8ShadesofGray

Quite a change ... From the article above: "Geis originally proposed buying Ameritrust for $26.5 million and constructing a 15-story building, with parking on the lower floors and county offices on floors 9 through 15, on the site of the complex's Oppmann Garage, at 944 Prospect Ave. During negotiations, Geis shifted the site of the new headquarters to the northeast corner of Prospect and East Ninth." What an interesting wrinkle! It sounds like the CBRE analysis showed around a $100,000/year difference in county costs ... Not chump change, but still significant savings over the current sprawled out county offices. Optima's revised bid for Ameritrust also comes in at $3 million above Geis's, which seems like it would just about negate that $100,000/year in savings from the Geis plan (although the county would have to pay $10 million to purchase their space at Huntington and $1 for their space on Prospect). For me, it seems like the best outcome depends on how strong the likelihood is that Optima could finance an apartment conversion at Huntington. Apartments at Huntington and Ameritrust + a new county building = Geis; a nearly entirely vacant Huntington for any lengthy period would be a serious dampener of street vibrancy right there. I am inclined to agree with Schochet that the last thing downtown needs right now is new construction commercial.

True. Like I said, there's a lot of disagreement about where downtown begins and ends and who we should be including. I think hitting the magical, largely arbitrary 25,000 number needed to support a 24/7 economy factors into this discussion, although I'd say that percentage growth in residential population and change in density of residences are probably more valuable measures. From my perspective, it's less important whether there are 9,000 or 12,000 downtown and more important that we be using the same methodology to look at 1990 - 2020 percent changes. Otherwise, we face the same problems the feds face if they change what goes into how the poverty rate is calculated ... It may be a more accurate measure, but you suddenly can see 4 million new poor people, purely a result of change in methodology. Similarly, if Brookings says we had 9,600 people in 2000, and we're saying now that we have a more accurate count of 9,000, it's closer to correct but draws away from our ability to articulate growth, unless we're going back and figuring using the new methodology back to 1990 or earlier. Sorry, I digress ... Back to our regularly scheduled programming :)

Not sure that zip code is a good proxy for number of households/population. Those are the households for 44115, but huge swaths of downtown are 44113 and 44114, and all three zip codes bleed over significantly into surrounding neighborhoods like Asiatown, Tremont and Ohio City. The downtown population post-Census was pegged at 11,000 in the Downtown Population thread (http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,415.245.html), give or take (although there was a healthy debate about where downtown begins and ends and whether we should count transitory populations, not that we need that debate again here :D) Basically, I think 3,089 households is probably low ... But if we accept a 2010 population of about 11,000, plus some additions since the Census (later units of CSU's dormitories, Avenue District, etc.), 2,820 new residents in 5 years is still huge! And if we keep up that pace through 2020, we'd be looking at about 17,000 residents downtown, more than a 50% gain ... after 55.8% growth 2000 - 2010 and 32.2% growth 1990-2000. Good times, good times!

I would assume Geis feels pretty confident about financing if he's willing to pay a premium on the property far beyond the appraised value. It doesn't look like this sale would be contingent on him being able to secure financing, so he must feel relatively secure to take on acquisition costs of that size. I wonder how long the county lease will be? Assuming they're on the hook for the full 26 years before they would assume ownership, that's approximately $169 million of guaranteed revenue for the project before you even get to any apartment/retail income. I would think that would be a pretty compelling guarantee for financiers.

Brand new county headquarters in July 2014 ... Just in time for the Gay Games. I wonder if the timeline for the tower conversion will be the same? So glad this never got torn down! Of all the places downtown, this is the building where I think I'd be most willing to pay a premium for architecture and location.

^^ Also of note from the article ... "MK is also working on ... the opening of a retail shop inside Villa at Tower City in January."

Yeah, it's amazing how many cities are hitting that threshhold where artists can't afford to make it anymore ... Not just in terms of owning, but artists that are really struggling just to make it renting, too (and naturally other low- and moderate-income populations as well). It's been interesting to see where in the country interest has been highest ... Seems to be a pretty even split between our neighbors in the Midwest and then some of these very high cost-of-living metros nationwide. Top 10 metros for Welcome to Collinwood website visitation to date (granted, it's just been a month :)): 1. Cleveland-Akron-Canton 2. New York 3. Chicago 4. Columbus 5. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 6. Pittsburgh 7. Cincinatti 8. Youngstown 9 Washington DC/Hagerstown MD 10. Detroit In our first month, we've pulled traffic from 52 of the nation's 210 market areas. We're hoping that all of the data we're pulling will help us tailor our efforts a little more specifically, and equally importantly, fight the prevailing misconception that there's not a national appetite for relocation to Cleveland.

Thanks! That's awesome. Just as a heads up, we are in the very (very!) early stages of exploring a Welcome to Cleveland weekend next year, where we would subsidize a visit for a big group of artists to come explore Cleveland as a possible place to relocate. So if that happens, it'll be an affordable way for artists from across the country to come kick the Cleveland tires :)

- The Welcome to Collinwood website has been updated to include a map of available properties (http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/help/artist-housing/) and the first profiles about artists doing community projects in the neighborhood (http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/involved/omid-tavakoli/ and http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/involved/krista-tomorowitz/). - We've launched the third round of Artists in Residence grants (http://welcometocollinwood.com/index.php/help/); we'll be giving out $50,000 to neighborhood artists to support community art projects that address vacancy. In the first two rounds, we gave out a total of $75,000 that has helped get 13 projects off the ground, everything from construction of a community printing press to development of a youth choir and performance ensemble. - We just sent out a 4,000-piece targeted direct mail campaign nationwide, trying to market Cleveland (and Collinwood) as a place that artists should relocate to. So fingers crossed :) Lots of other exciting arts investments happening on and around Waterloo. Look for more updates in January.

Interesting note about new legislation tightening regulation of drive-thrus in the Market District ... Would love to see this type of pedestrian-orientation in neighborhood downtowns citywide. Ohio City residents fight to keep McDonald's franchise out Leila Atassi, The Plain Dealer December 03, 2012 CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Residents in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood, which has developed a reputation in recent years as a bastion of the local-food movement, say they are fighting to keep fast-food giant McDonald's from opening a franchise on a site abutting a residential street that they say would endanger pedestrians with its busy drive-through and undermine what the West Side enclave represents. The corporation's preliminary plans call for one of its restaurants currently on Detroit Road in Cleveland's Gordon Square Arts District to be relocated to Lorain Avenue, between Fulton Road and West 38th Street. If McDonald's has its way, the 4,200-square-foot restaurant will feature a parking lot with 18 spaces and, most contentiously, double drive-through lanes and a driveway that empties onto West 38th ... ... More at http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/12/tremont_residents_fight_to_kee.html#incart_m-rpt-2

The art installations are part of Project Pop-up Galleries' Winter Storefront Competition (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Pop-up-Galleries-in-Collinwood-Ohio), one of the projects funded from Collinwood's ArtPlace grant. Opened Friday night ... You can stop by and text vote for your favorite of the 9 installations between now and January 1. Top 3 vote-getters will receive cash awards :)

Thanks for the feedback, jeremyck01. We're in a bit of flux at the moment ... We have several pending sales and several pending acquisitions; as soon as those settle a little, we'll be posting specific house opportunities (probably late next week). We plan on getting more and more content on the website, but for now, we wanted to make sure there was just an online place where artists could land for basic information, and then we can provide more customized support based on which parts of the program they're interested in. On the good news front, despite the fact that our marketing has been limited in scope to date, we've talked to 150 artists in the past year about the neighborhood ... With inquiries coming in from Pennslyvania, New York, New Mexico, etc. Good news for the demand side of the Cleveland equation :)

We've launched a new website about resources and offerings for artists in the Collinwood neighborhood ... Check it out at www.welcometocollinwood.com

And to tide you over until I can do a fuller update ... Here's the first of four short documentaries focusing on the revitalization strategy in Collinwood. Shot by local civic organization Saving Cities (www.savingcities.com). Enjoy! :)

Chloe's Kitchen Diner, the first of what might be five or six Glazen-affiliated restaurants to open on or near Waterloo within in the next year, is set to be open for business tomorrow (!). The rehab work on Blitz Barbeque, a non-Glazen project across the street from Beachland Ballroom, is nearly finished. Tipping point on Waterloo? :) Let there be Light Jason Beudert, Cleveland Scene Monday, Oct 22, 2012 It’s official. Alan Glazen, along Randy and Linda Kelly, his talented partners from ABC/XYZ Tavern and Ontario Café, have signed a lease to take the reins of the bar and bocce courts at the Slovenian Workmen’s Home on Waterloo Rd. This exciting move signals another beam of light for “Operation Light Switch,” Glazen’s development vision for the north Collinwood neighborhood ... ... More available at http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/10/22/let-there-be-light

Chloe's Kitchen Diner, the first of what might be five or six Glazen-affiliated restaurants to open on or near Waterloo within in the next year, is set to be open for business tomorrow (!). The rehab work on Blitz Barbeque, a non-Glazen project across the street from Beachland Ballroom, is nearly finished. Tipping point on Waterloo? :) I'll try to make some time this week or next to do a more thorough update on what's been going on in the arts district. I can tell you off the top of my head that we've talked to 149 artists over the past year about the different offerings available to them in the neighborhood, and that to date, we've provided $75,000 to 12 neighborhood artists to support 13 new community art projects in the district. More to follow ... Let there be Light Jason Beudert, Cleveland Scene Monday, Oct 22, 2012 It’s official. Alan Glazen, along Randy and Linda Kelly, his talented partners from ABC/XYZ Tavern and Ontario Café, have signed a lease to take the reins of the bar and bocce courts at the Slovenian Workmen’s Home on Waterloo Rd. This exciting move signals another beam of light for “Operation Light Switch,” Glazen’s development vision for the north Collinwood neighborhood ... ... More available at http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/10/22/let-there-be-light

Awesome stuff. There has been an incremental increase in rehabs and retail activity along Scranton, and between Train Avenue, Towpath and Canal-Basin, this trench is really looking to be a great location for repurposing. FWIW, I know of several young urban nerds who just rented in Barber-Vega, the micro-neighborhood just around the corner from this project between Ohio City and the Lincoln Park side of Tremont. They decided on this area because of the proximity of both Tremont's center and Ohio City's center, without the rental rates of either. According to one of them, their street is almost fully tenanted, with at least a couple households recently moving in from the suburbs. Think that's a tremendous sign for projects like what's described and for Barber-Vega more generally.

IIRC, they were offering free admission yesterday for the grand opening / Columbus Day holiday. Still, great to hear that much interest!

Sorry, you're right - I missed it! I still think St. Clair Superior is due for its own thread :D

Think we missed this one ... More than 80 applications from prospective retailers ... in a stretch that I don't think is on many people's radar currently! Between this initiative taking off in a span of just a few months, the urban grazing program next to Quay 55, loft conversions of vacant housing, Asiatown master planning, Superior Ave. streetscape improvements and a ton of public art stuff, I think it may be about time for St. Clair Superior to get its own thread ... Or at least a merger with the Asiatown thread :D Retailers are buying into a popup concept in the old Slovenian neighborhood By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer Tuesday, September 04, 2012 More than 80 aspiring merchants have applied to be part of a popup neighborhood along St. Clair Avenue on Cleveland's east side, including hopeful proprietors of a cafe, a confectionery, an interior design firm and a dance studio ... ... More available at http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/09/retailers_are_buying_into_a_po.html

Campus is definitely buzzing. I would wager that Euclid in the Campus District might have the second highest daytime pedestrian activity in downtown, right after Public Square/Lower Euclid. Granted, a great deal of it is probably "car-to-class", but as a 2005 graduate, I can attest that this is LIGHT YEARS beyond the pedestrian activity when I was there, despite a pretty similar sized student population. As a P.S., Becky's was PACKED last night at 9 p.m. ... like the most packed I've ever seen it, with 20 or so people standing around outside the door.

can multiple pop-ups turn around blighted strip in st. clair superior? Thursday, August 16, 2012 Pop-up shops, business-plan competitions and storefront incubators have been successful at attracting new stores to trendy neighborhoods like Detroit Shoreway and Tremont. But can they turn around a blighted retail district and help sprout small businesses in a down-at-the-heels east side neighborhood? That's the question Michael Fleming, Executive Director of the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation (SCSDC), is determined to answer in the affirmative ... ... More available at http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/stclairpopuphood081612.aspx

They did such a nice job with the alleyway ... That's really going to be a breathtaking little corridor ... Particularly when they get all the pavers down and the birch trees up :)

^ I don't know that UCI provides any benefits to renters per se, outside of their general CDC services to the public. Buyers can get cash incentives for purchase of homes in the area through the Greater Circle Living Initiative that they coordinate, though.

They're flying up, too! Block 1 looks to be nearing completion ... Balconies (or railings anyway) are being installed on units with french doors. Pedestrian sidewalk lighting has been installed. Most of the landscaping is in. Framing is going up on the third floor of Block 2. And foundation work happening in Block 3. You can really begin to see what a change this strip of street frontage will make along lower Chester. Now they need to do something about pedestrian crossings along Chester. The lights crossing Chester are some of the shortest I've seen downtown, while the traffic on Chester gets a loooooong time without traffic light interruption. I'm a fast walker, and I tend to get across the street just in time when the light turns :)