On a side note--what is the store going into the old Drug Mart?  Value-something?  Certainly not inspiring for the future...

For a second I thought you were referring to the Medic drug store at West 117th-Detroit.... http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2013/07/charter_school_moves_into_old.html

 

But now I realize you're referring to the Drug Mart that was next to the old Maria's, right?

For a second I thought you were referring to the Medic drug store at West 117th-Detroit.... http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2013/07/charter_school_moves_into_old.html

 

But now I realize you're referring to the Drug Mart that was next to the old Maria's, right?

 

Yes Sorry KJP.  The Drug Mart between Marias and the 5 O'clock.  I saw a sign there the other night when driving by, something about future home of "Value Time" (or something to that effect).

Value World?

 

http://lakewood-oh.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/value-world-slated-to-move-into-vacated-drug-mart

That sucks.

 

Interesting reading the comments on that thread.  It is a shame that more high end development has not come to the East End of Lakewood. 

 

People in that thread are pretty freiked out though.

 

One WorldFest this past Sunday!

 

Pic of the lower level of the Italian Cultural Garden - looks kinda similar to the portico of Fifth Church.

 

Pizza from Papa Nicks! Wine from Constantinos! Dessert from Clifton Diner! All could be enjoyed at Landmark Park = Social & Economic Impact!

 

What is Councilman Westbrook and Cudell Improvement waiting on?!

 

www.NeighborsInAction.Info

 

Visit us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Neighbors-in-Action/570311742988541

What's the circus going on at the corner of 117th and Clifton. I see US flag bunting. Political event? Hopefully some sort of announcement too, based on the location.

What's the circus going on at the corner of 117th and Clifton. I see US flag bunting. Political event? Hopefully some sort of announcement too, based on the location.

 

Groundbreaking ceremony.......

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4446.msg670049.html#msg670049

Doah! I forgot about that.

 

And Heinens goes downtown. 

 

Love the density graphs.  Ironic isn't it?

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/heinens_plans_downtown_clevela.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2#incart_m-rpt-2

And Heinens goes downtown. 

 

Love the density graphs.  Ironic isn't it?

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/heinens_plans_downtown_clevela.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2#incart_m-rpt-2

 

Yep. Think of how many people live within just 5 blocks of the church on 117th/Lake, let alone a mile! It's very interesting. This would have been a game changer for retail and residential in Edgewater-Cudell/Gold Coast-Lakewood, but now it's a retail and residential game changer for downtown.

 

It's amazing how this open parcel with a historic rotunda and the highest population density in Ohio wasn't good enough for Heinen's, but somehow downtown was. I do think this might be the start of a larger trend of depopulating the Gold Coast/Edgewater in favor of downtown. It's going to be hard for the Gold Coast/Edgewater to compete as updated units continually come on the market in downtown while this neighborhood stagnates in housing and retail.

 

I'm optimistic for Enhance Clifton, but I feel it might have been 2 or 3 years too late. We'll see what inevitably goes in at the corner of Clifton/117th. In my opinion that chain link fenced weed lot is 10x more of an eyesore/blight than that empty Giant Eagle ever was. When you see the new builds/renovations in the works for Detroit Shoreway and Ohio City, you've got to think this parcel is only 2 or 3 years away from something respectable. But how long are developers willing to keep it vacant before we get a less than desirable retail strip?

 

I guess the consolation prize to 117th is that I can now drive and park in front of a GFS to buy a 10 lb can of peaches.

 

 

I guess the consolation prize to 117th is that I can now drive and park in front of a GFS to buy a 10 lb can of peaches.

 

 

I suppose you speak of that setback, largely windowless brick box that's going up.

 

So much of W117 needs to be detonated.

 

I guess the consolation prize to 117th is that I can now drive and park in front of a GFS to buy a 10 lb can of peaches.

 

 

I suppose you speak of that setback, largely windowless brick box that's going up.

 

So much of W117 needs to be detonated.

 

Make sure you share your thoughts with Westbrook, Brady and Cudell "Improvement".

 

Make sure you share your thoughts with Westbrook, Brady and Cudell "Improvement".

 

You mean Matt Zone. Westbrook is retiring and his ward is getting absorbed by Zone's. So Zone's new ward will extend west to West 117th after Jan. 1.

 

Make sure you share your thoughts with Westbrook, Brady and Cudell "Improvement".

 

You mean Matt Zone. Westbrook is retiring and his ward is getting absorbed by Zone's. So Zone's new ward will extend west to West 117th after Jan. 1.

 

Didn't realize that--I thought Dona Brady was getting it--or are they both getting a piece of the ward?

Didn't realize that--I thought Dona Brady was getting it--or are they both getting a piece of the ward?

 

See WestBLVD's post at:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4065.msg673531.html#msg673531

 

Make sure you share your thoughts with Westbrook, Brady and Cudell "Improvement".

 

You mean Matt Zone. Westbrook is retiring and his ward is getting absorbed by Zone's. So Zone's new ward will extend west to West 117th after Jan. 1.

 

Didn't realize that--I thought Dona Brady was getting it--or are they both getting a piece of the ward?

 

No, she just has that useless carve out so she can fulfill her residency requirements.  It's a shame they left that in place.

With Heinen's going downtown does that mean for certain they won't consider the w117 rotunda? I apologize if this has already been covered. Just moved back to the Goldcoast and it's really not a huge deal heading to the Rocky River store but that would have been pretty sweet to be able to walk to it.

With Heinen's going downtown does that mean for certain they won't consider the w117 rotunda? I apologize if this has already been covered. Just moved back to the Goldcoast and it's really not a huge deal heading to the Rocky River store but that would have been pretty sweet to be able to walk to it.

 

If a grocery store is going into the block at West 117th and Clifton (and Westbrook is adamant that a "food service store" be one of the retailers there), it won't be in the church. The church is likely a goner. The difference is that the rotunda at East 9th and Euclid was maintained and heated throughout its long vacancy. The West 117th church was not. It has suffered some serious degradation, including holes in the clerestory at the peak of the dome which has let in weather and birds. And everything I've heard while reporting for Sun is that a grocer would be in a newly built structure whether the church was saved or not.

Vedda Building Changing Hands?

The building was most recently the home of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign outpost in Lakewood.

Posted by Colin McEwen (Editor) , October 06, 2013 at 10:51 PM

 

It looks as if the owners of the Vedda Building may have finally found a buyer.

 

The building at the corner of Hird and Detroit avenues no longer has its huge “for sale” signs fixed at the front of the property.

 

The Vedda Building — once the home of Phil Vedda and Sons Printing — has been abandoned since the company vacated the property in the late 1990s.

 

Rumors swirling around town indicate that the building has been bought for a massive renovation that would include new apartments.

 

However, city officials — who have also heard the rumors — say that no plans have been submitted to city hall.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://lakewood-oh.patch.com/groups/real-estate/p/vedda-building-changing-hands

^BTW not sure if you heard or not but Lakewood patch and all patch sites are closing down by months end. I actually really liked the sites sad to hear of their closing shop, they did a great job of cultivating a hyper local community

^BTW not sure if you heard or not but Lakewood patch and all patch sites are closing down by months end. I actually really liked the sites sad to hear of their closing shop, they did a great job of cultivating a hyper local community

 

No I hadn't heard. So I will edit my posting and include some of the article's text so we don't lost it here.

 

BTW, I thought Obama's 2008 campaign was based at Maria's? Or was that the 2012 campaign?

My first post on the topic, very interested to see how things develop.  I'm a new resident to the neighborhood.  Personally, I'd love to see Constantino's expand similar to what they've done with their Warehouse District and University Circle locations, but it sounds like this development company is eying larger chain-like stores for the vacant Giant Eagle spot.  Will keep checking this forum and find ways I can get involved.  Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, clifton1979. And welcome to the neighborhood!

 

You might give a shout to Neighbors In Action and to Cudell Improvement Inc.

^BTW not sure if you heard or not but Lakewood patch and all patch sites are closing down by months end. I actually really liked the sites sad to hear of their closing shop, they did a great job of cultivating a hyper local community

 

The site isn't closing, they are just losing their editorial staff.  It sounds like it will continue as a bulletin board of sorts.

Anita Brindza, director of Cudell Improvement CDC, wrote on Facebook:

 

There will be a community meeting to discuss the redevelopment of the corner of West 117th and Clifton on Wednesday, November 6 at 6 PM at Alcott School, West 104 and Baltic Road. The public is encouraged to attend.

MEETING ALERT!

City of Cleveland has agreed to host one community wide meeting to present plans for the redevelopment of the W. 117th Street and Clifton Boulevard block (a.k.a. "Shoppes on Clifton").

 

Developer Carnegie Companies will also be present, and the fate of historic landmark Fifth Church will be discussed as well.

 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 (6 p.m.) at Louisa Alcott May Alcott Elementary School, 10308 Baltic Road (south of Clifton Boulevard). 

 

The public is encouraged to attend, ask questions, provide input, and tell others!

 

Get more info, www.NeighborsInAction.Info

 

PLEASE FORWARD TO OTHERS!

 

Official Wednesday, November 6th community wide meeting flyer from Cudell Improvement is attached.

 

Plans for W. 117th Street and Clifton Boulevard (a.k.a. "Shoppes on Clifton") and the fate of historic landmark Fifth Church of Christ Scientist will be presented by the City of Cleveland and Developer Carnegie Companies.

 

Please attend.

 

Get more info, www.NeighborsInAction.Info

 

Just had breakfast at the Diner on Clifton. Rumor going around the staff is that this stretch of buildings will also be torn down.

Just had breakfast at the Diner on Clifton. Rumor going around the staff is that this stretch of buildings will also be torn down.

 

All I know about that is that Charter One is still paying rent through next year I believe.

 

If we could get something nice on both sides, that would be great.  I would miss the diner though.

 

We had a phone survey about grocery stores this past week.  My wife is convinced it's about the W117th parcel, me not so much.

 

 

COMMUNITY MEETING ALERT!

 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 (6 p.m.)

 

City of Cleveland and Developer Carnegie Companies will present plans for the redevelopment of the W. 117th Street and Clifton Boulevard block.

 

The public is encouraged to attend, ask questions about all aspects of the development as well as the fate of historic landmark Fifth Church of Christ Scientist.

 

Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, 10308 Baltic Road (south of Clifton Boulevard).

 

More info, www.NeighborsInAction.Info

@DruSiley: At community meeting re the redevelopment of the Cleveland side corner of 117 & Clifton. Stay tuned. http://pic.twitter.com/qE3hyUAqWl

 

Shoppes at Clifton concept proposes Giant Eagle market store at 116 & Clifton corner and separate retail bldg at corner of 117 & Clifton.

 

GE Market District concept is about 30k square ft. Lots of prepared foods in addition to traditional grocery.

 

Shoppes at Clifton concept site plan also proposes to demolish the church.

City of Clev still owns the church.

 

Shoppes concept is still at concept level. Elements from the church may be incorporated into the design. Lots more process ahead.

It's a nice plan. 

 

The store would have a 2nd floor restaurant complete with full liquor license.  You would order alacarte made to order items that would then be brought to your table in a more upscale environment that you would imagine in a grocery store.  Likely service hours of 9 - 9 for food, 24hr grocery operation with emphasis on fresh produce and quality foodstuffs.  They have one in Solon that is similar but much larger than this one would be.

 

If the church is demolished completely tentative plans to trade space with Carnegie so that city ends up with a contiguous strip of land on the N side of the lot between W 116 and W 117 for 10 - 12 condos.  Still ongoing research on possible recycling of church elements into said condos and also retention of certain church elements into a corner park.  Just over 100 parking spaces.

 

Old hair salon parcel on W 116th becomes employee parking lot.

 

4 - 5 retail shopes in other building (SW corner) with 1 being a bank with a drive through (E-W along N side)and another being a yogurt/ice cream shop NOT named Mitchells.

 

 

 

 

every year for the last half dozen years or more, at least one student in the CSU urban planning class studies this site for multi story mixed use residential over retail.  The numbers work.  The market demand for new upscale rental apartments is there.  I would think the deal would only be getting better on something like this now that interest rates are low & rental occupancy is up. 

 

4 - 5 retail shopes in other building (SW corner) with 1 being a bank with a drive through (E-W along N side)and another being a yogurt/ice cream shop NOT named Mitchells.

 

 

That would be Piccadilly artisan yogurt

 

^^ It's my understanding that the numbers don't work from a construction cost and parking requirement perspective.

 

Add in the fact that the owners have little desire to do residential and there you have it.

 

It has been brought up repeatedly and the primary reasons given are listed in the two sentences above.  I would prefer it as would you and that's what we have been told.

 

There was a plan in place prior to the 2008 crash that would have been exactly as you described but post crash the principals lost interest, financing or both.

Having a 24-hour, 30K sf grocery store within walking distance is good news. To compare, the new GFS or the old Sapell's on West 117th are half as large. But I with this development will have a strong sidewalk presence -- especially at the corner of West 117th and Clifton. Placing it behind a surface parking lot at this critical, transit- and pedestrian-oriented intersection will change the neighborhood from a traditional streetcar-suburban setting to just suburban. That's a big waste of the investment from the Enhance Clifton transit project and it's not the neighborhood I signed up for 17 years ago.

The plans are for it to be built up to the street with a breezeway between the two buildings with outdoor seating.

 

Remain calm. :-)

 

 

 

 

The plans are for it to be built up to the street with a breezeway between the two buildings with outdoor seating.

 

Remain calm. :-)

 

 

 

All along Clifton? The last version I saw had it coming up to the sidewalk at West 116th and Clifton, but it would be surfacing parking at West 117th and Clifton.

 

And I prefer to be upset about something!  :-P  Keeps my blood flowing..... 

Yep, all along Clifton.

 

There were many parties that did their best to hold the City's feet to the fire on this very point and that has been a design requirement by the City to Carnegie for a few months now.

 

I'm surprised no one has posted plans yet online.

 

 

If you're right Dean great news.

 

And in regards to residential/retail, this is where our politicians can do some good.  Maybe the owners don't want to do it, but if given the opportunity with the financing working for them,  maybe they would change their minds.

Yep, all along Clifton.

 

There were many parties that did their best to hold the City's feet to the fire on this very point and that has been a design requirement by the City to Carnegie for a few months now.

 

What can we do to change zoning laws so that this is a requirement?  It's so backwards right now I'm wondering if the builders need a variance to build to the sidewalk.

Yep, all along Clifton.

 

There were many parties that did their best to hold the City's feet to the fire on this very point and that has been a design requirement by the City to Carnegie for a few months now.

 

What can we do to change zoning laws so that this is a requirement?  It's so backwards right now I'm wondering if the builders need a variance to build to the sidewalk.

 

I'm pretty sure they don't need a variance to build to the sidewalk.

 

In the same vein, what I find strange is the parking codes on the books.  They DID need a variance to ONLY have like 108 parking spaces for this development.  That seems crazy to me.  Now the rationale behind 20K car trips a day past there so there is a need for parking I can start to buy that argument but having to get a variance to ONLY have 108 spaces seems very outdated to me.

 

It would be great to have this bit of parking code analyzed by people in the know here to see how it impacts development in the City.

 

I was at the meeting last night.  There was disappointment from MANY people there that this space will be a Giant Eagle, and not a Heinen's, Trader Joe's, Dave's, Constantino's, etc.  The head guy from Carnegie said many of those grocers turned the site down for various reasons, probably because of the proximity to their other locations.  We don't know what went on behind-the-scenes so it's all speculation, but Carnegie and Giant Eagle have been in bed together on this lot before so I'm not surprised to see this happening again.  I spoke at the meeting, saying that I really hope they look to University Circle's development... particularly the brand new Constantino's (which would have been PERFECT for this Clifton site!)  The University Circle development "looks" appealing, it's very walkable, even though it ALSO has a busy street (Euclid) cutting right through it.  I found the visual mockups of the Clifton site to be okay, nothing particularly unique.  I really hope they spend time with landscaping, artwork, and lighting.  What about a nice sign welcoming you to Cleveland?  Similar to what Lakewood has on the CVS corner.  We'll see.

 

In any case, really happy to see the crowd we had tonight.  The Giant Eagle representative got plenty of criticism, some compliments.  The neighborhood spoke up... it was great to see it in action.

In any case, really happy to see the crowd we had tonight.  The Giant Eagle representative got plenty of criticism, some compliments.  The neighborhood spoke up... it was great to see it in action.

 

Good name for a group -- Neighbors In Action! ;)

 

There was disappointment from MANY people there that this space will be a Giant Eagle, and not a Heinen's, Trader Joe's, Dave's, Constantino's, etc.  The head guy from Carnegie said many of those grocers turned the site down for various reasons, probably because of the proximity to their other locations.

 

That's ironic considering of those 5 grocers, Giant Eagle already has a store closest to this new spot: at West 117th and I-90. (Ok, Constantino's has a store on Detroit but it's more of a convenient store)

^Constantino's is on Clifton just a few block away from this project.

Got a solicitation call today from Dollar and the caller said they are going to be the bank in this project.

 

 

 

 

 

There was disappointment from MANY people there that this space will be a Giant Eagle, and not a Heinen's, Trader Joe's, Dave's, Constantino's, etc.  The head guy from Carnegie said many of those grocers turned the site down for various reasons, probably because of the proximity to their other locations.

 

That's ironic considering of those 5 grocers, Giant Eagle already has a store closest to this new spot: at West 117th and I-90. (Ok, Constantino's has a store on Detroit but it's more of a convenient store)

 

The Giant Eagle as a potential anchor is kind of a disappointment. Do we really need another one of those?

 

Not to split hairs as they are almost equidistant (it shows the Giant Eagle saturation), but the Giant Eagle on Bunts between Clifton and Detroit is actually closer to this spot (1.1 miles away) than the Giant Eagle at I-90 and 117th (1.3 miles away). I know that the Market District stores are apparently a bit different than the typical Giant Eagle, but what unique feature would this store offer that the neighboring stores don't already provide? I think the store on 117th recently remodeled their wine area to include tasting, has an extensive cheese market, deli, salad bar station, and prepared hot food stations.

 

I'm wondering how much new business they'll end up attracting, compared to the sales that will just cease at the stores a mile away in either direction?

 

I know most would have loved for a Whole Foods, Heinens or Trader Joe's, but those seemed pie in the sky. If we're going to go with the theme of grocers who already serve the immediate market, I would much rather see Constantino's vacate their extremely tiny space a few blocks away in favor of a larger full scale market on this site.

 

On another note, this parcel has been vacant now for more than a year, and almost approaching the 1 year mark as a vacant weed lot. It's definitely been an eyesore as you enter the city for the past year with the chain link fencing.

 

I'm not in love with Giant Eagle by any means but this is quite a bit different than their other stores.

 

This is made to order restaurant, not prepared foods.  This is beer, wine, and liquor bar attached to the restaurant. 

 

I have no idea what the Constantino's love is all about.  That store is a dump on Clifton and is nothing more than a glorified Convenient.  It took them like 3+ years just to fix that sign and put their name on it while a banner was hanging off the roof.