^I highly doubt this project is going to have any affect on the enrollment numbers

 

I know it won't, but it's still a disgrace. CSU has spent the last few years making pretty good urban planning decisions. Additions onto Cleveland-Marshall, the Chester side of the main classroom building, the recreation center addition.... all built closer to the sidewalks. And in addition, the Jolka, Euclid Commons, Langston, etc. were all built densely and close to the sidewalk. And then they suddenly come out with this crap? Not only does it have a completely useless and wasteful yard, but the design is also ugly and boring. This is Euclid Avenue. There need to be higher standards.

If this was still in design review, changes in the siting of the building would still be possible. But the building is under construction now and the setbacks are a moot point.

Embarrassing bad for an urban university...at least I'm embarrassed..

Since I am clearly uneducated to the benefits of the "continuity of a street wall," could someone enlighten me?

 

I fall on the side of those that don't have a problem with the set-back.  Maybe the thinking is that by giving space in the front of the building, it will create the impression that the South Garage and Wolstein Center are not as far away from the central core of the campus.  Another reason might be the need for a space buffer from the street noise.  Imagine a classroom that is consistently interrupted by the rumble of a bus or truck.  This is an academic building.  It's not going to have retail or other services that might need to be close to the street for visibility.

 

Then again, as I have said, I'm not educated to some of the elements that many of you contend are important to the urban setting.  Please enlighten me.

 

Thanks!

I think it's more of a value judgment, and the appropriateness of site design based on its location. For me, my values are that in a downtown setting, buildings belong on a sidewalk to enhance the pedestrian experience. I think it is more interesting to look in windows than it is to look at grass. And I prefer the close quarters and intimacy of a street wall of buildings uses along the sidewalk. For example, sometimes I take the bus from Public Square to my office at East 9th. But many times I prefer to walk. Why? Because there is an ever-changing setting to enjoy because what goes on behind the windows is always changing. There's new customers and food smells coming from the various cafes and restaurants. There's meetings going on at the CLE+ offices that front Euclid or leftover materials (posters, charts, etc) from the last meeting to see. There's new stuff in store windows. Its a great environment for pedestrians, and downtowns work when there are pedestrians.

 

Why wouldn't there be a retail space or a cafe in the NEOMED building? Even if there isn't, why not have meeting room or cafeteria or office space on the other side of the glass from the sidewalk? The Blue Cross cafeteria in the Rose Building is at the corner of East 9th and Prospect. And like a noted the CLE+ meeting room is right on Euclid. If you don't want to be interrupted by the city, then why attend a downtown school? Twenty-plus years ago I attended Myers/Dyke College (in the recently demolished Columbia Building). We were in a class on the sixth floor when a car with a subwoofer cranked up drove by and shook the windows violently. While I don't care for subwoofers, we all had a good chuckle over that. And I think it's a wonderful, good/bad variety of a downtown experience.

 

 

^I agree with your assessment and the appeal of the street wall in the downtown area.  Back in the 70's and 80's, the walk down Euclid Avenue was incredible.  Full storefronts and so many people that it was keep up or get run over.

 

If there was going to be retail space in the NEOMED building, I'm pretty sure I would know about it.  I also doubt that there will be a food service option when the Student Center is right across the street.  I do know that I get a front row seat to watch all the construction..

This is not a value judgment: if the footprint of your new building is only one acre, it's a total waste of money and needless degradation of the neighborhood to (1) buy out an existing business that complements a college area and (2) demolish a historic building, in order to add a second acre to your project site.  I just don't get it. It's like the Cleveland Clinic from the 1980s, but even stupider.

Maybe the folks running CSU woke up and remembered that it's still a commuter school.

How do green lawns help commuters?  The problem with having tons of setbacks is simple- Downtown is a neighborhood where people walk to get from place to place, even if they drive to get there initially.  The more space wasted with lawn, the more spread out and thus less walkable the neighborhood gets.

How do green lawns help commuters?  The problem with having tons of setbacks is simple- Downtown is a neighborhood where people walk to get from place to place, even if they drive to get there initially.  The more space wasted with lawn, the more spread out and thus less walkable the neighborhood gets.

 

Don't lawns, like other green space, absorb certain air pollutants?

^Not net, if you mow and spray them. More fundamentally, density reduces total emissions.

http://pcparch.com/news/post/cleveland-state-university-breaks-ground-for-health-education-building.

 

Another rendering and description for the Health Education Building

Why is this up for approval when they've already broken ground for it? Or am I confusing separate projects??

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/02212014/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for February 21, 2014

 

DOWNTOWN/FLATS DESIGN REVIEW

1. DF2013-058 - Center for Innovation in the Health Professions New Construction: Final Approval

Project Address: Euclid Avenue between E. 21st and E. 22nd Streets

Project Representative: Kristin Hawkins, Pelli Clarke Pelli

 

 

 

Maybe they tweaked the plans/design?

boy the east 21st street side of this building is even more of a disaster than the rest of it.

Yeah that design has definitely been changed. It looks a lot better than the old design, but that useless front yard on Euclid Ave. still makes me angry.

What a terrible project. The Euclid side is terrible, prospect side pathetic, and east 21st street still unfriendly 

Why is this up for approval when they've already broken ground for it? Or am I confusing separate projects??

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/02212014/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for February 21, 2014

 

DOWNTOWN/FLATS DESIGN REVIEW

1. DF2013-058 - Center for Innovation in the Health Professions New Construction: Final Approval

Project Address: Euclid Avenue between E. 21st and E. 22nd Streets

Project Representative: Kristin Hawkins, Pelli Clarke Pelli

 

 

I'm hoping it gets denied :D .  This building makes me angry for how bad it is. 

This really is one of the worst things to come through this city, from a design standpoint, in a long time.  Pelli continues to spray pink and gray, with standard green moat, all over Euclid Avenue.  Imagine if his projects at the Clinic and CSU that his studio has produced were actually assets to the context they reside in...

 

 

This is just horrid.

Why is this up for approval when they've already broken ground for it? Or am I confusing separate projects??

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/02212014/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for February 21, 2014

 

DOWNTOWN/FLATS DESIGN REVIEW

1. DF2013-058 - Center for Innovation in the Health Professions New Construction: Final Approval

Project Address: Euclid Avenue between E. 21st and E. 22nd Streets

Project Representative: Kristin Hawkins, Pelli Clarke Pelli

 

 

I'm hoping it gets denied :D .  This building makes me angry for how bad it is. 

 

 

As it has been said many times on this thread, anything CSU does in terms of new construction does not need CPC permission to be built. Nor will the disapproval of Design Review stop its construction. They may get some design pointers from them, but it will never stop the project. This is a State project on State owned land

Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe 46s

 

Here's the overhead site plan, which shows what they're doing along Euclid. Landscaping, paths, etc

The ongoing woes of Rhodes

Despite faculty struggles, the iconic building is not yet an urgent priority

 

By Samah Assad

Editor-in-Chief

Published: Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Updated: Tuesday, March 4, 2014

 

 

When one enters downtown, the Cleveland skyline instantly peaks through the clouds, standing out like a piece of artwork sketched on a canvas.

 

Cleveland State University’s Rhodes Tower is one part of that picture.

 

The CSU signage atop the tower gleams green, calling attention to a university undergoing transformation and becoming an integral part of downtown.

 

While the building has been an iconic symbol of CSU since its construction more than 40 years ago, its history and present is plagued with safety and maintenance issues. While the rest of the university is transforming around them, faculty housed in the tower continue to struggle with the building.

 

http://www.csucauldron.com/mobile/news/the-ongoing-woes-of-rhodes-1.3147685

 

CLEVELAND STATE TO SELL HERITAGE HALL (YMCA BUILDING)

 

By Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State University has put its Heritage Hall residence hall on the market, following interest from developers to build student housing, a spokesman said.

The building, at Prospect Avenue and East 22nd Street, also houses the YMCA of Greater Cleveland and its downtown branch. The YMCA, which has a lease with CSU, plans to remain there until it moves to a new facility in the Galleria in late 2015, said spokesman Rick Haase

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/03/cleveland_state_university_to_4.html

 

 

^ I'm pretty excited this building is falling into the hands of private developers. Why..? Because of the parking lot right next door. What happens when this building inevitably fills up? The developer looks to the lot next door and thinks "hmm I can fit quite a few apartments on this lot right next to a rapidly growing university. Cha Ching" win win win for the city, university, and developer.

No boutique hotel, but investment:

 

Cleveland State University will renovate and use historic Mather Mansion

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State University has given up on its dream to see Mather Mansion, one of the few surviving "Millionaires' Row" homes that once lined Euclid Avenue, turned into a boutique hotel.

 

Instead it will spend $2.7 million to renovate the 43-room Tudor mansion to become the new home for the Center for International Services and Programs, a program to teach English as a second language and offices for Greek Life programs.

 

“It is important to get it back into use,” Stephanie McHenry, vice president for business affairs and finance, told CSU trustees at its meeting today.

 

The university currently has no central location for international student programs and is increasing enrollment from that sector, officials said. And it hopes to attract more national sororities and fraternities, they said. The renovations would be complete by summer 2015.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/03/cleveland_state_university_wil_3.html

 

Not anticipating this very much at all but things are moving along now that the weather has changed

 

 

 

 

 

It's pretty pathetic that this project was allowed to move forward.

I'm amazed at what's become of Cesar Pelli's architectural career.

The view of The Student Center proves the architectural choices by Cleveland State is bland architecture. None of these projects help to form an urban campus.

 

 

^Sad but true,

i think Tri C Metro is even better

Where's our architecture critic Steven Litt and his commentary on this horrible project?  This puts the Euclid Ave portion of CSU back where it started 15 years ago.

Makes you wonder why they tore down the student center.

Well, I think the new Student Center is overall better.  My beef is, we depend so heavily, in Cleveland, on institutional projects for the "bigger" stuff (UH, CCF, CSU,Case).  I know there are exceptions, but institutions always seem to close the building off from the city.  And I know there are exceptions, so no need to throw this further off topic with pictures from other towns.  In any event, most of our big hospitals and Universities in Cleveland are along Euclid which in my opinion is a very "bland" architectural road because of this.  Minus Uptown, the stretch from the inner belt to E Cleveland is lacking...

Well, I think the new Student Center is overall better.  My beef is, we depend so heavily, in Cleveland, on institutional projects for the "bigger" stuff (UH, CCF, CSU,Case).  I know there are exceptions, but institutions always seem to close the building off from the city.  And I know there are exceptions, so no need to throw this further off topic with pictures from other towns.  In any event, most of our big hospitals and Universities in Cleveland are along Euclid which in my opinion is a very "bland" architectural road because of this.  Minus Uptown, the stretch from the inner belt to E Cleveland is lacking...

...and the Euclid thumbprint is heavy from one hand for those institutions

Fingers crossed for Police Station.  IMO this could help leverage new development around the building.

 

New Campus International School will be on Cleveland State University campus or in renovated police station, parties agree

 

By  Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer 

July 03, 2014 at 3:21 PM, updated July 03, 2014 at 3:22 PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - A new Campus International School for students in kindergarten through eighth grade will be in a new building on the Cleveland State University campus or in a former Cleveland police station, parents, CSU President Ronald Berkman and Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon agreed on Thursday.

 

However, funding  is contingent on voters in November approving a $200 million extension of the city's 13-year school construction plan.

 

The parties met at school headquarters to reach a consensus on the future of the school, which has outgrown two locations.

 

The international school, which Berkman helped conceive, formed in 2010 and currently houses students through fifth grade on the CSU campus.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/new_campus_international_schoo.html

 

I'm amazed at what's become of Cesar Pelli's architectural career.

Is thing above ground yet? Our last picture is from months ago.

http://www.csuohio.edu/webcam/cihp.html

 

You can watch the progress with the webcam

 

Thank you!!! Not that anyone is really excited about it.

I'm one very much against demolition of Edward Durrell Stone's Jewish Community Federation building, but I notice demolition hasn't appeared, when articles had implied it would take place in the late winter or spring.  Does anyone know if that apartment project is still on or anything else going on with it?  I really want to see an apartment house but not on THAT site....

^Of all the fights to pick about demolishing buildings in Cleveland, the JCF building is low on the list. It's not an important  or architecturally significant building and what is replacing it has much better street connectivity. 

^Of all the fights to pick about demolishing buildings in Cleveland, the JCF building is low on the list. It's not an important  or architecturally significant building and what is replacing it has much better street connectivity. 

 

It's like we're trading the Jewish Community Federation's disdain for the street for the Center for Innovation in Health Professions' disdain for the street. Except when the JCF was built, Euclid Avenue was dying, so it almost made sense to retrench from it -- even though putting a building on the sidewalk with sidewalk-friendly uses would have given Euclid a nice little kick. There is no excuse for what CSU is doing with the CIHP building.

Yeah, the developer's timeline for this project was super ambitious IIRC - I'm not surprised they are behind, although it would be nice to see some movement.

It's not an important  or architecturally significant building and what is replacing it has much better street connectivity. 

 

I would disagree that it is not an architecturally significant building, but I value the ability to replace it with a more context-appropriate building over its preservation.

It's one of Cleveland's most architecturally significant buildings of the mid-1960s, and its plaza is not extensive. In fact it was refereshing, with its landscaping (the years it was well maintained, that is). Think Seagram Building in New York and many other buildings set within main streets where there are long lines of buildings lining the sidewalks - nothing like an Erieview Tower and the plaza was sort of an oasis. It's not like there was a parking lot there, such as next to the City Club Building....  Guggenheim, Whitney, etc. - lots of good buildings have some setback.

:?

 

This could go into Campus District instead....

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2014/08012014/index.php

 

City Planning Commission

Agenda for August 1, 2014

 

2. DF2014-069 - Salvation Army Demolition and Expansion

Project Address: 2150 East 18th Street

Project Representative: Sal Rini, Perspectus Architecture

 

^ I think that is the wrong address. Salvation Army and the Harbour Light Complex are located at 1710 Prospect Ave E.

Oh wait. I see it. Its the small vacant structure south of SA.

SA just purchased it in June

What are they hoping to build there?

What are they hoping to build there?

 

Should find out soon. Usually graphics accompany the CPC agenda, but they haven't been posted yet.