kal-el

I adore Shaker Square, but this is just craziness. The Square has evolved into a moderately successful neighborhood and destination dining cluster, with some neighborhood services that make it a great place to live. But a lively retail center it is not- certainly nothing like what it was in its prime. And at the same time, we don't live like we did in the 60s.At that time Larchmere and Buckeye were pretty bare. I'll give you that we no longer have an anchor department store. Yet the space has been put into adaptive reuse. There is more to Shaker Square than restaurants and there isn't anyplace else east of lee Road for folks to shop (for basic needs), unless they go into Cleveland hts. (lee-Cedar) or Shaker hts (lee-Chagrin). Evolved?? Come on its ALWAYS been a succesful, not to mention stable, neighborhood and destination. speaking of S SQ, when is that wine bar opening MTS?

I think he means the racism of people choosing where to live. And he's right that there are many people who choose to live in other suburbs because they associate Shaker's racial diversity with crime, decline, and poor schools etc- wrongly in my opinion. And that's just it- Shaker happens to be adjacent to University Circle which is one of the few parts of Cleveland that is seeing significant job growth- and in the sectors that employee people disproportionately likely to choose Shaker Heights as a place to live. It is by far the most highly educated suburb in the Cleveland area outside of the Chagrin Valley (Gates Mills, Hunting Valley, Bentleyville). I agree Shaker will change and evolve, in some cases for the worst (the poorer neighborhoods in the southwest in particular), but I don't believe it is anywhere close to a tipping point that will send it into some kind of downward spiral. People have been predicting the collapse of Shaker Heights for as long as I can remember. poor schools? anyone that thinks that is not paying attention. Second most national merit scholars in the state this year with 6. Newsweek's annual top 1300 public high schools lists shaker is at #372 in the nation. Only NEO schools ahead of Shaker are Solon (#132), chagrin falls (#135), and orange (#264). There were times when Shaker was higher, but come on. If someone doesn't want to live in SH because they think the schools are not good, then that is fine. I would rather have people live here that appreciate what they have.

Everyone knows that taxes are an issue but what do you mean by the racism remark? Are you saying young families would leave shaker and expect to find less racism in the outer ring somewhere? If so that is the complete lunacy. I would think the opposite would be true. Look, you are welcome to your opinion, but I strongly disagree with most of what you said.

Clements graduated in 1998. Year after me.

It looks dirty because it is. Its been vacant for years. Are you being serious in asking if they are going to clean it?

We'll in the 70's the Hillcrest core, Cleveland Hts., Shaker Hts., Beachwood, Pepper Pike was the richest section of Ohio. Cleveland Hts. and Shaker Hts. will never lose their "luster" because of the beautiful homes. My cousin lives north of Chagrin, in Beachwood, in those Gawd awful tacky as 70s houses. Who will want to live in that in 20 years? They certainly wont appreciate like the homes in the Heigh My parents house is 80 years old, the homes around are similar in age. Just like the homes in Forest Hills, someone will always want to live there. The Shaker/Cleve. Hts. area has always been popular with local entertainers and athletes. Savol actually lived in Cleveland, Shaker Square. Savol actually lived in Cleveland, Shaker Square. :oh, I see, he was trying to upgrade his status! But it forever shattered the myth (self-imagined) that life Shaker Heights was like a 40's screwball comedy adrift on a sea of high-WASP culture (too many Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant movies) Savol did go to SHHS though. I prefer to claim Nate Clements (I think they were in the same grade).

Its hard for an outsider looking in to understand why shaker residents love the city so much so i don't expect you to understand, but let me tell you that you are completely off base. If shaker residents wanted to live in beachwood then they would have done so to begin with. As for the private school thought of yours, WTF? One of the great attractions of the city are the fine schools and you pay for them through the high taxes as it is. You think people want to pay the taxes and then pay $20k to send their kid to private school too? Not many people I know that's for sure. I am not a liberal, yet place a high value on the diversity of shaker (there goes your theory) . I didn't fully appreciate it until I went away to school and met people without the experience I had and noticed how sheltered they were in the ways of people different from themselves. that is just one of the many things people move to the city for. What city do you live in and what makes it so much better? Can't wait to hear this.

My faves, sorry for the weight towards the east side. Thats where I do a lot of eating...... Sushi: Pacific East: Cleve Hts or Woodmere Shuhei: Beachwood SasaMatsu: Shaker Square (liked it as Matsu better though) Mexican: Momocho: OC Lopez: Cleve Hts Don Tequilla: Univ Hts (cheap/good) While I am at it Middle Eastern: Anatolia Cafe: Cleve Hts Aladdin's: Cleve Hts Mad Greek: Cleve Hts

It's ok. I don't mean to seem ungrateful, I love my parents home and appreciate all they did for my brother and I, but I couldn't wait to escape Shaker. I hated it with a passion as a kid/teenager. Understandable! Easy there. SH has a lot to offer. Good schools, great neighborhoods, diverse population, culture, access to rail, nature, etc. Lets remember that south park blvd, as beautiful and amazing as the homes are, is only a part of the city. Its not all mansions. Shaker was also a pioneer in school de-segregation. No town is perfect, but its a great place to live for a lot of people.

I second Cleveland Heights, specifically Coventry. Population is heavy on recent grads. As MTS said, plenty of parks (don't forget that the shaker lakes are all less than 10 minutes away too). Great restaurants there and at cedar lee and little italy both right around the corner. Plenty of bars/pubs as well. Live music at The Grog Shop. Plus access to downtown is simple.

theres no unique to cleveland design of the building. Like a brown and orange building?

I think it is important to look at this project in a level headed non-simcity way. I think building a monster scraper would be a huge mistake at this time. Decisions shouldn't be made based on how we compare to chicago or new york. If we do, we are going to feel inferior a lot of the time. Instead we need to build on what we have in place and what is going right. We are fortuate that we have a lot of things happening right now. The office market situation with leases expiring and relatively low vacancy is a great thing and allowing projects like FEB to get off the ground and projects like this to move in that direction. It should not however give us a reason to get out of control. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the overall economy, and especially the economy here in Cleveland. As someone mentioned earlier, lending has tightened. A few of the big name banks here in town have had the lending faucet shut off almost entirely. I commend Jacobs for taking advantage of an opportunity and filling a need with this project.

Seriously?

I am not so sure about this statement Americans love their chains, so do business travelers. I feel like I am in the minority when I am on business to seek out local places. Agreed. Someone is town on business or just visiting may be looking for something they are familar with and know what they are going to get. I see this as very common. As much as I personally love the independents, I know there are tons of people that love the chains just as much. We're not talking about putting in a Ruby Tuesdays though (I hope). I think CPK, Maggiano's etc. are pretty acceptable.

The two floor arcade was awesome. Growing up I remember going to Friendly's for dinner, shopping at The Hobby Shop, and sprinting down those red carpeted ramps. Good times.

Another Cleveland native is Brian Bendis, who is a huge writer for Marvel. Think he lives elsewhere now.

as long as he doesn't do that lame silver rings trick, or the old quarter behind my ear trick.

Did hard liquor at Momocho on Sat as an early bday dinner and Sun morning was tough. Will probably stick to the beer tonight if I want to make it to work tomorrow am.

thank you for the bday wishes. MayDay I will likely take your advice. I have a good selection of Great Lakes waiting for me (Commodore Perry, Holy Moses, Dortmunder)

30 as of today. Glad I am at least still in the 26-30 category on this poll. This b-day is hard enough.

Although, how cool would the festival be a few months later in late spring along the river in the middle of a hip happening urban neighborhood? I say very.

Well I hate to disappoint you, but it is likely to move to the flats.

Pippen was listed as a top 50 all time player. I didn't know boobie made that list yet. Ridiculous.

I have heard rumors of it being more independent movies ala cedar lee/shaker square with some big movies, but also some indies too. This would be more of an attraction than say your typical giant cinemark/regal theater that you find every 15 miles in this area. People travel from all over NEO to cedar lee and cinemateque because you can't see those movies everywhere. I hope this is what goes there and also hope they sell beer like cedar lee and sh square. It would fit w/ the cleveland film festival which is also likely to move to the new theater.

Hmmm, CEO of one of the biggest retail REITS in the country, and you're worried about him being able to bring in a drug store, some restaurants and some other amenities? Please. Sounds like heinen's and a movie theater are pretty much a sure thing and we know about the office tenants. Tell me why retailers like CVS, Starbucks, Kinko's, among many many others wouldn't sign a lease?