Mwd711

Even more interestingly, the FOP almost entirely endorsed Democrats for the statewide races this year: Cordray for governor, Brown for Senator, Dettelbach for AG, Space for Auditor, Richardson for Treasurer, and Stewart and Donnelly for Supreme Court. The only Republican they endorsed was LaRose for Secretary of State, which kinda makes me wonder what exactly they saw in Kathleen Clyde that differentiated her so much from the rest of the Democrats. Not that I really care that much either way. The FOP is not an organization I would take political advice from. Still I thought this was interesting. Might be more that LaRose is seen as a very principled guy. He was open about his qualms about Trump in '16 and won't commit to supporting him. He was my state senator before I moved and was very good. At this point I'm likely to vote for the Republicans except for governor where I will probably go third party. Neither major gubernatorial candidate can convince me to vote for them at this point, though either could convince me to vote for the other. LaRose is a flip flopper. He changed his mind on SB5 and the FOP was very upset with him. He made amends by sponsoring a bill to hide dash cam footage from public records. (https://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/05/ohio_senators_bill_would_shiel.html) A cynic would say he created this bill for one reason - to get back in FOP's good graces. I'm not sure it was ever passed.

I'm not sure Lerner can be compared to NYU. Lerner (CCLCM) is basically a pathway within Case's med school. They admit around 30-40 students per year and its focused on biomedical research. If Case had implemented something similar to what NYU is doing, I could see how you can compare them. CCLCM is a specialty research school.

Diamonds Direct. A fast growing chain which has a store at Polaris. And yes, The Lake House is being built on the other side.

Hawken is planning an Early Childhood Center near Gordon Square. They own the property but I think they are still gauging the market.

You misread the email. Lauren Dunham isn’t Kathleen’s mother. Lauren is one half of a political power couple that met while working on Sherrod Brown’s campaigns. This year’s ticket is very strong and having someone like Lauren Dunham as your manager means this is a serious campaign. If you do more research about Clyde, I think you’ll consider her a terrific candidate. And just to clarify, the email you got was a fundraising email. It’s assumed you are a supporter, so they arent going to give you much info on the candidate. Sherrod Brown’s emails go to Actblue. So do most Democratic candidates once you are on their email lists. I’m not sure how you got on Clyde’s fundraising list but sending you to ActBlue is pretty standard for any Dem candidate.

Kona apparently isn't happening at Pinecrest, despite plans approved by Orange in Summer 2017 - and their logo being on the signage along Harvard as late as this week. Yes, could end up across the street - or perhaps at La Place, in place of soon-to-be vacant Williams-Sonoma... etc... Kona Grill is having financial issues and is planning to close some locations. I doubt you’ll see them opening up here. If they do, it will be under a new franchise model.

Good news on Brassica! Also, a "Mercer Van Aken" recently filed. Hunch: the promised, new Jonathon Sawyer concept, but could easily be a boutique or ? dor all I know - but "Mercer* is historically tied to Shaker Heights I believe. Lots of leasing competition on east side right now, though. Container Store, Kendra Scott, Bonobos, Brassica all originally meant for Pinecrest, but ended up at La Place, Eton, Van Aken, among others. Pinecrest's reliance on a significant # of locally owned franchises and boutiques concerns me. It screams of desperation, not vision. Despite some big names like West Elm, Vineyard Vines and REI, the opening year tenants are far different than some big names previously in play in leasing talks. If they could have signed big-name, deeper pocketed national names, I surely think they would have. We don't need another First Watch franchised restaurant, etc... Or a Scout & Molly franchised boutique (another of which closed in Crocker Park in mere months, recently..). And the trendy (and cheap) Warby Parker eyewear shop on a past leasing plan - which would have been a big draw - becomes a local "Eye Candy" glasses shop instead. Warby Parker is hiring for their future location. Perhaps the store has been delayed and that’s why it wasn’t announced.

There's some changes at Legacy Village. Gymboree is closing as part of their bankruptcy. Chipotle is moving to a new space, a couple doors down from Starbucks. The biggest news is that Arhaus is staying. While it was long speculated Arhaus was headed to Pinecrest, they are building a new store at Legacy. Arhaus will take over the entire corner where Chipotle currently sits along with the former Apple store, Cellairis and gelato stand. Tropical Smoothie Cafe will likely close too. Also, local mattress manufacturer Naturepedic is opening a showroom in the old Sprint store next to Dick's while Black Box Fix is opening in the old Yogurt Vi space.

Back when Currito was Boloco, there was one at Beachwood Place. It opened with the food court expansion. When Boloco split up the company (the corporate locations stayed as Boloco while the franchises became Currito) , it became a Currito but didn't last much longer. The airport location also opened as Boloco.

I don't think it's the same Stark family.... The directory of key players in Stark Enterprises is listed below the bio: http://www.starkenterprises.com/team/ezra-stark/ This is the bio of Jacob Stark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/starkjs Bob Stark does have a son named Jacob and yes, he does live in L.A. Jacob is a screenwriter and producer. Sounds like he's branching out and going into the family business. The Stark Enterprises website does include two different future developments in Los Angeles.

I think you misread the article. February had more revenue than January even though there were fewer days. At least in Ohio, mild winters usually bring out more gamblers. Statewide revenue was up compared to last year and better weather might be a factor.

CLE isn't doing much worse than other nearby airports. Pittsburgh isn't anywhere near where it was even when comparing now to their first few years without a hub. Columbus has been trending up but it still trails its numbers in the mid 2000s. Indy has a brand new terminal but is barely ahead of where it was from 2004-2008. Even Detroit is down two million from what it did in 2007 and that's a much larger airport and market. The other thing to remember about airport size is that market size isn't necessarily relative to arrival numbers. Orlando, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, etc. have massive tourist traffic that Cleveland has never had. That makes its overall performance look worse than it is. There's no doubt that CLE is historically an underperformer but it's hardly as bad as you're making it sound. To say that all airports have surpassed pre recession numbers isn't true. Not to mention most of CLE's rust belt peers don't have a CAK competing against them either.

Good point. Both of those should bring in people that won't normally venture down there. The FEB could benefit from some family friendly attractions. Something to help diversify, like the Aquarium on the West Bank. Right now FEB reminds me of an adult Disneyland. The water taxi connects the aquarium to FEB so I agree, there needs to be some more family friendly stuff down there. I've been to the FEB on weekend afternoons and there seems to be lots of families roaming around but very little for them to do. Most of the restaurants aren't family friendly. There isn't a splash pad, giant chess board or a playground in the development. To me, that's a lost opportunity especially since you have a large family attraction just across the river. Somebody downtown should try to capitalize on attracting families as it is a big market but nobody seems too interested in filling that niche. Umm... there is a giant chess pad outside coastal taco. Isn't the chess pad on the patio with the ping pong tables and cornhole? I agree that's nice but Coastal Taco is also a bar that features DJ's on a regular basis. I'm envisioning public areas for families not more bars catering to millenials. I don't love Maryland's National Harbor but it seems to have the perfect blend. It attracts families, couples and singles and does it successfully. They have a carousel, public art, and play areas yet it also has a comedy club and a dueling piano bar. There's no reason FEB couldn't follow a similar route especially if they are trying to change the Flats reputation as nothing but a place to party.

Good point. Both of those should bring in people that won't normally venture down there. The FEB could benefit from some family friendly attractions. Something to help diversify, like the Aquarium on the West Bank. Right now FEB reminds me of an adult Disneyland. The water taxi connects the aquarium to FEB so I agree, there needs to be some more family friendly stuff down there. I've been to the FEB on weekend afternoons and there seems to be lots of families roaming around but very little for them to do. Most of the restaurants aren't family friendly. There isn't a splash pad, giant chess board or a playground in the development. To me, that's a lost opportunity especially since you have a large family attraction just across the river. Somebody downtown should try to capitalize on attracting families as it is a big market but nobody seems too interested in filling that niche.

I don't think this will be a full service Chick-fil-a. More than likely this is just a kiosk type outlet with a limited menu of items delivered from their Strongsville location. They've tried this pop up concept in many locations including some malls here in Northeast Ohio, usually during the holidays. This is a way for the company to gauge interest before going in on a full service restaurant. If it does well, you'll see it permanently. If not, nothing is lost.

Cracking Art did an entire installation of giant red snails in New York City. Four of them were in Columbus Circle. Two of them were in Central Park. They were huge hits. During Artbasel, Cracking Art put 45 snails across Miami. Again, it was a huge hit. It was so popular, Cracking Art came back a few years later and lined an entire bridge with their sculptures with a giant crocodile at the bottom of it. This is a big get for the city of Cleveland and it will make noise in the art world. Plenty of people mocked the giant rubber duck in Pittsburgh. Then the crowds came. The duck did its job and brought out all kinds of emotions in people and they came from all over to get a glimpse. I have no doubt this installation will do the same in Cleveland. We should be thankful our city is being spotlighted right up there with NYC and Milan.

^ This project confounds me for a few reasons. Primarily, the name as Plum Market is an organic grocery chain out of Ann Arbor. Plum does have an outpost in Chicago so they could be opening here, either now or down the road. This store doesn't look much like Plum's concept so I'll assume it isn't related. Unless this is related to that Plum, I don't see how they can use the Plum trademark for a market. Kinda reminds me of how Cheddar's on Detroit had to convert to Krazy Mac's due to trademark infringement. Additionally, Plum Cafe just opened on Lorain. Is this Plum project related to that one? If not, I could see how someone could confuse the two concepts. I do wonder how a market will do there and what kind they might go with. Spuzzillo's gave it a go and failed, although that wasnt much of a market. Murray Hill is just around the corner. Constantino's is in walking distance. Maybe it will be a more food hall like since gelato is shown in the plans.

No as the Horseshoe name is on six properties outside of Ohio. It's also a very historic name in the casino industry and worth more than the casinos themselves. The other wrinkle in this is that Caesars is no longer one company. It's actually three different companies that all use the Caesars name and have various ties to one another through Total Rewards marketing among other things. Notably, Horseshoe Baltimore isn't affected even though Gilbert also owns that one. The difference is Horseshoe Baltimore is managed by a different Caesars corporate entity than the Ohio ventures even though they share the same branding. Confused yet? The Caesars corporate hierarchy is in disarray and I'm sure all parties wanted out. With the Caesars bankruptcy and the pieces split up between multiple companies, it no longer made much sense for this partnership to continue. Why split all this money all these different ways? It doesn't make sense. Caesars is under new management and since it is currently split up so many different ways, this was pretty much inevitable.

^ All good points but there's a right way to build a lifestyle center and a wrong way. This is the wrong way. Grocery stores anchor numerous lifestyle centers. Take a look at Potomac Town Center. That development is very similar to what Pinecrest seems to be planning. Wegmans is the grocery anchor. It's a massive store that needs a massive parking lot. Yet somehow, someway, they connected Wegmans to the "Main Street" via a crosswalk over a two lane street. Pinecrest can't do the same thing with Whole Foods? Fairmount did do that with Heinen's in Hudson. As it stands now, Whole Foods looks like a completely different development than the rest of Pinecrest. That makes zero sense for the rest of the complex. Either build it the right way or risk it being a failure. In my experience, the successful lifestyle centers know to integrate things. The ones that have struggled seemed to ignore that at their own peril. I know why Whole Foods wants to build there. Heck, I will be a loyal customer when its completed but I would be more likely to visit other stores if it's easy to go place to place. Not only does it look better, it can generate more dollars. That's one of the reasons you build anchor stores in the first place.

Great find on the Pinecrest map. That said, I think it's unrealistic to think all those retailers are going to move over there. I just don't see a coherent plan and having a grocery store set apart from your residential is really odd. I doubt residents want to trek through a parking lot to get groceries. Looking at that map, Pinecrest will suffer from one of the same issues that Legacy Village does - a lack of integrated high volume daily daytime traffic. Why you would stick your anchor store way out to the outskirts (Whole Foods appears to be surrounded by a concrete moat) is just mind boggling to me. That's your draw. Attach it and there will be spin off traffic. Otherwise you've learned nothing from how Legacy placed Giant Eagle in a completely inaccessible location. Many of those stores are fine additions but I question how much foot traffic they can draw on their own. I don't see why a Banana Republic would give up all of Beachwood's traffic to set up shop next to a furniture store. Legacy has suffered from having their biggest draws so isolated. Apparently, Pinecrest wants to do the same thing.

Trying to equate University Square's issues with Oakwood's development is silly. I'm pretty sure I reported this months ago but TJ Maxx was going to leave regardless. They had zero intentions of staying once their lease ended. The fact the complex was sold to an absentee land speculator was the last straw for them. The options for TJX were simple. A) Move B) Close. They chose option A which I'm sure their employees are grateful for. There's a reason JoAnn left way before Oakwood Club was even up for sale. Theres a reason Pier One left before that too. There's a reason Target has been looking to move for about 7 years. There's a reason Famous Footwear left when their lease was up and they are also headed to Oakwood. There's a reason so many spots were never even filled. There's no need to recite them. Oakwood might've accelerated its decline but the decline was inevitable either way.

An independent Mexican restaurant is going in there. That area is also getting a Moe's Southwest Grill. Moe's is planned for one of the outlots at Oakwood Commons. That will join a new Chipotle in Highland Heights on Wilson Mills across from Progressive. Lots of new Mexican options on the eastside. Also somewhat related, The Greens of Lyndhurst will be losing their Third Federal branch. That's moving down Mayfield to where Pizza Hut was. The old Pizza Hut has already been demolished.

Arrasmith designed 50 Greyhound terminals. Only 11 are still standing. Of those 11, only 3 are still used by buses. The Cleveland terminal is by far the largest to remain let alone to still be in use. It's worth noting that when the Cleveland terminal was built, it was considered the grandest bus terminal in the world. It's no Grand Central, but it's still in very good condition today. Greyhound could've gutted the place years ago but didn't. Instead they kept virtually all the Arrasmith touches in tact including the terrazzo floor design. It's a significant building and in terms of bus transportation, it's a very historical place. More historic than most people realize. If I had to guess as to why there's not more talk about this building's future, I would say it's because people don't have an affinity for buses and bus terminals. People see them as dingy and dirty places that attract degenerates. If this were one of the last still in use Amtrak stations of a certain design era, I think people would be much more concerned about its future. Currently, it seems like most people could care less what happens to the vintage interior style of this terminal. I get why people want Greyhound moved but people need to realize how historic this place is and how important it is in relation to bus transit in this country. Anyone who takes over this building needs to respect its history. A full gutting of it would be destroying an important part of our history that can't ever be replicated.

More poaching by Oakwood Commons. What an absolute waste of land and the folks behind that development are proven again to be liars. Another example of why we need regional planning, particularly in regards to retail development in the eastern suburbs. I detest Oakwood as much as anyone but these tenants would've left regardless. They've been wanting out for years just like Target does. As long as that parking deck looms over US, nobody will want to be in there. Too much liability. There's a reason everyone else fled from there and they couldn't even get a legitimate shopping center owner in there. Instead, the owner is a land squatter who's best known for owning liquor stores and the notorious Packard plant in Detroit. Do you think national chains want anything to do with a property owner like that? Since it's going into foreclosure again, we'll see if someone more professional bites but I don't see it. You'd have to tear down the deck and rebuild it to gain people's confidence back. The whole thing is a disaster and I don't blame any retailer for getting out if they can. The other thing about Oakwood is that TJ Maxx and Famous Footwear were not supposed to go there. First Interstate wanted to lure a Lowe's, Kohl's or JCPenney to that end of the center but they couldn't seal the deal. It was either make a deal with TJ Maxx and add a strip of small stores or let the site languish for many more years. They chose the easiest route and allowed TJ Maxx to get out from the albatross that is University Square.

I wonder if the OfficeMax departure at Golden Gate is part of the new owner's plan to re-tenant the plaza. The Golf Galaxy next door has already left. That side has quite a few vacancies now and it seems like it could be a part of a redevelopment. In other news, University Square is going to get even emptier in the next year. TJ Maxx and Famous Footwear are planning a move to Oakwood Commons. That will leave Applebee's as the only renting tenant as Macy's and Target own their buildings. The absentee land speculator/owner has only accelerated the decline at University. At this point, I'm not sure there's any way to save that complex especially since Target has been looking to move for a couple years now. If they stay, it's likely because they couldn't find a suitable location elsewhere in the Beachwood/Shaker area.