Mendo

Pretty sure people in Cleveland are smart enough to just push the car out of the way.

It was always planned to be mixed use -- apartments on the top floors, hotel on the bottom. The completion date we heard last May-June when they restarted work was end of 2014 for the entire project. At the pace they are going at it, it might be optimistic... No kidding. Progress on the facade has been slow. Hopefully there has been real work inside. Can't really tell from the street.

Fair enough. I misunderstood.

A small hardware store downtown won't have any of those things. Maybe we have different ideas of what constitutes a hardware store...

There was a Banana Republic in Tower City Mall for years before closing a while ago. Most of those stores would return to Tower City before taking up storefronts on Euclid. I wouldn't mind a hardware store, but nearly all of the housing downtown is apartments. Tenants aren't going to replace or repair anything in their apartment. Like StrapHanger mentioned, a small-scale Bed, Bath, and Beyond would probably do well. Some place that sells towels, shower curtains, and other smaller furnishings that apartment dwellers routinely need.

^ The date listed for the Kimpton is 2016. That seems awfully pessimistic considering the building is already under construction.

Pretty sure that is one of the last hurdles when getting somebody to move into an apartment downtown. First is location. Second is location. Third is value (price per amenity). Fourth is location.

Like the other people mentioned, the outside noise is a non-issue if the apartment faces the interior alleys between buildings. The outward facing units, it does get loud at times when bars let out. Many of the restaurants close early so the drunk yelling is closer to midnight than 2:00am. The Healthline buses are noticeable but very easy to tune out after a couple weeks. The noise reminds me I'm in a city, so it doesn't bother me. You won't hear the buses or people when sleeping since the bedrooms are away from exterior walls. The apartments that front East 4th or Euclid have interior bedrooms without real windows. Quiet as can be. Fair warning though, the bowling alley is loud on the second floor directly above the lanes. I live on the 4th (top) floor and cannot hear the crashing pins, but people on the second floor aren't so lucky. The management and maintenance staff is pretty good. No problems there. edit: Quick edit. I have not personally heard the bowling alley from the second floor. My comment was second-hand from a girl that literally just moved in above the lanes. She might have been overly sensitive or hadn't had a chance to "tune it out". I didn't mean to give the impression it was a show-stopper.

Glad Brgr 9 is re-opening. The woman and I went there a few weeks ago and had a decent experience. The burger was good, but not great. The bartender was friendly. It didn't rock my world, but it didn't need to.

Your broken record jab at density is your idea of getting back on topic? That's funny. It would be interesting to see crime statistics for places like Lakeview going back to its opening in the 30's. I wonder when or if it peaked at any point when the city started its decline and exodus.

I think you two are talking about different buildings. The ground floor space at 515 Euclid is full thanks to Potbelly opening last year. I don't think 668 Euclid is actually available to lease. The Prospect side is mostly full. The Euclid side is just a lobby. I thought I saw a small office or something adjacent to the lobby but nothing else. Not all store fronts are the same. Just because others are empty doesn't mean this would be too. It's a new space with a built in audience. And a growing neighborhood right next door. Keep in mind this new building is practically next door to the Keith building and Playhouse Square.

Seems like they have no issue with demolishing both buildings, but want a proper development put in their place. I agree with the planning commission in this case. I would rather they save the Rogers (Playhouse Square) building, but high quality mid-rise in its place is a decent compromise.

All I hear are excuses about rehab and renovation costs. Meanwhile, dozens of century old buildings were rehabbed into successful apartments. Obsolete office space? Maybe, but it would make decent apartments. They are demolishing the Playhouse Square Building so they make a useless courtyard in the middle of the apartment building. How about leaving the 4 story portion along Euclid and demolish the 1 story back portion along Brownell Ct? Put the courtyard where the current 1 story section is (that you cannot see from the street). That would make everybody happy. The historic building fronting Euclid with ground-floor retail gets to survive. The new apartment building can then fill the entire space where the JCF building currently is.

I didn't really make my point clear. The renderings don't show any entrances (for cars or people) around the garage, making the entire area a deadzone. Even garage entrances would be better than nothing. It looks like entrances are in the alley between the buildings. But admittedly the renderings don't show much so maybe there are doors, offices, or something along the sidewalk. Looks like a good project overall. The garage and residential fills in most of the surface lot along Prospect. It would be better if there was something along the sidewalk on Prospect to extend the neighborhood from the K&D Hanna building a block west. Can't have everything though.

The site plan is better than I expected. Not a fan of the large sidewalk deadzone around the parking garage. Absolutely people will complain about the garage. There is nothing fronting the sidewalk from the alley to the surface lot on the other side. Lighting and garages entrances might help. At least there would be some kind of traffic around there.

Fronting Euclid Ave I bet. :roll: Why not build on the dozen parking lots in the area? There is a huge lot just south of this building along Prospect...

There is visual progress at the Schofield so everybody needs to quit freaking out. :-P I would guess some work is being done offsite. In the meantime they are still cleaning up the facade. Somebody mentioned the gray cinder blocks. They were installed a couple weeks ago, likely preparing for the new brick. Here are some pics from Sunday 12/1. Sorry for the cell phone pics. You can clearly see the gray cinder blocks across the middle and toward the bottom.

Some pics of the headquarters building from Sunday, 12/1. Sorry for the crappy phone pics. This gives some idea of the presence against the sidewalk and other buildings. 3 floors taller than the old P&H building before it, so it feels more substantial at the intersection but not much.

PM sent so as not to further derail the thread.

Or Smitherman thought it would be easier to break the contracts with his brother. Not hard to imagine asking your brother to underbid to get the contract if your plan all along was to cancel the contracts. For example:

No surprises there, and nothing we haven't talked about. The largest concentration of unused or underutilized buildings is along Euclid near Playhouse Square. And some of the pie-in-the-sky plans for those buildings have actually started construction (or soon will). Doesn't leave much for redevelopment. What's next except for the dozens of surface lots downtown? Nice article and good summary of the major projects that died over the years, like the Ameritrust tower or countless townhouse projects.

I don't know much about photography but I can appreciate a high quality lens. I'm into home theater and the difference between a $2000 and $15000 projector is typically the optics. Good quality lenses are expensive. Great quality lenses are obscene. Though like any industry, the law of diminishing returns hits pretty quickly.

You are absolutely right. Tax revenue is a function of tickets sold and price of each ticket. But you didn't point out any of these things in your fist post. You just jumped down his throat for having a very real concern. We have not heard anything about higher ticket prices. Is it likely? Yes, probably. Which is clearly misleading.

It's not that complicated. All else being equal, reduce the number of seats, you reduce the tax revenue. Are you assuming the extra lower bowl seats or higher ticket prices will make up the difference? It's a real concern. Especially since they are removing seats for a revenue producing scoreboard that the city won't see a dime of.

There are several senior and low-income housing buildings downtown that skew the income and poverty rates.