Htsguy

Crains reporting today the principals of Cross County have purchased the Artcraft Building as @KJP speculated was going to happen in early July of this year.

I noticed the Horton and Harper West 73rd apartments are back on the Planning Commission agenda for schematic approval after being tabled last go around. It appears to me the design has changed somewhat due to previous PC criticism but I am not sure to what extent. I think that sloping front roof was eliminated. The bigger question is whether Jenny Spencer is still opposed to the project (of course the NIMBYS probably still are) as this could kill it. Will be interesting to hear what Slife has to say as, if I recall, he kinda tore into the NIMBYS last go around.

I hate to be Debbie Downer but currently at least the Parking Lot District has not "disappeared". There is still that huge lot on the southeast corner of W9th and St. Clair plus multiple smaller but still pretty large surface lots throughout the District including the Justice Center lot on W3rd where the cancelled Magellan project was suppose to go. Even the SHW project has not currently done away with huge swaths of surface parking on the property they own. About a third of the property they own will still be parking in the "short term" including "temporary" (we will see) surface parking on Superior where the supposed Phase 2 will go as well as large frontages on W6th and St. Clair. Board members keep hinting that these hot SHW properties will be developed soon but crickets as far as announcements to date. We definitely still has a way to go. Hopefully all gone in the next 10 years.

Aren't they already in in a mixed income area. They are two blocks from hundreds of market rate apartments going for $1500-3500 a month with more on the way.

I must admit it has been over twenty years since I have been down there (I voted there when I lived downtown) and at that time they appeared in pretty good condition to me and from pictures they look solid but who knows. Again the bad optics are kicking people from there homes close to the lake to build housing for upper middle class people. It will be very hard to spin that. The simple response ov the naysayers (and there will be many) is that if the are in such bad condition tear them down and rebuild for the current residents.

And right on West 25th across from Riverview,

I have always been under the impression that over the years, shutting it down or selling it to a developer would be a big no no. Very bad optics for CMHA. Kicking out lower income people on the border of area that is hot and expensive and getting only hotter. Probably the only area in Cleveland where the word gentrification is appropriate. I have to imagine there would be a lot of push back at all levels.

When I lived downtown way back when I use to go to the Big Egg for breakfast almost every Saturday. I pretty much kept my eyes closed. Good thing I never saw the kitchen.

Weren't they planning on doing it in Phases? In other words 2027 might be the date for the completion of the entire project but portions of the building may open sooner. At least that is what I recall. Things might have changed.

Yep. I didn't realize this until a couple of weeks ago, but of course not surprised. I was speaking to a friend from law school for the first time in a while who is to the right of Hitler. After all these years we have learned to avoid political discussions for the most part but then out of the blue she went on a rant about electric cars which seemed to be well scripted. It doesn't matter what it is...if it is "Change" the far right (really the right as a whole) is against "whatever" just as a matter of principal. Change scares the hell out of them.

what does that even mean?

You can go on skyscraperpage forum. Tons of current pictures.

Historically, until the early 90s the Indians were a poor draw even when they had good teams. The 50s where the last time they drew great before the 90s, and that was when they had super teams in baseball"s golden era. During most of the 60s the Indians had generally competitive teams with a fair number of exciting and popular players (Don't Knock the Rock), In 1968 the Indians finished in 3rd place against a historic Tigers team (the eventual World Series winner) and the Orioles. On August 12, 1968 I attended my first major league baseball game with my dad (we sat in the left field upper deck). I remember Tony Horton hit two home runs for the Tribe and what stick out in my mind was my dad telling me to watch the scoreboard as the ball landed over the fence. Fireworks of course went off and trumpets appeared from the side of the scoreboard. I was sold. But the significance of this first game, and the reason my dad took me, was not only the pennant race but the fact Denny McLain was pitching in the year he won 31 games, the first pitcher to do so since Dizzy Dean and, in fact, the last to do so. It was a big deal that summer. A game which should have been standing room only. Attendance that warm summer night was 15,919. Nobody should be knocking the Dolans.

My far right brother in law is of course parroting the party line that the name "change" is the reason for the lagging attendance.

I would imagine spending 400 million upgrading Progressive Field the next 3-4 years will help attendance to a certain extent, although that is an unknown. Miami moved into a new ballpark and it did not help them that much. All this talk about a "ball park village" should also have an affect, if it actually happens.

All this hand wringing about attendance has me chuckling a bit. Most of you don't remember the 70s and 80s when many many games were played before 2,000-4,000 fans, especially on weeknights in late August and through September-in a Stadium that held 80,000. Average weeknight crowds in the peak of the summer were 7,000-10.000 and weekends were not much better, 12,000-14,000 unless there was some type of promotion (bat day was always the big one and could draw crowds of 50.000 or more with long lines outside the stadium as they were usually flash crowds). Whenever there was a huge crowd for one reason or another, it actually made headlines. I remember seeing Dennis Eckersley pitch a no-hitter on Memorial Day (I still have my ticket stub) and the crowd was about 9,000. There of course was always talk of the team moving. I know the economic dynamics are way different now, as is the state of baseball in general. The Tribe (don't shoot me) would definitely be heading out of town today with average season attendance of 700,000 which was common in eras past. With all that you still had rabid fans. The game was usually on the radio every where you went and there was a huge amount of newspaper coverage (again a different ear)

I guess the hotels finally realized they have to pay people like their house keeping staff and desk clerks a real living wage if they want to keep them-especially given the current level of immigration-and guests are paying for it, which I guess is the way it is suppose to work economically.

I very confused. Are you talking about some rumblings offered by @KJP a while back regarding the Stark Nucleus property which Ezra Stark claimed were unfounded (that the property was not for sale or at least had not been sold)?

They have had structural issues for years and landmarks still said no a couple of years ago. Of course things have probably gotten worse due to neglect. And probably done on purpose by Stark so that eventually landmarks has no choice but to approve the demolition.

^I wonder if they might have plans to use this area as a temporary surface lot in conjunction with the demolition and rebuilding of the Ford parking garage which could take two years or longer.

Because I am fearful that we will be setting up the 3C rail to fail if we do not do it right from the outset.

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on this point. I truly believe that the failure to upgrade the three C’s public transportation systems will have a detrimental effect overall. I believe that quality train travel works best in conjunction with better public transportation systems like you find on the East Coast or in Europe. I am a big fan of rail and want to see it succeed. The anti-real fanatics, if and when this happens, are going to be out in force. They are going to jump up and down on things like speed, cost, travel costs and ridership. They shouldn’t be given any more ammunition. If what I described only affects ridership five or 10%, that could possibly be a death blow to a new system that will face strong opposition.

I’m not talking about good public transportation from the train station to say the center of the city. You will need good public transportation to get to all sites in the city, including attractions that are in the neighborhoods. Without good and frequent public transportation, you would find yourself at the train station with no other options but to take a taxi or an Uber, at great cost, which sort of defeats the purpose of an economical train ride. I am a great believer in using public transportation when I am visiting a city with a generally good transportation system. A couple of years ago, visiting Chicago, we flew into Midway. We took the L into the city and then to the Fulton market neighborhood where our hotel was. During the course of four days, we only took an Uber twice. We took the L into the loop, to second city, out to Wrigley Field and out to Evanston among other places. It was cheap and convenient. I’m not saying that the three C’s need a public transportation system as extensive as Chicago, in fact it’ll never happen in our lifetimes, But things like good loop services and buses to attractions in the neighborhood are going to be a must. Again, I would hesitate taking a train to Cincinnati if I simply found myself stranded with no other options but Uber’s and or renting a car. Maybe that’s just me.

That is easily explained. Everything that is up for development right now are empty lots, whereas the site of "future development" is currently an active strip with many long standing stores. It will be the most difficult portion to develop for obvious reasons. I hope if and when they do it is something like apartments over first floor retail and the siting is closer to the rapid tracks without all the current parking. It would also be fantastic (although not very likely) if the Drager (spelling) family came back and re-opened their candy/ice cream parlor. A very sadly missed Shaker tradition.

I have said this before. It is not enough to just build a cho cho between the three Cs. In conjunction all three cities (with help from the state...yeah that is going to happen) need to up their public transit games. There would be nothing more ridiculous than taking a train to Columbus or Cincy and then having to rent a car to get around.