eyehrtfood

Eton update: Based on papers filed with Woodmere - it looks like the "Blockbuster building" and apartments at Brainard/Chagrin are coming down to make way for a totally unexciting Bonefish/Carrabba's combo building on the west end of Eton... with lots of surface parking. At least now, no new Trader Joe's and no room for one on this parcel, unless something has changed since February papers filed. The apartments behind Alson's would seem the next to go - to then tie in the west/east ends of Eton with the advertised in trades 60,000 sf expansion.

Yes, former Blockbuster. Trader Joe's is generally increasing store square footage by half, so I had wondered when the Eton store would move and grow from about 10k sq ft to new min 15k TJ is looking for. This building seemed like a possible location all along, just wasn't sure if demo or renovation would occur. Interesting.

So a construction fence has been put around the office building (that Stark Enterprises paid $3MMish for a number of years ago) on the NE corner of Brainard/Chagrin - the parking lot of which has served as overflow for Eton for the past year. The vacant apartments NW of the building are fenced, too - and dumpsters in place.. Looks like a demolition is occurring. I'll assume this is the quiet start of the as-yet-unannounced (other than in trade papers and via business name filings) 60,000 sq foot Eton expansion... Anybody know anything?

It's rare that that many restaurants would be booked this (relatively) far in advance (says the far too frequent OpenTable-goer..). If your friend is actually here on the 4th and was, say, trying to make reservations on OpenTAble, then they saw what I saw.. only 41 CLE area restaurants available and 102 "booked".. But OpenTable doesn't clearly differentiate between "booked" and "closed"... I'm guessing the majority of restaurants are closed on July 4th and are showing unavailable on OpenTable.

I'm not necessarily in favor of the "Connor Palace"... - and who knows if the donor asked for this or PHS thought it was a fitting touch...? With that said, I recall the theater was originally the "Keith's Palace" Theater, named after the owner of the chain of vaudeville theaters... So a person's name in front of "Palace" in CLE isn't unprecedented... Thank goodness it's not the "Cadillac Palace" as happened a few years back in Chicago... or some other corporate name.

Isn't the current shape of the square keeping people WITH means away? Not sure why those with lesser means are any more important... Gentrifying is equalizing...

The norm at major airports these days is off-site rental cars, including much further off site than CLE's. . I am frequently on shuttles that tske longer and which are more inconvenient than CLE's rental shuttle... The days of in-terminal cars are dwindling, though MSP, MKE nd SLC, among a few others, still has them.

Nothing's getting the hub back - but would be great if Smisek and United execs would get officially called out for their obviously "kill CLE" tactics via the leaking of emails, etc...

The new sign doesn't look as unique/good as the rustic old sign - and also doesn't look like the new sign rendering - which appeared to be more of a highway guardrail with lettering...

Maybe La Strada's Tarantino can now spend more time figuring out what to do with the Mayfield Theater in Little Italy it's reported he owns and just lets sit there... FYI - On OpenTable, La Strada had the 4th customer worst reviews (in stars) out of the 160 or so NEO restaurants with ratings... Zocalo has the 6th worst... - when ranking by review stars on the site...

I wonder if the S&P Smokehouse concept - which Symon had teased about maybe two years ago (BBQ, etc...) - or something similar - might end up there. To even go to the level of Lolita - mid/high teens pricing for more rustic preps of some of the types of dishes at Lola - might cannibalize the Lola biz...whereas a BBQ joint would be totally different. He had also talked a pizza place at one point (to open on east side) - and that isn't replicated on the street at this point.

Issue with Richmond side parking lot at Beachwood is lack of visibility to Cedar (can't see from there) and Richmond (buffer will block view). This may be (along iwth more parking loss if freestanding buiilding is built) - why restaurant is moved into mall addition. I don't foresee Container Store building in Richmond lot, as they want visibility.. Also, - most new Container Store locations I've seen are either freestanding - near malls - or in strip centers - with good visibility. They may still end up at BP - but based on rendering - the only large store will be an REI. REI's current color scheme is brown/grey - as in rendering.. new store size is around 25K - as in leasing map - and there are kayaks visible in picture.

Originally there were 2 proposed on Cedar side and 2 on Richmond side. When no new Richmond entrance to mall allowed, then just 1 in Richmond parking lot side announced - and now it seems restaurant moved into mall addition, not freestanding.

Restoration has long been a specific rumor for Beachwood Place, moving from Legacy... Store name "Decor Furniture" on building in rendering may or may not been them.. Pinecrest rendering removed after it was publicly called out as being on Goodman real estate site. Error I believe.

Zara a stretch but the fake brand name on building appears to be 4 letters repeated. Maybe just dummied up or could be a clue. Any know n retailerhave their name repeated on building facade?

Actual mall-attached expansion area is about 20,000 sf less than originally announced... And that is with the restaurant moving to mall from outlot. Almost appears a larger, expected tenant bailed on expansion. Also none of outer facing addition appears to open into mall via existing space.... I had believed spaces like vacant former Saks mall space on second floor would be part of store being built behind it on exterior addition, but appears not unless the leasing map isn't telling the whole story.

Here is the first rendering I have seen of the Beachwood Place expansion... along with (slide show) of the leasing plan. The two freestanding restaurants (named previously as Capital Grille and Seasons 52) remain on the Cedar Road parking lot side, unseen in rendering, the mall addition is an outward facing streetscape that appears to add 3 stores, along with the restaurant previously stated as being freestanding on Richmond Rd side of parking lot. From visual cues in the signage renderings, the stores appear to be REI on right end, Restoration Hardware (rumor) or Arhaus (visual cues) on left end, Cooper's Hawk restaurant (rumor and visual cues) 2nd from right and I am unsure on retail store 2nd from left visually this could be a Zara store but don't know they are coming to this market now. No rumored Container Store to be found. http://www.kainc.com/portfolio/detail/beachwood-expansion/

Not saying Easton was the first or its kind... But raised the bar and has been copied, as this piece from the shopping center trade mad indicates... Eaton is "emulated the world over"... http://blog.icsc.org/?p=663

I loved the sign... New one Ok, too.. Costly mistake, however.. What - $30K+ per sign?

With the Coldwater Creek chain closing at Legacy, and everywhere, this now makes it something like 12-15+ chains that have opened at Legacy and then closed all stores in the country. Super bad luck. With Steiner on board t things may change.

Legacy will be losing Coldwater Creek - which is closing all stores- and the former Apple store appears to be the site of a relocated AT&T store.. so nothing special going on there now. Deal with Steiner announced in April - and the big Las Vegas leasing convention is taking place now - so hopefully news on the Legacy front - as well as Beachwood Place and more, coming soon.

Whether or not you're a Legacy Village fan - and most here are not - it can generally be agreed that it has been a disappointment/underperformer since opening... However - I ran across a very interesting development - in that Steiner, the developer of Easton Town Center in Columbus, which essentially created the lifestyle center concept - and has given Columbus a roster of retail and restaurant tenants some might have considered out of its league before they were landed - has taken over as the leasing agent for the property. So they are leasing - not owning (for now) - but based on their connections and experience, this is huge for Legacy Village. The hope would be they play a larger, not just leasing, role - ongoing... http://www.steiner.com/WhatWeDo/Leasing.aspx

Wish this similar downtown space in St Louis would inspire the end result in CLE http://citygardenstl.org/ Fountains, sculptures, gardens, all in one..

I saw an article yesterday noting Super Bowl requirement is 30,000 metro area rooms but that Indianapolis, for instance, has more than that but is specifically being asked to provide additional upscale rooms to meet the demand/resolve complaints from their last Super Bowl (too few upscale hotels for owners and celebs... So makeup of rooms matters, too ... (And Indy metro is about half the size of NEO)

Unfortunately United will still continue, unless something is changing, flying 80% of their CLE-ORD (O'Hare) flights, which I am on way too much, on 3-across ERJ145s... Only 1 or 2 mainline flights to ORD a day.. a few more on 4-across CRJ regionals, which are vastly inferior to the 4-across ERJ170s which are great. If United only moved regional flights to just those, the service would Iimprove signifcantly. But now they are even flying ERJ145s to Denver and Houston... 3 hour flights... Ughh.