YO to the CLE

This is very true. I should've been a little more specific in the type of real estate investment I was referring to. If someone is looking to get a 15-20% appreciation in a year or two here and then sell, then absolutely, that person may be in the wrong city/state/region. But the areas where you do see that type of appreciation also have a VERY high cost of entry. Catch 22 of course. But from a rent collection cash flow point of view, there are not many places better off than good ole Ohio right now in terms of cost of entry vs returns.

Getting back to how this relates to real estate in Ohio...According to Z's argument, Cleveland is worse off than Cincy, pretty much circling a real estate black hole by now, right up there with Detroit even. So in that case, if I am able to make a healthy investment off real estate in the CLE along with many other people I know both on this board and in my personal life, then I guess I just don't get how the "elite" in Cincy have any impact on your ability to roll up your sleeves and earn some money off your inherited real estate? EDIT: Mods please remove if needed. Your warning came through as I was typing this response

^I am new to Lakewood and do not understand the details of the hospital dispute, but at this point, whether someone was pro Lakewood hospital closure or against it, the place is demolished and there is no chance of another hospital coming here, so my question is, who would she be caving to?

^That's pretty cool to think about. I never actually realized that we are basically the only national park with direct access. Once the trail is fully complete, we need to tout that more as a region.

^Awesome news! I am most excited for this portion of the trail. We are soo close to having full access to the National Park by bike without having to ride on roads. Something very few (if any?) other regions in this country can boast. Actually, can anyone answer the question of whether any other national park in the country is connected to a major downtown by an uninterrupted multi-purpose trail? Mods can create a new thread for that if you see fit.

^Pretty much, yes. It varies depending on the condition of the home, but a fairly move-in ready house in most west side neighborhoods will receive multiple offers.

It doesn't matter how they adjust the traffic flow or the design of the buildings, the residents of Parkwood DO NOT want this thing built. I was ironically at one of the original planning commission meetings for something else. It was quite comical the things they were throwing out there to try to give reasoning why it shouldn't be approved ?

^ Agreed, until the day we can get rid of cars altogether, this should be the model going forward in urban areas.

Please tell me Slavic Village! ^^ I love that area

^Knez is doing some great stuff for this city. I know there have been some likes and dislikes with their designs, but I actually have to admit that they are growing on me. With seemingly all other developers of infill housing going with the modern look, it is nice to have a mix of more traditional infill housing to go along with the current historic stock. And the price point allows younger families to afford the city's more popular areas. I approve. Keep em coming!

I am ok with this^ Although the Hot Dog Inn is a staple that will be missed, architecturally, it was basically a shanty building. We are adding density, and quite frankly, an improvement architecturally, I think it's a win.

^ As much as I hate cars, I would be ok with this being a showroom for higher end cars if that's what it ended up being. Ironically, it would be a huge pedestrian draw because people love to go in and gawk at that stuff; however, in its' current form, it looks about as good as one of the used car lots on Lorain.

^This is fantastic news! I have been so worried about the future of that strip for a long time. Glad to hear that the intent is to save as much as possible!

^Maybe it's just me, but I think they are just showing off their offices without anyone in them. The "calm" before everyone arrives for the day

^ Yay! At first I was indifferent about the DG proposal since what is being replaced isn't anything spectacular; however, I just drove through here this past weekend and changed my mind. It may not be the prettiest collection of buildings, but is has a kind of rambling industrial complex vibe that may prove more marketable as OB continues to evolve. I think we will be thanking ourselves we didn't allow a tear-down here in the near future.

^Ugh I don't know what to think about this. We are losing an ugly parking lot fronting Detroit (Yay!) but gaining another, slightly prettier parking lot fronting Detroit (Boo!). I know the building coming down on Detroit between Orchard Grove and Northland isn't necessarily the prettiest or most historic, but it is street fronting and could be renovated quite nicely.

^ Actually, this makes me think of a good question from someone in the know. In your opinion, since you started developing and since cleveland first started to really pick up steam, has the building and planning dept incrementally gotten more efficient?

^Agreed. More intact than Gordon Square and W 25th were IMO. I definitely share your sentiments about this area. I've seen renovations going on, but a lot of them are speculators doing crap work. That whole area of Cudell/West Blvd is at a cross roads I feel. I'd love to see the storefronts filled in and the historic structures better maintained, and I think we can absolutely do it here without displacing the diversity that makes this neighborhood great...The problem is, I don't think the political representation here has the know-how to support that happening organically, so what's going to happen is exactly what we are seeing now. EDIT: I guess to clarify, I want to see a little bit more wealth come in and "discover" the neighborhood because there are absolutely some long term crap landlords and owners who have let their properties fall into disrepair who need to go, and I think a slight uptick in the neighborhood's wealth will help to fill the storefronts. However, I don't want to see the great people who already call the neighborhood home and maintain their properties pushed out by investors. There is a way to accomplish this from a political level using code enforcement and incentives, but I don't see the representation doing that here. Hope that provides more clarity to my above statement.

^Stuff like this is great! We have so many buildings like this in that condition throughout the city. This is very promising.

^Dont be surprised when this neighborhood starts to take off in about 5 years or so. I am actually pretty confident in this statement because I was originally someone who was very down on this area too. I was looking for investment properties and chose to invest further south towards Lorain/Denison in an expectation that area would be first to pick up. Ironically, I’m seeing more renovations further north in cudell, so I’ll fully admit, I may have been wrong on this one... that said, the potential of the Lorain/Denison built environment still has me patiently optimistic because it’s such a beautiful strip!

I thought that’s what I just described? I don’t support closing canal with no alternative which is why I provided the alternative above?

Ok brainstorming time! What if the city and state agree to close down canal and instead reopen the Eagle St bridge. The state could chip in money because ODOT is always so eager to increase road capacity ?. Then it’s a win win win. Sherwin gets the land, we actually get an improved connection to both banks of the flats (if the bridge approaches somehow tie into both canal and Ontario), it makes the area of “Flats south” much more marketable, and finally, we get an improved riverfront. Now the one caveat is just how much cash it would take to get that bridge up and running again which I know KJP said is quite a lot.

^Agreed. I know the site makes a ton of sense for a prison facility, but it's also a chance to form some kind of connection to the Slavic Village nabe. I know there is currently no semblance of pedestrian oriented uses in that area, but gotta start somewhere.

^Close call between the Schofield and the May Co, but yes, absolutely one of the best rehabs in CLE.

^That was absolutely fascinating. Glad I randomly popped into a Columbus thread this evening for that cool little lesson. Carry on!