wow, much better than the old one. I was just attempting a cursory look at rental prices in the neighborhood and the old website made that impossible.

 

this one, much better. yay

Thanks for the update, OompaLoompa - they had a decent site before this, but this new layout is much more appealing. MTS, East 4th aka MRN is not a CDC. Historic Gateway is a CDC, but MRN is a private development company.

RIGHT RIGHT.

 

I read it wrong in haste!

 

My apologies Ms.OompaLoompa

Vastly improved site... I'm also surprised to see that Teresa's has Chicken & Jo Jo's on the menu!  I thought that was a Pacific Northwest thing.

 

So, they've been doing some work on the northeast corner of Prospect & E. 4th.  Will this be one of the new restaurants or are they just prepping it for marketing?

Those apartment rents are NOT bad at all!!! This has me thinking....

 

I wonder if it'd be super noisy/smelly down there. I like the buildings.

 

http://www.east4thstreet.com/properties.php

 

 

 

Smelly???

I'm talkin' 'bout the food!

 

I don't know. When I cook stuff, my apartment gets all funky smelling in the winter because there's no ventilation.

 

I guess it probably wouldn't be too bad. The parking would be a killer, though. They need a grocery store down there and retail to really hook me on going car-free.

^i really do hate the way some of the windows on e 4th are sealed up.

 

Does anyone know if its typically intentional? (or just really old paint)

^^You're a short walk from Constantinos, and a Rapid stop (or bus ride or taxi ride) from West Side Market and Daves in Ohio City. A taxi ride taken on rare occasions is still significantly cheaper than car expenses - believe me, I know. You do have to make an adjustment in that you tend to shop as you need things rather than stock up on bulk purchases, but that's how people shop in thriving urban areas. When they need a car for stock-up trips, they rent, cab, or car-share.

 

Retail... well, you got a point there.

They need a grocery store down there and retail to really hook me on going car-free.

 

the reserve square market really isn't that bad for "normal" types of things, and it is only a few block walk (e12 and chester).  plus the are in the process of expanding it, so it should only get better.

Too bad they show a vacant East 4th Street on their home page. C'mon folks. What makes a city a city? PEOPLE!

 

There have been some terrific pictures posted on this site of East 4th jammed with people and excitement. Maybe the folks at MRN should pay a visit to this site, find those pictures and get permission to use them (unless some of you posters can find those pics and post links or the images themselves to help the process along).

^seriously, you'd think they have something up from the ingenuity festival, or any random event

Pope/KJP, I understand what you are saying, but I think that picture is there on purpose, to show the transformation of the street in the still of the night.

 

However, taking your ideas into consideration they could have done a page that "transitions" (like mayday's avatar) from this to a picture to one showing a lot of street activity.  or a series of pictures on how the street looks from dawn to dusk.  this way it would show the area and appeal to more folks.  Some people would be happy that the street is active and full of life others can see and appreciate that although in the heart of the city, there can be calm.

They actually do have a photo slide show on the site, including pics from the street festival this summer.

Good to know. But first impressions, like a product's attractive packaging, can influence a prospective customer to want open the package to try what's inside. That home page was OK, but not outstanding enough to make me want to browse the site.

Bowling alley/martini bar sets opening date

 

10:40 a.m.

 

Downtown Cleveland's bowling alley/restaurant/martini bar is about ready to roll.

 

Corner Alley, at the southeast corner of Euclid Avenue and East 4th Street will open Thursday, Dec. 7, according to invitations for a special media event the week before.

 

The concept from Trifecta Management Group of Los Angeles will feature 16 bowling lanes, martini bar, a true-to-Euclid Avenue-history "Millionaires Row" VIP room and attached 100-seat restaurant known as the 4th Street Bar and Grill....

Between Now and March we'll see alot of good things here.  I hope it spread east, not only on Euclid & Prospect, but huron as well

EDIT: Deleted

Double post

 

Re-edit:

Both posts gone - weird.

 

****************************

 

I have been driving past there at night (since night comes so early these days) andnotice crews working late. I guess they really want to get as much done as possible for the big event on the 25th.

 

 

good article. well even if it was a los angeles based concept, the corner alley idea is soooo cleveland. excellent. the rest sounds just right too. no mexican downtown? how odd, but i never thought of it like that, i bet that'll be a winner. the la strada branch sounds like a good one too, and who doesnt like more pizza choices?

 

any idea yet of what will go into the well-pillored prospect corner?

 

i just wish the residential tower would go up over that slick new euclid parking garage now to help support all this stuff with more day to day foot traffic.

 

soon...

 

I'm really quite excited about the Corner Alley.  I'm thinking about having a wedding eve party there!  Plus, who doesn't love bowling in the winter?  It'll be ready just in time!

I'm thinking about having a wedding eve party there! 

 

Congrats! when is the last day of your life as you now know it ...I mean, when is the big day? 

 

^Good question!  We're shooting for May...Memorial Day weekend.  Still lots of variables to work out, though.  We'd like to have the Hyatt Regency in the Arcade be the hotel and do most of the festivities in Ohio City.  That way, people can party around E. 4th the night before and spend the day and night with us in Ohio City before the short trip back across the river.  I'm pretty excited!

I'm pretty excited!

 

TMI....Save that for the honeymoon :wink:  ....  then say it 5 years into the of marriage!   :whip: LOL

The largest of the three new restaurants will be Zocalo Cantina, which is taking 4,500 square feet in the Graves Building near the southeast corner of East Fourth and Prospect Avenue.

Since the southeast corner of E. 4th and Prospect is a parking lot, I assume this is actually the building on the northeast corner?

You think that's 4,500 square feet?

4,500 sq. ft. would be about the size of half of Constantinos. I wonder if they're talking about the building between East 4th and the former Goldfish store.

Some of the other spaces mid-block on E. 4th are pretty huge, deep spaces, but I'd never thought about the spaces hopping over to the other side of Prospect.  Does MRN own those buildings?  It'd be great to see an overhead site plan of the retail spaces in the district with current tenants, vacancies, square footages, and upcoming occupancies, don'tchya think?

 

I remember hearing that MRN bought the Goldfish block. I could be wrong though.

ha, goldfish block. That makes me giggle.

 

 

bowling alleys in corner alley are operational.  workers were in there testing the electronic scoring systems this afternoon - pin strikes could be heard from the sidewalk.  pretty cool.  i also walked in and checked things out - it is looking very nice.  lots of plasmas.

 

it doesn't appear to be 2 stories anywhere though.  i think the original renderings showed a cut through to floor 2.  maybe this is a future phase or a cost cut.

bowling alleys in corner alley are operational.  workers were in there testing the electronic scoring systems this afternoon - pin strikes could be heard from the sidewalk.  pretty cool.  i also walked in and checked things out - it is looking very nice.  lots of plasmas.

 

it doesn't appear to be 2 stories anywhere though.  i think the original renderings showed a cut through to floor 2.  maybe this is a future phase or a cost cut.

 

Pictures??

Sorry, no pictures from me either, but it looks really nice from the street! 

 

I was at the HoB for an real estate event tonight and I had some time to walk around beforehand.  There was activity next to Jimmy John's on Euclid, activity on the corner across from Flannery's and, of course, activity in the Corner Alley.  Much of the interior of the east side of E. 4th still appears to be staging for construction elsewhere on the street, so it'll be interesting to see how this fills in and well.  It also makes me wonder (again) whether they're actually marketing this space yet or not. 

 

Walking up Euclid to class around 6:00, it was dark, but I'm already starting to feel the difference of a few new tenants on Lower Euclid.  Rush hour traffic and incoming crowds for the Cavs and the HoB helped that, but with spaces filling in there's just more vitality, even before they're all opened!

Corner Alley gets ready to roll

 

By JOHN BOOTH

 

6:00 am, November 27, 2006

 

Ari Maron’s vision of a revitalized downtown Cleveland corridor includes this snapshot: “You’ll walk down Euclid Avenue,” the partner at developer MRN Ltd. said, “and see bowling balls rolling past.”

 

The project that will make that vision a reality is set to be unveiled Dec. 7, when The Corner Alley and the 4th Street Bar & Grill opens after more than a year of work at the southeast corner of Euclid Avenue and East Fourth Street. The 25,000-square-foot combination bowling alley, martini bar and 100-seat restaurant will employ between 95 and 110 workers and seven salaried managers.

 

The three-in-one destination concept is the brainchild of California-based Trifecta Management Group, a restaurant development company that announced the venture in October 2005. Trifecta’s chief executives previously worked for GameWorks, which operates a chain of arcade-and-bar venues, some of which include bowling lanes.

 

“Bowling is just something exciting, something that everyone knows how to do,” said Trifecta managing partner Ron Lam. He sees the Cleveland venture as a good choice for people “who don’t really want to go out and dance,” and it “doesn’t feel like a ‘pick-up place.’”

 

Fellow Trifecta managing partner Mike Auger estimated the project’s cost at around $250 per square foot, which would give it a price tag of roughly $6.2 million. Three buildings — the former Wendy’s and McCrory department store among them — were subjected to interior overhauls to accommodate the 16 bowling lanes and their surroundings.

 

 

“There is an essentially new foundation and new steel structure that is holding up the building where we had to take out the bearing walls,” Mr. Maron said. “But in as many places as we could, we kept the walls that separated the spaces from one another, so that as a visitor, you can tell that these were at one time separate spaces.”

 

That means in some places, columns will stand between bowling lanes, and original sections of wall will remain suspended from the ceiling. Some molding and other old architectural features also have been restored.

 

Local architect John C. Waddell, president of Waddell and Associates, oversaw the design.

 

A dozen of the bowling lanes will run from east to west, visible from outside on Euclid Avenue, with four more set in a private party room themed to reflect the street’s heyday as “Millionaires’ Row.”

 

“What we try to do is customize the experience to specific locations and communities,” said Trifecta managing partner Bruce Nussbaum. “We have no plans to build 20 identical boxes and go public.”

 

Buzz about The Corner Alley already has produced tangible results, according to Mr. Auger.

 

“We’ve already contracted over 25 (bowling) parties from the local business community,” he said. “The idea is very powerful. That’s something that’s really the best indication of why it’s going to be a success.”

 

I did a quick trip home for Thanksgiving and checked out Lola, and all of E. 4th.  Corner Alley is HUGE!  I did not know it would take so much of Euclid Avenue up. 

 

Such a huge change from 5 years ago

I did a quick trip home for Thanksgiving and checked out Lola, and all of E. 4th.  Corner Alley is HUGE!  I did not know it would take so much of Euclid Avenue up. 

 

Such a huge change from 5 years ago

 

Photos?

I have some I took the other night (Winter Fest). But my DSL is acting up at home. As soon as it is good, I will post.

I have some I took the other night (Winter Fest). But my DSL is acting up at home. As soon as it is good, I will post.

 

musky...man...when are you gonna move?!  First you had physical apartment issues and know the connections to the apartment are going bad!  Poor guy!

Time to move yerself, the kids and the wife over to E. 4th!

Time to move yerself, the kids and the wife over to E. 4th!

 

the who?  the what?? :?

musky...not you MTS!  We all know you're too much of a jet-setter to settle down!

musky...not you MTS!  We all know you're too much of a jet-setter to settle down!

 

HA!  I wish.  Although, fatherhood isn't too far away I've actually been to some foster care programs and I'm seriously seriously considering adopting a child - but that is another thread.

^And here I thought I wouldn't have a drink tonight :drunk:

 

Anyway, here is a shot of about 2/3rds of Corner Alley which occupies the first floor of these buildings (and then some). The building on the right serves as the entrance/lobby bar.

^Don't you mean the building on the right?  The left is where the lanes are!

 

I love the reflection off of 515...

Doh! You're absolutely right!

I love the reflection off of 515...

 

I wonder if the residents of the apartments on the upper floors of those buildings will like the reflection? I guess that's why they made blinds...

REALLY hoping that the condos will be built on top of 515...then the sun will be blocked and no worries of reflection!!!

No, usually the sun is hitting the 515 garage from the south - I know this because I'm a complete geek. Whenever I take photos from the north side of the street (facing south), half of them end up being washed out.

 

If the condos are built, it'll be a lot more reflection (vertically anyway).

I'd like to think an extra hour or so of sunlight entering these apartments would be a good thing... like having north and south facing windows at the same time!

I think the reflection is really cool..

 

Am I making this up or do I remember something about one of Gehry's buildings needing to be sand-blasted because the solar reflections were like cooking people walking on the sidewalk below?

That would be the Disney concert hall in L.A. - not only were the reflections blinding pedestrians and adjacent shops, they were allegedly blinding drivers as well. I believe they sandblasted the offending portion and left the rest alone.

Ah, thanks.. I had visions of people's silhouette's being permanently seared into the pavement a la The Day After.