September 20, 20195 yr That's an old plan. It's not moving forward in that form. The city had many objections to it, particularly turning it into a collection of stand alone out-parcels. See the more recent article a few posts up where the mayor describes this Osbourne plan as “incomplete and underwhelming." Last I heard, it's moving along, and there are new plans - that's just not them.
November 22, 20195 yr There's an article on Costar.com titled "Macy’s Hints at More Closings After Holidays" and in particular that sales at lower-tier malls lower than expected in Q3. I haven't been to this Macy's in a while, but it's certainly a lower tier mall and there is a lot of competition in the area. Hopefully they are doing OK here, but wouldn't bet on it.
November 22, 20195 yr 56 minutes ago, smith said: There's an article on Costar.com titled "Macy’s Hints at More Closings After Holidays" and in particular that sales at lower-tier malls lower than expected in Q3. I haven't been to this Macy's in a while, but it's certainly a lower tier mall and there is a lot of competition in the area. Hopefully they are doing OK here, but wouldn't bet on it. It could almost be considered a standalone.
November 22, 20195 yr 3 hours ago, smith said: There's an article on Costar.com titled "Macy’s Hints at More Closings After Holidays" and in particular that sales at lower-tier malls lower than expected in Q3. I haven't been to this Macy's in a while, but it's certainly a lower tier mall and there is a lot of competition in the area. Hopefully they are doing OK here, but wouldn't bet on it. Been in two different local Macys over the last few weeks. Both times it was almost impossible to find a salesperson and when you did they were tending to a line 5 people deep. Also both time I heard customers saying "nobody works here anymore," frustrated with the long lines. If that's the level of service they're putting out there, no wonder they have slumping sales!
November 22, 20195 yr 8 minutes ago, Mov2Ohio said: Been in two different local Macys over the last few weeks. Both times it was almost impossible to find a salesperson and when you did they were tending to a line 5 people deep. Also both time I heard customers saying "nobody works here anymore," frustrated with the long lines. If that's the level of service they're putting out there, no wonder they have slumping sales! Sadly, that is the case in many retail establishments nowadays.
November 22, 20195 yr 4 hours ago, smith said: There's an article on Costar.com titled "Macy’s Hints at More Closings After Holidays" and in particular that sales at lower-tier malls lower than expected in Q3. I haven't been to this Macy's in a while, but it's certainly a lower tier mall and there is a lot of competition in the area. Hopefully they are doing OK here, but wouldn't bet on it. I keep waiting for that one to be announced. It is never busy, in fact it is usually nearly empty (at least the 2nd floor). The only thing is that all the other nearby Macy's are gone as well, which would only leave Mentor for whole east side.
December 10, 20195 yr Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board gives blessing -- and TIF -- to University Square redevelopment https://www.cleveland.com/community/2019/12/ch-uh-school-board-gives-blessing-and-tif-to-university-square-redevelopment.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
December 10, 20195 yr 2 hours ago, KJP said: Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board gives blessing -- and TIF -- to University Square redevelopment https://www.cleveland.com/community/2019/12/ch-uh-school-board-gives-blessing-and-tif-to-university-square-redevelopment.html Glad to see brand-new, market-rate apartments coming to a retailed-out area on the suburban east side. With Legacy/Beachwood to the east and Cedar Center immediately to the west, there was no chance for new retail here. Residential is the obvious solution, and should give a nice boost to UH, which consists almost exclusively of single family homes constructed well over half a century ago. A similar thing is supposedly imminent just a couple miles northeast at Richmond Town Square, with an empty mall and department stores slated to be replaced with hundreds of new Class A apartment units in the next several years. A quick question about the project, because it was hard to glean an answer from the article--are they tearing down the 20-year old parking garage, which was poorly constructed and started to give the previous owners problems fifteen years ago? From the Cedar Road view in the drawings above, that almost certainly looks to be the case. In the article, however, something was mentioned about "adding" floors (but not height) to the existing building that faces Cedar. That building is about 75 percent parking garage with empty retail (and Applebee's) wrapped around it. I have to think starting over is the best answer because I just can't picture in my mind how a "parking garage to residential" conversion even works, lol. Edited December 10, 20195 yr by Down_with_Ctown
December 11, 20195 yr I sure hope this comes to pass in this form. The area is in dire need of downsizing retail space, and also adding new multifamily. Other than Van Aken, I don't think we've seen any new apartments built in the east inner ring this century. To answer the questions raised above, its my understanding, and it looks from the picture that the garage will stay. They just finished up a bunch of rehab work in the garage recently, particularly around the floor joints and columns. The talk about adding floors would make the building better add up with the existing garage floors, which are currently not all matched up directly with entrances on shopping levels. From the photo, the existing garage entrance from Cedar next to Applebee's is still shown, and those store spaces are pretty deep.
December 17, 20195 yr On 12/10/2019 at 4:26 PM, Down_with_Ctown said: Glad to see brand-new, market-rate apartments coming to a retailed-out area on the suburban east side. With Legacy/Beachwood to the east and Cedar Center immediately to the west, there was no chance for new retail here. Residential is the obvious solution, and should give a nice boost to UH, which consists almost exclusively of single family homes constructed well over half a century ago. A similar thing is supposedly imminent just a couple miles northeast at Richmond Town Square, with an empty mall and department stores slated to be replaced with hundreds of new Class A apartment units in the next several years. A quick question about the project, because it was hard to glean an answer from the article--are they tearing down the 20-year old parking garage, which was poorly constructed and started to give the previous owners problems fifteen years ago? From the Cedar Road view in the drawings above, that almost certainly looks to be the case. In the article, however, something was mentioned about "adding" floors (but not height) to the existing building that faces Cedar. That building is about 75 percent parking garage with empty retail (and Applebee's) wrapped around it. I have to think starting over is the best answer because I just can't picture in my mind how a "parking garage to residential" conversion even works, lol. In regards to a garage to apartment conversion, I believe the 668 building downtown was a garage turned into pretty nice apartments. so if they want to take part of the massive garage (one side or upper floors?) and turn it into inner apartments it could be done with some sort of atrium cut out of the middle? edited with correct building numbers Edited December 26, 20195 yr by Taller_is_better Typed wrong numbers
December 17, 20195 yr 925 has always been a bank/office building. You must be thinking of something else. If I remember correctly, the clearance for that garage ceiling is super low. There’s no way that could be converted unless they could build on top of it.
December 17, 20195 yr 1 hour ago, Taller_is_better said: In regards to a garage to apartment conversion, I believe the 925 building downtown was a garage turned into pretty nice apartments. so if they want to take part of the massive garage (one side or upper floors?) and turn it into inner apartments it could be done with some sort of atrium cut out of the middle? 1 hour ago, marty15 said: 925 has always been a bank/office building. You must be thinking of something else. If I remember correctly, the clearance for that garage ceiling is super low. There’s no way that could be converted unless they could build on top of it. Perhaps you’re thinking of the 515 Euclid garage that Beacon was built on top of? It’s not a conversion, but that’s the only thing I can think of that might have given that impression. I did did find one example of a parking garage to apartment building conversion in Tulsa or OKC that I posted about a while ago. I can’t find the post right now. The apartments looked cool. When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
December 17, 20195 yr The parking garage conversion downtown was in Playhouse Square. The Creswell building. https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20150908/BLOGS14/150909885/the-creswell-adds-apartments-to-clevelands-theater-district The exterior was so nice, it's hard to believe it was actually a garage. Another notable parking garage conversion is the Shoreline Apartments (nee Quay 55) on Lake Erie.
December 17, 20195 yr The Shoreline was the Nicholson Steamship Terminal, for cars shipments. Incredibly: (a) that company is still in business, https://www.nicholson-terminal.com/about/ , but (b) I cannot locate a photo of the terminal before its conversion to apartments -- and it wasn't that long ago! Edited December 17, 20195 yr by ydard
December 17, 20195 yr 51 minutes ago, ydard said: The Shoreline was the Nicholson Steamship Terminal, for cars shipments. Incredibly: (a) that company is still in business, https://www.nicholson-terminal.com/about/ , but (b) I cannot locate a photo of the terminal before its conversion to apartments -- and it wasn't that long ago!
December 26, 20195 yr On 12/17/2019 at 1:12 PM, Boomerang_Brian said: Perhaps you’re thinking of the 515 Euclid garage that Beacon was built on top of? It’s not a conversion, but that’s the only thing I can think of that might have given that impression. I did did find one example of a parking garage to apartment building conversion in Tulsa or OKC that I posted about a while ago. I can’t find the post right now. The apartments looked cool. Apologies, I meant the 668 building... got my numbers crossed thinking about 925....
February 29, 20205 yr Work On University Square Redevelopment Could Begin This Summer https://wcpn.ideastream.org/news/work-on-university-square-redevelopment-could-begin-this-summer ...University Heights approved tax increment financing for the project in January, said Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan, and the proposal has seen widespread support. When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
February 29, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said: Work On University Square Redevelopment Could Begin This Summer https://wcpn.ideastream.org/news/work-on-university-square-redevelopment-could-begin-this-summer ...University Heights approved tax increment financing for the project in January, said Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan, and the proposal has seen widespread support. I'm excited for this but I wish they would just match the brick color of the existing building.
May 29, 20205 yr Glad to see this project is still ticking. But I wish the grocery store and JoAnn Fabrics were part of the first phase. Letting those stay empty is cancerous... Sickly University Square shopping center clears large hurdle toward apartment makeover University Square, a largely vacant East Side shopping center, is lurching toward new life after seven years of default and five years under lender control. A residential makeover plan floated by local developers Brad Kowit and Gregg Levy took a large stride Wednesday evening, May 27. During a special meeting held, due to the pandemic, on the Zoom videoconferencing app, University Heights City Council voted to move forward on a development agreement between the suburb and the would-be owners of the property. An investor group led by Kowit and Levy expects to buy the center, with the exceptions of the retailer-owned Target and Macy's stores, by late summer. Court filings list a $3.5 million purchase price for the nearly 300,000-square-foot core of the multilevel property, which wraps around a garage that can hold more than 2,000 cars at Cedar and Warrensville Center roads. The developers plan to transform empty stores along Cedar into 203 apartments through selective demolition and construction. That $30 million project would be the first phase of a broader repositioning of one of the region's most prominent retail failures. https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/sickly-university-square-shopping-center-clears-large-hurdle-toward-apartment-makeover "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 29, 20205 yr I believe the grocery store there was last a Tops - that's how long its been empty. I hope the first phase along with the apartments has something planned for the vacant retail out parcels along Warrensville. If those are left empty there, then yeah it would still be a cancerous eyesore. But it's such a massive property, I can understand the need for phases. Great to see it moving along. We are pretty excited for it across the street in South Euclid. I'm hoping it will appear to alot of students at the colleges nearby and take some demand away from SFHs as rentals so we can continue our trend of rentals turning into owner occupied homes.
May 30, 20205 yr Great all around. Glad we are redeveloping all the excess vacant retail and bringing much needed MODERN residential rental product to the Heights and Hillcrest areas with Belleoaks.
April 27, 20214 yr TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021 University Heights OKs 30-unit townhouse development As part of University Heights' initiative to increase the city's population through housing investment, the northwest corner of the city will soon gain a new 30-unit townhouse development. The project, called South Taylor Place, should see construction start in July following the April 15 approval by the city's Architectural Review Board. Knez Homes will build the market-rate townhouses on 0.7 acres the firm acquired just north of Cedar Road. Knez, one of Northeast Ohio's largest homebuilders, purchased the land in March from the University Heights City Beautiful Corp. for $7,000, according to county records. MORE: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2021/04/university-heights-oks-30-unit.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 27, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, KJP said: TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021 University Heights OKs 30-unit townhouse development As part of University Heights' initiative to increase the city's population through housing investment, the northwest corner of the city will soon gain a new 30-unit townhouse development. The project, called South Taylor Place, should see construction start in July following the April 15 approval by the city's Architectural Review Board. Knez Homes will build the market-rate townhouses on 0.7 acres the firm acquired just north of Cedar Road. Knez, one of Northeast Ohio's largest homebuilders, purchased the land in March from the University Heights City Beautiful Corp. for $7,000, according to county records. MORE: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2021/04/university-heights-oks-30-unit.html There are cones up at the site that weren’t there this morning and a bunch of stuff is dug up that wasn’t this morning. They’re not messing around.
April 27, 20214 yr 17 minutes ago, Htsguy said: Where does Knez get the resources? They seem to be everywhere. They sell them fast so they collect their investment quickly and then some. I just hope they are good quality otherwise 20 years from now our city will be littered with poor quality homes. Does anyone know about their quality? University Heights is one of the places I’m considering moving too so seeing development is always a good thing (especially since there isn’t much land left in the city). Edited April 27, 20214 yr by cle_guy90
April 27, 20214 yr 17 minutes ago, Htsguy said: Where does Knez get the resources? They seem to be everywhere. Turns out selling houses is a good business right now. 😉
April 27, 20214 yr 46 minutes ago, Htsguy said: Where does Knez get the resources? They seem to be everywhere. They're masters of the urban development base hit, instead of waiting to perfectly line up and swing for the fences on some massive multi-block redevelopment. I'd like to see more of the Knez approach!
April 28, 20214 yr Oops!! I forgot to add the South Taylor Place site plan! Article was updated with the site plan. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 28, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, KJP said: Oops!! I forgot to add the South Taylor Place site plan! Article was updated with the site plan. Thanks - I was trying to figure that out from the other renders and it wasn’t making sense. The site plan helps a lot. I hate the way garage doors so dominate all of these types of plans. I realize that an apartment style condo building is tough to make happen for a variety of reasons. I wonder if it would be at all practical to make a site like this have one large underground parking garage, with each unit having its own stairs into the place, thus eliminating the need for an elevator. I suppose it wouldn’t be allowed by code. I’m just trying to figure out a way to get development like this that isn’t completely overwhelmed by every single unit having its own double-wide garage door. When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
May 10, 20223 yr Does anyone know what happened to the South Taylor Place townhomes plan? There seems to have been no movement on it in the last year since the approvals were announced. Is University Heights that much slower than Cleveland Heights to move forward on development projects?
May 10, 20223 yr 49 minutes ago, SeaLibrarian said: Does anyone know what happened to the South Taylor Place townhomes plan? There seems to have been no movement on it in the last year since the approvals were announced. Is University Heights that much slower than Cleveland Heights to move forward on development projects? There was a bunch of utility work on it about a year ago, and yeah I have no idea what's happened since then. I would assume it's stalled out except that it's Bo Knez and he seems to have a pretty good track record of making stuff happen. If this and the Taylor Tudor development up the road both happen, it would certainly change the area dramatically.
May 10, 20223 yr 43 minutes ago, SeaLibrarian said: Does anyone know what happened to the South Taylor Place townhomes plan? There seems to have been no movement on it in the last year since the approvals were announced. Is University Heights that much slower than Cleveland Heights to move forward on development projects? Sorry, don't know. But the only way for UH to be slower than Cleveland Heights when is comes to moving forward on development projects is to completely stop LOL. No city can talk a development project to death like Cleveland Heights.
May 10, 20223 yr 2 minutes ago, LlamaLawyer said: There was a bunch of utility work on it about a year ago, and yeah I have no idea what's happened since then. I would assume it's stalled out except that it's Bo Knez and he seems to have a pretty good track record of making stuff happen. If this and the Taylor Tudor development up the road both happen, it would certainly change the area dramatically. I wonder if the Knez firm just has too much on its plate. They seem to be every where and continue to announce new projects. Maybe they are having problems lining up subs for this project.
May 10, 20223 yr 30 minutes ago, Htsguy said: I wonder if the Knez firm just has too much on its plate. They seem to be every where and continue to announce new projects. Maybe they are having problems lining up subs for this project. Knez promised me a call this week so I will ask him for an update on South Taylor. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 10, 20223 yr 7 hours ago, SeaLibrarian said: Does anyone know what happened to the South Taylor Place townhomes plan? There seems to have been no movement on it in the last year since the approvals were announced. Is University Heights that much slower than Cleveland Heights to move forward on development projects? Two months ago, the project was listed for sale. The approved but not started project at Wade Park Ave and Lakeview Rd was also listed. It seems that they're hoping someone will buy one or both projects in their entirety for use as rentals. For South Taylor Place, they want to sell the 30-unit project for $464,594/unit.
October 15, 20222 yr South Taylor Place Townhomes broke ground this week. I kind thought the project was dead when I drove by recently. https://www.cleveland.com/community/2022/10/university-heights-breaks-ground-for-south-taylor-place-townhomes.html
October 15, 20222 yr If I recall correctly, it has been suggested previously that the reason it has taken so long to break ground was because Knez was looking for a single buyer to purchase the whole development before they began construction. That buyer would them market the townhomes to individual buyers or perhaps offer them as rental units. The article makes no mention of any of this. Perhaps Knez found a buyer or maybe they changed their strategy and just decided to sell them on their own. I wonder if the proposed WXZ development a few blocks away helped kick start this project?
October 16, 20222 yr A much better article on the groundbreaking. https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/university-heights-breaks-ground-on-first-housing-development-since-1970s/article_b6feb9a6-4bf5-11ed-a2e7-332df2772cb5.html "Bo Knez, president and CEO of Knez Homes in Concord Township, said he expects to begin excavation work in 15 to 30 days and completion will take about 18 to 24 months. He said the townhomes will start in the mid-400,000s."
October 18, 20222 yr ^ interesting. this guy bo knez is a go getter. aquire a site, don't let the moss grow and just do it. use urban forms and bring the people back. it doesnt have to be fancy and the i presume friendlier price points of ok nice are more than fine here. so ya gotta respect that redevelopment approach.
December 26, 20222 yr University Heights sees parking garage agreement as spark to restart University Square redevelopment By Jeff Piorkowski/special to cleveland.com UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- “We have gotten over a large hump that had been keeping the development from proceeding,” said a pleased Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan, referring to a recent agreement he sees as spurring forward the long-delayed University Square redevelopment project. During its meeting Monday’s (Dec. 19), City Council approved legislation by a 7-0 vote that has the city entering into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Brennan said will “make the University Square deal possible.” https://www.cleveland.com/community/2022/12/university-heights-sees-parking-garage-agreement-as-spark-to-restart-university-square-redevelopment.html
December 27, 20222 yr On 12/26/2022 at 8:14 AM, Mov2Ohio said: https://www.cleveland.com/community/2022/12/university-heights-sees-parking-garage-agreement-as-spark-to-restart-university-square-redevelopment.html This will be an improvement and I will be happy to see it move forward. But the pedestrian access to this facility, and the new building(s), and the entire Cedar-Warrensville business district, remains really awful.
May 4, 20232 yr Update of sorts, current summary of University Heights projects already discussed above, expected to be (finally) moving forward this year. https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/university-heights-projects-shot-in-the-arm-for-region/article_9123b026-e52c-11ed-a811-cf2c9c499f69.html
March 19, 20241 yr https://www.cleveland.com/community/2024/03/university-square-sale-agreement-reached-mayor-brennan-says-redevelopment-project-now-ready-to-move-forward.html University Square sale agreement reached; Mayor Brennan says redevelopment project now ready to move forward
March 19, 20241 yr Could not read the article as it was behind a pay wall. Was there any discussion or indication whether, after all these years of litigation and negotiation, the project could now be stalled because of high interest rates and construction costs?
March 19, 20241 yr 1 hour ago, willyboy said: And does anybody believe this Macy's will survive this next round of closures? The only reason I think it may survive--and I hope that it does--is that it is the only Macy's on the east side of Greater Cleveland.
March 19, 20241 yr 17 minutes ago, Vincent_G said: The only reason I think it may survive--and I hope that it does--is that it is the only Macy's on the east side of Greater Cleveland. I think it will for that reason as well. They do need to spruce it up inside though.
March 19, 20241 yr 52 minutes ago, Mov2Ohio said: I think it will for that reason as well. They do need to spruce it up inside though. I keep thinking that as well, that there needs to be one on the east side, and then I go in and see how empty it is.
Create an account or sign in to comment