math

more windy, and a little more phallic.

pretty interesting mix of new and old merchants on w 25th. I would like to see the old moda club fixed up into something. any word since all the craziness there?

some long overdue storefront renovation is happening in the same block of detroit, at the corner of 26th and detroit. if I am understanding the place for us destination, it is directly adjacent to the parking lot to be used. there is a thoroughly reclaimable building across the street as well. it used to hold a tattoo parlor. hopefully something new happens with the street level storefront. the building beside that looks to have seen better days, probably sometime in the mid to late 1970s, and appears unoccupied.

whether we hold the record for surface parking lots, or are simply one of many cities with this problem(of course we are), it is still rather boggling to pan across the seas of cars to the east of the city. it is just more glaring when seen from above. again, it was an observation, and an admittedly obvious one. certainly not an indictment of our fair city.

I was not aware it was no longer active...as active as dead people buried underground can be. I believe someone recently mentioned the cemetary having trouble with vandalism and keeping up the stones, etc. I agree it is a nice patch of grass. I wouldn't run my dog there, since he's a cat. as far as noise/disturbance from salavation army folks, I would imagine anyone buying or renting downtown has few illusions about the tranquility of that area of the city. it sits inside the triangle of three of the largest sports venues in the city, the jake, the q, and the convocation center. while this is an asset as well, it certain makes for a noisy area. personally, I like it, and often bike down to the game, just to stand outside the gates.

if a cemetary in the backyard doesn't bother potential home buyers, I can't imagine a salvation army facility will. I am glad this map shows area past e14th in play. and not to crown myself king obvious, but it is boggling how much parking is in cleveland when you look at it with google maps.

I misunderstood the original post, I was talking about wade park, which is very close to this building. when the poster was referring to rockefeller park, along mlk. I believe Olmsted worked on the original gardens surrounding the park lane villa building. but it has been a long time since I saw the info, so I may be wrong.

if I am not mistaken, one reason the area looks like central park is because the landscaping architecture was designed by the same person who designed central park, frederick law olmsted.

the neighborhood/community meetings I have attended are more about getting cops to drive through more often. despite having the zone car lounge two blocks away, there are still numerous rough steets. apparently the cops are too busy practicing their bagpipe routines to be bothered with the kids lighting sofas on fire on holiday weekends. so no, I haven't brought it up. but I did just think about it two days ago. I am thinking aloud, excuse me if it sounds like I am asking someone else to do it.

well, then they should run the new trolly buses between all the strip clubs. call it the bikini line. no, worse yet, the jolly trolly. ew. and yes, I drove past and realized that indeed, the front door is on the sidewalk, for the urban minded skank enthusiast. it is however, getting a lapdance from parking lots on all sides.

excellent, nice to hear someone has options on that land. I will try and get some photos of the site, since it is ten minutes from my house.

some are occupied, many are just random storage. they are for the most part less than one story, and take up a fairly large footprint of land. and they are ugly. beige painted cinderblock, with unkept grounds and rusty chainlink fence around them. on all but one side, there will be houses within the next few years. I wouldn't mind seeing them razed.

this corner of university circle(let's be honest, its hardly a circle, so it might as well have a corner) will be quite nice in a few years, with a renovated museum, future biotech thingy, and that giant dome-a-ma-jig in the background. what is that thing? is it in use?

the city needs to step up and fix the tunnel to edgewater. it is a graffitti plagued nightmare. there is always broken glass, urine, and beer cans everywhere down there. a redo like the tunnel at the end of 65th would be ideal. with the reuse of the industrial building next door, I can't see this not happening. now if only someone would do something about the crummy warehouses on the other side of battery park, there is quite a bit of expansion space there, once development fills up on the current site. unfortunately, the buildings are not the kind of thing that developers reuse. they are of the squat, sprawling cinderblock type.

yep. I don't know where in the development of the stonework your picture is, but to the right of the building there now is a large pillar thing with a pyramid on top. it is really something. nice to have bocci, since the area has italian heritage. while I am not much of irish pubs, I may try it out a little. I mostly go to the parkview when there are no bands, or the happy dog when I want some food. the proximity to battery park, about 5 blocks, and 65th, about 2 blocks, makes this a sure fire hit. definately a walkable area.

this is three blocks from my house. and we walk past it a lot on the way to the lake. they have done EXTENSIVE work on the exterior. it looks like a beautfiul old house rehab surrounded by a castle. you really must see it to believe it. and as a detroit-shoreway resident, I am so happy to see gypsy open. the potential has long been there at this intersetion, so it is nice to see things come together. if only we could pretty up the leather stores. heh.

well, we need to get these strip clubs building up to the sidewalk. I am sick of the same tired design with the parking lot in front and the building set back from the street. how are you supposed to park descretely? can't they just pick up the building and move it closer to the sidewalk?!

a couple things I wonder about as this progresses. opposite st clair place are a number of parking lots, and a strip club, I think it is called the gold something. ugly medallion design on the facade. I drive past it everyday. with such nice new buildings going in, I do hope something is done about that corner. ie 86 the strip club, and extend the project. as far as the run down apartment complex, st clair place, even a paint job like reserve square got would do wonders.

a number of people asked what is so great about ikea. the first default I have to this question is, its not walmart. and in a lot of ways, I think it applies. alot of what people get down on walmart for, you can look at ikea and see the opposite, or at least some difference. despite planting their buildings off of highways in the burbs, they are in fact somewhat environmentally friendly. they are making a push to build green. they are also wedged in the middle of the fortune 500 best places to work, thanks to a well regarded benefits package. as a result, they have exceptionally low turnover in staff. I think it is easy to look at it from a big box = no good persepctive. but it is also a bunch of jobs for an area that needs good jobs. and if the choice was there, I woud rather see a bunch of people happy to be working at ikea than a bunch of people unhappy to be working at walmart. so sue me.

...and all I wanted to do was bitch a little about walmart and the two ikeas along the qew. ffs.

sorry, I think you are being rather simplistic about this. I claimed not one, but two destinations besides the ikea. hence, what? agree to disagree if you like. but detroit has a lot of problems, why should it surprise me they have traffic issues surrounding a shopping center. the shopping around north olmsted is a traffic nightmare, and every store is full. moreover, if one store can bring that many people, why is that a problem. my point is that steelyard will be lucky to get that kind of business with the lousy stores they are offering. their is nothing so remarkable about what is being put in there. so I will keep my disappointment. yes, ikea doesn't want cleveland. but something better than walmart and target had to be out there. why it couldn't be done in such an underserved market, is beyond me. yes, people in euclid(and parma, and north olmsted, and everywhere) have preconceived, often racist, opinions about downtown cleveland. someone who would drive 2 hours to avoid shopping in a city has problems.

when I am in pittsburgh for the ikea, I stop also at the music store across the highway, and then at the baja fresh for lunch. my car no longer goes out of town. and rentals being expensive, I am not there more than once a year. but it is a nice odds and ends detour if something good is at the mattress factory or the warhol that we plan to visit anyhow. as a part-time employed student my shopping habits are hardly normal. honestly, I don't think it's a relevent question. I only wanted to express my disregard for the selection offered at the future steelyard commons, and that there was a clear missed oppourtunity there. your opinion of ikea furniture is also puzzling. sure, I get it...you don't like ikea. but apparently alot of people do. and when you drive past two of them, within in an hour of each other on the same highway, and the parking lot is packed in both, it gets you thinking, wouldn't that be nice in our city. now will a walmart really engender that much enthusiasm from the local community. maybe, but at what price to the local workforce and businesses. no thanks, I'll pass.

bunch of junk = not destination stores. people drive for an ikea. clevelanders will drive to pittsburgh to visit the ikea there. and generally the result of an ikea opening is a large number of quality second tier stores moving in nearby. I understand the importance of offering something within the city so people don't drive to the suburbs for it. but what about offering something so people in the suburbs drive in to the city to shop? sorry I am non-plussed by a walmart and a target, oh and don't forget a chipotle. ugh. target is making itself so common by oversaturating the market. there will also be one on 117th, opening shortly as well, no? and walmart is, well, walmart.

my wife and I drove to toronto this weekend. on the way up the qew I nearly choked with rage when I saw two ikeas within an hour of each other off the same freeway. aack...aack...aack. I was livid. how can we not get an ikea in steelyard commons?! the usual line is that they do not build so close to other sites. obviously that is not true. now we are stuck with a walmart and a bunch of junk. huge missed oppourtunity.

I was recently in toronto. they have several brutalist/bunker style buildings like this on bloor street, the fashion/shopping center of the city. and they look great with hundreds of people walking in and out of them. it would be a shame to lose a building like this because someone thought it was ugly. it is unique. like an ugly dog. you love it for how ugly it is. there is no need for it to be torn down. especially when the alternative is a cookie cutter office building with no appeal at all to it. I look at their designs and wish they could be more exciting, even more ugly. mor anything. instead of just another glass tower, or whatever. wash it off(for real this time) and reuse it.