blinker12

I think about that all the time. Starting a (successful) business in the city would be the most helpful thing a person could do. Downtown construction isn't really about creating jobs so much as tapping a market for downtown housing that already exists. There are still a lot of jobs in Cleveland (what, 100,000 downtown alone?), and these construction projects are about improving downtown living options for the people who fill them.

^^ The opening was at the Front Room Gallery, which recently moved to the building from (I think) the Zygote Press Building on E. 72nd. The gallery is pictured in the photos above. I think Front Room is affiliated with CIA.

I went to an art opening at the old Tyler Elevatory factory last night. The factory is a rambling collection of buildings at Superior and E. 36th, built around 1880. They are some of the mightiest and most beautiful buildings I've seen in Cleveland. The buildings are currently occupied by an extremely eclectic mix of tenants -- as you will see below -- and are set to be renovated further into a mixed-used community of apartments, art studios and offices by Graystone Properties. (See this thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4058.0) I was able to wander around the floors of two buildings on the East side of E. 36th Street. Views from the windows offered some of the most breathtaking views of downtown I've ever seen. (Through a grimy window.) (Window open.) Looking out across Superior at some Asian businesses. Elevator entrances were in several styles. Maybe this was to model them for potential customers? An old lamp hanging in the stairwell. Looking southeast. Looking down to street level. The Front Room gallery. Hill Custom Guitars. Randomly, a boat sits nestled between two buildings. A sapling on the side of a building. Cleveland Opera. Jaguar service.

The park was being well-used when I stopped by yesterday evening.

The state of demo yesterday.

Homes for gay elderly planned in Ohio City Saturday, July 01, 2006 Michael O'Malley Plain Dealer Reporter The location of a proposed housing project catering to gay people has been moved from a downtown Cleveland site to the Ohio City neighborhood. A Place for Us Development Inc., a nonprofit group focusing on the needs of elderly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, had planned to build a $30 million, 250-unit condominium complex in the downtown Warehouse District. Because of financing problems, the project was recently downsized and moved to less-expensive property, said Linda Krasienko, president of the group. Read More...

Flats property owner agrees to sell for development Saturday, July 01, 2006 Michael Sangiacomo Plain Dealer Reporter The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority reached an agreement to purchase a parcel of land on the Flats east bank as part of the redevelopment of the area. The port authority declined to reveal how much Isabella Basile would be paid for her riverfront property at 1064 and 1078 Old River Road, where she operated the Boom Club and the Boom Cabaret. The port had offered $1.1 million for the property in the past. Basile could not be reached for comment. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

Peeked into Lola today. There has been no visible progress in the past two months.

La Copa sporting new plan to be a nightclub Thursday, June 29, 2006 By David Plata West Side Sun News It's back to the drawing board for proponents of La Copa. First billing it as a Latin-themed sports bar and grill, proponents on Monday asked the Board of Zoning Appeals for a use change to a nightclub with live entertainment. Josh Kabat, a consultant with the business, seemed to throw more confusion into the matter, calling the proposed venue an entertainment complex...

Park opens with a splash Six-year wait for improvements is over Thursday, June 29, 2006 By David Plata West Side Sun News It was a nearly three-year delay in construction _ not to mention the years of planning that went before _ but well worth the extra time. So said people who live near Fairview Park in the Ohio City neighborhood, a nearly 5.5-acre green space where some $500,000 in improvements are nearing completion. Six years _ six years of patience, laughed Laura Fratus, a co-chair of Friends of Fairview Park, which helped plan the improvements. Councilman Joe Cimperman, D-13, in whose ward the park is located, said the work at first was to be done in three phases, but was shortened into one. By delaying one building season, we were able to accomplish all three phases for a minimal amount of increase in spending, he said. In addition, he said, a lot of concrete work between the ball field and the play area was cut out, resulting in substantial savings. If done in three phases, he said, the work would have cost about $1.2 million. A formal reopening was delayed by rain last week, and Cimperman said final details, including landscaping, lighting and such, won't be completed until fall. But for all practical purposes, he said, the park is open. We wanted to have as much use as possible for the kids this summer with the splash park and the playground and everything else, he said. The 5.42-acre park is between Franklin Boulevard and Woodbine Avenue, and West 32nd and West 38th streets. Fratus said the park area grew larger with the addition of the parking lot from the former county nursing home, which was torn down and redeveloped as senior housing. Cimperman credited Mark Fallon, city commissioner of research, planning and development, Fratus and Rachelle Coyne, also a co-chair of Friends of Fairview Park, as well as Phyllis Bambeck, president of the adjacent Kentucky Gardens, and Bill Merriman, president of the Franklin-Clinton Block Club, with brainstorming to come up with ideas for the park I'm guessing they've put in 500 hours, dating back to 1998, to have something done there. The park was looking shabby, it was looking tired. We needed to do something to modernize it, Cimperman said. He also credited Jim McKnight, of McKnight and Associates, the contractor for the work, with helping achieve cost savings. Merriman could not be reached, but noted in a phone message the site is the original Fairview Park. It's on the site of the first reservoir of the city of Cleveland, and it's the first Fairview Park, after which the hospital was named, he said. Rachelle Coyne said the delay was worthwhile. I'm very, very pleased, she said. I think it really dawned on me how excited I was when the splash park opened for the first time. There must have been 25 kids playing. It was very overwhelming.... It was so exciting to see that many kids gathered in the park.

^This has never been my favorite megaproject in the city, for all those reasons. It's like Wolstein doesn't believe in it himself on some level. When development projects require this much maneuvering and public assistance, I think it's reasonable to ask if they're truly advisable in the first place. Plans for Pesht and the West Bank make much more sense to me, because they 1) treat their existing urban surroundings with greater deference; and 2) don't have their begging cups out. At least not yet.

Thanks for the intelligent comments, everyone. I'm glad to see this topic has brought in a couple of new posters -- welcome, 8Shades and NoName!

There has been some tepid discussion on this in the Completed Projects/Crocker Park thread, but I think this topic deserves a thread of its own and some real debate. Wimwar, Mister Good Day, Ewoops, KJP, Straphanger, all my other Cleveland brothers and sisters -- time to speak up. (MayDay and X, weigh in again!) More than anything, this project has once again made me doubt Bob Stark's motives. First he builds Cracker Park out in the boonies -- boo! But wait: then he proposes something similar for downtown, but on an even larger scale. He talks the urban talk. I begin to believe the guy has seen the light. But no, now it seems he's trying to rob an inner ring suburb of its crowning artistic glory to feed the culture-starved beast he created in the cornfields. My question is, how does he reconcile this in his head? Is he envisioning a Cleveland that has a vibrant downtown and affluent exurbs, with dying city neighborhoods and inner-ring burbs in between? That this appears to be the direction we're headed in anyway is beside my point here -- if Stark is the urbanist he says he is, how can he justify his actions? Am I making too much of this? I don't think so. And now, an article from today's PD to stoke the debate. Big picture in the Beck's quandary It's not as simple as staying or moving Wednesday, June 28, 2006 Who owns - and who pays for - the quality-of-life assets that make a place nice to live in? That's the central question in what has become the story of the moment in the Cleveland area's cultural well-being: the Beck Center for the Arts, and whether it redevelops in Lakewood or moves to Crocker Park. The Beck's situation provides a microcosm of the larger issues facing Greater Cleveland: regionalism, economic development, the decline of inner-ring suburbs, growth in the outer suburbs and exurbs, community-building. "Fascinating," said Thomas Schorgl, chief executive officer of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. "There's a book in this." The Beck, celebrating 75 years of existence in Lakewood, has severe facilities problems with all three of its structures. Parts of the main building date to the 1920s and the old Lucier movie theater. Roofs leak. Basements flood. Bills soar. The larger theater, which seats 484, is too large; the smaller one, which seats 82, too small. Much of the Beck's $2.5 million operating budget has to be diverted from its core mission - providing arts education to children and adults and producing some of the area's best theater - to feed the beast: the buildings. More at cleveland.com

I love the Amish/Mennonite people hanging out at gay pride! Also note the pride flag flying above City Hall. Great photos. :clap:

^ That is desperately needed in The O.C. (a fitness center). I heard, though, that he won't keep the pool because of liability issues? That's a shame but I guess I understand.

Demolition appears to have finally begun on those awful steel sheds fronting on Bridge Avenue, behind the Jay Hotel. Exciting to see...

This curiosity was in Sunday's New York Times, in the City section. Queens Up Close: A Poet on the Lam By ALEX MINDLIN Published: June 25, 2006 IN Dante's "Divine Comedy," the poet Virgil led Dante through purgatory and hell. In the last several years, a bust of Virgil has taken a less epic, but equally mysterious, journey, from Cleveland to Queens. The bust in question, signed by the Italian sculptor Enrico Martini, is a stern bronze crowned with a laurel wreath, which the Italian government donated to the city of Cleveland in 1930. On Columbus Day of that year, the bust was placed atop a column in the city's newly created Italian Cultural Garden, a sloping, terraced landscape with two fountains and winding double staircases. More below: www.nytimes.com A bust of Virgil that vanished from Cleveland in the late 60's. A recently discovered trail leads to New York. (Credit: The Cleveland Press Collection)

^^Nice! Thanks for the notice KJP. I just got back from a trip to New York (where I lived for 7 years) and I am more in love with Cleveland and its potential than ever. It's news like this that keeps me excited.

In addition to the OC and Tremont, don't forget: (West Side) Edgewater Detroit-Shoreway (East Side) Chinatown Little Italy Shaker Square All in the city of Cleveland.

Holdup with grant delays art museum’s garage Plain Dealer Entertainment Blog By Steven Litt June 22, 2006 5:36 p.m. The Cleveland Museum of Art has delayed an addition to its parking garage — an important part of a larger, $258 million expansion and renovation — because of a holdup with a $7.5 million federal grant. The delay could increase the cost of the garage expansion because the museum had to reject construction bids this month and will have to seek new ones, said Janet Ashe, the museum’s treasurer and deputy director for administration...

Agreed on the parking. Wolstein's operating just like he would if this were in Westlake. Does he even know there's a rapid line running through his property? Also, the fact that Fairmount is involved in this makes me nervous (maybe I just didn't notice their name in past coverage). They helped drive Shaker Square into the ground a few years ago.

Developers seek fiscal assistance Thursday, June 22, 2006 By Ken Baka Staff Writer Would-be developers of the East Side Flats project want financial backing from Cuyahoga County that rarely occurs. Only once has a for-profit company received what the Wolstein Group, Beachwood and Fairmount Properties LLC, Cleveland, want from the county: a guarantee on bonds. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com/sun

Development on hold Thursday, June 22, 2006 By David Plata West Side Sun News Faced with a need to speed up development of subsidized rental units to keep funding, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority has placed construction of its controversial mixed-income development on Columbus Road on hold. In March, the authority proposed 136 for-sale units and 31 rentals on the 5-acre site, along Regional Transit Authority tracks and next to the West 25th Street Rapid Station. "In order for us to ensure we maintained the funding that we received, we needed to separate the public housing aspect of that plan away from the market-rate side because that side was going much slower," said George Phillips, CMHA director. "All we did was ensure that the public housing units would get built on time; and we're going to proceed with the market-rate on a separate pace." CMHA's latest plan cuts the number of units from 267 proposed in March to 131 now. The plan is to build 50 market-rate, for-sale units and 25 rentals at West 28th Street and Church Avenue, on land already owned by CMHA. Another 56 rental units would be built on scattered sites. The work will be paid with some $8.5 million remaining in a Hope VI grant awarded in 1996 to build some 420 units of mixed-income housing, including replacement of 81 family style homes behind Riverview Towers. Phillips said all Hope VI projects across the country, including the Riverview replacement, face a Congressionally imposed completion deadline of December 2009. "It's more expedient for us to focus on just those units that we have to build to meet that deadline," he said. "The market-rate units can proceed on their own pace." Maribeth Feke, RTA planning director, said she had been told informally that CMHA was pulling out of the Columbus Road site, but had yet to be notified by letter. Feke said RTA is revamping its joint development program and will seek new development proposals once that is complete. Possibilities include day-care centers, offices and more. "Usually it's housing, something with some retail around it," she said. Councilman Joe Cimperman, D-13, in whose ward the Columbus site is located, said CMHA had not informed him of the latest change. Cimperman said he wants to work with CMHA to ensure the HOPE VI grant is not rescinded. "The go-it-alone-approach never works," he said, adding that he hopes to speak soon with Phillips to ensure the project goes forth. Councilman Joe Santiago, D-13, who has strongly supported the development on Columbus Road, did not return a call by deadline. Joe Mazzola, director of Ohio City Near West Development Corp., said the group continues to work with CMHA on development of seven rental units at West 28th Street and Chatham Avenue and four rental units at West 45th Street and Franklin Boulevard. "The two sites, discarded in CMHA's plan in March, are back on the table," Mazzola said. "They didn't include it in their plan because they had to demonstrate site control to HUD," Mazzola said. "We couldn't have anything signed by that point in time, but we've been talking about this. We'd like to see it as part of the plan; CMHA would as well." Mazzola noted the 81 replacement rental units are still in the CMHA plan. "That hasn't declined at all," he said. "It's, where will they be located?" Phillips said CMHA is not discarding the Columbus Road site and would like to reconsider it later. But he said he recognizes another developer may come along and snatch it away. "That's a risk that we're taking," he said. "I understand that is a risk."

This is deplorable. Just when I was starting to think positively about Stark, he pulls something like this! Cracker Park doesn't deserve any culture... Free Times, June 23, 2006 Chatter: Will Beck Seek Its Fortunes Out West? Beck Center For the Arts Considers Its Future, Possibly In Westlake Just in case anyone was wondering, it looks like Beck Center for the Arts does have something in common with the Cleveland Cavaliers after all. Just like the basketball team, the community-based performing and visual arts center is feeling the pull of a distant suburb. Beck Center COO Jim Walton confirmed long-circulating rumors that the arts complex formerly known as Lakewood Little Theater is considering redevelopment options, one of which includes relocation to now-vacant land near Crocker Park shopping center, in Westlake. .........

I kinda like D28... It reminds me of music, because that's also the name of a model of Martin guitar...