June 20, 200816 yr Wow, thanks for the reminder about the visual arts center. I forgot how cool those massings looked. This is one time I hope they actually resemble the final product!
June 20, 200816 yr I went down during lunch yesterday to watch some of the student center demo. If you haven't seen it, they're using some kind of mechanical "lobster" claw to cut up the concrete and steel on the building. I'll miss the old place, it was an exceptional looking place that reminded me of the U.N. and also the most confusing building to naviagate. I'm sure the architect and builders thought it would be there for a long long time. Anyway the irony is, the signage depicted on the construction fence makes the new student center look eerily similar to the old place!!!
June 20, 200816 yr Damn, I keep driving by daily and forget my camera. I want some pictures for memories! I DJ in Rhodes Tower and will take some pics from way up above looking down once they start thrashing the back end of the cage.
June 20, 200816 yr Got this by e-mail today..... Friday, June 20, 2008 Breaking Ground in July - UNIVERSITY LOFTS University Lofts is set to break ground in July of 2008 adjacent to the Cleveland State University Campus. Part of the larger "College Town" vision, University Lofts will include luxury condominiums with 15-year tax abatements, discounted mortgages, and indoor parking. See the site plan below for details. (I left out the contact info for the realtor -- too "advertisey") "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 20, 200816 yr Site plan was posted here awhile back: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,13086.msg224368.html#msg224368 This image doesn't look terribly different, just adds another dimension.
June 27, 200816 yr What's the new construction activity on the north side of Chester? To me, you might have to be a bit more specific (i.e. intersection)
June 27, 200816 yr On the north side of Chester, approximately E. 22nd or E. 23rd. Looks like they're digging up a parking lot.
July 3, 200816 yr http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2008/07/a_possible_future_of_playhouse.html A possible future of PlayhouseSquare's Allen Theatre: A showcase for the best of Northeast Ohio's college theater Posted by dpolveri July 02, 2008 21:58PM A central rotunda dominates the inner-lobby of PlayhouseSquare's 1921 Allen Theatre. Roaring '20s movie palace. Pot-hazy '70s rock dive. Eighties wrecking-ball bait. Restored jewel, 1998. Largely empty since. That's a capsule history of PlayhouseSquare's Allen Theatre. Here's a possible future: A 21st-century showcase for the best college drama from Northeast Ohio's major centers of higher education. Another draw for downtown Cleveland's ongoing attempts at revitalization...
July 3, 200816 yr Cleveland theater architect Paul Westlake would say only that he has made conceptual drawings that would use removable partitions to divide the 2,504-seat Allen into two or possibly three smaller, more flexible performance spaces and preserve its historic architecture. As Mayor McCleveland would say, I'm "nervous" about that.
July 3, 200816 yr Nervous about what, Westlake Reed Ledosky on the job. That "temporary" walls become permanent. i would hate to see that place carved up. OK..I'm being paranoid.
July 3, 200816 yr i think an underused theater for going on 10 yrs is worse than removeable partitions. although pot-hazy 70's rock dive sounds like an even better use. :banger:
July 3, 200816 yr "Would it be a great project for PlayhouseSquare?" Falco asked. "Absolutely. Would it be a great project for CSU? Absolutely. Would it be a great project for the community? Absolutely. And we're very hopeful it will become a reality." Do I hate when other people answer their own questions aloud? Absolutely! Nice idea for the theater, though. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 3, 200816 yr Interesting idea - but would CSU's theater department be enough to best maximize that space? I know it mentions other schools performing there, but for proximity's sake, wouldn't that be difficult?
July 3, 200816 yr "Would it be a great project for PlayhouseSquare?" Falco asked. "Absolutely. Would it be a great project for CSU? Absolutely. Would it be a great project for the community? Absolutely. And we're very hopeful it will become a reality." Do I hate when other people answer their own questions aloud? Absolutely! I hate that, too. I don't think there's every a time or a place to use that technique when writing or speaking. :)
July 6, 200816 yr Didn't see this posted yet--from Litt: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/steven_litt/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1215160494302090.xml&coll=2 Schwartz's plan puts CSU on path to greatly improve the neighborhood URBAN PLANNING Sunday, July 06, 2008 Steven Litt It should be obvious that high-quality, forward-looking architecture and urban planning are essential to Cleveland as it retools for the 21st century. But it's not always clear that leaders of the city's big institutions get it. Michael Schwartz, the outgoing president of Cleveland State University, does. Under his leadership since 2001, CSU junked a hideous master plan devised in 1995 by his predecessor, Claire van Ummersen, and zoomed in a different, highly positive direction...
July 7, 200816 yr Why didn't we knopw anything about the 3 new dorm halls on Euclid? This is the first I have heard of it.
July 7, 200816 yr They are supposed to go on the area where the current bookstore is located. I don't think any of us will be missing that building....
July 8, 200816 yr I'm pretty sure I put a graphic on here somewhere showing the plan for dorms in that area. Besides, it IS in the master plan.
July 8, 200816 yr They are supposed to go on the area where the current bookstore is located. I don't think any of us will be missing that building.... What are they going to do with that site once the bookstore is moved??? Do you suffer from short-term reading comprehension loss?
July 16, 200816 yr So then, I'll ask the question someone else asked a few weeks back that nobody seems to know the answer to: What is going on at Chester and E. 18th? It's a parking lot across from Rhodes Tower. It's fenced off now. Also, they have begun work on the parking garage/facility adjacent to the Wolstein Center.
July 17, 200816 yr So then, I'll ask the question someone else asked a few weeks back that nobody seems to know the answer to: What is going on at Chester and E. 18th? It's a parking lot across from Rhodes Tower. It's fenced off now. Also, they have begun work on the parking garage/facility adjacent to the Wolstein Center. I am pretty certain it is a staging area for the student center. At least that was what was talked about before I left. Incidentally, the staging are for the new College of Education is supposed to be in the parking lot that is to the east of the current bookstore. That should be happening any day now too. ^I noticed the parking garage work. Is there a rendering for that? Yes. Somewhere in here - search. :-)
July 17, 200816 yr ^Fair enough Musky. I found the link through a search. http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2289.msg196517/topicseen.html#msg196517
July 17, 200816 yr As did I. Thanks musky. So from what I understand, it appears that the garage will be about 2 maybe 3 stories, with the fieldhouse on top of it at some point.
July 17, 200816 yr Correct. Except the renderings I posted last July were already about a year old, so who knows what it will like now. I looked through the architects website and there is nothing new posted on it.
July 18, 200816 yr It's the first of three phases that could ultimately add more than 800 new resident students by the middle of the next decade. The new housing will fill ugly gaps along Euclid and change the feel of the school substantially by increasing the number of students living on campus from 420 today to 1,200 in the not-too-distant future. Unless he's talking about "today" as in the summertime, there are more than twice as many students who live on campus during the traditional academic year. Fenn & Viking together have almost 900 beds.
July 25, 200816 yr OK, University Center (The Cage) is completely gone as of today (Friday, July 25th). They have begun work on the new building in front of Mather Hall (FINALLY!) - trees torn down, and old parking lot being dug up as of yesterday. CSU also added a large new sign to the parking garage overlooking the Innerbelt. Here are some pictures of the final pieces of University Center, plus a view of the Main Classroom update (which much to my surprise, I think looks awesome!), as well as views of Cleveland from Rhodes Tower at night: <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0656.jpg"> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0658.jpg"> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0661.jpg"> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0655.jpg"> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0669.jpg"> <img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/bizbizjohn/IMG_0670.jpg">
August 1, 200816 yr I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but CSU is planning to extend E.24th St between Euclid and Prospect. A total of four residential buildings will be constructed around this new street. I'm assuming that the old bookstore will be torn down. If I remember correctly from what I read, they would break ground next summer. Once the residences are complete, they would tear down the old holiday inn (viking hall). While the new residences are great, I hate to see anything with height torn down in that area. I realize that CSU is planning on continuing with other college residences on the Viking Hall site in the future. I also realize that the private firm that runs the residential buildings has negotiated for this. But still....
August 1, 200816 yr i also read about Viking Hall being torn down in a couple of years. Is this building that run down that it has to be torn down. It used to be a Holday Inn years ago when I went to college.
August 1, 200816 yr I went on a tour w/ a student that I know from CMSD and I thought it was bad... Real bad. Dark, exposed wires, et cetera. I'm sure that with some love it would be fine, but as it stands right now, it's in bad shape.
August 1, 200816 yr I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but CSU is planning to extend E.24th St between Euclid and Prospect. A total of four residential buildings will be constructed around this new street. I'm assuming that the old bookstore will be torn down. If I remember correctly from what I read, they would break ground next summer. Once the residences are complete, they would tear down the old holiday inn (viking hall). While the new residences are great, I hate to see anything with height torn down in that area. I realize that CSU is planning on continuing with other college residences on the Viking Hall site in the future. I also realize that the private firm that runs the residential buildings has negotiated for this. But still.... Man, I don't know 3231. Viking Hall does add some height, but I view it as an urban nightmare. It is set back from the street and was built in a very suburban style in my opinion. There really is not chance at adding a street level retail component to it. I think even a City Architecture design to that corner would be more impressive than what is there presently. With a new campus taking shape, I don't think it really fit's into CSU's plan. More structures similar to the new admin building or the new rec center in my opinion would be nicer. Don't get me wrong, if we have to live with it there, thats fine. If so however, lets do something with the area facing Euclid.
August 1, 200816 yr I agree. That building is laid out so horrid, that it more than offsets any good from the height. I very much look forward to it's end (and it's brickwall facing Euclid Avenue set 50 yards from the street).
August 1, 200816 yr Good points about it's urban form (or lack there of) - I had forgotten to take off my University employee/residence life hat.
August 1, 200816 yr I'm not clamoring for support on its architectural merits. I'm more worried about having to live with another surface lot at a corner.
August 1, 200816 yr Any sense for how many rooms/students these new dorms would add to campus? Would it be equal to the number currently in Viking Hall or more?
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