Htsguy

^Well this is a real bummer

^I saw that and for the second time (the last time a few months back when Michelle mentioned the litigation in passing in another article) did some docket research for Cuyahoga CP Court and came up with nothing. Searched under Visconsi and even took a stab using Little Italy Re-development Corp and Woodhill Supply. Nothing. Can't imagine the litigation would be in federal court.

^Actually, I recall an article from a couple of years ago where Gilbert himself said the same exact thing.

yep, this is the god's truth, just as it is there is no way it can change. i think the rich millenials and whoever moving in are just hooked on the vul's music history, certainly not the look of the place, because there isn't one. it's very charlotte like that. nothing against it, but long ago i spent a couple semesters around there and its not for me. in those days all the younger locals wanted to do was move to atlanta, but i bet that allure has dropped way off now that nashville is the new austin. The four people I know who have moved to Nashville in the past couple of years are ex-burb car centric types who really have no interest in the urban vision we cherish on this Board. My guess is that this is the type of person fueling the growth overall and it might not end anytime soon as there are plenty of those types in these United States of America. From limited reading it also seems to me that Tennessee over all would be a horrible place to live as it's legislature makes Ohio's seem like a bastion of left wing radicals.

^Does anybody know if financing is in place? The last time I recall reading an article about the building (maybe 4-5 months ago) Pace indicated that this was still up in the air.

^There of course is nothing wrong with having an owners rep on site fulfilling the duties described above, but I would not consider that role a classic Construction Manager. In a traditional CM scenario the owner contracts with the CM and it basically guides all the other trades (scheduling, negotiating change orders and the like, as a couple of examples). The owner then directly contracts with all the other trades (steel erection, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.) If you have a GC he basically runs the show and the trades are subcontractors who contract directly with GC not the owner. There are important legal distinctions. I would imagine if there is a GC and CM (again more of an owners rep) duties are going to have to be spelled out in writing or there could be mass confusion on a daily basis.

^^I guess my question is why would you have a CM and GC. If they are going the CM route aren't all the other trades prime contractors? Or are they going the GC and subcontractor route and the CM is more or less just reporting back to the owner and letting the GC run the show?

^Edge 32

^Don't know if he engaged with the community but I believe Perotti asked for a continuance until May 1 at the last hearing when he saw things weren't going their way.

How the parking for the new store develops is a concern for me (as well as how the stores interaction with the street). I am really not anticipating anything innovative.

Ken, what are the specific problems with the Weston project at this point? First thing I have ever heard about it being "stalled". Is it simply financing or something else? I know it hasn't moved forward (despite the ridiculous time line when first announced which nobody on this board believed) but that can be said in regards to numerous announced projects around town.

I am going to have to disagree with the consensus on the board regarding density and Denver (or at least walkability) and its comparison to Columbus. I was there in September (first time) for ten days visiting a buddy. He is a big foodie and craft beer nut and I was carted all over the city (as well as exploring on my own, mostly on foot, when he was at work). I was amazed at how many cool walkable neighborhoods he took me to. Very dense ( lots of cool infill). Super old renovated and new houses interspersed with apartments (again new and old) and great strips of restaurants and shops. There are also many neighborhoods which seem to be popping up from scratch but with good urban design principles (at least in the city...burbs are another story). I definitely thought there was a lot more in the way of walkable neighborhoods than Columbus, and I don't know what the "dirty" comment is based on. Way better public transportation than Columbus but that isn't hard. A rail negative...as much as they are investing in rail, it is basically commuter based. You really don't go from point a to point b on rail in the city or to traverse downtown. It also seems to serve the Denver suburbs better than the older Denver neighbor hoods (which again are dense and thriving). However, seemed to me that bus transit was lacking for some strange reason. There is a free bus which travels up and down the 16th street mall (from the Civic Center to around Union Station... maybe about 2 miles). Hits a good portion of downtown and is very frequent (although I just walked the mall). Train from the airport is great...about a 30 minute ride to Union Station for only $9.00 and runs very often which makes sense given it is such a busy airport. Denver is booming with tons of kids moving in. Real estate has skyrocketed in a very short time (from depressed at the start of the recession to just ridiculous now). Surprised how green the city was given it is high desert (go just outside the city and everything is brown). Some negatives: New architecture (from the 70's to now) is not that inspiring. On the other hand they have done a wonderful job renovating older buildings including many from the late 1800s. While it is crane city, most of it seems to be residential (I guess for obvious reasons). Lots of apartments going up downtown but not much in the way of office development or retail. Much of any new office development seems to be in the suburbs. Much of the residential going up away from the center city seems cheaply built. Surprised by the poor retail scene downtown, especially for such a large and growing city (No department store and this really piss poor mall). I guess this can be explained by the fact that the cities' premier shopping area is only about 3 miles from downtown, around and in the Cherry Creek Mall (I really liked the neighborhood around the mall...more integrated than say Beachwood Place). The mall did lose Saks about 5 years ago but does have a Neiman Marcus. Not that impressed by the renovation of Union Station, especially the train boarding area. Looks much more impressive in photos, although the surrounding neighborhood is great, both the renovated buildings and the many new luxury apartment buildings. Super job with the street scape Despite all the new rail transit it is still very much an auto centric city. Traffic can be a nightmare. By the way...lots of cool surrounding towns. I could move to Boulder in a heart beat (real estate there is also crazy).

^Actually it is even less than 600,000 square feet of office space. The article indicates that that figure includes office, retail, banquet, ballroom, common area and amenity space.

^Clearly the Landmark Commission was totally unimpressed (and rightly so) by the slapped together conceptual renderings. The commission was bright enough to see that the presentation is part of a scheme to allow the owners to demolish an admitted money pit in order to sell the property, and not a true re-development proposal. Really, from reading the article, I don't think they have any real desire or passion to re-develop. It will be interesting to see if they bite the bullet, invest additional money, and come back with a "true" re-development plan in order to win a favorable demolition vote. My biggest fear is that the fitness center is demolished and the building is eventually sold (or the current owners keeps the property) and all we get out of it is a parking lot for years to come. The tone of the article suggests to me that the current owners are just trying to get rid of a bad investment without losing their shirts and this demolition is a means to that end. All of this is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.

^I was under the impression that the twin towers design is it's most recent concept. If I recall, the original plan was much more low and mid rise.

^WOW. I know the addition is only conceptual at this point but that "thing" needs a lot of work. It looks pretty Sh@#ty on its own and it awfulness is only compounded by its lack of integration with the original Y building.

Funny. That is exactly what I find so appealing about Cleveland Hts. (as well as Shaker and University Heights). Too each his own.

^triangle of land at Cedar and Euclid Hts. Blvd (right next to Night town). Cleveland Hts. issued RFP a while back and I think 3-4 developers responded with different plans for condos/apartment, townhomes, a hotel parking and retail. I don't believe a developer has been chosen but I could be wrong. This, given its location, is another no brainer site and should have been developed years ago. Word is neighbors are of course leery.

I went by the Transit Village and was very glad to see it moving forward. However, even though the ground has been dug up in the entire footprint, the only building out of the ground are on the western-most corner. I hope this isn't one of those piecemeal, test developments to see how the market responds, but I guess I could understand it. This area may be a gamble for new residential building by the bank. Unfortunately such developments often end up like Avalon Station where only 1 of several condo buildings was built, but then stopped -- seemingly forever -- as a result of the mortgage crisis/collapse of 2008, so now you have 1 modest, albeit handsome, building next to a cleared, empty lot. Worse is the Chicle development on the West Side where only a few houses were built and sit by their lonesome on an empty lot. Does anyone know if the piecemeal approach has been taken by Transit Village?

^Interesting observation. Of the two I think I would go with the shorter building similar in height to the Garfield Building next door.

^^I don't.

^I have the same question. In everything I have read about the "proposed" Playhouse Square residential building I don't recall anything about student housing.

^Isn't there already a coffee place there?

^The left hand bottom is Superior and Prospect (really cannot see the intersection). More towards the middle is Superior and West Third.

Is K&D a partner in this project? I thought Weston was doing it on its own.