Map Boy

This is an excerpt from a summary of a meeting we had in University Circle in October: The contract for construction along the University Circle section of the ECTP (E. 107th to the E. 120th Street Bridge) was awarded in June 2006. The Federal Transit Administration approved the contract in July and a notice to proceed was signed in August. Construction is slated to begin along this section of the corridor in February 2007 and continue to the end of the year. The section beyond the railroad bridge to the city border will be completed in the first half of 2008. The first buses are scheduled to begin operation in June 2008. As GCRTA has done along the sections of the corridor, work will begin on either the north or south half of the roadway, while leaving the other half open to traffic. This strategy allows Euclid to stay open during construction. Detours will be marked and road closures will be announced ahead of construction. GCRTA, UCI and others will work to keep the community informed of these notices as they become available. The only scheduled full road closure will take place as construction passes through the Cleveland Clinic’s campus and the construction site for their new heart center. This will be along Euclid Avenue, from E. 90th to E. 97th, and will reduce construction time by one full construction year. ..... In other news, I had the opportunity to chat with an RTA staffer on Monday night at an event and he brought up the issue of TOD along the corridor and elsewhere on his own. He also mentioned the commuter rail to Lorain without me asking about it. I'm still waiting to hear more about this project that will rise out of the recent demolition proceedings on Euclid in the east 60s, adjacent to the Dunham Davern.

That's an interesting question that I do not know the answer to... I think they're a player in the Upper Chester project, but I could be wrong.

oh, wait...maybe that's next door...

Maybe if you'd started posting your images on a hosting site a year ago this never would've happened... BTW, I thought that adult mart was supposed to be the designer denim experience extraordinaire place...what gives?

From what I've seen, I really like the design. It goes above and beyond what we were initially hoping for and I think it has the potential, due to the location and resulting high price points, to be a very impressive project.

On the road, maybe, but certainly not ready for passengers... The way I heard it, they'll have the vehicles by the second half of '07 and they'll start training the new drivers... Until the whole corridor is finished, I don't know how well they'll be able to operate these buses on a torn up Euclid.

I know H&M isn't making stuff designed to outlast a nuclear meltdown, but are people seriously having that much trouble with what they're buying there? Same thing with [sub-]Urban Outfitters... People complain about that stuff all the time! Thing is, I worked at UO for nearly two years and people rarely returned things for this reason. I also own clothing from H&M that I purchased as much as 7 years ago and I'm still looking fly without any tatters, tears or unplanned holes. What's up with the whiney whiney people?

Green townhouses, eh? What a novel idea! The first new single family home construction in years (Wade Park Townhomes on E. 118th Street) was a big deal, but that's only 5 homes. This would be 8-10 townhomes and 20+ condos, all wrapped around 200+ car parking garage. It's a prime opportunity to set the tone for joint public-private development ventures, of which there will be many in UC in the near future. Case's new dorms were shooting for LEED certification (not sure where that stands) and everything built in the Circle should be doing that or better!

FYI...DCA is working with 10th Floor (located on E. 4th Street) on a new website. Agreed, though, that they should have something to the extent of "coming soon" on the future site.

The reason they're not doing them now is that they're part of a different bid package...which means that a completely different company could be doing the medians...much as a different company could be doing each segment of the corridor. University Circle construction (from Stokes) to the E. 120th Street bridge will begin early next year and hopefully wrap up by the end of 2007. The first BRT vehicles aren't expected until mid-2008. More later!

You people aren't doing your homework, are you? Wimwar is the only one to mention this, though it's been posted on the new website for weeks! It's actually quite exciting!

^Yes, I know that, but the construction elsewhere along the corridor involved a lot of sidewalk work (storefront to storefront) in preparation for the forthcoming infrastructure. Maybe they're not doing any on Public Square, (I haven't been able to get the information out of the RTA) but if they are, that wasn't part of this phase of construction...

MRN has already done a bunch of work for this project. I'm not sure how much of it will be kept with Zaremba coming in, but they shouldn't have to start all over with the market analysis and all that... hopefully they're on to financing the thing, securing tenants and getting architectural and construction documents ready!

Love the awnings! Looks like the ones on E. 4th are retractable? Are those for future outdoor seating? I'd think that the success of this place will be dependent on whether they can keep those lanes active. Otherwise, it'll be a big waste o' space! I don't foresee that being a problem, but we'll see! Obviously, lunch is a different sort of crowd than night-time. Do we know the hours yet?

^yeah, seriously...how 'bout some citation folks?!

Well, I don't know about "first step," but it's still on the early end of things. It's progress, which we haven't seen in some time, but we're still just back to where we were several months ago when the first "new" development team was assembled (and subsequently fell apart). I'm interested to see what they're thinking of for a timeline. I'm under the impression that the earliest conceivable groundbreaking is still more than 12 months away...

Dunk it Blinker! You're so good with sports metaphors...

you can't see the windows there yet, but trust me, they're ugly... Levin College ugly.

Yeah, PLAY, that's what you should've been doing all along...what a bunch of babies! It's a BALL for f*ck's sake! Get over it and shoot the thing through the little hole! I thought this was a big step for a major professional sport to go synthetic, rather than killing a whole new mess of animals for their hides, but ah well, the bazillionnaires cried and now they'll get their precious carcass balls back. Way to fold, Stern!

I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been more publicity about how slow progress has been along Euclid. Playhouse Square was supposed to be the first section finished and it's just creeping along. It's taken them over six months to do the sidewalks between 17th and 13th...and they're only about halfway there...on the north side of the street! And what's up with the first quadrant of Public Square? Can anyone see where the improvements were made? I can't find 'em! Euclid Corridor project becomes a route to lost business for many on the avenue City announces loans to make up for shortfalls Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Susan Vinella and Tasha Flournoy Plain Dealer Reporters ......

well, considering the amount to which many Downtown properties were de-valued over the last 5 years, this wouldn't surprise me.

I was there...very impressed with the crowd and the spread! The two community members were Vicki Johnson, Director of Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and a resident of Hough, and Hilary Taylor, a Hough resident and lawyer in Downtown Cleveland. I couldn't stay much past 8:30, so I get the feeling that I missed a lot of the conversation afterwards, but I enjoyed the movie and what conversation I did hear...very poignant. If you enjoyed this event, you should check out the Levin College Forum...it's like this every couple weeks, albeit with a few less people...

Is there any way to search recent permits on the City's website? This would be a handy tool...

What? Now I'm lost! He sold it and now he's going to be the developer?

Case seeks aid for sublease of Halle space ‘Temporary hold’ on university’s relocation of back-office jobs downtown may be permanent By STAN BULLARD 6:00 am, December 11, 2006 Article Removed