42 minutes ago, TBideon said:

Plum Market is pretty expensive, but a damn good grocery store. I imagine they'll have an attached coffee shop (i.e. Intellegentsia) and wine bar inside.

 

...and good point about cleveland.com. I've completely stopped going to the site, perhaps a few weeks after comments were shut down. It just isn't that interesting.

Expensive may have been one reason for Constantino's downfall. Most of my students avoided shopping there because of the cost and would instead hike up to Dave's at CF or just get takeout. Since the primary market in that area are students and some local residents, a more affordable, less boutique store may be better.

3 minutes ago, scg80 said:

Expensive may have been one reason for Constantino's downfall. Most of my students avoided shopping there because of the cost and would instead hike up to Dave's at CF or just get takeout. Since the primary market in that area are students and some local residents, a more affordable, less boutique store may be better.

The new place sounds like it may have a broader geographic appeal though. Constantinos was always just a convenience place, and unless you lived right in UC, there was no reason to ever go there. If you’re downtown you can just go to Heinens or the other Constantinos.  If you’re in the heights, you can just go to Zagaras or some Heinens. As someone living in Cleveland Heights near UC, I had zero reason to ever shop at that Constantinos, but I probably will go to the new place. I bet some people downtown will too.

1 hour ago, TBideon said:

Plum Market is pretty expensive, but a damn good grocery store. I imagine they'll have an attached coffee shop (i.e. Intellegentsia) and wine bar inside.

 

...and good point about cleveland.com. I've completely stopped going to the site, perhaps a few weeks after comments were shut down. It just isn't that interesting.

With Rising Star leaving LI, and nothing in the immediate area, I'd totally dig an Intellegentsia!!!! ?

18 minutes ago, GISguy said:

With Rising Star leaving LI, and nothing in the immediate area, I'd totally dig an Intellegentsia!!!! ?

The article says the press release says there will be a coffee and tea bar.  It doesn't specify a brand.

47 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

The article says the press release says there will be a coffee and tea bar.  It doesn't specify a brand.

I can dream. lol

I assumed constantinos closed because the area did not support it's pricing....   However, I guess that's not the reason after bringing in this grocery store....   ?

4 hours ago, GISguy said:

With Rising Star leaving LI, and nothing in the immediate area, I'd totally dig an Intellegentsia!!!! ?

Though Rising Star left, there space was filled back in March by a new coffee shop called Blue Sky Brews. Idk if they've reopened yet but give them a shot, they're great.

We're getting the Plum Market Kitchen which seems less full service than the Original Plum Market. Hopefully it isn't dramatically different. 

14 hours ago, tykaps said:

Though Rising Star left, there space was filled back in March by a new coffee shop called Blue Sky Brews. Idk if they've reopened yet but give them a shot, they're great.

Thanks! I knew there was a new place in there, glad to hear it's UO recommended :). Love me some good coffee and cool spots!

 

9 hours ago, MyPhoneDead said:

We're getting the Plum Market Kitchen which seems less full service than the Original Plum Market. Hopefully it isn't dramatically different. 

The way supermarkets make money these days, I wouldn't be surprised if they focused big time on prepared foods. Like other people have said, it's kind of easy for students to get to other grocery stores in the area (if they know to take the healthline...). I am interested in what they have to offer though, boutique groceries are pretty cool spots.

2 hours ago, GISguy said:

The way supermarkets make money these days, I wouldn't be surprised if they focused big time on prepared foods. Like other people have said, it's kind of easy for students to get to other grocery stores in the area (if they know to take the healthline...). I am interested in what they have to offer though, boutique groceries are pretty cool spots.

The Heinen brothers have said they basically break even on prepared foods - that’s not how they make money. It’s just to get people into the store. I don’t know exactly where groceries actually do make money. They only make 2-3% profit margin (what a horrible business to be in). My guess is that like any other business that sells alcohol, alcohol probably represents a significant portion of their profit. 

Comparing this to the Plums in Michigan is a mistake. While Plum does operate a couple similar locations to this, the Cleveland location won’t be one of them. Bon Appetit is the campus food provider. They license the Plum name and have put Plums at a few colleges. It will likely be similar to this location at Butler University. Students there have been unhappy with how expensive it is. https://thebutlercollegian.com/2019/11/butler-students-react-to-plum-market/

8 hours ago, Mwd711 said:

Comparing this to the Plums in Michigan is a mistake. While Plum does operate a couple similar locations to this, the Cleveland location won’t be one of them. Bon Appetit is the campus food provider. They license the Plum name and have put Plums at a few colleges. It will likely be similar to this location at Butler University. Students there have been unhappy with how expensive it is. https://thebutlercollegian.com/2019/11/butler-students-react-to-plum-market/

Lol at this gem: 

 

“Unfortunately, as disconcerting as the student may have found this, lettuce and other produce does come from a farm,” Graves said in his emailed response. “And farms do have insects — organic farms perhaps more than others.”

 

$15 a pound for butter sounds kind of ambitious. Hopefully this location is not that bad.

 

Students are already extremely angry. There were a few meetings taking student input and the only request was that the store be more affordable. And then CWRU announced this.

Couple of updates. 

 

Also how long has that Beyond Juice & Eatery sign been up? Have I just been missing it? 

Boy that building just becomes even more of a disappointment as it gets further and further along.  I thought the renderings were bad but the real life product is just a wart on the landscape.  Especially hating what I am guessing are air conditioning vents for each individual unit.

I'm generally glad that something gets built...   But I have to agree, when I ride by that thing, it looks more like a bunker each time...    I'm still glad it's being built...   

5 hours ago, MyPhoneDead said:

Also how long has that Beyond Juice & Eatery sign been up? Have I just been missing it?

It's been up for a bit now. There's one opening downtown and that one opening in uptown.

looks a little better now that the ground floor windows are exposed....

That has to be one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen!

How does a building like that get past the design review process?

Edited July 26, 20204 yr by skiwest

If it didn’t have the cinder block wall in the front and the glass continued it would look better.

I want to see Steve Litt review it after it is completed.  That should be LOTS of fun.

1 minute ago, cle_guy90 said:

If it didn’t have the cinder block wall in the front and the glass continued it would look better.

There are so many things wrong with this building but, yeah, what's the story with what looks like a cinder block wall.

It’s like it was a contest to use as many different materials as possible.

I hate to sound like a broken record but how in the hell did this get pass design review?

16 minutes ago, Htsguy said:

I hate to sound like a broken record but how in the hell did this get pass design review?

Agreed. It's bulky, bland, and strangely angular for no good reason. It has the texture and appeal of the walls from the original Wolfenstein 3D.

Edited August 15, 20204 yr by Ineffable_Matt

I don’t really care about how ugly this is. There are plenty of buildings our there that are ugly.

 

But it is very weird. I don’t understand why it is this way. It’s like one of those model homes with mismatched trim to show off different materials.

Who is the architect?  It important to know---so you if you ever have a project you're in charge of you, you NEVER hire them. There's no excuses for such ugliness anywhere, but esp. in a key economic driver neighborhood.

Put some street trees around to hide it. The interaction at the sidewalk level is not that bad

I’m pretty sure my stepson (who is 8 ) made something that looks like this building in Minecraft. 
 

I was trying to find something positive to say about it besides at least it being a new infill building along Euclid, but I gave up. It’s hideous.

 

 

Hey now, I think the Justice Center committee made a good decision to disperse the jail facilities... oh wait ?

 

I’m guessing whoever decided this is somehow aesthetically acceptable has no problem wearing “short sleeve dress shirts”, or their firm is lacking a Proper Gay, and it shows.

Um, I'm not wearing long-sleeved dress shirts with shorts or my straight neighbors will come to the conclusion that Lakewood has finally gotten to me after 24 years of stout resistance.

 

You guys are brutal about this building. I don't think it's that bad. It relates to the street well. I wish most of the Clinic's buildings related as well.

I love you @KJP, but IDK what you mean by “it relates to the street.” This building doesn’t even relate to itself.

1 hour ago, LlamaLawyer said:

I love you @KJP, but IDK what you mean by “it relates to the street.” This building doesn’t even relate to itself.

 

On the Euclid side it does. Although an awning across the front might also improve that frontage as well as its prison facade on East 115th (OK, that was brutal by me ? ).

Besides every residential window being too small, therefore making the exterior look a bit like a prison, I don't dislike this development.

• It is more dense than what was there
• The Euclid street presence is good
• The height blends in with the surrounding buildings
• It tries its best to blend the very modern Uptown buildings across the street with the historic brick building next door. which may explain the window sizes?
• It clearly isn't a box...
• It isn't a surface parking lot...

Yes, they used an excessive amount of exterior textures, including vinyl siding it looks like, so I agree that should have been judged a bit harsher by design review.

 

RDL could have done better, but for dorms, this is still better than most of the dorms around CSU. No fake balconies is a win in itself?

On 1/29/2020 at 9:36 AM, JSC216 said:

For anyone who forgets what this building is going to look like...I’m sure we all just tried to forget. 
 

 

And I agree that a little green can go a long way:

14 hours ago, metrocity said:

Put some street trees around to hide it. The interaction at the sidewalk level is not that bad

 

Maybe letting ivy grow up the wall along E115 will help disguise all of that blank wall space between windows.

 

Sorry, just sharing my opinion. I felt someone had to try to advocate on the buildings behalf.?

10 hours ago, KJP said:

You guys are brutal about this building. I don't think it's that bad. It relates to the street well. I wish most of the Clinic's buildings related as well.

I agree.  Sad that our standards have to be this low to exceed the Clinic aesthetic, but it's tolerable.   

Here's a shot of our favorite building from the Euclid side today

 

 

This is as bad as it gets.  I'm not sure why people bash the Cleveland Clinic.  I would like to see a hospital system with better design including Mayo, John Hopkins, Columbia Pyesby and Mass General.  

It's pretty ugly, but not as bad as it gets. They'd have been better off with just straight bland design- get rid of the awkward material changes and make it all brick and it's fine.  At least it's up to the street, with retail storefronts along the sidewalk.  It will look better when there's a business or two in there.

Alright after actually walking by at street level, I have to say it’s a lot better than the pictures. The mismatched materials are less jarring and it’s basically a normal looking building for the area. 
 

Sometimes judging by the picture ends up tasting like hat.

9 minutes ago, LlamaLawyer said:

Alright after actually walking by at street level, I have to say it’s a lot better than the pictures. The mismatched materials are less jarring and it’s basically a normal looking building for the area. 
 

Sometimes judging by the picture ends up tasting like hat.

 

I only looked at it from the Euclid frontage, but I agree. It really matched the rest of the new construction retail storefronts in the immediate area. I think ordinary pedestrians wouldn't notice that it was built at a different time than the rest of the area. I think @X is right - once some actual tenants fill in the street level, it would be indistinguishable from the rest of the surrounding area.

 

But as an armchair architecture critic looking at the pictures of the E 115th frontage without the rest of the Euclid context...this is an UGLY, bizarre mishmash of materials and a BUNKER of a building. Honestly does not provoke any notice in person. It's not thought-provoking and easily flies under the radar, but it's continued density in the area at street level. Prior to looking at it in person, I didn't have any redeeming feedback other than the fact it wasn't a vacant lot.

Edited August 16, 20204 yr by infrafreak

The colors are a big part of the problem, IMO- the white against red brick within that individual section and the white front against the rest of the building, as a whole,  is a brutal juxtaposition. The materials themselves somehow look cheap.  A more subtle  coloration might  have helped a lot. 

(Sat. 9-5-20)

 

I appreciate the small courtyard/seating area for the A7 Cafe (former Piccadilly Ice Creamery).

 

honestly, being built up to the street like that is fantastic and is by far the most important thing. cleveland mostly needs more people and its urbanity reinstalled and this development more than fits that bill. top quality and design should always be a goal, but sometimes top shelf aesthetics can take a back seat.

I believe that the differing facade styles, rather than making a unitary architectural statement for the building, act as a transition zone for the diverse, surrounding architecture, I.e. the dark brick buildings to the northeast, the siding cladded residences to the northwest, and the Saitowitz modernism to the southwest.

On 9/21/2020 at 9:35 AM, urb-a-saurus said:

I believe that the differing facade styles, rather than making a unitary architectural statement for the building, act as a transition zone for the diverse, surrounding architecture, I.e. the dark brick buildings to the northeast, the siding cladded residences to the northwest, and the Saitowitz modernism to the southwest.

 

 

omg i am so sorry, but i have to say that made me burst out laughing. now that is the kind of positivity the world needs!  ?

 

unfortunately i do not think that was on their mind. it seems more like, what stray materials do we have laying around lets use them all up. 

Yeah. Ugh! It bulges here and there and is incongruous here and there as if it's some historic & interesting building that had been "modernized" in the 70s by covering up it's "outdated" stonework & classically scaled elements with a bulbous fake facade.

Now it lives on as a made-up tart trying, but failing to fit into the contemporary scene.  That building "that building"  is the worst.  THE WORST.

On 9/22/2020 at 5:24 PM, ExPatClevGuy said:

Yeah. Ugh! It bulges here and there and is incongruous here and there as if it's some historic & interesting building that had been "modernized" in the 70s by covering up it's "outdated" stonework & classically scaled elements with a bulbous fake facade.

Now it lives on as a made-up tart trying, but failing to fit into the contemporary scene.  That building "that building"  is the worst.  THE WORST.

Simmer down nah, the worst would be a gas station or McDonalds. There's not even a curb cut! Might be a bit of dud, but sometimes the ugly girl at the party is the most fun! Plant some street trees in front of it. 

8 hours ago, metrocity said:

Simmer down nah, the worst would be a gas station or McDonalds. There's not even a curb cut! Might be a bit of dud, but sometimes the ugly girl at the party is the most fun! Plant some street trees in front of it. 

Ain’t gonna happen, Jane Campbell isn’t mayor anymore ?

Looks like demo work underway in the former Constantino's space as they ready things for Plum Market.

 

 

Edited September 29, 20204 yr by SAABn
typo