MrR

I may not fully understand the plan in place, but my first instinct was bewilderment. The City will pay $12M for a property worth $5-6M just so that the city can hand it over to a non-profit who's (paid) staff will "ensure" it is purchased by a developer who will "promise" to maintain and invest in the the property/neighborhood, and serve as a "good steward." So my two main issues/questions are as follows 1.) No developer has been identified, because due diligence on such a complex large property is extremely difficult, and the concept of maintaining singular ownership may actually not be in the best interest of the community - the purpose of singular ownership would only be a means for government and non-profits to meddle with the architecture while ignoring the economics that drive investment. 2.) Why is the city willing to pay the banks ransom of $12M, and accept that the price is non-negotiable - likely because the bank is willing to roll the dice on auction, because banks are often mindless institutions I would argue that a framework should be set that would achieve the following (or similar in some form): The developer who wins the property at auction would have $6M available in loans after submission of plans to spend such monies in full to renovate Shaker Square. Such loans would be forgivable under circumstances set by the non-profits.... and so forth, and these circumstances should be set prior to the auction so that bidders could be given a chance to be vetted and/or approved by the city prior to the auction date. Eliminate that guess work and you'll give qualified developers and leg up on purchasing Shaker Square at auction and developing it in accordance with rules laid out now, instead of waiting 5 years for these non-profits to argue about various sales terms/clauses.... but alas our fair city doesn't operate with speed, nor efficiency, nor cohesiveness...they would rather give the bank that exra $6M than reinvest it in our community

ive heard rumors for a month now that would make Philip Johnson roll over in his grave

Site prep work for parking garage

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/12/rehab-hospital-proposed-for-pearl-road-near-another-rehab-center-under-construction-in-strongsville.html finally starting

respectfully disagree, by no means is that prominently placed. view road is a backside access road up against the freeway to the other parking garage/lots and truck dock. I'm pretty sure the angle of that rendering is impossible for a person to actually view the site from unless they were levitating over the freeway. As drivers loop around the campus on I-71 they'll still be able to see the new tower as they do now. The "front door" is to remain on scranton and a possible green space built after the two round towers are demolished. In terms of creativity - yea, it's just a plain parking garage.

nice view looking west

They've spent a tremendous amount of money to date on planning and advertising and legal and land acquisition... It really is an incredible waste unfortunately Back in 2014 the retail component was less than 7% of the building (11% excluding parking).

I thought you did an article on this

It's obvious the set back is in order to have room for bollards and concrete barriers, not grass. the building would have never been any closer to the street with the only alternate being that the grass areas be solid concrete too

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/08/gold_star_families_memorial_mo.html

photo from 2011 showing supports under lakeside

Yep this is what it looks like here today. Broke some pipes. Sprinklers went off. Good times

if we guess right do we win a highly prized brand new 2x4 stud? https://www.cleveland.com/architecture/2017/10/metrohealth_could_replace_outp.html

I agree

my understanding is that cityclub was likely doing a 99 year lease edit: similarly stated in: https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/01/downtown-design-review-committee-gives-ok-to-planned-city-club-apartments-with-conditions.html keep in mind the current owners are a banking family who are keen on long term wealth and don't need to cash out

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the school district didn't care about the mayor's input.

I wish it worked that way.

and they'll be replanting some too