cbussoccer

Could you link to the website you pulled them from?

Do you have a source for these renderings?

And D. The lot is small. Hilton 2.0 is so tall because there was very limited space. Merchant Tower is tall because there is limited space. Highpoint is short because the foot print is huge; however, its square footage is similar to a typical 20-30 story tower.

You were expecting a cluster of 3-4 600' towers? Why were you expecting that? Based solely on these renderings, and without knowing where these renderings came from or any details about the project, I think this looks really good. The architecture looks really solid, it appears that it will add a good amount of residential units to an area that has typically been a 9-5 area, and it also looks like there will be a decent amount of commercial space. Would I like a 20-30 story building? Of course. But I think this looks like a wonderful project based solely on the renderings.

Where did these renderings come from? I knew about the plan for the building between the YWCA and PNC Tower, but all the other buildings are new.

Yep, Nashville and Austin both.

I couldn't care less about height. Austin can have all the height they want, but it doesn't mean they are actually building quality, sustainable, urban development. Most of their height is a result of a tourist boom that I don't see lasting, and a tech boom and relocation of tech workers that I don't see lasting. Much of their downtown area just feels like it was built in a rush, and not built to last. It also doesn't very organic. It feels more like an amusement park or something. It's hard to describe. I would describe Nashville much the same way as Austin. A city that was rushed with very little planning for the future. For as much as we complain about Grandview Yard or the AD or Jeffrey Park, at least they feel somewhat organic and livable. You feel like you are in area meant for humans to live in, rather than area that was hastily thrown together by a real estate developer to capitalize on a hot market before it disappeared. Everything that's been built in the Discovery District over the last few years blows the tall sterile condo towers built in Nashville and Austin out of the water in terms of livability. The way Gay Street has been developed is so much more enjoyable than boring 30 story condo tower filled with people who only live their part time and with 6 floors of parking along the street level. I'd even take the 6 story Edwards project on High between Gay and Long (it was Edwards right) over most of the towers that have gone up in Nashville and Austin. Within the next year or two all of those commercial spaces are going to be full, and the parking garage is completely hidden from High Street. They managed to fill a giant city block with commercial space. Most towers in Austin or Nashville reserve half of a city block just for the entrance to a parking garage. I could go on and on, but the point is that height is good barometer for good urban development, and much of Austin and Nashville has been far from good.

This is exactly how we function currently, and I think it's the best setup. When we first started coming back to the office, most people were in the office twice a week but not on consistent days. This essentially resulted in everyone continuing to work as if they were WFH even in the office because you never knew if someone was there or not. Most meetings continued to be on Teams. Most quick questions or conversations took place on Teams calls. It was highly inefficient and pointless. After a few months, we switched to everyone being in the office Tuesday-Thursday which was initially met with some resistance but people quickly figured out they liked. Now, Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be the big meeting days with some sprinkled in on Thursdays. Mondays and Fridays end up being pretty free and because you are WFH tend to be great "focus" days. I think this hybrid setup is by far the best. It gives you the best of both worlds. I never want to go back to 5 days in the office, but I won't take a fully remote job either.

This was always a risk for people accepting fully remote positions with companies that weren't offering fully remote positions prior to Covid. I've been telling people since 2021 that if they accept a fully remote position at one of these companies they need to either be willing to relocate to where the company is headquartered or be laid off. I agree that 5 days a week in the office, for the vast majority of jobs, is pretty unnecessary. With that said, I personally don't feel fully remote work is very efficient or effective for most jobs. I've been at the same company since 2016. WFH was virtually non existent pre-Covid, then we transition to full WFH from 2020-2022, and have had a hybrid setup (3 in office 2 wfh) since then. Full WFH was by far the most difficult setup to effectively get things accomplished in a timely manner. It was also extremely difficult to get comfortable with new members of the team that I had never worked with in person. There are obviously certain jobs where you work mostly in isolation and don't need to interact with anyone, so WFH is great for those jobs. With any job that requires collaboration of any kind though, full WFH greatly limits productivity. A hybrid setup - either a 3 in 2 wfh or 4 in 1 wfh - will probably be the norm going forward for the majority of jobs/companies.

Make it happen!

I have a feeling the development boom along 5th is just getting started. I think it will be one of those streets that is almost totally unrecognizable a decade from now. A BRT or light rail along 5th would be amazing and get a ton of use, but it might be difficult to implement due to how narrow the road already is.

Ohio History Center under construction in 1969.

You should see the sidewalk situation in the original 1800s part of Groveport. Some streets have a sidewalk on both sides. Some streets only have a sidewalk on one side. Some streets have no sidewalk. Some streets have a sidewalk until a certain point and then the sidewalk disappears. When you go for a walk you never know what you are going to get.

I remember reading that as well.

What a game. Massive win. Probably the 3rd or 4th most important win in team history. If we win the final, we are in the Club World Cup next year. Insane.

The ownership angle is obviously the hold-up, but I think from a fan perspective, it would be well received. Any change would need to be planned out years in advance so current owners can sell if they want out. The first relegation slots would probably also need to be determined based on performances over 2-3 years so one bad season doesn't completely sink a team. I do think, for the first decade or so, the top division would generally be made up of current MLS clubs with a couple USL clubs floating around the bottom of the table. Unless massive infrastructure improvements are undertaken with USL teams prior to this theoretical system, they would really struggle to attract the talent that MLS teams would be able to attract. So, while there is a risk to current owners, it would likely be pretty low. Regardless, it will be extremely difficult to ever make happen and will definitely require pressure from USSF/FIFA.

All those Intel employees walking around better get back to work!

There's really no way for USL to compete with MLS right now though. MLS controls 9 of the top 10 MSAs, and 24 of the top 35, with plans to expand further. The infrastructure that exists across MLS blows USL out of the water. The wealth of even the top ownership groups in USL is miniscule compared to even the "cheap" MLS ownership groups. To top it all off, MLS is designated as the top division league by the USSF. This allows MLS teams to more easily buy and sell players to various European leagues, and gives MLS teams the opportunity to play in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. USL's only prayer is that they can somehow convince the USSF (or convince FIFA to force the USSF) to revoke the designation from MLS and grant it to them. This would greatly diminish the value of MLS and allow USL to convince MLS owners to jump ship and join USL. Unless that happens, there's really no way for USL to compete with MLS. The best thing for US soccer would be for MLS and USL to combine forces in some way and create a 3 or 4 division pyramid with pro/rel.

And I'm very thankful with how well it's aged. Six years later, I can't believe how well run and supported both the Crew and FCC are. I would absolutely love to see an MLS team in Cleveland, but just as I said in that post from six years ago I don't see it happening anytime soon. MLS would need to expand to around 40+ teams for Cleveland to have a chance. There have been rumblings of MLS essentially buying USL and creating a promotion/relegation system, which would be quite interesting. Cleveland's best course of action would probably be to join USL, ideally the USL Championship (they have three different levels), and hope that the leagues get consolidated and pro/rel gets implemented. In any event, it will likely (and unfortunately) be an extremely long wait until Cleveland has a top-level professional men's soccer team. I hope I'm wrong though.

hahaha nice! Now we just need some of these in the downtown area.

Posted by the Crew's Twitter account yesterda.

I can't believe we don't have a construction cam for this. I spent way too much time watching the Hilton construction cam.

Yep, I remember those days. I believe there were stops along Main at Hendron/Tallman, College, and Front. I think there was one at the Rec Center as well. It's a shame those were taken away.

It is certainly a different mentality in many cases, but more so it’s a matter of practicality. Good luck getting to a bus stop in a safe and timely manner and then getting almost anywhere else in the city in a reasonable amount of time from almost anywhere in the suburbs outside 270. It’s highly likely you’ll be faced with a 30-40 minute walk along/across very dangerous roads just to get to a bus stop which is not frequently serviced. Living in Groveport, taking the bus is completely impractical for me. I would love to take the bus to a Crew game to avoid paying for parking, but I literally can’t.

Taking the bus from UA is a hell of a lot different than taking the bus from a suburban neighborhood in Grove City or New Albany or any other suburb outside of 270. It's fairly easy to walk to a bus stop for a high frequency route in UA. Outside of 270, this simply isn't the case. Generally you have to drive to a park and ride location. But you might be right. If the buses actually went into the suburban neighborhoods, you might actually see some people taking advantage of the option.