lonelyCity

Well for the rent they're charging for the apts and I imagine the rent for the retail areas are significantly higher than the suburbs, they should be able to maintain the exterior on a regular basis. The whole image of uptown is the clean, modern look. It doesn't go so well when it's dingy and modern.

I don't really think it would make much of a difference- there are enough yoyos out there on the street and with the traffic from UH & Case during rush hour, you go from stopping for 10sec to 20sec. If anything, those buses who stop every 1/2 block really kill traffic out there! Zip car would be a great idea! So does anybody here actually live in uptown now?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73045319@N07/ I took some simple pictures of the inside of the north building and some of the appliances. The fridge is not bosch. I like the lighting, not so sure about exposed concrete. They will let you repaint some of the walls, but you have to paint it back to white at the end of the lease if white is not your color. The kitchen counters are not granite. I'm no interior decorator, but it seems like it is a treated surface.

The apartments still look like that- all white and gray floors. It's all white Bosch appliances. Every time I drive by, it looks like progress is being made- so I don't think future south side tenants have anything to worry about. I'm gonna drive by it on the way to work tomorrow.

Hey cleanup, Have you visited uptown or was this all done over the phone? I walk/work by it all the time and have been in the north buildings. The leasing agents said that there are already people living there. I was there this past sunday and it looks like the north building is finished, when I had visited to take a look, it was still under construction. The south building is still not ready- there are still those portable cranes, lots of the area is fenced off, but I can see the interiors from the street and they look mostly complete. From what I remember, they said that the south building should be done in late June/early July. So you should be OK. You better be OK because I'm moving there in July too and I prefer not to be homeless. The hallways are huge- they're tall and endlessly long. I'm not too worried about the lack of elevators- it's just 3 floors so unless I am carrying an obscene amount of groceries, I'll take the stairs. Did you sign the lease? I haven't signed the lease yet- they cashed in my deposit and said once move-in comes closer they will have me come over and sign. As for not having a car... ouch. University Circle has its bright spots and you'll be fine there. But there are a lot of other areas to explore and public transportation is not like in T.dot.

I asked about the gym and they said that there were several gyms in the area so there was no need to add a gym. Oh, and it's not a parking lot- it's a parking garage from what I saw.

I'll try to steer this back to uptown, since my statement about the development that shall not be named kinda started this. The building north of euclid- with B&N and the Veizon store is actually open, which I'll refer to as UTN. The leasing office said that there were already a few units with tenants and that they are finishing up the apts as they get rented out. There weren't any reasonably priced apts left in the UTN. The building south of euclid (UTS) is not ready. The leasing agent said that it wouldn't be ready until late June and again, they would be finishing the units as they get leased out. So they have studios apts and 1bd rooms in the $1000-$1100 range, this is for 550? sqft or less. They have slightly larger units for $1300 and then the $1800 units which are 930sqft. Last I checked, they had a fair bit of empty apts available. I got the 550? sqft apt for $1090. Security deposit is 1 month rent. Uptown does have parking at $60/month. BUT... it's on the southside of Euclid, so UTS has that advantage, it's not connected though, so you'll have to walk outside briefly to get to the lot. The parking lot is ready and it's behind UTS and next to the art institute. Cable/internet is through Time Warner. Uptown manages the utility bills so you pay them for rent and utility. They have Bosch appliances. No pool, no gym, but on each section, if you drive by it, you'll see a section that looks like a ledge- that will be a balcony that's open to residents. Inside of there is a large public area which they are planning to put some tables and chairs as sort of a public space. Does anybody know what is going in the retail space? I can think of Verizon, B&N, Constantinos on UTN and Chipotle on UTS.

Welcome to the board. Take cover I'll start: If Crocker Park does it for you, then let me redirect you: www.surburbanohio.com Like I said- a lot of generic options there. But in terms of being able to walk to a lot of things, i.e. NYC, Crocker Park most closely resembles the convenience of everything grouped together. When I first moved here from NYC, it's ridiculous how I have to drive everywhere for the same things- a bank, a grocery story, a mailbox, and on and on. It's a headache. At Crocker Park, you can go eat dinner, catch a movie, go grocery shopping, chill at a book store, do some shopping, and they even have farmer's markets on the weekend, all without a car. I like doing that. That being said, Is it generic? Yup. Is the culture there bland compared to an Ohio City or Tremont? Hells yeah. Is it overpriced? Definitely. Crocker Park is a stepford wives version of what city life should be. It's an isolated, suburban version of what city life is. But it is convenient and you don't need a car everywhere you go and that's a big reason why I like it. Anyways, that's that and this is about uptown- I signed on for a 1bd room since it's close to work, new, and I always wanted to live in a trendy looking place.

Maybe it wasn't you but others have often complained that one area would cannibalize another. East 4th st. is almost perfect. If it were bigger, had a few more things than just bars- i.e. grocery store, movie theater, Barnes & Noble, more shopping options, eating places with different pricing options (cheap to expensive) then that would be amazing. Basically you go there to eat or drink. Personally, Crocker Park does it for me- you really can pretty much walk to get anything- again the food options are kinda lacking and all on the generic pricey option. The major drawback is that it's too far away from Cleveland. I really don't think the different areas would cannibalize other spots- they each serve their own function. The critique of Uptown is pretty good- the biggest problem I have with it is the durability, which I totally agree with the blogger. I toured the place and right now, everything looks amazing. If you've seen the interior pics on the PD, the kitchen looks like the designer cribbed the original iPod design. That theme is continued in the elevators- it's a pure, glossy white. Great now, but what happens after 1yr of living? It's gonna get torn up. Does anybody know what's gonna be on the 1st fl of the south side of the building? All I see is Chipotle so far. Another big problem for this area will be parking. In a town where it's fairly easy to get parking at all the fun spots in town, the only parking options I know of are on the street and that lot on euclid & ford, but I don't think it can handle traffic from the current spots + any additional spots. I also wonder who will shop at Constantino's besides the people who live near there and I bet it's gonna be expensive.

I hope the parking situation will be sorted out. I'll be looking at Uptown this week. $1300-$1900 for a 1 bedroom is a friggin' lot of money for Cleveland apts. Especially if the parking situation is as disorganized as pointing you to a uci pass... at that price, at the very least, there should be a dedicated lot. I think the rent is too high for Cleveland, but I'll reserve my judgement for when I see the place in person. I hear a lot of people are looking at the place- the leasing office said they were booked solid and had to schedule me 1 week from when I called. But I wonder how many people are actually signing up and putting their money where their mouth is vs. people just going to take a look see without signing up to lease the place. Any takers here?

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I'd be looking in Cleveland. As long as I have a lakefront view, I'd be happy with it. I have some time off of work, I think I'll go check out those places the next couple of weeks.

Hi everybody, I had the chance to visit the lakefront yesterday and now I am looking at rental properties on the lakefront. There's one that I can think of- quay 55. But then doing some research, it seems like there is a bunch of nasty behind the scenes fights between the developer and the board. I'm in no rush- I just resigned my lease a few weeks ago so I have time to look around and see what's available.