Ohio City Near West has a new director? I saw it in the PD but didn't take note, anybody have the name? (couldn't find it on cleveland.com)

 

From OCNW's e-newsletter last week:

 

Ohio City Near West Development Corporation (OCNW) has hired Nate Coffman as Executive Director. Nate has been passionate about the redevelopment of our center city and is excited about the opportunity to continue the revitalization of one of Clevelandʼs most important neighborhoods. For the past nine years Nate has worked for the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland (HBA). He brings a wealth of development and non-profit management experience and looks forward to bringing his experience and energy to the Ohio City neighborhood. Nate's first day in the office will be Monday, February 4th, so please extend him a warm Ohio City welcome!

Going back to 2527, I just saw this email from them from September, so they didnt close that long ago. 

I was equally a little confused about the article in scene about the "empty for 3 decades" etc.  Apparently it was talking about before 2527 went in, and I guess the Velvet Tango Room people were part owners or investors in 2527.  Im surprised more of you hadnt been there, it was a nice little hang out and I was sad to see it close :cry:, although it was in a slightly off the beaten path location. 

 

Thursday  September 20th is the  annual SILPADA  jewelry show.  They will be featuring affordable accessories from the new catalogue.

Thursday will also be the last day for 2527.

Come on in after work and join us for all night happy hour and hors d'ouevres. 5pm

All of us would like to thank you for your support over the years.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Edward Anderson, the leader of our house band, for his talent and dedication to 2527.

Peace.

Maribeth and Tom

What is the status of Jay Lofts?? Anyone?? It's now a wall of grafitti and looks worse now than before they hung the fabulous plastic sign announcing "Jay Lofts".

This is not a project, but I'll put it here anyways.

 

http://cleve.live.advance.net/printer/printer.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/120445024116520.xml&coll=2

 

Urban Community School celebrates 40 years of success

Cleveland elementary celebrates 40 years of innovative education

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Jennifer González

Plain Dealer Reporter

Marquex Rey is an at torney awaiting an assignment in the Foreign Service.

 

Marcela Alonso works as a pediatric nurse. Her brother Daniel, a National Merit semifinalist from St. Ignatius High School, is headed to Columbia University.

 

And Kristina Morales is an assistant vice president at KeyBank.

 

But they all have at least one thing in common: They credit their success to Urban Community School.

 

Now marking its 40th year, the innovative, private elementary school on Cleveland's near West Side has been unwavering in its mission to educate low-income students through an unusual nongraded curriculum...

 

 

 

 

There was something in Crain's about a project going on in Ohio City by MRN, I think. Anyone able to get that?

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,9289.msg203477.html#msg203477

^there's a new article in Crains this week. Their website is having some issues. I'll post when the full story becomes available.

I think it's actually a building located downtown, now that I'm looking at Crain's a bit better. It said "West Side", so I thought it was in Ohio City. Not sure, though, because I can't access the actual article.

It is in Ohio City.  SW corner of Lorain and W25th.

Per the articles in the earlier posts Florida Guy links to, MRN bought the big one in the photo and some other adjacent properties.  Would definitely be cool to see some more residential/commercial development in that block.

 

The real dream though: a comprehensive, dense, transit-oriented redevelopment of the heinous (with capital H) strip plaza on the SE corner.  I'm boycotting the stores in the plaza to do my small part to tank the plaza in its current form.

^I'll post the article. I just read it in the paper edition and it is a total waste of space. No details other than there will be retail on first floor, office space on the lower floors and residential on the upper floors. No timeline, no total number of units, no nothing. They do talk about the need for more parking. Supposedly, the City is discussing how and where to put in a parking garage in the immediate area. Maybe they could just knock down the W.25th red line station and put the garage in its place??

^How about a parking garage on that big football field back there? ;)

^that is what I know from being around here (edit-not the football field!). I do not think there is a big hurry b/c the"condo floor" offices are still inhabited by existing businesses, although a move is immenent.  Most of these businesses plan on moving downstairs rather than leaving the building.  I am glad they are keeping office space in the building. The businesses in here really serve this community. My memory is hazy, but I thought that garage was going somewhere in the vicinity of Chatam and w.26th and would share the space with St. Ignacius.  The existing parking lot will not support a full United Bank Building. The views and location cannot be beat, but lots of renovation is needed.   

My memory is hazy, but I thought that garage was going somewhere in the vicinity of Chatam and w.26th and would share the space with St. Ignacius. 

 

The location of the proposed garage has change a few times over the past 6 months. The idea is that Ignatius would use it during the day and then it would be open to the public during the evenings and weekends.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - get the the folks at WSM and Duck Island NIMBYs to breathe for a second, realize the world won't end if they built up the area a smidge and put that massive swath of asphalt and the craptacular strip plaza to better use - the green is retail on the first floor, residential (market-rate only) or office above, and parking hidden from the street. It could be *half* the height of the rendering and still provide ample parking:

 

H#ll, tear down the plaza and build that complex first - that way WSM still has parking for the "amateur days" :roll:

All-access green building

Submitted by Marc Lefkowitz on March 10, 2008

www.gcbl.org

 

 

mbi | k2m Architecture isn’t content to just do a green renovation on the building it recently purchased in Ohio City. The architecture firm is making the renovation into an all-access series where fifteen individuals will get hands-on experience designing a green building. The Cleveland Green Building Coalition (CGBC) is helping the firm with the program, which includes a series of workshop discussions and demonstrations through the period of an actual renovation of an existing, two-story building and adjacent parking lot at 3121 Bridge Avenue.

 

mbi | k2m plans to spend $1 million to buy and renovate the building for its Cleveland office, and received an $800,000 commercial redevelopment loan from Cuyahoga County for the renovation.

 

The firm will provide open access to the office building as they develop a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified building. The workshop will allow participants to interact with mbi | k2m’s design staff as well as key individuals from the project’s contractor, Nyman Construction Company, and the MEP engineering firm, TES Engineering. Topics will include green design, deconstruction, engineering, and construction monitoring.

 

Although the application period closed last Friday (3/7), we hope this voluntary approach might be formalized into the county’s commercial loan requirements. The workshop runs from April 10 to Oct. 16.

I always thought that bldg would make a great gym!  The lot behind it on the other side of the alley is vacant too and could make for a very cool expansion to the old building--housing offices, multipurpose rooms, etc.  How cool would it be doing some machine 6 stories in the air, overlooking OC?! I think a gym would do very well in this neighborhood but oh well...

I saw a blurb in the PD that Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman were spotted at the Flying Fig. They have a son who is a student at Oberlin.

^Flying Fig :-)

Boy that's a relief it was the Fig not Pig.

not sure if it's Det.Shwy or OC, but Go Media is doing some pretty cool things in the old eBlueprint building on Lorain and 45th. On a note about the old Speak in Tongues space, it is pretty much a shell right now. If you had ever been in it before: all the ceilings are down save for the plaster cove on the 3rd floor ballroom. All the walls are down save for the carved hallway wall on the 2nd floor. Any and all stages are down.

 

The bar is still there, though.

remind us what the plans are for the building?

 

on a side note, does anyone know anything about the Exhibit Builders building on W. 25th & Church?  How about any updates on CMHA's plans for the offices on Church, just west of 25th?

^I don't know anything about Exhibit builders. I did see that CMHA property is for sale.  With the Detroit Superior Lofts closer to reality (I don't know if they have their presales yet), the Exhibit builders and the CMHA properties provides an intriguing opportunity for a large scale development or set of developments.

remind us what the plans are for the building?

 

on a side note, does anyone know anything about the Exhibit Builders building on W. 25th & Church?  How about any updates on CMHA's plans for the offices on Church, just west of 25th?

 

The 2nd and 3rd floor are being completely renovated and turned into loft/event space where our slow-foods/local-foods oriented cooking society will host events and have it's offices and have live/work space as well. The 3rd floor ballroom will also function as music event space, primarily focusing on the avant-garde. The ground floor will be used for retail space, but we may wait on the neighborhood. No more check cashing or wig shops needed.

 

I know that the exhibit builders building is still being planned out for an historic renovation, lofts etc... The issue with the project going forward is the issue with all real estate projects right now: the banks have cheap money but are unwilling to lend it to anybody for real estate.

as i recall, the exhibit builders folks are planning to do affordable housing (rentals) which will turn into market rate condos after 5 years.  some of the space will be set aside for office space.  the space did win over a million in state historic tax credits.

 

re: eBlueprint bldg - is their a name for the slow/local foods cooking society?  any affiliation with cSpace's recent foray into slow/local foods w/ local chefs?  the plans sound innovative and interesting - do you have any pictures yet??

as i recall, the exhibit builders folks are planning to do affordable housing (rentals) which will turn into market rate condos after 5 years.  some of the space will be set aside for office space.  the space did win over a million in state historic tax credits.

 

re: eBlueprint bldg - is their a name for the slow/local foods cooking society?  any affiliation with cSpace's recent foray into slow/local foods w/ local chefs?  the plans sound innovative and interesting - do you have any pictures yet??

 

Speak in Tungus building (or the Pit Cleveland), not eBlueprint building.

 

No pictures to show right now, there are loose affiliations to some of the groups you mentioned.

as i recall, the exhibit builders folks are planning to do affordable housing (rentals)

 

Does affordable mean that it will be section 8?

It probably won't be section 8 b/c a sec 8 voucher typically follows the recipeint of the voucher and thus a certain property would not be sec 8 (but a landlord can decide year to year whether to take a voucher) . I think "sec 8" is called Housing Choice Voucher now. At one time I think the Church av site  was supposed to be a scatter site CMHA property with just a few units. It sounds like that, and other affordable housing options have fallen by the wayside, at least in OC 

There are "Project Based" Section 8 buildings as well.  Not that I know if this will be one.

The whole Church Street CMHA idea involved a series of mid-rise buildings to accommodate a significant number of the replacement units from the demoed Riverview low-rise projects.  I guess that bird has flown, though.  In terms of building new affordable units, you can pursue low-income housing tax credits if you restrict your units to certain levels of guaranteed affordability without explicitly going the Section 8 route.  Perhaps this is something the Exhibit Builders folks are pursuing.

I met with some CMHA/HOPE VI people on Tuesday that told me that the W.28th and Church buildings will remain vacant and eventually be sold by CMHA in the open market. Everything went scattered sites in the replacement 81 units with HOPE VI. Map Boy is on the right track concerning the status of the Exhibit Builders building, but I don't know if I am allowed to say anything else about this yet. I'd be happy to provide an update once more details are ready to be released.

^great... looking forward to it!

 

I would hope that the CMHA buildings can be reused... they're handsome and of a good scale for that part of the neighborhood.  Filling in the blocks around there (W. 28th - W. 25th, Franklin - Detroit) with new housing and commercial space would be wonderful.  It sounds like this is going to happen one piece at a time!

I thought that sadly died. It is back, or not?

 

I heard last week that One Charter Place is very much alive and will be going to design review soon for some changes. They are looking at a spring 2009 groundbreaking at this point.

Hush/Heaven & Earth will not be relocating to the old Club Moda space. For more, see http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,1823.msg272793.html#msg272793 or buy a copy of this week's West Side Sun News

:-) I'll pick up the Sun too

I heard Heartland Developers closed its doors for good. That is the final nail in the coffin for the Jay Lofts......for now. I hope some other developer with less exposure picks this up. Maybe a smaller developer that is not over extended could have success with this project. James Sosan is having some limited success with the Franklin Lofts (the old YMCA), although the sales activity is likely much slower than what he was hoping for.

ohiocitybob, that is sad though about Heartland, no matter what. The place that really irks me is 3000Lofts on Franklin (I think). Agents from many brokerages have called to show the place and they never call you back! Hard to sell when that is happening!

Carole, are you talking about 3000 Bridge (the old West Side Community House)? If so, there is nothing to show yet. Those guys are sort of "re-tooling", due to the soft market. Let me know if you think it is a project on Franklin.

ahhh yes that is the one I'm talking about. I'm glad they are re-tooling but it would still be nice to get a call back lol

Sorry, Heartland is closing its doors or they're closing the door on the Jay Lofts?  I would be surprised if it's the former...

 

And you're right, Carol, that it's downright stupid for someone who wants to sell some homes to be unresponsive to prospective buyers and selling agents!  If they're not interested in selling right now, take down the signs and communicate with the realtors!

 

Bob, I'd like to hear more about the YMCA project.  You say it's doing fairly well?

It appears Heartland has closed its doors. Their Avalon Station development on the East Side has also been idled. Heartland's web site (including those of its various developments) defaults to their web design company and their office phone number sends you to, among other extensions, a general mailbox. When selecting the general mailbox, a recording tells you the mailbox is full. I'm making more inquiries.

I am real sorry to hear that. To clarify, as we talking about the building on Bridge, or Jay Lofts? Either way maybe it will be a great opportunity for someone when the market settles. Better yet sell them real raw and affordable. Purely idle gossip in the 'nabe, but I also heard the conversion in the United Bank Building is postponed. That is all I know, and do not know if it is true. 

peabody, Jay Lofts is the Heartland project; the Bridge lofts are another developer. Yes it's very sad, especially with KJP's updates.

I'm still doing some checking, which is why I used the word "apparently"  closed or idled or whatever. But the early signs don't look good. Hopefully it's just a fiscal hiccup.

Purely idle gossip in the 'nabe, but I also heard the conversion in the United Bank Building is postponed. That is all I know, and do not know if it is true. 

 

It got denied for the tax credits. But now that another round is going to be available, maybe it will get the credits and move forward.

 

Regarding Heartland, my understanding is that the company has not completely folded, but that this project is pretty much dead for the foreseable future and that they have let go off their staff.

There's going to be another round available?

^ The Governor's fiscal stimulus package includes another $120 million for the tax credits.

Ah, I thought that might be a retroactive "packaging" of the $120 million already allocated.  You know how that works sometimes.

Hmm... I guess it could be.  The press release was a little vague.

 

EDIT:  Actually, I just found an article that noozer had posted:  http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,15243.msg272970.html#msg272970

That was a cool article and thank you for reposting noozer's post. It sounds like there may be so much competition for the monies that what I would consider 'normal' projects might not be able to utilize the funds this go 'round. Wonder if we could get it for the Bruer Tower lol  Is there any building in OC in danger of demolition that is historic?