jamiec

Well, it looks good in a conceptual way. The retail is still boarded up with wood, but I have faith it'll be beautiful. I'll try to remember my camera next tuesday when i come back to work

I wish they'd just get moving. Who cares about this dumb tower anymore. If it's fate has been decided, let's rock 'n' roll! Get the TNT out, then the cranes!

I watch this place from work everyday. That ground level retail looks good!

^LOL It's nice to see those dummies know how to overextend themselves like any good AMERICAN company. I'm sure it'll be easy to find it next to Claire's and across the way from Chic-Fil-A

She's upbeat on downtown Kimberlee McKee, a skeptic years ago, now full of ideas, enthusiasm as head of nonprofit improvement group By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer When Kimberlee McKee first interviewed for a job in downtown Akron in the early 1990s, the Alliance native had misgivings. "To be honest,'' she said, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I was thinking, 'I don't think I wanna work here.' '' More at http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/16073293.htm

How much you wanna bet? ::rimshot::

^^ Yeah, but it's a funny picture to me, lol

http://www.niemworks.com/else/im/spidey2001/upside_down.jpg

I had a brain fart. I actually knew it had parking. But the rest of my post still stands. I think people would like to *reduce* car usage, but I don't think they are ready to go 100% carfree like NYC. I went to a "young professional" event with people from work last week, and on this big long sheet of paper, they had written "Favorite place to go on a first date" and "Favorite bar" -- stuff like that -- and I was very surprised to see so many places in the suburbs listed. I think in order to steal some of them away and into downtown, they're going to need an expensive security blanket.

Does this building have access to parking? Why don't they make it residential instead of office? It looks like a nice enough building -- reminds me a little of the condo towers in Lakewood --I think anymore that it'd be more productive to increase actual residents downtown rather than people who come during the day and leave. The only problem I see with residentializing "old" buildings is the lack of parking. I don't think the average person in NE Ohio is ready to go car free. I think having a convenient parking space gives people a little bit of a cushion.

UGH!!!

Give us back our paved roads then. Why does I-75 turn into a pock-marked country road when you hit the Michigan line? Michigan....ick.

Pooh do you work for a taxi company?

Yeah, they are working on creating a "brand image" right now. In fact, they are trying to tie Akron and Cleveland together with the eventual marketing campaign. Akron DOES have the Inventor's Hall of Fame, so there is a thread popping in my head already! E-mail Rick Batyko at [email protected] if you'd like to share your ideas. I'm sure he'd love to hear them.

Hey all. This might be gaining a little steam...I love, love, love it. Get LeBron to make Nike join up, too. Maybe they can open a Nike Store on Euclid, too. Centenarian's legacy could bolster district Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporter A giant in industrial design wants to cast his shadow over Cleveland's nascent design district. Fresh off winning a National Medal of Arts from President Bush, Viktor Schreckengost, 100, and his family say they want his legacy to be a building block in the Cleveland District of Design, a job-generating cluster of consumer product design studios and showrooms proposed east of downtown. Schreckengost's nonprofit and retail ventures want space in the district, says Chip Nowacek, Schreckengost's stepson and executive director of the Schreckengost Foundation in Cleveland Heights... more at: http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1163497165106270.xml&coll=2

I'm talkin' 'bout the food! I don't know. When I cook stuff, my apartment gets all funky smelling in the winter because there's no ventilation. I guess it probably wouldn't be too bad. The parking would be a killer, though. They need a grocery store down there and retail to really hook me on going car-free.

Those apartment rents are NOT bad at all!!! This has me thinking.... I wonder if it'd be super noisy/smelly down there. I like the buildings. http://www.east4thstreet.com/properties.php

Cool news!

Where is Shooz? This isn't the same place. This storefront we're talking about has been empty for the past six months. It's on the north side of Euclid across from the Rotunda.

DAMN IT! So we're stuck with Spookytown Avenue until at least 2008?? I walk by the 515 storefronts and think of all the cool stores that could go in there. But it'd be pretty stupid to open something knowing how hard street/sidewalk construction hurts a business.

I guess a retail space with something in it is better than nothing, but I don't understand the business plan. Signs in the store window say they sell shoes for $5 to $10, if I read it right on a recent walk. That seems awfully cheap, which makes me think that this place is a temporary store. They do this in the Halle Building where I work, renting out a space for less than a month. People sell Halloween decorations or crappy books. Maybe I'm a snob, but something like this frustrates me so much. I like living in Cleveland and all, but come on, there's progress and then there's progress.

Well, I got sick of Loretta's Restaraunt, and I made some changes myself..... http://clevelandada.blogspot.com/2006/11/bringin-sexy-back-or-somethin.html

Well, I may have overstated his influence, ;) But I still think that Nike would be a perfect fit/anchor to this design district. It makes perfect sense. They could have this fancy streetfront, which they could use in their marketing/advertising materials. Everytime they have a national game here in Cleveland, the networks are surely going to show it and I'm sure it'd be branded with Nike stuff. They already show that big billboard every two seconds.

Nike, LeBron James plan top camp in Akron By Brian Windhorst Beacon Journal sportswriter CLEVELAND - LeBron James always likes to boast that he put Akron on the basketball map. Now he and Nike are making it a capital. Though no official announcement has yet been made, Nike officials said this week they are planning on moving their most elite summer camp to Akron next July. For years, the top prep prospects have attended Nike's All-American Camp in Indianapolis every summer. Generally, it is attended by the top collegiate recruits in the country and coaches and scouts from every major university. ... www.ohio.com I didn't see this anywhere else, so I thought I'd post it. I want to spin this on a city discussion rather than sports, and I'll explain why. I think LeBron James, beyond being superhuman, presents one of the most exciting catalysts for NE Ohio. As he's shown, he's not interested in little "pet projects." He's about transformative change. I would assume he's the richest 20-something in Ohio -- probably between New York and California... He wants to be worth $1 billion. With that kind of drive, and his previous work in Akron and Glenville, I don't think he wants that money so he can swim in it at his giant, private vault. He wants to be more than a basketball player. Maybe I'm wrapped up in his basketball mystique, but I really think he could have an impact on this region that we haven't seen since the 1920s. Think about it. He convinced Nike to bring its top camp to Akron. I bet he could convince them to move a few jobs here, too...Maybe they could link up with this "design district" idea in Cleveland. How cool would that be? In a way, LeBron Inc. is the quintessential "start-up" of today -- tremendous wealth and power, relatively few employees. But what can that grow? When was the last time we in this region had a guy who commands so much attention and power? He's more than an athlete. Sorry for the rant, but I just hope people are thinking of ways to engage LeBron and the opportunities he presents without begging. The only way any collaboration would work is if it's a good idea.

Woweewow, that is very nice! EDIT: I'm nitpicky, but I don't like the new windows. Was it impossible to replace the existing windows with multi-paned, clear windows? To me a large part of the beautiful in the factory asthetic is in the windows.