Mwd711

Well I'm pretty sure this was discussed in the Acacia thread but the original LV plans were more mixed use in nature. That changed when the original developer was replaced with First Interstate by TRW. At that point, LV had already been approved by voters. I'm not sure why or how First Interstate ever got involved since they lacked history in building such a complex development. The other thing to remember is that LV lost a couple of anchors before shovels were even in the ground. Jacobson's was to be the anchor but went out of business. After that happened, Container Store and Anthropologie dropped out. I don't think they ever figured out how to replace those anchors and it showed in their planning. As far as Pinecrest goes, there is a residential component to it, albeit a tiny one. But the developer is paying to build multipurpose trails in the village to link with Pinecrest. That's probably a wise idea and much better than the decidedly non-friendly pedestrian links that Legacy Village has.

I don't think Legacy and Crocker are very comparable because one is designed as a very high volume place. Legacy isn't designed that way because of design and their tenants. Most of LV's tenants are fairly low volume retailers. They don't bring in high numbers of traffic. Nordstrom Rack, Giant Eagle and LA Fitness are the exceptions but because of poor design, there's little spin off from them. The restaurants bring in good amounts of people, but again because of poor design, there's little spin off from the throngs going to the Cheesecake Factory or even the new Granite City. Apple was really the lone high volume store in the Main Street portion so I'm sure their departure has cut into traffic. CP has many high volume stores sprinkled throughout its complex which boosts it quite a bit. CP acts as a regional draw, while LV is more of a community center these days. That's not necessarily a bad thing but LV certainly wasn't envisioned to be just that.

^ The planned residential isn't shown in that site plan because that's only the retail portion. All the residential will be built directly off of Chagrin and will be gated so it will not become a pass through. I don't think there were ever plans to have residential on upper floors. The Goodman site plan is only showing the space off of Harvard. All the residential is planned behind the hotels that line Orange Place. The retail portion and the one shown is behind UH and Red Robin. As far as 65% goes they are talking about that being the percentage of stores new to market. The argument is what's new to market? Something that's already on the Westside? You could easily argue that one. That's probably open to interpretation.

Not to get too off topic, but the five I listed are the original William Fox theaters before Fox merged with other companies. Oakland wasn't even built as a Fox. It later became one through a merger and the Fox name was added. That same merged company went on to build the L.A. theater.

You're thinking of St. Louis. There were Fox Theaters in STL, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Atlanta and of course, Detroit. The interiors of Detroit and St. Louis were at least historically, very similar. I've never been in the St. Louis one, but indeed, the Detroit version is an absolute gem.

I'm pretty sure that's Capitol Park. Dan Gilbert envisions that as an arts district. He's bought a few of the buildings around it but hasn't done much yet. The parking garage with the stakes is where Hudson's sat. Last year, Gilbert sponsored a design contest for that block but there's nothing firm on what will happen with it. Over the years, there's been a multitude of pie in the sky proposals but nothing that could be taken seriously. Since Gilbert is now getting involved, hopefully something will finally come to fruition for that site. That whole part of Woodward has changed drastically. It started with Compuware and the Schostak family buying up buildings years ago and Gilbert has only accelerated the process.

And a couple notes on the buildings you photographed. The State Savings Bank Bldg. which is seen in your 2nd and 3rd pictures was on the verge of being torn down for parking last year. The Historic Commission wisely denied that. It's been vacant for about 5 years which isn't that long compared to many buildings. The owners of the Pontiac Silverdome own this property. The Old Wayne County Building was vacated in 2009 when county offices were moved into the Guardian. It's currently tied up in legal limbo so the owners can't put it on the market. It's a complicated case but supposedly it will be up for development opportunities shortly.

The craziest thing was that this was the same day as the St. Patrick's Day marathon. There were a few stragglers in green running garb, but by and large downtown was empty. I was shocked at the lack of people hanging out after the run. Actually, that was the Corktown 5k which precedes the Corktown Parade. And that's where everyone would've been hanging out after the race. Judging by these pics, you never made it to that neighborhood. Not that downtown would be bustling on a weekend afternoon but the St. Patricks Day events are on the fringe of downtown, not in the heart of it. While St. Paddys isn't a huge deal in Detroit (I'd argue Paczki Day holds more relevance!) it does draw a pretty good sized crowd every year.

3-4 years ago the Marathon Expo was at Great Lakes Expo Center in Euclid, which was small and dilapidated. The I-X is way too big this event. I agree with freethink, its a no brainer to move it downtown. I believe those other locations were temporary while the new convention center was built anyway. I suspect this year's marathon will make extensive use of the new center downtown. The Cleveland Marathon is already committed to the IX Center for the next few years. The smaller Rock n Roll Marathon which is run by an out of town company debuted in 2013 and did utilize the new convention center. They will again in 2014.

^ The Auto Show isn't going anyplace. Downtown doesn't have the space. Can't speak for the Golf Show but the Marathon Expo isn't moving from the I-X Center.

No affiliation. Phoenix sold it a couple years ago to a local businessman. There's several indie places around town that use Phoenix. Root Cafe, Dewey's and the Popcorn Shop, Yours Truly and BonBon are a few of them.

The Silver Grille was restored and revived in 2002. http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/dream-grille/Content?oid=1479531 It was a nice story but this isn't anything new as its been used as a private event space for years. TC has always offered it along with the English Oak Room and the Renaissance for large banquets. The Ritz runs the Grille while Executive Caterers runs the Oak Room.

MCMC doesn't operate convention centers just like MMPI hasn't in the past either. That's part of the issue when it comes to luring shows to town. It makes sense to drop MMPI for SMG as a convention center operator. Where the issue comes in is with the MedMart. If SMG takes that over too, it just leaves everyone with more evidence that the GCHI will be nothing more than glorified meeting rooms. Great for doctors to earn CME's but that's nothing that isn't already accomplished at many different venues in the region. There's nothing groundbreaking about that and it won't make the CC much more attractive to medical organizations either. The whole "showroom" concept is pretty much dead.

MMPI's downsizing has been grossly underreported in Cleveland. MMPI has been selling off most of their properties the last several years. The Washington, L.A. and Boston Design Centers were sold in 2012. Their furniture marts are long gone. There's been all kinds of rumors about the future of the Merch Mart in Chicago. Vornado doesn't have much interest in the trade show market now that Kennedy is gone so this doesn't come as a big shock if you follow the industry. Long term, I'm not sure if its good for the Med Mart portion but then again, I've always been skeptical of it. I suppose it depends on who will replace them and if they can figure out just what the mart will be. It seems like MMPI never really figured it out and kept changing the plans.

From the article: Michael Tricarichi, owner of East Bank South Limited, said he used to get a call every two months about his six buildings on Old River, but now he gets at least a call a week. He said is fielding most of the calls, including one from a national restaurant chain he refused to identify, about his properties that are closest to Main Avenue and the Flats East Bank project. I was looking for this guys name last week as I remember before the recession he had acquired a number of properties. From what I can tell now he lives in Vegas and just seems to want to recoup some of his investment. Hopefully this is a good sign something will happen soon. And not good to hear Ferchill owns property there. This guy is everywhere. I'm not sure why this guy turned his back on Cleveland but looks like he has no interest in us anymore. Hope he divests himself of his properties without a lot of problems. Over the next year I see good things breaking in this area. Hopefully soon. Tricarichi had some big plans years ago. His original intent was to put his own restaurant concepts in his buildings. Rocco Whalen was one of the partners involved. Its ironic that he says a national chain is interested in one of the buildings since Buffalo Wild Wings held court in one of his places before being thrown out for concepts that never got off the ground. At the same time, he floated doing a joint deal with Samsel but that also never came to fruition. I don't think he was ever serious about doing anything though. He seems to be a real estate flipper at heart. He already sold some buildings to Wolstein and now he's getting ready to profit again. For the Flats to truly come back, a guy like this needs to be out of the picture. Ferchill has some financial problems thanks to his Detroit developments. The Hilton was foreclosed on while the Westin owes millions in loans. I would guess that he's looking to sell to try remedy these problems more than him turning his back on Cleveland no matter what he says.

If its going by USPS zip codes, its not even necessarily in the city limits. The 44121, 44143, 44124 zip codes among others, are considered '"Cleveland" by the USPS. I don't live in Cleveland but all my official mail comes listed as "Cleveland, Ohio" This is the case in several eastern suburbs and I imagine theres some on the westside that fall under this too.

Market Districts vary wildly in size. I've been to most of them and none are alike. The Shadyside one is very urban and is the size of a regular Giant Eagle store. Others are mammoth but they seem to be building smaller ones these days like in Solon. That one falls in the middle when compared to others. There's also a new Market District Express concept. The first one is opening near Columbus. Since its in the early planning, I'm not sure what it will have or how it will vary from Giant Eagle Express stores and NEO doesn't even have that GE concept yet.

North Coast is not the Metro section. NC is the C section on Sundays only. Its basically Travel, Health, Fashion, Religion and the old PDQ and Inside & Out sections folded into one. The Metro section has been folded into the A section. Many other papers have done the same thing, putting the metro, national, business and world news sections in one. Its Sports is the B section, since like the A section, it is printed everyday. I don't see the big deal in the Babs Collier story. Its obvious Slate has no idea that she doesn't write for the PD and they clearly don't get the point of her columns. They aren't supposed to be reviews. The point is to focus on menu items and inform readers of restaurants in suburban communities and what diners should expect if they go there. She's written on everything from Hyde Park to Zoup to Melting Pot to Moxie to Potbelly. It intends to inform a casual diner, not to cater to a serious foodie. The PD handles that department as do people like Elaine Cicora, Laura Taxel, John Long and Doug Trattner in the various other publications in town. I'm sure the folks at Slate do not even know what the Sun Newspapers are.

And what were the "expectations". My guess is that they were inflated to make the idea seem more acceptable to voters. I haven't heard or read where the casino is complaining about revenues. The numbers were grossly inflated but it appears the gaming market in the midwest is saturated. Penn National has come out and said their Ohio casinos have not performed very well. Caesars has been more quiet about it but the numbers don't lie. Every gaming analyst is disappointed with the Horseshoe's slot take. Its borderline acceptable for a major flagship casino (the minimum average is $200 per and in June, the Shoe brought in $202.) If it weren't for its dominant performance in table games, by far the best in the state, The Shoe would really be in trouble. I do think phase 2 gets built, just to keep up with the new Hard Rock. Just expect fewer slots and more table games since that's what the downtown market seems to want most.

I think the rotunda would make a great space for an upscale market. Heinen's has their Village Market concept (the only current one is in Hudson's First & Main) which would probably fit that space or any space downtown perfectly. Its emphasis is much more on prepared foods, wine and produce than a larger Heinen's store. Judging by the Geis concepts, that's what they have in mind for this space. Outside of Constantino's, Heinen's is the only local retailer with experience in that small grocery/market cafe segment.

What's interesting is that the bulk of those papers have struggled. The ABJ cut the newsroom down several years ago once it got new owners. The News-Herald has gone through several owners thanks to multiple corporate bankruptcies. The PD and its owners probably perform better than any of their competitors. The issue is the current Newhouse family leadership. They are going all in when it comes to digital (ironically, their site and e-edition apps suck) and no longer care about print. Its about page views, not quality anymore. I'm not sure how that move makes sense as very few digital only pubs make much money since the advertising market isn't as strong as print. A paywall would've probably made more sense (at least until the digital market grows more) while staying a 7 day paper but the Newhouses weren't interested. I think its key to remember that Simmons, Egger, etc. didn't come up with this idea. It was a corporate move that started in Ann Arbor and New Orleans and is filtering down to the rest of the Newhouse papers. I'll be curious to see how this move changes other media in the region and if they step it up. Let's face it, much of the AM news in this town is just rip and read from the PD. The Tv and radio stations rarely break news of substance.

The Baseball Heritage Museum is currently closed after a pipe burst and flooded the place. Apparently, they have had multiple issues there over the years and are moving. Zimmer is looking at putting it in Eastlake at their stadium temporarily. I wonder if long term, he would consider putting it at League Park or nearby?

In defense of FCE, they did Tower City. Its been decades since they've done anything significant but that was their grand play in their hometown. And of course, being a publicly traded company makes a difference too. These other groups are private companies and don't have shareholders to answer to. They can think more outside of the box and take more risks. Gilbert and his partners are certainly doing that. I doubt buying up a bunch of buildings in Downtown Detroit would be cheered by any shareholders of a public company. You would probably be tarred and feathered for even considering it. Taubman and Ramco certainly aren't doing anything in the city. And while Geis is an urban convert, so is Gilbert. The old Quicken HQ was closer to Ann Arbor than it was Detroit! He built it way out on the edges off of I-275 in a sprawl filled corporate park. Clearly, he's had a change of heart and Detroit will be much better off because of it.

I'm one of the biggest critics of the Horseshoe here (heck, MTS and I sparred for days on the subject in the past) but I think its way too early to judge whether it has had much of an effect downtown. The biggest gain has been in the hotel industry for obvious reasons. I think a couple of the restaurants did move in because of it but its hard to say it was the only reason. I'd bet Red, Tilted Kilt and Chipotle would've ended up there regardless. Several restaurants have folded since the casino opened including Prime Rib. We're not seeing a huge spin off yet and retail hasn't moved at all. TC hasn't added anything of value and Dredger's Union went under. There is one thing I'm angry about and that's the fact that the Horseshoe has added suburban restaurants to their comp program. Kind of defeats the purpose of promoting an "urban casino" and downtown restaurants but I always considered that nothing but marketing PR. In the end, its just another casino but in a very cool location. Financially, I think the casino is doing ok but that's only on the strength of table games. Its slot performance is woeful (it brings in about the same as the Erie casino) and will only get worse once the racinos open up. Its obvious that slot players haven't warmed up to the Horseshoe. Many are staying away. Whether its because of tight slots, bad service or the location, I don't know. As long as tables keep going well, there's not too much reason to be worried. The struggles at the slots do make me wonder if a phase 2 will ever be built. At this time, I don't see the demand in it. The performance isn't there unless you believe adding more amenities, etc. will boost the slots. Maybe these new bus runs will help the numbers. As far as Gilbert and his development in the city, since when are sports owners obligated to invest in the city? Few seemed to criticize the Gunds or the Lerners on that. The Dolans get a pass. All fans want is a winning team. Most could care less about the rest. Gilbert has gone beyond anything he has to do here. Detroit is his hometown and where his companies are based. He wants to rebuild his home city. Whats so bad about that? Sounds like nothing but jealousy.

I don't think anyone here would ever confuse the various Melt concepts. The problem is that Melt had already established itself nationally through TV shows and publications. It's pretty clear to me that the Melt concept mightve been created from hearing all the buzz about the original Melt. It's not like Melt is a little gem that's never gotten national PR. Far from it. The timing is very peculiar and I find it odd that Matt Fish hasn't said anything about it since The Melt has been hyped a lot in many national restaurant publications. He would be wise to follow Collichio's lead and protect his brand.