clvlndr

I agree with you about the crime issues and the cops, but don't see how a lack of direct freeway access matters. Why do people in Cleveland constantly see freeways as the lifeblood of everything? I also don't buy CH's lack of lakefront access either. Cleveland Heights, founded at the close of the 19th century, like Shaker Heights which was founded a decade or so later, was considered to be in the most desirable natural setting in Greater Cleveland: up on the eastern bluff overlooking the city ... the 'heights.' The setting, especially along the Overlook, with views of downtown Cleveland and the lake, and lower CH along the Shaker Lakes, is still highly sought after with many older, $1M mansions... not sure where you're getting your information.

When you look at the number and scope of new multi-unit developments planned and built over the last 3-5 years, the Hingetown/north Detroit-Shoreway corridor is the fastest growing in Cleveland. It also is compact and walkable and reasonably close to downtown ... Rail transit of some kind would seem to make sense for such an area (and hell, stretch this corridor west along the NS railroad tracks through Lakewood, and you have the densest population corridor between Philadelphia and Chicago!) ... and yet RTA kills rail and pushes buses... even, as Cleburger correctly notes, the downgrading (speed-wise) of the Shoreway into a boulevard (which is admirable in many ways in itself) will get these 'fast BRTs' in traffic... Go figure.

It wasn't reported publicly. All Aboard Ohio provided consulting services to development corporations a few years ago who were interested in developing a west-side streetcar. It got pretty far along in the discussions and, initially, lower-level staff at RTA said they would be happy to submit federal funding grants to support the project. [glow=red,2,300]But upper-level staff told the development corporations they would not support seeking federal funds for a streetcar because they were concerned it would siphon funds from state-of-good-repair money they needed for the existing system. However they are not the same funds. The local streetcar funding would have come from a neighborhood-level TIF and the federal funding would have come either from Small Starts or Urban Circulator funds -- neither of which RTA was seeking for other projects[/glow]. How is RTA continually allowed to get away with stuff like this? This is absurd and should be widely reported, not kept a secret. The Public Square debacle, along with the Blue/Green railcar crisis just are just some of examples of RTA management's incompetence. Where is the friggin' oversight? A rail streetcar hooking into Public Square is exactly what this increasingly dense, walkable neighborhood needs, yet RTA scuttles it. RTA's got to be the most un-transit, transit agency in the country. Throw all the bums out.

^^ Now that's interesting.

^Yes, but Denver has obviously embraced mass transit in a big way with its 100+mile FasTracks light/commuter rail program. Transit is transforming much of Denver into more dense, pedestrian-oriented development as opposed to the typical Midwestern highway-influenced sprawl. Columbus is still debating the merits of rail transit.

This is a terrible tragedy; she was only 18. I saw a guy do the same thing shortly after this station opened: he was walking through the adjacent small pay lot along E. 119th Street before he climbed up the short hillside and onto the train platform rather than walk through to the end of the lot/E.119th at Mayfield Road around and into the Little Italy-U.C. RTA station and up the stairs to the platform. That day we shook are heads at the foolishness of this man but at least he survived. This was an accident waiting to happen. To access the platform in this manner, hill-climbing passengers must cross the Red Line's eastbound tracks where trains enter the platform area quickly from a nearly blind location down a steep incline and around a sharp corner that is shielded by the station's head-house. This lady and her friends, like the guy I witnessed, took the foolish risk just to save a few steps. RTA will likely have to erect a fence at the base of the hill along E. 119th to prevent this. Although this young lady made a bad mistake, she didn't deserve to die. I wonder whether her family will seek damages from RTA.

LeBron's block was a thing of beauty just like his much more important Game 7 saving block on Iguodala -- of which I have the black T-shirt immortalizing it. Thompson has also suddenly become a shot-blocking machine since the playoffs. He had 4 last night and the team total was 10; at least tying a team record, I believe.

^That's probably what's going to happen. Despite the Cavs not saying it, they're likely scared of the Larry Sanders of today whereas they would have jumped at him 2 years ago... Too much baggage and he's not player ready. I'm excited about possibly landing Deron Williams at the backup point and Bogut will be a plus. Derrick Williams will likely be a key asset although, as we saw tonight, there are occasions where he gets beat on D and can be out of control on offense. But LeBron and Lue's system will benefit him. McCrae is definitely gone: too inconsistent offensively and a sieve defensively. Liggins will likely stick due to his tenacious D. I'm confident in this team if we can stay healthy. Korver was a huge get and, as noted, Derrick Wms' size and athleticism will take some load off both RJ and LeBron.

Detroit has had, and still does have, tons of eyesore, derelict buildings (including several office towers) that stand graffiti-ed and in ruins. Just rehab these first, which is what developers like Gilbert and John Ferchill from Cleveland (Book Cadillac hotel), are doing in downtown Detroit. ... Look at Cleveland. While one would be crazy to say downtown Cleveland is all the way back or some kind of Nirvana, it's obviously come a long way... Now tell me how many new skyscrapers (or even just high rises) have been built here in the last 10 years? I count 2: E&Y tower and the new Hilton hotel (which is great). The overwhelming bulk of Cleveland's downtown development has been from adaptive reuse, often/usually with empty or largely empty, office buildings being converted into apartments. You've gotta crawl before you can walk... So you might want to ease up on Dan just a bit.

^Bakersfield,... thanks; I can stop calling it that taco place.

^This sounds great but, not to be Debbie Downer, do you really think these plans and other promising HSR projects will actually materialize in this era of Trump and the always vigilant anti-rail hitmen ... and women?

I'm looking forward to Margaritaville. Plans sound exciting and it'll be great to finally have that big hulking building actually contributing to FEB activity.

I hear what you're saying, but I think you may be a little hard on Cleveland. Gilbert is amazing for Detroit (and Cleveland, too, to a lesser extent), but he's very unusual. Cleveland has had tremendous progress of late by a lot of smaller guys (than Gilbert) who are getting things done: MRN, Zaremba, Fairmount/Wolstein, Gies, K&D... to name a few... I like you have been a big critic of Stark (aka Mr. Big Talk, Little Action)... But finally it seems that at least Beacon may actually materialize and he appears to be moving forward with his mega nuCLEus project... ... Detroit is very lucky to have a billionaire like Gilbert who obviously loves his hometown and is making good through lots of bricks 'n mortar. Detroit, though coming along nicely, needs him a lot more than Cleveland does because Detroit has had soooo far to come back from.

Yes. I walked by there Saturday on that 'summer' afternoon and it looks like the place is close to opening. I was impressed by the increased foot traffic along W.25 south of Lorain. The businesses south of this new taco place appear to be doing very well, including the tiny "Passengers Cafe" inside the Cleveland Hostel... It sure would be nice if that ugly parking lot between the taco restaurant and the historic building adjacent to the United Bank building could be developed... It's large enough for a substantial mixed-use apartment-over-retail development, and would fit nicely into the still burgeoning Market Square district. The furniture store next to the Hostel has been shuttered; are there any plans for this space? It's pretty large.

I went by the Transit Village and was very glad to see it moving forward. However, even though the ground has been dug up in the entire footprint, the only building out of the ground are on the western-most corner. I hope this isn't one of those piecemeal, test developments to see how the market responds, but I guess I could understand it. This area may be a gamble for new residential building by the bank. Unfortunately such developments often end up like Avalon Station where only 1 of several condo buildings was built, but then stopped -- seemingly forever -- as a result of the mortgage crisis/collapse of 2008, so now you have 1 modest, albeit handsome, building next to a cleared, empty lot. Worse is the Chicle development on the West Side where only a few houses were built and sit by their lonesome on an empty lot. Does anyone know if the piecemeal approach has been taken by Transit Village? It was my understanding that they were building it all at once for a complete development in order to avoid the Avalon Station situation (which has a new plan btw). There is a state of the city on Thursday, if I make it I will find out for sure. That would be awesome, willyboy, we'll wait for your report ... if you make the meeting... I would go myself as I'm both excited and curious about this project, but I'm heading out of town Thursday morning on biz... I was by there this morning and workers swarming busy finishing the wood frame for th one unit, which based on the garages in back, may be for 4 units. However, as I noted, there was no activity anywhere else on tehe lot, which has me worried although the fact it has all be dug up could be the cause for optimism. It had been a well-groomed grass park before this.

Was there an official groundbreaking? The weedy parking lot has disappeared into dirt and there are a earth movers on site.

What I can't understand is how Kyrie could name his greatest of all time and NOT include LeBron. One pundit noted that all those he named were retired, but also pointed out that the question didn't specify guys no longer playing and, even if the questioner did, it was incumbent on Kyrie to add a LeBron footnote... Kyrie is obviously a great player who, barring a (heaven forbid) catstrophic, career-ending injury, has a space reserved in Springfield. But the heights he's achieved up to age 24 were all clearly derived from playing along side Number 23... All this to say Kyrie's non-acknowledgement of LeBron was a bad look and he needs to amend his comments with the quickness. LeBron, being a professional, will no doubt not mention it and move on, but he's got to feel the diss from his number teammate even in laughing off Kyrie's "flat earth" comment, where LeBron acknowledged "... that's my guy." ... not to mention the actual fact that LeBron IS one of the greatest of all time ... clearly the best small forward of all time in my book, even over guys like Bird, Baylor or Dr. J, among others....

Can't say for sure and I will have to go over and observe for myself, but those wires appear to be on the periphery of the development and even that utility pole in the center of the photo appears to route power lines down into tubes underground which, no doubt power the development.

I was listening to WTAM driving into town this afternoon, and the hosts were dead serious about it; thought Kyrie had lost his mind... of course, I shouldn't be surprised. At WTAM, they're not the sharpest knives in the drawer by any means.

I went by the Transit Village and was very glad to see it moving forward. However, even though the ground has been dug up in the entire footprint, the only building out of the ground are on the western-most corner. I hope this isn't one of those piecemeal, test developments to see how the market responds, but I guess I could understand it. This area may be a gamble for new residential building by the bank. Unfortunately such developments often end up like Avalon Station where only 1 of several condo buildings was built, but then stopped -- seemingly forever -- as a result of the mortgage crisis/collapse of 2008, so now you have 1 modest, albeit handsome, building next to a cleared, empty lot. Worse is the Chicle development on the West Side where only a few houses were built and sit by their lonesome on an empty lot. Does anyone know if the piecemeal approach has been taken by Transit Village?

Very nice, crisp and bright photos. Great resolution. Nice snapshot of the city during the warmer months.

[NOTE: uh-ho, now come the NIMBY's: the dreaded rail-killing, anti-rail hit-men] Metro Rail Extension Met with Skepticism by Town of Amherst By Mike Arena Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 12:12 PM EST AMHERST, N.Y. -- The proposed extension of the NFTA light rail would connect UB's North Campus in Amherst with the growing medical campus downtown. An area that continues to bring new jobs to the city. http://www.twcnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2017/01/27/amherst-extension-metro-rail.html#/0

This is cold water, but fact. From an apt POV, Michelle notes low area rental rates per construction costs.

Makes sense. I'm really glad to see the revival of those beautiful old historic ORR buildings south of the Main Ave Bridge (I'd love someone to grab the Samsel Hardware building across the street and re-purpose into apts over ground-level retail, but you can't have everything). This, along with the Settler's Point office development to the south, will add even more synergy to FEB. Maybe after this the banks will loosen up and Phase III can be financed.

Phase III?