LlamaLawyer

If they choose to redo the Justice Center, there's a lot they can do to also make it a beautiful building. Brutalist renovations can turn out great! E.g. this... into this

Public square is not even a very convenient place for the Justice Center. Remember that the domestic relations court, the appeals court, and the retired judges are all in the Old Courthouse. Having to suddenly walk from the Justice Center to the Old Courthouse is a pretty common occurrence. The new Justice Center should be as close to the old Courthouse as possible. Public square to the Old Courthouse may not be "that" far, but in mid-January with five boxes of trial exhibits it sure is. There are some lots pretty close to the Old Courthouse that are still empty. SHW on the other hand is the perfect use for the Jacobs lot. I'm happy they're not leaving downtown, but if they end up anywhere other than the Jacobs lot because of what the city did, that's a loss in my opinion.

If they're really looking at a 40-story tower, I don't know why it couldn't be taller than 450'. The Kroger building is over 60 years old and less than 13' a floor. It's also only 25 stories. The E&Y building is about 15' a floor. Take that times 40 and you've got a 600' tower. That's not including pinnacles, spires, etc. Key Tower has 60' of architectural structure on top of its last real floor. Not suggesting that is a direction SW will go, but I haven't heard anything that would rule it out.

Was anyone at the ABR meeting yesterday who can report on what happened?

Glad to hear this is moving forward. It looks like the September 30 designs added material and architectural detail but didn't change the overall look of the project. The design has always been a little uninspiring, but there's really nothing wrong with it and it will do a lot to extend an already vibrant intersection.

The downtown condo market is so small right now that I'm not sure how someone can say that with confidence. My review of Zillow shows approximately 40 condos currently for sale in the CBD, most of which are under 2,000 sq. feet. That's for an area with a population over 15,000. If downtown Cleveland can be what a lot of us on this forum believe it can be, then it ought to be able to support a few (or more) condos that aren't even $1 mil. There's certainly enough money in the metro area. Let's hope these units get eaten up!

Looking at this bigger, easier-to-read version, I see even more specific brands called out, including bunq and (I believe) Cleveland-based Everykey. That gives me even more optimism about this project. I'm assuming Moreno is smart enough to not name drop tech companies who aren't tentatively on board.