dastler

The density in this shot is incredible, thanks @NorthShore647! The reflective glass really adds to it.

It's nice out and I had a few minutes so I went for a walk around the block to take some update pictures from a couple projects planned or in progress around me: First is the empty lot at 3601 Siam Ave that is planned to be 3 SFH with a shared driveway by Cleveland Bricks: Completed new build home on the right at 3516 Siam Ave by Cleveland Bricks. Just sold this month. Two progress photos of Bailey Bridge Townhomes by Knez at the corner of Fulton/Bailey Empty lot that is planned to be 3 single family homes at Fulton/Monroe by Cleveland Bricks.

Knez is still moving full steam ahead on their Bailey Bridge Townhomes, but it looks like the units aren't moving very quickly on zillow. I wonder if the market is softening or if people just don't want to pre-purchase. I thought at the ~$350k price point they would do well.

It's not really my place as a resident to judge a proposal on its soft choices like color. Also keep in mind these are apartments and not single family homes... the 4 ground units have covered porches and the 2nd/3rd floors have covered/shared entrances off the rear. Also, just based on seeing the progress of other projects I know that Horton does a significantly better product than other builders (ahem, Cleveland Bricks). In my mind, the more units the better... more supply to keep prices lower and more density to support more businesses that I can patronize in my immediate area. Fwiw, I think the context elevation should've included the two new houses down to the left, they are much closer in scale to the proposed apartments. They also did themselves a disservice not including the two story addition to the red house on the left, it adds just a biiit more height to the front elevation. The housing to the right beyond the two shown houses is also extremely dense, built up right to the lot lines. So while the style doesn't really match the homes of the early 1900's, the form matches well imo. Last comment, I have to imagine that this is a swing for the fences type of density proposal... Horton will build it if the residents support it, but my suspicion is that they'll "compromise" when they get pushback at the density and scale it back to 8-10 units or 4 townhomes. Parking is always the huge concern and I think this parcel can accommodate one space per unit for 8 total units pretty easily once you add in street parking.

Some info from my block club regarding a 12 unit apartment building from Horton Harper at 2222 Fulton. I'm a bit nervous that it'll be harder for me to find parking on the street (we get two street spots right in front of my house ~95% of the time) but I guess it's time for me to start practicing what I preach and encourage this added density! This project is proposed on a double wide lot that currently has a single family home, so 11 additional units on the same acreage. I should note that Cha has also been proposed for further up the street near Lorain. I know it's been brought up before, but if we can continue to add density near this corner it starts to make more and more sense to add a red line stop at Fulton.

It's more than that for those making >$221,300/year. They are going from TY2020 4.797% down to TY2021 3.99%. A total cut of 16.8%.

My block club provided renderings for Harbor 44 Phase 2. Looks like apartments and townhomes on what are currently open lots. They'll need some rezoning/reparceling to support the plan. Overall I'm supportive, but the conceptual elevation is pretty bland. I'm hoping that they can improve that aspect before it gets built (color and real renderings will probably help that front too).

"someone"

I'm friends with the tenant. It was a drunk driver so unfortunately I don't think any amount of bike lanes or traffic calming measures would've stopped this from happening :( Luckily my friend and his girlfriend were uninjured. Their cat was killed in the accident though 😭

Ah, and I almost forgot the neighbor to the South is "concerned" about the scale of the house relative to its 30' lot width and how it will tower over his modest house on its 71.5' wide lot... Not to mention his two car garage that wouldn't currently be approved because too much of the door faces the street frontage and isn't tucked behind the main massing of the house. Just a whole lot of 🤦‍♂️

First 45 minutes of this hearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bULhE7Pd_Mc Owner was asking for a variance to build a house one foot too close to the South property line, and with a total square footage of 2400 (code allows ~1900). 500sf of that total is a third floor flex space, if you removed it the house would be just about code. The garage is 6" too close to the North property line, but the owner was willing to move that to be code compliant if the other variances could be approved. Both are extremely reasonable variances, but were blocked by the residents because of the tree and perceived transparency issues. I suppose technically the hearing was merely postponed about a month to allow for more block club hearings, but it's essentially blocked.

If trees must come down in the next 10-15 years perhaps now is the time to start replacing them ad hoc? I'm no arborist, but it would seem like if you gradually replace a few every year then you never lose the dense tree cover that makes the street so attractive. If you replace all at once then you have a transition period where the whole street is new saplings for a few years.

Right, there is nuance there. I also agree that saving the tree is important... I've been on 50th many times and it really is a gorgeous street. What I don't agree on is using the board of zoning appeals as the forum to hash out the tree problem. It was brought up by the city's lawyer during the meeting that the tree is not a zoning issue.

Cleveland Bricks was tentatively given approval to build 3 single family homes on a single lot with a shared driveway at today's board of zoning approvals. The only reason they were given this approval today instead of having the decision postponed was because I took the 60 seconds to email the BoZA and my block club about my approval of the project as a neighbor. I was the lone comment. This was in stark contrast to the 45 minutes of debate about a project on W 50th that was denied because the residents didn't like the tree plan (something that the BoZA doesn't even have jurisdiction over). YIMBY-ism works! As I've listened to more public meetings it's become exceedingly clear that the residents have too much power to block development. The pro-development people on this forum need to speak up and let their voices be heard! I feel very badly for the owners of the W 50th property. They're new to the area and are trying to build a home that fits well enough in context with their neighboring homes. I'd be extremely frustrated if I were them being held up for over half a year because they didn't follow "the process" of talking to 15 different groups to get their blessing. Especially when that process isn't spelled out anywhere for anyone to reference afaik. The Bricks proposal starts at minute 47 here: https://youtu.be/bULhE7Pd_Mc?t=2819. Fwiw, I'm not happy with the quality of work of my Cleveland Bricks renovated home... but I'd much rather have 3 average quality new builds on that lot than it remain an empty field for another decade. Site plan below, project is at roughly 3527 Siam Ave

This is a big pet peeve of mine as well. Cleveland is not that much more dangerous than other cities around the country if you balloon out the city limits like many other large cities have done. When you look at MSA crime stats Cleveland is pretty pedestrian crime-wise.

The proximity to the other stadiums is a major draw, what other cities have 3 major sports team in such close proximity? What's the pedestrian access to the area though? It looks a bit challenging to get there on foot from the gateway area... Coming by car I'm sure there would be plenty of parking included so no issue there. There doesn't seem to be a lot of space for spinoff development either. Based on KJP's graphic RTA access is good at least. edit: You could actually just walk down Ontario and cross 90 underneath. Coming from the East there isn't really anything currently but maybe you could build some spinoff development in that otherwise wasted green space across Ontario.

https://media.cleveland.com/naymik/photo/14wgmodelljpg-ce40e722ff9c6427.jpg

I really like the idea, but I don't think you could slice up the floorplates into thin enough "pie pieces" for it to make sense as apartments unfortunately. A simple google maps measure distance puts the radius on the curve at ~125'. That's 3-4x the length of the Marina City apartments. I only think it's feasible with a center atrium or some other windowless unit. With a center atrium you could mirror the circular slices across a center hallway and it would probably work though. 30' outside apartment, 10' hallway, 35' interior apartment, and then a 50' radius atrium? Even that seems like it'd be difficult to achieve...

How many families in the Cleveland area are paying $12k/mo for housing? A 6 bedroom apartment just doesn't make sense I don't think.

Where would you find such city inspection requirement? I don't think Cleveland proper has a city inspection requirement do they?

Harbor 44 progress from today, 4/24. It's actually pretty similar to the renderings which can be seen here, but I think it's turning out better in real life.

Can also be someone who has taken out a hard money loan with the intent to get a mortgage after closing. It's a lot of extra risk but is a legitimate strategy in very hot markets. Essentially, borrow the full cost of the house at 6-10% interest, make your all cash purchase, then get a mortgage after the deal has closed and use the mortgage funds to pay off the hard money loan. You end up paying a large amount of interest in the short time period while the hard money loan is outstanding, but it makes you a much more attractive buyer. If you don't get into a house quickly the interest payments can eat you alive which is the downside. Also can run into issues if your mortgage appraisal comes in lower than expected.

Second. The other will be on W25th and is closer in style to an "indian chipotle"; ie: fast casual

I'm just summarizing, but Kerry's argument was that a recent update (2017 maybe?) to the city code reduced the parking minimums in this area. I got the sense from Kerry's comments that he opposed this variance specifically because the parking minimum had already been reduced and that the code is a recent update, not something that's 100 years old. Does anyone have more info on that? Edit Found some more info in the form based districts update: https://planning.clevelandohio.gov/zoning/pdf/348_Form_Based_Districts.pdf Parking requirements in 348.04-3A state only 65% of the normal code requirements are applicable in urban form overlay districts. Normal code is one space per unit, so 65% would be 32 spaces for this building. I think that matches with what Kerry was stating in his testimony.

Well the 1415 Kenilworth project went over like a lead balloon. After councilman McCormack's testimony all I kept thinking was: I also picked up on the same thing Mendo did... there's 35-40 spaces of on street parking underneath the highway and no one at the city can explain why it's signed as no parking 🤦🏻‍♂️