zippo

Anybody know what the scaffolding going up in front of the former Traveler's Shoppe on Playhouse Square is all about.

I spoke to Tony Troppe, who is the owner of the buildings on either side of what is now the courtyard. He really agonized about having the Howe Hotel torn down, because he is a redeveloper of old buildings. He just couldn't figure out a way of making it work as either apartments or office space, because of the footprint, and the fact that replacing the elevators was cost prohibitive. The courtyard was scheduled for an expansion of the United building, but it never worked out.

there dead

MTS, I don't think you have any concept of what the impact of letting GM and Chrysler fail would mean to not only NEO, but the country as a whole. Not only do you have the immediate employees, but the associated parts suppliers and services, not to mention the valuable knowledge base of manufacturing that would be lost. There are an estimated one million jobs tied directly to Ford, GM, and Chrysler. There is a lot not to like about any government bailout, but I would rather see the money go to saving good jobs, than having the potential of inflaming and already impending recession, and possibility a depression. My brother-n-law is the CEO at Delta. Prior to that, he was CEO at Northwest. He had to go to the government for money after 911. There was no choice. It was either that, or see 40 thousand employees lose there jobs. When a large company goes to the government for help, it’s only as a lender of last resort.

Probably digging up old gas tanks, and cleaning asbestos out of the interior of the building.

Anybody know how there treating the facade? Are they cleaning the brick or is suppose to match the front facing Euclid ave? Looks really bad. Is this the garage portion of the project?

If DFAS is to build a new building, adapting and existing one is unlikely for security reasons. Government buildings needs to be set back (50 feet) from the street in order to meet security requirements established after the Oklahoma bombing. In addition, critical spaces within the structure, including the lobby, mailroom, loading dock, and underground parking garage, would have to be structurally fortified - "hardened," against explosive threats from nearby public areas.

Has there been approval of any other projects in Cleveland?

I was good friends of the son of a former CEO of Eaton, who was largely responsible for locating the offices at their current location. He told me how difficult it was for his father to convince his board and his peers to keep the location downtown, due to the sorry state of Cleveland at that time, but he felt he had a civic duty to see this through and support the city anyway he could. Many CEO's make the decisions based on very personal reasons, and what works for them, be it a tax issue, a driving issue, whatever.

This is a set up. I doubt Eaton has ever been serious about a downtown location. Eaton is using Wolstein for bargaining purposes. They're want a campus, instead of a single, high-rise office building. Pretty hard if your in a downtown, even on the fringe of it. They wanted to move the loop, now they want to eliminate it. They want the port moved, they want the silo's gone. What they want is a tree line boulevard in the burbs. They will continue to make demands that cannot be met, and use the local port authority and city as the fall guys.

I believe Stark is doing everything he can to make this happen, but he has tough road to climb. The lending environment is extremely difficult. Any new stores that sign a lease would be dependent on the local (downtown residents) population in order for that to succeed, and it's doubtful the numbers are there. I'm sure if there was a shift in the air, Forest City would be making the sell. Landing an office tenant would certainly help in getting shovels in the ground, but we only can speculate whether that is even a possibility.

Thanks. Does it make sense there are still any large tenants that would still be available for this project? It seems the economics of building on a parking lots of this type would require a firm that can handle some very steep rents.

What is going to the landmarks commission mean? Are they just asking for a variance? Would it imply anything impending? Regarding the rumor, what large tenant's are still in play?

The developers tried to convert the rear half of the building into a garage, but because of cost, it ended up being more cost effective to build new.

It will be after they move out.