Htsguy

We will see. It is being presented to Design Review in a half hour and the Planning Commission tomorrow. Last time I was at Design Review (in connection with Stark wanting to tear down 310 Prospect) one of the panel members opined what a tragedy the other bridge was so I would be very interested to hear the debate today. If anybody on the board is there today it would be great if you could report back. Not only the views of the panel members but the owner's presentation and how they go about putting lipstick on this pig.

I am at the point where I don't believe a word this guy (or girl if that is the case) says. I now feel like an idiot for once chastising a poster for calling him/her a troll.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this and give context to the street closure which seems to be a no brainer.

I am going to really try to make it to design review tomorrow. I definitely think at least one or two members are going to have a heart attack over this and I want to watch the show. ?

Thanks for the great pictures @urbanetics_ Have to agree with you about the lower level apartments, at least the units facing west. Probably the best feel and views of any lower level units downtown (along with those in the Terminal Tower facing the square).

^well said.

MTS I think you are pretty much preaching to the choir here. Unfortunately, SW has never shown an interest to engage in such development and the city probably has zero leverage to press for it (nor the leadership to create such a vision). They will just be happy they are staying downtown and won't want to rock the boat.

From a design perspective, if SW choices to build on both the Jacobs lot and the Weston crater, what I don't want to see is one or more pedestrian tunnels over West 3rd. I know they will want an indoor connection for such a design scheme so I hope-even though it will be much more expensive-that thought is given to a tunnel instead

Unless what they plan to build is a bunker, I cannot see the city being very aggressive design wise.

I know I am a silly boy for even imagining this but you would think that there would be a department at the Clinic which is responsible for implementing such visions or something similar. What KPG describes is really a no brainer and a win win for the hospital and neighborhood. But I know I dream. If the Foundation is completely uninterested in ancillary development around their man campus-as has been shown time and time again-they certainly are not going to put the time and energy into Ohio City.

I keep wondering when the Primo Vino project is going to start. I think it was actually purchased a couple of years ago by WXZ and was probably in the works even before the purchase so it has been a while. WXZ is doing a small but expensive project across the street (Via 126)-as well as College Club up the hill in Cleveland Hts.-so many that is their focus now.

Don't want to get too far off topic but one of my fondest memories of shopping downtown as a kid and young adult-especially when the weather was cold- was passing the Park Building as you walked from May Co to Higbees and smelling the roasted nuts coming from one of the shops in the Park. The smell filled the street. For the life of me I cannot recall the name of the store.

If a recall correctly they did a really good job with the interior finishes as part of the renovations. I think some units have fireplaces although probably just decorative or gas or electric.

Well you know what. Produce multiple renderings and a ground breaking date. I mean is that too much to ask?

Don't forget City Club apartments on the Hippodrome lot. OK @KJP the ball is in your court.?

They might have been referring to updating the lighting and sound systems which apparently is not going to be cheap. I have no problem with the exterior of park, it is the tragedy of the upper right field stands which kills me. Something has to be done up there.

I find it interesting that the many posters who find it unlikely that SW will move can provide a laundry list of rational reasons why a move of this nature is unlikely (for SW or any company of this size in any city) while those who claim a move is likely can only offer that if some unknown entity in some unknown state offers them enough money it will happen because this is Cleveland.

Good attempt by Stan but not really filled with much news, at least not for the gang on this forum. Look's like Stan was trying to get Ezra to open up and he was having none of it Article then just kind of turned into a re harsh of past events. What I did find somewhat interesting, although it did not answer any questions, was the end of the article where the state mixed use legislation was mentioned (still not passed by the House and not even set for committee hearing as of this date). We have already discussed that if it does pass there is no guarantee Stark will win a credit (not to mention it might be so far in the future that construction costs will balloon, possibly negating the value of the credit). Moreover, to win a credit you apparently have to verify that you cannot do the project without the credit. This seems to be a moving target for Stark since it looked like a few months ago they were actually going to move forward without it (although how has always been a mystery) but that has apparently blown up. Again, unfortunately, Ezra was tight lipped on this issue and would not commit that they needed the credit (although it appears now they do) or really what they were doing to move the project forward. Probably smart on his part but of course annoying to us.

Well you clearly have not been following this thread for the past month or so. The crain's article posted above should be able to answer some of your questions but a more complete understanding can be gleamed from @KJP blog article in this thread as well as the comments of many forum members.

Sorry but this pretty much sucks.

Funny, when I say that line I had the complete opposite reaction and found it re- assuring. I read it like "we are spending all this money so we have to do the standard text book (and legal) corporate due diligence which means we have to look at all options but don't worry about it in the end. Strange how two people can come to such totally different conclusions. Although I guess this whole thread is an example of that phenomenon.

Makes sense that a CFO would be in charge of "the process" and unfortunately, in this regard, he can tailor the pertinent information which needs to be reviewed by others (CEO and Board), but ultimately (and based on your post this maybe a good thing) he doesn't make the final decision,

Sort of similar to what many have been saying since the press release. Need to do the standard corporate due diligence in order to cover butts with the shareholders (I am sure all my lawyer friends are advising this course).

Actually, even given what I just posted I can think of one instances where a major move came out of nowhere and in secrecy and that was the Browns to Baltimore (even with the years of stadium drama the actual event came completely out of nowhere) but Modell and his sneaky crew were able to do it under the cover of the Indians playoff run and their first World Series in forever.

I was actually thinking the same think @simplythis Cleveland is too small a town and there are too many wagging tongues (both in and outside of SHW) that if the company has "seriously" zeroed in on an out of town location for a new HQ-especially just one single location as has been suggested-somebody would have spilled the beans on that location even if they did it in a speculative manner.