justine

Kabob-G on Lorain near W. 120th has new owners (again). They are now called Kabob Station. I think the building was a gas station before it became a donut shop and then a middle eastern restaurant. The food is extremely fresh with lots of special dishes like tomato and okra dinners as well as the usual pita sandwiches. They also serve complementary hot tea in a glass tea cup with your meal.

I haven't tried Pour but have walked by it on Euclid. The reason I like Phoenix is that they are committed to making it a "third place" with comfy chairs and lots of space - somewhere to hang out and relax, not just rush in and get coffee.

Phoenix coffe house is the very best. The decor is wonderful and the scones are awesome.I am so happy to finally get a location on the west side. Now if they could just come a little further west!

I'm from Detroit and lived in the Cass Corridor (now renamed "Midtown"). I know lots of people who were priced out when the rental costs soared. I think the trend is more part of the move to an urban environment by young hipsters and older baby boomers. People who are dissatisfied with the suburban lifestyle but who want to stay in the same metropolitan area are moving from the suburbs to the downtown and close in neighborhoods. This is not unique to the "rust belt cities" but has become newsworthy due to international interest in the places like Detroit. The best book I have read about Detroit is "Detroit - the Place to Be" by Mark Binelli. Despite the title, this is not an overly optimistic view. The author now lives in New York but grew up in a suburb of Detroit and came back to write the book. There are harrowing tales of things people trying desperately to defend their neighborhoods from frequent robberies and a fire department that has to prioritize which fire to respond to.

If it's just rock climbing, I don't think it will be enough. If they add a cafe and wellness center, it might be feasable. There seems to be a lot of interest in healthy living along Clifton. There is Liquid Planet, Earth cafe, a massage studio and Anytime Fitness in the area.

KJP, I knew the author was you. (a real advocate for transit) I didn't know if you were trying to be incognito on this board, though.

Yes, it is better than nothing. Has anyone else read "The End of the Suburbs" by Leigh Gallagher? If she is right, I think we will see some more market demand for denser housing near transit soon in Cleveland. For more information on the developer see: www.nrpgroup.com

Thanks for the article. I'm glad the writer made mention of transit users accessing these stores. Although, many pedestrians and transit users shop there, it is not a pedestrian friendly area near Target, Aldi and Giant Eagle. The area is designed to serve the automobile. Since this article was written, another Middle Eastern carry out restaurant has opened on Lorain near W.118th and there is a sign up accross the street on Lorain that an Afghan restaurant will open in the future. Lorain has wide sidewalks and some small trees planted on the edge of the sidewalk which serve as a buffer between the pedestrians and the cars. This makes for a more pleasant walk with entrances on the street right at the sidewalk. The stores that have parking, locate it in the back or the side.

DeanSheen, you are right about the tax credits. The apartments will be one and two bedroom units going renting for $500 and $700 per month. Tenants must qualify based on age, income and asset limits. I looked at the drawing at the meeting and it appears the building will be on the Northwest corner with the entrance facing W.116th with parking in back. The website does say W. 117th and Madison, but the drawing at the meeting showed the front of the building facing W.116th. The developer thinks there is a market for this type of housing in the area. I'd really like to see more buildings with retail on the first floor and apartments or condos on the upper floors similar to what is being built around Cleveland State University. This development does not include retail. For pictures and more information: www.apfuhousing.com

Thanks for posting this. I live within two blocks of the intersection of W.117th and Lorain. There are two new Middle Eastern eateries opening on Lorain Ave. Although I like shopping at these groceries, I don't know how the area can support so many of the same type of businesses. There are four groceries, one bakery and soon will be four eateries. There is a lack of variety in the type of businesses that would make this area viable. Since Key Bank moved there really isn't a walkable bank in the area. I usually go up to Starbucks on Clifton for coffee. Unfortunately, the big box stores with their vast parking lots on W.117th near the expressway seem to be the main shopping district for many of the residents. People without cars make the harrowing trek accross the freeway to shop along W. 117th. The bus service on W. 117th is only once an hour other than rush hour when it is every half hour. I hope the business district on Lorain is able to attract more of a variety of types of businesses in the future.

I plan to stop by tomorrow and will post when I find out more.

At the annual Cudell/Edgewater CDC meeting this month, this project was presented as a T.O.D. I am in this demographic and welcome more of this type of housing. For anyone interested, there is a preview and open house coming up. This is from Cudell Snippets email newsletter: NRP Group to Share Senior Residential Housing Plans on January 29th Cudell Improvement, Inc. will host an Open House so interested parties may view the preliminary plans for a proposed senior housing building at the corner of West 116 and Madison Avenue on Wednesday, January 29 from 11 AM - 1 PM at 9815 Lorain Avenue. The public is welcome.

Aren't these townhouses the same style as the ones selling for over $200,000 in the Detroit Shoreway area? They are more energy efficient due to shared walls, have less upkeep than a large lot house. From what I have been reading, this is the type of home that young adults and empty nesters are looking for. I think this area around Cudell and West Blvd., will be sought after soon. There is also supposed to be some transit oriented development near W.116th and Madison. It will be an apartment building for people 55 and over. It could be the beginning of more development in that area.

Regarding the RTA ridership being up at the stations with parking lots, I can say that the Triskett parking lots and the W.117th lot have been more full this past year. I would like to see better and more frequent connecting buses to those stations. The bus that runs on W.117th and connects to two rapid stations runs only once an hour most of the time and increases to once every half hour at rush hour. There is no adequate public transit up Triskett Rd. to take people to that station. There is a plan for dedicated bike lanes on Triskett soon.

As someone who looked at a lot of houses before buying, keep this in mind. The photos which appear on the real estate sites are taken to show the home in the best light. Think about what the home will actually be like to live in. Does the lay out of the house appeal to you and your lifestyle? Do you need larger rooms for entertaining. How important is privacy and nose to you? Look at how close the house next door is to the house you are considering. Do you mind going up and down stairs? What do you like to walk to? Do you want a house which requires constant maintenance or do you prefer to have everything done and little maintenance needed for years? Where do you like to go and hang out? One of the most valuble questions a realtor asked me was, "Where do you go?" Since Cleveland winters are long and cold we spend a lot of our time indoors and I think it's important to feel comfortable in the house. Do you like a house with a lot of natural light? Do you like gardening or would you prefer a really small yard? You can find some houses with minimal yards in some cases paved over in the back if you want to cut down on yard work.

A photo of the storefronts of the Variety Theater as they appear today. Westown-CDC on facebook now has a photo of the interior of Variety Theater

When I go to crimereports.com I no longer can get data for the City of Cleveland. I can get recent crime data for Lakewood, though. Does anyone know if the Cleveland police no longer report on this website?

There seems to be an increase in burglaries everywhere and we were looking into getting a security system. I've noticed that Cleveland doesn't seem to be reporting on www.crimereports.com lately. I can find Lakewood but not Cleveland. Some of my neighbors have security systems through a company, some have battery operated window and door alarms. The police advise getting motion sensor lights which is useful at night. Most of the burglaries occur during daylight hours. Anyone have any companies they have had good experience with? The prices and the area alarmed seem to vary quite a bit.

Not sure exactly where you are searching. You can go to apartment buildings and ask the manager, look at Craigslist, etc. There seem to be a lot of doubles. How about calling the Tremont CDC or Ohio City CDC and find out the names of the some of the property companies that own the apartment buildings? I'm not sure why there aren't vacancies this time of year since summer is usually when people move. We ended up going further west than we had planned also due to not finding the housing we were looking for in the price range we wanted in the closer in neighborhoods.

I'd like to see several buses feed into the Triskett Station. It might reduce the number of cars in the parking lot. Buses could run up Triskett, up Lakewood Heights Blvd. and come in from W. 140th. It seems more like a "kiss and ride" station then a real urban station like the one at W. 117th. I'd like to see better than every half hour service on W. 117th (#78) for that matter.

Businesses in the area. <img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5443/7415208256_4c0647f3fb.jpg"> <img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5279/7415208996_9991f699ac.jpg">

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7415209148_3f239ae5c4_z.jpg"> <imgsrc="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7415209044_907c1ee9e3.jpg">

I just created a flicker account so I think I will try that and see how it works. Thanks.

I'm having a hard time posting photos also. When I preview, sometimes it shows the photos and sometimes it doesn't. Once the issue was that the photo was too big so I resized them all. I'm using windows pictures. I don't use an internet site for photos. I also tried my Corel to no avail. Can I send the photos to my email and then post them from email?

Here is the photo of housing just south of Lorain near Variety Theater.