could do a lot better to make our natural water systems more functional and more interactive...this is where I'd rather see the money spent. It's hard for me to rationalize spending millions of dollars to create a fictitious aquatic habitat when the fish in lake erie and up the cuyahoga are struggling to survive.

And further comments on the aesthetic question... I really don't think this is a valid argument from Hauser. Think of Seattle, Boston, San Francisco...no one's complaining about the view in those places! I think a "working waterfront" can be a very exciting piece of the scenery (as has been mentioned on here before) and that the real issue is where the Port can function most effectively, while at the same time, offering the highest and best use for each piece of property. Any ideas on what we would dub this new neighborhood? I can't say I'm a big fan of "Pesht." "Starktown" doesn't work for me either. "Brownsville" isn't bad. How about "Portland?" "The Docks?" Anyone else?

KJP, yet again, great work! I think this was the best part in the series yet, because it really brings in several elements of how this "dreamy" project can actually become a reality. It's interesting, too, to think about how many years down the line we should be able to see consistent progress. It's been a while since Cleveland has seen construction cranes working for many years in a row. I think we're starting to see the beginning of a new growth era here and this is a major part of it. We'll start with the block by block projects in the Flats, Avenue District and Phase 1 of Stark's plan and then, as things really get cooking, we'll see new neighborhoods growing up on the port's land and Burke's land and who knows what else? It's crazy for me to think this far down the line...it can't happen soon enough! It just seems that with engineering innovations like the rubber soil and the fact that we have developers, a port authority and a city that are all on the same page, this is our chance to set it in motion!

no, I think it is! unless there's someone else who's ready to put up that kind of money!

The proposal for the lots between Prospect & Huron was dropped on the Planning Commission by Chris Ronayne and Richard Fleischman (architect) as a pre-emptive offer to the City and the Cavs so that the City could endorse the idea and no one could say that we weren't trying. I believe that it was a sincere effort, but it didn't receive the support from Council that it could have received if it had gone through a more lengthy, communicative planning process. I don't recall if the Cavs ever said that it was a serious possibility and I haven't heard anything about it since the week it was first proposed. (there's a thread on here somewhere that covers it) As far as Stark is concerned, when he was first cited in the PD for saying something about developing Downtown, he mentioned that site. The way it appears now, though, is that Gateway is much too built out at present to hold the type of large scale project that he wants to execute in the WHD and north towards the lake. I would assume that this part of the "Y" will probably be left to other developers...

Anyone know how well the Montana Townhomes are selling? This is a small development on the corner of 36th & Prospect and it's been listed on Progressive Urban for over a year. They're relatively cheap, starting at $139,000. I think there needs to be a bit more capacity built up on Prospect before it re-establishes itself as a premier residential location, but I think the potential is definitely there. There's still a good number of historic structures lining the street and the scale is much better than some of the other, wider avenues Downtown.

This is a shame...it sounded like a very promising possibility for Gordon Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Atlanta? I don't recall Atlanta having any natural bodies of water anywhere near it! After reading KJP's post, I have to agree with him that an aquarium is not the most suitable attraction to build in a 24-hour neighborhood. They do stink! That said, I'd support it being somewhere around North Coast Harbor, but what about Gordon Park or Edgwater Park? I know access isn't as good, but parking would be a heck of a lot cheaper! Gordon Park just learned that it won't be gaining the investment of a Salvation Army Kroc Community Center, so they've got some land open for somethnig along these lines and it was, afterall, where the original aquarium was located.

KJP, how did that meeting with RTA and ODOT go? I'd forgotten to ask until now!

wow, maybe you should start a new thread and tell us all about it?

Based on their website (http://www.walkerweeks.com/index.html) and one of the "tour of downtown living" threads on this site, I'm assuming this is one of the nicest loft conversions in town, though it is a little pricier. As their site indicates, though, they are offering substantial promotions (currently, 2 months free rent and parking!), which leads me to believe that leasing isn't as strong as they'd like it to be. At first glance, it does appear to be a bit isolated, but after moving back to town and spending time on campus at CSU, it's become apparent to me that this site is really very close to campus, and thus, well-connected to Playhouse Square, Gateway and Downtown. If you think of Prospect as its front door, that helps! Also, the new CSU construction between Euclid & Prospect across from the Walker & Weeks building will help to create even greater connectivity between the heart of campus and the apartment building. Prospect Ave appears to me to be the logical choice for a sort of "sleepy" back door residential neighborhood to complement Euclid Avenue's resurging hustle & bustle.

That's fantastic news! Combine this progress on the northern end with the post before it and we're getting closer to that dreamy three-digit number! 101!

what about the West Bank, north of the Power House? Or somewhere on Whiskey Island? Part of me says we should add this to the cluster of tourist attractions along the North Coast on the east side of the river, but there's a part of me that says we have enough amenities there already with the stadium, RRHOF and GLSC and maybe we need to concentrate on some other uses that are more than just "destinations."

What skyline? The Downtown Cleveland skyline or the Rockside Road skyline? Funny that the name "Cleveland" isn't mentioned once in the article... Anyone know anything about this Slyman Development Group? Locals? Out-of-towners? Anything? Looking at it one way, this could take some of the wind out of the sails of some of Cleveland's big projects that are just getting underway. Looking at it another way, if the suburbs are going to build (they are), I suppose I want them to build dense and mixed-use developments. The jury's still out on this one, though!