3231

While on the topic of unique inner city schools, here is one that is based on a model that has been very successful in other parts of the US. Some very talented faculty and administration have departed St. Ignatius to run this school. http://www.stmartindeporreshs.org/ Corporate Work Study Program Overview / The Corporate Work-Study Program (CWSP) is an integral part of the Saint Martin de Porres education. The CWSP provides many opportunities for St. Martin de Porres students throughout the city of Cleveland. Entry-level office positions in banking, law, medicine, finance and many other exciting career opportunities will be offered to the student. One full-time, entry-level office job supports a team of four students. The cost is $23,000 for the school year and compensates for the time they spend working at your organization. Saint Martin de Porres handles all employment issues such as Workers' Compensation, Social Security, Medicare and tax withholding. The money that you pay the students is used to cover their tuition costs at St. Martin de Porres. Each student will work one full day a week (five full days a month) to help cover 70% of his/her tuition. The remaining four days of the week the student will attend classes. Saint Martin de Porres will administer the program as well as provide training and feedback for the students. Saint Martin de Porres will also provide transportation to and from the work site.

^Economic development gurus in the city think that we could carve a nice niche in the industrial design industry. We have a school with a great ID department (CIA) and a handful of very strong companies. San Fran and NY are the locations where ID is consolidated at the moment. With our wealth of cheap loft spaces and the fact that NY and SF are increasingly making it difficult for artists to find affordable space, Cleveland could be an emerging player in the ID sector.

The Battery Park townhomes have a very similar look to them. Isn't there anyone else in this town that can do new urbanism? With the amount of new construction that will be coming on line in the next few years, I'd like to see someone other than City Architecture do the project. By the way, I like the designs. I wouldn't want them to try and replicate something from 100 years ago. Zaremba's Beacon Place development tried that and produced some very ho-hum architecture.

This is all very strange. Outside of the CLE director process, Jackson looks great. But if you only judged Jackson's performanced based on this search, you'd think he was some good-ole boy network politician. This is very strange. If the new candidates are that much better than Mok, why would you try to hide their resumes?

^that sounds a bit like KJP's earlier proposal.

Its wonderful that we are hearing positive news about the Avenue's sales. I agree with MGD that this area has wonderful potential. There are not many stumbling blocks that would stand in the way of housing development extending towards the innerbelt. With a little bit of success, people will have a reason to believe. We are so used to accepting this default attitude that good things can't happen hear. The past year has been very interesting for housing in Cleveland. While we have not had any large scale successes, many people seem to be establishing a foundation for an exciting next few years. After the District Park news last February, Cleveland has rebounded nicely. I view these as the most important projects of the next two-three years: East Bank (may provide the most interesting non-resident experience and allow us to begin embracing our waterfront) Avenue District (a project that will begin sewing CSU, E.9th, Playhouse Square and St. Clair together) Battery Park (will help bridge the gap between Clifton and OC/Detroit-Superior) Triangle (far from finalized, but many players want this to happen)

With that admission, you just lost all your credibility! ;)

The present administration decided that it would change the interpretation of wording in the loan program. This wording change appears to remove the MidTown tech center's eligibility for the program. There is some gray area, but the developer doesn't want to risk it.

The federal government loans that were to make the MidTown tech center possible have been pulled back by the Bush administration.

This has always been the case. Its supposedly too risky of a project for the corporate entity to take on. Its a Wolstein family project all the way.

By expand, do you mean that the commercial corridor would reach back into the neighbhorhood? The best thing that could happen to Little Italy is if more market rate housing was built and many of the older homes could be renovated and modernized. There are some dumpy homes that have been carved up into various apartments.

JDD, You keep mentioning examples of why unions were great for workers back in the day. No one is disputing that. They held a very necessary position back then. And of course mismanagement kills companies. What company can survive mismanagement? That, however, does not address why companies are choosing the south over Cleveland. They have lower labor costs. period. This discussion is about where companies choose to locate, not where they choose to go bankrupt. Present day, GM is not dying because of mismanagment. Its dying because of the union contract that it signed in the late 90s. They took a bet and they lost. Now they are paying out the nose. The foreign carmakers don't have the same pension and health care costs that GM has.

A boost for University Circle Charter One commits $150 million to loans, grants for area Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Olivera Perkins Plain Dealer Reporter Charter One will pour $150 million in low-interest loans and grants into University Circle and its environs over the next three years to add sparkle to Cleveland's cultural and institutional gem while revitalizing the tarnished neighborhoods nearby. The Charter One UPtown Initiative stands out not only for its dollar amount but also for its focus. Public programs - like the federal Empowerment Zone - have targeted neighborhoods for multimillion-dollar infusions, but it is rare for a private entity to do so. Even rarer is offering such a big burst of broad-based funding over so short a time. Ned Handy, president and CEO of Charter One Bank, Ohio, said the institution believes the approach is the best way for University Circle's wealth to spill over and transform adjacent neighborhoods... more at: http://www.cleveland.com

Is this an additional floor or are they simply separating one penthouse into three smaller units?

Great news! There will be a press conference tomorrow that will explain some more. I believe that the Charter One Foundation is the group behind this. Monday, March 27, 2006 Charter One announces $150 million University Circle program 2:33 p.m. Charter One plans to invest $150 million in the University Circle area for economic and community development over the next three years, bank officials said today. The bank will offer below-market financing and grants to fuel business housing development in six neighborhoods: University Circle, Fairfax, Glenville, Hough, Little Italy and Buckeye. The goals are to promote business and job creation, increase affordable housing and improve existing housing and promote retail and pedestrian activity. Charter One is working with business, government, academic and civic institutions including the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Neighborhood Progress Inc., the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.

Straphanger, Are you talking about the structure that would go next to the library? From what I can tell, its pretty certain to go there. Case is in love with this area. There is a lot of student foot traffic that goes from the new dorms, down Bellflower, past the library and over Euclid into the Case Quad. This area will also serve as a pathway from the West Quad to UH. As is, the location is in the middle of it all for students. I would like to see Case put more emphasis Euclid. While developers are not too keen on including institutional uses in a retail project, I would like to see the Student Center included in the Triangle. Supposedly the bookstore will be there, so why not include all of the traditional student center themes? (By the way, the SC won't look like it does on the master plan. Case's master plan is a constantly changing creature.)

ParkLane will be a great project. There is still a lot of beauty left inside the structure. Forest City said from the beginning that they were not interested in the project. They did, however, provide a lot of advice to Case/UCI/Coakley on how to make this project work (believe it or not, they do care about Cleveland). Originally, there were 4 developers that submitted proposals for the project. One developer out of Chicago came up with such a horrifying idea that they were dropped immediately. (How dumb can you be to suggest putting a very mall-ish style development on the Triangle??) Currently, there is more interest in University Circle than just the Triangle and CIA's East Blvd property. Some developers are interested in putting midrise residential structures in the area. Townhomes are proposed for some other scattered lots. Given the housing studies, it won't all happen. Some will get built and others will have to wait. Additionally, two museums are actively looking at building parking garages so that they can return their surface lots to green space.

Check out Marous' site: http://www.marousbrothers.com/

University Circle site set for $28M transformation Related Links University Circle Inc. By JAY MILLER 6:00 am, March 27, 2006 The developer behind Arbor Park Village, a new public housing project on Cleveland’s East Side, is going upscale with a market-rate project in the University Circle area. The Finch Group of Boca Raton, Fla., plans to begin interior demolition next month at Park Lane Villa, a 1920s-era, six-story residence hotel at 10510 Park Lane, just north of Chester Avenue. It will transform what had been 184 units of public senior housing into a 96-unit apartment building with 24-hour concierge service, said Finch Group president Christine Alletto. More at crainscleveland.com http://www.crainscleveland.com

Seems a little ridiculous for Cincy to host the games. They are in the corner of the state. Stark is not centrally located, but its much closer to the overall population than Cincy is.

Fred & Ginger

Redbeard, Good observations. Litt is a little too in love with today's modern architecture for my taste. While he embraces new urbanism as a planning concept, he rarely embraces it as in architectural design. Modern architecture is very risky. There are many buildings that receive great acclaim but end up standing out like a sore thumb over time. I am not against architectural statements, but they rarely succeed on the street level. I would tend towards the conservative side to preserve the urban integrity of an area before I'd take a big risk with a "signature structure." Gehry can do some strange stuff nowadays, but I really like Fred & Ginger. To me, that is a great way of blending the new and the old. I worry about MOCA's new design at Mayfield and Euclid. It will only be 30,000sq ft. With the current developer's ideas for the Triangle and Beach, 15+ story towers are envisioned. I would think that it would be difficult pull this off architecturally. Then again, I am not architect.

I heard that the Colectivo has made some funds available for some small projects around town. They are going to have some sort of opening party in the next few months. Sounds like a great idea--I think I''ll join.

I'll definitely check it out!

^UO's search feature is pretty weak. I searched "Saint Luke's Pointe" and nothing came up.