YO to the CLE

Ouch. Beautiful buildings to work with and a great streetscape project, but man oh man they need some help. Interestingly out of curiosity, I looked up the city on maps expecting to find a ton of sprawlville surrounding the historic core, but nothing! It is like the town is just stuck in time. Also doesn't bode well for the city since they do not have any suburban population to pull from. Even Ohio towns have that going for them. is there a backstory to this place?

There is definitely a market for more Marriott in this city. Marriott has the most extensive network and best rewards program out there. They know what they are doing

CLE Heights would be wise to follow Lakewood's lead. I am not saying one is better than the other. Even though I am a Lakewood resident, there are plenty of things I am envious of in the Heights. The architecture of the Heights is absolutely gorgeous. I love Lakewood's old homes, but the Heights will always win the architecture award. All I am saying is I think Lakewood wins in the city planning dept and hopefully the Heights takes notice of that. Lakewood is even working on legislation to LEGALIZE ADU's! I think the developments in the heights as of late are a sign of trending towards the right direction. Hopefully the minority of residents don't F it up

As someone who goes to Texas monthly, I can vouch that Dallas is very "new" downtown. I can count on one hand the number of historic buildings remaining. And outside of downtown it doesn't get much better. Miles and miles of sprawl with very little for traditional neighborhood development. TONS of money though, I will give them that. Ft Worth still has somewhat of a historical feel in a 2 mile radius around downtown. Downtown itself though has signifcantly lagged Dallas in development. Houston is a absolute mess. I could write a book on that city's planning mistakes.

^Same developer as electric gardens? Looks very similar in style

I lived in downtown for 10 years and never once paid for parking. Managed to utilize our street parking the entire time, just had to walk a block or 2 occasionally. Very little sympathy from me.

It definitely challenges the architecture of the neighborhood. I am mixed on it too, but the neighborhood is going to LOSE IT for sure.

I think everyone is distracted by the Gateway project lol. We seem to have forgotten about a 600+ ft skyscraper going up

The fact that Ken's site went down is probably a good indication that people are VERY interested in how this plays out.

Ken, your article broke your website!

This is really fantastic development type! More of this all over the city please. The only bummer is that once this is completed, we have the terrible suburban style homes stopping any progress northward. It is going to be such a stark difference as the neighborhood recovers. Hopefully property values and desirability of the neighborhood improve enough to justify purchasing and demolishing some of those homes for more traditional development styles. Everyone has a price....

The deer got my tree I planted in my own yard too...I see why people shoot them

Wow! What a difference! I'll start off with a positive post because there's a lot of negative regarding tree canopy in the CLE. Lakewood seems to be on an all-out push to recover it's tree canopy. Although we have been losing the big oaks along Clifton, once they are cut down, the hollow trunks reveal that they were on their way out naturally anyway. It seems the city is doing a great job of replacing what is cut down and then a lot more beyond that. The newsletter they just sent said they planted over 400 trees in 2020.

^Yet another reason we shouldn't have bailed them out. Let em fail. They are the worst for urban tree cover

^Honestly of all of the historic losses in Cleveland, from the looks of this photo, the area where the malls are now was not much of a loss. Just a ton of squat rag tag homes and garages that I can't believe made it that long without being replaced by grander structures!

^This one is. I believe it won historic tax credits a couple rounds back

I used to work with pickling acid at my previous job. The fact that they were dumping that untreated into the river is the most insane thing ever. That stuff is so toxic

Although downtown development took a small hiatus during the pandemic, it seems as if OHC, Tremont, and GS really accelerated. The amount of construction on the near-west side rivals many areas I travel to in supposedly "booming" Texas

There's a simple solution to this problem^ Maybe the Bibb administration will have the willpower to do it

Exactly! I think this is what gives Ohio cities a slight advantage, especially in the weird world we live in today. We have a medium density built environment all over the state. A lot of times we lament not having a ton of rowhouses (except maybe Cincy) compared to other older cities, but I think in many ways this makes our cities unique. You can live in an urban setting and STILL have a bit of yard and privacy. Now if only those in charge of attracting talent to our cities can find a way to market that...

Probably one of the best posts on this website in a long time! You are 100% correct coming from someone in the family building stage. We need a mix of sizes. New single family homes, duplexes, and even small apartments. Limiting ourselves to any one of these in the city is the same attitude that creates single family low-density subdivisions.

I live right on Clifton. The 55 is such an awesome bus line. I take it to work 90% of the time. I do love Edgewater though. In many ways, that is the better part of Clifton. Better road design, more commercial, closer to Edgewater Park, etc. The elementary there is not too bad either. The problem is that there are NEVER any homes for sale there, and if there are, they go very quickly. Lots of long term residents is good, but they limit options for buying. I miss CLE taxes, but I will say that Lakewood gives you what you pay for in services. What I have always found interesting is that we on here complain about the region's obsession with sprawl which is still a problem, but I find that the huge demand for inner ring cities such as Lakewood, Shaker, and many areas of CLE Heights proves that may folks in the area desire that streetcar suburb density and charm. I go back to my original comment. That bodes well for Cleveland because 90% of the city is the same exact built environment as the inner ring cities (albeit less maintained). I personally feel there would be a huge reward if we could just do basic upkeep and modernization. I do think the former mayor's neighborhood initiative is a good start. Focus on areas adjacent to more popular neighborhoods. As Shaker Hts becomes pricier, make Buckeye a good alternative. For those priced out of Lakewood, Cudell can be an option For UC and the Heights, Glenville should be the go-to. Literally all of these neighborhoods look identical to the stable inner ring cities. I know it is easier said than done, but just a little TLC can go a long way in perception as the region's real estate prices increase and folks start looking towards other options.

I can only speak to Lakewood, but I think affordability is starting to become an issue here. I know of multiple couples who have looked at Lakewood but couldn't find something in their range. They then have the choice of going into CLE or Fairview Park. They end up in Fairview Park because of one reason which is obvious from this discussion...schools. The other reason is interesting though...They don't want to take the time renovating an older poorly maintained CLE home and can't afford to pay a flipper's high cost for "luxury" homes. Neighborhoods like Cudell, Jefferson, West Blvd have the opportunity to take advantage of this. Just need to bring the homes up to today's standards. Not flashy or high end. Just bring them out of the 50's

Good stuff coming out of my hometown! The small wins happening in downtown Youngstown and Warren give me some hope that the region can regain vitality in the urban centers.

^Just a kind thank you to you both for keeping us updated on construction in the holy grail of urbanity. Cleveland is my forever home, but my wife spent 4 months in NYC. Man oh man was it fun to watch the construction in that city.