pcforsgren

Was happy to read this in Crain's today. Hopefully the project finally announces a breaking ground date soon.

I like it. I think it's a nice contrast to the other buildings on the mall that are more classical. Final designs should be interesting to see.

About my impression - Been to DS / Gordon Square during the day and night, and it's still pretty quiet during the day but with plenty of people eating and drinking in the evening. As the surrounding nabe fillis in I suspect this may change - retail follows the market, and the market needs disposable income to support retail. That being said, the city proper is still I think (and studies have shown) under-served by basic retail (clothing a prime example). Ohio City seems to follow the West Side Market's hours - bustling and traffic-heavy while the market is open, much less so on off days like Sunday.

Ah I did not. I haven't been on the site in a while and missed the new thread. I'll be happy to take this discussion over there.

Thanks. Not trying to take this off topic but was interested in when they'll be ready for residents. Anyway, back to Uptown... Panera is ok. It's a chain but I agree college kids will like it. ALthough I think lately I've prefered Suzy's Soup in Tower City for a local alternative to Panera. I hope they do a mix of local and chain - I believe MRN "gets" urban development and will.

Interesting article (I just read it) - they even tease (again) Scranton Road Peninsula and Forest City wanting to connect it to the casino. Other then that it discusses the towpath, some businesses moving in, and a short mention of the East Banks project, which it says is still stalled. The most interesting quote is "Forest City didn't pay $2 million for this property in the 1980s to use it as a parking lot". Cmoooon mixed use riverfront development :-D

ah boo. I'm not looking to rent again. Have to look at other stuff I guess.

For those with Crain's subscriptions, there is an article this week on the Flats and some momentum going in there: http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20101011/SUB1/310119992/1071/TOC&Profile=1071 and a free podcast with some dicussion for those who don't have a sub: http://e.ccialerts.com/a/hBMs2UGAJFIzoAJaUOuAYYiDvxX/ccl94-1

The Uptown website at http://www.uptowncleveland.com/ hasn't been updated in months. I wonder if MRN is going to unveil it soon. It says "new website coming soon" but I've been watching it since early summer and no change. Anyone know what the condos in this development are going to be in the range of? I'll be looking to buy in the timeframe they are coming on the market I think.

Thanks. Now to go through the years of posts since I was last on here :)

Thanks MurrayHill, that was my letter. I live at Reserve Square and work in Landmark at Sherwin WIlliams. I was active on the forum here a few years back but took some time off to move back from Columbus, change jobs and do some other things in life. I plan to be back on here now, good to be here (again). The inspiration for writing that letter was a friend of mine who plans to move to San Francisco as soon as she can. I asked her why, and she said that the urban-ness is attractive, as well as the lack of need for a car. I agreed with her that it's tough to be in Cleveland without a car and that we need to work on that, but that I'll be interested in seeing where we are in a decade or two if the health care economy starts to take root along Euclid. It really could be the pathway to success - startups in UC, mid-size companies in Midtown, and larger established companies headquarterd downtown. You could even brand it, maybe the "innovation artery" to play on the heart theme.

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1129887726256960.xml&coll=2 NASA's Glenn Research Center is up in the air as to what role it will play in the future of NASA. Prospects range from them being an integral part of the new vehicle's propulsion system to having the center close in 5 years or so. Quite a bit of leeway there, eh? This is certainly not good news, but I hope it serves to get our political leaders working on shoring up support for the center's future and the need for it as a catalyst to breeding a economy with highly educated researchers creating technology spinoffs.

http://www.cleveland.com/autonews/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1129895727182560.xml&coll=2 Well this is certainly never good for one's economic psyche. Seems Ford is planning to close some American plants as part of restructuring. The company employs 7,000 in NEO. Avon Lake's plant is secure, as they just moved some vehicles there, but the Lima plant and Brook Park operations are up in the air. Overall, this is more evidence that manufacturing in the US is dead and isn't coming back. For a region like Cleveland, it should be further proof that we MUST retrain our population for high-tech jobs and service positions....

The B&N in gateway is similar to the B&N you can find in a shopping center, like the one just off campus at Lennox, which 1) was to be expected and 2) makes it lose some its "collegetown" charm, IMO. It's more of a standard B&N and less of a campus bookstore.

If I have my facts straight, the Sun weeklys are owned by Advance Publications, as is The Plain Dealer. At the corporate level that is, they have seperate subsidiary companies (Plain Dealer Publishing Co. etc)

on an asthetics note: I can't say the place doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. You have two story buildings down most of H, then bam! Easton @ OSU, and then right back to two story older buildings in the Short North. It's a bit jarring to see the two blocks of 4-5 story brand new buildings in the middle of the campus area. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet.

this would be great for the east side. We need to encourage this kind of investment in the neighborhoods that have been hit hard by decay.

crossing my fingers on that one... god it would be nice if district park came back. DOWN WITH PARKING LOTS!! DOWN WITH PARKING LOTS!! (chanting)

driving by once a week or so, I always see people out eating and drinking on the sidewalk patios. Nice to see street activity in the campus area again (non-walking activity that is) I've been to the Ugly Tuna, it's alright. It's definately a change from the normal campus bar, seems to attract a lot of alumni and visitors (read: 35+ crowd) that are in the are for the night, but I saw a good amount of students there too. So all in all, I'd say it's what I thought it would be: Easton for OSU students. A bit heavy on the chains, but if it spurs some redevelopment and investment in the area, I say bring em on.

Let's take a step back through all of this and remember -these are 30 year PROJECTIONS. No one has a crystal ball. The key is to take this as a "worst case" scenario, and continue to build the areas of our economy that are growing, thus reversing the trend. Cleveland can buck these projections and regain population (city and metro), but the worst thing we can do is say "screw it, there's no chance" and resign ourselves to becoming a mid-size metro.

Yes! Create another surburban strip mall! That's EXACTLY what this area needs, more big boxes! :-P

300 Jobs To Be Created In Cleveland Quicken Loans Facility To Open In Area POSTED: 12:23 pm EDT September 8, 2005 CLEVELAND -- Hundreds of new jobs are on the way to Cleveland. NewsChannel5 reported Mayor Jane Campbell is expected to announce the opening of a new business facility operated by Quicken Loans. Campbell and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert will be explaining what the new operation is all about during a news conference Thursday afternoon. NewsChannel5 and NewsNe5 will have more details. Check back often. :clap: :clap: :clap: 300 jobs! Go Gilbert!

This is on the Cavaliers website today: Watch the live press conference on Thursday, September 8th at 1:00 p.m. with Dan Gilbert, Chairman and founder, Quicken Loans and Cavaliers majority owner, and Mayor Jane Campbell as they announce a Quicken Loans initiative for downtown Cleveland. Not sure what this is about... maybe just them debuting the new arena sign, but maybe this means he is announcing an office opening up here. Even if he was moving Quicken Loans to Cleveland, it'd be a bit soon to be announcing THAT in a press conference. Methinks this may be an announcement of an office opening. Either way I'm glad to hear it. Now cmon Dan, just move your headquarters here...

Exactly, MayDay - not only would vacancy drop, taxes for the city increase, but think of all the spinoff from 5,000 new bodies downtown - more demand for places that serve lunch and dinner, newspapers, magazines, entertainment, business services etc... If a good portion of these people elected to live downtown, the spinoff would only be magnified for the city and area. I don't want to hope against hope, but man do I want this to happen.

An interesting blurb from "Generation C", a blog on cleveland.com: "Rock Financial, subsidiary of Quicken Loans, owned by Cav's new owner Dan Gilbert is having a weekend of fun for all its employees the weekend of September 10th in Cleveland. Basically they are bringing in 5,000 employees, based mostly in Michigan, to Cleveland to tour all the museums and all the other fun stuff we have here. They are also getting their own private Black Eyed Peas concert at "The Q" (sorry to interrupt, but the Q? Geeeez) a.k.a. Gund arena that Saturday. The average age of the 5,000 people is 23 years old. An unconfirmed rumor says that they could be opening up shop in Cleveland now that Gilbert is the Cav's new owner, which would be nice if it's true. This could potentially be an introduction to the City for future employees!" Now just think about that one. Another company, Rock Financial moving to a vacant office in Downtown. And 5000 23 year olds running around looking for a place to live close to home. Hmmmm, we have around 8 thousand people living in downtown now and Chris Roynane expects that number to hit 20,000 by the year 2020. How ahead of the game would be be? Keep your fingers crossed on that one. " This isn't the first time that I've heard Dan Gilbert tossing the idea around of moving Rock Financial to Cleveland. This would be an absolute godsend if he did, as that would be five thousand new jobs in the area, and most likely in downtown. That could fill up a chunk of the vacancy rate downtown, and as Marcus writes in his blurb, that would be 5,000 young professionals in Cleveland, working (and hopefully living) downtown. Farfatched? I don't think so. Gilbert is the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He owns Gund Arena, he has put Quicken Loans (Rock Financial)'s name on his arena. And the guy doesn't have any real tie to the Detroit area anymore. Why wouldn't he move his company to Cleveland, where he can be located in the same area that his NBA franchise is? In past interviews, Gilbert has definately stated he wants to at least open a customer service facility in Cleveland, preferrably downtown. But the question has to be raised - if Gilbert is merely opening a call center or service center here, why the hell would he fly every employee he's got to Cleveland, throw them a company-only concert at QUICKEN LOANS ARENA (formerly Gund Arena), and give them a general all expenses paid tour of the city of Cleveland? Somehow I don't think a customer service center is what Dan is thinking. Sounds to me like he's introducing his employees to Cleveland in advance of a move here. In any event, I'll keep my ears to the ground on this one and let you know what transpires.