January 27, 201411 yr I am hearing rumblings that this project still has a pulse, such as meetings taking place at UCI, or GCRTA eager to make this site part of All Aboard Ohio's next "TOD On Tap" tour (in September). But other than that, I have no specifics. Great to hear... If I'm a betting man, I'll place my chips on Chris Ronayne (UCI) any time.
January 28, 201411 yr I am hearing rumblings that this project still has a pulse, such as meetings taking place at UCI, or GCRTA eager to make this site part of All Aboard Ohio's next "TOD On Tap" tour (in September). But other than that, I have no specifics. Great to hear... If I'm a betting man, I'll place my chips on Chris Ronayne (UCI) any time. Unfortunately, that's not the same thing as placing a bet on Coral.
January 28, 201411 yr ^I honestly never thought I wouldn't live to see any serious residential development on those empty lots at Euclid btw Ford Rd. and E. 115, because the Hessler Rd. neighbors were all powerful (and had stopped a development proposal in the 1990s), UCI was a weak, disorganized lapdog to University Hospital, whereby the only UC development you saw was a new UH parking garage rising from some historic and/or residential property and, of course, and CWRU was in disarray with the firing of president Hundert. So bad was it that, when someone apparently had the temerity to ask the (now) late Peter B. Lewis for help, he took the lectern and ripped all parties a new one ... and then left town... Around this time Ronayne left the sinking Campbell Admin and took over UCI and, in about 4-5 years, ... we have Uptown! ... given this episode, the man has magician status in my eyes... If he can pull off Uptown from the (sadly, too often) typical Cleveland development inertia/abyss, he can shepherd even Coral to the finish line. With Ronayne at the table, trust me it's gonna happen.
April 7, 201411 yr The only thing that would jump start the project is Coral announcing a major tenant signing on for office space leasing
April 7, 201411 yr Expect to see some big news about this project soon Youse people are mean!! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 14, 201411 yr can't believe how dusty this project has become. I know things take time to develop but this has gone from the back burner to off-the-stove completely it seems
April 17, 201411 yr Bialosky+Partners has updated/altered massing renderings on the Intesa project page of their website that I've never seen featured or posted anywhere before. http://www.bialosky.com/projects/intesa.php The new(?) schematics show the office portion of the project shifted from the corner of Circle and Mayfield Rd to the edge of the property abutting the railroad overpasses and Mayfield. The "two" residential buildings seem to now be connected into one building that sits prominently at Circle and Mayfield and features "townhouses" on the top two floors. There's no parking garage or pedestrian bridge across Mayfield in these plans, either.
April 17, 201411 yr Very interesting. I looked like a week or so ago and they still had the old plans up. They also removed the "tech ribbon"
April 18, 201411 yr OLD PLAN NEW PLAN "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 18, 201411 yr ^ that's unfortunate. It was the most tantalizing aspect of the development, given the names they threw out. And probably the most unachievable.
April 18, 201411 yr Yeah, too bad about the tech ribbon. You'd think being adjacent to one of the nation's top engineering universities, it would make too much sense. On the whole I guess it's positive that there appears to be some movement.
April 18, 201411 yr So the 11-story office building is now reflected in Intesa's LoopNet listing, which was updated only one day ago...... Proposed office building totals 180,554 sf which consists of 11 floors - each floor totals 16,414 sf. Space available ranges from 5,000 sf - 164,140 sf. Building exterior is glass. Condenser water source heat pumps with supplemental electric heating http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/18546378/11701-Mayfield-Rd-Cleveland-OH/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 1, 201411 yr Well, here it is: Intesa project in University Circle aims for fall groundbreaking, with apartments up first CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A local development team expects to break ground in the fall for the first phase of Intesa, a medley of apartments, retail, parking and offices in Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood. More at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/05/intesa_project_in_university_c.html#incart_river_default
May 1, 201411 yr Wait, what! People, Cleveland is a growing city!!! Hopefully the next census reflects that. Things are definitely happening, and I love it!
May 1, 201411 yr Like the new design better. Agreed. I wonder who the first major tenant they sign for the office building (and when).
May 1, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex!
May 1, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex! Will probably be a hit with case students!
May 1, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex! A lot of those units are student oriented. I lived in 144 sq ft in college and it was actually not bad, I didn't have much stuff, and I think many young people these days don't either.
May 2, 201411 yr I like the new plan and am glad the parking garage across the street has been removed along with the overhead walkway (what some call a gerbil tube). The only problem is that, at the moment, this leaves an empty lot across Mayfield Rd. Even a garage there would likely have had street-level retail facing Intesa which would create density and excitement. Also, the circular drive at Circle Drive & Mayfield in front of the Abington Arms is a tad wide for my tastes, but let's see what shakes out. Overall, 2 big thumbs up...
May 2, 201411 yr ^Pretty sure the circular drive serving Abington Arms belongs to Abington Arms, so not a strike against Intesa. Also, I think it's very optimistic to assume that a parking garage on south side of Mayfield bult by the Intesa developers would necessarily include street front retail. Obviously we'd all prefer that, but I don't think there was any indication it would in the initial proposal. I'm actually relieved that that part of the plan is gone now. [Edited for typo]
May 2, 201411 yr I agree, there is always the possibility now that we will get something better than a parking garage down the road, especially if Intesa is successful.
May 2, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex! A lot of those units are student oriented. I lived in 144 sq ft in college and it was actually not bad, I didn't have much stuff, and I think many young people these days don't either. haha did you go to kent? man those dorms were like jail cells. go zips!!!!!!
May 2, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex! A lot of those units are student oriented. I lived in 144 sq ft in college and it was actually not bad, I didn't have much stuff, and I think many young people these days don't either. haha did you go to kent? man those dorms were like jail cells. go zips!!!!!! No, but I've been in those dorms. But I am talking about a full apartment here. How many college age kids these days have a laptop, a smartphone, and their clothes and little else for possessions? No need for stacks of cd's, books, or a clunky PC.
May 2, 201411 yr Good point. I can't wait to see how the micro's turn out. My house is small, less that 1k sf so I'm always into seeing how creative people can get with making good use of space.
May 2, 201411 yr I know I am in the minority here, but while I like the glassy office building, the apartment building does nothing for me. With its plain windows and dull exterior color, it looks very bland to me. There is a lot of potential here with the non boxy shape and the glassy top (which really does not fit either), but something needs to be done with the windows.
May 2, 201411 yr ^I actually agree with you somewhat, but I'm reserving judgment until we hear more about the facade materials.
May 2, 201411 yr ^^ Michelle said in the comments section of the article that the design hasn't been through city review yet, so much could change between now and groundbreaking.
May 2, 201411 yr Sub 300 Sqft apartments. That really is micro! I just measured and my living room alone is 230 Sqft and I'm in a Lakewood duplex! A lot of those units are student oriented. I lived in 144 sq ft in college and it was actually not bad, I didn't have much stuff, and I think many young people these days don't either. haha did you go to kent? man those dorms were like jail cells. go zips!!!!!! No, but I've been in those dorms. But I am talking about a full apartment here. How many college age kids these days have a laptop, a smartphone, and their clothes and little else for possessions? No need for stacks of cd's, books, or a clunky PC. I think a lot of young people today consider a quality urban neighborhood as their living room. Many just need a place to sleep, keep their clothes, shower and hang their flat screen TV. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 9, 201411 yr Hat tip to Htsguy for flagging the news about the New Market Tax credits: looks like NEO missed out completely, and that UCI may have been counting on some of that money to help close the financing gaps for Intesa. Hopefully they can find some other $ soon. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/new_markets_tax_credit_awards.html#incart_more_business
June 9, 201411 yr Hat tip to Htsguy for flagging the news about the New Market Tax credits: looks like NEO missed out completely, and that UCI may have been counting on some of that money to help close the financing gaps for Intesa. Hopefully they can find some other $ soon. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/new_markets_tax_credit_awards.html#incart_more_business I saw this too... I sure hope Michelle drops by and explains what (if any) criteria there was for selecting projects. It's a shame because if any city/project is worthy and in need of such development, you'd think it would be Cleveland/Intesa ... $20M in tax credits for Intesa is a nice chunk of change for a project, as Michelle astutely notes, whose financing is so intricate and fragile and one that is relying on a substantial amount of public subsidy... It's a setback, no doubt, but one I believe can be overcome; there's just too much momentum these days in "can-do" C-Town ... I have confidence in Chris Ronayne to creatively help Coral & Co. keep Intesa to their planned fall ground breaking... Ronayne isn't Superman, but he's pretty damn good.
June 9, 201411 yr No single allocatee usually puts 20 m of credits into one project from one allocated. Typically the larger projects use 2-3 CDE's for their NMTCs. A local paired with a national (typically a commercial bank doing the primarily lending). If say Intesa's main lender was PNC or Chase, they still might be able to do something since they got credits. The other option is to do a lot more residential, bc if you are no longer using NMTC you don't have to have 20% of your income be commercial income. Cleveland has typically done really well as far as local CDE's getting credits. It probably was a case of spreading the wealth.
June 9, 201411 yr In general the whole NMTC system is insane. A CDE wants to be shovel ready so the CDE can deploy the credits ASAP and apply again having used their credits. Of course, if your project is shovel ready, it means it might be able to go without the NMTC (defeating the purpose of this being a "but for" subsidy). Getting credits is really hard, takes a ton of luck and is really tough to make work as a business plan if you're relying on them. of course, for some projects, they have no choice.
July 10, 201410 yr ^Thanks for the inside info....I am going to be down there bright and early tomorrow morning to watch the first dig. :wink:
July 11, 201410 yr Also curious if they will be announcing who the tenants are for the office building. I would imagine they have to have a few lined up if they were finally able to secure financing.
July 11, 201410 yr ^Just re-read Michelle's article from a while back. Maybe the financing does not include the office portion and that will break (hopefully) at a later date.
July 11, 201410 yr Just heard that Intessa has its financing all lined up now. Thanks! Great news. When I hear it from someone in your profession and with your connections, it's a whole lot more reliable than the sources who keep teasing us with LBJ news! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 5, 201410 yr I'm dreaming of people from places like Strongsville or North Olmsted getting on the Rapid (after they drive to and park at a Rapid station), get off at the new Little Italy station, and walk either way - to Uptown or Little Italy. The bridge is currently ugly and I hope resuscitating it is part of this project. Particularly with Intesa filling in the space, I'd like to see one great entertainment/shopping/dining district with the bridge in the center. Like can be seen in other, and very flourishing cities!
September 17, 201410 yr So these were posted on the latest City Planning Commission's agenda. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be an actual agenda item regarding Intesa. http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/09192014/index.php
September 18, 201410 yr I'm dreaming of people from places like Strongsville or North Olmsted getting on the Rapid (after they drive to and park at a Rapid station), get off at the new Little Italy station, and walk either way - to Uptown or Little Italy. The bridge is currently ugly and I hope resuscitating it is part of this project. Particularly with Intesa filling in the space, I'd like to see one great entertainment/shopping/dining district with the bridge in the center. Like can be seen in other, and very flourishing cities! ... does Chicago come to mind? ... this part of the Rapid is L-like.
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