gottaplan

traffic/parking/accessibility is always going to be an issue at FEB. It's a peninsula. W9th is not enough to handle it and River Road isn't much help either. The best/easiest option would be to rework Main Avenue as a full east/west street all the way back into the Warehouse district where it could let traffic connect to W3rd. There was discussion years ago that Fairmount was trying to create an artery though "the pit" parking lot all the way back to W. 3rd but it was a huge project. If done right thought, blowing up those lots and creating a new street with develop-able land could be worth some study.

That would make a LOT of sense. And has been suggested by many folks involved in the deal. They could probably get better space and cheaper rents too

I"m only aware of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland. Not sure what their lease language contained on being relocated but it's pretty common. And given the relationship/dependence on the City for funding, I can't fathom why a deal wasn't struck. It's not like this is some privately owned IT firm or something that had a lot of infrastructure and couldn't afford the downtime of a relocation....

This story is not getting the public outcry it deserves. The City is pay $7,845 per day to operate within the existing Justice Center, now owned by the County. That's $240,000 per month. On top of that, the City already pulled the necessary bonds to do this $60 million deal at the PD location and is paying on that. So they essentially have a mortgage on a house they haven't moved into and are paying rent at a high rate to a LL. The PD location was selected over the others for a variety of reasons. It is just a better location. Having a tenant or two in the way is small potatoes. Relocate them. They can probably get better space for same money.

agreed on all accounts but it's about to be 2019. This project has been tinking around for about 4-5 years now. Seeking subsidy/incentives, seeking tenants, adjusting mixes of uses....

I doubt anyone following this thread has seen the proforma for this development, but there are many ways to make money on a development deal like this. To me, either the deal doesn't pencil out unless there is significant public subsidy/incentives, or Stark is refusing to accept a smaller return/longer payback. Either way, it's a sad state of affairs for Cleveland. As for the next recession, let's all be mindful that in some aspects the last recession of 2008 was worse than the Great Depression. Another "slow down" may be around the corner but hopefully not a recession like 2008. A slowdown might be a good thing for Stark's project - lower margins by contractors/suppliers, etc. For the office market, rents are not swayed much by economic upturns/downturns. Hotel, retail & apartments are though

Stark didn't have his bag man deliver the money to the right guy apparently

well look at least he'll make money on all the parking lots he owns at the site now, right? BTW, love the new signature that KJP has!

Good stuff. What's the first picture of, somewhere over where the Shoreway ends on near west side?

This project is full speed ahead. Stair & elevator towers are up and steel is erected across east face of the building. Drove past it this last week. Big facility. Huge site.

I'm not rooting against this project at all but it's sad, that here we are, about 3 years after it was announced, that it still hasn't broken ground. Like, how far off were the initial financial projections that they still can't close the gap with this public subsidy? Does Stark even own the lots and the buildings to be torn down for this project or do they just keep doing options on them? All I can think is the level of effort that has been committed to this in terms of financial analysis, legal work, incentive pursuits, architectural plans, construction budgeting, tenant negotiations... for nothing

Starting a new thread here for this development. The site is located at Rt 21 and Miller Road, approximately 100 acres on the former Veterans Affairs hospital. The facility has been vacant for at least 10 years now, I think. Brecksville finally got title to the property from the federal government and is doing a phased development agreement with DiGeronimo Companies (family behind Independence Excavating, Precision Environmental, and a development partner in Pinecrest as well as others). Rumors of the I-77 interchange becoming a full interchange (currently can only get on/off from North) soon. Not sure what the tenant mix will be but I'm hearing the focus is corporate office, with R&D. Brecksville downtown will have a challenge on their hands to attract/retain legitimate retailers as long as this is development is a competing interest. https://www.cleveland.com/brecksville/index.ssf/2018/11/redevelopment_of_former_brecks.html

^agreed. Seems like a long request but I think history has proven that there's usually at least 1 upset on weekends like this

Great analysis by Dark & Stormy on comparing best & worst games for OSU & Oklahoma. I guess the CFP committee saw it the same way. Assuming both teams win this weekend, I don't see OSU jumping Oklahoma anymore. Bummer that ND is done, sitting back with no more games to play. I think there's a number of outcomes for the SEC title game this weekend though - Alabama wins big, wins a close one, Georgia wins, etc. However, none of them probably result in OSU getting in. If Georgia defeats Alabama in a close game, it might mean 2 SEC teams in the final four...

Jeff Johnson Way. LOL

Maybe they will rename it after a local hack politician

If OSU dominates NW, they are in. Take that to the bank. Forget about what happened a month ago in Purdue. It's who is playing the best right now - OSU will be in. Oklahoma is putting up big numbers but the college football pundits are all sick of them already for their inability to play even a hint of defense. Football is about more than just scoring faster than your opponent. They basically play 2 hand touch

Isn't that the famous Harbaugh quote from 2 years ago that he was "bitterly disappointed" with the officiating? I expected to see Patterson run the ball in designed plays a few more times. He's a good runner and makes nice moves in the open field. Once they were down by multiple scores, they didn't open up the play book the way I expected.

Michigan was overrated coming into this game. Harbaugh still lacks a signature win. Yes he beat MSU but they are terrible this year. They beat Penn State but McSorley was injured and didn't play half the game. Michigan had close games against Northwestern and Indiana. So they are good but not scary good. Certainly not "#1 defense in the country" good... And OSU showed up. Finally. I think they were outplayed by Purdue and others that kept it closer than it should've been like Maryland but perhaps this team just came together later than it should've. Possibly because of Meyer's initial 3 game suspension. Who knows. But they came together. And I think they'll get in the playoff. Just based on the eye test, they are a better team than Oklahoma, assuming there are no upsets this weekend. I'd love to see OSU some how face off against Notre Dame but that's not likely - if we get in, it'll be as #4 seed and we'll face Alabama

pretty quiet thread this week with UM game a few days away. I'm wondering perhaps if the team comes out & plays inspired football on Meyer's last Michigan matchup. If it is his last, I sure hope they send him off a winner. The symbolism would be amazing as he was a grad assistant when Earl Bruce was carried off the field almost 40 yrs ago after beating Michigan. I also saw a stat somewhere that Meyer is absolutely perfect/has never lost as an underdog.

I went out to Pinecrest last weekend with my wife. Strolled around, had a beer at City Works, ended up having dinner at Firebirds. Overall, I thought it was very nice. The entry to the office building is impressive with the whole wall of digital screens - wish someone downtown would do something cool like that. The architecture, design & detail was very high end I thought, more so than Legacy Village or Crocker Park. They both do a nice job with maintenance & landscaping but Pinecrest felt more modern to me, definitely the taller buildings and materials made it seem that way

Yeah I don't know any OSU fans that are feeling confident. I think there's a chance they could win but it would have to be a pitiful game by Michigan and OSU capitalizes on turnovers, penalties, etc I did listen to ESPN radio quite a bit on Saturday late and the comment was that most are expecting a low scoring game next week with Michigan but it will probably be the opposite. Michigan has a good defense but hasn't faced an offense like OSU. Meanwhile, Michigan's offense is becoming more explosive -they have more designed QB runs and are spreading the ball out more. Looks like it could be a track meet Is Urban going to be able to survive another nail biter? He was about to pass out this past week...

Buckeyes are trending upward and seem to be fixing some of the big mistakes on defense, developing a running game, and are working hard to get TD's in the red zone, obviously with the introduction of Martell as a running QB. Still hard to say how much they've improved from the Purdue game. - MSU is not as good of a team as they've been in recent past. - Nebraska scored 50+? - Purdue laid an egg against Minnesota?

I was pretty shocked by this outcome. Not only because the polling off, but because I felt like DeWine didn't run as good of a campaign, didn't have a clear message. I think there's underlying issues with some of these polling methods that's not being accounted for. Whether it's turnout, making assumptions on undecided voters, or just more accurate polling...

China's stock market is down something like 30% on the year. The tariffs have caused them to completely redirect their government subsidy - instead of supplementing technology & research (and intellectual theft), they are instead supplementing food, infrastructure and other essentials. They've also reversed course on their practice of devaluing their currency