Htsguy

Didn't they just get a 2 million dollar loan from the county to complete the capital stack?

Yep that is the one I was thinking of

Wasn't that approved last week at Landmarks or am I thinking of another project in the vicinity?

If it is a completely independent office building from the suggested Rocket new build, it would probably have to be more than 50k sq ft unless it is a very very small building, especially in the current financing environment. I would guess a lender would want a building at least 40% leased before the start of construction.

Did the source say how large of an office tenant. Would be easier to guess.

Looks like recent increases in the costs of construction strikes again. Didn't the same thing happen to that nearby apartment/townhouse project (I believe Geis was the developer) near the Detroit/Lake intersection. Increased costs without significant public subsidies making it a no go at this time. We may start seeing a lot more of this in the near future.

Nope

At least they are using steel. Since it only two stories I figured SWH would value engineer the heck out of it and use wood framing.😉

HaHa. "vertical-ish". That is an understatement. I guess it should be totally done in a couple of weeks given its impressive size.

As I have moaned about before-I usually could care less how long it takes to complete a project, but in this case they cannot complete Phase 1 until the new library is occupied and I would imagine the delays also effects the start of Phase 2, although I imagine Phase 2 has much bigger complications- the usual hardship of putting together financing.

Well all us peons would be in a better position to speculate as to whether it will be a squat building spread over many acres or a tall building due to a confined lot if you guys would let us know what the preferred mystery location is. You're killing us.

That is a good question. Lots of space for just the Court of Appeals and I guess there is a chance that even the appellate court could move into the new building. I'll throw this out. It could be a great location for a small downtown branch of the Cleveland Art Museum-as I understand it, at any one time significant portions of its collection are held back in storage. However, I would guess it would cost millions and millions to retrofit the building into a museum-probably an expense the museum would not want to incur, not to mention the administrative headaches of having two locations, even if it meant a possible uptick in attendance.

Molasses!

Something I don't believe I have ever seen discussed in this thread is whether the county intends to move Domestic Relations and/or the Probate Court into the new building and just keep the Court of Appeals in the Old Courthouse. If they do it could mean a few more floors of height to the new building.

I imagine you are referring to the jail, as the county ex favors the Garfield Hts site which actually makes a lot of sense. The courts are going nowhere out of downtown ever.

My guess is across the street from the current justice center on west third. A lot of mysterious things happening on the west side of West third recently.

^Hmm. Color me skeptical-although I am personally not a big fan of "themed" restaurants in the first place. I go to a restaurant for the food. My thought is that a good sports bar would do best in that space. Take advantage of the year around sports fans just across the street. Try to attract an after game late night crowd with an actual working kitchen that is not about to close just as the game is letting out.

I found it online. Did not know it even existed. Have not been on campus in a long time. Like the exterior. Not crazy about the interior. Seems kind of cold.

@ink do you have a pic of the new dining hall on Western? I only remember Alexander Dining Hall on Western which was pretty modern compared to the rest of the campus in the 70s. It was my dining hall sophomore year as i was "stuck" on Western that year even though I was not part of the Western program.

^Given the location of the building, this would have been the perfect opportunity for the university to finally go with a sharp, more contemporary building minus the red brick-maybe something glass and steel. I have always been an advocate of trying something like this on buildings developed on the fringes of the campus, something similar to the art museum which is now approaching 50 years old. That said, would not want to go that route in the center of campus. Might be too much of a clash. I know it can be argued that this is more a contemporary building as it doesn't follow the modified Georgian architecture of the rest of campus, but the red brick doesn't take it far enough.

Don’t know but courtrooms usually require very high ceilings. Usually twice the height of standard office floor plates I would guess

^Having practically "lived" in the complex for much of my working life I find most of what at @CLEeng has outlined above very credible. What I do find interesting is that there was so much value engineering of the mechanical systems way back when, as, if I recall correctly, when it first opened in 1976 it ended up being hugely over budget. Obviously, even if that were not the case, the systems are now approaching fifty years old, are dated and worn out and probably were not maintained very well, as suggested above, over the years. I have vivid memories-actually nightmares-of the time they completed renovated the court tower elevators sometime in the late 90's or early 2000s. It took FOREVER (in my mind over a year but maybe it just seemed that long) and resulted in some pretty comical visuals every morning during court rush hour when people had to actually show up in person for hearings, pretrials and case management conferences and the like, among other things, along with the regular employees just trying to get to their offices. It was like the Mexico City metro every morning. The lines extended well into the atrium from the elevator banks and moved at a snails pace. When a cab arrived it was like a cat fight trying to get on and you could barely breath they were packed so tight. You always had to have a strategy so you did not end up being late for whatever you were doing on the upper floors. The stairs were well used once you got on the upper floors and had to move to another floor. I can recall even using the stairs if I only had to go to the 10th or 11th floor.

I don't believe he was referencing the cultural gardens. I believe he meant the small stretch between Euclid and Cedar next to One University Center and the Case campus.

^My nephew has lived there for over 2 months and loves it. Doesn't miss the drive from his parents house in Hudson to his downtown job.

How come your husband is always the one who has to drive?😉