Pugu

In the "Dossier Cleveland" insert into UA's Hemisphere's magazine for February, on P. 22, it says, "CLE [Hopkins is] planing to open a new 250-room upscale airport hotel in 2016." 2016 is not that far away---anyone have any details?

^reading it now. I didn't know the CIA had its own venture capital fund. Ronn Richard, pres of the Cleveland Foundation, was the COO of it. (p.5) P. 22, says" CLE Hopkins [is] planing to open a new 250-room upscale airport hotel in 2016." Overall, its a nice piece, but it seems very heavy on business on very light on the cultural amenities the city has. The magazine was done in consultation with the Greater Cleveland Partnership. At first (and only so far) glance, I didn't see any mention of 'world-class' cultural institutions like the art museum or the orchestra---or anything about music or art.

^and despite repeated cuts by UA.

Details and challenges of the Heinen's at 9th & Euclid: http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/heinensdowntown012114.aspx "Although Heinen's is still mapping out the details of its planned grocery store in downtown Cleveland, co-owner Jeff Heinen recently shared with Fresh Water conceptual plans, while acknowledging that opening a 33,000-square-foot grocery downtown is anything but a slam dunk and will require fine tuning to reach the right market...."

^I like the decoy idea. But could that be considered entrapment?

The location that KJP is proposing doesn't have to be in the middle of nowhere. If the lakefront plans pan out there will hopefully be apts, offices and other stuff around. Also a train station could be used as a catalyst for other development. In NY, Grand Central was built all the way up at 42 st. in the middle of nowhere. Now look at it. Throw in a frequent shuttle to BKL and it'll be the place to be! Or maybe no shuttle, just including Burke in the ads as its walkable from this location. You could even let people check their luggage there, then jump on the rapid system to Hopkins. (I think you can do this, unless something has changed.) "Cleveland Lakefront Station" could truly be a powerful intermodal station.

^I think its bizarre too. I find it strange to give cash to a for-profit entity, unless its an investment where you could at least get your money back. As a restaurant, he could say, give me $50 and I'll give you a gift card worth $55 to be used two years from now---and he'd still make out as the costs for him may be $15-35 to have a bill for $55, especially if drinks are involved. But without something like that in return, I don't see a lot of people just giving him money, only to give more if they want to eat there. Wish him luck, though.

KJP--was that presentation given somewhere or only developed as a plan/thought piece?

^^ Nice presentation. (And thanks for not calling it "North Coast Transportation Center" -- it must be "Cleveland".) ^Keith--the station could the central CLE drop off---though it doesn't have to preclude those other bus agencies from having more than one stop in CLE (particularly if they're already serving University Circle). However, those companies may like it as it will be faster to get in and out of the city. But for this to work, in addition to RTA Waterfront rail service (which doesn't really serve that much of downtown), the statation would be successful if there were say two or three RTA shuttles that ran every 5-minutes daytime (and say every 15 minutes during 2am-5am) from the station on various routes throughout downtown.

Whatever happeed to the "Mather Mansion Boutique Hotel" at CSU? http://www.csuohio.edu/offices/architect/rfps/matherhotel/

Not really sure what this is, but CLE is one of three US cities for which you can vote for for some sustainability recognition: http://www.welovecities.org/

^what a useless facebook page----no info whatsoever. I assume no webpage either.

Here is an update of my Downtown hotel list. Last update was on December 9, 2012, though I may have done one more recently that may have gotten lost in the great data crash. In the December 2012 post, I had a grand total of operating and under construction/advanced planning hotel rooms at 4,894 rooms in Downtown, Midtown, and University Circle. That number is much bigger now. See below. “Suites” are counted as “rooms” for this purpose. HOTEL ROOMS AS OF JANUARY 17, 2014 DOWNTOWN (to E. 36 St.) Operating: Aloft - 150 Rooms Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center – 400 rooms Comfort Inn – Downtown – 130 rooms DoubleTree by Hilton Cleveland Downtown – Lakeside – 374 rooms + 5 suites Hampton Inn - Cleveland Downtown – 194 rooms Hilton Garden Inn Cleveland Downtown – 232 + 8 suites Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Cleveland – Downtown-141 rooms + 25 suites Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade – 293 rooms Renaissance Cleveland Hotel- 441 rooms + 50 suites Ritz Carlton – 205 rooms Radisson Hotel Cleveland-Gateway - 142 rooms Wyndham Cleveland at Playhouse Square - 173 rooms + 32 suites Residence Inn by Marriott - Cleveland Downtown - 175 suites University Hotel & Suites (36th & Euclid) – 161 rooms Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding: Westin Cleveland Convention Center Hotel - 481 Rooms Kimpton - 161 Rooms Autograph at the 9 / Bruer – 156 Rooms Drury Board of Education – 225 Rooms Hilton Cleveland Convention Center– 600 Rooms Le Meridien JHB - 206 Rooms Crowne Plaza - Cle Athletic Club - 195 Rooms Downtown TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 5355 MIDTOWN (E. 36 to E. 105) Operating: Intercontinental Hotel (98th & Carnegie) 299 rooms + 23 suites Intercontinental Suites (88th & Euclid) - 162 suites Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding Holiday Inn-Cle Clinic – 275 Rooms Midtown TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 759 UNIVERSITY CIRCLE Operating: Tudor Arms (Doubletree) (107 & Carnegie) – 154 rooms Glidden House – 60 rooms Marriott Courtyard—University Circle - 153 Rooms Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding None Univ Circle TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 367 TOTALS: Operating Downtown 3331 Midtown 484 Univ Circle 367 Subtotal 4182 Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding Downtown 2024 Midtown 275 Univ Circle 0 Subtotal 2299 GRAND TOTAL: 6481 Compared to 4939 in December 2012, that’s a 31% increase!

^Yes, things have been booming! That reminds me, I haven’t updated my Downtown/Univ Circle hotel totals in a while. Looks like December 9, 2012, was my last update, though I may have done one more recently that may have been lost in the data crash. In the December 2012 post, I had a grand total of operating and under construction/advanced planning hotel rooms at 4,894 rooms in Downtown, Midtown, and University Circle. That number is much bigger now. See below. “Suites” are counted as “rooms” for this purpose. HOTEL ROOMS AS OF JANUARY 17, 2014 DOWNTOWN (to E. 36 St.) Operating: Aloft - 150 Rooms Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center – 400 rooms Comfort Inn – Downtown – 130 rooms DoubleTree by Hilton Cleveland Downtown – Lakeside – 374 rooms + 5 suites Hampton Inn - Cleveland Downtown – 194 rooms Hilton Garden Inn Cleveland Downtown – 232 + 8 suites Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Cleveland – Downtown-141 rooms + 25 suites Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade – 293 rooms Renaissance Cleveland Hotel- 441 rooms + 50 suites Ritz Carlton – 205 rooms Radisson Hotel Cleveland-Gateway - 142 rooms Wyndham Cleveland at Playhouse Square - 173 rooms + 32 suites Residence Inn by Marriott - Cleveland Downtown - 175 suites University Hotel & Suites (36th & Euclid) – 161 rooms* Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding: Westin Cleveland Convention Center Hotel - 481 Rooms Kimpton - 161 Rooms Autograph at the 9 / Bruer – 156 Rooms Drury Board of Education – 225 Rooms Hilton Cleveland Convention Center– 600 Rooms Le Meridien JHB - 206 Rooms Crowne Plaza - Cle Athletic Club - 195 Rooms Downtown TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 5355 MIDTOWN (E. 36 to E. 105) Operating: Intercontinental Hotel (98th & Carnegie) 299 rooms + 23 suites Intercontinental Suites (88th & Euclid) - 162 suites Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding Holiday Inn-Cle Clinic – 275 Rooms Midtown TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 759 UNIVERSITY CIRCLE Operating: Tudor Arms (Doubletree) (107 & Carnegie) – 154 rooms Glidden House – 60 rooms Marriott Courtyard—University Circle - 153 Rooms Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding None Univ Circle TOTAL (Operating and Not Yet Operating): 367 TOTALS: Operating Downtown 3331 Midtown 484 Univ Circle 367 Subtotal 4182 Under Construction / Site Prep / Advanced Planning or Funding Downtown 2024 Midtown 275 Univ Circle 0 Subtotal 2299 GRAND TOTAL: 6481 Compared to 4939 in December 2012, that’s a 31% increase!

^Cool, thanks. Downtown needs more quick and inexpensive lunch places. Will check it out.

Also, very noteworthy today, AA will end CLE-LGA---a route they had for 50 yrs. As part of the deal with DOJ to combine with USAir, AA had to give up slots at LGA and Washington National. Among the LGA routes cut were ATL and MSP, though some 15-20 new routes--generally to smaller places--were added. That's bad---the last thing we need is LESS competition on a very expensive--and busy--route.

JC Penny Co. will close 33 stores across the US. None are in Cleveland; the only one in Ohio on the list is in Wooster.

^The place is already made. You don't need a cheezey sign to tell people what they already know. The same is true for Playhouse Square---except that Playhouse Sq is an official square/location---therefore, there should be sign at the corner of 14th and Euclid, like a REGULAR STREET SIGN (not the new ugly giant ones) that says, "Playhouse Sq.". Similarly, if you want to physically label a place, place a "Welcome to..." or "Entering..." sign at one of the street entrances to Flats East, such as you have signs when you enter a municipality.

^That huge "FLATS" sign is atrocious. Its no different than a building Downtown that has a huge sign on it that says, "Downtown Cleveland". It just looks ridiculous. Flats East Bank is the subneighborhood of the neighborhood called the Flats. No one building should have a huge sign on it suggesting that that building is the whole neighborhood. How arrogant and presumptuous. And ugly--both visually and behaviorally.

Is the area of Jackass Hill still around? Was it destroyed by the 490 connection to E55th or has its name changed? Not many references to it--it was around E 49 and Praha. Here's one reference---see Line 1 on the table here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer

Airshow will be back at BKL this year. Was canceled in 2013 because of budget sequestration. http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/blue-angels-making-winter-visit-to-cleveland-in-preparation-for-the-labor-day-weekend-2014-air-show

Feb 8th is coming up soon---they better do some MASSIVE advertising/social media....

^So CH can't afford a lousy $250k? Sounds like its in pretty bad shape if its making such public safety decisions like that....