May 4, 20214 yr 17 hours ago, StapHanger said: It will be super interesting to see how this team carves units out of those huge floor plates. From my research about the company named BLUELOFTS that's buying 45 Eireview, they have several buildings where they have already master leased the empty office floors. And using a modular system convert them into smaller sized apartment & hotel suites. In the case of 45 Erieview Tower they will convert the outer areas of each floor into apartment-hotel suites and using the inner core area for co-working and other amenities for their members/customers. They already have operations in Dallas, Houston and Denver. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2018/11/21/empty-office-floors-will-become-bluelofts-live-work-centers-in-dallas-towers/ https://staybluelofts.com/ https://thebishopartshotel.com Podcast about how Bluelofts using modular systems convert offices into apartments: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/011-bluelofts-turns-vacant-office-floors-into-apartments/ Edited May 4, 20214 yr by Larry1962 Typos and more details and web links
May 4, 20214 yr I think there is still room for the downtown market to grow with higher priced rentals, but if we are going to add significant numbers of new residents (like another 20k), apartments that hit lower price points or that address different living needs are increasingly going to be necessary. Based on their website, these seem more furnished micro-apartment in style. Glad to see that developers are started to target those other markets as well.
May 4, 20214 yr This sounds pretty cool. Here is a snippet from the Dallas News article. Sounds like they bring in pre-built boxes with all the apartment mechanicals, then install them in the blank office space, turning it into a fully featured apartment. Quote Working with a German manufacturer, Bluelofts has created a modular "box" for its apartments that includes the kitchen, the bathroom and all the plumbing. "It's a plug-and-play approach," said Bluelofts' John Williams. "This box has a bathroom in the inside and a kitchen on the outside. "It comes prebuilt and plugs into the building systems," he said. "We don't have to drill through the floors." Bluelofts brings the more than $20,000 core box unit up the elevator in pieces, assembles it and then puts up walls to separate each residential unit. "That allows us to go into a building and convert it faster than anyone else can," Williams said. "It's like Ikea — it comes in pieces."
May 4, 20214 yr Funny thing about the supposed floor plate issue I brought up is that it might make sense to do a conversion like this even if you just leave the middle of the floor plate empty. Or turn it into mini storage or something. Given how anemic office rents are, there's pretty much no opportunity cost to keeping it vacant and the purchase price obviously isn't based on any high value use.
May 4, 20214 yr absolutely. an opportunity for a large amount of open space in a refitted building like this is pretty unique. and those panoramic views. lol. wow. this is a very cost conscious and creative/adaptive reuse of a building project if there ever was one.
May 4, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, StapHanger said: Funny thing about the supposed floor plate issue I brought up is that it might make sense to do a conversion like this even if you just leave the middle of the floor plate empty. Or turn it into mini storage or something. Given how anemic office rents are, there's pretty much no opportunity cost to keeping it vacant and the purchase price obviously isn't based on any high value use. OK, I'll spill the beans. The plan is to make the interior spaces on each floor all for co-working. That satisfies the work-from-home market and addresses the city's requirement for residential units to have windows. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 4, 20214 yr 28 minutes ago, KJP said: OK, I'll spill the beans. The plan is to make the interior spaces on each floor all for co-working. That satisfies the work-from-home market and addresses the city's requirement for residential units to have windows. I don't get it. A nice co-working space has windows/natural light. Why would one want to get a space at a window-less co-working space when there are plenty of others around that offer windows and natural light?
May 4, 20214 yr 6 minutes ago, Pugu said: I don't get it. A nice co-working space has windows/natural light. Why would one want to get a space at a window-less co-working space when there are plenty of others around that offer windows and natural light? Because it's across the hall from their home. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 4, 20214 yr I've worked on contract projects at coworking spaces where I was situated in the basement or without natural light. As long as there are proper amenities, I don't know if windows/natural light is a top priority for would-be tenants I do feel a gym floor - and no bottom barrel broken cardio machines nonsense, I mean a proper workout facility, even if small - would be a hell of an incentive, yet it's something I haven't noticed in those spaces.
May 4, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, TBideon said: I've worked on contract projects at coworking spaces where I was situated in the basement or without natural light. As long as there are proper amenities, I don't know if windows/natural light is a top priority for would-be tenants I do feel a gym floor - and no bottom barrel broken cardio machines nonsense, I mean a proper workout facility, even if small - would be a hell of an incentive, yet it's something I haven't noticed in those spaces. I saw some optional amenities that were being considered a while ago and, if even some of them are added to this building, it will be a city-within-a-city. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 4, 20214 yr 46 minutes ago, KJP said: Because it's across the hall from their home. Unless they're leaving the doors in the hall open, that doesn't add natural light or windows. Plus if the coworking space is used only by those across the hall and not outsiders, why bother going across the hall? A co-working space must draw people from all over, so the lack of natural light/windows issue still remains.
May 4, 20214 yr 48 minutes ago, TBideon said: I've worked on contract projects at coworking spaces where I was situated in the basement or without natural light. As long as there are proper amenities, I don't know if windows/natural light is a top priority for would-be tenants I do feel a gym floor - and no bottom barrel broken cardio machines nonsense, I mean a proper workout facility, even if small - would be a hell of an incentive, yet it's something I haven't noticed in those spaces. 43 minutes ago, KJP said: I saw some optional amenities that were being considered a while ago and, if even some of them are added to this building, it will be a city-within-a-city. I guess a bunch of different uses for the windowless interior---may make it work--co-working on floors 4, 7; gym on 3 and 8, storage spaces on 2, 5, and 9, giant data equipment room on 10, skateboard track on 11, etc...
May 4, 20214 yr 24 minutes ago, Pugu said: Unless they're leaving the doors in the hall open, that doesn't add natural light or windows. Plus if the coworking space is used only by those across the hall and not outsiders, why bother going across the hall? A co-working space must draw people from all over, so the lack of natural light/windows issue still remains. Never worked in a windowless office, eh? I have. It's doable but not for everyone. What if the coworking space had a window to the hallway along with video wallpaper and looked like this? Or possibly this? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 4, 20214 yr 32 minutes ago, Pugu said: I guess a bunch of different uses for the windowless interior---may make it work--co-working on floors 4, 7; gym on 3 and 8, storage spaces on 2, 5, and 9, giant data equipment room on 10, skateboard track on 11, etc... From what I've heard each floor with apartments will have a large co-working area. And they will also have some other amenities possibility including: tenant storage, package lockers, fitness, small theater, ect. The idea is to create a real community by providing spaces for living, working, playing, and socializing. Especially since they will be micro-unit apartments and that they may also be rented out as hotel rooms too. And I'm really looking forward to KJP's upcoming article about this very interesting project with even more details! KJP is our modern day SHERLOCK HOLMES!
June 3, 20214 yr Not sure what to make of this but supposedly Winking Lizard is closing its Galleria location and moving across the street to a space in the AECOM Building. This is according to Kevin Barry from WEWS on Twitter. It seems like an odd move... selfishly I wish it was because something big is brewing at the Galleria but I have not heard anything. Anyone have more insight?
June 3, 20214 yr There were rumors that a hotel was being considered for the Galleria. Now, I hear Kassouf may lose his tax credits for the project. I'm not sure why since the credits were awarded only last year. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3, 20214 yr ^ I can think of at least one very good reason why he should lose his tax credits, but let’s keep on topic. My hovercraft is full of eels
June 3, 20214 yr Here is some more info from WEWS: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/winking-lizard-colossal-cupcakes-anna-in-the-raw-and-lets-talk-lets-eat-sign-lease-in-aecom-building-downtown
June 4, 20214 yr I’m not really a fan of restaurants being inside of Buildings instead of on the street but if it’s an improvement for these restaurants good for them.
June 4, 20214 yr The AECOM building is also directly connected to the Westin, which helps all of this. I’m still pushing for the Galleria to be a massive Adventure Zone type venue. A mini Fremont street experience.
June 4, 20214 yr If the winking lizard is moving to the building it would be nice if they could incorporate that little pocket park as a patio. Just a thought.
June 4, 20214 yr @cadmen that is part of their plan, to have a large patio out in the plaza. I do like that part of the plan, and I believe the patio will be larger than what they have now.
June 4, 20214 yr Excellent. From the pics l thought any outdoor space was going to be on E. 9th. Maybe we get the best of both worlds and another place opens in the old Galleria spot. Other than the not so occasional headwinds from the lake it's not a bad location.
July 15, 20213 yr Developers plan to convert Cleveland office building to live-work apartments Mary Vanac - Cleveland Business Journal - July 15, 2021 "Ike Bams and John Williams, co-founders of Bluelofts Inc. in Dallas, are hoping to close their acquisition of the former AT&T Building at 45 E. Ninth St. in a few months, the developers said this week. Bams and Williams plan to start the conversion to apartments early next year with a potential opening in late 2022 or early 2023. ... Bams and Williams plan to convert the vacant office building to more than 200 apartments, mostly two-bedroom units with a minimum of 700 square feet and a few larger penthouses. ... 'It's not just another apartment building,' Williams said. 'We’re essentially creating a vertical subdivision that’s going to have mixed-use at the bottom,' including retail and co-working spaces."
July 16, 20213 yr Crap. I had this story in January and have been waiting to share the floor plans ever since. I was told to sit on the story until they were ready to go public. Failure to communicate I guess.... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 16, 20213 yr On 6/3/2021 at 2:00 PM, mrclifton88 said: Not sure what to make of this but supposedly Winking Lizard is closing its Galleria location and moving across the street to a space in the AECOM Building. This is according to Kevin Barry from WEWS on Twitter. It seems like an odd move... selfishly I wish it was because something big is brewing at the Galleria but I have not heard anything. Anyone have more insight? Winking Lizard is def moving across street to AECOM. I heard it from the owner himself. It's the right move. AECOM building is nearly full, owner is aggressive, has a hotel attached.... Galleria is totally totally dead. They won't even keep the lights on by end of this year.
July 16, 20213 yr The project at 45 East Ninth will be a tough sell. It's such a large building the operating expenses are significant. And it really doesn't have much parking under it at all, which is large part of why it struggled to lease up as an office building... I wish them luck but it would have been better as a big user taking half the building then targeting smaller users for the rest...
July 16, 20213 yr Here ya go. Click on those floorplans and after you click on the image, right-click on the enlarged image and select "open image in new tab" where you can enlarge it further...... THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021 45 Erieview aims to be Cleveland's first post-pandemic remote-work tower When you pore over Bluelofts Inc.'s proposed floor plans for the planned remake of 45 Erieview Plaza, several thoughts come to mind. The first one is that this appears to be the first development in Cleveland to take into account new remote-working lifestyles sought in a post-pandemic world. That becomes apparent when you realize that the proposed development would have a stunning offering of amenities that could turn this building into a city-within-a-city. Such as.... MORE: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2021/07/45-erieview-aims-to-be-clevelands-first.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 16, 20213 yr 6 hours ago, KJP said: Here ya go. Click on those floorplans and after you click on the image, right-click on the enlarged image and select "open image in new tab" where you can enlarge it further...... THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2021 45 Erieview aims to be Cleveland's first post-pandemic remote-work tower When you pore over Bluelofts Inc.'s proposed floor plans for the planned remake of 45 Erieview Plaza, several thoughts come to mind. The first one is that this appears to be the first development in Cleveland to take into account new remote-working lifestyles sought in a post-pandemic world. That becomes apparent when you realize that the proposed development would have a stunning offering of amenities that could turn this building into a city-within-a-city. Such as.... MORE: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2021/07/45-erieview-aims-to-be-clevelands-first.html Thanks, Ken. These amenities seem like a great way to attract tenants - looks like it’d be fun to live there. It appears that “Option 2” has the pool above the gymnasium. Is the first floor tall enough to accommodate that? It’ll be particularly interesting to see the floor plan for one of the apartment floors. When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
July 16, 20213 yr 1 hour ago, Boomerang_Brian said: Thanks, Ken. These amenities seem like a great way to attract tenants - looks like it’d be fun to live there. It appears that “Option 2” has the pool above the gymnasium. Is the first floor tall enough to accommodate that? It’ll be particularly interesting to see the floor plan for one of the apartment floors. Depends on how deep the pool is. We have a 6-foot-deep indoor pool on my building's 7th floor and it extends down into a standard height 6th floor. And I'll bet 45 Erieview's first floor has a much higher ceiling. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 16, 20213 yr So we're merging a newish and seemingly popular concept (live/work space) with a building that has unusually large foot plates. This works in my fantasy simcity world but will it work in the real world? Stay tuned. That place has always been one of my favorite buildings in town. I love the curving front, the mix of glass and stone, how it appears to be shoehorned into the site just like a real city and of course, the great views of the lake. I sure hope this effort works. If it does it will breath new life into a wonderful building while at the same time adding Cleveland to the names of cities with viable live/work environments. Welcome to the twenty first century baby.
July 16, 20213 yr I also like the curving front. The proposed AmeriTrust tower on Public Square was also supposed to have a similar curving front, only it would have been much taller.
September 13, 20213 yr W Hotel going to go into this building with the rehab planned. A great brand to have in the city.
September 13, 20213 yr Tower at Erieview makeover will include a W luxury hotel The tower project does not include the long-suffering Galleria, a glassy, two-level retail complex that is largely vacant. But consultants working with the Kassoufs said that the Galleria is the subject of conversations between the property owners and Marriott. "In our mind, it's important that the whole building be revitalized, including the Galleria. But this was the most logical way to begin," said Anthony Delfre, a managing director and principal at Brown Gibbons Lang & Co., the investment bank cobbling together financing. https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/tower-erieview-makeover-will-include-w-luxury-hotel?utm_source=breaking-news-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210913&utm_content=hero-readmore Edited September 13, 20213 yr by inlovewithCLE
September 13, 20213 yr 2 minutes ago, mrclifton88 said: @WindyBuckeyeare you referring to Erieview Tower or 45 Erieview? Good call, I always get the threads confused. Erieview Tower
September 13, 20213 yr That would be quite a nice boost of energy to this part of town. Any more info / sources?
September 13, 20213 yr Just now, mrclifton88 said: That would be quite a nice boost of energy to this part of town. Any more info / sources? One of my bosses mentioned it this morning. Looks like Crains posted about it just now too.
September 13, 20213 yr https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/tower-erieview-makeover-will-include-w-luxury-hotel?utm_source=breaking-news-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210913&utm_content=hero-readmore
September 13, 20213 yr This is great news and if true incredibly remarkable. However, given the owner I will believe it when I see it. Too much history.
September 13, 20213 yr ^ Per the article, his sons are driving it, so let’s see. Some other details; First 8 or 9 floors for the 210 room hotel 227 apartments on floors 17 through 28 38th floor 360 degree restaurant The rest offices. Most funding in place. Looking for $8-9m TMUD. My hovercraft is full of eels
September 16, 20213 yr Article in Cle.com. First i have seen it mentioned about the Galleria (although there is already a parking garage under and gym present) It also plans to renovate the adjacent 130,000-square-foot Galleria by turning it into a “lifestyle center,” complete with a spa and gym, according to the release. A heated parking garage will go underneath it. https://www.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2021/09/downtown-clevelands-tower-at-erieview-to-be-home-to-new-high-end-w-hotel-first-in-ohio.html Edited September 16, 20213 yr by willyboy
September 16, 20213 yr Regardless of the developer and how things proceed, It says a lot about downtown Cleveland that a W Hotel wants to enter the market.
September 17, 20213 yr On 9/13/2021 at 4:39 PM, Htsguy said: This is great news and if true incredibly remarkable. However, given the owner I will believe it when I see it. Too much history. yep. Anyone have any insight on actual hotel occupancy levels in downtown Cleveland and what that translates to in terms of creating more hotel space? Isn't the Westin in default? and what about the Hilton, is possibly in need of tax payer bailout/boost?
September 17, 20213 yr 1 hour ago, gottaplan said: yep. Anyone have any insight on actual hotel occupancy levels in downtown Cleveland and what that translates to in terms of creating more hotel space? Isn't the Westin in default? and what about the Hilton, is possibly in need of tax payer bailout/boost? The Westin is in default because it is owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who stole all the money to fund it and is now under federal investigation. The Hilton was exceeding expectations prior to COVID and fulfilling its intended purpose - making the convention center more competitive and therefore able to draw more events. When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
September 17, 20213 yr 6 hours ago, willyboy said: Article in Cle.com. First i have seen it mentioned about the Galleria (although there is already a parking garage under and gym present) It also plans to renovate the adjacent 130,000-square-foot Galleria by turning it into a “lifestyle center,” complete with a spa and gym, according to the release. A heated parking garage will go underneath it. https://www.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2021/09/downtown-clevelands-tower-at-erieview-to-be-home-to-new-high-end-w-hotel-first-in-ohio.html I’m looking for the actual press release to see if there’s any more details on the “lifestyle center”. Anybody seen the release?
September 17, 20213 yr 2 hours ago, gottaplan said: yep. Anyone have any insight on actual hotel occupancy levels in downtown Cleveland and what that translates to in terms of creating more hotel space? Isn't the Westin in default? and what about the Hilton, is possibly in need of tax payer bailout/boost? the article mentions it, copied below. hopes are by the time this would open, occupancy rates would have mostly recovered. “A report Downtown Cleveland Alliance put out in August said that 48% of hotel rooms in the city’s central business district were occupied between April and June of this year. That’s an improvement from earlier in the pandemic, but much lower than before the virus in the fourth quarter of 2019, when 78.8% of rooms were filled.”
September 17, 20213 yr 10 hours ago, gottaplan said: yep. Anyone have any insight on actual hotel occupancy levels in downtown Cleveland and what that translates to in terms of creating more hotel space? Isn't the Westin in default? and what about the Hilton, is possibly in need of tax payer bailout/boost? Things will never improve, huh? Smart investors are looking into the future, not at yesterday's stats.
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