Oldmanladyluck

Even though the bleeding has slowed, I wouldn't be surprised to see Cleveland's population around 375,000 by the next census even with the merger. With miniscule job gains, a frozen regional economy economy, and a lack of focus on immigration (some of the real job creators), a merger with EC is definitely a temporary "fix" which won't last into the next census.

And... the beat goes on... :whip: Greater Cleveland continues to shed more jobs than any big city metro area in the nation By Olivera Perkins, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on December 05, 2013 at 12:49 PM, updated December 05, 2013 at 1:18 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio - Greater Cleveland is on a losing streak. We're not sports. We're talking jobs. Since May, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor metro area has lost more jobs than any large metro area in the country. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor metro area lost 7,700 jobs between October 2012 and October 2013, according to the Labor Department's Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment report released Thursday. The Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY metro area came in second, losing 4,400 jobs, and Peoria, Ill was third, losing 4,100 in employment. Greater Cleveland, which lost 0.8 percent of jobs in the metro area, did not have the largest percentage decrease in employment. That distinction went to Decatur, Ill., where employment decreased 4.3 percent. Manhattan, Kansas, which lost 3.5 percent of its jobs was second and Palm Coast, Fla., with a 3.4 percent, employment decrease, was third. More at... http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/12/greater_cleveland_continues_to.html#incart_river#incart_m-rpt-2 The metro's employment growth has been "stagnate", at best, for the past few years. At this rate, it could be 20 years before the region regains the number of jobs lost (not the income) during the past recession, if the region ever does fully recover.

And... Prospect Ave. unfortunately continues to be one of the bastard step-children of downtown. How many parking garages and surface parking lots have to front Prospect? Just sayin'... I think the street deserves better.

This renovation is gonna be AWESOME when complete!

^Which metros will be surprising to see. I didn't think Columbus lost people in their region during the last census, but I guess the report will show the numbers in more detail. Increased immigration is so vitally important to this region it's not even funny. This region will continue to languish without it.

Global cities are prosperous cities; researchers say Cleveland must welcome the world By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on November 27, 2013 at 8:15 AM, updated November 27, 2013 at 10:31 AM CLEVELAND, Ohio--Cleveland's population crisis burst into the public consciousness with the 2010 census, which revealed the city had lost an astonishing 17 percent of its residents in a decade and dropped to its lowest ebb in 100 years. The census reported another set of facts not so widely discussed. Most major American cities -- even cities associated with growth and new prosperity -- bid adieu to far more people than left Cleveland. In fact, Greater Cleveland lost fewer residents than the metro areas of Columbus, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston and 33 other regions of the country. For most cities on the rise, salvation came not from keeping established residents but from welcoming new arrivals. More at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/global_cities_are_prosperous_c.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2

Does Forest City still own the Skylight Office Towers? If so, I wonder if this could set up a conflict of interest in the future between the PD's reporters and Forest City, whenever the next big project requiring tax subsidies is pitched. Just a thought... since the PD seems to favor Forest City.

^^Yeah, this one's only within walking distance of E. 4th, Playhouse Square, Tower City, the Casino, Gateway, the Warehouse District, the East Bank, the Rock Hall, the Waterfront Line, the Browns... definitely not on par with the Columbus Hilton location... ;-)

I remember the tagger HEK getting arrested but then walking free since the city didn't produce enough evidence against him. I think he was a suburbanite as well. Hes got a pair doing that in LI though, I must say.

Isn't water one of the ways Columbus was able to annex surrounding land and municipalities into it's boarders? Unless the debt EC has is alleviated by bankruptcy, I don't see why Cleveland should take on it's burden. That and the thousands of vacant standing structures EC has (and Cleveland has plenty of it's own to take on). Nela Park, Windermere, and a few prime lots along Euclid isn't enough to make the jump, IMO. You've got the rest of EC to deal with on top of that.

What?! That ain't right! With the amount of jobs lost over the past ten years in Cuyahoga County alone, you would think that maybe this part of the state should get a bit more than what it's been given. But the madness continues- Cleveland's economy remains in the freezer and Columbus gets the majority of the tax credits. The PD should pick up on this pronto.

Gateway (not counting E. 4th) must be struggling as well. Some people will love, and others will hate, the chandelier. But it says, "You're here", to those who are in Playhouse Square. I think it's kind of cool as a placemaking element. It's different, it's edgy in it's own way, and it's Cleveland. For someone to say, "Well, that's it; this chandelier pushed me over the edge. I can't stand it anymore, I'm moving", is ridiculous to say the least. Don't tell me about quality of life, either. I would assume that Minneapolis and Cleveland are similar in that category, maybe with Cleveland even edging out Minnie with the amount of amenities this region offers. Infant mortality- yes, that's a problem well worth addressing. Does she have answers? Does Minnieapolis have a similar problem in older, post-industrial, poorer neighborhoods with high amounts of lead paint in homes? Probably. I would doubt that it doesn't, but honestly I haven't checked into it- Minnie ain't my city. And let's just forget that we just spent $250 million on the nationally-recognized HealthLine which runs right through the middle of Playhouse Square as investing in transit. No transit investment in this city, or in this district. Mn-mmn. I tell ya, that everything-in-Cleveland-is-bad mentality lives on, though it should have died years ago. I hope it does sooner rather than later.

So this will be the second building downtown with a "cut-out". The design is better than I expected, just as others have mentioned. I'm hoping there are some renderings revealed today showing how it will fit in with the rest of the mall.

I think we agree with each other- I was commenting on the name change of the MM. I think we'll have a greater draw for conventions (at the very least medical conventions) versus Pittsburgh's convention center, or any other center in the Midwest (leaving out Chicago) without any type of Mart attached. I'm excited to see the design of the building. The best place to see it in the skyline will definitely be from Lakeside, though interesting angles may come from St. Clair and Public Square. From the east shoreway, it will be covered by the Federal Building- even if some distinct crown is added to it, adding to it's total height. It'll probably stick out more coming from the west shoreway towards downtown.

^And an attached Medical Mart... or whatever it's called now.

UPdate- I'll probably not be able to make it- which sucks because I've wanted to come to a meet for a while now! Oh well... there's always next time I guess.

An OUTSTANDING set!! Thanks!!

I'm in!

I might be the only one thinking of this, but I'm wondering how the chandelier will be engineered. We're talking about Downtown Cleveland- pretty rough wind in the winter time. I've seen people literally blown off their feet while in front of the Justice Center in January. I would hope that the chandelier is made to last (the last thing we need is pieces of it flying off during by high winds).

Y ...in otherwords, a growing urban prairie. Yes. In some areas, but not others.

^That article cites 40,000 vacant housing units... and that's a streeeeeeetch if there ever was one. Cleveland's been the most agressive city in the nation when it comes to the demolition of vacant properties. Since the start of the Housing Crisis, the city has torn down over 6,000 (!) properties. If you want proof, look at the intersections E. 79th and Cedar, E. 75th and Kinsman, Woodhill, etc. Neighborhoods which were once there are GONE. The true number of vacant housing units would be between 10,000 and 15.000- not that that's a good thing (indeed it's not), but it sure as he!! ain't 40,000 housing units. Edit: On top of that, the article is overly negative. Granted- the city has it's problems, but this article is looking at the problem in a negative light instead of the potential that the city has right now for change and rebirth. It ignores the thousands of people who have moved downtown, the 1000+ units of housing in which there is demand for in Ohio City, the successes of Tremont and Detroit Shoreway, the successes of Little Italy and demand in University Circle, the rebranding and continued success of North Collinwood, the upward demand of housing units in Hough (regardless of the neighborhood's current problems), and the stability of neighborhoods such as West Park and Old Brooklyn. Some folks can see the rebirth occurring- regardless of the state of the economy in the region right now (and I'm big on that- we won't see the city as a whole grow until jobs are brought back. We will also continue to see the decline of the inner-ring without the added jobs and population). I don't know if the author of that article can.

^What are we going on now? Close to 25 years since the building was demolished on that PS lot, or maybe more? That lot may be the most valuable piece of land in the State of Ohio- yet it still remains undeveloped. We can point to a number of factors as to why it hasn't been built on yet- the office market, the owner, the economy (less of an excuse over 25 years), the business exodus to the suburbs, the way vacant lots are taxed in the center city, etc. Until more national businesses begin to take downtown into consideration again, we may be stuck with that lot. Regarding AD, it would be great to see it fully developed. The market is right- it's just the same proverbial problem; that the rents are still too low to justify new construction without subsidies (or we'd see more buildings popping up around downtown). That doesn't make it impossible- just harder until most if not all of the old building stock is converted into residential. I just hope we aren't stuck with an unfinished building for another 20 years on that lot.

Before you buy a building... make sure to DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Deciding to buy a vacant building could be the LAST thing you want to do without doing a little digging into potential title issues. Here's some things you can chose to do on your own before making a decision on a building: -If and when you find a building which interests you, look up the address on the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer's website: http://fiscalofficer.cuyahogacounty.us/AuditorApps/real-property/REPI/default.asp Searching by address may not pull up the building the first time; if that's the case, search again going up or down by two digits (some buildings have multiple addresses. As an example, 12345 Kinsman may not produce anything; but 12347 Kinsman might). When the parcel number comes up, click on the parcel and look at the tax information. On that page, you will be able to find the amount of taxes owed on the property, and also if there has been a tax foreclosure filed against it. -Look up the property's information on the County Recorder's Office website. You'll want to do a parcel search (which you would have gotten from the County Fiscal Officer's Website) http://recorder.cuyahogacounty.us/searchs/parcelsearchs.aspx and a general search of the current owner of the property: http://recorder.cuyahogacounty.us/searchs/generalsearchs.aspx ... the reason for this is to find if any mortgages have been pulled against the property... which could have been foreclosed on (which is considered to be a lien against the property). You'll want to find who is actually servicing the mortgage. For example: You may find a mortgage for 12345 Kinsman which was originated by MERS, but is actually being serviced by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo may have initiated a foreclosure on the property, and then walked away from the foreclosure when the property went to sheriff sale (which is the reason why we have so many vacant properties in the city; the banks walked away, leaving the property owners holding the bag. The property owners walked away, thinking they lost the property when in actuality they're still the titled owner). -Do a search at the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Court's website: http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/tos.aspx You'll want to do a foreclosure search (you'll need the parcel number, and again, you'll already have it). The reason is again, many times there will be a foreclosure lien against the property which must be addressed and/or removed by the servicer of the mortgage. Having this lien against the property could come back to bite the current holder of the title if not addressed. Note that when doing a search here, tax foreclosure cases begin with "BR" (short for Board of Revision). If you find that the Fiscal Officer's website notes a tax foreclosure but a case has not been filed with the Clerk of Courts, you'll want to get in touch with the Treasurer's office to find out more info. You'll also want to do a civil search by name. The reason is to find if the owner of the property has any judgement liens against him/her which will follow the title transfer. If you actually contact the owner and the owner says, for example, that they've filed bankruptcy and that they no longer owe anything on the mortgage, the liens will remain regardless. You'll want to make sure they've been removed- or even better still, maybe find another building. -Another thing you can do is if you find that the property has been foreclosed on for tax purposes or for a default on the mortgage, check the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's website http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/SheriffSearch/ A foreclosure for property taxes is considered first priority and takes precedent before all other liens. Buying a property at sheriff sale could get you around some of the other potential liens owed against the property; however, you'll want to make sure you KNOW what you're getting into beforehand. Know your potential expenses when buying a property which has been vacant and more than likely scrapped by folks trying to make a dollar on copper and electrical wiring, and causing $50,000 worth of damage to the building in the process. These are just SOME of the things you can do. Please continue your research and know that if you purchase the title to a building, that you could be buying into more than just title issues. Make sure that not only the title is free-and-clear, but also that you have the funds to fully renovate the building (if needed). Getting a private inspection done may be worth the cost. If you're looking at commercial buildings, you'll want to get VERY familiar with Ohio Landlord/Tenant Law as well. And as always, if you're unsure about the laws and would like legal advice, contact an attorney. The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association can recommend an attorney to you, who sometimes do Pro Bono work: http://www.clemetrobar.org/

There will have to be a phase II (or something else) built on the site- Gilbert paid $85 mil for the land... and I don't think anyone would pay that amount of money and let the land sit there undeveloped. Regard the walkway... it sucks but I think the amount of foot traffic taken off the street will be minimal.

I don't know how much an L shaped building will fit in with The Group Plan. Though I'd want something that has more of an impact on the skyline, I'd be interested to see what the L-shaped building at least looks like.