eyehrtfood

The former Bravo! space at Eton is "lease pending" for likely restaurant.

New leasing map posted today - first since March. Some minor updates including a Boba tea chain from Chicago, an accessory store, a potential Lululemon move from Eton (listed as apparel), the area's first Capital One Cafe, and an apparent near-doubling of the Saucy Brew Works space (confirmed via an October story about Saucy) + more. A new retail and hotel building non-stop dots the western center of development. https://shopcompanies.com/properties/pdf/pinecrest?f=site_plan

Teaser "steakhouse" coming soon signs went up Dec 2021 - when the now inactive Eton Facebook posted with pics of sign. Flemings closed July 2019. So space empty 4.5 years, wow.

The same owner's Cincinnati mall, Kenwood Towne Center, seems to get all their Ohio attention vs Beachwood. That needs to change.

OpenTable went live today for Heritage starting Thanksgiving week - already booked! Note: the original announcement of this particular restaurant took place on the Eton Facebook page in December 2021 - so it's been a long, long 2 year road.

Urgent med office

Maggiano's in Beachwood had a large party-oriented space around 18K square feet - that was 2x their current 8K-9K model restaurant. Just too big. Unfortunately, it was one of only 2 Maggiano's (Sacramento lasted 1 yr, Beachwood 12...) that had closed at that point - though another large 17K sf location in Bellevue/Seattle closed this year... McCormick & Schmick's has closed tons of restaurants, including 1 of 2 in Pittsburgh and the Columbus location, which is becoming another Landry's concept. With that said, the lack of relative success of upscale chains is a concern in drawing these sorts of restaurants (including previously planned for Beachwood Place, Seasons 52) to Cleveland. Not important to all, but important to some.

I used to go a lot - and things change - but this is run by Landry's - which is a restaurant powerhouse - and they know how to attract customers (though their McCormick & Scmick's died nearby, too...) They even expanded their space maybe a dozen years ago... now over 8,000 square feet... huge by most restaurants' standards.

Another years-old (chain) restaurant closing... MItchell's Fish Market at Eton. No matter how you feel about chains, etc, this is getting crazy... especially in east side suburban locatons that have been strong in the past... (and rumors and observations make me believe that more high profile closings are coming...) https://www.clevescene.com/food-drink/mitchells-fish-market-at-eton-chagrin-has-closed-after-20-years-42988898 Anyone know if this level of recent restaurant closings happening in other cities or is it unique to our area? I mean Covid amplified issues for restaurants - but the level of closings is startling... (and before it is stated as the reason, almost EVERY city has way too many restaurants - so THAT is not CLE-unique...) 2023 closings as of a few weeks ago: https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/all-the-cleveland-restaurants-that-have-closed-in-2023/Slideshow/42401231

For anyone in CLE (including me) who knows and loves the Portillo's fast food chain from Chicago - home of Italian Beefs and Chicago Dogs - Buried in an October story about a potential housing & restaurant/commercial development south of Harvard Ave - across from Pinecrest in Orange Village - was this: "...three restaurants have expressed interest: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Portillo’s." https://www.cleveland.com/community/2023/10/orange-council-looks-at-zoning-changes-that-would-allow-mixed-use-development-of-weintraub-property.html It was rumored they were looking in Ohio - and likely have other CLE-area locations on the map, too. These are powerhouse - and mighty tasty - stand-alone units averaging $8MM/unit in yearly sales.

Parents? College? Hmmmm. From my experience, Capital Grilles are appealing to a bit of a different crowd these days.... Lots of way-tight dresses and mirror/wine room selfies - and necessitating a large dress code sign outside the front door.

Interesting that all the recently placed job ads on Indeed and elsewhere for the upcoming Heritage Steak & Whiskey at Eton (announced in April to open in June, still not open...) are from the Michael Symon Restaurants account - even though Symon indicated (including to this user, when asked) that this was a solo endeavor from his restaurant partner, Doug Petkovic. So, it's either a misrepresentation - or Symon will have a new Cleveland restaurant open soon - his first fine dining venture to open since Lola closed - and immediately a draw. I guess we will see. https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Michael-Symon-Restaurants

The view up Euclid from CSU the other day almost took my breath away - the building's imposing size and angled stance plugs the emptiness that was above Public Square from that viewpoint in an impressive way.

Legacy Village for sale - with (apparently) proposed 400 units of residential, as shown in renderings in link, on 2 parcels on northeast side (10 stories) and west side, past d**k's. https://www.cbredealflow.com/handler/modern.aspx?pv=Z-I9J549zUFsSziezRAUlM4xpS8d80z7UHM5I1gIGLM-fdm3AI98HFDrayXEOlSU#_top

Curious if (much like Paladar's Eton space) the exit plans were long known and there is already a tenant (Agave & Rye in Eton's case) lined up - or this is just PR / wishful thinking... I hope the former.

then that's great... I'm a fan - and frequent enough customer of Brassica - and know they must be doing well enough to 1) open Northstar and 2) open a Brassica on west side. (Northstar is a different sort of concept that some will love and some won't - and had a rough start, service-wise, but have enjoyed my several visits...)

I'm not sure I've seen the level of closings we've seen in the last few weeks. It's crazy. I've been waiting for the Michael's news for some time simply due to constant availability of reservations in auch a small space - and the loss of the Sawyer connection - and Shake It was empty from day one. Not sure how Paloma at Van Aken is doing - but on pretty Summer days they were opwn and patio was empty. And what about Northstar at Van Aken... a hit in Columbus but who knows here.

So, from a once proposed IKEA site to a jail site, drawing all the best from the surrounding area - what a great tradeoff.

And there was a Beachwood North High Brewing location that closed last year and didn't even last 6-7 months. Ouch.

Paladar closing and Agave taking the space had been in the works for months.

I am getting my hair cut tomorrow at the trendy barbershop (Principle) at Van Aken - as I do every 5-6 weeks. While there, I'll check out the progress on the highrise... and then I may run into the busy market food hall for some lunch (and a quick stop at the great Shinola watch store) - returning to the usually empty sidewalks to get back to my car. I hope others see customers and diners at Van Aken when I'm not there... Do you? On my weekday midday visits it just seems the workers outnumber patrons in the (open) stores and restaurants not inside the main food hall. I'd love to be wrong.

When Zack Bruell's Cowell & Hubbard was operating, it was a tasty and well oiled machine - with a great balance of good food, polished service, coupled with "we will get you out on time"... while still being the kind of place you could - or should - have gone just for the food, not just the PHS adjacency. These days - I'll just go to E 4th (Cordekia, etc...) pre-show and walk down to the theaters.

Hey, marketing now in full swing - I got an Instagram ad for 20% off on a holiday party at Five Iron... showing a Five Iron video packed with partying patrons. But it's got to make it to the holiday...

IKEA was looking at Harvard and 271 - the general Pinecrest/Chagrin Highlands area - 20+ years ago... Crain's even wrote a story about it at the time. Legislation led by then Warrensville Heights Mayor Marcia Fudge killed the possibility of a store that big, at least west of 271. An 80+ acre parcel remains on SE corner of that intersection, just across from Whole Foods - that would meet most or all IKEA standards - including traffic count and highway access and visibility. The population of NEO 1 hr from locafion is already 2x the needed 2MM for a store. "Ikea Shopping for Site Here - Brokers see Chagrin Highlands as prime location" - 3/26/2001 https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20010326/SUB/103260703/ikea-shopping-for-site-here

Bssed on a business name registration from June, Eton in Woodmere appears to have signed Agave & Rye, the Cincy-area based restaurant - which opened in CLE in the Warehouse District last year. The former Bravo location, next to the upcoming Heritage Steak from Michael Symon business partner Doug Petkovic (now 2+ months past its mid-June original opening date), would seem the natural location for Agave, but TBD.