LlamaLawyer

Amazing reporting @KJP. Do any of the "briefing documents" you have seen contain actual renders or massings?

These Nextdoor posts make me irrationally angry.

Isn't it possible that the high volume of construction would be partly what is slowing this down? I count at least four 8+ story rehabs or new construction underway. Those four projects have to be eating up tons of man hours. Sure each of these projects was able to get started, but maybe CCA is sorta the late bird that missed the best worms. 1. Artisan 2. 75 Public Square 3. Ascent at Top of the Hill 4. Intro

Is there some sort of plan for this? I hadn’t heard of it.

Tallest office building in the city in 30 years. That's an exciting milestone even if the building is boring. It's also being built immediately after a massive economic downturn that could easily have derailed plans, but didn't. Frankly it's symbolic of Cleveland's very strong emergence from the pandemic. Lots to be thankful for even if the aesthetics end up being underwhelming.

I think they’re talking about Guam as a temporary measure until the INS paperwork goes through.

From a moral perspective, I love this, no matter where the Afghan citizens go. From a development perspective, how do we get them here, lol?

The BLS data makes no sense once again. https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_cleveland_msa.htm

The most beautiful view in the city will be getting better. I'm a bit surprised at how imposing that crane tower looks from Wade Lagoon.

At the local level, I don't think having tons of experience actually matters all that much. What matters is: 1. Having good character. This means don't be corrupt (e.g. Jimmy Dimora), but it also means don't be lazy (e.g. Jackson) and don't be an ass (e.g. Kucinich). 2. Be thoughtful and open to multiple solutions. 3. Be a nice person who can create and utilize networks. There are enough motivated people trying to help out this city that you don't need a mayor who knows everything and takes the lead on everything. You just need someone who can nurture the good elements and ideas that exist in the community, have a bit of charisma to help bring in new money, and have some judgment on what are good and bad ideas. I personally know and like Bibb and would vote for him if I lived in Cleveland proper. There are probably a few candidates that would be fine in light of the above, and there are a few that definitely are not.

I like the art deco style on Truss Cleveland's website, but does anyone know anything about it other than it's an event venue?

This development (because it's retail) is, to me, one of the biggest signs that there is life being breathed into Hough, even if it's just a strip mall. Hopefully this is just the beginning of much more retail. If Hough continues to come back maybe in 40 years they'll demo this strip mall to build a 10-story mass timber apartment building. 😘

Two extremely easy fixes that competent leadership will eventually solve. We need more buildings and more people and more public spaces. There's plenty growing room downtown for us to have more of all three.

Disagree. To me, this project could create a sort of Public-Square-on-the-Lake. Which is badly needed. Plus, the open space would leave room for potential additions of some of the kinds of things fun lakefronts have. Imagine a mini boardwalk with an arcade and a couple stores that sell kitsch stuff from Memorial Day through Labor Day. You could have one here in front of the stadium and a second one at Edgewater. 'Twould kill. That's my dream, lol.

Seeing all the glass in some of these photos makes me think what a timeless design this is. To the untrained eye it could be an old industrial building that's being refurbished and expanded. Truly a beautiful building.

I love the company, but I like the stock. Sorry, had to do it.

@KJP & @Cleburger I find these two predictions surprising. I really don't see any reason for housing demand to come down in the near future. The biggest generation in history is deciding to buy houses and the fed has signaled interest rates will be historically low until at least 2022. There's still lots of pent up demand. That is to say, I know people who are still having a very hard time finding a house. The market may normalize in six months, but why would that drive prices down? I mean, people are skipping inspections and writing love letters to sellers. It seems like there are quite a few insanity chips to fall before prices start falling. Second, mortgage delinquency rates are plunging. July through September could see some more delinquencies as forbearance starts to end. But at the same time (1) values are up by 15% over the last year, and (2) overall consumer debt is also plunging. So I'm not understanding how this will be a mini 2008. Even when homeowners do default, very few will be underwater. I'd think if anything it may just help alleviate a bit of pressure on the insane for-sale market. Third, construction costs are still historically high, so that closes one pressure relief valve on still-climbing home values.

To my untrained eye it looked like they were putting in some giant underground concrete pylons. Someone more knowledgeable can correct me on if this may have been what they were actually doing or if that makes no sense.

So this is a weird metric, but according to Zillow, Cleveland leads the nation in how much more expensive the inbound mover's previous home is than the Cleveland home they are moving to. That's...good...right? https://www.zillow.com/research/interstate-movers-reshuffling-2020-29577/

This is a fair point, but the issue is primarily about distance, not wind. As the crow flies (and I have to measure this way because the land bridge doesn't exist yet), the justice center is a little over 300 m from Key tower while FE is a little over 600 m from Key tower. You're turning a 5 minute walk into a 10 minute walk. I've never had a downtown office, so maybe I lack perspective, but do you really think the firms with offices on Public Square would derail a Justice Center near First Energy because it means an extra 5 minutes of walking once a week (or less than once a week)?

The biggest law firm in the city is located on the wind tunnel usually known as East 9th close to the lake. A bunch of other firms are right next door in the North Point Tower. Some other pretty major firms are in the E&Y Tower, and it's plenty breezy there. Does it really make that much difference in wind to move the Justice Center 100 yards closer to the lake, particularly when lots of firms are already in major wind zones? I think this is essentially a non-issue. The legal professionals making the decision are all judges that will drive to the tower and park under it anyway.

Having lived in both rural and urban areas, I think the plights of the rural poor and the urban poor have a number of marked dissimilarities. The urban poor typically have to contend with an unreasonably high cost of living for their means, particularly as food deserts get filled by opportunists who tend to overcharge. The rural poor typically have a very low cost of living. There are places in Ohio where you can rent a two bed apartment for less than $500 a month. They're in rural areas, not in inner city areas. Rural grocery stores are almost universally cheaper than their urban counterparts. The urban poor have more "opportunities" but are kept down by a combination of a skills gap or racism. There are usually high paying jobs that exist within a radius of several miles from the urban poor, but racism and a skill gap work together to lock out the urban poor from such jobs. Transportation may also be a problem, but it's secondary to the skills gap, since if the urban poor could get hired into an upper middle class job, transportation would become feasible. The rural poor are usually white, so they don't have to contend with anti-black racism, but they still have a skills gap and the "opportunities" simply don't exist at all. It's not just that the rural poor are unqualified for better jobs, there is no better job. And to create a better job typically requires education, which literally requires leaving the small town. I'm confident there are many small Ohio towns where literally no one has a household income over $200,000 a year. There are probably even more small towns where there may be one doctor or dentist or chiropractor with that kind of income, but no one else. So there's also a difference in what happens to the rural poor vs. urban poor if they can get out of poverty. I know a number of people who grew up dirt poor in Cleveland and are now upper middle class or very successful, still in Cleveland. I struggle to think of an example of someone I know who grew up dirt poor in a small town, but is now successful in that same small town. There are lots of rural poor who escape poverty; but then they leave. The urban poor have worse acute challenges, but the rural poor have a worse chronic problem, because the urban poor live in an ecosystem with a bright future and the rural poor live in an ecosystem with no future. Work-from-home may change this some, but these are my broad observations.

Excellent reporting as always, @KJP! Some of the descriptions in your article remind me very much of this Pickard Chilton project below. Except for the slope at the top, it sounds like it could be very similar. We'll wait and see the final render!! One can dream!!

Looks like one of the nuclear tests out west. SHW to Las Vegas confirmed. I'm so sorry, everyone. /s