March 17, 201510 yr The architects should be publicly ridiculed. I'll go buy the tomatoes now. UO needs a version of the Razzies for horrid architecture. This failure in design is like the "Battlefield Earth" or "Gigli" of buildings. Good idea - maybe a statewide contest? I took photos today and yes, this building isn't just a dud, it's a steaming turd. I'm thinking this could be the inaugural Cleveland entry. clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
March 17, 201510 yr The architects should be publicly ridiculed. I'll go buy the tomatoes now. UO needs a version of the Razzies for horrid architecture. This failure in design is like the "Battlefield Earth" or "Gigli" of buildings. Good idea - maybe a statewide contest? I took photos today and yes, this building isn't just a dud, it's a steaming turd. I'm thinking this could be the inaugural Cleveland entry. How about the "Bradys?" Named in homage of beloved but awful architect Mike Brady. KJP can write up a killer press release.
March 24, 201510 yr Heritage Hall, home to downtown Cleveland YMCA, set for sale to Texas-based buyer (photos) CLEVELAND, Ohio - A student-housing investor based in Houston expects to buy Heritage Hall, the longtime home of the city's central YMCA. Cleveland State University and representatives of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland confirmed that the historic complex, at 2200 Prospect Ave., is set for a sale to Asset Plus Companies, Inc. of Texas. The deal is scheduled to close April 1. An ownership change for the century-old brick building, which includes roughly 140 dorm rooms, comes amid heightened investor interest in properties near CSU. Out-of-town developers are planning a private student-housing project at East 18th Street and Euclid Avenue, where the former Jewish Federation of Cleveland headquarters sits empty. And a Columbus group recently bought the empty City Blue building on Prospect, near the Wolstein Center, for an apartment project. More at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/03/heritage_hall_home_to_downtown.html#incart_m-rpt-1
March 24, 201510 yr The standard efficiency room is 190 Sqft! http://domainatcleveland.com/floorplans
March 24, 201510 yr That's a micro-apartment! Sounds like a potential hostel. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 28, 201510 yr My ex lived in one of these when we were in grad school. They were incredibly tiny, but still "luxurious" by college dorm standards--having their own kitchen and bathroom is quite the dorm room luxury. And it looks from their site that the units (and building interior) will be seeing much needed TLC.
March 28, 201510 yr The architects should be publicly ridiculed. I'll go buy the tomatoes now. Seriously, it's the usual garbage that Pelli's firm is now churning out with regularity these days, and CSU had better options. They chose this, over better proposals, after they chose to demolish the historic Wolfe Music Building. CSU is compensating for its generally low profile in its own hometown through the "institutional expansion" approach, rather than pursuing opportunities to blend into its surrounding urban fabric.
March 28, 201510 yr That's a micro-apartment! Sounds like a potential hostel. Not sure if you meant that seriously about turning the YMCA into a hostel. Does anyone know if CLE is in need of a second hostel? What occupancy rate has the hostel in OC incurred since its opening a couple years ago? Is it to consistently at capacity? Anybody know.
March 29, 201510 yr Unless I put a :) or a ;), I'm serious. Hostels are popular with college students visiting Cleveland and other young people. With CSU close by and its many athletic events drawing fans from other schools, I would think a hostel at the YMCA would do even better than the Ohio City hostel which is popular and highly rated, according to TripAdvisor. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 29, 201510 yr I held a conference at CSU last summer, and with most of the attendees being young or young-at-heart and very well-traveled, I was surprised that many stayed at the Cleveland Hostel. We had an entire contingent from St. Louis stay there, even though the conference hotel was closer. They were surprised there wasn't one closer to CSU (they had to take the E Line or HealthLine, or walk, to Tower City and take the Red Line one stop over), which to me seemed like a dual phenomenon of not realizing how close W 25th is despite all of the transit connections, and also not realizing that CSU doesn't get a reliable stream of visitors. West 25th is the no-brainer spot for a hostel, and I understand they're doing quite well. University Circle might also do well with a hostel once some of the TOD ever gets built.
March 29, 201510 yr I held a conference at CSU last summer, and with most of the attendees being young or young-at-heart and very well-traveled, I was surprised that many stayed at the Cleveland Hostel. We had an entire contingent from St. Louis stay there, even though the conference hotel was closer. They were surprised there wasn't one closer to CSU (they had to take the E Line or HealthLine, or walk, to Tower City and take the Red Line one stop over), which to me seemed like a dual phenomenon of not realizing how close W 25th is despite all of the transit connections, and also not realizing that CSU doesn't get a reliable stream of visitors. West 25th is the no-brainer spot for a hostel, and I understand they're doing quite well. University Circle might also do well with a hostel once some of the TOD ever gets built. Speaking of St. Louis. I stayed at St. Louis' hostel last year and have to give credit to Cleveland's in Ohio City for its location next to a Red Line station. I have never stayed at Cleveland's, but I have heard better reviews about it versus St. Louis. I enjoyed the St. Louis hostel, but to get around on Metrolink I had to get all the way to downtown before I could even get on a train. Not to mention St. Louis' hostel is not near a university, either.
April 3, 201510 yr Student-housing developer pays $4.5 million for Heritage Hall, downtown YMCA complex By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on April 03, 2015 at 11:52 AM, updated April 03, 2015 at 12:55 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio - The nation's largest privately-owned student-housing developer paid $4.5 million this week - slightly more than asking price - for the Heritage Hall building at the eastern edge of downtown Cleveland. Real estate records show that Asset Plus Companies, Inc., took possession of the building, best known as the home of the downtown YMCA, on Wednesday. The seller was a nonprofit housing affiliate of Cleveland State University, which has owned the building and operated it as a dorm since 2009. Asset Plus, based in Houston, plans to renovate the century-old brick structure and convert it to nearly 150 private student apartments. Barrett Kirk, the company's senior vice president of development, wouldn't go into detail about the project or put a price tag on the potential costs of sprucing up the space. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/04/student-housing_developer_pays.html
April 3, 201510 yr More out-of-town investment downtown. Love it! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 11, 201510 yr An update on the new CIMP: EDIT: Also, here are some interior shots from the university's Tumblr page: http://clevelandstate.tumblr.com/post/120456733417/inside-the-new-center-for-innovation-in-medical. I don't hate the inside of the building
June 11, 201510 yr The ONLY good thing I can say about the building (especially given the potential for the site way back when) is that the miserable setback does give a nice vista for the cathedral as you head east on Euclid.
June 11, 201510 yr It really is one of the worst buildings around even when not considering the setback.
June 11, 201510 yr Just terrible. Did they even try when they designed this? Does the CSU administration not actually know anything about urban design, despite having such a highly-regarded urban planning program?
June 11, 201510 yr This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first new building under the leadership of the current Office of the University Architect, Bruce Ferguson: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-ferguson/a1/6a2/71a The major changes CSU undertook in the past decade to rid itself of the fortress mentality was led by for Director, Ed Schmittgen. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ed-schmittgen/5/690/592 He along with former CSU president Michael Schwartz transformed the college to what it is today. I think the new leadership has a lot to do with how this building appears today, which, if you look a number of pages to various Master Plan renderings, is quite different then what we see today. Just my opinion - Don't hate
June 11, 201510 yr Just terrible. Did they even try when they designed this? Does the CSU administration not actually know anything about urban design, despite having such a highly-regarded urban planning program? I've come to realize that when a university specializes in a certain program, urban planning in CSU's case they don't seem to show it when one looks at their university. Take Kent State for example, it has an AMAZING architecture program, one of the top in the country. The problem is though they have some of the WORST architecture I've ever seen. Besides front campus (Franklin Hall, Merrill etc.) the rest of campus contains bland box buildings that lack character inside and out. So I can't say I'm surprised that Cleveland State has come up with a building with a layout such as this.
June 11, 201510 yr Just terrible. Did they even try when they designed this? Does the CSU administration not actually know anything about urban design, despite having such a highly-regarded urban planning program? I've come to realize that when a university specializes in a certain program, urban planning in CSU's case they don't seem to show it when one looks at their university. Take Kent State for example, it has an AMAZING architecture program, one of the top in the country. The problem is though they have some of the WORST architecture I've ever seen. Besides front campus (Franklin Hall, Merrill etc.) the rest of campus contains bland box buildings that lack character inside and out. So I can't say I'm surprised that Cleveland State has come up with a building with a layout such as this. The irony. Kent State looked like twenty junior high schools, clustered together. I remember for years the Akron College of Engineering building was crumbling; literally falling apart. You could walk past and grab pieces of the building off with your bare hands.
June 11, 201510 yr Just terrible. Did they even try when they designed this? Does the CSU administration not actually know anything about urban design, despite having such a highly-regarded urban planning program? I've come to realize that when a university specializes in a certain program, urban planning in CSU's case they don't seem to show it when one looks at their university. Take Kent State for example, it has an AMAZING architecture program, one of the top in the country. The problem is though they have some of the WORST architecture I've ever seen. Besides front campus (Franklin Hall, Merrill etc.) the rest of campus contains bland box buildings that lack character inside and out. So I can't say I'm surprised that Cleveland State has come up with a building with a layout such as this. The irony. Kent State looked like twenty junior high schools, clustered together. I remember for years the Akron College of Engineering building was crumbling; literally falling apart. You could walk past and grab pieces of the building off with your bare hands. Taylor Hall which houses the Architecture program is pretty ancient and poorly designed. You can catch the elevator to the 4th floor on the architecture side of the building but when you take it back down you only can leave on the communication studies side of the building. It gets pretty confusing especially for newer students. Also the building isn't very inspiring, it's made out of concrete, the classrooms have no windows and contain cinder blocks for walls. It is pretty counter-productive for a major that requires inspirational thinking.
June 11, 201510 yr This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first new building under the leadership of the current Office of the University Architect, Bruce Turd Ferguson: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-ferguson/a1/6a2/71a The major changes CSU undertook in the past decade to rid itself of the fortress mentality was led by for Director, Ed Schmittgen. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ed-schmittgen/5/690/592 He along with former CSU president Michael Schwartz transformed the college to what it is today. I think the new leadership has a lot to do with how this building appears today, which, if you look a number of pages to various Master Plan renderings, is quite different then what we see today. Just my opinion - Don't hate Fixed that for ya
June 13, 201510 yr I'm curious about where THIS project stands. http://www.wrldesign.com/projects/performing-arts/new-theatres/fine-and-visual-arts-facility I'm more enthused by the design and where it's situated than by anything I've seen built on campus lately, but haven't heard a thing about it.
June 13, 201510 yr ^ That's the first I've ever heard of this. I'm assuming it's quite old. The renderings show a pre-renovated Euclid Ave and CSU has since opened its arts campus at Playhouse Square. Also, the new campus master plan calls for that particular parcel to be developed into a landscaped mall, so there is no plan to put a building there
June 14, 201510 yr This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first new building under the leadership of the current Office of the University Architect, Bruce Turd Ferguson: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-ferguson/a1/6a2/71a The major changes CSU undertook in the past decade to rid itself of the fortress mentality was led by for Director, Ed Schmittgen. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ed-schmittgen/5/690/592 He along with former CSU president Michael Schwartz transformed the college to what it is today. I think the new leadership has a lot to do with how this building appears today, which, if you look a number of pages to various Master Plan renderings, is quite different then what we see today. Just my opinion - Don't hate Fixed that for ya Musky, I think I mentioned that quite a few pages back in this thread. When I was at CSU, I met with Ed re: an event for Levin College. He mentioned leaving in the near future because he was being pushed out after pushing back and asking for a mixed-use building in that spot. Truly a terrible loss for the University and I wish the many important Levin grads around town would put up more of a stink about it. Too late now with this building, let's hope they can get the campus back on track with the next one.
June 14, 201510 yr Here's the original UO discussion about that old WRL performing arts proposal: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2289.msg175311/topicseen.html#msg175311
June 14, 201510 yr This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first new building under the leadership of the current Office of the University Architect, Bruce Turd Ferguson: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-ferguson/a1/6a2/71a The major changes CSU undertook in the past decade to rid itself of the fortress mentality was led by for Director, Ed Schmittgen. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ed-schmittgen/5/690/592 He along with former CSU president Michael Schwartz transformed the college to what it is today. I think the new leadership has a lot to do with how this building appears today, which, if you look a number of pages to various Master Plan renderings, is quite different then what we see today. Just my opinion - Don't hate Fixed that for ya Musky, I think I mentioned that quite a few pages back in this thread. When I was at CSU, I met with Ed re: an event for Levin College. He mentioned leaving in the near future because he was being pushed out after pushing back and asking for a mixed-use building in that spot. Truly a terrible loss for the University and I wish the many important Levin grads around town would put up more of a stink about it. Too late now with this building, let's hope they can get the campus back on track with the next one. Well, that gets my goat. Pushed out by whom? Pushed back against whom?
June 16, 20159 yr I had thought this already was a done deal: Jewish Federation of Cleveland gets $3.6 million for former headquarters By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer June 15, 2015 at 1:06 PM, updated June 15, 2015 at 1:40 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- More than 18 months after a student-housing developer sought early approvals to raze two former Jewish Federation of Cleveland properties on Euclid Avenue, the empty buildings have changed hands. Real estate records show that the federation, now based in Beachwood, sold its former headquarters and a neighboring office building for nearly $3.6 million on Wednesday. A joint venture between Clayco Realty Group and the Koman Group, both out-of-state developers, plans to demolish the buildings and replace them with a 535-bed apartment building serving college students and a single-story parking structure on Prospect Avenue. The Cleveland City Planning Commission signed off on designs for the apartments in February. Construction could start later this year. The Jewish Federation left downtown Cleveland for the suburbs in 2010, emptying out its longtime headquarters and the Rogers Building at 1720 and 1750 Euclid Ave., respectively. In late 2013, the planning commission approved Clayco's request to demolish those buildings, but the properties sat dormant as the company pared its plans and tried to scrape together financing. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/06/jewish_federation_of_cleveland.html
June 23, 20159 yr They've pretty much finished up the landscaping around the CIMP, and they did so quite quickly. There are some things I like about what they did, but I can't imagine the green space will be utilized very much.
June 23, 20159 yr The greenspace in the back will probably be utilized, but I doubt people will make use of the pointless front yard facing Euclid. They could have had even more usable greenspace in the back if they simply moved this building up to the street, but apparently CSU doesn't actually understand urban design...
June 23, 20159 yr The greenspace in the back will probably be utilized, but I doubt people will make use of the pointless front yard facing Euclid. They could have had even more usable greenspace in the back if they simply moved this building up to the street, but apparently CSU doesn't actually understand urban design... Whether or not they understand it, they sure seem to hate it. Just east of Playhouse Square we have an institution determined to make a big chunk of downtown as look suburban as possible. Did they have to run this past anyone first, what appears to be a large-scale redevelopment plan? Do they feel this is what everyone wants? Do they care?
June 23, 20159 yr I will say that the view from the back side relates to the architecture of Rhodes Tower. Not sure if that was necessary to emanate. This building belongs in a suburban setting. The front lawn wasn't needed. .
June 23, 20159 yr The greenspace in the back will probably be utilized, but I doubt people will make use of the pointless front yard facing Euclid. They could have had even more usable greenspace in the back if they simply moved this building up to the street, but apparently CSU doesn't actually understand urban design... A bit off-topic, but when did we decide that "utilize" was a better word than "use"? It seems to be appearing much more frequently the past few years. Rather than CSU not understanding urban design, it's possible that these suburban designs were pushed by the President or the Board over the planning department's objections. Certainly we have on this board CSU urban design graduates who do know what they are doing.
June 23, 20159 yr ^ This can happen often in academia. Just because a university has a school or department that excels in a particular area does not mean that the institution itself relies upon those faculty members for making institutional decisions. I can't say this with any degree of certainty, but it would be my hunch that no Levin faculty members are consulted when it comes to making these types of decisions (with the exception of Ned Hill maybe, but his background isn't planning or design EDIT: he does have a MUPPD degree, my bad.). It does often lead to some ironies though.
June 23, 20159 yr The greenspace in the back will probably be utilized, but I doubt people will make use of the pointless front yard facing Euclid. They could have had even more usable greenspace in the back if they simply moved this building up to the street, but apparently CSU doesn't actually understand urban design... Whether or not they understand it, they sure seem to hate it. Just east of Playhouse Square we have an institution determined to make a big chunk of downtown as look suburban as possible. Did they have to run this past anyone first, what appears to be a large-scale redevelopment plan? Do they feel this is what everyone wants? Do they care? It's almost as if the powers that be drove up and down the deadest of the dead streets (Walnut, St. Clair, etc.) and said "Yes...this is exactly what we're going for!!!"
July 10, 20159 yr A new engineering building at 2300 Chester Avenue. The current building is brick and stone, built right up the sidewalk on Chester. Any bets what the new building will end up looking like? http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/07/cleveland_state_university_fre.html Cleveland State University freezes all tuition and will build new engineering building: Five things to know ... 2. Officials announced CSU will build a $42 million engineering building on 2300 Chester Avenue at the site of the current Chester Building. The university had planned to renovate Stilwell Hall with $18 million in state capital funds received in the past three years. But after receiving $15 million in gifts from Parker Hannifin Chairman Donald Washkewicz, his wife, Pamela, and the Parker Hannifin Foundation, the university decided to build a new home for the Washkewicz College of Engineering. The state allowed CSU to reallocate the funds. The 100,000-square-foot building will replace the Chester Building and should open by the spring of 2018. Stilwell Hall will become offices. ...
July 10, 20159 yr They better not screw this up like they screwed up the CIMP. For a while, CSU was on a roll with the Euclid Commons, Julka Hall, the administration center, and the additions onto the law building and rec center that brought them closer to the sidewalks. Now, the administration seems to be back in the anti-urban mindset.
July 10, 20159 yr ^ Is there anything that can be done to knock some sense into the new administration before they ruin the layout of the campus?
July 10, 20159 yr ^ Is there anything that can be done to knock some sense into the new administration before they ruin the layout of the campus? Provide a large donation.... with conditions ;)
July 10, 20159 yr Does anyone know what the budget was for The CIMP was? I would be interested to see how much difference in price there is for a 42 million dollar engineering building
Create an account or sign in to comment