SixthCity

Disgusting

Bring back Moda!! :-D

I thank the St. Clair - Superior industrial area has awesome potential. It's Cleveland's REAL warehouse district.

Even if the prices dropped you can't leave. We need you here - don't abandon the fight, dude!

Cool Former brewery in Ohio City moves step closer to makeover as apartments Redevelopment action is about to take another step beyond the shadow of the West Side Market with West 25th Street Lofts, a $20 million apartment conversion of a one-time brewery in Ohio City. That is the case because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notified the developers on Friday, Feb. 7, that it had approved a $14 million loan for the project at 1526 West 25th St. Smythe said he and partner Rick Foran expect to close financing for the project and to begin construction in April. The sole missing piece of the financing package is the sale of historic tax credits for the redevelopment project, which involves a building that dates from the 1870s. Smythe said the duo has letters of intent from two prospective buyers of the credits. He declined to identify them. The Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) bonds that will fund the project were priced last week at a 4.15% interest rate and a 40-year lifetime, numbers that would warm the heart of any real estate developer. GNMA is an agency of HUD. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20140210/FREE/140219979

I can dig it - thanks. I'm nervous.

Michelle - are these good things going on behind the scenes? :wtf: Also, thanks for the update.

From Michelle's twitter: Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe 56m #CLE Planning Commission considering proposed zoning change for Abode's 200-plus unit Ohio City/Tremont project: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/developer_andrew_brickman_plan.html … Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe 29m Grove Court Condos owners worried re: possible development of hillside facing #dtCLE. Rxn to proposed rezoning for 200+ unit rental project. Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe 9m #CLE Planning Commission gives thumbs-up to rezoning for Above Living's 200+ unit Ohio City/Tremont project, w/ some tweaks around edges.

This might be a great thing. Now that the owner of the May Company building owns the garage he will have an interest in sprucing up the ground floor retail......which now leaves much to be desired.

Stanley Block land scheduled for sheriff's sale, raising prospect of purchase by casino group CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A small strip of land where one of downtown Cleveland's oldest buildings once stood will hit the auction block this month, in the culmination of nearly three years of litigation over the now-demolished Stanley Block building. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's office has scheduled the property, roughly 0.11 acres on Ontario Street, for a Feb. 18 foreclosure auction. Valued at $300,000, the vacant lot will require a starting bid of at least $200,000. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/stanley_block_land_scheduled_f.html#incart_river_default

Excellent piece: Cleveland sings a new Rust Belt tune: Richey Piiparinen http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/02/cleveland_sings_a_new_rust_bel.html#incart_river_default For instance, the aforementioned white paper showed that the largest feeders of net population growth into Cuyahoga County were from places outside Ohio, including Chicago, Brooklyn, Queens, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Greater Boston. It is hypothesized that many of these migrants are the young adults fueling Cleveland's revival in the emergent neighborhoods of Ohio City, Tremont, Edgewater, Detroit Shoreway and University Circle, as well as the suburbs of Lakewood and Cleveland Heights. In fact, the latest census numbers showed that nearly 50 percent of out-of-state movers into Cleveland were between the ages of 20 and 34.

Adding to that - it seems Judge Pianka writes a bit of dicta about how property owners may still demolish properties through neglect and it appears the City of Cleveland has no way to stop this practice. He says the City Planning Commission must allow an emergency demolition if the property poses an "immediate danger to human life or health." He also mentions a Detroit statute prohibiting such practice, hopefully City Council takes note. I REALLY hope this doesn't go the way of the Stanley Block, however it appears LR 310 is hell bent on making that happen. I am praying Weston can get this from these bastards. It's still not clear that there is any demo permit issued for the site. The city records indicate there is permit from 12/06/2013 still "pending." Curiously, this pending permit doesn't list any information on its purpose - weird. Other than that we have 1/10/2014 permit for the ballast fencing. Although I hope this ghost permit is for repairs, it seems unlikely this group is interested in anything other than demo. Does anyone on here work for Building & Housing? If so, is this building being considered an "immediate danger to human life or health?" How high is that threshold?

Well lucky for you folks, I am both curious and ambitious. Here is the disposition: http://www.filedropper.com/docfeb062014206pm ^ The scan is kind of large so I uploaded it to a free file hosting site.

True but Mitchell's and Mason's will also use their locations for wholesale production, making them less reliant on walk up retail.

There will be retail in the northwest corner of the parking garage south of Prospect, right?

I think I found the permit: https://ca.permitcleveland.org/Public/Report/ShowReport.aspx?Module=BuildingHousing&reportType=PRINT_PERMIT_REPORT&reportID=2

Awesome! There is a Red Line (heavy rail) station in the airport connecting the airport to downtown Cleveland, Ohio City, and University Circle among other neighborhoods. I ride the train to and from the airport so I don't have to worry about rides or leaving a car when traveling. I think Cleveland was actually the first City in the United States to have airport public transit access.

^ If that was directed at me - I'm sorry. I was looking forward to discussing the issue on its merits and felt like it got dismissed outright. Considering its importance, I feel like it should be discussed. So...let me tell you my thoughts on the video I posted. I originally thought immigration might be somewhat of a silver bullet for some of Cleveland's neighborhoods but I was interested in an argument the side for the motion made (against unbridled immigration). They brought up the point that the immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s worked well for the immigrants and America because we were in the throes of the industrial revolution. American industry was desperate for low skilled workers and low skilled immigrants were desperate for American jobs - this resulted, of course, in a win-win for everyone. Able bodied immigrants were able to earn living wages and our great American cities (Cleveland) were born. The point was then made that we are now in incredibly different economic times where low skilled jobs neither exist in great abundance nor pay living wages. With "real" unemployment around 10% nationally and disproportionately affecting lower skilled/educated people, the jobs past immigrant generations were able to take advantage of no longer exist. So...the mostly low skilled newcomers and the existing labor market are greatly mismatched. The side for the motion (against unbridled immigration) argued that we should prioritize higher skilled immigrants such as graduates of American universities. One of the debaters said "We can accept the cream of the crop and we should." Of course this is theory and good data could wash it all away. Unfortunately, both sides could not agree on basic statistical evidence about the impact immigrants have on cities. The side for the motion said most immigrants consume more public benefits than they produce through tax revenue given their exemption from income tax and other taxes. The other side said almost the exact opposite and argued that immigrants pay more taxes than they consume and stimulate local economies. She also cited evidence that immigrants open more businesses than Americans, a statement I've heard many times before. Of course, I thought the statistics were the most important piece of the debate but alas, the opponents were at an impasse. Therefore, I am not really able to form an informed opinion.

Right on! Who needs to analyze real issues? This worked well 100 years ago during a completely different economic time - therefore everything will go the same today. Silly me this is so simple!

All this talk made my realize I knew almost nothing about immigration and its economic impact So...I found this debate on IntelligenceSquared, a debate program featured on NPR and sponsored by Vanity Fair, about the economic and social effects of immigration. It's pretty long but if you have time and are interested - I highly recommend watching it. The motion is "Don't Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses" on which opponents argue for or against. Debate:

Haha! I was thinking the same thing - he's MASSIVE

DCA's Downtown Cleveland Market Update for Q4 2013 http://www.downtowncleveland.com/media/200605/Q42013_final.pdf

Oye, robbing people on the train reminds me of New York in the 80s. 5:45pm on a Wednesday?! This is out of control. Teenage brother, sister arrested after armed robbery at Cleveland RTA station CLEVELAND, Ohio – An officer arrested a teenage brother and sister after an armed robbery on an RTA rapid last week, according to police records. An officer assigned to foot patrol on the RTA Red Line Rapid was inside a westbound train about 5:45 p.m. Jan. 22, when it stopped at the East 79th Street station. Across the platform, a train heading east pulled up. When the doors opened, three people – two teenage boys and a teenage girl - ran off the eastbound train toward the exit stairs. Another man followed behind pointing at them and saying they just took his cell phone, the report said. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/01/teenage_brother_sister_arreste.html#incart_river_default

Looking into the cleared building

Walked by to see the action today. Sorry for the angles, I was in a bit of a rush - it was freakin' cold! From the southeast: From the northeast: