clvlndr

Hahahaha! You got me; never tried it.

[NOTE: cool time lapse video] Penn Station repairs: So far, so good http://abc7ny.com/traffic/penn-station-repairs-so-far-so-good/2217690/

^Very interesting issue, notably NOACA's Aim Forward 2040 report which I need to fully digest.

No question. I just wanted to remind some of those younger bucks -- not lafont necessarily -- that the Shaker Square they are familiar with of the last 30 or so years wasn't always that way. It was designed largely to cater to the foo-foo crowd who lived in places like Moreland Courts -- esp back when they were just expensive apts -- South Park Drive and the like. And the now seedy (wig salon, cheesy Chinese food joint) and mostly abandoned storefront strip in question was largely a part of that.

^Retail at this location wasn't always low-end. There was once a Franklin Simon (quality women's clothier) outlet where Goodwill is today until, I believe, the 1970s.

^I'm glad to see new projects picking up steam in this great area.

^You're probably right... Michelle doesn't write articles unless they are comprehensive and thorough. She's the best at what she does.

This wacko chick & co. got exactly what they deserved. I decent, productive man was thrown away like trash... This is both tragic and pathetic... I'll throw in 'incredibly stupid' as well. :?

^I'm just happy to see substantial, high quality, multi-unit development at that location -- retail or not. It's been such an eyesore for so long and in one of Cleveland's showpiece, model TOD neighborhoods. btw, even though KJP posted this 3 days ago, I still have yet to see any story about it in the PD, Crain's or elsewhere, despite Google searches. Any reason for this? Is it too speculative? Just curious. That's unusual for a project of this magnitude in such a high-profile area, especially given the problems that the PD widely reported along Drexmore west of there. Michelle, among others, is usually all over this with comprehensive reporting.

The Shaker-to-Drexmore retail strip along Van Aken is currently a group of 1-floor businesses on the backside of Shaker Square... The proposed development there calls for high-end apartments likely creating significant foot traffic from working-professional residents... big difference.

I ride the Blue line just about every day and , while KJP's photos show the current progress they don't show the next units. They have already laid the foundations and rough'ed in the plumbing so it would seem that they are going to be erecting those units quite soon. I could be wrong, but I don't think they will be able to leave the site in such an unbuilt state. This is all just my impression though and I haven't talked to anyone in the know. Unfortunately this practice -- build a few homes and test the market -- has been done before. In fact, the situation of the Livingston townhomes is very similar. On E. 135 street, immediately south of the intersection with Livingston street near Shaker Square, developers (about 10 years ago) erected 4 attractive townhomes adjacent to the Livingston Apts, which has a number of subsidized units. As with Onaway Station, the plan was to build several more townhomes and fill the lot. Unfortunately only those 4 stand today. But like Onaway Station, next to, and behind, the Livingston units are concrete pads capped water and sewer lines protruding for future townhouses that weren't built. It appears that's what's happening at Onaway Station, for while the concrete pads are in place and water and sewer lines protrude, there are no more townhomes being erected over the pads. Let's just hope that demand can push the developers to finish off townhomes over the entire lot rather than those 4 in a tiny corner of it.

Exploring Buffalo's waterfront renaissance; what can Cleveland learn from its Lake Erie neighbor? (photos) By Susan Glaser, The Plain Dealer, [email protected] BUFFALO, New York - Pushing my way through a capacity crowd at Buffalo's Canalside park on a recent Friday evening, I couldn't get businessman Peter Florczak's words out of my head: "As recently as five years ago, this area was nothing but a wasteland," he told me a few hours before, as we walked along the riverfront boardwalk. What a difference a few years makes - especially on a balmy summer night, with the Buffalo Philharmonic playing in the background. I set off for Buffalo a couple of weeks ago - it's closer to Cleveland than Cincinnati - with the purpose of exploring the city's emerging waterfront renaissance. Cleveland and Buffalo have much in common, and not just their addresses on Lake Erie. These two once-thriving industrial towns are both fighting hard for a 21st-century reboot. Waterfront development is seen as key to both communities' revival - important to both attracting new residents and encouraging a fledgling tourism industry. http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2017/07/exploring_buffalos_waterfront.html#incart_river_home

This is an old (from about a year ago) Cleveland transit piece from the Green Lake-Blue City blog that offered some interesting insight even with some of the mistakes -- the writer indicated he is a Cleveland transplant. https://greenlakebluecity.com/tag/cleveland-rta/

Actually I remember WFL trains to be well patronized back then. While some clubs stayed open beyond 2a on weekends, many did not. And even if they were open, most folks were heading home by 2a and, I remember that ORR and other FEB streets were clogged as WFL trains glided by into Tower City and then home. IIRC more West Siders transferred at TC for Red Line trains. I know at closing time, trains were generally 3/4 (or more) full and on many occasions, esp when there was concert or some kind of special event in the Flats, RTA ran 2-car trains until 2a (actually 2:15a on the Blue Line). But the WFL was new back then, the Flats was exploding and RTA at the time encouraged people to ride the trains and many Flats goers trusted the trains... None of those factors are in play today even with FEB's recent resurgence with crowds even bigger than the 90s Flats. I worked down there off an and from 94-98. We used to joke about the ghost trains and place bets on one coming towards us as to the number of passengers on board. Some people called it "Mike White's Choo Choo". It may have had occasional peaks in ridership, and was probably more than today, but it was never wildly successful as it could have been if they had ran trains until 3-4 am. I'm not saying the WFL was 'wildly successful' but was useful and used be many during its early years... Again, I'm only talking about Friday and Saturday nights during the summer (when we used to use it to the Flats). At all other times the Flats was dead and trains were empty, I recognize that. We are only now slowly developing along the WFL line (but even the below article notes the abundance of parking built into the FEB Phases I and II that have diverted people to their cars) ... But I never, ever recall them being ghost trains during the party central days of the Flats during the late 90s...

Strongsville and Beachwood periphery development is similar to me -- sprawl. Beachwood is a little closer to the developed suburban grid and rail transit than Strongsville, but it's pretty much 6 in one hand, half-dozen in the other... The long-held feeling is that Greater Cleveland is 'over-store-d"; that we shopping centers and malls, often with the same stores, about every 3 to 5 mile hop and that, even though the overall population is not growing, the retail and residential growth is over a wider area ... that's the classic definition of sprawl.

Actually I remember WFL trains to be well patronized back then. While some clubs stayed open beyond 2a on weekends, many did not. And even if they were open, most folks were heading home by 2a and, I remember that ORR and other FEB streets were clogged as WFL trains glided by into Tower City and then home. IIRC more West Siders transferred at TC for Red Line trains. I know at closing time, trains were generally 3/4 (or more) full and on many occasions, esp when there was concert or some kind of special event in the Flats, RTA ran 2-car trains until 2a (actually 2:15a on the Blue Line). But the WFL was new back then, the Flats was exploding and RTA at the time encouraged people to ride the trains and many Flats goers trusted the trains... None of those factors are in play today even with FEB's recent resurgence with crowds even bigger than the 90s Flats.

The elaborate artist renderings KJP provided for OC high-density (dare I say, TOD at near the 2 79th and the E. 105 Rapid stations) development is certainly promising eye candy -- to a couple of those photos I said to myself: 'yeah, when pigs fly'. But at least, they're out there and more credible local neighborhood corps like Burten Bell are behind such development, in BB's case the forlorn Kinsman district -- there's already been significant movement along Kinsman with CMHA's rebuilding the Garden Valley projects into more townhouse style housing -- but the site where the old Garden Valley buildings existed -- which were closer to the Blue/Green E. 79th Rapid stop, is now an empty field. I just hope, as Steve Litt is NOW saying in his PD articles, that progressives and community groups can keep the OC from being just a shortcut for West Siders to the Clinic and other UC area institutions, and that these pretty pictures, at least in part, will actually materialize.

Because I spend 15-45 minutes a day searching databases for any information about new projects. This one was pretty easy to find since it was on the Landmarks Commission agenda. :) You're obviously way ahead of the PD, Crain's, Scene ... or anybody else.

I generally love it. It's good to see, in so many instances, local officials and developers finally embrace the rail system for TOD... However, a couple criticisms is that 1. I wish the building followed the curving contour of Van Aken so that portions of the building would not be so far set back behind widening lawns and, with that, 2. I wish there was ground level retail in the bulding. Just because the current retail at that location is a failure, doesn't mean that modern, attractive spaces at the base of a high-end apartment building, wouldn't succeed... In fact, the opposite would likely be true.

We Clevelanders love our sprawl.

Ken, are you saying specifically RTA is a fly-in-the-ointment to getting the beautiful project that you cited started? Are they just going for the money without much concern for the development that's goes in on their properties?

^^^Get the hell outta here KJP, you find all the good stuff!... This came outta nowhere. Would really be a game changer for a moribund section adjacent to the square.

The lady's lawsuit against the State, Turnpike Commission for their allegedly illegally using turnpike tolls to fund a non-Turnpike project, in this case the OC, is interesting in that progressives and transit people constantly warn about the illegal use of gas tax to funds for transit in any way and, yet, Amtrak-killer John Kasich didn't think 2 seconds before unilaterally diverting turnpike tolls to fund the OC... Funny how things work.

In Little Italy? At Coventry? At Lee? At Green? Nice! Okay, I'll give you through Little Italy up to Coventry but beyond that is about as pleasant to walk along as walking along the Opportunity Corridor. Actually Lee-Mayfield is quite attractive architecturally and walk-wise as is that strip on Mayfield near Warrensville near the old Center-Mayfield theater... But I agree, out from there -- particularly west of Green Rd. to the Eastgate shopping center (strip) at S.O.M., Mayfield is a waste. It's the classic ugly-American strip/big box/fast food/gas station sprawl. A long slow slog traffic wise as well in/out from the city -- one of my least favorite drives in all of Greater Cleveland.

East Bank is newer, and was also where the Flats resurgence began during the late 80s and early 90s. The West Bank (Shooters et al) came in later, and is now older. Yes David, E Rocc is right. You may not have been here a decade or so ago when the East Bank was totally dead. It was torn down in hopes of the development that Fairmount/Wolstein has not built but, because of legal and financing hassles, it was in doubt. And people were depressed remembering the good old days of the 1980s and 90s. The West Bank has pretty much been the same, esp with Shooters being the lone holdout -- along with Odeon, now, reborn on the East Bank. Odeon was always East Bank I know. I just meant that, like Shooters on the West, Odeon on the East was a holdover from the olden days.