KJP

$208m Shaker Rapid rebuild down the line By Ken Prendergast / May 1, 2023 Starting next year and continuing until 2028, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) plans to completely rebuild its two rail rapid transit lines in Shaker Heights, east of Cleveland’s Shaker Square. Called the Blue and Green lines, this would be their first major infrastructure rebuilding since 1980. But not everyone is on board with this $208.2 million initiative that is included in GCRTA’s proposed capital budget, scheduled to get a public hearing May 2. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/05/01/208m-shaker-rapid-rebuild-down-the-line/

No, they absolutely do not and haven't for a long time. If they did, we might have already had the Blue Line extension to Harvard/I-271 as a single-track line. That was a cost-effective option. The double-track option wasn't.

There's a retail arcade in the basement/gound level from Chester and a retail space on the first floor along East 9th's side walk. Just guessing, but this could host a two-story Target with a food/beverage service on the first floor and the store/cashiers in the ground floor. That could help discourage shoplifting. Ground floor: First floor:

To keep this on topic, I responded here:

Redirecting from the Sherwin-Williams HQ thread... We used to roll up our sidewalks in downtown Cleveland after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends. Now, we roll out the sidewalks on evenings and weekends for the downtown residents to return home from work in the suburbs, or for them to emerge from the office nooks in their downtown apartments, or for the suburbanites to come downtown for a game or other fun. Maybe we need to put more CSU classrooms or labs in downtown's central business district, or attract another university downtown. I was in University Circle's Uptown area yesterday and it was a beehive of activity. But not all were college-age kids. There were actually quite a few families out and there was an event going on at MOCA (lots of red-jacketed valets on hand). I've written about how UC is catching (if not caught) up to downtown in jobs and residents. It was pretty visible yesterday.

My wife also took pics while I drove across the Main Avenue bridge, but we got sunny pics!

Agreed, boardings are up sharply since the pandemic. Anyone know how they compare to pre-pandemic numbers?

She doesn't have a daughter. Trust me. Anyhoo... She's a hangover from Albert Porter's Democratic Party which hates cities or doesn't understand their dense, organic nature.

So many young people here. 🙂 Yes, and Mary Rose Oakar also proposed restoring a roadway between the businesses along the east side of West 25th and the hillside to reduce traffic on West 25th. It's a city, Mary Rose. There's supposed to be traffic. It also slows down cars so pedestrians (aka humans who walk) don't get run over.

It's between the classroom part of the campus and the residential part of the campus. And there's tons of students in those big apartment buildings on the south side of Cedar and in Little Italy as well. And one of these days, some developer is going to realize that zoning for the parking lot between the Little Italy station and that huge UH parking garage allows for a 250-foot-tall building (the same height as The Artisan).

Same deal as what's been written about here. Where does the ridership come from unless we're going to tear down single-family homes alongside the highway for mid- and high-rises. Transit was proposed along this corridor with park-n-ride lots to commute downtown. Since every building downtown has a parking garage or lot and many workers have free parking, and we don't have traffic congestion (except in/near UC), I don't see it making a lot of sense. There is a rail line that NS seems to consider superfluous to its operations -- enough that it chose to not use it for two months this past winter. That rail line is within walking distance to a lot of residential density and employment.

That's great news!!

I forgot to mention that I updated the following article with information that the developer is considering adding a second eight-story tower next to the existing, historic one...

I referenced and linked to that article in my article.

City of Cleveland announces community visioning workshops for North Coast Connector and Master Plan April 28, 2023 — Cleveland — Last fall, the City of Cleveland asked residents to consider concepts for the North Coast Connector, a proposed land bridge that would cross the railroad tracks and the Shoreway to reconnect the community to the lakefront. This spring, residents are asked to weigh in on how to make the North Coast Lakefront and surrounding areas a welcoming place for all through a master planning process. The community will be asked about what will create a sense of belonging and what they want to experience along the shores of Lake Erie. "The North Coast Connector and Master Plan signal our commitment to a city that is welcoming, accessible and thriving for all residents,” said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. “By uniting the community's diverse voices in shaping the waterfront's future, we will not only enhance the downtown lakefront area but will also create shared assets that meet the needs of Clevelanders for generations to come.” The City of Cleveland will host three community visioning workshops open to the public: • May 6th, 2023, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m., Pivot Center - Inlet Dance Theatre • May 9th, 2023, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., EJ Kovacic Recreation Center • May 11th, 2023, 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., via Zoom (register for meeting link) The city will provide childcare, children’s activities and refreshments at the in-person workshops. While not required, pre-registration is requested for planning purposes. Participants are encouraged to register at clevelandnorthcoast.com/get-involved or by calling 216-664-2210. For more information on the North Coast Lakefront or to submit feedback online, please visit clevelandnorthcoast.com.

The first announcement was to be in regards to the land bridge, the legislation for which was to be submitted to City Council this week. I haven't seen that yet. Did I miss it?

Millennia’s Centennial due this year By Ken Prendergast / April 28, 2023 Although a “groundbreaking” ceremony for the start of one of downtown Cleveland’s largest-ever building renovations may not happen until late summer, you may see work crews going in and out of the former Union Trust Bank, 925 Euclid Ave., even earlier. That’s because an interior demolition permit application was submitted to the city this week to prepare for construction work in converting the 1.4-million-square-foot behemoth into The Centennial, featuring nearly 600 apartments, 170 hotel rooms, plus retail, restaurants and a museum. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/04/28/millennias-centennial-due-this-year/

What was said in 1942 could be said today

Building records now show the first building below, at 903 East 123rd St., is to be condemned. That doesn't always foretell demolition, but in this neighborhood I'm afraid it does.

Sometimes I'm energized by what happens in this city and other times the daunting task of rebuilding it makes me sad. For the latter, consider this stretch of East 123rd Street in Glenville, just south of the intersection with Arlington. So here's a guy from Brook Park who owns the 25,000-square-foot building shown first below. He's fixing the building to correct some building code violations. Perhaps this beautiful, old walk-up can be saved. But then there's two more across the street, and there were possibly others here that have already been razed, judging by the many vacant lots. Just imagine what this neighborhood could look like if those buildings were fixed up and some of these cheap, suburban-style houses that are already falling apart could be replaced with townhomes, small apartment blocks and perhaps some larger apartment buildings with a corner store/cafe built up to the sidewalks. This could be a terrific little neighborhood enclave again. Fix up these buildings and add another in the vacant lot at right! A new house was built on the left next to these decaying hulks. What a bustling neighborhood this must've been a century ago!

During the Dual Hub corridor planning, they ruled out cut and cover for three reasons -- one, they wanted to use the "blind headers" for the Huron Subway the Van Swerigens partially built. From just east of the intersection of Huron/Ontario, the Dual Hub subway was to turn northeast with a station below the parking deck that the City Club Apartments is being built next to. The other reason was because the East 9th Street sewers are huge. I believe the combined storm/sanitary sewer is 9 feet in diameter. That's why they didn't want the Euclid-9th subway station to be built below that intersection and it's why cut-and-cover wasn't possible there. And there's that layer of quicksand that's not too far below the downtown surface which complicates all downtown digging.