KJP

Please discuss the Moen situation in the thread linked above. Here's some more suburban news..... Bedford, UH reach settlement over hospital site By Ken Prendergast / January 22, 2025 The City of Bedford has reached a settlement agreement with University Hospitals (UH) that includes the transfer of the former Bedford Hospital site and surrounding properties to the city and a $2.1 million payment. This settlement ends a two-and-a-half year legal dispute stemming from UH’s controversial August 2022 hospital closure. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/22/bedford-uh-reach-settlement-over-hospital-site/

While I researching the Moen article, I was curious why this Deerfield office building was available. And while looking, not only did I see that the former occupant Horizon Therapeutics had moved its headquarters out of Chicago (to Dublin, Ireland), but another big company Tekada USA pharmaceutical recently moved its HQ to Boston. Everyone's moving. No one is staying put. Keep developing new start-ups because they are the job creators. And when they get bought up, moved out, or go bankrupt, it sucks. But you gotta keep feeding the start-ups or your economy will die. Rust Belt cities forgot that lesson and tried to save themselves by getting companies to relocate to them. That rarely happens. Every day we must start anew.

Moen moving its HQ to Chicagoland By Ken Prendergast / January 22, 2025 Faucet and fixture maker Moen Inc. is relocating is corporate headquarters from the western Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted to the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, IL by the summer of 2026, according to a press release and affected employees. It is not known how many of Moen’s 600-plus HQ employees are making the move but it appears that a significant number of them will. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/22/moen-moving-its-hq-to-chicagoland/

I'm also hearing employees were told of the move yesterday.

Lots of planning steps to through before there's a go/no-go decision with many outs along the way. Discuss more here....

Meh, made an article out of it. Here's that Geis render... Long-sought Midtown developments have a pulse By Ken Prendergast / January 21, 2025 Projects that have languished for half as long as the redevelopment of the Warner & Swasey factory, 5701 Carnegie Ave., were ultimately abandoned. But not this one and the reason is because just about anyone who follows redevelopment locally wants its catalytic reactivation for the benefit of Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/21/long-sought-midtown-developments-have-a-pulse/

Warner Swasey Project was scheduled for Jan. 16 on the Euclid Corridor DR agenda, but was pulled off at the last moment. The Euclid Corridor city planner Kim Scott didn't give any reason why it was pulled. Hopefully it will be back on again soon. Unfortunately the presentation didn't show much new from prior graphics. They keep using that same Geis rendering from a thousand years ago. On the bright side, the East 70th Street Apartment Building (remember that one?) was on the same agenda. It had some modest design modifications (ie: removal of about half of the balconies) and was approved. Correction: it was tabled pending more information on the use of materials. But it should move forward soon.

Permit applications being submitted for SWTHZ at Intro, 2421 Lorain Ave. They're opening in cities nationwide. Found a link for them, announcing they're opening here https://sweathouz.com/ohio-city-book-now/

No. There are no more intact railroad rights of way that travel south from the lakefront along either side of the Cuyahoga River. Not since the 1980s.

Re-reading portions of The Brink by Marc Ambinder and The Spy and The Traitor by Ben MacIntyre for the script I'm writing. 🕵️‍♂️

What alternate route?

For perspective.... Cruise ship passengers arriving the Port of Cleveland in 2023 -- 10,000 Amtrak passengers arriving at Cleveland's Lakefront Station in 2023 -- 48,784 Cruise ships that hang around for a day or two in broad daylight are a bit more visible than Cleveland's middle-of-the-night trains.

Taking steps toward a more walkable Cudell By Ken Prendergast / January 20, 2025 Unfortunately, there are many places in Cleveland where crossing a wide, busy street is like being the frog in the video game Frogger. But having that be the case at the front door to a rapid transit station reduces the usage of that station. And it reduces the potential for that station to spur the development of housing, jobs and services within a short walk. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/20/taking-steps-toward-a-more-walkable-cudell/

"It was my understanding that there would be no math."

FRA sends Amtrak long-distance service study to Congress The Federal Railroad Administration has sent to Congress a long-awaited report of Amtrak's daily long-distance service. In the report, the FRA prioritizes 15 new long-distance routes and calls for restoration of Amtrak's daily service on its Cardinal and Sunset Limited routes. The FRA worked on the study from 2022 to 2024, during which time it received over 50,000 stakeholder and public comments that indicated overwhelming support for long-distance services or passenger rail in general, the report states. The final report also recommends consideration of a new long-distance committee made up of stakeholders from across the country — including host railroads, states and communities served by Amtrak long-distance routes, Amtrak and the FRA — that could serve as a forum for feedback and discussion related to current Amtrak long-distance service. The report does not include recommendations for restoration or enhancement of state-supported service, the Northeast Corridor, high-speed rail, or other types of passenger rail service. MORE: https://www.progressiverailroading.com/amtrak/news/FRA-sends-Amtrak-long-distance-service-study-to-Congress--73711 A link to the report: https://fralongdistancerailstudy.org/final-report/

It’s not surprising that cities like New York, Washington D.C., Boston, and San Francisco have the highest percentage of households without a vehicle. These cities boast some of the most robust public transit systems in the country, offering diverse modes of transportation and accessible networks. But when you compare U.S. household car ownership data with median household income, an interesting contrast emerges. The average household income in NYC, D.C., Boston, and SF is close to or exceeds the national median of $82,000. This suggests that the strength of their transit systems plays a significant role in reducing car ownership—not economic constraints. Meanwhile, cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia tell a different story. With average household incomes 50% below the national median (less than $40,000–$50,000), low car ownership is more likely driven by socio-economic factors. For many residents in these cities, public transit isn’t a choice—it’s a necessity. The harsh reality is that being solely dependent on a public transit system that barely exists is the worst position a commuter can find themselves in. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7286921269214638081/

It's in the article. To pursue eminent domain, the public benefits of the passenger rail service would have to exceed those of the freight service on that line. That might actually be a worthy argument considering that the CSX property south of Jennings Crossing (near Harvard-Denison) is so limited. And north of there, CVSR intends to have its own track, separate from the freight operation. BTW, the article is updated with a quick note from CSX.

Until recently, hospitality expansions were not getting financed. Now apparently some are. BTW, there's a pulse at the Hulett Hotel project. Mark Raymond, developer and owner of the property at 1468 W. 25th St. recently submitted a request for a certificate of disclosure for the neighboring property at 1452 W. 25th St., suggesting he was going through the due diligence necessary to acquire the property.

Poor track conditions.

I don't have a route map that's any better than one I put in the article. What's wrong with the AECOM station site map? Bedrock could have located at least an interim station below Tower City's walkway to Gateway, which is going to be replaced anyway. CVSR used to operate from Akron to Canton. The tracks were preserved by Akron Metro RTA but no one uses the middle section of it anymore. Metro doesn't maintain it, including keeping it clear of vegetation so nature is taking it back.

CSX doesn't want us to have nice things.....

CSX makes CVSR downtown extension infeasible By Ken Prendergast / January 19, 2025 Except for one brief instruction, property-owning freight railroad CSX Transportation didn’t participate in a feasibility study for extending the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad‘s (CVSR) passenger trains into Downtown Cleveland. But that instruction, described as “a gold-plated” request, forced the study team to conclude that the CVSR extension would not be feasible — for now. MORE https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/19/csx-makes-cvsr-downtown-extension-infeasible/

McCafferty Center site to be senior housing By Ian McDaniel / January 18, 2025 Affordable housing developer Pennrose, LLC. is looking to build on the success of its other Cleveland-area projects with its next venture, this time on the city’s west side. The national developer is partnering with Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) to construct a 72-unit apartment building geared towards seniors and charging rents between 30 percent and 70 percent of the area’s median income. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2025/01/18/mccafferty-center-site-to-be-senior-housing/

Other way around. New york Community Bank bought Flagstar and adopted the name. It's in the article... 😉

Hotels locate near to where people live. You add more residents -- they add more hotels for visiting friends, family, weddings, etc.