misterjoshr

Not to knock this project at all... which I think adds a lot to this area. But as someone who just redid an entire development website (sustainableca)...it takes a ton of time and money and a thought through voice. The latter is hard to find if you are in a beds&heads mentality as opposed to a "what is this new community we are building about" kind of framework.

A lot of websites these days are done by third party apartment software services like Yardly. My guess is it comes from a service like this. My own 2 cents is it reads more AI generated then slick.

Yes -- I think speaking over a multiple year horizon -- it will allow you to look more creatively or re-look at options.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/06/project-to-preserve-and-re-use-park-synagogue-in-cleveland-heights-gains-momentum-focus-and-nearly-3m-in-state-grants.html this is a great summation of what we've been working on in Cleveland heights.

got it :)

that is very kind. Thank you. I have great colleagues and fantastic architects who push us -- they deserve a great deal of the credit.

the planter boxes are really taking hold

I am digging this! also feeling the night winter rendering

Also - what exactly makes it luxurious? The quality materials? The energy efficiency? the areas for exercise within the buildings? The mostly local business on the first floors of these spaces? If these things are attracting people to the city and to the neighborhood, given population loss, the need to increase the tax base etc -- I would say these things aren't just luxuries but things all of our neighborhoods need. I think a lot of people would also say that owning a home these days and giving up that mobility and the downpayment required is what is the luxury. Should these kinds of projects that have mostly people making between 40-100k living in them be all that's developed -- of course not. But this zero sum game mentality isn't going to help one bit. It just wins over 4 people at a block club meeting. Our politics and our words should be more studied and more meaningful then this

The argument about too much "luxury" housing is one of the more intellectually lazy arguments I've read in a long time. I don't think public policy should be geared towards or prioritized towards this group, but as someone who sees incomes and credit reports of my tenants, I think the idea that anywhere close to a majority or significant minority of the people who live in most of these places are "rich" is really not the case. They simply are deciding to put their money towards renting instead of owning and increase their geographic mobility. Most of my tenants make between 40-80g. I am actually breaking down the data by building now. You'd be shocked at how middle class it is. It just isn't the lunch pail middle class that older people know -- they look different and have different tastes but they nonetheless are middle class (btw most have student loan debt etc). When someone says they don't want luxury housing, I wonder what income streams they do want more of and if they have a real plan for developing that besides this weird form of populism which really doesn't level with people. Who do they think is shopping at grocery store they recruited to the neighborhood or buying 16 dollar movie tickets to keep the theater from needing more welfare? Wouldn't we want more people like this rather than less?

Don't forget Over 26 acres around Park Synagogue

the cost for doing that can be super expensive. we looked into it for Tappan and it was like 400k all in. any mandate would need the compliance of the utility company, of course. Not to say any of the above makes it a bad idea. Just an FYI

this is terrible that people can be all Nimby to halt good projects is an issue. but an equally extreme reaction to that would be approving this sort of design solely because it provides more density. With the rent PSF you are getting these days, at least when lumber comes back down, you can afford to do something more attractive and timeless and achieve density too.

Thanks for introducing yourself and thank you for coming!

Thanks! Also this got approved yesterday: