I scheduled a tour for this Friday. Purely out of curiosity. I'll plan on posting photos here. 

The promised photo dump. I thought the apartments were very nice. Good finishes, and layouts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is NOT a sexy bathroom though 😠 
(i hope someone gets my reference lol)

I like the five-panel closet doors and double-hung windows.  The windows do open, right?  I don't see screens on them.

On 1/4/2025 at 2:35 PM, Quilliam said:

I like the five-panel closet doors and double-hung windows.  The windows do open, right?  I don't see screens on them.

Yes the doors are a nice touch.  I was surprised how the narrow portion that doglegs toward Cedar seems so close to the the sidewalk and busy street.

Is it just me, or does the cold air return over the door into the bedroom in @Ethan 's first photo go all the way through to the bedroom?   Seems like not the best setup for privacy, although I get that most of these are probably one bedroom apartments to be inhabited by single apartment dwellers.  Still, it's a bedroom with a door for a reason.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/edwins-restaurant-leaving-shaker-square-to-move-into-nighttown-space.html

57 minutes ago, OldEnough said:

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/edwins-restaurant-leaving-shaker-square-to-move-into-nighttown-space.html

What a loss to the city of Cleveland.

Wow. So Nighttown is truly dead. I had hoped for another resurrection, but with something else in the space, I can't imagine it's ever coming back.

On 1/3/2025 at 4:50 PM, dwolfi01 said:

That is NOT a sexy bathroom though 😠 
(i hope someone gets my reference lol)

 

at a minimum they should put the toilet seat and lid down!

 

Edited January 10Jan 10 by Jax

3 hours ago, OldEnough said:

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/edwins-restaurant-leaving-shaker-square-to-move-into-nighttown-space.html

 

I heard last weekend this was a done deal. I tried to get someone from Edwins to confirm but...nothing. I guess I can rest easy knowing I had the scoop three months ago.

 

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/10/15/edwins-leaving-shaker-square-for-ex-nighttown/

2 hours ago, KJP said:

 

I heard last weekend this was a done deal. I tried to get someone from Edwins to confirm but...nothing. I guess I can rest easy knowing I had the scoop three months ago.

 

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/10/15/edwins-leaving-shaker-square-for-ex-nighttown/

Another article --

 

https://www.clevescene.com/food-drink/brandon-chrostowski-to-move-edwins-edwins-too-to-nighttown-property-in-cleveland-heights-45842738

6 hours ago, Foraker said:

Another article --

 

https://www.clevescene.com/food-drink/brandon-chrostowski-to-move-edwins-edwins-too-to-nighttown-property-in-cleveland-heights-45842738

Perfect location for the business and new patrons, while the news say he is maintaining operations at Shaker Square (and now Playhouse Square) win-win-win:  Edwins’ life-skills and child-care center, bakery and butcher shop – all located close to Shaker Square – will remain where they are. Chrostowski owns eight to nine buildings in that neighborhood; all are aimed at fostering the futures of people who go through Edwins.

Am I misreading that?  The actual restaurant is still closing in Shaker Square, right?

 

Night town was one of those Greater Cleveland staples we all grew up with and hoped would stay forever. Like Tommy's, Slyman's, Corky's, Habor Inn, Mama Santa's, Sokolowski's, dozens of others.

 

I'm bummed it's closed for real this time.

 

 

17 minutes ago, TBideon said:

Am I misreading that?  The actual restaurant is still closing in Shaker Square, right?

 

Night town was one of those Greater Cleveland staples we all grew up with and hoped would stay forever. Like Tommy's, Slyman's, Corky's, Habor Inn, Mama Santa's, Sokolowski's, dozens of others.

 

I'm bummed it's closed for real this time.

 

 

+Barking Spider 

1 hour ago, TBideon said:

Am I misreading that?  The actual restaurant is still closing in Shaker Square, right?

 

Night town was one of those Greater Cleveland staples we all grew up with and hoped would stay forever. Like Tommy's, Slyman's, Corky's, Habor Inn, Mama Santa's, Sokolowski's, dozens of others.

 

I'm bummed it's closed for real this time.

 

 

No you read correctly, Willo misread the article. Despite 2-3 years remaining on the leases for both Shaker Square restaurants, they're closing next month. 

Very curious what ends up happening with those spaces, hopefully they don't stay vacant for long

9 hours ago, TBideon said:

Am I misreading that?  The actual restaurant is still closing in Shaker Square, right?

 

Night town was one of those Greater Cleveland staples we all grew up with and hoped would stay forever. Like Tommy's, Slyman's, Corky's, Habor Inn, Mama Santa's, Sokolowski's, dozens of others.

 

I'm bummed it's closed for real this time.

 

Yes the Shaker Square location will remain empty while they pay the rent until another tenant is found. I can understand why they like the Nighttown location, and it seems like they're taking it as an opportunity to refine the restaurant concept. Compared to Balaton, moving a mile or two away seems like a better fate.

 

FWIW, I've lived near Edwin's for over a year and a half and I've still never tried it because of the price (as much as I want to). I could see them having more success with the Cleveland Heights crowd.

 

Edit: the one place I actually have been is Edwin's Bakery, which happens to be one of the remaining locations.

Edited January 12Jan 12 by sonisharri

8 hours ago, bikemail said:

No you read correctly, Willo misread the article. Despite 2-3 years remaining on the leases for both Shaker Square restaurants, they're closing next month. 

Very curious what ends up happening with those spaces, hopefully they don't stay vacant for long

Quote was taken from the highly esteemed Plain Dealer - while the restaurant leases being vacated is bad news, the paragraph cited seemed like a silver lining for the Shaker/Buckeye/Woodland neighborhood:

 

Edwins’ life-skills and child-care center, bakery and butcher shop – all located close to Shaker Square – will remain where they are. Chrostowski owns eight to nine buildings in that neighborhood; all are aimed at fostering the futures of people who go through Edwins.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/edwins-restaurant-leaving-shaker-square-to-move-into-nighttown-space.html

 

43 minutes ago, Willo said:

Quote was taken from the highly esteemed Plain Dealer - while the restaurant leases being vacated is bad news, the paragraph cited seemed like a silver lining for the Shaker/Buckeye/Woodland neighborhood:

 

Edwins’ life-skills and child-care center, bakery and butcher shop – all located close to Shaker Square – will remain where they are. Chrostowski owns eight to nine buildings in that neighborhood; all are aimed at fostering the futures of people who go through Edwins.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2025/01/edwins-restaurant-leaving-shaker-square-to-move-into-nighttown-space.html

 

I know it's pedantic but you said "while the news say he is maintaining operations at Shaker Square", but the only facilities he's keeping open are on Buckeye and Larchmere

11 hours ago, bikemail said:

I know it's pedantic but you said "while the news say he is maintaining operations at Shaker Square", but the only facilities he's keeping open are on Buckeye and Larchmere

Pedantic yes, but mea culpa!  Intended point is it is still an overlooked silver lining in that news story as he could have moved those much needed programs away from the Shaker Square area entirely.

Oh f$&k

 

https://x.com/neo_scan/status/1882953153479336287?s=46&t=-ApuSKXOhKYOFRRl1ySrew

35 minutes ago, marty15 said:

Oh f$&k

 

https://x.com/neo_scan/status/1882953153479336287?s=46&t=-ApuSKXOhKYOFRRl1ySrew

Sounds like it’s out of control at this point.

So many of these are wood-framed. Like Zimmerman's condos in Rocky River. Went up like a bonfire.

 

Anyone had enough of 2025 yet?

10 minutes ago, KJP said:

Anyone had enough of 2025 yet?

🤚

 

Hopefully the building is mostly in tact - hard to tell from this picture (WKYC) how much it spread.

Edited January 25Jan 25 by Geowizical

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/s/Qd48eJCJn3

 

Someone posted this picture to reddit from I believe the Cedar/Fairmount area with the caption "my friend is the property manager. They suspect arson"

 

Obviously not trusting a random person on reddit. But I wonder if anyone on here actually does know the property manager...

Live feed: https://www.cleveland19.com/2025/01/25/cleveland-heights-battle-fire-new-apartment-building-cedar-lee/

So, tonight, about an hour ago, was the first time I've seen lights on in the apartment. One apartment, on the top floor.

 

Edit: my bad, got the two apartment complexes confused. 

5 minutes ago, Ethan said:

So, tonight, about an hour ago, was the first time I've seen lights on in the apartment. One apartment, on the top floor. 

Uhhh that sounds like eye-witness testimonial to me 👀

Edited January 25Jan 25 by Geowizical

This one, the Riverwalk in Willoughby, and that condo building in Rocky River all went up in very intense and hard to fight fires in January/February right around the time they were structurally complete and before the sprinklers and fire suppression was fully installed. How's that for a run on sentence?

 

An article over a year later on Willoughby said they still hadn't determined a cause. I can't find any update on a cause for Rocky River. 

45 minutes ago, Geowizical said:

Uhhh that sounds like eye-witness testimonial to me 👀

My mistake, I got the two apartment complexes mixed up. 

 

Mostly contained now. 

 

Hope they've got good insurance - and that that wasn't the point.

 

Found this on the FB group

 

Who is the developer behind this Cedar/Lee Development? How many units in this development?

34 minutes ago, GoldStig23 said:

 

Found this on the FB group

 

Block clubs these days….

My cousin shared these photos. The first is from the street in front of her house. The other two are by the mayor.

8 hours ago, simplythis said:

Who is the developer behind this Cedar/Lee Development? How many units in this development?

Flaherty and Collins.  They also developed Top of the Hill.  More than 200 units.  There is a separate section not attached to section on fire which is almost done.

On the bright side, it seems like the building on Lee (the one that actually has move-in ready apartments) is unaffected. So probably nobody’s signed lease will be impacted. Also the affected building was far enough away from being done that they probably hadn’t installed most finishes/appliances yet.

 

Nevertheless….this really sucks.

Since it seems like the whole building didn't burn down, can any of it be salvaged and built upon? Or do they just start again fresh (or not at all ☹️)

8 minutes ago, Geowizical said:

Since it seems like the whole building didn't burn down, can any of it be salvaged and built upon? Or do they just start again fresh (or not at all ☹️)

I cannot imagine they would have to tear down the whole building or even a significant portion of it. It is a very long building with multiple wings. The fire seems to have been contained in one section on cedar as far as I can tell from the pictures. And as far as rebuilding goes, this is why you have insurance. Flaherty and Collins are a large developer and know how the game is played.

There’s next to no chance they reuse any portion of it. Between smoke damage, water/ice damage, and structural analysis, a full rebuild would honestly be cheaper. 
Id be shocked if they can even reuse the foundation. 

Morning update. 

 

 

 

Firefighters still active, so I didn't go any closer. This sucks, no idea how long this delays the opening, but I assume a long while. Hopefully it still pulls through eventually. 

24 minutes ago, enginerd12 said:

There’s next to no chance they reuse any portion of it. Between smoke damage, water/ice damage, and structural analysis, a full rebuild would honestly be cheaper. 
Id be shocked if they can even reuse the foundation. 

Can they use the horizontally distal parts still potentially? I understand all parts of the vertical stack where the fire occurred could be a loss. But the building is probably nearly 100 meters long and the fire seemed localized to one end (although I haven’t been to the site since it happened yet; just judging from pictures).

3 minutes ago, LlamaLawyer said:

Can they use the horizontally distal parts still potentially? I understand all parts of the vertical stack where the fire occurred could be a loss. But the building is probably nearly 100 meters long and the fire seemed localized to one end (although I haven’t been to the site since it happened yet; just judging from pictures).

You can bet the insurance adjusters will be trying to figure out how to do this!  

38 minutes ago, Ethan said:

Morning update. 

 

 

Firefighters still active, so I didn't go any closer. This sucks, no idea how long this delays the opening, but I assume a long while. Hopefully it still pulls through eventually. 

I am guessing a good two years, maybe a little longer.

 

The next 2-3 months will be devoted to investigation by fire experts, both from the city and the various insurance companies.  Obviously no work on any portion of the building during this time (other than the Meadowbrook and Lee Building).  If this is not arson, early rounds of finger pointing by the insurers for the developer and various subs.  This will definitely result in litigation which might go on for years. 

 

I imagine the next step will be damage assessment by the architects and engineers due to fire, smoke and water and to see what, if anything can be salvaged, and at the same time come up with a game plan and timeline for demo and reconstruction.  That could take a very long time, although not as long as the original design process.  The developer will then probably have to negotiate new contractors with subs.  The fact that they already have mobilized subs should be helpful, but not if the whole process takes a long time as they will just have to move on.  Hopefully there are not any insurance issues as that could really slow things down.

 

I guess the question in my mind is whether work can proceed at some point on the southern portion of the building past the lobby and near the parking garage, say in 6 months or so.  A poster above does not think so.  I do recall a fire damaged building on Chagrin in Woodmere that was damaged significantly, but it looked like the remainder of build was occupied after the fire.  However, it seemed like it took almost three years to rebuild the damaged portion.  Probably insurance issues along with just having a difficult time finding contractors to do the work.  Again, the fact that subs are already on board here may or may not be helpful.

Edited January 25Jan 25 by Htsguy

Some of the pictures I’ve seen show it spreading to the central wing. So maybe the portion next to the parking garage could be useable. But I also know all the utilities that service the building come in off of Cedar. So that wing won’t have any utility service until the entire building is reconstructed. So you would then have a wing of the building sitting open to the elements for a couple years. Sometimes starting from scratch is the cheapest and quickest way. 

I talked to someone with first-hand knowledge. It is a total loss. About 70% of the building has either fire or water damage. They cannot practically try to save the last 30%. They will have to demo and rebuild.

Edited January 27Jan 27 by LlamaLawyer

1 hour ago, LlamaLawyer said:

I talked to someone with first-hand knowledge. It is a total loss. About 70% of the building has either fire or water damage. They cannot practically try to save the last 30%. They will have to demo and rebuild.

Did they know how the fire actually started?