Htsguy

Quite frankly I am of the opinion that forum members should be invited into the catering tent after the ceremony for dinner. In fact they should be seated at the head table. I doubt any group of Clevelanders other than SHW personnel know more about the project or have promoted and discussed it as much as us nerds on UrbanOhio. And this would give SHW the perfect opportunity to have @KJParrested.

Maybe Matt Moss at the Planning Department has some insight. He was the staff member that presented. I don't know if he is allowed to speak to reporters without permission from higher up.

I have never had any strong feelings about OC either pro or con. I can understand opinions on both sides. However, as somebody who has sat in huge traffic jams time and time again after exiting the freeway at 55th trying to make my way to Carnegie (and usually with great frustration giving up and turning east onto Quincy), I have to question the suggested 3 minute time saving as way too low.

It is USC's home field and will be main stadium for the 2028 Olympics

By the way, last week the Port Authority filed a motion to dismiss with a very detailed brief in support in the Tony George Common Pleas lawsuit. All the other many defendants have just filed stipulations for leave to plead.

The amendment (which again just removed this small parcel from the previously approved new zoning for Irishtown Bend Park and surrounding land) just left the zoning for the parcel as it currently is which I think is general retail.

More details regarding the Abbey Road project and Planning Commission. 3 community reps spoke and while they are happy this long vacate eye sore is going to be developed they indicated that the community had a number off concerns. Two big issues was the lack of significant retail (Geis most recently did add 500 sq feet of retail space to address this concern) and traffic flow (which most people believed could be easily fixed). Number of parking spaces was also brought up. Another big issue was siting with the belief that the townhomes should front West 19th rather than a wing of the 5 story apartment building. The community members also expressed vague concerns with the design but it was Commission member Lillian Kuri (and only her on the commission) who was very vocal about the design expressing great disappointment in the product for such an important site and felt the developer really had to go back to the drawing board and do a better job. I should note that the Geis rep had a semi heart attack with only conceptual approval and the possible need to come back with more of a retail component. He claimed that Panzica had included significant retail in other projects in the city which were much better situated for retail and was having problems leasing the space. I believe this may be true. I wonder if part of the problems is that he seeks unreasonable rents and terms. Really don't know.

Absolutely nuts. Today the Planning Commission lost its quorum before noon. In other words not even a full three hours with a quorum. And it seems like the members sneak out of the virtual meeting.

PC recognized that there were still many issues that had to be ironed out (and more meetings with community groups) for the Abbey Road apartment building and townhouse project so they turned the request for schematic approval into conceptual approval so the developer could re-group and make the necessary changes and come back for schematic. In other words the PC felt the plan was going to change so much that they could not give schematic approval at this time.

I am guessing forum members might not be able to answer this but I will throw this out in any event. The first agenda item at today's Planning Commission meeting concerned various zoning changes for the area where Irishtown Bend Park is going as well as land surrounding the park. No need to get into the details of the various changes but I will note that the PC had previously approved these zoning changes. Today the zoning changes were back before the PC for the sole purpose of taking up an amendment that would remove a small parcel from the previously approved changes, that parcel being the one owned by Tony George at the corner of Detroit and West 25th. There was a bit of discussion concerning the overall zoning changes and other related issue but not much since, again, the zoning changes had already been approved. However, I found it strange that not one commission member asked why this parcel was being removed and there was absolutely no discussion of this point even though the sole reason for the amendment was the removal of this parcel. My suspicious nature (although this is speculation on my part) is this may have been discussed off the record and members were told not to ask any questions during the meeting. Just getting a strange vibe. I'm wracking my brain try to come up with a reason for this amendment and wonder if it has anything to do with the George lawsuit, a future eminent domain action in Probate Court or possible settlement negotiations (although I don't know why this would have to happen to foster a settlement). Anybody have any information or theories or am I just making a mountain out of a mole hill?

Somebody tell Peter Rubin for gods sake.

I guess I agree to a certain extent since it does add density which hopeful will foster good projects by responsible developers who will build aesthetically pleasing buildings (like say the Intro guys nearby). That said I would march on city hall if something like this was proposed for say the parking lots near Lutheran on West 25th. A Geis development on that site could easily be mistaken for an extension of the public housing across the street.

His taxes would sure be a lot lower.

I hate to tell you but if anybody is dreaming any "such" big announcements in the next 24 days it will have to be just you. "Browns Lakefront" is just beginning (actually I don't know if it has even started) 18-24 months of regulatory reviews (engineering and environmental) before a vision can even be truly conceptualized and Bedrock is a 25 year project.

I believe @KJP has suggested they need it which may bode in their favor as I understand projects that need the credit to close a funding gap have an advantage over others as long as they meet other important criteria.

needs TMUD

2:00 p,m,

Cleveland City Council passed Progressive Field renovation/lease agreement 13-3. Cuyahoga Council previously passed same. Major renovations are 2-3 years away but they will probably start some of the small stuff as early as next year.

Hmm... seems like a good number of the stated reasons for the Detroit slow down and scale back seem to be caution on the part of Gilbert. Maybe we should count on the trumpeted Tower City build out being more than the suggested (and ridiculous) 25 years.

What I think is really a shame is that the proposal was a thoughtful contemporary solution (I enjoy an urban fabric that mixes styles as long as it is well done) on a semi blighted and problematic parcel (in terms of making a project work economically) that incorporated a small retail component very well and brought life to the corner. If I recall the PC staffer for the area (Matt Moss?) testified that it was exactly the type of project the city wanted for Fulton given the future investment to be made on nearby Lorain Avenue (if indeed that ever actually gets figured out and started...somebody knock on Mayor Bibbs door).

I think it was Ladmarks that turned it down after them came back a second time (I believe but not sure they reduced it by one floor). I also believe McCormick was not supportive as there was a fair amount of NIMBY action.

What really pisses me off is that something like this will be approved easily while the apartment building on Fulton by Horton and Harper which was thoughtful and sharp was mindlessly struck down.

Looks like they just took the blueprints for the Avenue District apartments and made them uglier, if that is possible. Another boring four story rectangle with no originality. I guess they are easy and cheap to replicate and they know people really don't care.

Oh well...@w28th really hit the nail on the head

I would like to see the renderings but perhaps not until morning so I don't have any nightmares. Maybe design review will push back as they did when they were presented the NRP disaster on Scranton Peninsula.