heightsfan

I suspect jmichi is referring to me. Of course, I never said the building wasn't good enough for Cleveland. What I said was that people in Cleveland should demand that the design gets scrutinized, and not just blindly accepted by the City because it's a super-tall building and/or because we don't tend to see development on this scale, so therefore it should get a pass. There are some on this board that don't read all that carefully though, and just decide to jump all over someone the moment they express any kind of opinion that doesn't match their own. =

I suspect jmichi is referring to me. Of course, I never said the building wasn't good enough for Cleveland. What I said was that people in Cleveland should demand that the design gets scrutinized, and not just blindly accepted by the City because it's a super-tall building and/or because we don't tend to see development on this scale, so therefore it should get a pass.

Well, I think others can and do disagree. But that's just one local denizen's opinion. I recognize, and respect that others may disagree. I also recognize that it's more than likely that the current design is going to evolve over time.

No one's complaining; there are just people on this board that want the project to be executed in the best way possible for the city. Just because it's Cleveland, doesn't mean we should expect anything less than residents in NYC, Chicago, and other markets demand when it comes to major development projects.

I love the design and project, but I think it slows down other residential projects from breaking ground. I think developers will sit back, and see how this masssive project absorbs the market before they kick anything off. How does it hinder? With almost no vacancy rate downtown, this is just keeping up with demand. Plus, not everyone will want live in a high rise (I personally love it). I take the opposite view. This may very well spur the construction of more speculative ventures and ease the conversion of May Company/Huntington. New construction (which is lagging in CLE) of apartments as signals growth. There is plenty of room for both conversion and new. As for the design, it's neither good nor bad. But it is unique for CLE. I've read above where today's chic is tomorrow's eyesore. But if properly maintained, it will be a differnt take on the skyline for some decades to come. Hard to see how this spurs renovation of May Co and Huntington. With a near 95% or so occupancy rate downtown, those projects can't seem to get off the ground without major historic tax credits or other public funding. I don't see how a new mega tower, which inevitably will reduce the occupancy rate in existing buildings, helps lenders feel more comfortable about those projects. Of course, this is all speculation since the Stark project is far from being realized in its current form, or any form for that matter. But that was then and this is now. The tax credit contingency was pre nuCLEus. Now that a developer is obtaining financing for new construction this makes lending on the rehabs less risky and the those developers will be able to obtain better rates making the tax credit less necessary. Plus, how does this reduce occupancy at existing buildings? You are assuming a zero sum game where every new unit occupied deceases the occupancy of existing units. As it is forecast that an additional 7-10 thousand people will move downtown by then end of the decade the new construction isn't even keeping up with demand. Add Huntington and May Company and you are still lagging demand. A similar construction on Public Square probably wouldn't even satisfy the projected demand. The office portion of the Project is only 200,000sqft which is not much. That's approximately the amount that one decent sized law firm would occupy. I don't know about the hotel though. I've said on many threads that CLE needs an additional Hilton sized hotel to really compete for the big convention events on a regular basis. It's definitely not a zero-sum game; but nor is it the case where nuCLEus doesn't poach any existing DT residents. Under your paradigm, the fact that the E&Y tower filled up with office tenants should mean that the demand for new office space is in crazy demand, but it's not. Maybe it'll be different for residential, but that assumes existing occupancy and demand rates remain in place over the next 3-5 years, with no intervening economic downturn. It also assumes that Stark is actually getting financing for the project in its current form, which is far from the case. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that this project is on the table. But I'm also being realistic. A project this size, if built, is not necessarily going to spur development of all the other residential conversion projects in the pipeline.

I love the design and project, but I think it slows down other residential projects from breaking ground. I think developers will sit back, and see how this masssive project absorbs the market before they kick anything off. How does it hinder? With almost no vacancy rate downtown, this is just keeping up with demand. Plus, not everyone will want live in a high rise (I personally love it). I take the opposite view. This may very well spur the construction of more speculative ventures and ease the conversion of May Company/Huntington. New construction (which is lagging in CLE) of apartments as signals growth. There is plenty of room for both conversion and new. As for the design, it's neither good nor bad. But it is unique for CLE. I've read above where today's chic is tomorrow's eyesore. But if properly maintained, it will be a differnt take on the skyline for some decades to come. Hard to see how this spurs renovation of May Co and Huntington. With a near 95% or so occupancy rate downtown, those projects can't seem to get off the ground without major historic tax credits or other public funding. I don't see how a new mega tower, which inevitably will reduce the occupancy rate in existing buildings, helps lenders feel more comfortable about those projects. Of course, this is all speculation since the Stark project is far from being realized in its current form, or any form for that matter.

I agree. It looks clunky, frankly. I think it would be more palatable at 20-25 stories, which would blend in better with the heights of surrounding buildings and make downtown look more dense. My other concern is that this thing (if built, which is a big if) saps momentum for residential conversions of May Company, Huntington, and other vacant or near-vacant commercial properties. It is just so big, it's going to take a long time for the market to absorb that much new residential, even assuming the current boom continues. Something akin to the effect Key Tower had on office space downtown.

Maybe, of course you can't take shopping carts into the parking lot at any Heinens store; they have a pick-up lane where they load your car for free. My understanding is that they'll offer this same service downtown, and will also have valet parking.

Project looks great.

Yes, thanks for the non-Instagrammed photos!!!

You received false information. I just called their Uptown number. They're open.

The new building is taller than its predecessor.

That's basically the entire project. More advertising space which they sold to the city as a way to improve "fan experience" Not liking the project doesn't mean you have to pretend that there are no real improvements. Scoreboard, PA, escalators, better internet, and revamped food stands are all involved in the upgrade. Those do enhance fan experience Maybe, but not as much as winning games does.

I have to agree. While I like the style of the new signs quite a bit, the olive green-like color does little to complement or enhance the canopies for the Allen or Palace theatres, both of which are an oxidized copper color.

I'm skeptical that high rollers would be interested in living above a Hilton convention hotel across the street from the Justice Center. Does anyone know of any convention hotels in mid-tier cities that are mixed use? I can't even think of any convention hotels in even big markets like NY that have a residential component.

They EY building is commanding about $30 sqft, which is the highest in the city. The Hanna building annualized residential rent would be $13.80 sqft. I'm surprised E&Y is commanding only $30 sqft; rents in Key Tower range in the mid $30s to low $40s; regardless, those kind of numbers don't really make sense for residential purposes in Cleveland at least. "The asking rate at Key Tower is about $27 to $29 a square foot. " http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20130510/FREE/130519971# Trust me, it's more than that, even for relatively low floors with a long-time lease.

They EY building is commanding about $30 sqft, which is the highest in the city. The Hanna building annualized residential rent would be $13.80 sqft. I'm surprised E&Y is commanding only $30 sqft; rents in Key Tower range in the mid $30s to low $40s; regardless, those kind of numbers don't really make sense for residential purposes in Cleveland at least.

New construction rents typically run $40 to $50 per square foot, at least in the downtown office market; not sure why it would be much different for residential.

1. I don't think you understand what libel is under Ohio law. 2. I know two people serving on committees, who have told me things are not running that smoothly. 3. I'm not identifying my sources. 4. If you find my post inappropriate, feel free to delete it.

Is there any reason you don't think registration will pick up as we get closer to the event?

I thought I heard a story on WKYC the other day that said there were ~10,000 athletes registered? 10,000 registrants is the estimate the Gay Games people keep throwing out there. That's just a goal though. In reality, only about 1,000 have actually registered thus far. Also, I love that they had an ad run during the Olympic opening ceremonies. But why run the ad only in Ohio and in small markets like Dayton and Toledo? Why not run the ad in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Indianapolis and other nearby Midwest cities to try to expand awareness of the event in places from which you might actually draw some participants. It's almost like the people running this thing have no clue.

Six months out and only 1,000 people have registered for events. Here's hoping for the best, but I'm starting to get worried.

Good thing that wasn't the plan, though Kasich's lie stuck. Besides most new services started at slower speeds and some got even slower. But adding more departures is what drove mostly huge ridership increases since the first year... http://freepdfhosting.com/4808eafeb0.pdf I'm sure CLE will not do as well without a hub, but it's not airline armageddon. Losing hubs don't destroy economies anymore. See Pittsburgh. Well the PD originally reported that the trip would take around 6 hours. In 2010, the travel time was revised to around 5 hours, 11 minutes. That's hardly a powerful incentive to take the "high speed" train over driving.

E Rocc...Probably mostly business travelers on expense accounts fly locally. The high fares and short distances probably deter most other travelers, which is why intercity passenger rail makes sense. It's silly to have flights between Cleveland and Erie. Except when the intercity rail that is proposed would take 6+ hours to go from Cleveland to Cincinnati, when the drive is only 4.

With virtually all of the Embraer regional jet flights getting killed, seems like the prudent thing would be to shutter concourse A and/or B, and move American, Delta and Air Canada over to Concourse D. Maybe take this as a long-term opportunity to rebuild a new concourse to replace A and B, or simply tear them down given how totally obsolete and crappy they are.