blinker12

Absolutelyful. ;)

Yeah, the lighting on the bridges in the Flats adds a lot of romance to what's already a pretty characterful neighborhood. Glad you guys like the newsy stuff along with the pretty pictures. I can't resist looking into buildings (or sneaking in where possible) to see what's going on. I also took a few of the interior of the Corner Alley bowling place on E. 4th and Euclid, but those didn't come out. It looks like they're on track for a fall opening, though.

I'd say San Francisco has come the closest of any American city to achieving perfection -- despite anti-urban policies at the federal and state level. It is truly a magical place, though yuppification threatens to rob it of some of its character. Oh, that and earthquakes. ;)

I'm glad the Dispatch is doing this series.

I don't like it. The new stuff is mediocre and dwarfs the old Jay Hotel building, which actually has some grace. But thanks for posting!

I rode around downtown last night with a friend and, inspired by MGD's recent photo threads, decided to tote my camera. It was a foggy, mysterious night. Here are the results! Taking Franklin into the Flats; view from the proposed new park on the site of the former CHMA Riverview project Ohio City Bicycle Co-op on Columbus Road in the Flats. Bridges and skyline. Flat iron building covered with vegetation. One of my favorite buildings in the Flats. The cute lil red swing bridge. I think the Hells Angels were coming through. The sun came out periodically creating some interesting, gold-tinged light. Swing bridge again. Powerhouse building with skyline and jacknife bridge. People still hang out at the Powerhouse apparently! I hadn't been in there in about 10 years. The lovely skyline and river. The decrepit portion of the East Bank that Wolstein is trying to develop. A pleasure boater skims by -- it's 1992 all over again! We headed off toward Whisky Island (mission aborted) and I looked back to see the skyline shrouded in a mysterious fog. This photo doesn't convey exactly how beautiful it was. A train rushes by. Crossing the river and into the Warehouse District. A father walking with his dog and three children. W. 6th Street in the Warehouse District. A band performs on W. 6th. Sidewalk diners at Johnny's Downtown. The loverly RTA building. The porn shop! For gays and straights! W. 6th and St. Clair. We biked over to E. 4th Street, where House of Blues and Pickwick & Frolic are located. No obvious progress on the interior of Lola since the last time I checked a month ago. Pickwick and Frolic, with the old Arcade in the background. I peeked into the ground floor of the Sincere Building at E. 4th and Prospect and saw some plaster molding lying on a workbench (it's the bright white stuff you see in the photo). A good sign -- I've heard rumblings of a new tenant for the building though no one knows who it is. View nightclub, above Mr. Albert's Men's World (one of my favorite shop names) On Prospect near E. 9th, Fantasy One announces its July opening in the former Second City building. Interior of Fantasty One -- is July a little optimistic? Prospect near E. 14th, progress is being made on the Prospect Place building; top floor window glass has been removed and wood slats put in their place. Crossing back over the Detroit-Superior Bridge to Ohio City, we couldn't resist the Viaduct and perhaps *the* classic Cleveland shot. One more shot of that red swing bridge with the Detroit-Superior and Stonebridge apartments. Goodnight!

^Only reason would be Wolstein's stubborness, as far as I can tell. He seems to think he really needs that surface parking lot.

Well, there isn't much of a "there" there yet, ya know?

Flats high-rise condo plan staying on track Thursday, May 25, 2006 By Ken Prendergast Brooklyn Sun Journal CLEVELAND _ Developers of a proposed high-rise condominium complex are pressing ahead with their plans after their counteroffer to have their development included in the Flats East Bank neighborhood was rejected. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority is acquiring 13 parcels of land on behalf of Flats developer Scott Wolstein. Port authority officials offered to pay Victor Shaia $1.2 million to acquire his 260-space parking lot at West 10th and Front streets. Shaia paid $2.3 million for the land in 1999. If acquired, Wolstein proposes to keep the land a surface parking lot for his Flats development. Shaia countered by saying he would rework the design of his proposed development, called Lighthouse Landing, to include the parking Wolstein would need. I appreciate your willingness to provide space to the Flats East Bank neighborhood development, John Loftus wrote in an April 24 letter to Shaia. Loftus is vice president of regional development for the port authority. Unfortunately, the port authority is not authorized to discuss non-monetary offers regarding this development. Accordingly, I must reject the offer as presented. City Council has passed legislation defining the Flats East Bank development area for the port authority to conduct its land acquisitions. Thus, a port authority spokeswoman said her agency can't arbitrarily change which properties it will or won't acquire. Shaia spokesman Tom Andrzejewski said he wasn't surprised at the rejection. Shaia has not met with Wolstein despite attempts to do so to ensure his $75 million Lighthouse Landing development can be included in the $220 million Flats neighborhood. But Shaia noted he has something going for his proposed use of the land that Wolstein doesn't _ Shaia already owns it. We're going through the process by the numbers and by the book, Andrzejewski said. The project is being pursued through the normal channels. The port authority has threatened taking land by eminent domain if a property owner refuses to sell. However, the agency trying to take the land has to demonstrate a public need will be served better by turning the land over to a new owner. We continue to be willing to discuss our offer and to respond to a monetary counter offer, Loftus said in his letter. Shaia said his plan for building 18-story and 22-story towers, plus 13 townhouses, 7,100 square feet of retail and a multi-level parking deck would be of greater benefit to the city than keeping the land a parking lot as Wolstein proposes. Earlier this spring, a conceptual design for Lighthouse Landing was recommended by the Historic Warehouse District Development Corp.'s design review committee. The development is in the northwest corner of the Warehouse District. The Shaia Family's Walnut Grove Ventures Development Co. would develop Lighthouse Landing. The next stop in the approval process is for the plans to be presented to the City Landmarks Commission. That commission has jurisdiction since the development would be in an historic district, Andrzejewski said. An informational presentation of the plan was given to the landmarks commission in April, and was favorably received by commission members. Andrzejewski didn't have a timetable when detailed designs would be presented for city approval, but Shaia said recently that he wants to begin construction as early as next year.

Nice one, KJP. :) Downtown redevelopment shaping up Thursday, May 25, 2006 By Ken Prendergast Brooklyn Sun Journal Developing two large swaths of surface parking in downtown's Warehouse District is only the first phase of what Bob Stark envisions for downtown. That first phase got a big boost recently when Stark signed a development agreement with Tony Asher, who owns one of the large parking areas. Article Removed

^I agree -- we can definitely do what Philly did. Already, being in downtown Cleveland at lunchtime is an exhilirating experience, especially when the weather is nice. Hundreds of people out walking around. We just have to make that happen after 5 p.m. -- and now we have some great ideas for how, after seeing the Downtown Philly Alliance's presentation at the Downtown Cleveland Alliance steering committee thingy this week. I can't tell you how inspirational that was.

Beauties!

Who's Corna? My thoughts exactly though, MGD. Sure, some people don't want to have to walk anywhere. But lots do -- especially those in their 20s now, who grew up watching "Sex and the City" and aren't planning on getting married and having kids at 23. And if we have vibrant downtown, we can start attracting people who -- gasp! -- aren't from here.

No one here would be interested -- it's going to be out in Avon Lake.

Found this buried in the Taste section of the PD yesterday: They will open . . . There is much talk and more rumors over when, if ever, Lola Bistro and Swingos' Grand Tavern will open. Last week, I talked with the owners of both businesses. I caught Michael Symon at his and wife Liz's Tremont restaurant, Lolita. Symon at first didn't want to give yet another date for when Lola would open, on East Fourth Street in Cleveland. He has been announcing opening dates since the beginning of the year and is more exasperated that Lola hasn't opened than any of the restaurant's fans. There have been incredible construction delays and other lags resulting from operating in a National Historic District. Going out on a limb once again, Symon said he hopes to have Lola open sometime between the end of June and mid-July.

I sent the following e-mail today. It went to George Phillips (CMHA), Joe Mazzola (OCNW), Greg Peckham (Cleveland Public Art), Ann Zoller (Parkworks) and Jim Kastelic (Metroparks). I urge you to write them as well if you feel passionately about this issue -- as you should! ;) E-mail addresses are as follows: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Dear Mr. Phillips, Mr. Mazzola, Mr. Peckham, Ms. Zoller and Mr. Kastelic: I was thrilled to see an article on Cleveland.com last week detailing CMHA’s plans to use vacant land along West 25th Street as a park. Ohio City has been starved for well-planned green space for years, and few locations in the city are more spectacular than this one, with its panoramic views of downtown and the Flats. I commend CMHA for its decision. However, I am concerned that the new park will fail to reach its full potential unless CMHA partners with local organizations experienced in park-building -- possibly including Parkworks, Cleveland Public Art, Ohio City Near West Development Corporation and/or Cleveland Metroparks. A design competition, suggested by Mr. Litt in the article below, would be an excellent idea. The new park should make full use of this wooded, sloping land, with: *Walking trails to the river *A bike path connecting to the existing path on the Detroit-Superior Bridge *A dog run *Well-placed benches overlooking the skyline It is not enough to simply designate the vacant fields “ballparks” and slap up a few picnic tables. Also, this is a prime opportunity to work with Transitional Housing Inc. to demolish the unsightly low-rise units near Detroit Avenue, which not only block public views of the skyline but also provide ugly, shame-inducing housing for its residents. If the land along the entire east side of West 25th is truly unstable for buildings, as was announced last year as part of the Riverside project, Transitional Housing residents should be relocated anyway, preferably to more equitable and better integrated housing in another part of the neighborhood. The vacant land should then be incorporated into the park. Poorly planned parks inevitably become scary, forboding places. This new park deserves to be one of the most beautiful and inviting spots in the city. It has the potential to be either a blight or a boon for the neighborhood. Please, help it become the latter. Attachment: Cleveland.com article

^I thought the real story behind District Park was that they didn't get enough pre-sales. At least that's what Arne Goldman told one of our classes last year. I'm sure the steel thing didn't help either. I wonder how much of a factor residential pre-sales will be in Stark's development. If he had his way, he probably wouldn't be bothered with what I'm pretty sure he would consider a trifling matter -- but the banks here loooove their pre-sales.

Lovely MGD!

I think it clearly could (though I guess we'll have to wait for details on that from wimwar), and Ohio City Near West and Cleveland Public Art should be involving themselves at an early stage, too.

Well, there's not much of an existing market to study (aside from the few thousand people already living downtown, who would clearly support the project). He's creating the market. Don't be a wet towel, MGD! ;)

This is unbelievably exciting! :clap:

I was thinking the hovels could be demolished and the land become part of the park. I'm pretty sure that whole side of W25 was deemed unstable. As for the assorted parking lots on the west side of W25, I'd like to see that redeveloped as commercial/housing. But yeah, parks done wrong can be scary, forboding places. This spot deserves to be one of the most beautiful and inviting spaces in the city.

It's so fun to see this actually taking shape!

But it won't depend entirely on it, as Tower City and the Galleria did. Having a real community around it is what will make it viable.

Can't believe no one has commented on this! This would be great for the city and county. I think it stands a very good shot of passing. (I also hear through the grapevine that it will in fact be on the ballot.)