Potamus

I love the site plan but don't really like either of the building designs. Library lofts is just bland - took a regular brick (or brick-looking) box and put a few concrete dividers on it. As another poster mentioned, the tower looks kind of thrown together. I like that they tried to cover up the garage, but the panels don't look good and the tower (while tall) is kind of meh and doesn't seem to relate too the base. Altogether it looks like a generic placeholder for an apartment tower rather than a real design. Compared to 1UC, it's really underwhelming design-wise.

Warner Swasey would be huge. It's been such a problem child for so long...

Apparently it expands clinic areas and other items too. See story here: https://www.wkyc.com/amp/article/life/animals/cleveland-apl-expands-capital-campaign/95-acd029fb-12f2-4f3b-aa56-89c12858b4ec

At this point, given how common these kind of incentives are, wouldn't they be foolish not to?

Eminent domain wasn't really intended for that sort of open-ended thing. Ie "we wish you'd do something better with this and than you're doing". It's really designed for situations like where the government wants to build a road to prevent an individual whose property the government would need to buy from just holding up the whole thing because they didn't want to sell. As KJP notes, in general the government can't just force you to sell your land to them (or really to do much of anything in particular with it). In court, the burden of proof is on the government in these cases and they face an uphill battle. Point is, we should probably not spend a lot of time on this topic as it's not a very realistic path in this case.

Yeah I never thought of the Flats East Bank as having a "skyline" at all ...

Yeah, for comparison, Progressive has about 10,000 employees in Cleveland so this would be a much smaller player but, still, 300-400 hq-type employees coming to the region would be a nice add.

The article said the warrensville site was 80 acres - wonder if SHW ever considered putting the R&D site there or, if not, why not?

I know the massing shown is preliminary and may not look anything like the final project, but... You can kind of estimate the height of the main tower by comparing it to 55 PS next door. That building is 22 stories and about 300' tall. From the massing above the main tower looks to be much taller. Maybe 35-40 stories and 450-500'?

And if it's as bad a deal as some on here seem to think, it'll fail or they'll need to lower prices. Market forces tend to work these things out.

^I'm confused. This is planned for South of Euclid on the edge of Little Italy, replacing two parking lots by the look of it. Perhaps you're thinking of a different spot? As it sits in pretty happy to see two parking lots go.

Does the measurement for site 1 include the garage or is it just for the building?

I think tastybunns is referring to a reference you made to something "bigger than Progressive" coming to downtown or something similar. Was that the Centennial?

Just speculating, but I'm guessing the author meant that the plant had been idle since 2000. Seems like they had a lot on environmental issues to clean up before they could actually put it on the market. Probably would have been more accurate to say "that Ford hasn't been using for a long time."

Ugh. This went from kind of interesting to seeming like a money grab. Unless they can get some bigger firms here or things like JumpStart or BioEnterprise I can't see this working.

Apparently there's a bar/cafe going into the space they vacated. Think it was mentioned on the CLE economy or restaurant thread.

Any additional info on the planned Center for Innovation?

I'm not convinced this really leads to more traffic at Hopkins and it might actually be less. They already have training here so that shouldn't affect it at all. And if they move a bunch of people here, that's fewer folks who have to travel here. It should help downtown hotels and restaurants at the expense of suburban ones and obviously adding permanent jobs to the metro will help a ton but Hopkins shouldn't see much difference.

There's also RPM

KJP - any ETA on when you might share more details on First Energy Stadium and this other mega project?

FWIW, Progressive owns the majority of their buildings including the main campuses.

^I don't think that's it. All of the square itself North to Larchmere is in Cleveland, as is the area East to almost Coventry, and effectively everything South and West of the square. So almost everything one would call "Shaker square" is firmly in Cleveland. The buildings on the square itself are privately owned by Coral who just hasn't seemed to invest in the maintenance or landscaping. Maybe the rents aren't enough, although occupancy has been pretty good, really since they bought it. With all the apartments right there, the farmers market, the adjacent Larchmere neighborhood, the movie theater, the rapid, and a diverse mix of shops and restaurants I would think Shaker Square would be a lot more vibrant than it is. I'm not sure closing of Shaker Blvd is the silver bullet, but it's definitely underperforming it's potential.

Do you know what they're putting on the corner next to the Dunkin? There was an old house there that they tore down.

Cedar Lee has been pretty stable of late with some notable openings (Boss Dog, Kensington Pub, Voodoo brewing). The strip north of cedar has been generally less successful for years with lots of places moving in and out. Coventry is in a bit of a down cycle at the moment but that does seem to happen periodically. I think the development of UC has had the effect of drawing students from the Coventry area but there are lots of mainstays that seem to be doing well. Cedar Fairmont, on the other hand, has really taken off as Barrio and Luna have really helped, along with Dave's stabilizing the grocery store and Parnell's moving over from Cedar Lee. (BW3 hasn't hurt either). Doug Katz's new place along with Top of the Hill will add even more life.

Amen, Yabo