A little end of year ITB update pano:

I may be wrong, but it looks like they are replacing utility lines at the same time that they are doing the shoring

@Geowizical Great set of photographs! I have a couple of questions.

 

1. What is the estimated timeline for this phase of shoring Irishtown Bend?

2. The Detroit Superior Bridge section with cinder blocks in the arches, what are they there for?

3 hours ago, dave2017 said:

@Geowizical Great set of photographs! I have a couple of questions.

 

1. What is the estimated timeline for this phase of shoring Irishtown Bend?

2. The Detroit Superior Bridge section with cinder blocks in the arches, what are they there for?

It looks like the Irishtown Bend Park website is currently down or being redone, but that had some info on the timeline. 

 

I believe those cinder blocks were added simply to keep people out, and put in sections where it was possible to sneak in. The more accessible archways on the other side are filled in too, but they are painted over to match the rest of the paint. 

 

Although my friend who lives in Stonebridge says she still sees people walking around in there after dark every once in awhile. 

13 hours ago, dave2017 said:

@Geowizical Great set of photographs! I have a couple of questions.

 

1. What is the estimated timeline for this phase of shoring Irishtown Bend?

2. The Detroit Superior Bridge section with cinder blocks in the arches, what are they there for?

The timeline is on the previous page of this thread. They will be finishing with this phase in August 2025. 

Got to witness some of the pile driving of the bulkheads in person today which was cool - slow but steady on stabilization! ITB progress update (03/01):

 

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Geowizical

Got the big boy toys out. 

 

I'll have more later, here's one from this morning. 

This park is going to be great. Cant wait to grab a sandwich from one of the like 6 great sandwich places in Ohio City, and just go sit there, watching the river and downtown.

And it’ll be interesting to see if the park actually promotes some new residential activity adjacent to it. A couple new high rise apartments/condos overlooking the park, with a view of downtown would be great. 

5 hours ago, daybreaker said:

This park is going to be great. Cant wait to grab a sandwich from one of the like 6 great sandwich places in Ohio City, and just go sit there, watching the river and downtown.

I'm typically partial to Herb and Twine or Tripi but over the weekend I tried the new Little Cloud Sandwiches that opened right across the street from where the park is going to be and it was also phenomenal.  

Edited April 14Apr 14 by TDi

2 hours ago, CleveFan said:

And it’ll be interesting to see if the park actually promotes some new residential activity adjacent to it. A couple new high rise apartments/condos overlooking the park, with a view of downtown would be great. 

The Lutheran Lot SHOULD be a huge project if it can ever happen. Although the site scares me more than any other lot in the city right now, especially with My Place Group seemingly leading the way. But the latest loose plans call for 1000 parking spaces in garages that will take up most of the site, and less than 400 units on this site and the lot at 1756 W25 combined.

 

 

It's an amazing space with great views that could easily house 1000+ residents with restaurants and shopping building off of Irishtown Bend, Hingetown, Ohio City, and the W25 BRT. It should be one of the best 5ish acre spaces in the state when finished. 

Some ITB updates from the Columbus rd bridge and Merlin’s Wharf. They’re moving along quite nicely on the bulkheads. August 2025 still seems very reasonable. But good god walking along that stretch of W 25th is miserable. The streetscape can’t come soon enough!

Edited April 21Apr 21 by Geowizical

(4-23-25)

 

 

 

Grading for the Franklin Blvd realignment. 

 

 

 

Not necessarily Irishtown Bend, but the neighboring Ohio City Farm's Roundstone Pavilion is nearly complete. Move in process started last week. 

 

nice irishtown bend work insta — 🎉

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJEcOBtAXYk/?igsh=ZDk2M3lndWlnMW93

Great photo from cleveland.com of ITB.

Something we haven't been able to capture as a forum is the infill happening behind the bulkheads on the far right of the image!

Man, those crane operators need to know that the soil stability underneath the cranes has been signed off properly by their geo guys/girls! There needs to be a lot of trust on their team.

10 hours ago, Geowizical said:

Great photo from cleveland.com of ITB.

Something we haven't been able to capture as a forum is the infill happening behind the bulkheads on the far right of the image!

Seeing the multiple phases of the quarter and the larger building I forget the name of really goes to show how desperately needed that infill is. Now we need a little more!

That https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/05/check-out-the-transformation-already-happening-at-clevelands-irishtown-bend.html article made it seem like it's still going to be a long time before we're going to see anything like what's been rendered. 2027 for trail completion, maybe 2028 for the first phase of the park. The rest as yet undefined. I thought funding was all or almost all secured, so was surprised the timeline for full completion is undefined.

Awful news! Phases of the park possible in 2028? Everything I heard previously was that the stabilization would finish this year and the park would be done in late 2027. I've already been frustrated that it was going to take two full years to build the park, and now this? Grrrrrr.

7 hours ago, JohnSummit said:

That https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/05/check-out-the-transformation-already-happening-at-clevelands-irishtown-bend.html article made it seem like it's still going to be a long time before we're going to see anything like what's been rendered. 2027 for trail completion, maybe 2028 for the first phase of the park. The rest as yet undefined. I thought funding was all or almost all secured, so was surprised the timeline for full completion is undefined.

I can't read the article. What do they mean by trail completion? Paved walking trails and then greenspace around it?

16 minutes ago, coneflower said:

I can't read the article. What do they mean by trail completion? Paved walking trails and then greenspace around it?

I'm not a subscriber, but for some reason I was able to read it this morning, and now I'm not. But as I remember, there's basically one main trail that will run alongside the river through the park, connecting to the towpath and lake link. That's the one that they're hoping to finish in 2027.

I also can't read the article. But this was the schedule in late 2023.

8 hours ago, JohnSummit said:

That https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/05/check-out-the-transformation-already-happening-at-clevelands-irishtown-bend.html article made it seem like it's still going to be a long time before we're going to see anything like what's been rendered. 2027 for trail completion, maybe 2028 for the first phase of the park. The rest as yet undefined. I thought funding was all or almost all secured, so was surprised the timeline for full completion is undefined.

Yeah what happened to all the funding? We need a scoop! 🤔

25 minutes ago, Geowizical said:

Yeah what happened to all the funding? We need a scoop! 🤔

As of September there was still $15 million needed.

I wonder if they are planning to move forward with what they have secured, or perhaps the trail portion of the funds have an expiration date. So they don’t want to wait for an unknown period of time.

It would be nice for someone from OCI, the Metroparks or McKormack to explain more clearly.

Cleveland Scene

Metroparks Secures $11M Federal Grant for Irishtown Bend...

There's still about $15 million more to raise

Recent vid from greater_cle

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJEcOBtAXYk/?igsh=NHRjbGx5M253cjl5

paste the title of the cle.com article in Google news

I'll be dead by the time this gets done

That's my city. Over promise, under deliver lol

Original plans made it look like Franklin Blvd's entrance from W25th through Irishtown Bend was going to be moved to actually intersect with Franklin through Ohio City. It's a small thing, but I'm looking forward to it. Hope that part is still happening.

16 minutes ago, daybreaker said:

Original plans made it look like Franklin Blvd's entrance from W25th through Irishtown Bend was going to be moved to actually intersect with Franklin through Ohio City. It's a small thing, but I'm looking forward to it. Hope that part is still happening.

It is! See Northshore64's photos on this page above

To me, as much as I love new mid rises, high rises, etc. going up throughout the city, the current efforts to connect the city's riverfront is bigger than any building project. These public projects, if executed properly will create more vibrancy than any renovation or new build ever could. A space for visitors, residents and everyone in between will make the city always feel vibrant and that goes a long way for the city image. It also will be a great spot to show off when large events come here and show off our skyline.

^I genuinely think Destination Cleveland should consider adding another Script Cleveland at ITB. Hopefully they already are!

Or maybe even a giant script CLEVELAND, akin to the Hollywood sign, that faces downtown :)

Progress photo from yesterday.

Aye, 'twas a good time from the Goodtime seeing the progress on Irishtown Bend (I'm half Irish, so trying a wee bit of a brogue 😆)

I am all for green space in a city, but these photos underscore what a spectacular neighborhood this site would make if filled with dense residential and retail.

Thanks @MayDay !! From your one photo it looks like they're almost to the end of the bulkheads, no? Very exciting to see the shape of the land being graded and backfilled.

But good god, has anyone heard any updates on when the eyesore at the corner of Detroit and 25th is coming down?!

3 hours ago, Cleburger said:

I am all for green space in a city, but these photos underscore what a spectacular neighborhood this site would make if filled with dense residential and retail.

I think it's better for public use. There is plenty of opportunities to activate this half of West 25th with that dense retail and residential.

Nice photos @MayDay, as always! I'm confused in regards to function if the v-shape group of pilings here. Is this a staging area to store the pilings vertically or actual permanent location?

Edited June 2Jun 2 by DO_Summers

13 hours ago, Cleburger said:

I am all for green space in a city, but these photos underscore what a spectacular neighborhood this site would make if filled with dense residential and retail.

It would be cool, but there's a couple of big parking lots at the top of the hill that should be the focus of the public and private sectors.

12 hours ago, Geowizical said:

But good god, has anyone heard any updates on when the eyesore at the corner of Detroit and 25th is coming down?!

George still has to put up his billboard on Opportunity Corridor first.

Aesthetically, I would like to have seen a development on the southeast corner of W25th and Detroit to square off the intersection.

14 hours ago, MayDay said:

Aye, 'twas a good time from the Goodtime seeing the progress on Irishtown Bend (I'm half Irish, so trying a wee bit of a brogue 😆)

Really enjoying how these photos perfectly capture the cut-and-fill vs. native hillside.

So what is that they're putting down? It reminds me of sod, but I don't think it's sod (at least the expensive stuff you put in around a suburban McMansion).

And does this mean that worst case scenario for the park — that it falls back to only a first phase in 2028 — that there will at least be wide open grassy areas all along the river in the interim? That wouldn't be the worst thing.

37 minutes ago, Paul in Cleveland said:

So what is that they're putting down? It reminds me of sod, but I don't think it's sod (at least the expensive stuff you put in around a suburban McMansion).

And does this mean that worst case scenario for the park — that it falls back to only a first phase in 2028 — that there will at least be wide open grassy areas all along the river in the interim? That wouldn't be the worst thing.

"When an escalator breaks, it only becomes stairs. Sorry for the convenience."

It looks like they sprayed grass seed on the hillside and put a mesh netting over it to keep it from eroding while it established roots. I have seen that on much smaller hills.

3 hours ago, Paul in Cleveland said:

So what is that they're putting down? It reminds me of sod, but I don't think it's sod (at least the expensive stuff you put in around a suburban McMansion).

It looks like an erosion control mat. They protect the (temporary or permanent) seeding from erosion until the grass can be established.

From Columbus Rd

Putting my sleuthing cap on cuz I'm bored lol

In my endless search through ODOT public documentation, hopefully this information helps clear things up somewhat in terms of timing of the trail/riverwalk portion of the ITB project:

Exhibit A: NOACA's website lists the Franklin Blvd Enhancement as one of their Q3 2025 planning/funding goals.

Project will fund streetscape amenities along the newly realigned/rebuilt Franklin Blvd. which were not included in the overall Port stabilization project for Irishtown Bend. This project includes congressionally directed spending which was requested by NOACA.

Estimated Cost: $937,500

Federal Funding: $750,000

Exhibit B: The website then goes on to state that the Franklin Blvd improvements will take place alongside the construction of the Lake Link riverwalk/trail connecting the pieces of the Centennial Trail. It gives an ODOT PID number for the Lake Link project

The project is scheduled to be aligned to match PID 89034 CUY-Lake Link Trail, which Cleveland Metroparks intends to bid concurrently for construction start, or as soon as the Port's stabilization project is complete.

Exhibit C: Looking up PID CUY-89034 gives a timeline on the construction of the trail/riverwalk portion of the ITB project. To summarize, they are currently in the final engineering plans stage of the project, which is technically a separate project to the rest of the park improvements. Construction on the riverwalk/trail portion of ITB is therefore expected to start probably in April/May of 2026 to be complete by EOY 2026 (~8mo). Note: while construction on the trail is projected to end in November 2026, Q2 2027 is listed as another estimated completion date. This would line up with the most recent cleveland.com article.

Exhibit D: A NOACA map shows what portions of ITB are included in the Lake Link Trail project in red. It will be designed and constructed with future connections to ITB trails, etc. already in-place

In summary, the Lake Link/riverwalk and Franklin Blvd portions of ITB will be the first to be completed, and both likely completed concurrently by the end of 2026/beginning 2027. Everything else (yellow) will most likely be temporarily seeded (as we are seeing now) until the rest of the improvements are a go for construction.

Side Exhibit: I believe these concrete structures circled in pink are Item 11 above (Coal Dock Remnant) (image from MayDay)