NEOBuckeye

Something modeled after this would definitely stand out in “Greater Grandview” area for sure. We could definitely benefit from more architectural diversity in these new builds.

Good point about the CVS on Broadview & 5th, another vastly underutilized parcel that obviously was built as virtually every cookie-cutter suburban CVS is. I really feel whatever is done to redevelop these parcels should push the envelope a bit, being that it’s at a key intersection/hub of communities. 7 or even 8 or more stories (on a variance) could make a visual statement here.

A leasing sign just went up for the former Big Lots space inside the former Giant Eagle/Big Bear building at 1451 W 5th that still houses Grandview Mercantile. I’m still wondering how long before this significant parcel gets redeveloped into a multi-story mixed use complex? Except for the occasional Grandview Ave Hop event, the parking lot facing 5th is a massively underutilized space at this point. It was never remotely full when Big Lots was open. If executed well, a redevelopment here could be a real lynchpin connecting the 5xNW neighborhood (still really hate that name) and Grandview Ave/Grandview Heights. Feels like a 6-8 story building similar to the one just being finished on 1350 W 5th, or like The View, with ground floor retail facing Grandview and 5th Aves and a parking deck in the rear on Ida Ave, ideally with some public spaces available.

I seriously thought this would have happened here a decade ago, back when GE first closed and consolidated its store here with the one on Neil Ave, into the current Grandview Yard Market District. I was rather disappointed when I found out Big Lots and Grandview Mercantile were just going split and share this old Big Bear. What a big waste of a property with massive redevelopment potential. Maybe now this can be revisited? That entire lot is literally prime space for a mixed-use Grandview Ave "gateway" project. I see 7 stories, and I might actually go as high as 10 here for visual impact and prominence. The new 1350 W. Fifth Ave building is topping out at 6. Why not go further? It could definitely provide more residential space as well as additional shops and restaurants along Grandview Ave and Fifth Ave. I imagine a parking deck with paid parking spaces in the rear, spanning the alley. It's not like they aren't needed.

Anyone have any updates on this long stalled-out project at 840 Michigan? With so much else moving forward in this neighborhood, it seems strange and unfortunate that this property remains a partially-built eyesore. At this point, it would be better off as greenspace if the developer has gone bankrupt and nothing else is going to happen with it. I mean, yes, I'm sure there's some legal/funding hold-up, and also, it's been like this now for years.

I envisioned something much like this going up on the old Big Bear store & lot currently leased to Grandview Mercantile and Big Lots. Not that those stores don't benefit the area, but a mixed-use development would be a far more efficient use for that property, and also serve as a prominent anchor/gateway between W 5th and Grandview Ave. I'm sure there could be enough ground-floor retail space for GVM, Big Lots, and then some, with a parking deck built into the SW corner of the property facing the Ida "alley" and Broadview. Feels like a key missing piece in integrating the 5xNW neighborhood (don't really care for that name) with Grandview.

I understand the pushback. Yes, Akron still is home to Goodyear, the last of the Big 4 legacy rubber companies to maintain its HQ in the city. Corporate banking is all based elsewhere though. Huntington, based in Columbus, absorbed FirstMerit, Akron's hometown bank in 2016, leaving it without a major banking corporation HQ. PNC is based in Pittsburgh, while US Bank and Chase are based in Minneapolis and NYC, respectively. You neglected to mention KeyBank, which has its HQ in Cleveland. Fair point that not all Akron banking is based in Cleveland, but also none of it is based in Akron anymore. I'll push back on the media piece also. The fact is, Cleveland dominates broadcast media--radio and TV--in NE Ohio. The majority of stations on FM, AM and TV are out of Cleveland or its suburbs. Personally I wish things were more diversified and that a stronger secondary pole existed in NEO between Akron and Canton, but it's not even remotely the case. Akron itself hasn't even had its own major network TV broadcast affiliate (ABC) since PAX stole Channel 23 and relocated its studios to the Cleveland suburbs in 1996. Cable doesn't even remotely address this gap. Diebold and Timken are based in Canton. (Diebold is in North Canton if we really want to get technical about it.) FirstEnergy is in downtown Akron now, although it does have historical roots in Cleveland. Also, FWIW, pre-pandemic, the ratio of commuters into Cuyahoga County from Summit County and surrounding counties was approximately 3:1. Like I said, I would love to see Akron (and Canton by extension) stand more strongly on its own. I'm a homegrown Akronite, so I get the pride thing and all. I'm also a realist. Right now, and for the far foreseeable future, Akron's economy is going to be strongly influenced by what goes on up in Cleveland, and in other places also.

Cleveland and Akron will never truly merge as cities, per se, barring some massive influx of new population growth and economic investment that puts NEO on the scale of NYC or Toronto in short order. Still, it is increasingly clear that their economic fates are intertwined, such that when Cleveland sneezes, Akron catches a cold, if not worse. Cleveland owns or dominates most Akron institutions and industries now (e.g. hospitals, media, banking/finance) and is now extending its reach further south into Canton. Akron may remain separate culturally and politically for the foreseeable future, but economically, it is very much a captured satellite of the “sun” in NEO that is Cleveland. As a side note, I always dreamed that someone would launch a startup in Akron that would takeoff and become a magnet for investment and similar enterprises that would (re)locate to the city, giving Akron and the surrounding region a fresh shot in the arm in terms of energy, status and outside interest/influx of new people, ideas and culture. Seems far fetched these days, but who knows?

I mean, what's there and coming in is mostly better than what was there--brownfields and such--but GY & GC are both still vastly underused opportunities, and there isn't going to be a chance to redo them as a whole anytime in the next 30-50+ years to maximize their latent potential. It's unfortunate. I mean, a suburban drive-thru Chic-Fil-A on Third Ave? Really people? Maybe it is just too much to expect Grandview Heights (and even Columbus for its part in this) to think outside of the box on projects like these. GH is, after all, a suburb that basically incorporated to avoid absorption into Columbus and all that it represents. Creating two districts that would have essentially been extensions of Downtown CBUS would probably have been akin to surrendering to annexation. It does make me wonder now what might have become of these properties had GH actually become part of Columbus years ago.

Am I the only one pretty underwhelmed with the way GY and now GC have turned out? They could have gone for something truly transformative and statement-making with these developments, given the longer-term growth and industrial trajectory of Columbus. More density and higher rise should have been givens. Instead, it's a lot of meh, semi-suburban infill crap that is going to be outmoded in 10-15 years. A landlocked tiny innurb like this one positioned so closely to the center of a metro typically doesn't get a whole lot of chances to remake itself. Grandview Heights undersold itself and blew both of these rare opportunities.

About damn time. How long have we been talking about regionalizing Cleveland? I like Weingart's thinking on this around tax sharing, and it doesn't actually preclude further government consolidation steps in the future, including the so-called "Unigov" city-county merger approach in place in several other cities, like Indy, Miami, Louisville, KY, Philly, etc. My only critique is that it doesn't go far enough, given that Metropolitan Cleveland extends into Lake, Lorain, Geauga, Summit, Portage and Medina counties. A thinking outside of the box approach would at least pull them into some kind of tax-sharing agreement also, if not a multi-county municipality. The latter is virtually unheard of in the US, however, outside of New York City. But that's all the more reason why it should be considered here in NE Ohio--it could really move economic development forward here on a massive regional scale, in a way that has not been possible in memory.

I like the way this part of town keeps adding density. It seems increasingly inevitable that the wave will spread up W 5th Ave to Grandview Ave, at the very least. I'm still betting that some massive mixed-use development eventually claims the Big Lots/Grandview Mercantile building.

Replace "3C rail" with "airlines" or "Interstate Highway system". Neither were perfect or complete right out of the box, either. Hell, conservative state governors in the 1950s were ready to tear Eisenhower to shreds then over his plans to build out the US Interstate system. Today, to their ideological successors, it's damn near as sacrosanct as the bible. Forget the reactionary naysayers. Build out passenger rail, and 20-30 years later, you'll have the heirs to those same people ready to come to blows to defend it.

Nice to see that property get some new life, and a full transformation at that. The last thing that it housed was a failed charter school. Apartments are definitely a better use for it. Now if only someone would do something about that unfinished eyesore at 840 Michigan. It sticks out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood that has seen so much new investment during the past decade.

Damn Chic-Fil-A for claiming that corner. Traffic at that intersection is bad enough already. It's going to be a total cluster**** when they open.