Htsguy

Great to see. Question. Does anybody know why Simply Greek left uptown or did not make it.

Chester is a major Downtown-Heights/Hillcrest corridor. OC will do little to relieve that traffic and I imagine it will stay the same. That said, if they can fill the over 100.000 sq foot of retail and include convenience retail, those short car trips suggested by StrapHanger will be significantly reduced.

And the Wolstein arena site is not big enough for a baseball stadium. I wish I could get a radio show and talk nonsense as well.

We always fly into Providence rather than Logan when going to the Cape.

@KJP I have always been a bit in the dark regarding this five year term for Geis to develop the Spag House lot due to the demolition. What is the penalty if they do not?

^LOL. I don't think this helps the pro building design advocates.

I still don't get the random bay windows.

I hate to be that person but can we discuss this in the original thread rather than the one just created by Florida Guy yesterday. Mods can you merge the two threads?

There is already a long standing thread regarding this project where @KJP posted these latest developments. Having two threads is only going to cause discussion confusion.

Love the fact-of course- that the developer wants to work with the city to re-configure the area to make it more pedestrian friendly as the development goes forward. However, it appears to me that the huge parking garage entrance on Chester depicted in the renderings sort of is at odds with that goal. I know it has to go somewhere but hoping it can be done more creatively. In the rendering it almost looks dangerous. Wonder if it is possible to move the entrance to East 105th mid block. With the sub station next door and the fact that they already have practically turned 105th into a super highway, it is already less pedestrian friendly.

Thanks for the very detailed report. Great result. Surprised it was 7-0. I thought it would be 6-1 as Councilman Seren voted no in connection with some preliminary matters last year. Good to hear they will review the process. I hope that means implementing measures to speed things up, but I am afraid what they really mean is the scheduling of more NIMBY whining sessions.

The meeting should be posted on you tube shortly. The committee of the whole which happen just before the council meeting and vote is already posted. As always it will be fun to listen to the NIMBYS (you know, fun like a root canal) during the public comment portion of the meeting which usually happens up front.

Where did they say this? I have been watching City Council meetings on line and have attended a number of community meetings and design reviews and, while it is clear they are frustrated by this whole lengthy process, their reps are usually gracious and make kind comments about the citizens of Cleveland Heights and how involved they are in their community. I am sure in their conference rooms back in Indy they are very vocal about the NIMBYS and the extra lengths the powers that be in the city go to address criticism and make this whole process "fair and open" (in my mind it has been somewhat of joke), but I have never heard FandC saying anything viciously negative in public.

I believe the cost estimate is now over $11 billion. The original cost was suppose to be $3.5. New York or not, there is something seriously wrong there.

So when @tykaps states that building permits have been "filed" does that simply mean applications were submitted but not approved by the city. Or does filed mean approved. If the later, how can you get a building permit if you have not received approval from design review or landmarks? Or does filing permits mean you are going in front of one of those two boards. I guess I am a bit confused. I was under the impression that the issuance of a building permit was a separate step from design review. In other words design approval and then the city issues a building permit upon application.

What were the objections? I googled and the conceptuals I found were not the worst thing I have seen proposed for Ohio City.

Stark must be paying his lobbyist minimum wage.

The later. Actually I just think it is not as dirty as everybody claims.

The sidewalks on Detroit need to be widened. In fact, with all the new construction the street needs a total new rebuild with a better street scape.

Not familiar with this project. Is there something up thread that describes it?

Wow. And those actions are just one city. I had a funny feeling this was type of operation RealLife was running. Kinda small potatoes. Not a company you would think is in a position to build a skyscraper downtown. Like I posted previously, the company seemed sketchy from the outset.

Question...these 55 properties RealLife has purchased throughout Greater Cleveland since 2015. Are they small flips in inner ring suburban communities that they then rent out?

I believe that is the Frango lot at 14th and Prospect. @KJP has suggested they are interested in developing it but given its Frango I would not hold my breath. It clearly will not happen without a development partner. Just my opinion, but of all the huge lots downtown that have potential that is probably really low on the totem pole which is unfortunate as it one of the gateways from the south into downtown.

I have no information one way or another but if in the next few years one or two places closed I would not be surprised. The shelf life of a couple of the places is getting old. However, that is just the restaurant business in general. A restaurant gets stale after a while. It would be no reflection on East 4th. In my mind it is still hot and with nearby new developments will pretty much stay that way in the near future. Anything that closes will eventually be replaced with something new.

It was pretty clear from day one this whole thing was pretty sketchy.