8ShadesofGray

At its November meeting, the Gund Foundation awarded "$55,000 to Zygote Press for operating support and the opening of an annex in the Waterloo neighborhood" (http://gundfoundation.org/news-publications/news/gund-foundation-awards-8-7-million-at-november-board-meeting-2/) Waterloo keeps a-pluggin'!!! That move was referenced in a Fresh Water article in September: "Zygote Press is working on setting up its own satellite here, and while the group has not yet signed on the dotted line, co-founder Liz Maugans says the project likely will move ahead. The letterpress shop will use the E. 156th location for commercial printing services that increasingly are being squeezed out at its E. 30th Street headquarters. Maugans envisions printing for businesses on the street and teaching classes to local residents. She’s particularly excited about the opportunity to be involved in the neighborhood's arts community. “We could have just moved upstairs in our current building, but the sexiest part for us was the collaboration with other businesses like the Beachland," she says." ... More available at http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/keepcollinwoodweird092613.aspx

Not sure if anyone saw it, but at its November meeting, the Gund Foundation awarded "$20,000 to the St. Clair-Superior Development Corporation to launch Asian-style Night Markets" (http://gundfoundation.org/news-publications/news/gund-foundation-awards-8-7-million-at-november-board-meeting-2/) If they can breathe the same energy into Asian Night Markets that they did with Upcycle St. Clair and The Cleveland Flea, we should be seeing something very cool in Asiatown soon. Yaya! :)

^ Yeah, a little concerned about that, too. I feel like the building and sidewalk lighting and led displays are pretty contemporary, too, opposite throwback marquees and gateways.

Cross-posting from the Marketing Cleveland thread ... Sorry for those of you who are getting hit by it twice :D Cleveland Is Ready To Rock: Are You? By Ellen Killoran, International Business Times November 08, 2013 On a depressed stretch of Broadway on Cleveland's formerly resplendent east end, an old Woolworth's building with sky-high ceilings and staggering square footage sat dusty and mostly vacant, save the assorted merchandising debris scattered about. Our group of five – me, three visiting artists and our guide - was being led on an abbreviated tour of the recession-battered neighborhood by Susan Gordon, director of Community Building at Slavic Village Development, one of more than two dozen community development groups dedicated to aggressively revitalizing and repopulating fledgling city neighborhoods. Among the myriad things I observed in my short time in Cleveland that reminded me I wasn't in New York, it took at least five minutes for someone – it might have been me – to ask Susan about the rent. “About 800, maybe 1,000.” Per square foot? No, per month. I caught the eye of another woman visiting from Brooklyn and we gasped in disbelief. Startled, Susan looked at us and asked, in earnest, “Is that a lot?”" ... ... More available at http://www.ibtimes.com/cleveland-ready-rock-are-you-1462896

Three new thoughts (since I clearly can't stop talking about this project. Haha.) 1. There are a LOT of visual elements here and a very broad color palette at play here ... Hope they play nice together when they're all in place. 2. I was at a play tonight, and I've got to say that there's a real impact just from the relatively modest lighting improvements and signage, etc. to date (at least modest compared to forthcoming bling). 3. I'm sooooooo glad you posted the rendering of the old timey clock (which is honestly kind of meh, IMHO) because it really drove home a point for me - just how far we have come in a very short timeframe around recognizing how important vibrant streetscapes, street fixtures, planned activity, etc. are to the future of the city. With all the creative placemaking stuff happening downtown and University Circle and Collinwood and Detroit Shoreway and St. Clair Superior and Ohio City and etc., it's easy to forget how devoid are city was of very base placemaking elements like landscaping and building uplighting even 5-10 years ago. What drove this home for me is recalling the city selling a historic street clock near the Rotunda under the Campbell administration ... Don't remember the details and can't find it online, but IIRC, the hands were gone, there was no will to invest additional funds to bring it back into working order and there was a rationale that funds from the sale could support more practical concerns of the city. What a difference in importance we're placing on building welcoming streets when a similar scale clock looks like a tiny add-on in a $16 million placemaking campaign! Regardless of whether we like individual elements of what PlayhouseSquare is trying out, I think what I'm so grateful for is that they are trying in the first place. Making the connection back to the clock sale really reminded me how far we've come. Yay Cleve! :)

Cleveland Is Ready To Rock: Are You? By Ellen Killoran, International Business Times November 08 2013 On a depressed stretch of Broadway on Cleveland's formerly resplendent east end, an old Woolworth's building with sky-high ceilings and staggering square footage sat dusty and mostly vacant, save the assorted merchandising debris scattered about. Our group of five – me, three visiting artists and our guide - was being led on an abbreviated tour of the recession-battered neighborhood by Susan Gordon, director of Community Building at Slavic Village Development, one of more than two dozen community development groups dedicated to aggressively revitalizing and repopulating fledgling city neighborhoods. Among the myriad things I observed in my short time in Cleveland that reminded me I wasn't in New York, it took at least five minutes for someone – it might have been me – to ask Susan about the rent. “About 800, maybe 1,000.” Per square foot? No, per month. I caught the eye of another woman visiting from Brooklyn and we gasped in disbelief. Startled, Susan looked at us and asked, in earnest, “Is that a lot?” ... ... More available at http://www.ibtimes.com/cleveland-ready-rock-are-you-1462896

It looks more like 3 or 4 stories to me, but regardless, it's definitely shorter than a lot of surrounding buildings. To be honest, I'm super-pumped about the greenspace ... Really hope we don't lose it in the design process because it could be a lot worse. While there's a ton of greenspace on the east end of the parcel, the building hugs the street pretty tightly on the north, south and west. Instead of that greenspace, they could go the traditional Clinic / CSU route and create an oddly-shaped building in the middle of the parcel, with a bunch of oddly shaped "parks" that would function solely as landscaping barriers. Or we could see a final design that has that greenspace replaced with surface parking ... Or weird one-way "allees" terminating in a car drop-off at the door. If you want to see how a parcel this size could be wayyyyy worse, just walk across the street to the Crile Building: http://goo.gl/maps/NVhKQ :D If you're not going to take up the whole block with your current construction, I'm actually pretty stoked that you're developing a greenspace that's actually large enough to be a functional park instead of a giant treelawn and that you've left space for other street-fronting buildings instead of plopping down an oddly-shaped building in the middle. I would be ECSTATIC if CSU dumped its Center for Innovations in Health Professions plans for exactly this preliminary design :)

^ Just a heads-up, this coming Cleveland Flea has a holiday theme, so if you don't find what you're looking for, come back a second time for their regularly scheduled programming :D Not underground or flea, but there are a wealth of reasonably priced thrift, antique and vintage shops in town, with a lot clustered on Lorain in upper Ohio City and into Detroit Shoreway ... Slightly outdated list but still pretty accurate at http://www.discoverlorainave.com/ Some local faves of mine are Heck's Revival (https://www.facebook.com/HecksRevival), Flower Child (http://flowerchildvintage.com/) and Reincarnation (http://www.rvdcleveland.com/)

Welcome back! In terms of contractors, the City of Cleveland maintains a list of bonded and insured contractors approved for rehab work: http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/BuildingHousing/Home_Building_Rehab_Repair ... This won't get to the "who's the best/cheapest at x" question, but it's at least a good way to ensure that the contractors are going through the proper channels (and in the case of plumbers and electricians, that they are also licensed to do work). The site says that there's not a list available, but that you can at least verify that your contractors are approved once you've selected them. But I swear I've heard people referencing a list of approved contractors before! So might be worthwhile to verify :) Beyond that, I agree about starting with Angie's List. The rest of this is about particular property opportunities, so if you're pretty set on what you've put in an offer on, you can ignore this :) I'd echo the sentiment that you should think about neighborhood and check in with the CDC. If it's a strong one, they should be able to steer you toward particular properties of interest and maybe some additional financial assistance. There's a great deal of housing stock in Cleveland where purchase and rehab would be $50K or under, so you have a lot of options that would be less limited by price and more by other factors in your decision-making (particular neighborhoods, particular types of housing stock, proximity to particular amenities, etc.). And FWIW, Cleveland doubles actually have a lower median sales price than single-families ... Huge houses on small lots don't move as quickly, so the fact that you want a 2- or 3-unit may actually work in your favor. There are also a number of CDCs that have do-it-yourself rehab products that align pretty nicely with what you're doing. In North Collinwood, for instance, the CDC identifies vacant houses that are in fair to good condition for a do-it-yourself program (they rehab the houses in poorer condition themselves). The houses go for $6,500, and you have six months to carry out a short punch list of work (depending on the property, required rehab costs anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000), although most people choose to over-improve beyond what's required. With extensive marketing nationally to artists, these are kind of flying off the shelf ... At one point, there were 15 in inventory; right now, there's 4! Which as a potential homebuyer, I would find really comforting :) You can see a map of currently available properties at www.welcometocollinwood.com Last I checked, Slavic Village and the Stockyard, Clark-Fulton, Brooklyn Centre Community Development Office were also running low-acquisition-cost, do-it-yourself rehab programs as well. Sometimes people can also luck out and find a property directly through the Cuyahoga Land Bank, with prices starting as low as $4,000. It can be a bit difficult to search out properties in specific locations due to the list format of their properties, and there's a pretty broad range of property conditions, but sometimes you can find a gem. You can access the list at http://cuyahogalandbank.org/properties.php Good luck, and keep us posted!

Sometime pointed out the other day to me that all the renderings of the chandelier appear to be at night when it's illuminated and that they fear that it will look a lot heavier-handed and more obstructive during the day. Not sure yet if I agree, but it's an interesting point.

I'd echo what people are saying about grad school getting you networked in the city where you'd like to work. While the skills you'll pick up are definitely transferable, with urban planning's clear focus on local decision-making, I think these types of programs tend to use their respective locations as the main case study across almost all classes. At CSU, you would definitely be getting a lot more deeply engaged in real-life Cleveland development. So in addition to the hard skills you pick up, you just learn a lot about what's going on in the city, its priorities, how it functions, etc. That level of awareness of local context definitely becomes marketable in and of itself in community development. And FWIW, I think that deep exploration of the city where you're living and studying increases your passion for that city ... I moved to Cleveland specifically to attend Levin (MPA, in my case), with no intent on staying after grad school. I absolutely credit my exposure to the city through Levin with falling in love with the Cleve and deciding to stay. That being said, while the community development sector does tend to draw a lot from local talent, people do of course relocate to other cities and enter the field there. I think the important thing in terms of marketability if you want to go to OSU or UC but think you'll work in Cleveland is to keep up-to-date on what's happening in Cleveland and, where you're given the freedom to do so, to do project work and research on sites in Cleveland. Good luck with your decision!

It's actually not all that big a site, as you can see at http://www.powerandlightdistrict.com/index.cfm?page=map But I was actually referring more to the type of big-box entertainment tenants, relatively new urbanist siting paired with an abundance of surface and structured parking and relatively "loud" lighting and signage scheme.

^ That's Anne Van H. http://www.universitycircle.org/locations/anne-van-h-boutique It relocated from the school house in Little Italy, where it had been a long-time tenant. Based on that, I'd say they a) have a loyal following that probably doesn't mind the half-mile relocation and b) that high visibility was not driving their sales ... Murray Hill a block off Mayfield, tucked inside a big multi-tenant building is not exactly top-of-mind when I'm thinking clothes shopping. I'd be more worried about how rent rates will impact her bottom line. Have no idea what her lease is like, but I have to imagine Uptown is more expensive than her Little Italy rate. And to your point, I'm not sure that the Uptown location would pay off enough in terms of new casual shoppers to justify any big change in space costs. But maybe?

Those renderings are making me think more and more that FEB will look a lot like Kansas City's Power & Light District if Wolstein builds everything out: http://www.powerandlightdistrict.com/index.cfm?page=photos-test&section=11&subsection=district

Northeast Shores has approved the first two Collinwood Rising Vibrancy projects (http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/help/vibrancy-grants/, small art projects designed to drive visitors into the arts district during streetscape construction ... Look to see about 30 such projects popping up between now and next June). All events are free and open to the public, so come out and have some fun ... And support some great independent merchants while you're out. Show some UrbanOhio love, guys! :D Cocoa in the Courtyard, December 6, 12:00 - 1:30 and 5:30 - 7:00, Zaller Building (16006 Waterloo). Kick off the holiday shopping season with this coffee and cocoa "happy hour" and unveiling of a new mural. You'll also get a map of the district, a list of merchants' holiday specials and info on upcoming community events. Caribbean Christmas Festival, December 20, 6:00 - 10:00, Callaloo Cafe and Bar (15602 Waterloo). Come see another new mural and enjoy a live performance by Panic Steel Ensemble, as the cafe celebrates the holidays Tobago-style.

I think the Accent location becomes infinitely more desirable with the CIA expansion. In addition to a lot of student/pedestrian traffic, the new Cinematheque should help drive a lot of visitor traffic to that part of Uptown. With their current schedule, that would be bringing people in for about 10 films a week.

^ Not sure that it affects my opinion of parking entrance on Euclid one way or the other, but FWIW, this parking entrance would be immediately adjacent to the existing Statler Garage.

IIRC, we had this same conversation about the blue outer wrap on Phase 1 ... We were all, "Wow, it's moving so fast", followed by "wow, why did it slow down", as work moved inside.

Entertainment businesses are also disproportionately affected by visitor experience ... Have trouble finding parking, have to park on a side road that looks unsafe, get stuck in traffic ... This is the sort of thing that will increase the likelihood that you'll just stay home the next time for anything entertainment-related. And this is a business located in a neighborhood that's not exactly centrally-located, with scant public transportation options, in a city that's quite clearly pretty automobile-centric. I remember several years ago, CPAC did a survey throughout northeast Ohio that asked respondents what the biggest reasons were for not attending local arts-related events. The #1 answer? Not price, not artistic content, not busy time schedules ... I kid you not, the #1 reason was perceived lack of options for easy and free parking. So if that is still true today, I'd say that that does present some big challenges for arts districts like Waterloo when major streetscape work happens. Well, we're in luck, since $80,000 in competitive grants are being distributed to affected business owners on Waterloo for arts projects that drive visitation to the district during construction (and more fundraising occurring to expand this pool) :) It's modeled after a similar program launched in St. Paul opposite light rail construction (www.irrigatearts.org), where it has been considered a pretty smashing success. If it works here, and an investment that small can really make a different for Waterloo businesses, I think it will be far more likely that we'll see similar efforts opposite other streetscape work in the city.

Cleveland's Waterloo Road streetscape beautification project receives new grant Northcoast Shores uses grant to help businesses Dave Arnold, newsnet5.com 10/08/2013 CLEVELAND - Joe Zuzak's R&D Sausage Company has been serving neighbors on Waterloo Road between East 152nd and Nottingham Road for 27 years. His smoked sausages meats personally made without chemicals have a huge neighborhood following. But Zuzak said he's losing money each week due to the city of Cleveland's streetscape beautification project on Waterloo Road in Collinwood. His parking lot was empty at 11 a.m. on Tuesday ... ... More available at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_cuyahoga/Clevelands-Waterloo-Road-streetscape-beautification-project-receives-new-grant#ixzz2hiOwHzRi

And these are all puzzle pieces in a bigger puzzle of trying to make a neighborhood vibrancy. I imagine that anything we can do to get a) people to walk down Euclid either from East 4th or CSU and b) to linger once they're there will create a critical mass, added to all the new residents. And that critical mass will make it look like a place worth visiting and revisiting, which should help bring in bigger crowds, etc. The new restaurants, the placemaking stuff going on, outdoor programming, etc. .... Not all of it will work, some places might fold, others will definitely prosper, but overall, I can't imagine a scenario where we won't be seeing a whole lot more street traffic and more business patronage in the Theater District in the next year or two.

Agreed. But to me a good parallel is Detroit Shoreway. While arguably there are some nodes where things will go decidedly more yuppie and hipster (Gordon Square, Battery Park, maybe EcoVillage), it's a massive neighborhood, and at current rates of in-migration, it would take decades and decades and decades for it to fully gentrify and/or for all of its characters to be sucked out. I kind of feel the same way about Collinwood ... The vast majority of the development and investment and in-movement is happening in the Waterloo Arts & Entertainment District, which has about 1,500 residents. North Collinwood in general is something like 16,000 people, so we're talking about a tiny sliver of the neighborhood ... So even if Waterloo went completely yuppie someday, plenty of space for quirky, gritty, blue collar personality would remain. That being said, I think Waterloo is really the place where that Collinwood vibe is most evident, so it would be a shame to see it end up plastic ... Hear your point. You still have some main streets like East 185th, with character of its own, and Grovewood, and the beach streets. But there's not a lot of "Collinwood character" other places, like big sections of Lakeshore or East 152nd. So if Waterloo and East 185th ever lost their soul, I think you're right ... It would be a sad loss.

Some, but it doesn't seem to be the driving demographic for people relocating here. I've definitely heard several stories of people who remember coming for Croatian dances or Slovenian fish dinners and whatnot and wanting to be back in a community where they have fond memories as kids. But it seems like a lot of the interest is from people who didn't previously know the neighborhood well, with a fair amount of interest from people not originally from Cleveland ... Seems to be drawing more from what's happening now than on nostalgia.

Collinwood group wins $1M to fund programming during construction By STAN BULLARD, Crain's Cleveland Business September 25, 2013 Northeast Shores Development Corp., the local development group serving Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, has received a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation to fund event-oriented programming to help tide over local business as Waterloo Road gets spruced up. The part of the street comprising the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment is undergoing a year-long construction project to beautify it like Euclid Avenue and streets in several other Cleveland neighborhoods. Such projects help in the long term, but they cause temporary dislocations for traffic that can harm neighborhood businesses. In a news release announcing the grant, Brian Friedman, executive director of Northeast Shores, said, “We are beyond thrilled to have received this grant. With it, our goal is to add even more art-placed businesses and maintain neighborhood vibrancy during the construction period” ... ... More available at http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20130925/FREE/130929896/0/SEARCH

^ I don't know. You could be right, but there was a time not that long ago when people were saying the same thing about Detroit Shoreway and a time not long before THAT when they would say the same thing about Tremont and Ohio City. Couple of anecdotals about positive momentum on the recruitment front: - In terms of being appealing to families, the neighborhood has some VERY good news regarding schooling options. The Intergenerational School is seriously contemplating opening up their third location in North Collinwood: http://northeastshores.org/userfiles/file/publications/BTS%20Community%20Meeting%20Flier_Fixed.pdf - The Welcome to Cleveland event (http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/help/welcome-to-cleveland/) showcased the neighborhood and the city to 10 artists from across the Midwest and eastern seaboard. 9 of the 10 are in various stages of relocating to Cleveland, including 5 specifically planning on relocating to Collinwood (2 have already entered into purchase agreement on one of Northeast Shores' $6,500 houses). - A few months ago, Northeast Shores was holding 14 formerly vacant properties for resale (with artists as the primary market). Now they're down to 5, with purchase agreements out on 2 of those houses. They had their biggest sales month ever last month. They can't keep up with demand. - Of course all sorts of different people are buying houses, but the demographics that seem to be most prevalent are two-artist households and artist households with young children ... Young family relocating from Brooklyn, young family relocating from Alabama, etc. - As of 2010, 47.6% of North Collinwood households included children under 18. The citywide average is 46.9%. That doesn't speak to the young professional component, but clearly North Collinwood is a place where people are raising kids. - All sorts of economic indicators in North Collinwood are better than citywide ... Lower poverty rates (17.8% to 28.7%), higher median household income ($35,149 to $33,651), lower unemployment rates (7.7% to 11.2%), higher high school completino (74.2% to 69.0%) and higher college degree rates (15.9% to 11.4%). So that should be a good base for additional recruitment if the lakefront improvements and Waterloo improvements take off.