Htsguy

You mean "judges". He is not the type to let it go if he loses in the Probate Court. I am sure he will appeal any adverse rulings all the way to Ohio Supreme Court. He might even try a Hail Mary to the US Supreme Court even if his own attorney tells him he is crazy (or something more diplomatic so he will get paid) just to piss people off. Here is hoping for a reasonable negotiated settlement.

Hope this is finally true. Wolstein has blurted out a number of supposed concrete start dates for this lot the past few years.

I could give George a small pass if he had owned the property for an extended period of time and had operated it as a going concern. However he bought it knowing the park was coming with the simple goal of possibly hitting it big. I have stated this before, although I am not an ED expert, but when it comes to step two of the process (as I agree with @Foraker that the step one "taking" is pretty much assured) when value is determined, I believe George's purchase a few years ago is strong evidence of Fair Market Value. He might be entitled to slightly more due to inflation, but if that is the case, I hope all of that profit is consumed by attorneys fees. Unfortunately I think George would be entitled to reasonable attorney's fees under the relevant statue. I think I recall somebody posting that he had been offered 40% more than his purchase price. I don't know if that is true but he should have taken it and ran.

It continues to be so frustrating that all these governmental bodies, agencies, non profits and in the future corporate entities are all collaborating to bring a fantastic asset for the city to fruition, a real game changer, and Mr. Cleveland Bobby George (at least in his own mind) can't see beyond his own selfish money making interests.

It might be time to start a separate thread for Irishtown Bend Park since stabilization work is to begin in earnest soon. All the posts regarding it are starting to get lost in the Ohio City thread.

Thanks for posting but a little late to the show. Has been discussed at length the past two days in the Tower City thread. Check it out.

It looks like still no action at Library Lofts site. Let's see what takes longer to break ground...LL or City Club.

Plus TC really is more connected to the rest of downtown (offices, significant residential and hotels, Prog Field and Rocket which are used more than First Engery) than a Lakefront hub.

@KJP are we still getting a bomb? Your recent article was great and very informative but really just had firecrackers. I understand this whole Bedrock thing is a long term process but I thought you were alluding to a major development that was going to kick off soon related to Tower City or the surroundings. Maybe I am reading too much into your original post. In any event love the well thought out analysis which is much more appreciated than knee jerk negativity of certain forum members (including me to an extent).

Tuned in about 15 minutes in so I missed some but so far semi haliarious. First question was about a time line and answer was 25-30 years so I will be dead,

Thanks for the reporting.

Can somebody on the forum explain what the time limitations were all about. Was there some sort of announcement at the beginning or reasoning that I missed, This meeting turned into amateur hour.

Watching tonight's Cleveland Heights City Council meeting and during the public comment portion of the meeting Paul Volpe spoke for about 5-6 minutes and set a match to the current conceptual plans for the Cedar-Meadowbrook project. Ironic since the firm he founded (and retired from a number of years ago), City Architects, came up with the current proposal. He passionately offer his help for free and indicated he had come up a significantly different vision that still fit Flaherty and Collins' goals, including economic goals, and looked forwarded to sharing with the Planning Commission staff.

This is great news and if true incredibly remarkable. However, given the owner I will believe it when I see it. Too much history.

If construction is going forward and the plaintiffs don't move for a stay (and a successful motion for a stay would require the added expense of a bond which might be hard to obtain unless the plaintiffs are an organization or individuals with considerable assets) there is Ohio case law which supports eventual dismissal of any lawsuit challenging variances for that reason alone.

I am going to have to introduce you to @KJP and his blog

I wonder if the offer of 40% over purchase can be used as evidence in the second phase (determining compensation after a finding in favor of a taking) in the eminent domain action. I hope not and that it will just be a battle of experts over fair market value with their recent purchase price being a highly relevant factor. Under normal evidence rules settlement negotiations are not admissible at trial but I don't know if that might be different in an e ED proceeding in Probate Court.

Wow...this one is going to be a lot of fun. Even more interesting than the Flats East Bank e.d. proceedings.

Wonderful news all around. The best part was George having a hissy fit. The only down side was the 3-4 year estimate for the completion of the stabilization. That probably means 8-9 years before we will be strolling in the park. I sure hope they can start park design work while the stabilization work is taking place. That should speed things up although I would imagine they would need access to the land to complete this work (I'm no expert but I would imagine the park design work would require lots of surveying and soil testing among other things). Maybe some of the engineering prep conducted as part of the soil stabilization portion of the project could be used for the park design work to expedite things. Again no expert. Also, if they are still 7.5 million short on stabilization (good to see it seems that will be worked out at least) funding for the actual park probably has a way to go.

Give me a break. Toronto is the New York of Canada...an entire nations financial, entertainment, transportation and media capital with a regional population three times that of Greater Cleveland. Also a huge beneficiary of Canada's liberal (and sensible) immigration policies. 50 years ago Toronto's population was over 2,000.000 while Cleveland's was 750.000 so no they were not very similar then. Why would you even try to compare the two?

Correct me if I am wrong but nobody has actually proposed anything on the Ontario Stone land (first item). The owner is simply trying to sell the property and as part of its marketing of the property came up with a pretty picture and is saying "hey look what you can do if you buy my property".

The proposed half block parking garage (even if it is not that tall) concerns me. I hope they do something creative on the 66th street side. There are ambitious plans to activate 66th from Euclid north to Hough and make it a lively connecting corridor (if they can find the money which is the story all too often...what a great time to spend some of that 500 million form the feds on a worthwhile project). A half block dead space would not contribute to this goal.

A bit confused by item 6. Is it suggesting that there will be temporary park improvements/usage while the permanent Irishbend Park is under construction (which would be strange and most likely unsafe). If not, and "additional park improvements" are actually referring to the final park, what does it matter if there are openings for access since the fence is temporary and is not part of the final design.

Some tasteful signage might not be a bad idea, Most people, as well as out of towners of course, are not as clued in to this project as we are.

what was torn down? Houses or commercial? About how many new homes?