considering the innumerable buildable lots in ths city, uggh on the linnsalta addition site for razing a  completely functional structure

from ~ 2 wks ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two cranes are in UC, one is for this.....

 

One University Circle, as seen from the Cleveland Clinic's WO Walker Building:

 

 

 

 

The previous building wasn't just "functional"; it was the 1910 Hubbard House - a truly beautiful former residence whuch stood as one of the fine but now dwindling Wade Park Allotment houses and, in this case, it was located on what used to be the impressive, sweeping Magnolia Drive.  Fortunately there's yet a very similar house, in reverse, on East 108th.  I've posted about and posted photos regarding the situation in this forum....

 

However, I'll just come out and say it.  The addition looks somewhat better than I had imagined.  The materials look quality, and the roof looks like real slate!  That's almost unheard of in this region and must have cost a fortune!  Come to think of it, I think the house had slate too, though I could be mistaken. :-o

 

 

Read more: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2977.2625.html#ixzz4NIYFBe1k

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple things happening in the Circle. Forgive me if these have been mentioned elsewhere.

 

-The Center for Dialysis Care at 11717 Euclid Ave is moving to a new location in UC and UCI will be taking over their property.

 

-CIA will likely be building a 4 story dorm on the Christmas Tree lot at 11734 Euclid Ave.

That's pretty big news, there!  The Center for Dialysis Care lot is as large as the land Intessa is going onto, and the "Christmas Tree" lot is about that same size, as well, depending on exactly which parcels are included.  Do you happen to know if they are going to be using that entire triangle of land?

My Western Reserve Architectural Historians had a great tour of the CIA last year, and the President, who led the tour, mentioned the dormitory plans at that time.

That's pretty big news, there!  The Center for Dialysis Care lot is as large as the land Intessa is going onto, and the "Christmas Tree" lot is about that same size, as well, depending on exactly which parcels are included.  Do you happen to know if they are going to be using that entire triangle of land?

 

I don't know that for sure. More should be coming out about it soon.

World Class Signage™ in place for the Nord Family Greenway.

 

 

Looking through the Nord Family Greenway plans reminded me that there is supposed to be a phase 2 of the Maltz Performing Arts Center. I couldn't find anything with the search... has there been any news about that project progressing?

The follow project apparently is up for consideration by Design Review this week as indicated by the graphics below, even though it's not on CPC's docket. Two architecturally significant structures, recently vacated, would be demolished for this featureless slab containing the dialysis center that is moving from the 11700 block of Euclid Avenue...

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be demolished:

 

 

Might sound defeatist, but that stretch seems like an irredeemable traffic sewer at this point. I can't say this bothers me much, especially in light of the enormous opportunity it opens up on Euclid near Uptown.

It also creates potential for development of the eight parcel triangle bounded by Stokes, Cedar, and E 107. Interestingly, 75% of the triangle is owned by UCI

Based on location alone, 11717 Euclid Ave. should be one of the most valuable parcels of land in all of Cleveland.  Hopefully UCI moves quickly to develop it.  Anyone care to offer early odds on whether it goes residential or retail?  Mixed use?  Also, how many stories?

 

This is really the last parcel to be developed east of the railroad tracks in UC (unless that farmer's market across the street somehow gets on the market).  Maybe it's time the neighborhood spills beyond the tracks and into East Cleveland?

I think you mean last parcel west of the tracks. And yes it's time, though there are at least two developments that have crossed the tracks. A townhome project built in 2012 and a condo project adjacent to the RR tracks.

 

The big inhibitor is the Governance of East Cleveland and city services available.

 

If a developer's multimillion dollar project catches fire, will there be a fire department to put it out?

As far as "spilling into East Cleveland," there's more.  Incidentally, it sounds like you're referring to 27 Coltman, the luxury project above the tracks, but it's in Cleveland.  There are the relatively new complex at Euclid and Lakeview Road; they've been referred to as University Circle-related but being new in East Cleveland.  Also, if you recall, there was a project to demolish a decent commercial building close to the cemetery entrance on the east side of Euclid.  It's potentially a nice building with interesting architecture; I haven't seen anything about that project for months.  I believe it's actually in Mary-Peal Schofield's book on Cleveland architecture from the '70s.  I hope that project is caput.  There's just oh-so mu

ch vacant land in the area for promising new development.

And rehabs as well; I don't know why there hasn't been much of a push north along E. 105th.  Some of those side streets are still stable and with homes that are very large and gorgeous.

A new CIA dorm is scheduled for completion by September 2018 along Euclid Avenue at East 117th Street.

 

....and its ugly as heck.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/01/cleveland_institute_of_art_com.html#incart_river_home

 

Am I alone here?  Haha, I am all for the project itself but this looks like a 1960's rehab, not a new build.

....and its ugly as heck.

 

Am I alone here?  Haha, I am all for the project itself but this looks like a 1960's rehab, not a new build.

 

Haha you're not alone ... the rendering looks absolutely hideous. Maybe it'll change

....and its ugly as heck.

 

Am I alone here?  Haha, I am all for the project itself but this looks like a 1960's rehab, not a new build.

 

Haha you're not alone ... the rendering looks absolutely hideous. Maybe it'll change

 

Not the worst thing I've seen. But you expect a school like CIA to have something better.

Can someone explain how a conservation easement works?

 

"Nunes said that the art college completed its capital campaign this month by selling $1.5 million in conservation easements for development in the air rights over the McCullough Center to Global X, a Cleveland firm that specializes in transferable tax assets."

I wouldn't say ugly so much as bland, which "Modernist Revival" is usually.

Can someone explain how a conservation easement works?

 

"Nunes said that the art college completed its capital campaign this month by selling $1.5 million in conservation easements for development in the air rights over the McCullough Center to Global X, a Cleveland firm that specializes in transferable tax assets."

 

Found this:

http://www.nature.org/about-us/private-lands-conservation/conservation-easements/what-are-conservation-easements.xml

"A CONSERVATION EASEMENT IS A RESTRICTION PLACED ON A PIECE OF PROPERTY TO PROTECT ITS ASSOCIATED RESOURCES."

 

 

 

....and its ugly as heck.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/01/cleveland_institute_of_art_com.html#incart_river_home

 

Am I alone here?  Haha, I am all for the project itself but this looks like a 1960's rehab, not a new build.

 

Link is broken.

Another new building built like a bunker with no street presence.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2017/02032017/index.php

 

EAST DESIGN REVIEW

EAST2017-001 – IBM Office Building New Construction: Seeking Schematic Design Approval

Project Address: 10500 Cedar Road

Project Representative: Brandon Kline, GLSD Architects

I don't love it by any means, but in all fairness bunkers don't have walls of windows.

Up to the street, front door facing the sidewalk (not the parking), two stories, built on an existing parking lot, within a rough neighborhood, and a new office building? Yea, I'm on board.

What does the term "rough neighborhood" refer to?  It can't be it's difficult to get someone to conceive new construction there; I think of it the opposite - a very "in" neighborhood.

I worked at the Cleveland Institute of Art almost eight years.  First I thought the building, opened in 1956, was pretty bland, then when I found out Freiberger Library next door was built the same time, after I had pictured Freiberger as being from the '40s or evey '30s, I came to appreciate the CIA building more.  I think of it as sort of Miesian, though not the best example, and related to the Bauhaus but what was going on in better low-rise office buildings in the '50s.  Of course, it was designed for a small art college, and windows were important for the studios.  Actually, I'd hate to see it go, but I'd also like so see something dramatic there, like another apartment highrise.  However, it would be possible for Case and the Art Museum to maintain but building for art and/or art history classes and still build on the property.

I'm referring to the proposed IBM building at 105 and cedar. The fairfax neighborhood is 'rough' in the sense that most of it has been torn down, many of the remaining houses are in very bad shape.

IBM explorys wants to be close to the cleveland clinic...  where do you propose they build it....???

So does the IBM new construction count as the first "win" for the opportunity corridor?

Oh.  I was getting confused between discussion of the new CIA dormitory and the IBM building.

mjarboe[/member]  writes about the new IBM building which we see up thread but also new images of what will be the CWRU Dental school. It went to design review today but the  renders are not a part of the agenda.  This is the first submission so we will see greater detail to come.  It's about what was expected. The day care center that is currently there will face demo and the center will move over to Innova, which is a good get for them. That is going to be a very busy area in a couple of years.

 

http://realestate.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2017/02/ibm_office_building_cwru-cleve.html#incart_river_home

I'm referring to the proposed IBM building at 105 and cedar. The fairfax neighborhood is 'rough' in the sense that most of it has been torn down, many of the remaining houses are in very bad shape.

 

But you say it as if the new IBM building is being built on East 86th and Beckman, not a prime corner adjacent to the largest employer in the city.

 

It also negates the fact that with the plans along the Opportunity Corridor, new residential construction in the neighborhood  and adjacency to mass transit and the above mentioned largest employer in the city, that this is a neighborhood that has a real shot at being very attractive over the next few years.

That it has tremendous promise does not mean that it is not presently rough.

 

My point in saying all that was that I liked the building and am happy it's getting placed there

That part of Fairfax is pretty rough, in comparison to other neighborhoods. The neighborhood begins to drastically empty out, with vacant lots and abandoned buildings, as it proceeds eastward towards the railroad tracks. This has been a longer-term trend that started well before the Opportunity Corridor was planned and is making land values extremely cheap, enabling the acquisition of large parcels of land easy for projects like IBM.

 

The IBM building is a little disappointing, as it doesn't seem to open up into the corner. At least it's being built of white brick and of similar materials to the Cleveland Clinic - which I personally love. The Clinic will own the land and lease it for ten years to IBM's Explorys.

 

Are any roadway improvements planned for Chester? The six-lane configuration is awful because it doesn't include dedicated turn lanes onto E. 93, E97, E. 101 and E. 105, so traffic frequently backs up in the left lane and spills over into the intersections. A four-lane configuration with turning lanes and dedicated signals would be far nicer - as well as new crosswalks. The infrastructure is lacking in this area.

Horrible. So much for re-making the neighborhood. Where's all the street-level activity like shops and restaurants? its the same old-buidling surrounded by parking lot and green like this is some lowly suburb or something. If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

 

Personally, I dislike underground garages intensely, and my area, alas, is full of them.  One the positive side, the garages encourage me to take the bus.

Underground garages are ideal when land is expensive and scarce. There is ample room for an above-ground parking garage. It's also being concentrated into several mammoth garages that the Clinic owns and operates (and generates a profit from). The new garage that just opened up on Cedar opened up the surface lot that IBM is building on.

Horrible. So much for re-making the neighborhood. Where's all the street-level activity like shops and restaurants? its the same old-buidling surrounded by parking lot and green like this is some lowly suburb or something. If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

 

Put yourself in a developers shoes... underground parking is approximately $45k/spot to build while above ground is $15-20k/spot. It's not as simple as "just put one or two stories underground"

Horrible. So much for re-making the neighborhood. Where's all the street-level activity like shops and restaurants? its the same old-buidling surrounded by parking lot and green like this is some lowly suburb or something. If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

 

Put yourself in a developers shoes... underground parking is approximately $45k/spot to build while above ground is $15-20k/spot. It's not as simple as "just put one or two stories underground"

 

Exactly. People here never seem to get that it all comes down to money and what the market will bear.

Horrible. So much for re-making the neighborhood. Where's all the street-level activity like shops and restaurants? its the same old-buidling surrounded by parking lot and green like this is some lowly suburb or something. If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

 

Put yourself in a developers shoes... underground parking is approximately $45k/spot to build while above ground is $15-20k/spot. It's not as simple as "just put one or two stories underground"

 

Exactly. People here never seem to get that it all comes down to money and what the market will bear.

 

Don't forget about laws and zoning though. If it was simply all about money we would still see a lot more historic buildings razed for surface parking.

My complaint about the school of dentistry building isn't about the parking (at least it's in the back), but about the design. It just looks like it's going to be another typical Clinic building with a useless little yard between the sidewalk and the building.

^ agree. At least surface parking allows fot more devolpment in the future. These large but not large enough grass lawns surounding these buildings, pretty much locks out any meaningful future development. It is a waste of space. And if the discussion is maximizing profits for the developers, wouldn't it be more lucrative to increase your icome potential buy selling off the unused land or saving it to develop later?

 

Think about it, if you eliminate the grass on the west and east of the proposed dental building and shift the whole structure over you wouldn't even need to raze the existing learning center structure (not that im looking to save that building)

 

 

It's not as if there is a lack of space. There is too much space. The neighborhoods around the Clinic are decimated with plentiful cheap land. The Clinic buys up the land en mass and appropriates their campus plan. We aren't losing historic buildings but mass-constructed duplexes that fell out of favor 50 years ago and some single family houses.

 

I suppose I appreciate the green space and openness of their campus, in comparison to other medical hospitals where it's become a fortified concrete jungle. Compare the campuses of UH and the Clinic and it's a night-and-day difference.

 

Regulations are nice where appropriate. Downtown historic districts? Sure. Regulating the lawns at the Clinic? Not sold on that.

Horrible. So much for re-making the neighborhood. Where's all the street-level activity like shops and restaurants? its the same old-buidling surrounded by parking lot and green like this is some lowly suburb or something. If parking is to be provided, then put one or two stories underground in a garage. Absolutely crap.

 

Put yourself in a developers shoes... underground parking is approximately $45k/spot to build while above ground is $15-20k/spot. It's not as simple as "just put one or two stories underground"

 

Exactly. People here never seem to get that it all comes down to money and what the market will bear.

 

Very true, but not surprising. People just seem to think you can dig a couple floors of underground parking like it's no big deal or cost, completely ignoring market realities.

Work begins on Nord Family Greenway linking University Circle, Hough

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/03/work_begins_on_nord_family_greenway.html#incart_river_home_pop

Work begins on Nord Family Greenway linking University Circle, Hough

 

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2017/03/work_begins_on_nord_family_greenway.html#incart_river_home_pop

 

Good article. I wondered where Steve Litt was. He hadn't published an article in two months.

^ it looks like all this landscape work was all privately funded, is that correct? that is fantastic.

I may not always agree with Steve Litt, but he's one of the most thorough and thoughtful writers at the PD, and I'm glad he's back... This looks like a nice initiative.  My initial reaction was negative -- why improve what, to me, is a near perfect area? -- as I kid, I always thought of U. Circle generally, and Liberty Boulevard/MLK Drive and its Cultural Gardens as the 'enchanted forest', but I get it and encouraged to see the end result of the Greenway.