Quilliam

The steam plant originally had three stacks; two were taken down around 2000. The trio of identical stacks so near to downtown were somewhat iconic, such as in this T-shirt image that was popular in the 1970s and '80s. (The image has been credited to local artist George Kocar, and I remember the original shirts being produced by Western Reserve Screen Printing. The below image is a later version from Daffy Dan.)

Paul Volpe has withdrawn his proposed Cedar Hill Villas project, and won't be buying the city-owned land. He spoke at the June 2 council meeting, saying, “We’re done. I’m done with this city. I’m finished.” The cleveland.com story is subscriber-only: https://www.cleveland.com/community/2025/06/cleveland-heights-condo-developers-withdraw-offer-to-buy-half-acre-of-city-property.html

Restoring underground utilities today at the Marquee. Snaking and jetting drains in the lower left, extending the pipes up from the slab at center. I don't think they are keeping the old elevator doors, it appears that they have cut through the third floor one. That might be the car at the fourth floor. (This photo taken last week, but it is the same today.)

Miceli Dairy is breaking ground on their new cold storage expansion tomorrow. https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2025/05/clevelands-miceli-dairy-breaking-ground-on-12m-expansion.html

For comparison with the photo on the last page of the cleared Marquee foundation, this is the same foundation on January 11, 2024. So, it took about a year to get from this to the 70% completion at the time of the fire. As for the cinderblock elevator shafts, unless there is heat damage, most of the soot can probably be pressure-washed off and what remains sealed with paint. There are fire restoration paints made specifically to eliminate smoke stink.

Nobility Court site prep and underground utility work continues. This photo is from the rear (south) end of the property, with Noble Road and the actual building where the machines are in the distance. The gravel foreground is to become parking lots. The driveway in the second photo comes in on the right, in front of the truck with the white trailer. Driveway entrance at 860 Woodview. Noble Food Deal's back lot is at right.

Demo is complete at Marquee Cedar, clearing the slab of minor debris this morning.

More earthwork at Nobility Court today. The red lowboy at left just dropped off another piece of earthmoving equipment. Demo continues at Marquee Cedar. With the collapse hazard now gone, how long before the city removes the plywood from the parking garage and reopens its north stairway? The same view, from the top of the parking garage, about 14 months ago on February 8, 2024.

Just an historical note: GCRTA may never have had a heated bus shelter before, but the Cleveland Transit System had at least one. As late as the early 1970s, the University-Cedar Red Line (then just called the Rapid; Blue and Green were the Shaker Rapid) had a heated bus shelter, with infrared heaters for the bus waiting area outside — each with a sign on it noting that the East Ohio Gas Co. provided them. The heated shelter had a newsstand that was open during peak times.

Glad to see this addition to Playhouse Square. I do hope they stay open after shows as Ken indicated, later than the 9 pm of the University Heights location. I've often been frustrated that none of the restaurants in the Square seem to be open for dining after evening shows, at least on weekends. Even the Hofbrauhaus closes their kitchen at 9 pm. With our work hours, there is just enough time to make a 7:30 curtain from Cleveland Heights. So, dinner is after the show -- in Tremont or somewhere else.

Interior demo continues at Taylor Tudors. Site prep seems to be done at Nobility Court, no activity on a Wednesday afternoon.

Marquee Cedar is about halfway demolished. It appears they are trying to save what they can, such as the steel in the commercial spaces. Pipes coming up through the slab are sprayed pink in the lower photo.

Cedar is now open past the Marquee. I noticed that they have left the first floor standing. I wonder if this is to save time so that Cedar could be opened quickly, or is it so they can remove it more carefully later to protect the floor slab and the utilities that pass through it. Next to Marquee, Arthur Treacher's is also opening soon.

^ "And that AI-assisted article is just too much." To be clear, the article linked above is an MSN rehash of a transcript of a Cleveland.com podcast in which an earlier opinion piece is discussed. The podcast transcript, not the original piece, was AI assisted. Leila Atassi's original March 24 opinion piece is here: https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2025/03/justin-bibb-battled-the-haslams-now-cleveland-needs-a-browns-exit-deal-leila-atassi.html

Demolition has begun on the Marquee Cedar building. With the excavator working from the Cedar roadway, I don't think they can reopen it until this wing of the building is down. A second excavator is working at the rear of this wing.