sonisharri

Idk if this means Fenn Tower renovations have started but it looks like something's going on...

Bulkley building residential conversion is getting some cornice work done

Neuro Institute (3-9-25) Completed Cole Eye Institute expansion Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health

Skyline 776 mini-update

Lincoln Heights apartments... pick an angle, any angle

Burik townhomes (3-9-25)

Every time I go to Ohio City I'm taken aback by the number of projects that are simultaneously under construction. Half of these I wasn't even looking for. Franklin Yards renovation Construction appears to be underway at the Franklin North site Ohio City Farm global farmers market 1865-69 W. 22nd St renovation and expansion 2061 Gehring Ave still boarded up... W 28th infill St. Ignatius DiSanto Hall

In related news, it sounds like work on the Moreland Theater renovation will be getting started... Historic Moreland Theater receives $300,000 grant for renovation Mar 7, 2025 - Unity Powell https://thelandcle.org/stories/historic-moreland-theater-receives-300000-grant-for-renovation/

Has anyone heard anything about this? Cleveland claiming both a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and an R&B Hall of Fame would be pretty huge. R&B Hall of Fame plans to make Cleveland its permanent home Feb 20, 2025 - Troy Smith https://www.axios.com/local/cleveland/2025/02/20/rhythm-blues-hall-of-fame-permanent-space

If Intel falls through and we somehow manage to get TSMC in Ohio, I can't say I would be mad. I support competition as much as anyone else, but TSMC literally has some of the most advanced computing knowledge in the entire world. This is not a matter of opinion, just the fact of decades of intense specialization and research in Taiwan compared to other countries. If we can help bring some of their new US operations to Ohio, that would make the state critically important to the entire domestic technology supply chain. Maybe this is the best-case outcome if the CHIPS Act is out the door.

In my experience ****s are often located pretty far out, which is usually ok because trips there are usually very occasional. I would personally visit a location at Pinecrest just to go to the restaurant. (comment censored for any off-topic Swedish furniture retailers that sell products with unpronounceable names 😉) Anywaysss so who's excited for that senior residential, recreational, and shopping center on the site south of Harvard Rd?

Honestly totally missed this until @Geowizical mentioned it, but this looks pretty major. Pinecrest could use some more residential. Full presentation here: https://share.bialosky.com/files/1asi52me

Good update, here's a few more: New: Completed - Marquee at Cedar-Lee (Meadowbrook building) Renovations: Completed - CentroVilla 25 (they're doing a little more work, but it's already been open for a while) New: Currently Under Construction: - ISEB building at CWRU - Gordon Crossing apartments - Marquee at Cedar-Lee (Cedar building, take 2) - Neuro Institute (I think the pin's in the wrong spot) - Clinic - 2 new buildings at Cedar & 100th - Midtown Collaboration Center (maybe complete by now??) - 89th Rising Renovations: Currently Under Construction: - Hough Tower New: Proposed - Cleveland Heights Senior Apartments - Lakewood Senior Apartments - Nobility Court apartments (Cleveland Heights) - Arcadia (Van Aken District) - Churchill Gateway II - Gateway66 - UH Wolstein Conference Center - MLK Plaza redevelopment - Circle East redevelopment (a bunch of new houses) - Genesis TOD (East Cleveland) - The Village 55, plus 1 more new build (North Broadway)

No progress yet on Churchill Gateway II... New large infill home on Wade Park Ave: Still lots of renovations going on in addition to new homes; I did see one or two vacant houses with windows smashed in though. With this neighborhood's housing stock and location I expect it to become a very nice area with some more time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2025/gentrification-gray-changing-city-neighborhoods/ Someone should tell WaPo about this uber-gentrified city 30 miles from DC known as "Baltimore": The South and West Sides of Chicago are famous for their historic greystones as well. Correlation ≠ Causation.

Thousands of people within what distance? Ohio City, Downtown, and Duck Island are practically next door. With the Lake Link trail, Tremont is only a short bike ride away. Maybe a 24-hour 7-Eleven is out of the picture, but a small market or unique shops that attract people from further away don't seem like impossibilities.

Based on that article, it sounds like Asiatown restaurants largely cater to people coming from outside the city—unfortunately, Northeast Ohio's Asian population is pretty spread out. It doesn't help that many families live in the suburbs to get their kids into better school districts. Placing an emphasis on culturally-specific design elements could help maintain Asiatown's character, regardless of the demographics of the neighborhood itself. I agree with the comment that "value-engineered" buildings like this would be better-suited for a side street than on Payne, especially with no retail component.

I'll be getting a new apartment soon, and I would definitely take this route to Asiatown.

NYC has something similar as well. This one in Boston lacks trees, but curbs and light poles offer some protection. And here's one in Philly with no protection on either side, and trees in the middle instead of on the sides 🫣 If you look closely, cars have actually managed to turn two bike lanes into three lanes of parking (fittingly, the least usable bikeway I found was on "North American Street") True protection (preferably a natural buffer) is definitely the way to go. I'd hope for something like this design:

Unless you're proposing bike lanes in both directions, on both sides of the street, then bikers coming from the opposite direction would have to cross traffic coming from two directions instead of just one. Adding parallel parking not only condenses bus and car traffic into a single lane, but also creates brand new traffic from cars circling the block looking for a spot. The point of bus and bike lanes is to eliminate the need for parking in the first place.

As another frequent walker and biker, I'm certain this would make both walking and biking more desirable. Many people don't want to be forced to choose between riding on a narrow road with car traffic or biking on a bumpy and uneven sidewalk where they can't pass pedestrians. And pedestrians usually don't like getting hit by bikes. Whether people are willing to give up some of their lawn for better biking and walking amenities is another matter. Source: I have an asphalt multi-use path just like this on my street.

Speaking of which, I stopped by CentroVilla earlier this week and it's shaping up to be a pretty cool spot. The coffee and quesitos at Cafe Roig were awesome.

I'm actually pretty sympathetic to the idea of fare-free transit lines, especially streetcars and other local circulators that can be strategically financed by benefitting businesses. However, going fare-free on a citywide scale or even just one of the most central lines, especially when federal funding is being slashed every month, will make it a lot more challenging to undertake initiatives to improve the transit system. If the primary goal of a fare system is to actually collect fares (and not, as others have implied, just to subsidize turnstiles to keep homeless people out as long as no one is willing to give them a few bucks), then your question is effectively "if we assume fare collection is not worth it, then why would it be a worthwhile investment?" Then the answer relies completely on the underlying assumption. If instead, we ask "what kind of fare system would result in significant benefits long-term?" then there are a variety of options which can be compared. Based on this article from Signal Cleveland, it sounds like EZFare ticket readers are bringing in more than they cost. Not sure how paper tickets stack up. https://signalcleveland.org/cleveland-rta-considers-spending-1-2-million-to-continue-ezfare-mobile-ticketing/

Yeah I think it's important to remember that the primary purpose of fares should be to bring in revenue. Safety cannot be broadly addressed by fare gates alone; many people who cause problems can easily afford $2.50. Placing more staff onboard and at stops could make a big impact though, and maximizing fare revenue can help pay for that. Considering that the Blue/Green lines won't have turnstiles at their stations anyway, it's pretty certain that at least some (if not all) of the trains will already have ticket scanners on them. The cost of fare collection boils down to just turning the scanners on and training drivers to treat fare avoiders exactly the same as they would in a bus. Even if fares are not enforced with 100% accuracy, this would definitely boost revenue.

Yeah I wish RTA had opted for chip readers to begin with, stuff like this would've been easier to implement. Unfortunately they just finished installing QR code scanners systemwide, so we're stuck with transit app tickets rather than direct contactless payment like NYC and NJ have. The Blue/Green lines (outside of Tower City) use the same fare collection as buses though, so I'm not sure how implementing the same system on the Red Line would be any more of a deterrent to ridership. Riders with a ticket would scan at the front of the train and sit down unbothered, and those with a sticker would just flash their ID to the driver.