dwirthwein

To clarify my post that Whole Foods on Cedar was 45K - I've since found reference to Whole Foods Cedar Center to be between 43,000 sq ft (according to Whole Foods site - though the phrasing indicates that # may only be floor space actually selling food), to 45,000 sq ft - on architects page - to 50,000 sq ft in PD article from near opening back in 2007. Rocky River will be 37,000 sq ft. I believe the Wild Oats - now Whole Foods - on Chagrin is in the 25-30K range from what I read in past - though can't put a finger on its size right now. It still doesn't have the same feel as the Cedar store...

Cedar Center Whole Foods store is around 45K square feet.

Archangel, I'm with you. I was, frankly, an eye-roller at the Columbia building hubbub, but this May Company plan - and exposed parking levels - is ridiculous. May Co. spacious floors would make a good prison, too. Maybe somebody should float that idea.

MyTwoSense: You know you retail! I also agree that Beachwood Place is certainly 2nd tier - though in smaller metros - lesser or similar -2nd tier malls have pockets of high-end that haven't made it yet to CLE (see: Ross Park Mall in PIT, Fashion Mall in Indy, etc...). Beachwood Place, as a whole, is much nicer looking as a physical mall space... At the same time, Beachwood Place also doesn't have that odd dollar-store on one end/Cartier on the other mix that King of Prussia, Natick Mall, etc... have - though its current massage and nail shop filler is pretty lame... Those plus the GNC and tux rental place in the old Arhaus spot next to Nordstrom? That's literally all they could find to go there? Even some retailers like Urban Outfitters and abercrombie (kids) - stores that are already at Crocker for some time - have shunned the prime east side spots... I don't get it... With all that said - if downtown retail could work - Pesht, etc.. - I'm all for it. I'll be there. You mention some fashion retailers and that it takes A to get B to get C, etc.. Funny, in recent years, Beachwood Place has gone so far as to announce Michael Kors and A/X - Armani Exchange as "coming soon" in their literature - and then they haven't. Still waiting... And this eastsider shares the Crocker sentiments - though it does have a liveliness that some might envy...

Regarding Allen Edmonds, Free People, etc...Those 2 stores recently made it on to a list I'd compiled of stores NEO doesn't have but should (late night hobby). Not pie in the sky stores - but ones common in top 20 markets which (despite the "shrinking population" shouters) NEO still very much is... Stores like Tiffany or Container Store or Burberry or IKEA are on the list - and Cleveland is often the largest city in the country without one - with all our peers plus many smaller cities having them. I listed about 30 retailers/restaurants and the top 40 metros in population (NEO ranks about 16th-17th). The average top 40 metro had about 15 of those 30 retailers. The average Top 20 metro had more like 24-25 of those 30 retailers. At the time, Cleveland had NONE of those retailers - and now has 2 of the 30, just announced. All the known CLE problems aside - the metro, as a whole, is hardly small, poor and undesirable. Take away 1MM people and NEO is still as big or bigger than places like Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus, etc... - which have many of the key retailers on that list noted above... What's NEO's problem in attracting these retailers - and will the next few years, with so much going on, finally be our time? We have the venues in Beachwood Place, Legacy, Eton, Crocker... Might seem trivial - but retail choices are another quality of life category for the type of young, educated workers we want/need to move here...

Anybody heard any more Tiffany & Co "opening in Cleveland in 2012" rumors (according to Cbus store)? Any redevelopment rumors for Borders La Place or Joseph-Beth Legacy, etc...? Big, empty visible spaces... Ughhh... Any more Crocker next phase rumors or Nordstrom Rack rumors?

Curious if by "Marketplace" you may mean Giant Eagle "Market District" - their higher end store with all the trimmings, so to speak? If so - the one I've been to in PIT, the first they built, is pretty incredible. I am not a Giant Eagle shopper - but I'd go to that place. Like an amusement park. One side is basic groceries - but the other is Whole Foods+... with gourmet foods/meats and food stations similar to the fantastic Movenpick/Marche restaurant in Toronto (including he Rosti potatoes) to anyone who might be familiar with that. Probably 80-100K sq ft. (interestingly, they were trying out beer sales at this store in PIT - where beer sales must generally be made at state liquor stores...)

I've been to Seattle twice this year already for business and always love going. Great place and modern, lively, youthful, full of sights, stores and resrairants..... Wonderful airport, too. Then I come jome and realize that Cleveland is no Seattle but why does it have to be? No depressing rain, no traffic, affordable housing.... Evertone loves Seattle, but CLE is awfully nice in its own way, too. I can appreciats that.

I found a Crain's article from 6/2000 that said Crocker was weeks away from securing s letter of intent for a Nordstrom dept store (not Rack) - and that that would help push the development along. Obviously - that was 12 years ago and didn't happen, but...

If a Rack is going into Crocker Park, then I'd suggest that a full-scale Nordstrom as part of next Crocker/American Greetings phase is unlikely (not that anyone was saying it would be, but I know Crocker has coveted a department store...) Having both in the same shopping center would seem a first for them. They are usually near - across the street, down the road, etc... but I've never seen one in the same development - and having a Rack prior to a Nordstrom store would also be the opposite of how Nordstrom normally works.. But I guess we'll see. Any Nordstrom would be their newer 2-level 140,000 or so square foot store - that's pretty much all they've been building in most suburban locations vs. 3 level Beachwood store (215,000 square feet, just remodeled and looks very similar in design to downtown Seattle flagship at this point...) I'd wonder if a regional upscale department store like Von Maur might be a Crocker target...

Good thing Cleveland learned from the decaying, empty downtown shells in Minneapolis and Indianapolis that enclosed walkways just turn people off. Boy, walkways simply killed those downtowns and their business and their conventions.

Aerial view highlights how hat parking parcel at Ford and Euclid needs to become Uptown phase 2 ASAP.

I guess I'm just saying that plenty - thousands - of other restaurants of all shapes and sizes in cities 10-20%ish+/- NEO's size have decided OpenTable is a good option... I'm not talking LA or SFO or NYC... I"m talking 504 in Denver, 327 in Seattle, 290 in San Diego, 231 in MSP, etc... vs. 107 in NEO... We all know all those properties aren't full every night and diners don't need reservations at all. However, proportionately, it would appear that restaurants other similarly sized metros have embraced OT much more than they have in CLE... whatever the reason. Maybe OT haa convinced them - and I would argue this way - that not being on OT is like not having a website in this day and age... IF people didn't go to restaurants here, we wouldn't have restaurants - so don't know why the OT kind of restaurants that wish to succeed would take a non-OT approach when they embrace OT in other cities... I'd argue that biz diners coming to CLE are missing out on non-OT places, because that's how I think when I go to other cities, unless I know a non OT spot. I checked my OT account have made perhaps 150 OT reservations in recent years - probably 30% out of town. But I don't always use it to book a reservation. I often use it to determine when I don't HAVE to make a reservation... so add another 50-100% on to the total I note - just getting info. Sort of like shopping for item in person at Best Buy to touch/feel the item but then buying online at Amazon for a lower cost. And - as noted - can make ressies 24/7/365... As a night owl, this is a good thing.

PHX, SEA, TPA, MSP, DEN, San Diego - all cities not too far from NEO's 3.5MM or so people have between 3x-5x the # of restaurants on OpenTable that CLE does... Even local CLE chains that could use the help competing with nationals and foodie independents (namely Hyde Park, Hospitality, etc..) have shunned OpenTable. I remember Ken Stewart's tried it - and apparently they could figure it out... too confusing or so it was reported... Get with the times...

OpenTable - though more than 100 restaurants are currently in the CLE/CAK OpenTable listings - CLE is still way behind other cities of similar size in # of restaurants listed. I exclusivly use OpenTable when I travel for biz - it's easy and fast and tells you all you need to know - and locally tend to frequent restaurants I know I can drop by and at least get a bar table if I'm there at the right time (Momocho) OR ones I can book via OpenTable (plenty of others - though NOT Momocho). Hey Lolita - I know you don't NEED my business - but since getting a stool at your tiny bar is tough, since booking tables 3 weeks ahead of time by phone is a pain (and you LAUGH at folks trying to get tables when there are none) and since OpenTable would probably give you the whole shebang for a song to have another Symon restaurant online - would it kill you to held a guy out by joining?

making my SoHo reservation about....... NOW (though get on OpenTable SoHo - who calls for ressies any more?0

The Flats location for the new aquarium is fine by me. And I want to give the aquarium the benefit of the doubt to prove itself and convince me it's a real attraction. Unfortunately, I think we all know the Monterey Bay or Shedd Aquarium this ain't... at least for now..., From the (apparent) low ceilings to the small initial scale, to the unexciting name ("Greater Cleveland Aquarium" - which should, at the least, have been Cleveland Marinescape Aquarium, or better) - it just seems more like an amusement than an attraction. Hope I am proven wrong.

Capital Grille is another major upscale national chain, often in malls like Beachwood Place, without a Clevleand or east side presence - and would be only Cedar Rd - area steakhouse... Could do well... Great lunch, too...

McCormick & Schmick's Beachwood recently went to no Sat/Sun lunch and were open something like 3-7 on Sunday in recent months... so was clear they were in distress. Also, the closings yesterday weren't just in CLE - did also close 2 in Phoenix, 2 in Los Angeles, Austin, Birmingham, etc... Earlier in 2011 closed DC, Miami and Chicago area locations, too... so they had issues elsewhere. After a year or so, the one there was rarely more than 25% full in too-big space. What's next in that 8,000 sq ft space? If restaurants, then a upscale chain woudl be the focus. Texas de Brazil - the great steak/buffet concept - is opening several 2012 locations in midwest in the 7000-8000 sq foot size including Pittsburgh, Columbus and recently opened Detroit and would seem a possibility. I know one or two national brew pub chains are looking at area... the growing Seasons 52 chain would seem a good fit and draw - though the fine dining angle didn't work with M&S. Bonefish Grill has no east side location and would probably do well there. Houlihan's packs 'em in at SouthPark and their new restaurants are a dramatic change from the old - and perhaps they'd reconsider east side (recently vacated the now Phil the Fire space...) If retail will fill space - then I guess that can be discussed on Retail News forum...

Exactly the same CLE Clothing experience here... We 3 were the only people in store on a Saturday night, 7-ish - took a look around the sparsely stocked shelves in too-big for assortment space for probably 3-4 minutes... very obviously looking through some stacks for certain sizes, etc... and barely got a nod from the 2 or 3 employees standing the whole time at the front desk, let alone any direct assistance or any immediate presence of sales people in the area we were looking. Now, after too many years in retail, I'm a pretty "help myself" kind of guy - don't, frankly, like much interaction from sales people (who are just doing their job, of course...) until/if I'm ready. But being essentially ignored is totally different. Between the lack of service and lean selection of t-shirt styles and sizes (don't they MAKE these - shouldn't it be simple to manufacture and re-stock?) it will be a long cold winter for these folks if it keeps up this way. Dredger's Union - same night - bent over backwards to help... We bought $100+ in their store...

Whole Foods had an entrance on the Cedar/Warrensville (wine department) corner for, what, the first year the were open? Used to grab a few things and go from the register back there. then they closed it... Never got the reasoning, but assume either theft or cost of extra staffing were the issues.

Bar Symon maybe the single worst restaurant location choice Symon could have made. They must have gotten the space for song, as there is no other possible reason that an Iron Chef level name would open in an abandoned strip mall, off the beaten path. Developers off all sorts woudl almost give away a space to get him tyhere.. Image-wise alone, it sent the wrong message. Then when customers went but didn't spend $$$ per visit like they thought, that was it...

and I'm guessing he does have a spot... and he does have an opening time frame... and it's casino related so not his place to announce... And, if not, better get working on it - 'cause people have shown they want it

Buffet would seem unlikely for Symon, but why didn't he just say "restaurant?"... The liquor license and trademark search begins...

Casino buffet... Interesting. Symon refers to new "concept" and new "project" on facebook today, but new "restaurant" never specifically noted. That could just b development speak or you could be on to something. With that said, re-read some casino press releases etc and international buffet and food court with regional specialties from local operators was ,mentioned.