LlamaLawyer

Would a 300 ft tower show up in this photo? (old photo; current view features One University Circle prominently). If so, we’re not just getting a bazillion new jobs, we’re also improving the (arguably) most beautiful view in the city? Ka-ching.

There are always tons of people there in the summer.

I heard rumblings a while back that some developer wanted a Dave and Busters in the area. The context was that there was a bit of a brewing conflict between the City Mission and the city because the City Mission has some expansion aspirations, but the city wanted a particular parcel for the Dave and Busters. Anybody else heard something along these lines?

That’s insane. Most of Knez’s developments aren’t even in the “hot” neighborhoods. My mind goes immediately to the dozens of houses being built in Glenville and Fairfax. Most of those are $300,000 houses. This is either a huge bubble or a bunch of east side neighborhoods will be very different in 10 years. Who is buying these homes?

Seems like a very reasonable site plan with the confusing exception of Jacobs Lot. But stepping back, I am still so glad they are staying put and investing locally and gobbling up these parking lots. That little center on PS will probably be here for the foreseeable future, and it definitely doesn’t strike me as an ideal use for that parcel. But if we ever get to the point where that is our biggest problem as a city, we’re doing ok.

I understand what a pro forma is. I'm just wondering if we know who the particular audience for the pro forma is and what the context of the specific request for the pro forma is. As with any financial statement, a pro forma can vary materially based on why it's being prepared. EDIT: Here's roughly the kind of hypothetical I'm wondering about. Geis: "We're interested in investing our own capital in this project, send us a pro forma." UCD: "Okay, but we're still moving money around so we don't have our capital outlay figured out precisely yet." Geis: "That's fine, just send us a pro forma with the expenses laid out and whatever capital you have in hand so we can at least look at the cost." The result is a pro forma that makes the financial situation look worse than it really is. Not saying I have any clue the above is what happened, I'm just curious how much we know about the context of the request.

What is the pro forma for? Is it possible they didn’t feel the need to fully lay out their capital on it? Is it possible they have other funding commitments they’re optimistic about but haven’t closed in on yet?

Just a few years ago. The last ten years has changed the area unrecognizably and for the better.

This is such a secluded location that anyone who doesn’t live on campus and doesn’t go to the Hessler Street Fair will probably never know the difference. When I was at Case, Hessler was one of the more dangerous streets on campus. Hopefully building some density helps it out a bit.

I do think if you're going to have a setback, this is the best possible way to do it. You've got a first floor restaurant that is (relatively) close to the sidewalk, and so the fact that the tower is 20 meters further back becomes an easier pill to swallow.

If there's an Amtrak station under the land bridge is that more likely to (a) let us leverage Amtrak money to get the land bridge built, or (b) turn the land bridge into an even bigger and harder to pull off task?

I like the facade design less than the original but I like the massing a lot more. And I still really like the facade design, just a bit less than the previous one. Actually the new color may meld well with The Viaduct. Also, if they build this and The Viaduct, then you've basically extended Downtown across the river. 😏😏😏

The phase that’s breaking ground does not include the Meijer, correct?

I love hearing about these new projects popping up all over the place. I remember about five years ago when One University Circle had just started construction and there were maybe a couple residential projects ongoing in Ohio City, feeling like what was happening was so exciting. But now it's impossible to keep track of everything that's going on and nearly every neighborhood in the city has multiple active projects. Thanks for being our tour guide on this rapidly accelerating ride, @KJP.

Maybe, but I honestly think there are more pressing areas in our society where we need better education, lol.

@KJP ^This will fit better in the area. The previous design was adventurous but probably better for an area like Waterloo.

I'm not sure it's a lack of interest. The city sorta opened the RFP specifically for Panzica which you may recall had developed a plan over a year ago which was basically the same as what they're proposing now. I would guess Panzica didn't expect any competition and thought the RFP being opened was basically a formality. I have to believe they would have put more work into it if they knew F&C would submit a competing proposal.

It probably takes a psychologist to really assess this, but I would guess it's a matter of people make judgments based on the information they have. Most of us on this forum think a lot about what good urban planning looks like and how different projects will ultimately affect the city or region. If you don't spend time thinking about that, all you have to go on is how a project affects you personally. There's no obvious way that folks on Nextdoor will benefited by this project. So the gut reaction is "oh, I like using that parking lot and I don't want to have to use the garage instead," or "oh, I really wish there were a dog park nearby and the only place to put one would be on the grassy lot," or "oh, I pay $9,000 in property taxes every year for my $200,000 house, so why do these rich developers get a 15 year exemption for their multi-million dollar project." Hearing about a new project naturally makes people think about how they would like the land to be used, and it's pretty easy to think up an alternative use that would benefit them more that what is actually being proposed. The benefits of a lot of these projects just aren't tangible unless you do some thinking. People have limited bandwidth, and so as much as I like to laugh at NIMBYs in Cleveland Heights, I really don't blame them just because they're not thoughtful urbanites. Everyone has blind spots.

I suspected it would happen eventually: People are now complaining the Meadowbrook-Lee development creates parking problems . . . Even though it's right next to a massive three-story parking garage.

The traditional Cleveland Heights resident bashing of a new development proposal on Nextdoor has officially begun! Ah yes, what are they thinking building a new development that will bring foot traffic and new residents. They should invest in the business district instead.

Clearly security has changed. And some buildings downtown have even less security than BP. But there are lots of new buildings that have public access on the ground floor. The E&Y building is a good example. There's a cafe and some similar stuff on the first floor, although the security on the building is very tight.

This is the really disappointing part. And if this is their plan, I don't get why it's a separate building on Public Square instead of a larger base below the HQ. Seems like the fewer buildings to keep secure the better. The year-long delay doesn't really bug me if it helps this project be materially better. I've said a few times that SHW's balance sheet is likely to just get better as their sales improve and the Valspar acquisition is farther in the rear-view window. That should potentially give the design team more leeway. But the news over the last month makes it sounds like if the site plan and design are subpar it will be as a result of their being poorly conceived, not poorly funded. The 500 additional employees is very good news. If SHW wants to delay the HQ move to 2026 but make it 4,000 that's fine with me!

https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/cleveland-auto-show-moves-downtown-plans-2021-event-december Cleveland Auto show moving to downtown convention center. If the Huntington Convention Center can absorb the auto show from I-X, what can't they absorb?

I try to stay focused on the economy and equality, because that’s obviously more important for the region than aesthetics. But how cool would it be if in our lifetime the skyline stretched all the way from downtown to UC 😆.

BLS data for December are poor but as in previous months don't really make sense... https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_cleveland_msa.htm