ClevelandOhio

^ Dont think so. That whole area infront of Tower City on Public Square pisses me off. It looks like trash, and the people just loitering are annoying. Same goes for all of Public Square in my opinion. And we need to stop building up Public Square to be something its not. We dont need tourists getting that impression of our city.

Hahahhahah thats exactly how I think of it!

This one? Modern-style buildings by architect Stanley Saitowitz give University Circle's Uptown development a new sense of place Many of the world’s most beautiful modern and contemporary buildings are solo acts. They’d rather stand by themselves or break sharply with their surroundings than fit in with their neighborhoods as part of a larger ensemble. Put another way, it’s hard to think of making a city street out of multiple versions of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Pavilion, one of the iconic buildings that launched the modernist movement. San Francisco architect Stanley Saitowitz believes you can have both traditional urbanism and modern design. In the two apartment buildings he’s designed for the initial phase of the Uptown development in University Circle, now nearing completion, he has emphatically departed from the tradition of modernist isolationism. http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2012/04/architect_stanley_saitowitz_cr.html

The group looks like a bunch of hired protesters. Doesn't look like anyone cares or is taking them seriously. If anything, they dont give that union a good image. I would love to see CSU hire locally, but just not them. What would they do then?

East Cleveland finds $3.2 million in overlooked bank account EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — Mayor Gary Norton is used to discovering problems with his city’s financial records. Now he’s found a missing $3.2 million. The money, accumulating since 2006, was supposed to pay off bonds the city issued in 2005 to clear some of its debt and get out of fiscal emergency, Norton said. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/04/east_cleveland_finds_32_millio.html

But this happens far too often. It creates delays and it can get annoying when you 3 buses going one direction before any come your way.

I saw three healthline busses going westbound downtown today, one right behind the next. First bus was packed, second had a few people, and the third bus had like 2 people. Why does this always happen?

You guys are correct. Steelyard falls into the Tremont SPA. Im 100% positive

First round of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Walk of Fame plaques unveiled outside Cleveland's Public Auditorium Walk this way, rock 'n' roll fans. The first plaques in Cleveland's new Walk of Fame were unveiled during a news conference Wednesday afternoon outside Public Auditorium, where the sold-out Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Saturday, April 14. Downtown Cleveland Alliance ambassadors removed large wood boards to reveal sidewalk markers for a dozen members of the Rock Hall's incoming Class of 2012, including the Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. http://www.cleveland.com/rockhall/index.ssf/2012/04/first_round_of_rock_and_roll_h.html

Wow, the Higbee Building looks great!

^ I did. I used the census block information to get my totals. And if anything students aren't there during winter break or summer break so they have no benefit to downtown at those times. But they are included

http://www.csuohio.edu/sciences/preprof/premed/neomed.html

Thats penalizing churches because of their religious beliefs. That goes a bit far in my opinion. But legalizing gay marriage is a must in my opinion. No point of taking people who dont believe in it though and make them even more opposed/pissed about it because now their church is penalized. And that would just create even more issues.

I cant really think of any "old fashioned apartment buildings" that are sitting vacant in Cleveland's hot neighborhoods. And nobody is going to risk the investment to renovate one in Corlett, Jefferson, etc.. Those neighborhoods are full of blight, have high crime, and really there isnt much attractive about them. So of course they want to invest in growing popular neighborhoods that actually have demand and are attractive. And downtown has the largest stock of buildings to choose from. So if the East Ohio Gas conversion goes through, it will be great! Instead of having an outdated vacant office building sitting their for years, slowly decaying, and creating a dead zone and a homeless hangout, you instead get a renovated building in the cities core, full of residents and filled storefronts, creating additional traffic in the area. Honestly I believe almost everyone on here would choose a Rocky River over a Jefferson. More shopping, less blight, less crime, actually more walkable, and better schools. And possibly more urban.

Decent poll results so far! I dont understand how people can be so against it that they would go out and protest it. Personally I believe that Churches shouldn't be forced to conduct the ceremonies though, so Im glad that is specifically stated.

But downtown is drawing largely from the suburbs. 86% of people moving downtown are from outside the city and 51% are from outside Cuyahoga County. So instead of choosing to live in Westlake, Strongsville, or Mentor, they are choosing to live downtown. And personally, and I think you would agree as well, I dont give a crap if there is vacancy in those cities if it means more people living in Cleveland and Downtown. Nobody complains when those cities build new houses. In the past, cities like Rocky River, Willowick, Eastlake, and Parma stole from Cleveland and the inner ring. Nobody cared or did anything to stop it. Now further out cities like Mentor, Strongsville and Westlake are just stealing residents from those previously mentioned suburbs that are now loosing population. So now that Cleveland, and downtown is stealing some residents back, and really, a tiny number, people complain and say this region isnt growing and it hurts the suburbs and region. And at the same time Geauga County continues to build new houses and those same people dont say a thing, and possibly even move there.

First off residents aren't taking the place of retail, they are helping create it. These obsolete office buildings are being converted into residential, saving them from demolition, or a slow decay caused by vacancy. Its not like we are preventing companies from moving downtown because we'd rather have residential. Building owners can make more money with offices than with apartments/condos. Buildings like the Bingham dont exist in other neighborhoods and serve great as residential. If not it would most likely have been demolished. Downtown living is 100% different than neighborhood living(Ohio City, Tremont, etc.) There are ton of people who live downtown but would never consider Ohio City or etc. And visa-versa, there are many who love living in a neighborhood but would never live downtown. Downtown can draw people in from other parts of the country. I know several people from out of state who moved here. They chose downtown. If downtown wasn't an option, they were going to choose a far out suburb such as mentor. Residential can help add a 24/7 activity to downtown that is harder to maintain with no residential population. Look at Chicago north of the river compared to the loop. The loop is dead after 5, while north of the river is hoppin. Also it is much harder for a developer to get control of 100 houses in a neighborhood than it is to buy a large downtown building that can be converted into 100 units.

Burke is all landfill. It was built with the same dredgings they are planning on using for the new facility, and the ones on Dike 14. Why would it be any different? Burke was not just river dredgings like Dike 14. Burke was also a landfill. People don't even know what was put in there or where, this area was created pre EPA. It is on the list of most contaminated Cuyahoga County properties by state and federal agencies. There was a lot of tests done in the early to mid 90's and parts of the area were found to be "toxic". Thus why people have to legitimately wear hazmat suits to do just about any type of work on that land. Reasons pursuing Burke at the present time is "dumb": 1. Due to the contaminated nature of the grounds, I have heard costs to clean the contaminated soil are astronomical. As in truly, truly astronomical. 2. Unlike Meigs Field in Chicago, Burke was built almost entirely with FAA funds in the early 60's. Meigs was built in the 40's by the city of chicago. So when Daley bulldozed x's in some runways, the FAA didn't have much of a say. Granted they were pissed, Chicago should have given 30 days notice to closing their airport, but it was their choice. Hence they had to pay a $33,000 fine. Closing Burke is not just Cleveland's call, it's also the FAA who built it. And we need the FAA money that flows into Hopkins a lot more than a city like Chicago does. If we "pull a daley" and bulldoze the runway it could have serious implications in regards to the funding Cleveland recieves from the FAA. We'd also have to repay all the money the FAA used to build it, which I'm pretty sure we don't have lying around. 3. Massive connectivity issues. I think sometimes people around here tend to overlook just how disconnected we are from our "lakefront". Well, there is a reason the city was founded on the banks of the Cuyahoga and not on the "shores" of lake erie... We don't have a natural lakefront. Our lakefront was a 50 foot cliff that started right behind city hall. Most of the land comprised of what is now known as our lakefront was dirt brought in by rail cars from excavating land in the downtown area. The terminal tower provided over 1,000 rail cars full of dirt alone. And that rail line as we all know is still there and is still very active.... at the bottom of the 50 foot drop. Then there is that little thing known as the shoreway that gets in the way. And about midway through the Burke land is the shoreway / 90 interchange that takes up quite a bit of land. And on the Burke side, there isn't a single connection from that land to the city save East 9th street. And even if there were once you get past east 18th street, you'd be connecting that land to light industrial land, not exactly the most beautiful or populated areas of the city. The problems and challenges with Burke are enormous. I don't know why AT THIS POINT, we are even wasting our time. It can be a great asset as an airport... and in the meantime we've got ONE HUNDRED AND TEN ACRES of lakefront land at the port. Land that is already connected to the Warehouse District (the most populated neighborhood of downtown), the river, the central business district. 110 acres. That's practically a third of the size of downtown proper. It's going to keep us busy for quite some time. And contrary to what Mr. Morrison has to say (whom definitely does not get along with the administration), disolving your port and giving it away to far away places isn't regionalism. That's just giving your port (and most of it's economic benefits) away. I'm guessing Chris Warren and Chris Ronayne, the two biggest proponents of Regionalism you will find, also don't see this as such. And as for just absolving the port and just "developing" the whole thing all at once rather than phasing it in over 25-30 years, well I'm sorry but that is just assinine. I mean really. We're talking about an area roughly a third of the size of downtown. Who pays for that? And what happens when you build tens of thousands of residences all at once? How long do those places sit empty, what does that oversaturation do to the rest of the downtown? How many millions of square feet of office space do you think downtown can absorb right now? And saying things like "not doing anything until 2035" is patently false. Plans call for the first phase to be worked in over the next five years. The bottom line is that like it or not and as frustrating as it may be. Phasing this development in over the next 20-30 years IS the best way to go about developing a parcel this large. It will keep demand and interest up. Came across this great post and thought it would be nice to bring up again, just to dismiss any discussion about developing burke.

Thanks! You can see how bad things really got at one point, and how much things have improved. I have some pictures on my computer from 1974 and the 80's that show how bad it was.

It will take a long time for downtown to ever hurt Cleveland heights or other neighborhood or cities in my opinion. Remember we aren't even at 10,000 yet, and have a while until we get there. And I also think they are different markets. If you want more greenspace(backyard), big trees, and a neighborhood feel, you will most likely choose Cleveland Heights over Downtown. And with University Circle right there, I would expect the demand for living in Little Italy and Cleveland Heights(West of Coventry Rd), to continue to grow. I can easily see University Heights and the eastern and northern parts of Cleveland Heights to start/continue to slip. Lakewood I think is more at risk or losing out, not to downtown, but neighborhoods such as Ohio City, Tremont, and Detroit Shoreway(if improvement continues). This is because I think alot of people who want to live in an urban environment, but dont want to live by crime and bad schools choose Lakewood. But if these Cleveland Neighborhoods continue to improve and crime decreases, I can see these people moving to live closer to downtown, and be in a growing neighborhood instead of a declining one. The difference is that Little Italy and Cleveland Heights(West of Coventry Rd.) are nearby a large employment center, and one that is well paid. Its also near a huge cultural center in University Circle, and Little Italy is a cultural center in itself in my opinion. Also almost forgot to mention its right by a University(Case Western), which will always drive demand. These CH houses are large and grand, and really the only livable area around that employment and cultural center(University Circle). Lakewood on the other hand has to compete with closer neighborhoods to its employment center(downtown), such as Tremont, Ohio City, and Detroit Shoreway as mentioned earlier. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Shaker Heights is interesting. Its still close to University Circle so that helps. But I think the thing that helps most is its extremely large houses on the North Side. If you are rich as hell, want a big house, and want to be close to work, this is basically your only true choice to choose from. The south side of Shaker Heights has no advantage so I believe the slip we have already seen will continue with little hope for improvement in my opinion.

Where are the pictures?

Pregnant woman robbed, kidnapped at Steelyard Commons CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - Cleveland Police were called out to Steelyard Drive near downtown Cleveland for a woman locked in the trunk of her car. Officers received the call around 4PM Sunday to respond to the area of Quigley and Clark Avenue after an anonymous pedestrian walked by a vehicle and overheard screams for help. Officers arrived on scene and walked over the vehicle and knocked on the hood. The woman inside the trunk knocked back. Officers broke open the driver's side window and opened up the car, hitting the trunk release. Inside the trunk, officers located the 23-year-old victim, who was still conscious and breathing. Cleveland Police called EMS and transported the 13-week pregnant victim to MetroHealth Medical Center. http://www.woio.com/story/17306063/shopper-hears-woman-screaming-from-car-trunk-calls-police

The mention of apartments is intriguing. Bank files foreclosure on Tower at Erieview After nearly a decade of trying to make a go of the 40-story Tower at Erieview, an investor group led by co-owner Werner Minshall is in danger of losing the landmark property in downtown Cleveland to its lender. The office building and its 400-car underground parking garage are the subject of a foreclosure action filed March 23 by U.S. Bank in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The lawsuit against Mr. Minshall's Erieview Tower & Parking LLC looks to satisfy a $44 million mortgage issued by the bank. However, the attached, glass-topped Galleria, 1301 E. Ninth St., is exempt from the foreclosure action as it was financed separately and Mr. Minshall controls it through a different company. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120402/SUB1/304029997

:D April Fools! My small contribution to the day! Thats my very basic beginner photoshop skills, which I have none, just downloaded a free trial. I tried getting rid of Key, 200 public square, and riverview tower as they were the biggest give aways. Great eye buckeye1! You had a very good reason to be suspicious. Great attention to detail.

The HOA fee for the unit he looked at was over $500 and there is some issue with taxes based on the previous price it sold for. So he is no longer interested in that particular building. Any other condos at around 150k in that neighborhood? He might go the renting route in which I suggested the Bingham.