coneflower

This is so brutal. It’s notable that Pittsburgh, which was supposed to be the rust belt role model, appears to be as anemic as us. We’re behind Columbus AND Cincinnati.

If you think about it as the owner of the Browns, it makes perfect sense. Own the property, own the stadium, monetize everything, execute the vision in your head without needing to compromise—assuming you have the money. This isn’t going to stop people from going to games and I think a lot of people would love a football themed Crocker Park. The risk for Cleveland, beyond the obvious, is it loses the ability to partner with a billionaire Republican political doner in a state run by Republicans. Will Haslams really invest themselves in Cleveland city stuff if they have no real stake? Getting state money and approval for projects with the Haslams at your side is surely easier than a Democratic Mayor/County Exec., who represent areas that don’t generally vote for Republicans. This is the part the worries me a bit. I have no idea what is really going on, but I hope leaders are thinking about realpolitik.

If the team stadium isn't located in Cleveland, then the Haslams don't really have any business interest in the city at all, do they?

Amazon warehouse as passive income to help pay for Watson?

My issue with this is it seems pretty plausible the current stadium site will sit unused like RFK in DC.

Crains says this stadium would be used for the women’s and men’s teams. I would like to know where the money is coming from—they are vague, just saying it’s a public-private partnership. But to me the opportunity to feature top tier women’s sport is really compelling. The league itself is growing a lot, and there is a lot of buzz in general around women’s sports, from tennis to basketball (thanks to college stars) and soccer with the woman’s national team having such big expectations in recent years. Just looking at our current economic and population growth, we’re going to have a hard time getting an MLS team anytime soon, so this seems to me the best opportunity to bring pro soccer to Cleveland. And I think it’d be a cool thing for us to be home to Ohio’s best women players.

Very cool I would love this for us!

I really like Morgan Trau's reporting normally but including those two random residents critiquing the plan before it's public distracts from what exactly is happening.

I'm confused by these takes because I keep reading people bashing rich suburbanites for not living in the city. But when opportunities to lure some of those people arise, people say they aren't welcome. It sounds just like suburbanites who say the same stuff about development around them.

I did a quick Google on them last night and found an article from greater Pittsburgh and the absolute almost hopelessness of the communities they touch was... really concerning.

I’m glad they are able to restart the business. It’s an awesome store. That space must be completely borked. At this rate they’ll have been closed almost a year.

Looking at the floor plans closer, I could definitely see hosting friends. As a studio dweller of many years, I am familiar with many creative ways to hide a bed. Screens, cube shelves, curtains on wire. The options are limitless and really stretch your creative vision 😂 It looks like rent starts at $1200 for a studio? That seems pretty reasonable for the location. I had an apartment in Lakewood years ago that’s kitchen counter was covered in linoleum floor tiles for durability I guess. $650 a month in 2005! I still think it’s unfortunate there is no stove or normal sized sink. Even studio dwellers like to cook!

Are they getting rid of the trees along the riverside? The hill itself looks like it's packed with really invasive Japanese knotweed and climbing vines. Perhaps the hill area going up to the buildings above could get some stewardship to make it a native, more healthy ecosystem. That would attract a lot more cool wildlife and birds. I can't really tell what the plans are from the pix.

The kitchen in that studio is crazy. Is that meant to be an incredibly affordable unit? I've lived in some small studios and none we're high-end and they all had a small oven/stove you could at least cook a frozen pizza in or make a modest home-cooked meal (handy when first starting dating someone new!)

The stage looks fine to me but they didn’t do themselves any favors by pushing it out to the press in the middle of winter. I wonder why they didn’t wait to do the press rollout with the dedication and featuring live music all at the same time.

I don't understand where that anger is coming from. I'm saying the same thing as you. From my observation of more than 30 years living in Northeast Ohio, the average resident is not a big fan of "crazy" designs. People like things that look more or less "traditional." I'm not sure if it would work, but it'd be cool to see more effort put into getting people excited about the idea of more interesting designs. Maybe a vacant storefront downtown could be used as a place to showcase innovative concepts for what Greater Cleveland could look like visually.

I like the black brick. Everyone can have different opinions. I don't see anything wrong with it.

This is a great article. Eventually their antagonistic PR approach is going to bite them in the butt. As someone who is going through a lot of home painting, I’ve been surprised how little SW is in the conversation when it comes to what is cool. Benjamin Moore, Farrow and Ball and other companies embrace their consumers, their communities and creativity. SW is like an angry IBM of paint. I didn’t realize until reading this article that they didn’t want a plaza where their own workers could eat at lunch on the street level. So anti-social.

Someone should lead a campaign to make more adventurous design more acceptable and desired in Northeast Ohio.

I am going off the events webpage for the stadium where you can buy tickets. Looking at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for another data point, they have 10 events scheduled through the end of August, 5 of which are spring/summer concert tours, similar to the Beyoncé and T.Swift tours last year. Just checking Kenny Chesney and Morgan Wallens’ schedules, many of their other dates are in open stadiums. To be fair, Cleveland Browns stadium only has 1 event listed (the Stones) which is pretty sad. I don’t know enough about how these events pick locations to understand why that is but the building itself doesn’t seem like a strong reason. But I’m open to other perspectives! edit: actually going slightly deeper on Google Lucas Oil Stadium seems to be co-located/marketed with Indiana Convention Center. That seems a little different of a situation from us.

I hear your perspective but taking Lucas Oil Stadium as an example, in 2024 they have roughly one non-NFL event a month. Is that worth $400M more? I think folks can disagree in good faith. To me it's not worth it.

I think asking taxpayers to pay for a dome is too much. We'll never get ROI on that. I am curious to see what the state chips in for this effort whenever there is some movement, but right now Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are potentially paying most of the bill. Only 30% of county residents attend home games and far less Cleveland residents. I believe it's worth it to make sure the Browns stay in Cleveland, but there have to be limits. I saw the Bills estimated a dome being at least $400M more in cost. That's $100M more than the CHEERS project. What could we do with that money for education or health services? The idea that we'll lure more events to use the building is highly unlikely. Taylor Swift performed in many open-air stadiums during her recent tour, and from what I read her not coming to Cleveland had nothing to do with the building itself.

That looks real nice!

This is huge news Nonprofit Summa Health to be acquired by private venture capital firm https://www.ideastream.org/health/2024-01-17/nonprofit-summa-health-to-be-acquired-by-private-venture-capital-firm

I doubt there is support from taxpayers to pay for a dome stadium. Especially since the majority of people who attend games are not from the city of Cleveland or even Cuyahoga County. From KJP's recent reporting, it sounds like the Browns and city have agreed to a pretty extensive building rehab, which seems like a reasonable compromise to me. The Browns haven't made any official announcements but in their public statements they have always said they wanted to refurbish the existing stadium.