I think it's because some of the images that are posted a few replies above are wider than the screen and require you to scroll

right and left to view them.  That then causes the responses below the images to run into one long line.

Yeah its because of the large image. That is why is formated my last post by just starting a new line once I thought it got too long

Was looking over someone's shoulder at a coffee shop and saw this in Crain's, don't have access though:

 

Miami-style club, upscale restaurants on tap for Flats East Bank

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110314/SUB1/303149982/1053/TOC&Profile=1053

^that was posted in the FEB thread.

Google search the headline to read...

 

Main points:

 

- Four restaurants and "seasonal riverfront nightclub" could be part of project

- Fairmount quick to derail any comparisons of this to the old Flats, due to office/hotel/residential mix

- Sand volleyball courts

- Nightclub compared to Nikki Beach in South Beach

- Lower level of Aloft Hotel would feature four restaurants:  steak house, wine bar/tapas, Thai or Mexican and a "mozzarella bar" (upscale Italian).  Also mentions a tavern on West 10th.

- Letters of intent signed with two restaurant owners but no details on who (I believe I've heard the owner of La Strada and La Dolce Vita as one)

- Concern over too many restaurants in Cleveland

 

(Edit:  mods, please move to Flats East Bank...  My bad)

- Concern over too many restaurants in Cleveland

 

What????? Don't get that one.

^^If you were in the restaurant business you would get that one real quick.

 

Since I'm not in the restaurant business, enlighten me, please.

 

Is Cleveland over-saturated with restaurants? Have there been a wave of restaurant closings because of this?

 

Not yet, they are just opening. As more people continue to move downtown, there will be a better market for competition.

^Good point.  Lets get back on topic.

 

 

 

Steel on the ground; I'll be happier when it's IN the ground :-)

How long do you think until till we are able to see visible progress?

^Looks like there's still quite a bit of site prep remaining:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/04/post_450.html

Great to hear planning is well underway for the Phase II residential portion.  I think development will start to fall like dominoes in this area because it's so attractive as well as close to the WHD.  The developing aquarium on the West Bank certainly can't help drive interest, either.  Any sense of whether the handsome old buildings north of the Main Ave. Bridge will be reused for restaurant and retail, such as the Watermark Restaurant building?

Great to hear planning is well underway for the Phase II residential portion.  I think development will start to fall like dominoes in this area because it's so attractive as well as close to the WHD.  The developing aquarium on the West Bank certainly can't help drive interest, either.  Any sense of whether the handsome old buildings north of the Main Ave. Bridge will be reused for restaurant and retail, such as the Watermark Restaurant building?

 

clvlndr, a while back there was quite a bit of news of someone buying up many of the buildings south of the Main Ave. bridge with plans of filling with restaurants and what not, which I think you will definately see once the east bank starts to take shape.  I think in the meantime it wouldnt have made much sense for them to re-open things in this currently barren area. 

Also seperately, I know there are pans to re-open the old Watermark as a restaurant, which once things come together, could certainly be a goldmine. 

Speaking of site prep continuing...

 

 

 

oh snap now thats what i have been waiting to see...life...movement...lightscameraaction -- it's ooonnn! very heartening.

 

I cant wait to see a building

Looking at the Shoreway bridge from the angles of these photos, it's too bad the archway support pattern doesn't continue on the East side of the river.  It's more attractive than the basic vertical/horizontal framing.

 

I was out last Saturday watching the progress and there was a steady crew working all day.  Always interesting to see work progressing on a Saturday so early on in the project.

Thanks for the pics.  But for a $270 million project that announced they closed on their financing 4 months ago, it has been like crickets!  Shouldn't there be 50 - 100 construction workers down there every day?

# of workers on site is not always a good indication of how much work is getting done.  Major infrastructure upgrades needed here, relocating existing utilities, excavating unsuitable soils...  consider the history of this parcel of ground over the last 100+ years and then consider the necessary requirements before putting a 20+ story office complex here...

Looking at the Shoreway bridge from the angles of these photos, it's too bad the archway support pattern doesn't continue on the East side of the river.  It's more attractive than the basic vertical/horizontal framing.

 

Hopefully Fairmount's building(s) will cover the ugly Main Ave. girders much like the Nat'l Terminal Apts. do on the other side.

Looks like they're still in "moving dirt around" mode:

 

Broken link! :O

Fixed!

^Thanks!

 

What a great day it will be when we finally see a building start to shoot out of the ground

Does anyone know if the area between the waterfront line and the river will require the same type of site prep that we've been seeing down on the East Bank for the past few months??  I would hope that because there were previously buildings in that area, it wouldnt require as much work to build on that area again.

That area isn't part of this phase of the project.

^^As jborger said, that area is the Phase II site; and even though there were buildings there once before, it's probable that it would need the same timetable for site prep. The buildings that were there weren't modern mid-rise residential (like we've seen in renderings) and the previous infrastructure wouldn't be sufficient for their needs. That's on top of the poor soil conditions under most of downtown Cleveland.

That makes me wonder of the possibility of finding ancient Cleveland artifacts.  Considering the location has seen activity for 200 plus years, I'd figure there is a good chance....

^^As jborger said, that area is the Phase II site; and even though there were buildings there once before, it's probable that it would need the same timetable for site prep. The buildings that were there weren't modern mid-rise residential (like we've seen in renderings) and the previous infrastructure wouldn't be sufficient for their needs. That's on top of the poor soil conditions under most of downtown Cleveland.

 

After the initial FEB was scrapped didn't Cleveland finish utility improvement projects on the area closer to the river?  The phase II site may be in more "ready to build" condition than the phase I site to the East.

I saw this on the couty's planning blog. 

"The Ohio EPA declared that brownfield remediation of the Flats east bank site in Cleveland is complete and that the 20-are property is ready for redevelopment (PDF)."

 

http://planning.co.cuyahoga.oh.us/blog/

 

http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/47/nr/2011/april/FlatsEast.pdf

 

Maybe construction was waiting on that?

^^  I also think I remember hearing that some of the utilities were completed in the area for Phase II after the original demolotion of the East Bank buildings.

 

There just seems to be a lot of work on the soil and then work a couple of weeks ago to remove the 3 tanks that were previously used for the coil/gas storage.  I was just wondering about the soil conditions, etc in the Phase II area.  They may not know for sure until the area gets closer to construction, but I would hope that there isnt as much prep-work to be done in the Phase II area and that work there will be easier to get started.

Hudson-Based Flip Side to Open Burger Biz in Cleveland

Posted by Douglas Trattner on Fri, May 6, 2011 at 10:11 AM

 

Michael Schwartz, designer and partner in the Hudson-based Flip Side burger restaurant (49 Village Way, 330-655-3547), has disclosed that they will open a second location in Cleveland. Schwartz says he has reached an agreement with Randy Ruttenberg of Fairmount Properties to open a Flip Side in the Flats East Bank project, within the complex that will include an Aloft boutique hotel.

 

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/05/06/hudson-based-flip-side-to-open-burger-biz-in-cleveland

Another week, another shot of dirt being moved around (although I have to say the "smooth" strip looks to be the footprint of the aLoft hotel):

 

 

Looks much like the April 17 shot.

Thanks!

Looks like they are putting in engineered fill.  I wonder if it will be a mat footing.  Now lets see some structure!

the official website has been updated

 

http://www.flatseast.com/

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is that white rectangular box in the third picture?  Is that signage? 

 

Do I see surface lots?  :cry:

^Yeah, there are some renderings in there that I hadn't seen before.  At least 3 surface lots that I wasn't aware of previously.  But they also show a few small buildings by the river that look like they could be bars or restaurants.  I'd love to be able to sip a beer by the river on the East Bank!

 

And the surface lots don't really bother me at this point.  They're taking up the strip of land closest to the RR tracks.  I can't think of a much better use for that piece of land at this point considering they're already putting money into a very large public park space.  Can't ask them for much more right now...

^I guess I agree with Hootenany about the surface lots at this point, especially if they are temporary.  Unfortuantely, in my experience surface lots in Cleveland are much like tatoos...very difficult to get rid of once done.

A music stage next to a lift bridge with 90 freight trains a day hammering over it at 50 mph? Good idea....

Wasn't that everybody's dream for Flats East Bank?  45% surface parking lot, 45% grass, and 10% structure?  I mean, that first picture on the website looks awful.

They can turn it into a park, or leave it an ugly zoned of construction site with no construction occurring. I prefer the park for now.

Razing a historic district for a grassy knoll is insane.  Those buildings there should have stayed up until we were 100% ready to replace them.

Wasn't that everybody's dream for Flats East Bank?  45% surface parking lot, 45% grass, and 10% structure?  I mean, that first picture on the website looks awful.

 

To be honest that wasn't the developers plan either.  But as no one was going to give them money for their, at the time, speculative project this is what we get.

It looks like a development in Independence.  I work in Independence.  It's hell.  And we all helped to pay for it.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is that white rectangular box in the third picture?  Is that signage? 

 

I have no idea.  I'm blinded by all the bright lights when I look at that picture.

I am not going to harp on the surface lot to the north.  But the one immediately to the west of the tracks has got to go.  At least break it up so that it doesn't act as a barrier between the hotel and the green space.

 

Razing a historic district for a grassy knoll is insane.  Those buildings there should have stayed up until we were 100% ready to replace them.

 

'We' weren't planning to do anything.  'They' (Fairmount) were 100% ready to replace them but something happened right about the time this project was getting ready to get started which halted construction nationwide pretty much.

By "ready" I mean "have the money."  Not all construction was halted, just that for which "they" didn't yet have the money.