CleveFan

I was thinking that we’re still going to get some additional height (in a sense) with The Beacon - when the lighted “Beacon” letters, which look about 2 stories high, go up. But when looking at the promotional rendering, I noticed that the letters face west, where seemingly most of the view of those letters would be blocked by 200 Publuc Square. Wonder why they wouldn’t be facing south?

How do they lift the metal panels of the facade into place without a crane? Do we know when those panels start going in?

Great observation and picture of the TT reflection in 55 PS. And I agree with Shack’s comment on PNC - the white tower seems elegant to me. The issue of color is so important - I think it can make or break ones opinion of a building, despite height or shape. . For example, take Erieview. . I’ve noticed that it doesn’t get much media love - often overlooked by skyline shots of the city during sporting events, etc. . The view of the city from the lake that puts the Rock Hall in the foreground and includes Erieview, to its left, seems the most complimentary presentation of the Tower, but particularly from other angles, it can seem uninviting and industrial, despite its glass facade and sleek proportions. I think it has much to do with its dark color. I’ve said before that it would be amazing to see it lit in a creative and bold way - that would almost create the effect of adding a new skyscraper to Cleveland’s evening sky.

Wow, 12 games into the season and the narrative is already becoming that we are “fighting for those Duke freshmen”. I didn’t think we were going back to 2010 when LeBron left for a second time- and many were even more optimistic than I was, characterizing the Cavs as a possible lower seed playoff team. Now, the K-Love signing looks like just another in a series of bad Cavs decisions as his incredibly early absence has forced the limited Cavs into 2010 mode. Durability is essential for a franchise player and you couldn’t have picked worse with the fragile Love. And though Sexton had some success against a weak Bulls team, the supposed new star looks every bit the overwhelmed rookie. And to those in the media who criticized LeBron, especially one very fat and slow pundit at WTAM, (“only one ring in 4 more tries here” and “he doesn’t make the players around him better”) their idiocy is evident. The biggest problem is that where 2010 led to 2014, this time there won’t be another return of the King to save the Cavs four years from now. We could well be looking at years of Cleveland basketball futility because there’s no evidence that this ownership or management has any clue. The only right move they made lately was ending the tenure of Mr Lue and giving Mr Drew an opportunity. He may get some real effort out of this odds and ends collection. I applaud the city’s support so far but I hope there’s someone sitting in the beautiful newer reimagined Q next season.

PS - after posting in the population trends thread, I discovered the immigration thread, which has a lot of interesting info dealing with the question I had raised - but I left my original post here in case others came to this thread first - they, too, can find more information with the same next step within UrbanOhio.

Are cities ( and specifically Cleveland) actively campaigning to bring new immigrants in to their communities? I know that newcomers tend to settle near family and friends so the migration process may be organic to a large extent. Just wondering how and what is being done to rebuild the population by infusing immigrants that would love to find and create opportunities and build a future in a more affordable city such as Cleveland. If we look at history, we know that new immigrants can make dynamic contributions to the energy and cultural richness of a city.

Looking at Mayday’s videos of The Beacon crane coming down today, I couldn’t help but notice and wonder about The Arcade. I know a little about its history and went back to “The Cleveland Memory Project” to see some of the great historical photos there. Has there been any work done on the facade over the years? Wondering about its condition. Also, reading through this thread, I learned of some attempts to infuse new merchants for the 2016 RNC. I would assume that a well populated Beacon would only help - but how has the Arcade been doing over the last year or two?

Although the 29 story building doesn’t make a big statement vertically - obviously it effectively fills a gap as many have previously noted - but today I began to appreciate how one new tower of its size can really help add density and the feeling of depth in the skyline. I had a good view of downtown from the top of the hill on State Road in Parma and could easily see the yellow Beacon, now in the foreground of Erieview Tower. The latter building was no longer fully visible from that perspective. The city seemed to already have a slightly more complex, bigger city feel because of the depth perceived from that particular view. I’m sure there are any number of skyline perspectives that will be nicely enhanced by the Beacon’s presence. The shimmering effect of the lighting mentioned by ArtmasterCLE might make that especially true at night.

That’s the exact idea with the design of the facade. I think this will be a building, much like the Hilton, where once completed, we’ll hear people saying, “it looks even better than I expected..” I’m also looking forward to how it will look at night, as it supposedly will be very well illuminated and have that multi story “The Beacon” lettering at the top.

No sign there from Stark of anything except moving forward to Nucleus.

I think similar economics and the resulting effect have plagued most Midwest cities - sometimes, perhaps it takes a man/woman with a love for a city, a vision to build something “transformational” and the money to help to push beyond economic barriers. Imagine if Dan Gilbert felt about Cleveland the way he feels about Detroit.

The Lumen will not only be a beautiful addition that extends the skyline on its own, but it will also help connect the CSU Rhodes Tower (2nd tallest educational building in the USA) more to the downtown skyline.

Another great shot! This one is the first “reality shot” matching Stark’s promotional rendering of The Beacon in context of the neighborhood on Euclid.

It’s gonna be interesting to see the final facade with those interchanging metal panels start to appear - anyone know the timeline for that?

It’s been way cool to see big cranes in Cleveland’s skies (foggy or not) - thank God we can now start enjoying the rise of The Lumen on the heels of The Beacon - Thanks to everybody for the great pics!

Good comments, NYC- looking at models of reasonably similar markets and how they’re succeeding in areas where we need to up our game is logical. Seems to me that for some of us, the first reaction or default is to explain why Cleveland can’t support more big city Development. And though I agree we can’t just throw economics out the window, I like 327’s competitive mindset. We are, after all, in many ways competing against cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh.

It’s shameful that the Jacobs Group has allowed this proud and great city to have a parking lot on its public square for so long. I hope KJP’s “tease” is the news many of us have been hoping for - that an iconic 21st century tower will finally join the “big 3” in the not-so distant future. What a great place to be located, on the revived and beautiful public square in an energized and increasingly more dynamic downtown. I’m sure that challenging market economics have kept such a project at bay - but Cleveland deserves better than what the Jacobs Group has given us. . I only hope that such a project happens before another 2007 type “correction” in the economy puts a halt to major new construction for another decade or so.

I’m with Mack-that’s a great shot, especially catching The Lumen crane in background.

The city should have someone that looks at that kind of thing and makes sensible recommendations to improve aesthetics.

Awesome rendering of the Lumen! Cant wait to see see it rising - Love the view (except for Burke Airport sitting on the city’s lakefront)

Kjp’s blog definitely news-worthy. I wasn’t a fan of the design of the residential Jenga Tower nor was I a big fan of the hotel bridge -but it would’ve been more than “nice” to have had a new 54 story tower added to the skyline. I guess we can add Nucleus 1.0 to the list of cancelled Cleveland skyscrapers. It’ll be very interesting to see what Nucleus 2.0 might look like - I wonder how many more years that will take. At the risk of being accused of tower worship, I’m hoping we still might get something close to 500 feet in the residential tower, but maybe that’s wishful thinking. I also wonder why the Cleveland school board wouldn’t even take a vote, especially when you consider their own survey results, showing a majority supported the TIF.

Congrats to Everbody/anybody associated with Stark Enterprises (which I am definitely not) on the topping out of the substantial Beacon project - The Forum has its critics of Stark a la “big talk, not always much action” but he seems to be one of a few with a vision that actually produces for Cleveland - and I love the idea that he is audacious enough to envision a big city project like Nucleus which I’m still rooting for. But this is the Beacon thread- so congrats to those making it happen and to the Euclid Avenue neighborhood that should become more lively when the Beacon opens. And it’s nice to see one of those gaps in the skyline filled in.

So when should we see The Lumen begin rising above ground?

Thanks to all that have provided great photos of The Beacon rising - great to see. Someone mentioned buildings with comparable height - Eaton Center, at 356 feet, is exactly 1 foot taller than the Beacon will be - Cleveland States’ Rhodes taller is also very close in height, at 363 feet.

It’s sad that the attitude that “this is the best retail that we can get because we’re only the 51st largest city” exists with some of our cities’ boosters. That philosophy should not be the basis for supporting a less than desireable outlet mall on our lakefront property. i agree, obviously, Cleveland can’t attract the same retail as Manhattan- let alone any one of a dozen of the largest US cities - but why we do we have to settle for a typical suburban style outlet mall on the lakefront - our city’s most precious natural resource ? This is the lakefront of a city that is successfully transforming itself and working to become a world-class tourist destination. There should be connectedness between the wonderful attractions such as the Rock Hall and Science Center with options for families/kids to do right nearby. An ”Inner Harbor” type debelopment that included shopping and family friendly places would be amazing - but an outlet mall with nothing special about it? Why would we place literally next to the Rock Hall ? Most shoppers - would be driving in and right back out - and unless this outlet is going to have the high-end big retail attractions that pull in richer suburban clients- we’ll, imagine the quality of the clientele at this place - Probably not a crowd with lots of money to spend Downtown. If we want a special city for us and our kids and their kids - let’s keep our expectations high and build accordingly