Niko

Cleveland casino operators ink 5-year lease with Forest City at downtown's Higbee building Published: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 8:33 AM Updated: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 9:01 AM By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND -- The operators of a planned downtown casino have signed a five-year lease to use the historic Higbee building as the first phase of their gaming hall. Forest City Enterprises Inc., which owns the former department store building, said that Rock Ohio Caesars Cleveland LLC has signed a five-year lease on 303,000 square feet of the basement, first, second and third floors. The lease includes extension options at the property, part of the Tower City Center complex on Public Square. Rock Gaming LLC and Caesars Entertainment recently announced plans to open a $350 million first phase of the Cleveland Horseshoe Casino in the Higbee building in early 2012. At the time, neither Forest City nor gaming executives would disclose lease terms. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/cleveland_casino_operators_ink.html

^I thought the PD article said it would be 2 floors. I believe they're only clearing out the first 2 floors. Floors 6,8,9 were renovated by Key within the last year or so when they moved from the May Company building. Floor 7 is used by a few tech companies. I believe floors 3,4, and 5 are vacant. I'm sure you could put some retail in there. And how would you access retail from the mid level of the building. A department store needs street level entry or at a min be lined with other stores leading to the anchor store. With the TC, prospect, 1st, 2nd floors being the Casino, I have a hard time seeing the building being split for Retail. I was moreso responding to Coneybear's comment about the casino wiping out all of the offices. You're right that it would be really tough to get retail in there. You might be able to get an entrance off of Public square linked directly to elevators, but it wouldn't be ideal. Better to use it for office space, although if Crains is right and the casino will take 4 floors, that only leaves 1 floor open for offices. Thats quite a turnaround from a couple years ago when only 4 floors were in use.

I believe they're only clearing out the first 2 floors. Floors 6,8,9 were renovated by Key within the last year or so when they moved from the May Company building. Floor 7 is used by a few tech companies. I believe floors 3,4, and 5 are vacant. I'm sure you could put some retail in there.

While technically right, I think a closer number is around $10,000. :)

These are some really cool plans, Thanks Burnham & w28th. A couple questions that keep coming to mind are, even if we do something like this, why will people use it? What uses will this enable that can't be done on the existing malls (before they were torn up)? The majority of plans that I've seen for the mall just seem like more of what we have now.

^ were there really more people eating lunch on the malls back then, or did it just seem that way because there was less open area? Every time I go out there for lunch it seems decently crowded.

Who cares? They will complain about the warm spring sun being too bright. Really? Part of the reason for doing this is energy efficiency. Why not just have flames shooting out of the top at night? That will get people's attention.

True, but IMO the benefit of 3C had a chance of outweighing the cost a little sooner than 173 years. :)

Looks cool, but seems like a waste to me. $121 million for $700k a year in energy savings + better bomb protection? Is there no cheaper option to increase the safety of the building?

I believe volleyball was also an option according to the article.

Basketball no, but unless google satellite view is wrong, across the street to the south of buckingham fountain are 16 baseball diamonds, 6 tennis courts, and 2 sand volleyball courts. There are also 12 more tennis courts just east of millenium park.

BBQ pits have the same issue with weather. I can't think of any activities that have year round draw for a large number of people. I'd argue that you'd get a large number of office workers who would use the facilities during lunch and after work. Look at the soccer fields at progressive on rt.91 during lunch or after work. Or look at Sherwin Williams near the river. Both of those places get lots of use. Would it be that hard to have a cop walk by every once in a while to keep people in check? Not necessarily a permanent babysitter, but its easy enough for someone to be in the area pretty regularly. I'd also argue that the mall is a perfect location for recreational courts with its close proximity to the vast majority of downtown housing. The reason being?

I would say the opposite. With the current obesity epidemic I think we need more ways for people to exercise, not more ways for people to eat :) There's room for all that stuff. The more things to draw people down there, the better.

For the amount of bad information I heard people using I'm surprised it was that close.

Med Mart Tenants Big on Furniture, Not So Much on Medical Technology POSTED BY VINCE GRZEGOREK ON TUE, JAN 18, 2011 AT 10:52 AM Cleveland’s Medical Mart project, touted as the nation’s future showcase for cutting-edge health-care innovation, is coming along nicely — as long as you consider aromatherapy and comfortable office chairs to preside on the cutting edge. During groundbreaking festivities last Friday, project developer MMPI shared a list of 58 companies planning to lease space when the building opens in 2013. One-third of them sell furniture or in some way make interior spaces more inviting. The news served as a convenient reminder that MMPI’s bread is buttered nationally by a bunch of furniture and interior design marts, not technology palaces. http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/01/18/med-mart-tenants-big-on-furniture-not-so-much-on-medical-technology

What are people's thoughts on whether or not companies that are already close in proximity (Cardinal, Phillips, Steris etc) will have a large presence at the mart? I know Steris is on the list with a LoI, but if the price for space is high I could see them not signing because they already have facilities in the area. Same with Phillips. I think Cardinal is far enough away where it would make more sense for them to have a presence at the mart.

Not sure if it was here or somewhere else, but I remember reading an article recently that said a lot of artists are migrating to Philly, Cleveland, and Detroit because there are not enough cheap places to live in NYC. They gentrified everywhere in nyc and now have nowhere left to live.

^ http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2011/01/06/0106-web-only-letters-to-the-editor.html?sid=101 "Rail" got included in with the link. You can clean up this post if you want to edit yours.

Was walking in to work today and saw 3 construction dumpsters as well as two guys torching a couple of parking meters on the Prospect side of the Higbee building. I assume this is progress on the temporary casino?

New data center in the May Co Building? Their address is 200 Euclid ave. Looks like they're reusing the infrastructure that Key left behind. http://www.globaldataplex.com/

Will Ohio be on hook for 3C rail study? Adrian Burns Reporter Email: [email protected] The Ohio Department of Transportation is taking steps it hopes will help it avoid paying $15 million for a passenger rail study that was halted after Gov.-elect John Kasich won the election and vowed to kill the train plans. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Dec. 9 said it was pulling $385 million of its $400 million federal stimulus commitment to Ohio for passenger train development, but left unclear whether it would reimburse the state for $15 million spent on the first portion of a planned $25 million rail study. http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2010/12/state-be-on-hook-for-rail-study.html

After skimming some of the comments I think I'm glad that I can't watch that video at work.

Federal funds to help 17 Northeast Ohio street and trail projects CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Streetscape projects and walking and bicycle trails in the area will get a $9 million boost from the federal government over the next three years. Regional planners picked 17 projects across Northeast Ohio on Friday to split the money over that time, ranging from street beautification in Cleveland's Warehouse District and Tremont neighborhood, to trails connecting parks or linking existing paths in Geauga and Lake counties. ... Cleveland: Extend Warehouse District streetscape improvements already on West Sixth Street north of Superior Avenue, across to Lakeside Avenue and to Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority property. Federal contribution: $600,000. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/streetscape_and_trail_projects.html

I cant imagine who. Hey whats in the La Strada building? It lacks window and I was just wondering whats up there If what I heard was correct one of our prestigious chefs needs more space.

Has anyone else heard that one of the current e.4th businesses will be moving to the vacant space in the middle of the street?