acd

Interesting discussion from the Brook Park mayor and city council about two months ago, per meeting minutes (there's a bit more that I didn't screenshot). I thought the discussions with Orchard Park, NY's mayor and Foxboro's mayor and how much money they're losing on gamedays was especially interesting.

I get the criticism that the Haslams would never get around to building any type of "lifestyle center", but I don't buy that no one would go there if they actually did. The Brook Park location is more convenient than Crocker to a huge part of the region, has prime access to two interstates and will have an RTA stop. If there were something like Crocker there, only newer, who would go out of their way to go to Crocker? I, for one, would shift all my visits from Crocker (which realistically aren't that many) to Brook Park if they had similar offerings.

There are plenty of people at NASA that would want to live there. New hires have very few newer options so close to Glenn. If I were just starting there, I'd love to live <5 minutes from work and a train ride to Ohio City/Downtown. There are lots of other people that work in the area that I'm sure would value living close to their job vs. moving to Avon or Chagrin Falls. I'm sure a few Browns fans would want to live there just to make getting to games easier.

While I agree with this sentiment overall, I also agree with @LlamaLawyer that building up around Brook Park/SW Cleveland is healthy for the region. The airport has been there for 100 years, NASA for 80, and Ford for 75. This area has long been important to the region's economic success and I think it makes sense to try to build it up rather than write it off.

Seattle Sounders shares with the Seahawks and Atlanta United FC shares with the Falcons (in a new-ish stadium designed with both teams as intended occupants). I think they both just cover the upper bowl. Still, I agree with everyone else that it's not the MLS's preference. I think the Haslams already owning the Crew and Ohio already having two other teams would be bigger impediments to getting an MLS franchise than sharing a stadium with a football team.

The Brook Park Planning Commission Agenda lists the address as 17510 Brookpark, which would be the East Overflow lot. https://www.cityofbrookpark.com/building_dept/2024/2024 Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting Agenda - 08-05-24.pdf

Cuyahoga County (+Painesville) awarded $129 Million for 5 brownfield solar arrays, storage, and more: https://www.epa.gov/inflation-reduction-act/cuyahoga-county-ohio From NOACA's application summary, the arrays will be in Brooklyn, Brook Park, Cuyahoga Heights, Garfield Heights, and Old Brooklyn. Cuyahoga Green Energy is the utility formed to administer the microgrid project, and this is the first tangible action I've heard of from it.

Meant to post this earlier, but yes they are (from 6/20 capital projects update):

His teams in Brooklyn were also pretty bad, so hopefully he was a just a victim to bad GM'ing. I remember the team being fun to watch and massively outperforming expectations when they made the playoffs led by DeAngelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie, and a young Jarrett Allen. Then in the offseason, the Nets gutted the team to make cap space to sign Kyrie and KD. Kyrie played 20 games and KD played none in their first season, and Atkinson was fired midseason despite going 28-34 with Joe Harris, Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, Jarrett Allen, and Garrett Temple leading the team in minutes.

The new owners of the site are planning to build a Circle K, even though there are already 4 gas station/convenience stores (including another Circle K!) within 500 feet.

Hopefully Burke can get in on this: https://investors.archer.com/news/news-details/2024/Archer-Announces-Landmark-Infrastructure-Deal-With-Signature-Aviation-Gains-Access-to-Largest-Network-of-Private-Aviation-Terminals-in-the-World/default.aspx Signature Aviation operates at Burke, and it's obviously close to downtown and under-utilized. I agree the city should be seeking opportunities like this for Burke, even if they were planning to close it in the future. Archer Aviation also announced a Space Act Agreement with NASA earlier this year to work together on EVTOL, which would be another synergy for trialing this in Cleveland (though I'm not sure Glenn is getting any work from this SAA). https://news.archer.com/archer-aviation-and-nasa-sign-space-act-agreement-to-collaborate-on-mission-critical-evtol-aircraft-technologies

I hope that you're right because I'd love for Cleveland to get this, but looking at the recent NWSL additions, they do seem to be targeting MLS markets. The last 5 expansion teams share a market with an MLS or soon-to-be MLS team, and 4 of those teams share a stadium. The best analogy for Cleveland's bid would probably be Louisville, whose team shares its venue with a USL Men's team and plays in a new, smaller soccer-specific stadium. However, that stadium was already under construction when Louisville was awarded their NWSL team, while Cleveland's isn't even funded yet.

I was just clicking around on MyPlace after seeing this, and Miceli even owns some properties on the other side of the Opportunity Corridor along Grand and Lisbon.

It definitely doesn't look like there's much space there, but the site plan calls for both a boardwalk and apartments between the river and the parking garage.

I hadn't seen specifics on how the public funding was expected to work, but this actually seems pretty reasonable: • A $150 million publicly-owned soccer stadium, supported by both public and private funds. The project seeks $90 million from public sources, including Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and Ohio funded primarily through bonds repaid by new revenues generated from the stadium, involving no new or increased taxes.

Yeah, it looks like that building will stay. The highlighted ones are slated for demolition.

This was in front of Cleveland Planning Commission a couple of months ago (4/5). Welded Ring Product Co. provided this reasoning for the demolition:

If I'm understanding the rendering and caption, the training site would be between the walkway and E. 9th under the "SOCCER PARKING" label.

I just quickly looked up the few smaller (USL and NWSL) soccer-specific stadiums that I've heard of that were built in recent years... Louisville cost $65 million breaking ground in 2018 Colorado Springs cost $42 million breaking ground in 2019 Kansas City cost $117 million breaking ground in 2022 I didn't dive into what all those costs entailed, but at first blush it seems like $150 million would be realistic.

It looks like the last holdout on Pearl St finally agreed to sell to the Browns (for $550,000!). 599 Pearl St. is on the Berea Planning Commission docket for razing, a couple weeks after the former Serpentini Collision and the other few remaining houses were approved for demolition.

I noticed that too, and also thought it's crazy. Does that mean the owners would not approve a stadium that's 100% privately financed by an owner? Just because it would set a "bad" precedent for their future stadium negotiations? If that's true, it could set up quite a stalemate if the public (city, county, state) is steadfast against going above 50% (and I would completely understand and support that position), but the owners are steadfast in getting more than 50%.

The language about the Catanese property looks pretty similar to me (from August 2021 agenda): There was initially no mention about seeking an outside developer for part of the property. The Catanese property still hasn't transferred to the Metroparks at all, which is why it doesn't show up on their app. Hopefully the deal isn't in trouble. It's been in the works for almost 3 years now. I, too, would love to see all this land become a giant park, but even if it's just a boardwalk that would still be awesome. At least if they're soliciting proposals for any land that won't be parkland, it seems they're making sure developments follow the recommendations of Vision for the Valley.

I've always thought they're buying any riverfront property they can with the intention of ensuring a continuous boardwalk is possible, then re-selling any properties they don't need. They're doing something like that already with the Catanese Classics property: https://www.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2023/03/cleveland-metroparks-seeks-proposals-to-develop-an-acre-being-acquired-in-the-flats.html They're seeking proposals for development of landlocked parcels, while holding on to the riverfront one at least until they've established public access.

I've seen this point made a lot - that this move contributes to sprawl, and I don't really see it. This move would be to an area that has been significantly developed for the last century. The exact location supported two Ford Plants, so there's not going to be a need for huge infrastructure improvements, as if it were moving to some exurban greenfield location. Most importantly, this area is already economically vital to the region's economy with NASA, the airport, the Ford plant, etc. so we should be actively encouraging development here, and if businesses pop up in the area because of the stadium, I think that's a good thing.

Hopefully the Haslams don't look at the Wizards/Capitals deal for inspiration because it seems like the city of DC gave up a ton: $515 million over three years for upgrades to the arena (which seems crazy high for a basketball/hockey arena) Ted Leonsis gets to take over control of Gallery Place retail center (which is adjacent to the Capital One Center) Leonsis gains control of the WNBA Washington Mystics' arena (which is outside of downtown, but still in DC) Leonsis' Monumental group gets to use some DC-owned parking for its employees Plan for a new practice facility downtown for the Wizards (unclear who would pay for it - hopefully Leonsis) This also happened despite DC having leverage to sue Leonsis for breaking the lease to stay in DC through 2047. Source: https://wapo.st/3xdnMC9