Sometimes I like to read old articles about projects that surfaced in Cleveland.  This article peaks my intrest because of the comment at the end about the location that was selected for the site.  I remember this discussion and how Jacobs was trying to sell off Ameritrust back then also.  Too bad that site wasn't chosen.  The current site really dosen't interact well with downtown Cleveland in my thoughts.  However that is a matter of opinion of course. 

 

 

AN ISLAND OR A REDEVELOPMENT TOOL?

 

6:00 am, April 17, 1995

 

We received an interesting fax last week from the federal government. It was interesting not for what it said, namely that the area across Huron Road from the State Office Building was chosen for a new federal courthouse.

 

No, it was more interesting for the way the message was phrased.

 

For example, the news release said that General Services Administration project manager Rich Latkowski described the Tower City site (it's actually between Tower City and the Cuyahoga River) as 'affordable, highly accessible and consistent with city development plans.'

 

Now, I admit to not being an expert on this issue but my gut tells me that this site is far more consistent with the desires of a few federal judges than it is with the city's development plans. It seems to me that more than one person has said that site was the preferred choice of the judges, and that their preference would carry a lot of weight in the decision-making process.

 

Of course, this all may be moot since the Senate recently cut funding for that project as part of a $16 billion rescissions bill aimed at reducing the massive federal deficit.

 

 

But politics being what it is, we don't know whether this project will be resurrected or not. The details will be finalized in a House-Senate conference committee, and we can be certain that Rep. Louis Stokes will be battling to reinstate funding for this project and the refurb-ishing of the Celebrezze Federal Building, which also was cut.

 

However, as we learned in the painful closing of military bases nationwide, sometimes even the most powerful members of Congress cannot change what the government has decided to do.

 

What we do know is that if the federal courthouse project for Cleveland is revived, it seems a fair bet that the building will be constructed behind Tower City. And that the government thinks that's great for Cleveland because the money saved on avoiding excessive excavation will be spent to build a plaza around the building.

 

My question is how can that building have an

 

y synergy with the rest of downtown? How could it possibly have any redevelopment impact on the nearby neighborhood? This new building likely would be a near-island on that site, with or without a plaza.

 

After much lobbying, developer Richard Jacobs convinced the GSA a few weeks ago to add a renovated and rebuilt version of the old Ameritrust headquarters building on East 9th to the short list of potential sites. I don't know if that was the better choice in terms of economics but I liked the idea of this project being in a part of downtown where redevelopment could naturally spread to an area that needed help.

 

And heaven knows downtown needs more rejuvenation in several spots. If the courthouse project is reborn, and it's built behind Tower City, only time will tell whether it had any spinoff benefit or was just another new building taking its spot in Cleveland's skyline.

 

 

 

I like this topic, but maybe it could be moved over to the completed projects thread. 

Long term, it may be a good site.  Presently, it doesn't add that much to Cleveland. It does help Tower City.  It would be nice if it could have gone where the old Hippodrome was on Euclid.  Courthouses generate a lot of foot traffic.  It would have been good for that area of Euclid.

I remeber the discussions and how important it was to choose a site for this.  It was viewed as being one of the last high-rise office/government developements in Cleveland for several years to come based on the trend of the office space market.  It was the final in the booming 80's and 90's.  This was a free chance to get alor of life and activity on Euclid.  I think the site was chosen in hopes of spin-off or to divert the crazy activity in the Flats to more of a working and living environment.  Sure, we had the plans for the highrise condo/hotel there, but it was apparent very early that the project would never surface. 

I dont think anything could realisticaly spin off from this project. Courthouse plaza condos, got canceled, that was "spin off" but I don't think that building was nessisarly dependent on the courthouse but rather just a marketing tie-in. Down on the rivers edge its all sherwn-williams land, adn they have been there longer than the construction of union terminal, so I don't think they are moving anytime soon. The big gaping holes around union terminal have exisited since the 20's, and we are lucky if one gets filled in every 20 years.

 

I don't hate it nor do I think its a terrible location. I just dont think its possible to spin stuff off from there, given the owners of the lands surrounding it. The way I see it is a creeping progession of regivination along the east bank, ending somewhere in oxbow bend because of all the unusual landuse constraints down there.

Don't Federal Courthouses have to be set back behind all sorts of security?  Would we want that on Euclid Ave, really?

I dont think anything could realisticaly spin off from this project. Courthouse plaza condos, got canceled, that was "spin off" but I don't think that building was nessisarly dependent on the courthouse but rather just a marketing tie-in. Down on the rivers edge its all sherwn-williams land, adn they have been there longer than the construction of union terminal, so I don't think they are moving anytime soon. The big gaping holes around union terminal have exisited since the 20's, and we are lucky if one gets filled in every 20 years.

 

I don't hate it nor do I think its a terrible location. I just dont think its possible to spin stuff off from there, given the owners of the lands surrounding it. The way I see it is a creeping progession of regivination along the east bank, ending somewhere in oxbow bend because of all the unusual landuse constraints down there.

 

No...S-W is actually HQ's in the landmark towers & has been there since the '30s.  One of their research centers is located on the river, however, I would think they would be willing to move as S-W is a good cooperate citizen