Htsguy

^Thanks for taking the time to do that. I am embarrassed to admit that even though I am a lawyer, I find the opinion somewhat confusing. I which I could look over the underlying pleadings and briefs in support of the multiple motions to better figure things out. It seems to say they have to demolish the building or repair it but cannot demolish without the approval of the Planning Commission (which apparently they won't get) so that will have to make the repairs. It seems from the opinion that the city is fighting demolish but again this is not clear to me, especially when the order specifically states the building must be demolished.

If somebody is really ambitious (and curious) and is near the Justice Center, they can go to the Muny Court Clerks office and obtain the 3 page judgment entry from the court case. Journal Vol. 415 Pages 108-111. I bet it contains some kind of answer.

It has been a while since I checked the docket in the court action and I just did so given the above posts. A Judgment Entry was issued (after months of motion practice) on Jan. 23 2014 and the case is now listed as closed on the docket. Unfortunately I cannot tell from the docket (Cleveland Muny court dockets suck) what the disposition of the case was and who won. Since it has been a couple of weeks I would have thought Michelle might have reported on this by now. I could only guess what the fence is all about. Maybe the court ordered something that mandated the fence (given the condition of the property). I can't imagine a demolition permit has been issued so quickly, especially with no publicity.

^The Wolstein family developed the US Bank Building on Playhouse Square. I would imagine Scott had his hands in it to some extent. Not the greatest looking building in the world but it is "urban".

^if this is an accurate rending it also answers the question being posed by KJP a few pages back regarding the location of the parking garage associated with the building (whether the building was on top of the garage or whether the garage was next to it). It appears that the parking is indeed below the building (preferable) if, again, this is an accurate rendering.

^it looks pretty close to the street to me. It might have a small buffer similar to many buildings in downtown DC which is probably one of the top ten urban cities in the US.

^yes street. Base on the discussion above it will be located on Front Street. There is a site plan somewhere in the thread.

^don't quite understand what you are getting at. IF they build it, it will be located on Front Street directly across the street from the E and Y tower.

^did you read the article? It explains all. Like I posted above the office building is still in the planning stages and is contingent on tenants for financing.

Sounds as though the Phase 2 office building is still pretty iffy at this point.

^how did this not make the New York Times?

^Like I stated above, I am starting to be a Phase 2 non believer...however...for what is worth a relative was at the Hard Rock over the holidays and he said it was dead.

me...law school

There you go again KJP...supporting your beliefs with all those nasty facts instead of knee jerk hunches. What are we going to do with you?

^Originally I was not one of the Phase 2 skeptics...but as time goes by I am becoming one more and more...especially with Phase 1 revenues what they are. I also heard the above mentioned interview with the GM and thought his answer when directly asked about Phase 2 was very wishy washy. Refused to give even a bare bones time line and would only assert that they had completed some preliminary "modeling" (what ever that means). Said it was going to be more than a casino (apartments, retail etc) but that they were not necessarily going to be the developers of all the ancillary stuff. There is only so many times (and so many years) you can say we spent 80 million dollars to buy the property so of course we are going to build Phase 2 without offering "more" before people start to doubt.

Check out the Duck Island thread and you will find a detailed phased site plan.

Of all the issues facing downtown (and the limited resources to throw at them), parking for the convention center hotel rates about number 100 on my list.

^Like I suggested above...the square footage probably includes the parking garage.

Where would this building go? The RTA loop? That is a significant amount of square footage for a 5 story office building so I assume that number includes the parking garage. I would tend to agree that they probably have a tenant for a good chunk of the space. I would imagine financing would have been even more difficult (than it has been) without a tenant close to signing (although nothing has been announced and Fairmount has indicated that they have been very pleased with the leasing of the E and Y Building so maybe they are just taking a chance and building on spec.) I believe the building is going on Front Street across from the e and y tower. Does Wolstein even own the land in the loop?

^thank you In addition, most of the 1 story buildings are restaurants and entertainment venues nearer to the river where you would not want taller structures blocking the views or developing a "wall" along the river. If you examine the site plan it is clear that they want open spaces and well spaced lower buildings closer to the river, with taller structures more to the east.

^about 8 feet from the road.

^so what does all that mean? Seems like a long and potentially expensive check list. I don't know much about the process but I imagine the EPA can kill the federal funding which would of course kill the project.

^There have been a couple of good restaurants in that spot. I guess my theory is that it just kinda feels isolated and that might turn people off even with the free parking.

You must not travel a lot.

^are you including this project? They have nothing to do with it.