KJP

Yes, GCRTA, the city and county are embracing TOD. Check out: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/09/06/greater-cleveland-tod-initiative-on-track/ Also, GCRTA is putting together an RFP and/or a funding request for TOD land-use planning work along all of its high-frequency corridors.

I think @Boomerang_Brian is correct. I think it pretty much locks us in to being a light rail system for the foreseeable future. But if we don't start boosting ridership on this system through station area development, these may be the last rail cars RTA ever orders.

To paraphrase Darth Vader, I find your lack of curiosity disturbing! Here's a blank that needs filling in to determine if your assumption is correct… how many annual housing unit sales does South Korea have per capita vs USA? According to Statistia, the USA peaked at 6.9 million houses (new and existing) sold in 2021, after selling 5.64 million in 2020. USA's population was: 2020 - 331.5 million 2021 - 332.0 million Thus, 1.7 percent of America's population bought homes in 2020 and 2 percent in 2021. Data for 2022 was unavailable. In South Korea, housing sales peaked at 2.02 million in 2020, slipping to 1.62 million in 2021. South Korea's population was: 2020: 51.84 million 2021: 51.74 million So 3.9 percent of South Korea's population bought homes in 2020 and 3.1 percent did so in 2021. In other words, South Koreans purchased homes at a rate that's greater than 50 to 100 percent more than Americans' appetite for home buying. So I'd say your assumption was just a tad off.

Building permit application submitted for the five-level, 63,604 SF (21,185 SF footprint), cast-in-place concrete parking garage for Fairfax Market. Foundation permit for the garage was submitted Nov. 29, 2022. Estimated cost for the superstructure is $3.7 million. The foundation was another $3 million. Submitted by John G. Johnson Construction.

Do you have data to back this up?

We are not alone. In downtown Toronto, its merchants started a campaign to ask the city to force downtown-based companies to end remote working.

Sorry I'm late to the party Centennial project downtown wins $15m HUD loan By Ken Prendergast / January 29, 2023 The Centennial, one of downtown Cleveland’s most complicated, expensive and elusive redevelopment projects, got another sign that it is very much alive by winning a $15 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The financial assistance will be provided through HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program and will be used to help finance the nearly half-billion-dollar conversion of the former Huntington Building, 925 Euclid Ave., from mostly offices into primarily a residential property. MORE https://neo-trans.blog/2023/01/29/centennial-project-downtown-wins-15m-hud-loan/

New Hough housing seeks affordability By Ken Prendergast / January 28, 2023 As market-rate housing developments continue to be built in Hough, this east-side Cleveland neighborhood is facing a challenge it hasn’t had to deal with for a century — remaining affordable. To that end, two new developments are moving forward to offer up to 160 workforce housing units plus a few retailers/restaurants that will offer services to those new residents. Those would add to hundreds more housing units that were recently completed, are under construction or planned in response to strong job growth in and near University Circle. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/01/28/new-hough-housing-seeks-affordability/

Will they increase the frequency of service?

3C startup at 79 mph was projected to cost $500+ million 13 years ago. Prices don't go down, certainly not for infrastructure. Today, if we wanted 79 mph 3C with the first 110 mph portion London-Columbus-Greenwich, it would probably be closer to $1 billion.

Not only that, their last staffers who had experience with passenger rail planning/development have retired. No one with similar experience has replaced them. ORDC has no concern for passenger rail. ZERO.

I think it's a terrible idea unless a significant amount of housing and mixed-use were developed around train stops at Rockside Road, Brecksville Road, Bradley Road, Steelyard Commons (develop north end with housing), and maybe Flats South before arriving a station next to the river below Tower City. This isn't a fast line -- even with track upgrades. It's got lots of curves, a grade-crossing with two busy freight lines with slow freights coming in/out of Flats rail yards. Then there's the lift bridge over the Cuyahoga River, below I-490. Park-n-ride transit doesn't produce ridership for a downtown that's as over-parked as ours. And the station would be at the far-west end of downtown. Clevelanders don't walk. They aren't going to walk more than 10 minutes from the train to their job, not when most downtown workers have parking at their workplace -- and often it's free parking. Ridership is down 84 percent on the Rapid at Tower City Center since 2019. There is hope it can come back somewhat, especially if we keep developing housing and transit villages around Rapid stations. But unless we attempt the same thing -- combining transit and real estate to make CVSR a lifestyle that combines transit, residential, walkable town centers with easy access to active sports and heritage tourism in the valley -- then we're trying to put a square peg (the train) into a round hole (our car-dependent lifestyle).

Crap. They were on my call list for tomorrow.

Ohio City apartment project gets ‘The Vibe’ By Ken Prendergast / January 26, 2023 Things are starting to come together for new construction on one of Ohio City’s largest development sites. A new developer is at the ready. A project architect was selected and a firm that typically provides construction general contracting has been added to guide the development’s design. The developer even has a name of the development and some basic, preliminary design concepts regarding scale. But what isn’t yet known for certain is the programming for the project and if it will include a ground-floor commercial use, like a restaurant. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/01/26/ohio-city-apartment-project-gets-the-vibe/

They're putting their newly awarded Brownfield Grant to good use already.

Fortunately you can find new places in Parma. But for many of the ethnic groups that have been in Cleveland for a long time without new immigrants are being assimilated and have lost their desire for authentic ethnic restaurants and other places that are institutions of their culture. Finding a British restaurant is impossible. A French restaurant is difficult. Many German restaurants have disappeared. Irish restaurants are fewer, but quite a few are still around yet how many still have Irish music? Italian restaurants still seems to hold strong but you can't find as many Italian-American or Sons of Italy clubs. Ditto for Polish-American clubs. Or Slavic, Czech and so on. There are lots of Albanian, Mexican, Vietnamese, Indian and of course Chinese restaurants. They are Cleveland's newest immigrants. Someday they may fade away too. I do think that there's a good chance we'll see more development activity on East 55th in the coming years. The development of the Superior Arts District is going to push more artists out this way. The Richman Brothers redevelopment, the development around the Euclid-Carnegie intersections, the food industry cluster farther south, etc. The St. Clair-Superior neighborhood near East 55th was a fascinating white enclave in a mostly black east side post-1960. It's changing again.

Let's not forget that the Richman Brothers building just sold to a New York-based investment group. No one seems to know what they have in mind for this property including another across the street so let's just wait and see.

Discuss memories, changes in restaurant market, etc in the restaurant thread (click on the post quote below to reach that thread). Famicos owns this site, soon to be vacated for redevelopment. Anyone want it? What should be done with it?

Sterle’s to be demolished By Ken Prendergast / January 25, 2023 If the demolition permit application filed Jan. 20 with the city wasn’t enough of an indication, the heavy equipment in the parking lot of Frank Sterle’s Slovenian Country House certainly is. A longtime ethnic and cultural institution, not only for the neighborhood but for the entire metro area, is coming down. And that breaks the hearts of Slovenians, Croats and others who grew up in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Among those is Joe Cimperman, president of the pro-immigration economic development organization Global Cleveland and a former Cleveland city councilman. He grew up nearby on East 74th Street near St. Clair Avenue. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/01/25/sterles-to-be-demolished/

Posted in the Gateway megaproject thread since that's where Bedrock will likely develop first. But there's lots of references to Tower City/Riverfront in here as well.......