Oldmanladyluck

Here's something important from the article... "MMPI has secured letters of intent from 41 tenants for showroom space at the medical mart. Those LOIs cover about 89,000 square feet of space, Johnson said. Plans call for about 100,000 square feet of showroom space to be available." That's GREAT news, even though nothing is yet set in stone. We're moving forward!!

B.A. in Urban Studies from Cleveland State... working on MUPDD at the College of Urban Affairs.

Check. Kasich's move... He's not even in office yet and he's making himself look great, isn't he?

I find it funny that Market Center Management would say they doubt we'll break ground when we have dedicated financing for our $465 million project, while their $250 million project does not. Another thing to keep in mind is that the $250 million FEB project has roughly 40 different financing pieces, even WITH a major tenant and is still short on financing (though not by much at all right now). I would say "good luck" to Nashville's project, but I'll hold that back.

Great vid! I loved it!

I had a good time last night on East 4th- I started off going to the Chocolate Bar to meet up with the wifey... and had a martini that tasted JUST LIKE a chocolate covered cherry (YUM)!! I think that's my new favorite! She ordered the peanut-butter cup martini (TASTY). We stayed there for a minute, then walked over to La Strada to see what was going on... but since we didn't eat at the Chocolate Bar we walked over to Zocala's to grab something to eat. We got to catch the last quarter of the Lakers vs. Warriors game (which went into overtime, but we left at the end of the 4th), with myself munching on a very tasty burrito with rice and a glass of merlot to sip. She ordered a quesadilla- which she thought was plain so she kept taking the salsa and sour cream that came with my plate. We left from there to go back to La Strada... as many times as we've been on E.4th we hadn't been in the place until last night. I liked the blend the dj was using of maracas along with the bongo player's drumming to the uptempo club music. We stayed for maybe an hour and danced- and she loved it so I'm sure we'll be going back soon!!

This is great news! This area will look completely different within the next couple of years- with people on the street, this section of downtown will have a nice vibe to it.

And notice how even murders follow the economy... very interesting.

How long does the city have to wait to reapply? Not one Ohio project was funded this round, while LA got funds for two separate projects and Atlanta gets $40 mil for a streetcar project. And yes, I'm a hater.

Yeah- UNBELIEVABLE what the foreclosure crisis has done to this neighborhood. So much of the urban fabric in this neighborhood is either gone or in desperate need of repair... I HATE that we allow this to happen to our cities.

A 10% contingency would not be out of the question for this project, or any project for that matter, when land must be bought for the project. When word gets out that a large project is being pushed, land prices go up pretty quickly depending on the use. If there is a tight timeline to work with (as is the case with this project), you can see land prices shoot up 40%-50%. But remember, this project is, what- 6 years old now, and the county was originally in negotiations with Forest City. IMAGINE what FC would be trying to do to the county at this point... And for those of us who didn't forget that FC was involved up until maybe two years ago, let's not act as if FC wouldn't want the extra $50 million and then some. I'm glad that the county had a contingency fund... look at it this way- this project WILL happen. And yes, it's beyond the budgeted $425 million, but as was stated earlier- cost overruns are to be covered by MMPI. This may be to keep the ball rolling, but I doubt the county will be putting any other funds towards this project from the taxpayer's pocket.

"Great Recession"... "National Credit Freeze"... "Projects Stalled Nationwide"... Again, I wouldn't fret too much about Phase I not getting built. There are too many parties involved in this project up until now to let it fail. I think we'll be hearing about groundbreaking soon.

I thought that the city usually likes to be the last in line to help fund projects- as they want to make sure all other financing is in place (most of the time... I believe the city has already allocated funds towards this project). This could be a good sign for the project starting soon... but I guess we'll see.

^I'm guessing that the loss won't be that drastic, but I won't be surprised if the final count has us in the 300,000's. Parts of neighborhoods on the east side which formerly held large populations have been completely devastated by the foreclosure crisis (St. Clair-Superior, Hough, Slavic Village, Glenville, Fairfax, Mt Pleasant). Sure- the families have to live somewhere, which would explain the increase in African American families in east side inner ring suburbs such as Euclid, Cleveland Heights, Garfield Heights, etc. There's no need to live in a run down neighborhood with board ups every other house when there's decent housing available a few miles away in a different municipality. Problem is that many of the east side inner-ring suburbs have also had their share of foreclosures and loss. Euclid had over 1700 between 2006 and 2008, which was the highest amount of foreclosures outside of Slavic Village in Cuyahoga County within the same time period. Truth is the region really got screwed this last decade, much more so than others.

^HELL YEAH- and soon, so we can keep the 3C Rail Project. This project is SO critical to the future of this state it's not even funny. Kasich is playing on the public's anger today regarding the federal government's spending at the expense of the future of the State of Ohio. WHEN will the major news publications in this state pick up the real story?

Kasich will more than likely be elected governor- and the funds allocated to this project will likely go elsewhere (that is unless, and HOPEFULLY, Kasich flip-flops on his campaign promise and "lets" the project happen). This is REALLY frustrating.

That article mentioned $835 Million in venture capital since 2003- Great number!

FINALLY!

A lot of stuff will be done around the same time- Windmills, Casino, Convention Center, FEB- GREAT STUFF!!

I'll be voting for Strickland this year- mainly on the basis of the 3C Corridor Project, which in my view is vital to the future of this state. I can't buy into the whole "400,000 jobs lost under his watch"... when we're talking about the biggest national recession since the 1930s. I think he should get another chance- especially when we're talking about the initiatives the state has taken in helping urban areas restore historic structures. ...So Clinton was on W.6th? Wonder if he was able to get a beer in-between appearances...

Good work KJP!!

Buffett, Ballmer Predict Bright Economic Future Buffett says no double-dip, Microsoft's Ballmer enthusiastic about future at Montana summit By MATT GOURAS The Associated Press BUTTE, Mont. Some of the biggest names in business said Monday that they see a bright future for the economy, with famed investor Warren Buffett declaring the country and world will not fall back into the grips of the recession. "I am a huge bull on this country. We are not going to have a double-dip recession at all," said Buffett, chairman of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. "I see our businesses coming back across the board." Buffett said the same things that worked for the country through a century of two world wars, a depression and more all while increasing the standard of living will work again. He said banks are lending money again, businesses are hiring employees and he expects the economy to come back stronger than ever. "This country works," Buffett said during a question-and-answer session via video at the Montana Economic Development Summit. "The best is yet to come." More at: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=11624753 ...Good news from this story for regions like Ohio which have historically relied on manufacturing- looks like people have finally realized that the Services economy just doesn't work.

^No kidding. With the location of the casino, that land will only be worth more (and the parking lot on Prospect/E.4th St as well). Something will be done on the Peninsula soon, though. I would hope as soon as the credit market thaws out, which amounts to more dreams I guess.

^Roughly $1 million per mile.

Prospect and E.14th has been screaming for development for years- heck, Prospect down to E. 18th. I know some developer has to have at least eyed the property- there's plenty of open space to build multiple high density, mixed use projects. But alas- the market. So much potential though.