heightsfan

Honestly, there really isn't that much traffic around the Square. I walked through the Square yesterday at lunchtime and there was just a smattering of light traffic. And it's honestly not that heavy at rush hour. I don't understand why we just can't close Ontario and Superior and make Public Square a sort of roundabout. I think people here just don't have any concept of what actual traffic is.

I get the sense he knows that as he referred to the building as 200 Public Square in the thread. I get the sense you missed his caption: "200 Public Square (home to the worst Oil company, ever, British Petroleum)." Should I have taken that to mean something different? That BP was once HQ'd there. His statement (granted the validity is in question) is correct. Is it really that important? I dont believe anyone would think BP is HQ in Cleveland since the company has been gone for over a decade. Can we move on as I dont want this thread to get off track. No, it's not that important, which is why I find it interesting you felt so compelled to weigh in on my comment with a snarky remark. Btw, during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NBC News showed file footage of 200 Public Square on every broadcast when discussing BP's corporate response. Seems to suggest that at least someone was under the misimpression that BP was still headquartered here, just as our kind poster, Jaybird, appears to have been.

I get the sense he knows that as he referred to the building as 200 Public Square in the thread. I get the sense you missed his caption: "200 Public Square (home to the worst Oil company, ever, British Petroleum)." Should I have taken that to mean something different?

Great pics. Btw, BP's North American headquarters is no longer in Cleveland. The company packed up and moved to Chicago in the late 90s after it merged with Amoco.

I was wondering the same thing. As I recall, one of the early concept photos in the PD showed the building at night with some kind of rotating or multi-colored lighting scheme. Not sure what happened to that.

The Doubletree's website for the Tudor Arms hotel is now active. Here's the link. http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/CLEUCDT-The-Tudor-Arms-Hotel-a-Doubletree-by-Hilton-Ohio/index.do Website says the hotel will be opening in April 2011.

Anyone know the status of Foster + Partner's updated master plan for the Clinic's main campus? The PD's announcement back in May quoted Cosgrove as saying the results of Foster's work would be released in late summer [2010].

Will be in Dubai.

Yes, but how much of the traffic on I-71 consists of people traveling across the state from Cleveland to Columbus, or even Cleveland to Cincy and vice versa? I'm not sure taking those folks off the roads is going to have that much of an impact on I-71 traffic, even assuming everyone who would otherwise take a car opts to take the train. The worst traffic is in the major urban cores, which is why we should be directing federal subsidies to improving regional transit, not intrastate high speed rail.

Europe wants less freight moved by truck and more by rail and are spending handsomly to get it. They can and are affording it. I don't think Europe is affording much of anything these days. The handsome spending you refer to is precisly what has gotten Europe into the deep trouble it is currently in. Wouldn't surprise me if freight rail spending gets the ax as part of the austerity measures being implemented.

Sec. of Transp. Ray LaHood was interviewed about Ohio's rejection of the federal funds last week on NPR. I loved that in defending the project his argument basically boiled down to, "if you build it, they will come." To wit, he argued that there hasn't been a single rail project in this country that wasn't heavily used after it was built. He obviously hasn't heard of RTA's Waterfront line. While it's a shame to lose the federal money, I still believe that the whole "high-speed" rail initiative in this country is utterly misguided. To start, these projects involve incorporating passenger rail onto existing freight lines. What a huge mistake. The U.S. arguably has the most efficient and functional freight rail system in the world. Incorporating passenger rail onto freight lines can only lead to a degradation in that efficiency. Moreover, because the passenger trains would utilize freight lines, they can never truly be "high-speed" like the passenger lines in Europe or Japan. Also, so many of the proposed routes just don't make sense. I can't fathom that tons of folks would be opting to pay to take the train from say, Orlando to Tampa. That's a short enough car ride that undoubtedly would be cheaper to drive. Same thing goes for the proposed 3-C line. I highly doubt it would ever have the ridership necessary to make it a profitable enterprise. Indeed, Amtrak's most heavily used East coast line has rarely, if ever, turned a profit. Rather, it relies substantially on federal subsidies. At the end of the day, the $8 billion allotted for high speed rail projects would have been so much more impactful if it were spent on expanding and upgrading regional transit initiatives. You would get far more bang for the buck, along with far greater environmental sustainability.

There was some interior demo work in Schofield as well, but until the financing is approved, the actual renovation is on hold. As best I can tell, not a stitch of work has been done for going on one year. Prudence suggests we wait for an announcement.

I believe the Security Building has been done for at least a year. Isn't that the 2-story building next to Truman that used to house a FirstMerit Bank? I believe the second floor was renovated into dental offices for the dentist previously located in Schofield. I agree with sky on Schofield. At this point, no work has been done other than removing the facade for the purpose of determining whether the building could be restored. While a Kimpton Hotel is planned for the site, the developer hasn't closed on the financing package yet. Thus, I would keep this one parked in the "planned" category at least until that happens. As for Truman, it seems like only one or two workers have been in there cleaning the place out for the last several months. No idea on when they plan to start the actual renovation work. This project is to some extent tied to Schofield as the developers want to use the rear of Truman for hotel parking. I don't know, however, if the financing being sought for the Schofield project also includes the Truman renovations. If it does, I'd keep Truman parked in "planned" as well.

Player's Pizza

Do you make a lot of lists for yourself?

Fronts Euclid from a mile away. ;) I wouldn't consider this a ECP project. Well I don't think it's quite an entire mile from Euclid, MTS, but I see your point. While I don't consider this a ECP project either, RTA assuredly does. Thanks KJP for putting together your list of Euclid Ave. projects.

I believe RTA includes CMA when discussing the economic impact of the Euclid Corridor Project (in terms of total dollars invested in development projects). While that claim is beyond speculative, you might as well throw CMA into the mix since the original 1916 building (which was renovated as part of the overall expansion project) fronts Euclid.

Let's just hope we're talking about the installation of real windows by this time next year. :-)

All the windows were covered with plastic last winter. The plastic was removed from some of the windows over the summer, around the time Governor Strickland came to town to announce the historic tax credit award. I assume they are just recovering the open windows for the winter.

Well, that may be; but the FAA's classification doesn't tell the whole story. But if it makes you feel better to know you're technically correct, then I capitulate.

It's a little unfair of USA Today to ascribe a 5.2% decline to Ohio when the bulk of the loss is attributed to Cincinnati, which is a regional airport serving a good chunk of KY's population. (I love that KY is deemed to be up 8%.) Also, while CLE is down 0.7%, it's noteworthy that Houston (Bush)--Continental's primary hub--is down 2%.

Not only dim, but also much thinner than they appeared in the renderings.

Thanks for your post Michelle. Good to hear.

I thought this project was pretty much a done deal. But the PD's story today on the John Hartness Brown building seems to cast some doubt: "A Kimpton Hotel could occupy part of the former Schofield Building, at East Ninth Street and Euclid." (Emphasis added.) As I recall, Governor Strickland came to town last summer to make a big announcement that Schofield was awarded tax credits, and that this project was in essence going to happen. Does anyone know whether the developers were able to tie up all the loose ends on financing?

While I hope this project suceeds, I can't help but be bothered by the fact that the only tenants are other downtown businesses leaving massive amounts of empty office space behind in the central business district. The whole project is really leading to the impression that this town is just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.