Here's the page for that specific campaign: http://www.vestor.co/Le-Meridien-Hotel

 

An investment goal of $7,000,000 at $20,000 per "unit" with 350 units available ... So either that means no money has been raised to date or the counter doesn't update to reflect when units have been sold.

 

Far be from me to know the realities that the developers of the Meridien are facing, but if they had a summer 2016 completion date ...specifically in time for the 2016 RNC Conv...these 20 grand "donations" could be marketed to prospective conventioneers. they pay and they get their rooms for a week, all the food/drink etc, and even tack on future stays in the hotel. Whatever it takes to make it plausible.

The 2017 completion date is a missed opportunity for the dispisable cash that's going to be flowing around in summer 2016 

Heard through the grapevine a company called Summit Construction out of Akron has been hired to manage the renovation of this building. Sounds like the wheels are turning.

Heard through the grapevine a company called Summit Construction out of Akron has been hired to manage the renovation of this building. Sounds like the wheels are turning.

 

Good to hear.

 

With construction in Greater Cleveland among one of the top-10 fastest growing among all cities in the USA, I wonder how easy it is even finding enough contractors or workers to start a new job? That has to be slowing down some projects like this one.

The investor site below offers some additional news. It appears the development is moving forward with the help of EB-5 investors and this equity raise is more for "insurance" funds in the event of cost overruns etc. Hopefully we see some progress soon.

 

 

http://www.vestor.co/Le-Meridien-Hotel

^Here is some reference to that EB-5 Funding.

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140811193339-44436547-eb-5-funding-will-build-luxury-le-m%C3%A9ridien-hotel-in-cleveland?_mSplash=1

 

Also has anyone heard how the Vestor.co fund raising went, the project is no longer a part of the 'current offering'. The link to that page just goes to a login. Maybe it's over.

"The restoration of the vacant, historic John Hartness Brown building on Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue has passed the environmental cleanup stage and is well on its way to a projected January 2016 grand opening."

 

How likely is it that they will meet this opening date? 

I am curious as to whether this project is a go or is still in limbo.  In the past UOer's have reported activity at the site but that was long ago and it was apparently mostly related to abatement work.  Has anybody been by and noticed any active construction and or does anybody actually know what is going on with financing and the like?

Maybe their Vestor fund raising didn't go as they had hoped?

 

Maybe their Vestor fund raising didn't go as they had hoped?

 

 

A lot of things haven't gone as they'd hoped. At some point you gotta walk away and let someone else have a crack at it.

Le Méridien pushing the horizon out to 2017. Next stop, 2018!

 

http://www.internationalmeetingsreview.com/united-states/how-mice-market-driving-development-smaller-cities-101314

Le Meridien hotel lawsuit raises questions about status of downtown Cleveland project

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A group of local investors in the Le Meridien hotel project in downtown Cleveland has sued the developer, in a case that raises questions about the viability of a slow-going makeover on Euclid Avenue.

 

Seven East Side residents collectively put up $900,000 for the project in 2011. Now they claim that their "investment in what they thought would be another world-class hotel in downtown Cleveland was nothing more than smoke and mirrors," according to an April 10 filing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

 

The investors are lobbing allegations of misrepresentation and mismanagement at companies tied to a California developer, various project partners and a Beachwood businessman who amassed local money for the hotel. Their lawsuit names more than a dozen defendants, scattered across the country.

 

Steve Goodman, managing member of the development group, called the lawsuit "meritless" in a telephone interview this week. He described the investors' claims as "bogus" and said he expects to repay them, buying out their stake in the project, within the next few weeks

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/05/le_meridien_hotel_lawsuit_rais.html#incart_river

What a mess. I wonder if work will really start soon as he says in the article? This is so frustrating.

What a mess. I wonder if work will really start soon as he says in the article? This is so frustrating.

 

Well, the June 1 deadline came and went, and no indication that any façade work has commenced.  I'm growing more skeptical of this project by the day.  Michelle Jarboe, any updates to this story?

^Don't know what is going on in connection with the June 1 tax credit deadline, but according to the court docket the lawsuit has been stayed by agreement of the parties until the end of August.

This project will move forward unless Ohio's law for state tax credits is eliminated.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/06/ohio_senate_budget_proposal_sp.html#incart_river

This project will move forward unless Ohio's law for state tax credits is eliminated.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/06/ohio_senate_budget_proposal_sp.html#incart_river

 

Yep, it's being discussed at:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,30151.msg759764.html#new

sky[/member], are you saying you have insider info that this project in particular is poised to proceed (finally) if the future of the program is ensured?

Slow-going Le Meridien hotel project in downtown #CLE gets another grace period. Next date to watch? Sept. 1. http://t.co/b5EaDOVEKt #CRE

My goodness.  Can this be any worse?!  We need these rooms ASAP!

My goodness.  Can this be any worse?!  We need these rooms ASAP!

 

Do we?

^they were likely included in the city's number/promise for the RNC.

^they were likely included in the city's number/promise for the RNC.

 

Was a mid- 2016 opening date still on the table when the RNC bid was made? Perhaps it was, but regarless now, it's not going to happen.

 

not much but i did not notuce this last week,

indication of facade work in the near future?

 

 

^Here's hoping!

Hey that's the only new action I've seen since the sidewalk scaffolding went up! A good sign

Or it fell....

Well, according to Michelle Jarboe's last article, tomorrow [sept. 1] is the deadline established by the Ohio Department of Development for this project to secure financing and start construction.  Will be interesting to see if these guys are able to pull this off.  I haven't noticed a lick of work being done since Michelle's story other than three folks checking out the facade from the lift pictured above about three or so weeks ago.  Here's hoping that wasn't a ruse by the developer to argue that construction has commenced.

Spotted these dudes with harnesses on behind the construction fencing around the JHB this morning.....for whatever that's worth at this point...

 

 

Alright, three workers on staging hanging outside the JHB.

 

So, real progress or just deadline theater?  Guess we'll have to stay tuned. Fingers crossed.

In 1847, Alfred Kelley (first Cleveland mayor, first chairman of the Ohio Canals Commission and principal organizer of the new Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad) was 10 years into a charter from the State of Ohio to build said railroad. One of the terms of the 1837 charter was that he had start construction within 10 years of issuance or he'd lose the charter. Problem was, he couldn't raise enough money to begin construction on the unproven transportation mode and in such a lightly populated, lightly industrialized area. So he began construction of it himself. He worked solo clearing and grading a right of way from the Cuyahoga Valley into Walworth Run on the south side of Ohio City. He had to show substantial progress so that when state officials came to see for themselves, they would concur that construction on the railroad had in fact begun. Well, the rest as they is history. Kelley kept the charter and it helped him raise more money into the 1850s, an era when railroad construction in America went full throttle. Kelley was often just a little ahead of his time.

 

So if Alfred Kelley -- the real father of Cleveland for turning a wilderness clearing into the largest port city on Lake Erie -- can pull a rabbit out of a hat, so can the owners of the JHB Buildings. Ultimately, someone has to be The Guy.

 

EDIT: more on the Alfred Kelley railroad story, if you care to read it: http://www.clevelandmemory.org/ellis/chap22.html

Luckily it's the 21st century and section 10 of the program policies requires more than ladder-standing and tree trimming:

http://development.ohio.gov/files/redev/OHPTC_Program_Policies_Round_15.pdf

Unluckily, a foreclosure case was filed Aug. 31 (yep, yesterday) in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court: case #850496

 

http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/CV_CaseInformation_Summary.aspx?q=OR71deK0UQzgN1c3APBtrg2

 

YIDI, LLC vs. JHB HOTEL, LLC, ET AL.

 

Yidi is a firm in Brooklyn, NY: http://www.bizapedia.com/us/YIDI-LLC.html

It lists to 317 AVENUE F, which isn't an office. It's a brick duplex valued at more than $1.3 million, per Zillow. Streetview shows it's a very well-kept neighborhood.

 

There isn't much else about Yidi. I don't see any news articles about them.

 

The defendants are:

JHB HOTEL, LLC SERVE: STATUTORY AGENT

THOMAS R LUCAS

421 JACKSON STREET

SANDUSKY, OH 44870-0000

 

3M REALTY, LLC SERVE: STATUTORY AGENT

D. JEFFREY RENGEL

421 JACKSON STREET

SANDUSKY, OH 44870-0000

 

3M DEVELOPMENT, LLC SERVE: STATUTORY, LLC.

D. JEFFREY RENGEL

421 JACKSON STREET

SANDUSKY, OH 44870-0000

 

HICKORY COURT, LLC. SERVE: STATUTORY AGENT

D. JEFFREY RENGEL

421 JACKSON STREET

SANDUSKY, OH 44870-0000

 

DENNIS G. KENNEDY

CUYAHOGA COUNTY FISCAL OFFICER

 

STATE OF OHIO DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

AGENCY SERVE: C/O OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL

 

A hearing is schedule on 09/09/2015 at 09:30 AM. Judge BRENDAN J SHEEHAN is hearing the case.

 

And the hits just keep on coming for this property....

 

EDIT:

 

I went back to that lawsuit earlier this year ( http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/CV_CaseInformation_Parties.aspx?q=s08G5pSG5qxfXzpXq6u_YQ2 ) by immigrant investors who were unhappy with the lack of progress on the project. While there wasn't a plaintiff listing to the same address as the one for Yidi (317 Avenue F, in Brooklyn), there was only one plaintiff from Brooklyn and they hired the same Cleveland law firm that filed the foreclosure case. This is the plaintiff in the earlier case...

 

ERNEST ISKOWITZ

33 34TH STREET #1

BROOKLYN, NY 11215

^ Oh jeez.

Have seen zero outward manifestation of any work being done on this site since the workers were spotted on September 1.  At this point maybe the building will just dismantle itself so we can forget about it.

Have seen zero outward manifestation of any work being done on this site since the workers were spotted on September 1.  At this point maybe the building will just dismantle itself so we can forget about it.

 

Maybe it's in a competition with the Cleveland Athletic Club...first to crumble, wins!

Michelle has some good coverage of where things stand:

 

Le Meridien project in downtown Cleveland hit with foreclosure, receivership (photos)

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/09/le_meridien_project_in_downtow_1.html#incart_river

 

The potential very bad part:

 

If the state voids the award, worth $11 million, any developer trying to tackle the John Hartness Brown Building would have to reapply and compete against other property owners for a limited pool of credits. Because of changes to the program, the maximum possible award would be $5 million in credits – leaving the Le Meridien with a larger financial gap.

 

The glimmer of hope:

 

A spokeswoman for the Ohio Development Services Agency said the credits haven't been pulled. Court records indicate that the award won't be terminated until after more hearings. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30.

This sign went up very recently...advertising the building's receiver.  Not entirely sure what to infer from that.

 

I believe one of the news casts covering the DCA quarter three report stated that this project is on track to begin soon. Let's hope...

The receiver took control in September, so the sign doesn't directly give us any real new info, but maybe he hung it in anticipation of some real action? Hopefully? Please?  FWIW, Michelle's last article quoted the receiver as being very optimistic about the project and we haven't heard that the credits have been pulled, so maybe there's still hope.

After false starts LeMeridian could staart construction. http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/more-apartments-planned-for-downtown-cleveland-as-occupancy-rates-exceed-97-percent

Has anybody seen this?  http://www.jhbbuilding.com/ trying to sell the building again it seems?

Wow.

Is anything ever going to get built in this damn building?

Is the final nail in this development's failure come as Starwood brand hotels are now sold to Marriott brand?  I don't know if The Le Meridian brand will continue at all. 

Hudson Holdings, owner of former Huntington Building, buys Statler Garage in downtown Cleveland

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hudson Holdings, the owner of the former Huntington Building on Euclid Avenue, has purchased the nearby Statler Garage to secure parking for a $280 million redevelopment project.

 

Andrew "Avi" Greenbaum, a Hudson principal, confirmed that his company bought the 315-space parking garage in a transaction that closed late Monday. Public records related to the sale haven't popped up yet, but Greenbaum said the purchase price was $6 million.

 

The garage, at 1111 Euclid Ave., sits just west of the Statler Arms apartments. It's not connected to the former Huntington Building, now called the 925 Building. But the parcels of land beneath the buildings actually do touch.

 

And the empty John Hartness Brown Building complex, which separates the 925 Building and the garage, could be up for grabs. The JHB property, once earmarked for a Le Meridien hotel, is the subject of a foreclosure dispute in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and is under the control of a court-appointed receiver.

 

More at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/02/hudson_holdings_owner_of_forme.html#incart_river_home

 

 

 

I'll wager $1 that at least one of the JHB buildings will be bought by Hudson Holdings and demolished for a parking garage.

 

^I actually don't think so. First off, I know city planning and landmarks have made questionable decisions in the past, but I do not see them allowing that at all. Especially with the amount of investment happening in that section of Euclid.

 

Secondly, theres actually space behind the building to add on to the parking. I see him demolishing the rear portion of the JHB building and building a parking deck behind the buildings.

 

 

^I actually don't think so. First off, I know city planning and landmarks have made questionable decisions in the past, but I do not see them allowing that at all. Especially with the amount of investment happening in that section of Euclid.

 

Secondly, theres actually space behind the building to add on to the parking. I see him demolishing the rear portion of the JHB building and building a parking deck behind the buildings.

 

 

 

There's space behind the JHB buildings? I don't see it (see below). I can see the westernmost JHB building being razed. It's a large, relatively unremarkable building on the exterior. I don't know what it looks like inside, however.

 

925 Euclid-JHB buildings Sept2015 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr