Htsguy

The current description of the "plan" is what I personally thought Stark should be doing in the first place, including the size and scale, the focus on W. 6th and less emphasis on office.

CH Jake...a good theory perhaps. Drove by again today and noticed that since yesterday the fence is more "elaborate". Yesterday it was just chain link and today it includes canvas all around. I will keep checking it out.

MTS...that is hilarious. Way back when Ted Knight was doing commercials for Southgate I actually met him. My boss (at Bonds...remember the store at the corner of 9th and Euclid where NCB is now?) was president of the Southgate merchants association and he came in to the store to do a commercial. Really nice guy and I remember that he had this huge build.

There is something I find ironic about Randall Malls closing (which was inevitable...surprised it took so long). Back when Randall opened, everyone thought that meant within in a few years Southgate Shopping Center in Maple Hts., a couple of miles away and probably the biggest shopping center in Greater Cleveland at the time would slowly die (I worked in high school at one of the stores there). While Southgate is certainly not what it was in the 60's and early 70's, it is funny that it is still around and generally viable, while Randall is no more. The closing (and similar closings across the nation) really is a comment on our society and how tastes (and for that matter neighborhoods) change so quickly. I mean 1975 really is not that long ago. When you consider that Randall has really been in decline since the mid 90's, this huge development only had a shelf life of 20 years. In the meantime lets keep building strip malls in Streetsboro (by the way don't get me wrong...I am no fan of malls like Randall or what they did to downtown shopping in their hey day)

^Hmm...I wonder how long a place like that will last. Theme restaurants tend to have a short shelf life, especially if the food is only average. While principals indicated they are not going after "national tenants" (I guess this means chains you find every where) they clearly are not too focused on the "local" right now. I guess this makes sense at this stage in the ball game but I do hope they have some store and entertainment owners from Cleveland, although I would guess even the more upscale mom and pops (say a store like Details) might have trouble affording the rents I imagine they will be asking.

Was driving down Chester today and noticed for the first time a construction fence at the Chester 82 site, a few pieces of construction equipment and it looked as it some dirt had been pushed around. Looks like this project may be finally going forward. I was afraid that with the current crisis in the lending market, this would be one of the projects that bite the dust.

^oh that nasty "budget", the bane of all architects. :wink: By the way w28th, any idea when they might give us a peek at the MOCA design? It has been a while.

I cannot believe we are even wasting our time on this thread (when there is so much more substantive and exciting elements to discuss) with this "gated community" bs which was apparently started by some moron on Cleveland.com. The discussions on Cleveland.com are "elementary school" (in fact the first grade before anybody really knows how to read) when compared to this forum which are more like a post graduate class in urban affairs. Get your news (and speculation...it is much sexier here) at UO.

^Of course it would be "very disappointing", but a prudent institution does not put itself in the red and jeopardize it educational mission by building something it cannot afford (pretty basic...I think we can all agree on that). Hopefully great minds can work this out and the end result will be an outstanding design, but there are more rational goals here.

KJP...our posts over lapped. I was responding to jonmoxon's post 167.

^I thought Max's backed out of the Westgate project a few months ago. Are they now heading back?

^Eagleguy...I don't mean to be rude since you are new here... but this thread now runs 50 pages...all you need to do is go back and read many of the hundreds of posts to obtain the different opinions of the Euclid Corridor by the members of this board rather than everybody rehashing...the posts also offer overwhelming factual details about the project and what RTA hopes to achieve...my gut feeling, however, from the tone of your post is that you really don't care what others think.

As I read these posts regarding an incredible major development for the city of Cleveland, I find it mind blowing what people find to complain about. I am going to be very frightened when they final release some concrete renderings and everybody has a chance to comment. There is a very good chance my computer will explode.

I really don't understand where this is coming from all of a sudden. Was it not the case that this site was rejected years ago because it was too small and because the property owners in the warehouse district vigoursly objected to such a hulking mass overshadowing their businesses. As far as the lakefront site (next to the stadium) is concerned, I believe the reason this keeps coming up now is because the commissioners are currently leading the charge (rather than the city in the past) and this was always the favorite site of Jimmy Dimora (in fact I think he was the one who proposed it originally way back when).

^Each apartment has separate central air unless things have changed a lot the past 6 years. Ipsilon, my unit was directly across from the front door of Crittenden Court. I believe my en trace was on the third floor (the floor where the loft bedroom was located-only one bedroom) with the main living downstairs and partially below street level (about three feet). Since the living room windows were basically right at street level on St. Clair, people (young drunken guys) loved pounding on them (really not so often). Only time it was really a problem was when I was sitting on my couch, which was right below the windows, reading or watching TV (or even worse sound asleep), and the sudden pounding would scare the hell out of me. Urban living. But again, really enjoyed the building and my apartment, especially all the exposed brick.

^I would imagine there are a number of houses in Ohio City in the same boat TODAY.

Was driving down Edgehill the other day and noticed "something going on" just west of the townhomes that line the cliff (that were built about 10 years ago). The work was being done closer to the older houses near the curve just before the intersection of Murray Hill and Cornell. Curious if this is just some utility work or the construction of a house or houses. I just got a fleeting glance but it looked like they were bracing the cliff for more homes (but I could be wrong). Anybody have any information?

I lived in Bridgeview when if first opened (in fact the final phase was still under construction). I lived there for two years and moved out about six years ago and was generally pleased with the experience and loved my apartment (a one bedroom two story loft). The Flats were stilling going strong then so noise was a factor late on Friday and Saturday night but it might have been the location of my apartment right on the street of the St. Clair hill (maybe other apartments were not affected so much) and of course the Flats are not what they use to be. Obviously, given the time lag, I cannot comment on current management but I did not have many problems with them back then. As far as parking is concerned, I was pleased with the location of my spot. It was only 20 feet from my front door. The problem I had was with the posts throughtout the garage. No matter how careful I was I always seemed to be scraping up against one of the them. The wooden posts were not so bad but the stone posts obviously did a lot of damage. By the time I moved out my car was a mess. My only word of caution. Have fun living downtown.

Something I found hilarious about the article was the description of the area and the statement that a new Rite Aid drugstore just like one would find in the suburbs gleams in comparison. I am sure the reporter found this a positive reflection of the area.

^That's my biggest fear about the TC site. It is going to be that "crap box" that was proposed before. I am not an expert but I cannot see how anything architecturally pleasing can be crammed into that site and we are going to moaning about it for years.

Drove by yesterday and it appeared that the only business still occupied and running is the Marc's.

^That road construction has been completed for many months now.

Given all your criteria I would say Lakewood would be a perfect fit.

^Not sure what you mean by "other than the Whole Foods". 90% of the entire south side of Cedar where Whole Foods is located was redeveloped by Coral (although not very well). This section of Cedar Center is in University Hts. The north side of street is in South Euclid. The city has been trying to develop the strip (mixed use) for a number of years. Hampering efforts were reluctant landlords and tenants requiring eminent domain suits. Those have been resolved. The original developer (I think a California firm although I am not sure) backed out and now Coral has stepped in (personally not real happy about this as I generally don't like their work...but I will keep an open mind). You can see their proposed plans above. Most of the strip now appears vacant (major exceptions Marc and Chilpolte) and it looks like demolition will likely commence sometime this year. Maybe as early as summer.

McCleveland, I have been wanting to say this for a long time. I always enjoy and look forward to your posts. They are always packed with interesting news, usually stuff that has not been reported before on the board, and you have some pretty good insights as well. Thanks for your time and effort.