Tower City getting ready for Bone Thugs, etc.

 

The fountain redo makes a bit more sense now too, the spigots(?) are low enough that they can put a cover over it now - hopefully a sign of more events.

 

 

 

 

Is there a schedule of other events? 

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea that was. 

19 minutes ago, CleveFan said:

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea that was. 

True, but I assume the concerts are just a temporary thing to get some people in there for now. 

5 hours ago, CleveFan said:

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea that was. 

Good acoustics for Gregorian chants though. Maybe we oughta host some of those.

18 hours ago, CleveFan said:

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea that was. 

18 hours ago, CleveFan said:

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea that was. 

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE AND SHUT THE HELL UP

 

18 hours ago, CleveFan said:

The acoustics in there for a music event couldn’t be worse - glass and stone - wonder whose idea tha

I'm quite sure an acoustic engineer working with directional speakers and acoustic materials will have it ready...

Cleveland Chain Reaction small business competition announces season four winners at Tower City

 

 

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2021/10/cleveland-chain-reaction-small-business-competition-announces-season-four-winners-at-tower-city.html

Auntie Anne's is now a BAR haha

 

 

Also, even though storefronts are still empty (for now), Bedrock really has taken ownership of TC these past few weeks. There's signage out front now, wayfinding inside, and now some serious fall decorations. Hopefully they keep up with pouring money and energy into the space because it really looks nice!

 

 

 

Are the fountains gone now?

2 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:

Are the fountains gone now?

 

They're still there, but covered (most likely for the concert crowds). They actually redid them a month or so ago during this whole revamp of the space.

Maybe it's a trick of the lens, but that simple paint job/repurposing of Auntie Anne's does wonders to erase some of the dead mall taint. 

1 hour ago, GISguy said:

Auntie Anne's is now a BAR haha

 

 

Also, even though storefronts are still empty (for now), Bedrock really has taken ownership of TC these past few weeks. There's signage out front now, wayfinding inside, and now some serious fall decorations. Hopefully they keep up with pouring money and energy into the space because it really looks nice!

 

 

 

 

This is such a sad photo.  I can remember STILL clearly remember where every damn retail store front was located, when the mall was running on all cylinders!

 

The amount of money I've spent in this place!  Whew.....Lawd.

 

20 hours ago, MyTwoSense said:

 

This is such a sad photo.  I can remember STILL clearly remember where every damn retail store front was located, when the mall was running on all cylinders!

 

The amount of money I've spent in this place!  Whew.....Lawd.

 

The first job I got after moving to Cleveland was at the Abercrombie. That was fall of 2000. So I got to experience a Christmas season there, and fell in love with the place. Dillards was still open then. 

I'm not entirely sure what Bedrock's masterplan is - a "destination marketplace" is awfully vague, and we all know the Riverview extension is at best years away, but I don't think Tower City is hopeless. There are still 350,000 non downtown-residents, a 100,000+ daytime workforce, and maybe 15 million annual "tourists"/visitors (including but not limited to suburbanites) looking to kill time and spend money.

 

There have been a million good ideas on this forum - outlet stores, variety of businesses and art galleries, farmers markets, exhibits, additional residences or hotel expansion like the Arcade, surplus of visible security, amusement park rides, co-working spaces, tech incubators - that have been repeated for years.

 

My two cents - the mall needs a true anchor above all. Forget the small businesses at the moment; without that whale, the mall will continue to ebb and flow small businesses regardless of pretty presentations and repeated press releases.

Edited October 24, 20213 yr by TBideon

13 minutes ago, TBideon said:

I'm not entirely sure what Bedrock's masterplan is - a "destination marketplace" is awfully vague, and we all know the Riverview extension is at best years away, but I don't think Tower City is hopeless. There are still 350,000 non downtown-residents, a 100,000+ daytime workforce, and maybe 15 million annual "tourists"/visitors (including but not limited to suburbanites) looking to kill time and spend money.

 

There have been a million good ideas on this forum - outlet stores, variety of businesses and art galleries, farmers markets, exhibits, additional residences or hotel expansion like the Arcade, surplus of visible security, amusement park rides, co-working spaces, tech incubators - that have been repeated for years.

 

My two cents - the mall needs a true anchor above all. Forget the small businesses at the moment; without that whale, the mall will continue to ebb and flow small businesses regardless of pretty presentations and repeated press releases.

Questioning what major retailer would be willing to open an anchor store in Tower City.  I still feel that the current state of retail is in flux, not just here, but everywhere.  There is still an over abundance of retail space without the population and lack of overall need to support this excess of space.  With this region showing no population growth, will any major retailer be willing to take the risk?  As for suburban residents being willing to shop downtown, if they don't have an interest in shopping in their own areas and stores are struggling to stay open in those areas, what will make a difference in getting them to shop downtown?  Until the retail marketplace settles down, new retail opening anywhere will do so at the cost of retail someplace else.  

2 hours ago, Mov2Ohio said:

In terms of anchor, one thing I think people are missing is why dies the anchor ha r to be a retail anchor?

 

The anchor in this sense just needs to be something that will pull people in daily and people will shop at the retail establishments as they pass by.

 

Outside of retail, what other anchors could there be?

 

Sidenote: I don't Ikea would want a TC location because of their need for large amounts of flat square footage and parking lot access.

 

I think also after the last time the site in Brookly. Was taken out of contention they were going through growing pains and put a stop to expansion of new stores in general. Could be wrong, but that's what I remember.

I agree, the anchor need not be retail, and I think it's probably best it isn't. Whatever ends up filling the Theater's spot will likely need to fill the anchor role. I like @ragarciasuggestion of a Dave and Busters, I think it could maybe serve as a family friendly compliment to the Casino (hopefully they wouldn't compete).

 

I agree that Tower City doesn't have space for an IKEA, nor is it well suited for one (imagine moving any furniture out of Tower City to a car)

Once again, this is NOT a thread to discuss regional retail, retail trends, retail history ... it's for current discussion of what's happening at Tower City.

 

 

On this week's busy planning agenda:

 

ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS

 

Ordinance No. 867-2021(Ward 3/Councilmember McCormack): Authorizing the Director

of Economic Development to enter into a development agreement with Bedrock

Management Services LLC, or their designee, for the purpose of determining and planning

the private development and related infrastructure improvements to implement the

development of the Project area consistent with the Vision for the Valley Plan.

From my inbox, looks like the event trend is continuing:

 

There are some fun events coming to Tower City Center starting tomorrow... take a look below and visit https://www.towercitycenter.com/events/ for more information:

Runaway June Concert
Thursday, November 4th
Doors open at 6:00pm and the concerts starts at 6:30pm
Signature cocktails and craft beers available in the food hall area
 
Jungle Bob Animal Show
Sunday, November 7th
The event is from 11:00am-2:00pm

 

Plain White T’s at Tower City
Thursday, November 18th
Doors open at 6:00pm and the concert starts at 6:30pm
Signature cocktails and craft beers available in the food hall area
 
Free, family friendly magic show
Sunday, November 21st
The event goes from 11:00am-2:00pm.
 
All of these events are free to the public. The concerts are ticketed events - tickets may be reserved on the Tower City Website listed above or any other Tower City Social Media sources. All profits from the Signature Cocktails and Craft beers go to a local Non-Profit Organization. For this Thursdays’ concert, The May Dugan Center is the organization that will benefit from the concert.

Edited November 3, 20213 yr by Ethan
.

I liked the holiday decorations at Tower City.  I hope they can pull them out of storage and put them up this year.

20 hours ago, LibertyBlvd said:

I liked the holiday decorations at Tower City.  I hope they can pull them out of storage and put them up this year.

 

Well, after further review, it looks like that won't be possible. 

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2017/02/castle_noel_finds_treasure_tro.html

Five new locally owned shops slated for Tower City.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/11/five-new-locally-owned-shops-slated-for-tower-city.html

Xhibition, the Cleveland-based luxury streetwear and sneaker retailer, will open a new store at Tower City early next year. The location, described in a press release as a “special event energy space,” is expected to open in the stately, wood-paneled Oak Room ahead of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on February 20.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/12/high-end-streetwear-retailer-xhibition-to-open-event-space-and-store-at-tower-city.html

 

I'm not quite sure what a "special event energy space" is, nor do I know if the Oak Room is the right place for it, but we shall see.

15 hours ago, LibertyBlvd said:

Xhibition, the Cleveland-based luxury streetwear and sneaker retailer, will open a new store at Tower City early next year. The location, described in a press release as a “special event energy space,” is expected to open in the stately, wood-paneled Oak Room ahead of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on February 20.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/12/high-end-streetwear-retailer-xhibition-to-open-event-space-and-store-at-tower-city.html

 

I'm not quite sure what a "special event energy space" is, nor do I know if the Oak Room is the right place for it, but we shall see.

Their “cheaper store “ Next, used to be located on the second floor above Champs space. I’m surprised they just didn’t reopen in that space.

15 hours ago, LibertyBlvd said:

Xhibition, the Cleveland-based luxury streetwear and sneaker retailer, will open a new store at Tower City early next year. The location, described in a press release as a “special event energy space,” is expected to open in the stately, wood-paneled Oak Room ahead of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on February 20.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/12/high-end-streetwear-retailer-xhibition-to-open-event-space-and-store-at-tower-city.html

 

I'm not quite sure what a "special event energy space" is, nor do I know if the Oak Room is the right place for it, but we shall see.

I’m guessing this is what it means

https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/bedrock-names-deb-janik-senior-vice-president-business-development-cleveland

32 minutes ago, CCC said:

https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/bedrock-names-deb-janik-senior-vice-president-business-development-cleveland

 

I am not a subscriber.  Is there anything noteworthy in the article?

11 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:

 

I am not a subscriber.  Is there anything noteworthy in the article?

 

FYI you can get free digital access through the library. 

 

https://home.crainscleveland.com/portal/cuyahogalibrary

https://www.crainscleveland.com/landscape/landscape-podcast-ivy-greaner-discusses-bedrocks-development-efforts-cleveland?utm_source=editorial-promos&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20220125&utm_content=hero-readmore

 

Landscape podcast makes what is happening in Tower City now make a lot more sense. The impression I get from the interview with Bedrock's COO is that Bedrock does NOT have a fully developed plan for how they're going to utilize Tower City. They're still in the planning and experimentation phase and they're getting tenants in partly as a way to continue to generate revenue from the space and partly as a way to figure out what works in the space long term. They're trying to support local businesses who, as a side benefit, are probably more forgiving of the transitory nature of what Bedrock is doing with Tower City than a national retailer would be. She didn't exactly say all of that, but it's what I get from listening between the lines.

 

To editorialize a bit, this is probably a good approach. Try some different things, see what sticks, then look at what sticks and try to deduce the common theme. Hopefully the process isn't too grueling over the next couple years, and hopefully in a couple years Tower City starts to have an attractive identity (perhaps cohesive, perhaps less so) that makes it successful.

That Bedrock doesn't have a fully developed plan for how they're going to utilize Tower City is probably an understatement.  But hey, they have 25 years to figure it out.

I guess a lot depends on whether or not Amtrak station moves there.

22 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:

I guess a lot depends on whether or not Amtrak station moves there.

 

I doubt an Amtrak station is on their radar. Four trains in the middle of the night isn't going to move the needle on tenant leasing activity anywhere. That might have changed if Congress passed the House version of the infrastructure bill, thus giving Amtrak the legal authority to tap federal funds to expand. Instead, Congress passed the Senate version which continues the practice of giving states the authority to tap federal funds for passenger rail expansion. Thus, only states can legally take the initiative and purchase service from Amtrak or some other operator. Ohio isn't going to take the initiative.

 

We can discuss this more at:

 

 

1 hour ago, LlamaLawyer said:

https://www.crainscleveland.com/landscape/landscape-podcast-ivy-greaner-discusses-bedrocks-development-efforts-cleveland?utm_source=editorial-promos&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20220125&utm_content=hero-readmore

 

Landscape podcast makes what is happening in Tower City now make a lot more sense. The impression I get from the interview with Bedrock's COO is that Bedrock does NOT have a fully developed plan for how they're going to utilize Tower City. They're still in the planning and experimentation phase and they're getting tenants in partly as a way to continue to generate revenue from the space and partly as a way to figure out what works in the space long term. They're trying to support local businesses who, as a side benefit, are probably more forgiving of the transitory nature of what Bedrock is doing with Tower City than a national retailer would be. She didn't exactly say all of that, but it's what I get from listening between the lines.

 

To editorialize a bit, this is probably a good approach. Try some different things, see what sticks, then look at what sticks and try to deduce the common theme. Hopefully the process isn't too grueling over the next couple years, and hopefully in a couple years Tower City starts to have an attractive identity (perhaps cohesive, perhaps less so) that makes it successful.

 

tower city is still rough after the flood last summer. 

 

I was walking around, thinking about these small boutiques and wondering if they just need to decrease the vacancy to lure more retailers

Gearing up for the All Star game.

 

 

 

Also several new stores have opened in the last month. All in the back section. One possible silver lining of the water damage is that in forcing all shops to the back, it can hopefully revitalize that section, and positive outgrowth can follow. 

Edited January 29, 20223 yr by Ethan

I don't currently live in Cleveland, so excuse my ignorance.   Is there a schedule published for NBA All-star events at locations such as Tower City?  

13 hours ago, DO_Summers said:

I don't currently live in Cleveland, so excuse my ignorance.   Is there a schedule published for NBA All-star events at locations such as Tower City?  

www.thisisCleveland.com

Edited January 28, 20223 yr by osu4brutus03
Error

13 hours ago, DO_Summers said:

I don't currently live in Cleveland, so excuse my ignorance.   Is there a schedule published for NBA All-star events at locations such as Tower City?  

 

13 hours ago, DO_Summers said:

I don't currently live in Cleveland, so excuse my ignorance.   Is there a schedule published for NBA All-star events at locations such as Tower City?  

https://www.thisiscleveland.com

Thank you, @osu4brutus03. I had imagined that there was going to be a steady stream of events at Tower City and other locations around town.  Except for this pop up BB court and the public hall event, there isn't much happening outside of RMFH. 

27 minutes ago, DO_Summers said:

Thank you, @osu4brutus03. I had imagined that there was going to be a steady stream of events at Tower City and other locations around town.  Except for this pop up BB court and the public hall event, there isn't much happening outside of RMFH. 

There’s many events happening throughout  all of Downtown Cleveland for the NBA All Star week

Cleveland State University 

Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland

Public Auditorium 

Rocket Mortgage 

Tower City Center 

and so much more 

https://www.clevelandsports.org/events/2022/02/18/nba-all-star-2022

 

Edited January 28, 20223 yr by osu4brutus03

Ceiling is patched and scaffolding is coming down. I'm guessing it'll be a big push getting the hallways patched/covered before ASG.

 

 

 

Speaking of ASG, here's the shooting area: 

 

 

Beautiful space!  I'm thinking of volunteering for one of those performance art pieces and move into a glass walled living space on the main floor for the next four weeks. (Bathroom hidden behind a discrete planter, of course).

Walked through tc today and wow, any forumers that are downtown I'd highly recommend you walk through during the ASG. The energy in the new (and popup) stores is exciting and the empty storefronts seem to expose bedrock for what they haven't done in the time they've had the space. 

 

Unfortunately the ceiling isn't fixed in the walkway but aside from that TC looks pretty great!

 

 

Edited February 18, 20223 yr by GISguy
Didn't proofread last post, yikes lol

3 hours ago, GISguy said:

Walked through tc today and wow, any forumers that are downtown I'd highly recommend you walk through during the ASG. The energy in the new (and popup) stores is exciting and the empty storefronts seem to expose bedrock for what they haven't done in the time they've had the space. 

 

Unfortunately the ceiling isn't fixed in the walkway but aside from that TC looks pretty great!

 

 

That’s great to hear, wish we were there to see it. Any chance the pop-up shops stay around after the ASG? Some of them seemed pretty cool from what I read and, as you alluded to, brought some much-needed energy to the building. If not, I hope they have permanent tenants in mind to take their place going forward.

Look Ma! I'm on TV!

 

Photo bomb coming in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS i was walking around same time @Ethan was maybe we bumped into each other lol

 

I just noticed this temporary signage, and I kind of want it to stay, I like it! Very cool design.  

On 2/18/2022 at 7:18 PM, GISguy said:

Photo bomb coming in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS i was walking around same time @Ethan was maybe we bumped into each other lol

 

All of those store fronts look amazing. So much potential long term at TC. Need more people who use transit, the 2 hotels,the residencies, office workers, casino ppl...to walk through there.

@KJPHi Ken, I’m posting this here since I didn’t want to get off-topic in the HSBE/Riverfront thread. Do you know if/how Bedrock’s riverfront development plans will affect what their plans are for Tower City? All I saw was that they plan on renovating the parking garage. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, BuckeyeNative said:

@KJPHi Ken, I’m posting this here since I didn’t want to get off-topic in the HSBE/Riverfront thread. Do you know if/how Bedrock’s riverfront development plans will affect what their plans are for Tower City? All I saw was that they plan on renovating the parking garage. Thanks.

 

I don't see how they would affect them, at least in the short term. Their conceptual images show an outdoor public space descending the hillside from The Avenue to the river. Any additional development that increases the number of people living, working and visiting whatever Bedrock plans should help boost Tower City Center.