blinker12

From today's Restaurant Row in the PD: The Reddstone, an upscale restaurant and bar with a cool rock 'n' roll feel that was due this summer, looks to open Thursday, Oct. 11, in the previous Snickers Tavern space on West 76th Street. . . .

^^^Yeah, good to see the E. 13th entrance for the market. Unfortunately, the new space seems underutilized -- it's just check-outs, a salad bar and some cafe tables. They didn't add any room for additional grocery merchandise or remodel any of the rest of the market, which could really use an overhaul. Still, progress.

^Somehow I doubt they are looking at making it a TOD. Depressing stuff. It perpetuates the retail, office and residential "moat" around the city and inner ring suburbs that keeps so many people from visiting the urban core.

^^Asiatown Center is being developed by an old Cleveland Chinatown merchant family that hasn't had much experience with real estate development. I suspect the lack of experience is what's causing the delays, though I expect it will open *eventually*.

I lived in Ohio City for a year and adored it. If you're coming from a bigger metro area with a stronger tradition of urban living, Ohio City makes for a very soft landing. Prior to living there, I was in NYC and Ohio City was the perfect transition. It's transit-rich (the Rapid and lots of buses), has wonderful food-shopping options (West Side Market, Dave's) and enough cute cafes and restaurants to keep you from dining at home as much as you should. There's also a branch of the public library (one of the best in the nation), a fantastic used bookstore and beautiful old homes. Keep looking in Tremont, too. That neighborhood keeps becoming more complete, though it may not be as cute as Ohio City. I know the crime stats for OC may raise an eyebrow, but the likelihood of something happening varies a lot street to street. I lived on Jay Avenue and had no problems whatsoever. I parked my car outside every day (albeit on an alley, not the main street) and never had a scratch. I would second an earlier poster: Be very wary of people who tell you the city is dangerous without ever having lived there (or without having lived there for years). Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks like that in Northeast Ohio.

Great! That first picture shows the building where the restaurant/cafe is supposed to go. I've always loved that white house shown in the second pic. It's so spooky. I hope they don't overdo the rehab.

To me, the significant news here is that two of the Top 5 poorest cities are in Ohio. I would hope this would incite some kind of change in state-level urban policy. Ohio has got to be one of the most anti-urban states in the nation, despite having several large cities. Let's stop building new highways and start reinvesting in our cities.

I'm sorry but that building is ugly enough to make me love the Main Classroom Building.

I would add Gallucci's, on E. 66th and Euclid (car entrance from Carnegie) to your itinerary. It's a big, old-school Italian market with wonderful fresh cheeses, breads, meats, wines and prepared foods. It's sorta like Trader Joe's -- only real.

Visible Voice in Tremont offers bookstore relief Friday, August 10, 2007 Laura DeMarco Plain Dealer Columnist Book some time to stop at Visible Voice during tonight's Tremont art walk. It's not a gallery, but it is one of the neighborhood's most interesting new spaces -- and Shop Talk's favorite stop during last month's art trek. Crowds buzzed, book lovers browsed, an author signed, and wine and cheese were served with a partylike vibe at the cozy-hip restored home on tree-lined Kenilworth Avenue. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

According to Google Maps, it's a 23 minute drive to Twinsburg from Shaker Heights -- not too bad. But if you want to go even more urban, it's only 7 minutes longer minutes to Twinsburg from downtown/Tremont/Ohio City, because of all the highway access. And you'd be reverse commuting.

The good news is that Brook Park is served by commuter train, known locally as the Rapid. The West Park neighborhoods are only a couple stops away -- about a 10 minute ride, tops. The stops in that neighborhood are more "park and ride" than pedestrian-oriented, but you could easily walk or ride your bike to them from most parts of West Park. In fact, depending on how long of bike ride you can handle, you could bike to work pretty easily from West Park, Lakewood or Rocky River. Rocky River Drive (Route 237) would be a good route -- it runs between the aforementioned three neighborhoods to the airport, and is a very pleasant street.

Also check out the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition's monthly newsletter: http://www.cndc2.org/publications.htm The August issue (pp 2-3) has a couple job openings that might be right up your alley.

Anyone know when the Phase 5 building is scheduled to open for tenants to move in?

Has that hideous Gwathmey design for the student center been officially approved, or are changes still possible? (I pray the latter.)

My current place (Asiatown, Cleveland) = 69 Parents' house (Brecksville) = 23 My last apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn = 94 Previous apartment in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn = 83 Next previous apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan = 100!!! My last apartment in tiny Grinnell, IA, where I got my undergrad = 94

Public Square is for everyone and no one. Staking out an area of the square as one's bed deprives others full use of the space. So I'd say this new rule is in the spirit of keeping the square truly public. I'd be upset if homeless people were banned from sleeping outside anywhere in the city (or even in a large area of the city), but keeping them out of this small area doesn't bother me. They still have 76.9 square miles of other places to sleep at night, not to mention shelters if they so choose.

I'm not sure if Vega is actually going to occupy the house, but he was certainly planning to at one point, and/or involved in the design. Don't have an image of the elevations, but I've seen them and IMO they're butt ugly -- faux modernist crapola. Also the setbacks and orientations are straight out of Stongsville, as you'll see below. (Thanks for the instructions Florida Guy.)

The mysterious construction at W. 54th and the Shoreway was mentioned in the "random" thread, but this seems like a better place to discuss it. Late last year, artist Hector Vega and architect Robert Maschke approached City Planning with plans to build three houses on the grassy slope at W. 54th and Stone Court. I believe only one of the proposed houses is currently being constructed, and it's supposedly for Vega. Don't quote me on that though. I have a PDF of the site plan for the three houses but I don't have a clue how to upload it here. If anyone can help, let me know.

The wine bar is supposed to be in that cute little old bakery building on W. 65th on the block north of Detroit. The working name is Toast. Don't know anything about the status.

What a shame. In the end, the Planning Commission alone couldn't save this building and prevent the waste of its destruction. They did more than anyone else to try, but there was never a movement broad or organized enough to prove a true obstacle. There was barely a whisper about the tower's demolition until Litt wrote about it last year, and I feel the public at large had just started hearing the nuances of the debate in the last couple weeks (beyond "it's Breuer, so let's save it"). The responsible thing to do would have been to table any final decision until a meaningful public debate could be had. Lesson learned: Anti-demolitionists must organize early -- much earlier than they did in this case. Maybe there's still enough time to get in the way of ODOT's demolition plans around the Innerbelt trench.

Special Meeting City Planning Commission Friday, June 29, 2007 9:00 AM Cleveland City Council Committee Room City Hall Room 217 At this special meeting of the City Planning Commission, action will be taken on the disposition of existing buildings on a portion of the site on the east side of East 9th Street between Barn Court and Euclid Avenue for a new Cuyahoga County Administrative Complex. Agenda items may include: 1. Cleveland Trust Rotunda: 900 Euclid Avenue 2. Ameritrust Tower: 2017 East 9th Street

Awesome! I love those brave planners. ;) I just wrote a letter to the commission thanking them for taking this stand for preservation and against waste. Their e-mails, in case anyone wants to join me: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Work of art Exhibits, events keep Cleveland, Akron art museum memberships from taking big hits during construction By SHANNON MORTLAND 6:00 am, May 21, 2007 Dirt is still being moved and the buildings are far from finished in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s $258 million renovation and expansion project, but the construction isn’t keeping people away from the famed University Circle institution. As of late last week, the art museum had more than 22,800 members and it expects to hit 23,000 this week, said Mary Wheelock, associate director for membership at the museum. That’s quite a feat given that the museum was completely closed for six months last year and its permanent collections will not begin to be put on view again until summer 2008. “We expected to lose half our membership, but we only lost about (25%)” during the closing, Ms. Wheelock said. Prior to the museum’s closing last year, membership was about 20,000 and dropped to 15,000 last July. But since that low point, membership rapidly has been on the upswing, Ms. Wheelock said. Ms. Wheelock attributes the increase to the curious nature of local residents wondering what’s happening with all the cranes and construction workers behind the wooden barriers outside the museum. Their curiosity — and a hunger for art — brought some members back sooner than expected, she said. Of course, the popularity of two large, traveling art exhibits can’t be denied, Ms. Wheelock said. The “Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali” exhibit, which ran from Oct. 15, 2006, to Jan. 7, 2007, averaged more than 6,000 visitors a week. The “Monet in Normandy” exhibit, which began Feb. 18 and will end May 28, has averaged nearly 8,200 visitors a week. That show was extended by eight days to accommodate more visitors, she said. Both shows were more successful than the museum imagined and many people became members so they could gain free admission to such exhibits, Ms. Wheelock said. “We had projected we would hit 20,000 members after Monet. We hit that the first week that Monet opened,” Ms. Wheelock said. A surge in Akron The Akron Art Museum also has seen continued interest from members even though it has been closed since May 2004 for a $34 million renovation and expansion project that’s in its final stages, said Joan Lauck, director of development for the Akron Art Museum. Ms. Lauck said the much smaller museum, which is adding 64,000 square feet of space and will re-open July 17, lost only about 200 of its 1,200 members during the closing. Though the museum didn’t host any large, traveling exhibits, Ms. Lauck said it held a series of events, such as wine tastings, throughout the community that enabled members to stay connected to the museum and to feel like they were getting their money’s worth. Some of the museum’s own collections also have been on display at various locations in and around Akron, she said. The Akron Art Museum this week will launch a membership drive that will include sending direct mail to about 6,000 households in the Akron area and a multimedia advertising campaign. Ms. Lauck said she expects ads to appear in the Akron Beacon Journal and other local publications, as well as on local radio stations. After the re-opening, Ms. Lauck expects annual attendance at the museum to range from 100,000 to 150,000, about double the average annual attendance of between 55,000 and 70,000 in years past. Building relationships As the Akron Art Museum prepares to welcome the public again, the Cleveland Museum of Art is gearing up to start the second phase of its six-year project, which is scheduled for completion in 2011, museum director Timothy Rub said. The first phase included renovating the original 1916 building, expanding the museum addition built in 1971 and constructing a new wing on East Boulevard. Plans for the second phase, scheduled to begin next year, include construction of a basement between the original building and the 1971 addition, a new building on the west side of the museum, and an atrium that would serve as the centerpiece of the completed project and as a sort of community gathering space. Mr. Rub said additions built in 1958 and 1983 had outlived their usefulness and will be demolished. “This allows us to reveal the north side of the 1916 building for the first time in 50 years,” Mr. Rub said. The Cleveland Museum of Art has raised more than $150 million for the first phase of the project and later this year will begin fundraising efforts for another $100 million to foot the bill for the construction project’s second phase, Mr. Rub said. Once construction is finished, visitors will be able to experience the museum’s 42,000 pieces of art in more of a chronological and geographic order, Mr. Rub said. In the past, he said the museum determined how to display its collections based on the gallery space available at the time.

^True. Just wondering, any word on the outcome of the homelessness task force?