KJP

Superb photos. In one of the photos of Terminal Tower from beneath the Detroit-Superior bridge you can see a passenger train on the Cleveland Union Terminal viaduct (I know...a one-track mind <---ouch!).

Sun sure is kicking the PD's butt lately! :wink:

^ Awesome! But only as long as it involved a highway project!

The roadway would be built on the former Erie-Lackawanna RR right of way, which is below street level in the West Bank of the Flats. The underpasses are still mostly intact. But my suggestion is to add a track in the pavement of the Cuyahoga Valley Intermodal Roadway to accommodate over-dimensional loads from the port. What all this has to do with Stonebridge I'm not sure!

I saw the newsletter and also didn't understand why the old river channel stuff or the river "shortcut" was in there. Maybe they're trying to revive discussion about it without actually saying so? The Cuyahoga Valley Intermodal Roadway is an offshoot of the Inner Belt project, and would build a truck roadway from the southern industrial part of the Flats north to Whiskey Island (and future port island?). Go to: http://www.innerbelt.org/CuyValHome.htm

The only reason why Bush & Co. try to get away with this is because they know that can. I wish some organization would file a lawsuit against Bush and Mineta for violating the law. These government officials apparently feel they are above it.

The Shoreway bridge begins midway between West 3rd and East 9th streets. The portion that would be torn down would be from there west to just east of West 9th Street -- though the Stark diagram shows the Shoreway intersecting with West 9th. I don't think that's physically possible owing to what the Shoreway gradient would have to be to come down off that bridge, it would require a major change of the main span of the bridge and it would block the old Main Avenue into the Flats. But I think that if the Shoreway descended to intersect with West 6th, that would be fine. And, it's possible from a gradient issue since ramps already descend from the bridge to West 6th. As for the grid over the tracks, you don't need to add fill dirt or anything like that to provide the slope. All that's probably needed are streets to bridge the tracks, with fill dirt under the streets only. Buildings can be built between the streets and extend below street level, where parking, retail, exercise rooms, utilities etc. can be offered. The greatest descent from the old shoreline down to track level is between West 9th and West 3rd, where a large parking lot is located. This was the site of a railroad station (Union Station from 1864 to 1930, Pennsylvania RR Station from 1930-1964). This is the site which the port authority wants to build the parking deck for Cleveland Browns Stadium (relocating surface parking from north and west of the stadium), and offer a truck-staging area for the ferry (relocating from a proposed temporary location, also just west of the stadium). Atop this parking deck would be buildings and an extension of West 6th Street. Filling in the gap directly above the lakefront tracks is a big issue, but if all the areas are filled with structures right up to the tracks on either side, then constructing a landscaped "platform" above the tracks becomes less of an complication. The "platform" would be long, but narrow, about 100 feet wide east of West 9th and only 50 feet wide west of West 9th.

I wouldn't put Old Brooklyn in that mix. It's not bad, but it needs more investment before it can again become an active area. MetroHealth's new "South Campus" in the closed Deaconess Hospital should help bring some life back to that area, but it's been wounded for a number of a years and I felt uncomfortable in putting it on that list.

Stark is 54 years old. That is noted in the first sentence of the last article, so I see where you're going with that! The article follows on that point. He looks older than 54, but also looks better than many I've seen who who have just been treated for cancer. He is taking care of himself, sees the doctor four times a year and has the financial wherewithal to afford the best medical care. Stark has four children, three boys and one girl, all born in the 1980s. I don't know if they're in "the business" or even interested in it.

I don't think anything is worse than Euclid Square Mall is right now. Not only is the mall empty (save for a store or two), the out-lot retailers are closed up too. It's pretty remarkable and sad. In my "Cleveland of the future" Euclid Square Mall and its surrounding out-lot structures are demolished, replaced by a new-urbanist town, served by linked extensions of the Red Line and Waterfront Line, and connected to a station on the Ohio Hub high-speed rail line to Buffalo and Toronto.

It's still a untapped area.

A lot depends on the time of day you visit these areas. For example, Little Italy will appear dead at 2 p.m. on a weekday, but visit it after 6 p.m. and it's a different place. Check out, in no particular order: Downtown.... Warehouse District; Lower Euclid-East 4th; Flats West Bank; Gateway-Huron/Prospect/East 9th; Chinatown; East Side Cleveland.... Little Italy; Shaker Square; University Circle (Bellflower); Little Albania (off St. Clair, east of 55th); Collinwood/Beachland; "Old World" neighborhood on East 185th Cleveland/Euclid border; West Side Cleveland.... Ohio City; Tremont; Detroit-Shoreway (W.65th "emerging" arts district); Edgewater; Kamms Corners; Eastern suburbs.... "Coventry Village" Cleveland Heights; "Cedar-Fairmount" Cleveland Heights; "Cedar-Lee" Cleveland Heights; "Lee-Van Aken" Shaker Heights; "Mayfield-Green" South Euclid; "Legacy Village" Lyndhurst; "Downtown" Chagrin Falls; "Downtown" Bedford; "Downtown" Willoughby; Western suburbs.... "Downtown" Lakewood; "Madison Village" Lakewood; "East End" Lakewood; "West End" Lakewood; "Downtown" Rocky River; "Crocker Park" Westlake; "Downtown" Berea; "Ridge-Snow" Parma; "State Road" Parma; There are some busy, sprawling shopping centers and places like the I-480/Tiedeman area which has lots of restaurants but is hardly pedestrian friendly so I didn't include it.

No word yet on when Stark/Asher will seek city approvals or what the land use mix will be for Phase I. Asher has met with Tom Yablonsky of the Historic Warehouse District Inc. and told him his plans are for a very high-density development. That's the first stop in the approvals process. Ronayne said to me that a project like this would finally justify the Waterfront Line. Carney's new position is very huge with respect to all of this, and that will become even clearer in the last article. Stark is passionate about this. I had throw in the article the part about Stark's voice rising as he discussed how the street grid would work and what it would do. Stark shows his passion at very specific times, and is calculating in his use of it to sell his ideas. He is a rare mix of attorney, salesman and human behaviorist (I think I'll use that sentence again at some point!). He understands how to create a dynamic between people and bricks and mortar. He recognizes that buildings which interact best with sidewalks maximizes the income potential of a physical investment. Other than that, I couldn't give you any further insights into residential price points. I can tell you some of his philosophies regarding: Specialty retail: He believes that attractive design is just as important as the demographic area to be served by a retailer. He was able to show his building designs and amenities to convince a number of retailers to come to Northeast Ohio for the first time, and his developments are the only places where they are located locally (Trader Joe's, Brio's, and some of the "off-shoot" retailers like Abercrombie Kids, Gap Baby, etc.). Office marketing: His philosophy is that office spaces need indoor and outdoor "getaway" locations, like indoor gardens, outdoor courtyards, where office workers can get away from their desks to recharge. He said that's one thing that suburban office spaces fail at, because it often requires an office worker to get in their car to visit some place that's capable of re-energizing them. Public spaces: The indoor and outdoor spaces need to have eclectic, funky features, like a unique fountain, public art that's also functional (can provide a place for adults to sit or for kids to climb), or is downright bizarre, like Crocker Park's mammoth-size chess set with movable pieces. It's surrounded by tables with chess boards embedded in them. That has caused the Cleveland Chess Club to hold their competitions there. There's more but I hope that gives more insight into Bob Stark.

Good question. Sometimes, when you've been scooped, you let some time pass by and then report on a new angle to the old story to make it seem fresh. We all get scooped at one time or another. And, to MyTwoSense, if I were God, then Frank Jackson would return my phone calls.

The locomotive looks OK. The passenger car next to it looks like what happens when paint is burnt off of steel.

Near Orlando, a mall was redeveloped as a lifestyle center with one of the department stores converted into loft apartments. That's the only thing I can see happening with Randall Park Mall. I remember when the mall was being built and went there many many times in the late 70s and early 80s. Shopped there with the family. Saw movies there with friends (Airplane, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, and many others). Lots of good memories until I went off to college in 1985. When I came back in 1990, the place was a ghost town.

I suspect Stark may not have much of a problem in convincing Scott Wolstein to alter the office building design in a manner to fit into the "Pesht" scheme. The two men are lifelong friends -- they grew up together, traveled to school together and continue to be friends to this day. I found that out when researching material for Part 2 of this series. Unfortunately, Scott Wolstein has been out of the country the last couple of weeks, so I haven't been able to find out how he sees his Flats East Bank project fitting in with Stark's vision. Strnisha said he was pretty confident a tenant would be landed soon for the office building, but said it wasn't DFAS. He felt DFAS would probably end up in a new building near the new FBI HQ along Davenport Bluffs. As for Navy Pier, Stark has no love for that. He specifically mentioned that he didn't consider it an effective use of Chicago's lakefront. He called it a failure. Audidave, hold off on whether you think this is viable until you read the last part of the series. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter if Stark can build all of "Pesht." Once the port operations start moving, any developer can start investing in that massive property -- with the help of the port authority. As for building above the tracks, that certainly is going to be a significant expense. But public capital often follows private investment. And part of that can come from the parking deck/staging area for the ferry. That would move the natural escarpment northward to next to the tracks, which simplifies bridging the tracks.

Or, reducing parking at the downtown campus would cause more CSU students to enroll at the suburban campuses, and force CSU to expand them. Now, if they had more downtown student housing, then you might be able to get rid of some of the parking supply. But I think that has to come after the structured parking is built to make land available for providing the housing density.

Noozer, would you be able to post the full letters from CSX and NS? The quotes you posted sound only lukewarm to me, and make no mention of the impact that the Ohio Hub could have on adding through capacity for freight traffic. Did they say much more along those lines?

Not according to the U.S. Census!

haha! :bang2:

Aren't you supposed to be missing or something?

Just because these places serve a market doesn't mean they should continue to be allowed to exist. On that score, pot, cocaine, heroin etc. should be legal because they serve a market too. Rob1412 is right. These places aren't much better than loansharks.

Hey X-man, Congrats! You just made your 1,500th post! I remember when I posted my 1,500th message, young whipper snapper... must've been back in the pre-Cambrian Period when soil was invented and when Wilma Smith got her first face lift.

You mean higher density than what is in the city's lakefront plan, as opposed to what it is in the Stark plan? <a shameless transition in preparation for posting article Part 2 tomorrow>