Htsguy

Thanks

You forgot to mention that that poster prefaced this information by stated that his lunch companion was an important person in town who knew all the other important people in town and was keyed in to all the news.

@Clefan98 shortly after your post and the uproar it apparently caused, @KJP posted a response which had different information and was very different in tone from yours. I am curious if you have any thoughts (would probably just be speculation on your part but that is OK as this thread is loaded with it) as to why two individuals with "inside information" are coming to different conclusions. This all seems very strange to me.

Seems like other developers are learning from Stark's mistakes (or in reality already knew this because they are much brighter) and don't comment on developments until the equipment is on site digging

OK then here is some really creative speculation on my part. In my mind an RFQ to Gilbane and Turner may be evidence that the development could be farther along than many may think. I always thought it strange that a company as sophisticated as Sherwin Williams would even need to send an RFQ for this type of project. They are well aware who has the capabilities to CM a potential super tall, especially since they have explored this in the past. Indeed, the fact that they even limited the RFQ to Gilbane and Turner shows they are well familiar with them. It may be that SW is attempting to get some pricing information but in my amateur experience an RFQ is not the appropriate vehicle for that. I am wondering if SW is not trying to determine from these two busy firms (especially right now with construction booming across the nation) whether they have the capabilities to accomplish XY and Z as spelled out in the Request, but whether they will have the staffing and resources in place at a "particular time" to devote to this massive undertake given present and future commitment. In other words are they just plain going to be too busy to take on this project. Again all speculation on my part, but if true it could mean that SW already has a time line in place with regards to a groundbreaking and they want to see which firm can meet this deadline and/or determine whether they might have to tweak the project time line due to the unavailability of one or both Gilbane and Turner.

^ @KJP just to be clear, Gottaplan was referencing above an RFP when you have always stated that it was a RFQ that was sent to Gilbane and Turner. Is that correct, it was an RFQ?

Good question

I am certainly not an expert on Akron but recently two of my nieces moved to Cuyahoga Falls (one renting and the other bought a duplex on a nice street which for $110,000 and spent about $30.000 renovating) and in visiting them I was surprised by the charm of many of the neighborhoods (they reminded me of Cleveland Hts) and how well keep they are. Apparently they are relatively affordable. I was also surprised that the drive did not kill me from Cleveland (eventually using Rt. 8 when getting close-two CF exits).

In my mind no matter what they build or where they go it would seem strange to make the effort to build "additional space" to meet their growth requirements and stay in the old building as well. The Midlland Building has to be super dated in terms of everything most modern company's want out of their office space today.

So does this mean that the Haslam's are no longer interested in partnering on lakefront redevelopment?

In my mind this project will change the built environment of the city for a half mile in all four directions. Like many on the board it is one of my favorites and loving that it has seemed to progress so rapidly (relatively speaking when comparing it to other projects)

I was meaning to post something on this project last week after Geis made their presentation to Design Review for the Avenue District condo project and I forgot. I believe it was at Design Review that Conrad Geis responded to a question about the height of the Avenue District Building (I think a panel member was questioning why it did not line up with the current building) and his response was something like they were self financing and could not go any higher than the building presented or it would not make economic sense (I guess he was referring to the untested condo market downtown and the risk that entailed but this is just speculation on my part). With this as background I was wonder how such thinking will affect the proposed (yet still unannounced) condo at the Spaghetti House site. There is speculation in this thread of a building approaching 20 stories or more. Are there factors relating to this project which make it different from Avenue District in the Geis thought process?

Come on, Stop playing games. I am sure you are bright enough to realize (as pointed out by more than one poster) that "exploring all options" language is a throw away like that appears in every corporate news release dealing with a headquarters move since the world was born.

It hasn't even been 24 hours but maybe those "geniuses" who drafted and approved that idiot press release should finally admit the way it was presented has turned into a negative for the company;s reputation in town (unless they are enjoying all the press BS which should have been anticipated) and issue a clarification. It is really hilarious that they thought they were nipping something in the bud and ending speculation by issuing that news release and all it has done is cause hysteria and fostered even more crazy speculation.

You seem very worked up about the news release. Last week you said you were having lunch with the emperor of Cleveland who knew everybody and everything and they were 100 per cent going to build on the Nucleus lot. What is the emperor saying?

Like I said before, in the days to come SW is going to regret releasing this "no news news relase".

You are 100% correct. Corporate due diligence is a "thing" and an important thing to cover your ass, especially for shareholders, to avoid potential lawsuits. That said dd is often just a show and in my mind it clearly is here.

I know I keep repeating myself but people are going crazy (and I knew that would happen) over what I believe was a throw away sentence in a news release that basically contains no news. In a few days I have a funny feeling SW's genius PR department is going to be regretting a few things.

Well you have to admit you have a history of being a pretty negative poster without actually contributing much more to the forum in terms of news and the like. That said you are entitled to your opinions without being called a troll.

Lots but completely different situation. Amoco merged with BP.

Wow, just as I was typing the above

I believe KJP previously quoted Kerry McCormack saying that the city has already had discussions with SW and in his mind has put a very generous package together.

By the way, I think that was the intent of the "team" that came up with the news release. I can see them sitting around a conference table, all with little sinister grins on their faces, as they came up with the exact phrasing.

Coffee does that to me?

Excellent point. In fact I would imagine even a move to Minneapolis would result in hundreds of million in labor costs losts and lost of institutional memory for no good reason.