Htsguy

I understand your points and pretty much agree. The problem I have with this project is that even "generic" can be done so much better than this. We have evidence of this all over town. I just don't know that this design is "inoffensive enough in person to fade into the background". Of course, who knows at this point since it is just a rendering and remains unbuilt. The bigger issue in my mind is that this is one of the most prominent intersections in the city of Cleveland, so it is not a great spot for a building we would want to fade into the background. And again, if we have to accept "generic" at this location, can't we at least get "better generic". I am sure their are some talented architects out there that can figure it out. It will be interested to see what Landmarks has to say.

Looks like one of them is a half bath or powder room. More for use by guests so they don't see the mess in the every day bath room used by residents.

There is a somewhat regular poster on the forum who I would love to have design it.

I give up. The developers have totally defeated me (not that I actually had/have any say so in real life but you get my point). Just build something no matter how ugly. And yes this is pretty horrible.

SIGH

They really need to figure out how to get rid of all heavy truck traffic on Huron. It’s basically a bridge. Reducing heavy traffic, and for that matter as much vehicle traffic as possible will help extend the life of the roadway, and also, hopefully, contribute to less water intrusion into tower city, although that’s a never-ending battle for a whole host of reasons.

Thanks for the scoop. Announcements are nice...shovels are even nicer.

Well I'm glad that's settled.

Unfortunately, there are also a couple of large apartment building projects right on Chester that have been long approve but just don't seem to be able to break ground. I think one is called Chester 82 and is being developed by Marous and the other is around 75th and is a Famicos project.

Wow. PC did approve something of questionable style. Although the central color is more acceptable than the fake one. i guess the question in my mind is why the movie company went to the expense of changing it if it is simply visual background noise. Maybe they need to do a close up of the sign to move the story forward for some reason.

I thought that was real signage at first. My initial impression was, "how did Planning Commission approve something so ugly?"

^I know exactly what you mean Ken. My first big boy office in the early 80s was in the rear of the Terminal Tower on the 11th floor and my office window faced those those hulking black buildings on the peninsula. They looked so permanent at the time. Ironic, much of the land I would stare at on a daily basis was/is owned by one of the firms clients (the firm no longer exists), Scranton-Averill. So much of that view has changed for the better.

Are you referring to the new police headquarters.

I think you might be thinking of Saint Clair not superior

What about all the traffic 7 days a week going to the surrounding oasis of condos, apartments, restaurants, high end retail and specialty entertainment venues. You know all that stuff that is going to draw the population of Northeast Ohio and beyond to beautiful Brookpark Ohio. You know the stuff that is supposedly going to pay for the actual stadium. At least in somebody's dream. Oh and don't forget all the dirty book store traffic.

Not only that but other parking options nearby are generally nonexistent. The ballpark lot is generally the only option unlike stadiums located in urban areas. I have never paid for parking attending a Browns game my entire life. We always park on the street around superior and 18th or thereabouts and walk to the stadium.

Well now you went and made me re-read the article. That reminded me of a thought I had when the article was first published. The article emphasizes the fact that the temporary surface lot west of the tower is not included in the current parking plan. Putting on my rose colored glasses, and as the article may have been implying without article saying it, this might have been evidence of a second tower soon than later. However, i gave it some more thought and wondered if one of the reasons it is not being included in the parking plan is that a substantial portion of the lot may be used for convenient visitor parking, so they don't want to get employees hopes up that they could possible get a space right by the office.

Always glad to see a new local firms getting involved in Cleveland's redevelopment. That said, and not to be a Debbie Downer, I am a bit concerned about their lack of actual development experience (at least from what I can tell from their website) and especially renovation experience which is its own animal. Some of those fears are mitigated by the involvement of Cleveland Construction which has lots of historical reno experience. But they are not the owner. I guess I am still smarting from recent events surrounding Centennial and the Rockefeller Building where high hopes are now in limbo

I hope Ken does an article about this soon. I have many questions about this "developer" including whether they have the experience and resources to pull this off. Also wonder if Cleveland Construction will just be doing the proposed reno work or are actually equity partners.

No. It was some jerks from a couple of weeks ago doing this at a couple spots throughout the city. The police are apparently trying to track them down. I don’t know hard they are trying, however.

I get the impression you are hinting at a possible new development on Lorain. That's great, but the past few months I get less excited by such news given the large number of proposed developments (not the pie in the sky type but concrete proposals) that are not moving forward or sit idle even though they received Landmarks or PC approval ages ago. Of course it is heartening that developers are not putting the brake on proposals even given the current environment. Some day the stagnation will have to end.

Oh Ken, why do you have to constantly correct the ill informed or uneducated with all your nasty facts?😉

Yes, as you can see from the pictures posted above in this thread.

I am a big fan of WXZ. They do quality and often interesting work. I will say, however, that they move at a "deliberate" pace so I don't foresee anything happening for a while. I am also sort of concerned they may be over extending themselves. They have a lot going on for a relatively small development firm.

^I still remember the conversations about 6-7 years ago when those on the forum in the industry told us that there was no new high rise construction in Cleveland because developers could not charge $2 per square foot in our market. Things have really changed in a short period of time.