Map Boy

Whether people (on here or out in the neighborhoods) agree on whether gentrification in University Circle is now or will soon be a problem, trust that people are attentive to it. I haven't experienced a sense of urgency, but it's not something that is being taken lightly either. One thing that most of these neighborhoods have going for them is that if gentrification is, in fact, going to occur, it is going to take place over a longer period of time than it has in places like the Lower East Side or Williamsburg. Even with 10,000 new jobs in University Circle in the next 10 years, I don't see housing prices in Glenville going through the roof. The most positive thing that could happen would be that existing residents experience increased opportunities to earn or accrue wealth as the neighborhood grows and jobs arrive and that they can stay with their properties as value appreciates. Unfortunately, in the Circle proper, more than 3/4 of all residents live in rental housing. In the surrounding neighborhoods, it's a different story.

It's sad we left off here on a sour note. How about this to change the tone? Coming soon (late-November/early December): duoHOME interior design studio and home furnishings shop. Now under construction on Detroit Avenue, west of 65th (next to Kitsch City) www.duohome.com Also, I've been frequenting Reddstone on W. 76th (the old Snickers spot) and I love it. Very cozy and neighborhoody. Keep in mind that Latitude (58th & Detroit) will be opening very soon and Stone Mad some day. Plus, Luxe, just west of duoHome early next year?

No attack here. Except for that "several" is the understatement of the year! There are an expected 1,600 jobs coming as a result of the VA's expansion. My complaint about the demo of these pre-war buildings is that they aren't going to build anything in their place in the near future. Their absence may be convenient for construction staging, but I don't think their removal was necessary. Bottom line is that I doubt the VA had any prospective use for them. They probably just figured they'd get them out of the way now, rather than work around them for the next two years. They can redeem themselves by completing the project as they stated they would, with the addition of a retail front on E. 105, south of Wade Park. While this clearly won't offset the massive influx of auto traffic that will be added to E. 105 and East Boulevard every day, it will make the area seem a little more walkable, which is important to the existing and future residents on East Boulevard and Heritage Lane, which is just north of the project.

As confusing as the multiple names for this project have been over the years, from College Town to UARD to Uptown to the Triangle, this article doesn't make anything much clearer. I think Litt may be confusing people here by calling it the Triangle, because that is specifically the CWRU-owned part of the project south of Euclid and east of Mayfield. North of Euclid and east of Ford "the Beach" is UCI-owned property that is also part of the development. It's also interesting to note that this is not the first time in the history of the project that "starchitects" have been involved in planning and designing the site. In the 1970s, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Burj Dubai, Canary Wharf, Lever House, and on...), and Fred Toguchi Associates (prolific local firm) did a plan for the site which was not far from what is planned for the site today. In any case, the entire Uptown area is shaping up to be quite a compendium of big projects. There will be no shortage of architectural ego in this little corner of the city... let's hope they can play nice!

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=13900.0

The response makes it sound like this is a simple single light being out. It's entire blocks, though, which is ridiculous! I'm glad DCA is advocating, but with all this awareness, why is the problem persisting? I could see Euclid Avenue being problematic with all the work they've got going on right now, but Prospect Ave was completely redone about a decade ago. They shouldn't be having these problems in a rehabbed section of the grid.

ooooh, that burns. problem is, no one really has jurisdiction over the VA. They're kind of in international waters...

I heard a rep (could've been DiBiasio) on AM 1100 this morning during rush hour, hyping up the events, but also reminding people to use common sense during these beautiful playoff days. One of his pieces of advice, considering that the game will start at 5:00 tonight when most office workers are still downtown, was to ride RTA! I'm always glad to hear non-RTA people giving that advice.

On the same tone as Lee Chilcote's article in CoolCleveland...keep in mind that Priemer's got projects at several places along the corridor: http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2007/10/_skeptics_love_to_dump.html Collegetown developer says Euclid Corridor is triggering private investment Posted by Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt October 01, 2007 12:26PM Categories: Architecture Skeptics love to dump on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's Euclid Corridor project. They hate the orange traffic cones, the excavations, the traffic disruptions. They think the project is a waste of money, a boondoggle. Cleveland developer Gordon Priemer, president of Heartland Development, isn't one of them. He said today that the RTA project is one of the major reasons he has joined with the Frangos Group and BPC Redevelopment to launch a new "collegetown" development on Euclid Avenue, opposite Cleveland State University.

I don't know how we all missed this on Litt's blog: http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/ Cleveland State's College of Education shaping up as a solid background player -- not a star Posted by Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt October 01, 2007 16:07PM Categories: Architecture A recent rendering shows the latest design refinements for the new College of Education and Human Services building at Cleveland State University. Cleveland State University is setting up a clear hierarchy on Euclid Avenue with two big, new projects. Designs for the new College of Education and Human Services, which will be located at Euclid Avenue and East 25th Street -- now being refined by the Columbus office of NBBJ -- show that the building will be a supporting player, not a star...

all the ones I posted are for the VA garage, domiciliary & office tower. Although we've been debating on here the necessity of demo-ing the mixed-use buildings in the first few photos. The one that MayDay posted is owned by the Cleveland Clinic, about a mile south of the VA.

Yes I did. I just started a new thread for the Uptown - University Arts & Retail District in University Circle. Why? Because the developers finally signed the development agreement and picked their architects: Architects chosen for Triangle development Posted by Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt October 05, 2007 11:43AM Categories: Architecture It's official: Developers for the new Triangle project in Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood are the first in the city's history to hire star-quality architects to design a major urban residential project. Developer Nathan Zaremba announced today that he and his partners, Rick and Ari Maron, have hired Saitowitz Natoma Architects of San Francisco and Office dA of Boston to design multistory, mixed-use apartment and retail buildings at the Triangle. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

View north on E. 105... the buildings on the left are gone: Another view, from the east on Wade Park. The demo'd building is in the middle: These long-vacant buildings on East Boulevard are gone: As is the "Magnolia" on E. 105. Some elements will be resurrected as a bus shelter on E. 105: Magnolia, RIP: E. 105 & Wade Park, RIP:

Cleveland Landmarks designation, I believe, is more important, as it has some standing with local law. National Register doesn't mean much locally if it's not on the local register. Correct me if I'm wrong folks! The buildings on E. 105 were a surprise to me. I knew there had been a fire last year where several children died and they'd been boarded up since, but like someone mentioned above, they looked to be in decent shape from the outside. I'd heard that the inside was pretty far gone on the fire damaged building. Not sure about the other one. I guess when you've got the wrecking ball on the block, it's that much easier to tear the whole mother down. As far as landmarks district designation over there, I looked into it and the district basically wraps around East Blvd and E. 105th over there, so they were off the hook. I'd imagine that the VA had some say in that... photos forthcoming

Good stuff on a big bike share program out of San Francisco: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/03/MNLOSIIPE.DTL http://commuter.typepad.com/commuterpageblog/2007/10/bikesharing-in-.html

some film: http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/paint-a-parking-lot-put-up-a-paradise

It seems that there would be a nice opportunity with the cafe to encourage people to congregate in front of the building on Euclid, but if there are no doors there, then everyone will be inside. It would be a travesty if what we get out of this is another hulking building fronting Euclid with only one entry point and thus no activity on the sidewalk. I understand the desire to create activity on the rear side where the new plaza is, but if this thing can't boost interaction with Euclid Avenue, then we've really blown it.

You know what I don't like? That building on the corner of E. 13th & Rockwell. It has no windows! Talk about poor context and killing the sidewalk. According to the County Auditor, it's owned by the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.

correct me if I'm wrong here, but it looks like there is only one set of doors on Euclid Avenue.

I know, but when you haven't planned your trip that far in advance, it would be nice to have that option either at the station or on the bus. If the stations are getting new equipment, that problem will be solved (I would hope). I don't know if the buses are limited, but I would imagine that if they can dispense an all-day card that the could dispense a card with a transfer built-in. They used to anyway!

I guess I was looking at 2010, specifically. That's where they just got the $800k from the County for development, correct?

great stuff! Nice to see a one-pager that hits on some of the more local haunts (Banyan Tree, etc.), in addition to the big boys (Severance, etc.). Thanks for sharing!

I'm assuming that this is the ground floor plan. The parking areas are actually parts of structures, correct?

I took some shots yesterday, but I have no internet at home right now. AT&T strikes again! Things are popping along. I'm curious about the rest of the streetscape project, though. Are they going to finish phase one construction and then start digging up the street? That would be some red carpet for all the condo owners who forked over all that money!

^We don't do "percent chance" guesses here. Or at least, I can't recall anyone ever taking the bait on one! There was another interview in the Downtown Cleveland Alliance's newsletter that just hit mailboxes this week. Stark mentioned having leases on a percentage of his office & retail space for phase 1 by 1st quarter '08, breaking ground in '09 and opening phase 1 in 2011. He also stressed the importance of creating a tax increment financing (TIF) district and indicated how far behind he believes Ohio is in utilizing this tool. I don't think the article is online yet, but I can scan it in later if it doesn't show up on their website. Or anyone from DCA who feels like putting it on the site (www.downtownclevelandalliance.com) can hook us up!