WoollyBear

I really like Henry Gomez. The articles he writes always seem to paint Cleveland in a positive light. He wrote this article, and also the article on various residential projects that are happening in DT Cleveland. Before he started covering real estate, he was the person that kept giving us updates with the tech sector in Cleveland (especially when the Idea Center was leasing). Its funny how he leaves that post and we haven't heard about anymore 15-50 employee companies relocating downtown. It is hard to believe that in the next few years we may have a highrise residential building in the air (515, Lighthouse Landing etc.) 2 new office structures, and I would guess that with the new c.c./med. mart that a new hotel can't be that far off. My dream scenario would be: Eaton and Keycorp (just the division that has an expiring lease) to Public Square in a 30+ story building. Ernst and Young to the WHD, B&H to 200 Public Square, and the rest stay put. I think this would give us two new substantail buildings, and we would not see a huge glut of office space. One question I have for people is if these firms are looking for new space because there is not enough, how much would the usually want to increase to accomodate future growth? I know every situation is different, but I would find it hard to believe that a company would look for new office space because they are going to increase the amount of employees by 10% in 5 years.

The bridge in Greenville, S.C. is unbelievable (as is the entire city). Hopefully this will spur some development down on the harbor.

Whether they care what the building looks like or not, the building does have an effect on the immediate area. If it hurts the area, then then the area becomes less vibrant. C'mon, do I really have to spell it out all over again? I wasn't responding to your critique of the building, I was responding to your comment about UH not being able to land the best doctors/scientists because of the way the building looks. I really don't think either of these buildings will be detrimental to the area, but I do agree that they are not as good as they could be.

I don't really think doctors care what a building looks like, I think they are more worried about a hospitals reputation.

^ I just think its great that their local office may have up to 600 people instead of the 300 that was originally forecasted. Has Quicken settled on a site in Detroit yet?

Didn't know he owned 668 Euclid. Maybe that could be a big project for him in Cleveland. I guess we will see. I also remember reading in Crain's almost two years ago that he had a 40 million project for the WHD, but maybe the Stark plans stopped that.

Woollybear, How old are you? A lot of these things are very diverse...also, where do you currently live? I am 25, and I currently live in Findlay, Ohio

1) The Old Arcade - Yes 2) Westside Market - Yes 3) Cleveland Musuem of Art -Yes 4) Cleveland Musuem of Natural History -Yes 5) Botanical Gardens -No 6) Servance Hall for Cleveland Orchestra -Yes 7) Playhouse Square (any of the playhouses) -No Cool Cleveland Metroparks Zoo -Yes (very long time ago) 9) Rock n' Roll HOF -Yes (very long time ago) 10) Great Lakes Science Center -No 11) Cleveland Browns Stadium (preferbly home game) -Yes 12) Quicken Loans Arena (preferably home game) -Yes 13) Jacob's Field (preferably home game) -Yes 14) International Women's Air & Space Museum (Thanks 30 Rock!) -No 15) Little Italy -Yes 16) Lakeview Cemetery -No 17) President Garfield's Monument (best view of Cleveland IMO) -No 18) Slavic Village -No 19) Rockefeller Cultural Gardens -No 20) Rockefeller Greenhouse -No 21) Western Reserve Historical Society -Yes 22) E. 4th nightlife -No 23) W. 6th nightlife -No 24) Cleveland Public Library downtown -No 25) The Nautica Queen Cruise Ship (dinner or cruise) -Yes 26) Edgewater Park -No 27) Case ImPROV/play or West Bank comedy club -No 28) Great Lakes Brewery -No 29) Shaker Square -No 30) Ohio City -No 31) Tremont -No 32) Goodtime III -Yes 33) Steamship William G. Mather Museum -Yes 34) On top of Terminal Tower? (just curious wink) -No EVENTS: 1) Feast of the Assumption (Little Italy) -Yes 2) St Patty's Day Parade -Yes 3) Cleveland Air show -Yes 4) Cleveland Grand Prix -No 5) International Film Festival -No 6) Harvest Festival (Slavic Village) -No 7) Ingenuity -No Cool Hessler Street Fair (not this year though!) -No 9) Greek Orthodox Festival -No 10) Cleveland Marathon (Anyone run in this?) -Hell no 11) Gravity Games -No 12) CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest -No -I think I lost :|.I can't wait to move back to Cleveland. If you could only go to one place on this list, which one would you pick?

Its nice to see the PD have a decent article about downtown. Its amazing how everyone on this board probably knows stuff 1-2 months before the average Clevelander does. Also, does anyone have pictures of 65-75 Erieview? I can't think of what this building looks like.

Some more good news from CBRE for the first quarter of 2007. http://gkc3.cbre.com/search/search.aspx?qs=MarketSelect%3d58%26Val1%3d%26Val2%3d1st+Quarter%26Val3%3d2007%26Val4%3d%26Cat1%3dIndustry%26Cat2%3dQuarter%26Cat3%3dYear%26Cat4%3dYear%26ReportType%3d3%26KeywordSelect%3d%26CheckBox1%3d0

What if they started reducing the tax abatement by 1 year starting in 2008? So, if a developer already has somewhat developed plans (ie D.P., Stonebridge, 515 Euclid, Pesht) that may be breaking ground in the next 2-3 years they will still benefit from extended tax breaks. For Example: A project that breaks ground in 2008-15 years 2009-14 years 2010-13 years etc

I hope your friend/frat buddy writes for the Onion. If not then I guess he lost all of the journalistic and personal integrity that he put on the line.

In the Clinic's defense I think they need the office space sooner rather than later.

I really think that ever since Sam Walton died they have really tried to improve their coporate image. I have worked for Wal-Mart for the past year, and some of the people that have worked there for years say that the company has changed dramatically in the past 3-4 years. They have done small things like this, and then they have instituted large programs such as the $4 generic prescription program, and the job opportunity zones. They also do not treat their employees as bad as people say. They have relatively affordable healthcare coverage, they match up to 15% on the dollar for an employee stock purchase program, all employees are eligible for profit sharing (the avg check last year at my store for a full time employee was about $800), and they also give up to $2500 for tuition reimbursement for their employees.

I think the best case scenario is: Baker- 200 Public Square Eaton- Tower on Public Square, maybe 600K office and some residential DFAS- FEB I think if the above happens we should get 2 new large buildings without flooding the market. I was also wondering if Quicken does hire another 300 people, if they would be looking for more space in FEB, Stark, or a new tower on PS?

This was the best bit of news in this article. Programs like this need to be a big part of the future for the Cleveland Public Schools. :clap:

^ How could the mayor's office not care? Cleveland BioLabs is/was probably the biggest bio-tech company in our city. Also, in the article from Crain's it sounds like they are expecting to grow rapidly in the next few years.

Here is an article from Crains. This really stinks. :wtf: I am a pharmacy student, and we have a lot of small pharm. companies come to talk to us, and the frusturating thing is that most of these companies just want to do prelim. research in hopes of being bought out by a larger company. I know Cleveland BioLabs is not being bought out, but I just thought I would bring this issue to light. Cleve BioLabs plans move to Buffalo Cleveland BioLabs Inc., a publicly traded company that was spun out of the Cleveland Clinic, is planning to move its headquarters to Buffalo later this year. The biotech company will follow its founder, Andrei V. Gudkov, a cancer researcher at the Clinic, to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, said Cleveland BioLabs CEO Michael Fonstein. Dr. Gudkov’s lab, including 15 to 20 scientists and technicians, will move to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus this spring. About 20 to 30 additional employees will move into a building just off campus that will serve as Cleveland BioLabs’ headquarters, said Mike Sexton, general counsel and chief institute operations officer at Roswell Park. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20070112/FREE/70112018

I would give Cleveland a B- Positives: Breaking ground on the Avenue District, movement in the FEB, proposed conversion of the Park Building, continued expansion of Stonebridge, development agreement for the Triangle, corner alley, tightening in the office market. Negatives: Inability to lure a large company downtown, no movement on 515, constant bickering between property owners (FEB), increase in crime.

I thought it would be fun to start a thread were we can rate our cities performance for 2006. I was thinking we could use a A-F scale, and please backup your opinion.

^ Thats got to be a typo. If you look at the maintenance fee it says the same amount. I doubt there are many houses in Cleveland that pay $9999 a half for property taxes.

I was reading the PD yesterday, and in the first section they had a huge add for a global cardiovascular center. They said that it was going to be built in the Fairfax neighborhood. The building looked really good in the picture (it was built to the sidewalk), but I was a little puzzled because I have not heard about this project. Can someone enlighten me? P.S. I am not sure if this belongs in this thread, but I thought it was the most relevant

Maybe that would cause them to move their Beachwood employees downtown? I am still hoping this does not happen though.

I saw this on the Avenue District website. Experts designing a plan for downtown Cleveland Proposed district would link vital assets Sunday, October 22, 2006 Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporter The art and profit of industrial design could make Cleveland the "Milan of the Midwest," two experts say. They are pitching political and corporate leaders on the "Cleveland District of Design," a 24-block swath east of downtown that would parlay consumer-product design into an economic engine. Under the concept, national showrooms would sprout along Euclid Avenue, while a related cluster of consumer product makers, designers, marketers and researchers would spin off jobs and innovation. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

All I have to do is look at their districts, and tell that they are not very good at their jobs.