August 1, 20231 yr 4 hours ago, KJP said: Lots of cool stuff on this week's planning commission agenda. The first three are financing packages for development projects.... 1. Ordinance No. 787-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers McCormack, Hairston and Griffin – by departmental request): Authorizing the Director of Economic Development to enter into a development agreement with Cleveland LD LLC, or its designee, successors and assignees, to plan and execute a development and financing strategy to maximize public and private use along Cleveland’s riverfront, including Tower City, property between Huron Road and the riverfront, and property between Ontario Street and the riverfront. 2. Ordinance No. 788-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers McCormack, Hairston and Griffin – by departmental request): Authorizing the Mayor and the Commissioner of Purchases and Supplies to acquire and re-convey properties presently owned by Apartment 92-The Apollo, LLC, and/or its designee, located at 1250 Riverbed Street, for the purpose of entering into the chain-of-title prior to the adoption of tax increment financing legislation authorized under Section 5709.41 of the Revised Code for the Kaplan Shanman Building Mixed Use Development Project. 3. Ordinance No. 789-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers McCormack, Hairston and Griffin – by departmental request): Authorizing the Director of Economic Development to enter into an Enterprise Zone Agreement with Erieview Holdings, LLC, and/or its designee, to provide for tax abatement for certain real property improvements as an incentive to revitalize Erieview Tower. 4. Ordinance No. 790-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers Bishop and Griffin – by departmental request): Authorizing the Director of Capital Projects, on behalf of the Office of Sustainability, to enter into one or more contracts with Volta Charging, LLC for a publically accessible electric charging station network in the public right-of-way and on City-owned property, for a period of ten years, with one five-year option to renew, exercisable by the Director of Capital Projects; authorizing the Director to apply for and accept any gifts, grants, or services from any private or public entities. 5. Ordinance No. 801-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers McCormack, Hairston and Griffin – by departmental request): To supplement the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, by enacting new Sections 301.01 to 301.09 relating to transit oriented development and transportation demand management; and to amend Section 341.02, as amended by Ordinance No. 1872-08, passed February 9, 2009, and Section 349.11, as amended by Ordinance No. 1236-A-67, passed June 28, 1971, relating to applicability and exceptions to minimum parking requirements. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS 1. Ordinance No. 747-2023-2023 (Introduced by Councilmembers Bishop and Griffin – by departmental request): Authorizing the Director of Public Works to continue to lease or otherwise make available certain space located in the Ticket House building adjacent to Cleveland’s Historic League Park in the Negro League Baseball Legends of Fame Inc. dba Baseball Heritage Museum for the purpose of storing and displaying historical baseball memorabilia relevant to League Park, for a period of up to five years with two one-year options to renew, exercisable by the Director of Public Works. 2. Ordinance No. 796-2023(Introduced by Councilmembers Hairston and Griffin - by departmental request): Approving the addition or property located at the intersection of East 97th Street and Lamont Avenue to the Northeast Ohio Advanced Energy District; accepting and approving a petition and plan from a property owner in the District identifying a special energy improvement project; declaring it necessary to conduct the special energy improvement project; providing for the assessment of the cost of such special energy improvement project; authorizing the Director of Economic Development to enter into an Energy Project Cooperative Agreement and a Special Assessment Agreement to implement the project; and declaring an emergency. Probably one of more exciting agendas in a while. A lot of game changes in process right here.
August 1, 20231 yr 3 hours ago, MayDay said: A little off topic but when you posted this, I was attending MAICON, the annual conference put on by the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute (based in Cleveland). You’re absolutely right - in fact one session discussed thinking vs. “thunking” (the repetitive tasks and anything that lends itself to automation.) As a creative, yes - some work will be affected, but as they said - creatives won’t be replaced by AI, but creatives who use AI absolutely will replace those who don’t. The meme I’ve shared sums up my thoughts, at least for the near future 😁 It will be interesting to see how this plays out in headcount, floor space needs, etc. I’m glad Cleveland has been able to do pretty well in adaptive reuse, anecdotally foot traffic has been decent on the days I’m in the office. "Clients will need to accurately describe what they want." Great observation. The failure to do that is why, in my opinion, most government IT developments run into time and money trouble. Either the users don't know what they want and it evolves as it is developed or they try to automate inefficiency. It's easy to see AI following the same cookbook. Remember: It's the Year of the Snake
August 2, 20231 yr Promising Findings from the former Downtown Cleveland Alliance. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/downtown-cleveland-growth-midyear-report-foot-traffic-occupancy-retail-hospitality/95-cb6413fd-a266-4065-b8cc-c52072b3d7ca
August 2, 20231 yr Promising Findings from the former Downtown Cleveland Alliance. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/downtown-cleveland-growth-midyear-report-foot-traffic-occupancy-retail-hospitality/95-cb6413fd-a266-4065-b8cc-c52072b3d7ca82 percent office occupancy is impressive. I'm sure those account for Hybrid workers though. I'd be interested to see which days are the busiest for office workers. Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
August 2, 20231 yr 5 minutes ago, MyPhoneDead said: 82 percent office occupancy is impressive. I'm sure those account for Hybrid workers though. I'd be interested to see which days are the busiest for office workers. Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk I just started going into the office 5 days a week. As you would expect Tuesday through Thursday it is quite busy downtown. Monday it is dead and Friday it is quiet until later in the day due to concerst, sports, plays, etc.
August 2, 20231 yr New housing complex for unhoused veterans coming to Cleveland’s Southeast Side Ideastream Public Media | By Abbey Marshall Published August 1, 2023 Quote The Walter Collins Veterans Housing and Service Facility will provide permanent housing to 11 veterans and their families, with plans to expand the center to include resources, programming and a community garden. “A lot of times veterans, when they come home from serving the country, they become homeless. They just struggle to integrate back into society,” said Cleveland City Councilmember Kevin Bishop, whose Ward 2 will be home to the housing facility on what is now a vacant lot near the intersection of East 95th Street and Harvard Avenue. Cleveland City Council recently approved a $750,000 grant from the city’s pandemic relief funds to the Union Miles Development Corporation, which will build and own the complex, to close the financing gap on the $2.7 million project. https://www.ideastream.org/government-politics/2023-08-01/new-housing-complex-for-unhoused-veterans-coming-to-clevelands-southeast-side
August 3, 20231 yr Author Cross-posted in the TOD thread... GCRTA stations: lots of opportunity By Ken Prendergast / August 3, 2023 A COMMENTARY In recent months, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) has served notice that its rail system isn’t going anywhere. That could be interpreted in one of two ways. In one way, GCRTA plans to invest $540 million by the end of this decade to rebuild its 34-mile rail system including a new, standardized light-rail fleet plus rebuilt tracks and stations on the Red, Blue and Green lines. Greater Cleveland’s “Rapid” is sticking around for decades to come. But taking it another way, there are no expansion plans while ridership on GCRTA buses and trains fell nearly 60 percent from 2013 to 2021 “led” by its rail system which fell even farther, from 9.3 million boardings in 2013 to 2.9 million in 2021. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/08/03/gcrta-stations-lots-of-opportunity/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 3, 20231 yr Developing existing parking lots on the site of underutilized rail stations is making lemonade out if lemons. Those lots are not going to be filled with park and ride customers in any conceivable near future so the best use for them is TOD. Cleveland gets more new housing, RTA will get some new riders and each stop will create urban vibrancy. I don't think it will l be easy to pull off but, then it's not rocket science either. Here's hoping developers seize the opportunity.
August 11, 20231 yr Question for all the GIS/mapping/3D modeling-inclined people here on the forum. After some "extensive" research on Google Earth and Google Maps, I've generated this list which I think is pretty revealing/unfortunate, and I'm wondering what the issue is and what/if anything we as humble citizens can do about this: Google Earth Latest Imagery: Columbus = 9/1/2022 Cincinnati = 11/10/2022 Pittsburgh = 4/24/2022 Detroit = 8/2/2022 Chicago = 7/12/2022 Milwaukee = 8/5/2022 Nashville = 9/7/2022 Buffalo = 5/29/2022 Philadelphia = 6/6/2022 Every other major US city, likewise, etc. etc. etc. Cleveland = 6/28/2014 I think you get the picture... and as someone who's city 3D modeling-inclined and appreciates up-to-date things and definitely invested in this city, this picture makes me sad. Edited August 11, 20231 yr by Geowizical
August 11, 20231 yr I was wondering about that myself. When zooming in on downtown Cleveland, Flat East Bank is under construction. Public Square is still 4 quadrants. No Beacon. No Lumen. Wth?
August 11, 20231 yr 16 minutes ago, Geowizical said: Question for all the GIS/mapping/3D modeling-inclined people here on the forum. After some "extensive" research on Google Earth and Google Maps, I've generated this list which I think is pretty revealing/unfortunate, and I'm wondering what the issue is and what/if anything we as humble citizens can do about this: Google Earth Latest Imagery: Columbus = 9/1/2022 Cincinnati = 11/10/2022 Pittsburgh = 4/24/2022 Detroit = 8/2/2022 Chicago = 7/12/2022 Milwaukee = 8/5/2022 Nashville = 9/7/2022 Buffalo = 5/29/2022 Philadelphia = 6/6/2022 Every other major US city, likewise, etc. etc. etc. Cleveland = 6/28/2014 I think you get the picture... and as someone who's city 3D modeling-inclined and appreciates up-to-date things and definitely invested in this city, this picture makes me sad. That's pretty wild. I can't speak to why google is like this BUT the county flies aerials every year if there's a way to import them into GE. We should have another high quality flight delivered soon that will also come with building footprints among other good stuff. Also, if you want to build your own models the state recently completed 3DEP QL0 (pretty much highest quality) LiDAR flights for Cuyahoga if you feel like searching that out. I played around with it w/Progressive Field and the Guardians and it was pretty, pretty awesome. Edited August 11, 20231 yr by GISguy
August 11, 20231 yr 22 minutes ago, Geowizical said: Question for all the GIS/mapping/3D modeling-inclined people here on the forum. After some "extensive" research on Google Earth and Google Maps, I've generated this list which I think is pretty revealing/unfortunate, and I'm wondering what the issue is and what/if anything we as humble citizens can do about this: Google Earth Latest Imagery: Columbus = 9/1/2022 Cincinnati = 11/10/2022 Pittsburgh = 4/24/2022 Detroit = 8/2/2022 Chicago = 7/12/2022 Milwaukee = 8/5/2022 Nashville = 9/7/2022 Buffalo = 5/29/2022 Philadelphia = 6/6/2022 Every other major US city, likewise, etc. etc. etc. Cleveland = 6/28/2014 I think you get the picture... and as someone who's city 3D modeling-inclined and appreciates up-to-date things and definitely invested in this city, this picture makes me sad. Well, in the spirit of "be the change you want to see", if there's anything we (the forum) can do to help, please let us know - that goes for any of you talented folks who share your rendering talents, etc. I can confidently say that few other forums are fortunate to have active members who contribute such super-cool material. If that means emailing whoever/wherever, let us know and we will muster the UO Horde 🙂 I say this because back in the day (1997 to be exact), there were websites about architecture/skyscrapers in Chicago, NYC, and a handful of other cities but nothing about Cleveland. I figured what the heck, take some photos with a Minolta film camera no less - if the guys at Camera City in the Caxton building had a boat or a vacation home, I helped pay for it! 😄 There were some DIY site building platforms like GeoCities and Tripod so I put the five tallest buildings on with some brief descriptions. Next thing I know, I'm realizing I'm not the only dork architecture/skyscraper geek out there and got requests for more photos, info, etc. In 2000, a local tech entrepreneur came across my DIY site and suggested I secure the clevelandskyscrapers.com URL. 23 years later, I'm still collecting nominal royalties from a book deal and that photo I took on a lunch break has racked up tens of millions of views in over 170 countries, and I ended up meeting the cast in Cleveland and on set in LA (sooo many stories about the whole thing). All because I'm a shameless geek about this stuff - so as I said, whatever we can do to help, let us know. It's gratifying to see the younger generations appreciate what us X'rs have known for quite a while. clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
August 11, 20231 yr 19 minutes ago, GISguy said: That's pretty wild. I can't speak to why google is like this BUT the county flies aerials every year if there's a way to import them into GE. We should have another high quality flight delivered soon that will also come with building footprints among other good stuff. Also, if you want to build your own models the state recently completed 3DEP QL0 (pretty much highest quality) LiDAR flights for Cuyahoga if you feel like searching that out. I played around with it w/Progressive Field and the Guardians and it was pretty, pretty awesome. Thanks for the resources - I went to the Cuyahoga County website and found the Fall 2022 aerial which is DEFINITELY more up to date and what I've been expecting from Google minus the 3D part, so that is a huge help! 15 minutes ago, Whipjacka said: bing is more up-to-date. Thanks, I never even considered Bing - will check it out. 13 minutes ago, MayDay said: Well, in the spirit of "be the change you want to see", if there's anything we (the forum) can do to help, please let us know - that goes for any of you talented folks who share your rendering talents, etc. I can confidently say that few other forums are fortunate to have active members who contribute such super-cool material. If that means emailing whoever/wherever, let us know and we will muster the UO Horde 🙂 Appreciate the sentiments! I know these things are sort of niche/not as important to actual photos and development news we get here but hopefully they are at least topical - I just don't see why every other city gets updated imagery and the best we can get are 10-year-old photos when so much has happened around here, especially since 2014. Anywho, @MayDayet. al. the only way I know of performing any "civic action" on getting updated google earth imagery is basically zooming in on the extents of (for example) Downtown Cleveland or UC, hitting the Help/Feedback button in the settings tab, and then ranting to the Google-bots about the severely outdated images, and hoping someone sees it 😅 Whether y'all find that worth your time, I'm sure the more pings they get about it, the more likely it is to get updated, but maybe that's wishful thinking haha. As far as seeing if there's anything the county/city itself can do about it, I have no clue... that's way out of my depth of knowledge... Edited August 11, 20231 yr by Geowizical
August 11, 20231 yr I never realized how extensive the work was going to be for the Ross/Hibbet Sports in the Steelyard.Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
August 12, 20231 yr 5 hours ago, Geowizical said: Question for all the GIS/mapping/3D modeling-inclined people here on the forum. After some "extensive" research on Google Earth and Google Maps, I've generated this list which I think is pretty revealing/unfortunate, and I'm wondering what the issue is and what/if anything we as humble citizens can do about this: Google Earth Latest Imagery: Columbus = 9/1/2022 Cincinnati = 11/10/2022 Pittsburgh = 4/24/2022 Detroit = 8/2/2022 Chicago = 7/12/2022 Milwaukee = 8/5/2022 Nashville = 9/7/2022 Buffalo = 5/29/2022 Philadelphia = 6/6/2022 Every other major US city, likewise, etc. etc. etc. Cleveland = 6/28/2014 I think you get the picture... and as someone who's city 3D modeling-inclined and appreciates up-to-date things and definitely invested in this city, this picture makes me sad. You can request google earth gets updated. See question #11 here: https://support.google.com/earth/thread/2298894?sjid=15293982514106303008-NA I just did it for downtown cleveland. I think if they get a couple requests they would update it. from reading some random reddit threads it seems like it does work.
August 12, 20231 yr Maybe wait a bit until the SW buildings are closer to done. Edited August 12, 20231 yr by Mendo
August 16, 20231 yr Author And let me add another link to that thread that goes to a speculative article on whether a Cliffs+USS marriage could lead to a new tower "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 16, 20231 yr https://twitter.com/mattm178/status/1691919162938110093I might cry tears of joy! 🥹🥹🥹Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
August 17, 20231 yr 17 minutes ago, w28th said: This is truly a game changer. For those of us who are uninformed, can you explain why?
August 17, 20231 yr Author @JohnSummit See my article here: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/07/22/city-considers-re-legalizing-the-city-again/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 17, 20231 yr On 8/11/2023 at 4:10 PM, Geowizical said: Question for all the GIS/mapping/3D modeling-inclined people here on the forum. After some "extensive" research on Google Earth and Google Maps, I've generated this list which I think is pretty revealing/unfortunate, and I'm wondering what the issue is and what/if anything we as humble citizens can do about this: Google Earth Latest Imagery: Columbus = 9/1/2022 Cincinnati = 11/10/2022 Pittsburgh = 4/24/2022 Detroit = 8/2/2022 Chicago = 7/12/2022 Milwaukee = 8/5/2022 Nashville = 9/7/2022 Buffalo = 5/29/2022 Philadelphia = 6/6/2022 Every other major US city, likewise, etc. etc. etc. Cleveland = 6/28/2014 I think you get the picture... and as someone who's city 3D modeling-inclined and appreciates up-to-date things and definitely invested in this city, this picture makes me sad. Google's waiting for Nucleus to be completed. 😅
August 17, 20231 yr The development train is about to get rolling. RTA time to sell off that prime TOD land to developers.
August 17, 20231 yr It's easy to rag on local leaders...but sometimes they actually get it right so hat's off for this one!
August 17, 20231 yr 15 hours ago, w28th said: This is truly a game changer. To put it in the simplest of terms, eliminating parking minimums basically allows developers to develop their properties with more actual building on a given site that would otherwise be required for parking. They would be doing this without the question of "will this get through zoning," which is a significant concern when you're paying architects and engineers at the start of a project to see if it's viable. In my opinion this also takes the edge off the less development friendly changes to the tax abatement policy that go into effect on January 1, 2024. It allows developers to possibly meet the 20% affordable units requirement for multi-family projects as an "addition to", as opposed to "in place of" the construction/units that make financial sense. Basically replacing parking with affordable housing.
August 17, 20231 yr Since the legislation has passed how long does it take to go into effect? Is it immediate or is this a Fiscal year 2024 thing? Do developers looking for zoning approval right now just go forward with what they have without the need of approval? Is that requirement immediately stopped? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
August 17, 20231 yr 39 minutes ago, MyPhoneDead said: Since the legislation has passed how long does it take to go into effect? Is it immediate or is this a Fiscal year 2024 thing? Do developers looking for zoning approval right now just go forward with what they have without the need of approval? Is that requirement immediately stopped? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 6 months. Unsure if current projects apply. They should, so long as they adjust to the new parameters.
August 17, 20231 yr Author Planning Commission has had two projects near high-frequency transit service stops get OK'd for reduced parking in exchange for TDM strategies -- Stokes West and West 73rd apartments. And that was before the legislation passed. So I would think they'll entertain others over the next six months. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 17, 20231 yr West 73rd Apartments actually exceeded the required parking count even though it was below 1:1 because it's in a UFO district, which allows a 35% reduction in required parking.
August 21, 20231 yr I'm hearing about a proposed apartment building on Euclid just east of East 40th. Anyone else seen or heard anything?
August 21, 20231 yr Whatever may go there needs to have an active space fronting Chester as well. Too many times we build buildings to activate Euclid and forget about the surrounding streets.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
August 21, 20231 yr From what i heard it is Signet. They are the ones that completed the Midtown Phase 1 E70/Euclid & Phase 2 E.70/Carnegie developments
August 21, 20231 yr From what i heard it is Signet. They are the ones that completed the Midtown Phase 1 E70/Euclid & Phase 2 E.70/Carnegie developmentsTheir project is what I thought about when I mentioned how streets that aren’t Euclid are given the same treatment as Euclid. The Carnegie side of the Foundry did not receive the same love as the Euclid side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
August 21, 20231 yr Author 18 hours ago, zbaris87 said: I heard a different developer is working on the E. 36th site Concur "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 22, 20231 yr Anyone know if there’s been any movement on where the new Cleveland MLS Next pro team will play if they plan to still debut in 2025 feels like things would need to starting being prepared
August 22, 20231 yr A post about % parking lot coverage recently made its rounds on the Cleveland subreddit. I found myself wondering now that Sherwin Williams is filling most of the previous largest parking crater, has there been any rumors or developments about what I believe to be the new largest parking crater in the downtown core, W9th and St. Claire? (Or any of the other major downtown parking craters?)
August 22, 20231 yr 31 minutes ago, Ethan said: A post about % parking lot coverage recently made its rounds on the Cleveland subreddit. I found myself wondering now that Sherwin Williams is filling most of the previous largest parking crater, has there been any rumors or developments about what I believe to be the new largest parking crater in the downtown core, W9th and St. Claire? (Or any of the other major downtown parking craters?) A photo of what was posted, plus reminders of what’s to come (also it’s not completely up to date) Edited August 22, 20231 yr by BoomerangCleRes
August 22, 20231 yr 1 minute ago, BoomerangCleRes said: A photo of what was posted, plus reminders of what’s to come (also it’s completely up to date) A lot of that red is structured parking, not craters. As well as The Beacon, 200 PS, and quite a few others on there.
August 22, 20231 yr 13 minutes ago, BoomerangCleRes said: A photo of what was posted, plus reminders of what’s to come (also it’s completely up to date) What do you mean by completely up to date? Is that sarcasm? I think the top Reddit comment basically nails it. The site itself states it primarily relies on Google image data, and as another commenter lamented a few days ago, Cleveland hasn't received updated satellite imagery for a long time. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/15xk8la/26_of_downtown_cleveland_is_parking/ https://parkingreform.org/resources/parking-lot-map/
August 22, 20231 yr 7 minutes ago, Ethan said: What do you mean by completely up to date? Is that sarcasm? I think the top Reddit comment basically nails it. The site itself states it primarily relies on Google image data, and as another commenter lamented a few days ago, Cleveland hasn't received updated satellite imagery for a long time. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/15xk8la/26_of_downtown_cleveland_is_parking/ https://parkingreform.org/resources/parking-lot-map/ NOT up to date*
August 22, 20231 yr I'm sure if you take away the structured parking that percentage lowers by a substantial amount. Saying downtown Cleveland is "parking" vs "parking lots" are two different things.Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
August 24, 20231 yr 8 hours ago, marty15 said: Fidelity Hotel construction. This pic makes me so sad. Fond memories of tasty subs and the bat-sh*t crazy bartender at Moriarty's. Side note, my co-workers referrred to it as Mort's, but I insisted it should be Mory's (Morries?). Who was right?
August 24, 20231 yr 1 hour ago, Ineffable_Matt said: This pic makes me so sad. Fond memories of tasty subs and the bat-sh*t crazy bartender at Moriarty's. Side note, my co-workers referrred to it as Mort's, but I insisted it should be Mory's (Morries?). Who was right? That bats**t crazy bartender was and still is my friend :)
August 24, 20231 yr 21 minutes ago, stpats44113 said: That bats**t crazy bartender was and still is my friend :) Morgan? Did he ever get the old wooden bar out of there? I donated towards that and so did a few other people I know. Just the other week someone asked me how that went. My hovercraft is full of eels
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