SquareWest

UPA still exists on paper for the lawsuits. There may be another organization in the future with the same mission, but no one will be recycling the UPA moniker for a long, long time.

An EPA mandate that is the same as those that impact cities as disparate as Cleveland, Miami, Honolulu, and many others. An EPA mandate that could have been dealt with 20 years ago for 1/3 the cost and at a nominal increase to residents' sewer rates. Or the City could play kick the can for years until we have where we are today where it is a massive cost and doubled everyone's bill. And for the record, it is only the sewer rates that are stratospheric. If you are filling your swimming pool you are in good shape.

The asbestos abatement on the Landmark has been done for quite a while, that wasn't what was holding that up. What benefits are there to doing the City Centre hotel? I thought historic tax credits were the leveraging point for most residential conversions. I would be surprised if many people on that trip were not already aware of the need for mixed use and residential developments downtown. Not to downplay the opportunity that the innerbelt presents, but I would rather seem them build on some of the many parking lots downtown first.

- Legends Landing: I would love to know the economics behind this. How many former NFL players are going to want to spend their retirement off of a freeway exit in Canton? They can only go the Hall of Fame so many times. - Residential development: Are they planning on flattening more of the residential neighborhood to make way for residential development? That is a landlocked piece of land.

What? Tremont is filled with low cost houses that were built for factory workers. How is that any different than... low cost houses built for factory workers? Other than being in the shadow of a steel mill vs. the shadow of a tire factory, I don't see much difference other than Akron bulldozed almost all of the commercial infrastructure in those neighborhoods. The reality is Akron destroyed the neighborhoods ringing Downtown and haven't left much to work with. The Innerbelt decimated the near west side, "urban renewal" completely leveled the Howard Street corridor on the north side, and 77/76 and the Interchange cut off the south side. The University and the city have done an efficient job at removing the original fabric of the east side. One could point to West Hill as a neighborhood that has some nice housing stock and hasn't completely disintegrated. It's in the shadow of downtown. It's just missing the commercial component. "I put a clock on the outside, to tell people it's time for downtown," Troppe said. That quote made the whole article worthwhile. In the argument about Cleveland's nearby neighborhoods being better, is Ohio City really any closer than Highland Square? And I don't see the area around CSU doing any better than the area around UA unless you count massive low income housing developments. South of downtown Cleveland rolls into Slavic Village which isn't exactly a hotspot. So really what they are saying is that directly to the west of downtown Cleveland there is neighborhood revitalization. I've read the authors other articles about Akron and it appears he writes from an outsiders perspective.

Article said apparently there is a sewer main running down the center of the property which is why it is laid out the way it is. Had the sewer main collapsed or had major issues they would have had to tear through the center of West Point Market. The gas station is what really wrecks the possibility of an interesting project. As much as I would like to be upset it isn't a better design, the reality is Wallhaven is a sea of parking lots anyway.

I thought this was a great story, poorly constructed. This was an important fact that I wish they would have further explained. Well, it's a paid placement or "Sponsor Content" so that's probably why. I thought this was a great story, poorly constructed. This was an important fact that I wish they would have further explained. Well, it's a paid placement or "Sponsor Content" so that's probably why. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/fedaa-jerai/37/995/189 Interesting.... They took her name off of it... By Northeast Ohio Media Group Marketing Staff on May 14, 2015 at 10:23 AM, updated May 19, 2015 at 10:49 AM Advertisement pieces written by someone who probably has never seen Downtown Cleveland...

Sorry for the double-post, but are there any drawings of what this might look like? If not, could someone do a mock-up of the route such an extension might take? Thanks! Provided some information based on past discussions from the Cleveland Transit Ideas thread here, which is the best place to discuss this idea further: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2768.msg746604.html#msg746604 ....Which was based on these three possible route options: Wouldn't that necessitate plowing through the park Beachwood so kindly put in the right of way?

I understood at least part of the impetus to moving on this project is precisely because the overpasses need repair work and it the amount of traffic going through the Innerbelt didn't justify the expenditure. If that is the case then it wouldn't make much sense to leave them.

That's true, re: FirstEnergy. And that is also true re: money, and I don't see any of the hospitals volunteering money to create more buildable land for themselves by contributing to the Innerbelt project.

Interesting concept about the parking decks filling in the dip where the road is. I don't think it will make much difference though as it looks like the hospital expansion machine is quickly running out of steam. Summa and General can't even stay afloat independently anymore, and within 2 years or less Akron General will be sporting Cleveland Clinic across the top of the building. I'm not sure what Children's situation is. I also find it funny that people are claiming the hospitals are landlocked. The only way they are landlocked is if one insists on having surface parking everywhere. Look behind Children's new building where Pronio's used to be: one big, fat surface parking lot, big enough to fit another quite ample size facility in there. Likewise, Akron General already has acres of surface parking ringing the campus. Google Map both facilities and look at the aerial view. One can also easily see tons of open greenspace backing into Akron General from the suburbanesque Opportunity Parkway. The only way the hospitals can be used as a justification is by insisting on mediocre land use efficiency. As for FirstEnergy, that would free up plenty of space for a new building, however it would simultaneously remove most ground level economic benefit to Downtown by setting them away in an area with virtually no supporting service based businesses (think restaurants and the like). And, given the demolition of most non-institutional structures in that stretch, the only way to provide an opportunity for nearby businesses to service them would be to either build retail into the project (which doesn't seem to be a priority for most projects) or hope someone comes along and can build out new buildings providing that space and make the project fly with the nominal rents charged Downtown. Then there's the whole issue of having a vacant 19 story tower smack dab in the middle of Downtown with the resultant impact on already weak rental rates in the market, and the direct loss of those employees in the Main St. corridor. In my opinion a better option would be to builda new FirstEnergy building in the Arena footprint and stick that project (if it ever comes to fruition) out in the middle of the Innerbelt.

I don't think it is even a matter of stealing the thunder from developments the city supported, however that is to be interpreted. The number of students hasn't changed so all it is is a continued increase of supply. I think any more developments and one or more of them would fail. As it stands we now have those large developments on top of the existing developments on top of actual University housing on top of the traditional student slum housing, all without an increase in students. At best they get more students to stay on/near campus instead of commuting to increase the tenancy that way, but I am very concerned that the south end of the neighborhood is going to rot significantly (more) with this increase in housing supply. And then on top of all of that it is all fueled by easy access to student loans, of which people seem to be backing away from a bit. So we shall see but I think that is the reason for no continued building. In fact, I'm not so sure they have had any interest, really.

Interesting concept, but to what end? I think without additional residential development in the area it might be underutilized. You also have the possibility of it being shunned due to being a bridge from a much higher crime area to Downtown. Or it could get a lot of usage. Who knows.

It is a classic case of demo before being ready to implement the rest of the plan. The University has removed what otherwise could have been potentially rehab-able buildings and given us a strip of parking lots and weed filled lots. On top of that, instead of building on existing open space, the private student housing went up taking out existing buildings instead. Great. And now the heady days of the college building boom are over and we have a college neighborhood without the commercial district that characterizes most major university areas. The Zip Strip is about on par with what surrounds of the College of Wooster (which is about 9x smaller). And since there are no affordable older buildings to inhabit anymore, we have to wait for someone with millions to invest in putting up new structures, which is unlikely.

It's a transportation project, so I posted it in the transportation section. And unless they're actually doing more than just closing ramps and changing signs, which is about all you could do for $12.7 million, I wouldn't get too excited about it yet. Don't get me wrong, it's a good start. Emphasis on the word "start." It said they are going to improve Rand and Dart Streets to facilitate normal traffic usage. They are both currently one way. However, if that means much beyond throwing a stripe down the middle I don't know. If they aren't going to bother to take it out they might as well leave it open unless the overpasses are going to collapse. It at least has a purpose if you are traveling one direction.