jonmoxon

^ "PIB Days" in Key West is a blast.......not like KW isn't fun enough pretty much all the time :drunk: :clap: :-D

Too bad the former OCPM in the middle of the shot will be torn down in the near future. Thanks Cleveland Clinic. That really does need to be saved. Absolute tragedy if it comes down. If the city still has any power at all over the clinic that demo must be stopped. Seems like the building would be perfect for small startups, like the tech incubator in Youngstown. ^My wife graduated from OCPM in 2006, and she said one of the reasons the school decided not to renovate/expand the existing site was because there are significant structural issues with the building (she heard this from school admin). If this is indeed the case, what are you going to do? I love historic preservation, but there has to be a limit on what you can spend.

The Drink Cafe in Lakewood (Detroit next to McCarthy's) has the best shrimp bisque I've ever tasted; The Rush Inn a little further west on Detroit has really good bar food as well. I would also reccomend the Beachcliff Tavern in Rocky River and the The South Side in Tremont (awesome sandwiches).

^Guess what? The Chinese and everyone else are not immune to the "fundamental changes" in fuel prices taking place. Just today, it was announced that GM had the best month of all the major auto-makers, foreign or domwstic; their sales only declined 16%. This was better than everyone else, including Toyota and Honda.

Knowing that birds have the ability to fly thousands of miles south and back north every year without any formal training in geography or rudimentary navigational skills, I'm thinking these guys may have the cognizance to avoid what is instant death. Now, I grant that you'll see some losses probably in that first year of operation due to sheer surprise...hey, what the hell is th..WHAACK!! But I'm sure the rest of the flocks will learn from their unlucky comrades and adjust their migratory routes accordingly. I mean, how many birds fly into office towers? I don't think this is nearly as serious as some may make it out to be. Build them.

Fantastic news!

Question.....what 'view' are those cement silos blocking? Ontario Stone? Cargill Salt? The waterworks? The lake is north of there and the skyline is behind them.....whatever.

^People from Ohio go to Texas, right?

^Then I guess we'd have a bunch of white FEMA trailers parked all over Midtown :-P

^I second that, Willyboy. I grew up in Pierpont but went to grade school at Cabrini and still know many people there. My buddies and I reminisce about how vibrant the town was not 20 yrs ago (I'm 31). It breaks my heart to see it now whenever I get back. It's still pretty safe and it's still on the lake, i.e, it has so much potential.

I've always enjoyed/respected Tom Hanks. Way to go, Tom.

When was the Dollar Bank bldg built? I ask because I was expecting to see a semi-cool and/or historic facade under the present hideous one, but that's not the case.

"Finally, he makes a great point -- perhaps the county sales tax is better spent on RTA than MMPI & Forest City". The more I read about this, and with the economic stormclouds looking pretty ominous on the horizon, I'm beginning to feel the same way. How much convention business will there really be with airlines continuing to fail/raising prices, the continuing unwinding of the absolute mess Wall St & the Fed have made in the financial markets, and the overall poor health of the economy. I'm probably going to get skewered on here for saying this, but so be it. Where could $500+ million be best spent to maximize the benefits to CLEVELANDERS?

The footers are being dug for the next round of townhomes at Rockport Square (adjacent to the just-completed ones on Detroit Ave).

^To answer your question: The Q (i.e. Lebron), The Jake, Tower City, the attached hotels, the Med Mart, and 4th St. For the record, I supported the current site to be chosen. Now, to address concerns over the future of the mall site if/when the TC site gets developed: this site would be perfect for a potential Amtrak/Ohio Hub/Commuter rail/Greyhound/RTA terminal due to it's proximity to rail lines, the shoreway, and major downtown thoroughfares. I think it makes perfect sense. It could be Cleveland's true intermodal hub of the future. I don't have stats, facts or figures; I don't expect this to happen anytime soon (next 5 yrs), but does anyone think that this couldn't work/is a bad idea?

I'm in. That's 2364 keys to keep track of.....I could see some hellacious happy hour get-togethers there. :drunk:

Whatever people "may" think of this project, I think it will help bring some of the energy and action from E. 4th up the street to Public Square, which is nothing but good, IMO. Thanks for the info McC.

^I've heard a Port Authority Board member state that their intention is to relocate the E. 55th marina's capacity to Whiskey Island in some manner. He did not specify beyond that. I might have some more info on this next week.

^Construction-wise, I've heard from people directly involved in this that this will be a fast-track project (i.e., lots of overtime for us construction guys). E&Y and others at the end of their leases have to be able to move in before their leases expire; and all the drama over land acquisition didn't help the timeline either.

MayDay, there are a few 1000' long freighters plying the Great Lakes; when they come into the Cleve, they unload their ore at Whiskey Island and the pellet terminal (the gangly bluish structure that was relocated from Lorain a few years back) reloads the ore onto shorter frieghters that can make it up the Cuyahoga to the mills. The hoss in your photo is prolly one of those big boys.

^That bridge is a coal conveyor that moves coal from emptied railcars on the east bank to the coal dock on the west. My dad helped build the sprinkler system on it when it was being constructed in the 80's. I can't remember which RR owns it. NS or CSX? I believe it used to be Conrail's.

Ashtabula might not have lost the population that a lot of towns have, but the people left are definitely poorer. Having gone to HS in bula (St Johns) in the early/mid 90's, and I hate to say this, but the town has just gone further down the toilet. A lot of factory jobs have left; crime has just gotten unbelieveably bad. Those pictures of main Ave and Bridge St are sad to see, cause I remember when Carlisle's Dept Store was still on Main and most of the storefronts were full. The mall on the east side off Rt 11 really hammered Main Ave when it opened in the early 90's. Bridge St's businesses are geared mainly towards tourists and whatnot; a lot of eateries, antique, and nautical gifts, etc. The politicians who run Bula right now are not part of the solution. Ashtabula, for all it's problems, still possesses a great location. It's access to Lake Erie will be it's salvation, whenever that happens. As for the next 5-10 years, I like Conneaut's (10 mi east on Lake Erie) revitalization chances better. But that's another subject. Nice photo's. I don't get back to Bula much anymore.

Chagrin 'Falls', Olmstead 'Falls', Cuyahoga 'Falls', etc. Hi, I'm Hydroelectric Power, have we met? Dude, you're on the right track.

^I haven't seen this crane personally, yet; but I would agree with jar on this. The infrastructure work and piledriving come first and I'm sure you'll see a couple of these cranes being used for pd'ing as this project is going to use a massive amount of piling and concrete. Again, everything I've heard says this shindig is going to be kicking off soon.

^FWIW, construction is supposed to start by the end of this month (not demo). Because of all the obstacles/variables this project has encountered, along with the major tenants' lease expiration timelines; I've heard firsthand this job is going to be fast-tracked from the get-go (i.e., lots of overtime). With that being said, I would think some more detailed drawings would've been released by now. Seems odd there aren't.