May Day, I think we are on the same page.  I agree with your analysis of vertical retail, especially on tight sites (have always been a big fan of Water Tower Place in Chicago).  But if you are going to do it right you have to make it easy and enjoyable to get from floor to floor (both from a physical standpoint and visually) and I think (like all retail) you have to have a strong street presence.  I was at first very excited when I saw University Square going up and saw how close it was to the street (Cedar Rd.) with generally no parking in front.  As time went on I was then shocked to see that there we no entrances to the stores on Cedar and the only windows were bad display cases so you could not even see into the stores from Cedar.  The building is just hulking as well and probably should have been designed with some sort of step back at higher  levels or some other type of design element to break up the mass.  Finally, the parking garage just kills me.  It is so depressing and it is brand new (and getting from level to level in the garage is almost exhausting).  UH really lost a great opportunity to do something great at that corner.

 

I certainly hope for more vertical shopping in Cleveland, especially downtown.  In fact I am sort of disappointed that the Avenue District did not decide to go with two levels of retail.  I think it would have been cool to have some sort of centerpiece "staircase-elevator" at the corner of St. Clair and E. 12th with a covered second story promenade on 12th.

centerpiece "staircase-elevator"?

 

while I'm giggling at the phrase, i know exactly what you speak of.

Yes, while it's vertical, it pretty much sucks for pedestrians.  I think you can get into the Macy's off Cedar but beyond that it's very car-oriented.  The Macy's leads then into the garage and various stairwells and elevators, but it's not brilliant.

 

 

While this shot appears to show storefronts along Cedar Road, as Htsguy said, these are fake.  They're just window displays.  The blue awnings are where Pier 1 is, but the problem is that the grade is such that the designer built the first level(s) of the Parking Garage into that ground level.  At far left (Target signage) is an entrance which actually is at the 3rd level of the parking garage.  All the way to theright, the slope is such that if you enter on the western half of the center, you are at on the 1st level of the garage.  Because of that, driving around the place I sometimes feel like I'm in an M.C. Escher drawing.  :-)

 

Nevertheless, I prefer it to expansive swaths of land like Severance and Legacy Village by a long shot.  But I do hope something better comes along on the opposite corner.  The UH side is pretty much an updated shopping plaza with a strange 1970s bowling alley-like decor that I'm still trying to understand.

Agree with everyone else on University Square.  Lots of promise with the small setback, but that godawful garage and the lack of street access hurts.  For what it's worth, I think you can also get into the Applebee's from the street - PARTY!

 

The Whole Foods shopping center doesn't look very promising so far - they've put glass into the 1st floor of the Whole Foods (which actually looks good), but it doesn't look like there's an entrance on Cedar and maybe not on Warr Ctr either - I'm assuming you'll need to enter from the rear parking lot.  Additionally, are they planning to put anything on the 2nd level or just leave it open (under the big wing thing in the photo at the top of the page)?  I thought that was going to be offices or something, but it sure looks like it'll be open.  Also, they stuck the new First Watch down a side street within the shopping center (it's as obscure of a location as it sounds).  I believe the "side street" is there to improve access to the rear parking lot... I haven't seen plans for it, just judging by what they've been doing.

 

Likely one reason the North side won't be all residential is that it's in South Euclid.  If Univ Sq, and the South Cedar Center were all in the same town, they might be more open to concentrating the residential in one area and the commercial across the street.  With the developments split between UH and SE, they probably each want a bit of both.  I don't really care either way to be honest - just wish they do a better job with the ones they're building (e.g. move the south side up to the street with entrances on both the street and parking lot sides).  With all the development going in there, that intersection actually has/had the chance to become a mini-walkable neighborhood... Doesn't seem like that's going to happen...

Additionally, are they planning to put anything on the 2nd level or just leave it open (under the big wing thing in the photo at the top of the page)?  I thought that was going to be offices or something, but it sure looks like it'll be open. 

 

i thought the 2d level was actually parking, with a ramp from the back area. 

^that was my impression from just driving by.

I agree that the second level over Whole Food appears to be parking as I think there is a ramp in the back near the Boston Market.

 

I also agree with J73 that the south side of Center Cedar does not look too promising so far.  Not horrible but certainly not exciting and much less than I expected.  It does seem there will not be an entrance to the Whole Foods (or only a small one) on Cedar or Warrensville despite all the windows.  Developers continue to pay homage to the mighty auto even in areas where public transportation and pedestrian traffic is relatively strong like the intersection of  Cedar and Warrensville.

 

Also not thrilled with the pedestrians amenities of the center to date.  Maybe things will be added in the spring but not expecting much.  Have never really been impressed with anything Coral has done.  I am very concerned that they are apparently interested in pursuing the project on the South Euclid side of Cedar.

I hadn't noticed the ramp leading up to the 2nd level... In any case, having the second floor open like that just looks plain weird to me...

^better to have some parking on top, than all of it laid out front?

^I suppose...  There are just ways to make it look better than a giant carport stuck on top.  Since no one asked, IMHO the best garage in Cleveland is the one attached to the Federal Reserve Bldg - they used something that looks like the same pink marble/granite/whatever of the original building and hid the cars well enough that it's hard to notice that it's a garage at all...

yeah, but the parking structure still provides a disruption to the street. As if a federal reserve isn't unfriendly enough, a giant federal reserve-esqu parking structure certainly is.

From the 12/16/06 PD:

 

 

S. Euclid site purchase clears way for renewal

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid - The city will buy the north side of the Cedar Center shopping plaza, clearing the way for new development on the landmark site.

 

Attorneys for the city and seven owners, all holding separate slices of the property, have reached verbal agreements, Law Director Michael Lograsso said Friday. Sheldon Berns, lawyer for five landowners, confirmed the tentative settlements.

 

The deals, if made formal, will let South Euclid avoid going to court to take the land by eminent domain. A City Council that so far has been supportive will meet Monday to consider letting Mayor Georgine Welo settle a case filed late last year in Cuyahoga County Probate Court.

 

Lograsso declined to give details until the agreements are approved, but said the city's latest offer went beyond its appraisal of $14 million. The owners wanted $16.5 million...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1166262091183420.xml&coll=2

 

From the 12/19/06 PD:

 

 

Jewish merchants say redevelopment by South Euclid will drive them out

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid - The city's plans to redevelop Cedar Center threaten to drive out Jewish-owned businesses that are vital to the surrounding community, merchants and others say.

 

Two kosher-food businesses and a Jewish bookstore are among more than 30 tenants that may move if South Euclid buys the landmark plaza near Cedar and Warrensville Center roads and sells it to a developer. Lawyers for the city and property owners say they have reached agreements that will settle an eminent domain lawsuit.

 

"A lot of stores we have patronized over the years will be gone and may never open again," said Avner Freund of Cleveland Heights. "I think it's a substantial loss to us as a community."...

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/11665211436650.xml&coll=2

 

From the 12/20/06 PD:

 

 

Fate of S. Euclid plaza shops uncertain

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid - Jacob's Judaic Book and Gift Center whirls like a dreidel as shoppers dart in and out during the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah that ends Sunday.

 

But Jacob's is important all year long to the area's large Jewish community, which can find the store's wares in few other places

 

Jacob's may disappear if the city redevelops the half-century-old Cedar Center into new housing and shops. So may two other Jewish businesses in the plaza: Abba's Market and Grille, a sort of kosher bazaar that includes a restaurant, bakery, deli, butcher's shop, grocery store and sushi bar, and Yacov's, a meatless pizza parlor and restaurant... 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1166607684238010.xml&coll=2

 

From the 12/21/06 Sun Messenger:

 

 

SE will buy Cedar Center properties

Thursday, December 21, 2006

By Ed Wittenberg

 

SOUTH EUCLID The city will buy properties from seven landowners on the north side of Cedar Center, clearing the way for redevelopment of the 50-year-old shopping center.

 

City Council has given the mayor and law director the OK to enter into settlement agreements with the seven.

 

Once the agreements are finalized, the city will buy the properties from the owners and sell them to a developer...

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/sun/sunmessenger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1166722675238920.xml&coll=3

 

From the 1/11/07 Sun Press:

 

 

Cedar Center: a green light

Thursday, January 11, 2007

By Jeff Piorkowski

The Sun Press

 

SOUTH EUCLID Moments after City Council unanimously passed legislation Tuesday allowing for the purchase of Cedar Center properties, an elated Mayor Georgine Welo read a statement.

 

"Have you ever tried to reach for something really huge that you never thought you could accomplish?" it began.

 

Council voted to issue up to $17 million in bonds. Making the project happen is what Welo termed "something that many said could never be done and would never happen."...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/sun/sunpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1168538031195200.xml&coll=3

 

I'm not thrilled about the displacement of some of these stores and have no idea what's "right" or "wrong" in this case.  That ED was avoided (only after it's threat, though) makes me feel a little better.  But every time I drive through there, I look over at the mehness of the Coral Company's job on the UH side and get some visions in my head how the other side could be done, only...good.

 

It appears someone was right about the no access for Whole Foods.  The entire corner of Warrensville and Cedar has no access to the store - there is a hole right now for a door but it looks like it's just a back door.  So the corner and about 500 feet of frontage on Cedar is basically a wall and a couple rows of parking, until you get to the CVS.  It definitely seems to orient south away from Cedar, which is...odd.

 

if i remember correctly, the plans for the north side of cedar were at least more ambitious (i.e. 4 stories, mixed use)

I'm not thrilled about the displacement of some of these stores and have no idea what's "right" or "wrong" in this case.  That ED was avoided (only after it's threat, though) makes me feel a little better.   But every time I drive through there, I look over at the mehness of the Coral Company's job on the UH side and get some visions in my head how the other side could be done, only...good.

 

It appears someone was right about the no access for Whole Foods.  The entire corner of Warrensville and Cedar has no access to the store - there is a hole right now for a door but it looks like it's just a back door.  So the corner and about 500 feet of frontage on Cedar is basically a wall and a couple rows of parking, until you get to the CVS.  It definitely seems to orient south away from Cedar, which is...odd.

 

 

Ha, CoRal Company is going to bid hard to get the other side as well.

There was a plan for a 4 story building, 3 floors of residential above retail and possibly basement parking.  Those drawings are on earlier pages in this thread but I think that developer backed out.

 

Mayor Welo sounds pretty adamant about density and mixed use for this location and I think she's implied a desire for a similarly-styled project on the northeast corner of Mayfield and Green. 

 

 

Plaza tenants fight S. Euclid in court

2 Cedar Center businesses resist city's plan

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid- The owners of the Cedar Center shopping plaza have agreed to sell the property to the city, but a court fight goes on because two tenants don't want to move.

 

Lawyers for Abba's Market and Grille and Anatolia Café began presenting a case Monday against the city's use of eminent domain. The restaurants can't stop the owners from selling, but Cuyahoga County Probate Judge John Donnelly could let them remain under the terms of their present leases. The hearing will continue into the week.

Lawyers for Abba's Market and Grille and Anatolia Café began presenting a case Monday against the city's use of eminent domain. The restaurants can't stop the owners from selling, but Cuyahoga County Probate Judge John Donnelly could let them remain under the terms of their present leases.

 

Either this is unfortunate editing, or sloppy reporting, but whichever it is, it would have been nice to let us know what the remaining lease terms are, to explain what exactly is at stake in the case.

I would also like to know what the terms of the lease are and the article should have expanded on this.  I am currently in the process of executing a commercial retail lease and it provides that the lease more or lease terminiates upon successful eminent domain which I believe is a standard provision.  The article at least suggests that the tenant's attorney really does not know what he is doing as he litigates the case as it appears he keeps introducing evidence which is not relevant to the issues in the case, which is frustrating the judge.

From the 4/28/07 Plain Dealer:

 

 

S. Euclid wins right to buy portion of Cedar Center, begin makeover

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid -- A judge has cleared the way for the city to buy its portion of the aging Cedar Center shopping plaza and give the landmark a makeover.

 

Cuyahoga County Probate Judge John Donnelly ruled Wednesday against four tenants who said the city had no right to take the property by eminent domain. The tenants -- Beacon Hill Mortgage Corp., Jacob's Judaic Book and Gift Center, a Penn Station sandwich shop and Precision Title Agency Inc. -- were allowed to fight on after owners of the half-century-old plaza decided to sell...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117775002741450.xml&coll=2

 

From the 5/10/07 Sun Messenger:

 

 

Ruling allows Cedar Center work to start

Thursday, May 10, 2007

By Jeff Piorkowski

 

SOUTH EUCLID The last remaining legal entanglement to the city proceeding with Cedar Center redevelopment plans is no more.

 

"This should be the end (of the land acquisition/legal phase), subject to someone appealing, and so now what we need to do next is find a developer," said Law Director Michael Lograsso...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/sun/sunmessenger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1178815983244420.xml&coll=3

 

From the 5/12/07 Plain Dealer:

 

 

Arkansas firm will redevelop Cedar Center

Company offers $17M, S. Euclid mayor says

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Thomas Ott

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid - The city has selected an Arkansas company to buy and redevelop the site of the aging Cedar Center shopping plaza.

 

A deal signed this week gives Orion Capital Partners 45 days to negotiate with the city to buy the land. Mayor Georgine Welo said Orion has offered $17 million for the property...

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117895900537401.xml&coll=2

 

Sun Messenger:

 

Cedar Center development moving forward

Posted by Jeff Piorkowski September 04, 2007 12:29PM

Categories: Breaking News

 

SOUTH EUCLID -- Mayor Georgine Welo said Friday plans are moving forward for the $100 million Cedar Center development.

 

"We're working with the county on our grant program (for $1.8 million) to fund phase two of the project, of the environmental cleanup of Cedar Center."

 

The city, last month, took ownership of the remaining properties it needed to purchase at the old shopping center site, at Cedar and Warrensville Center roads. Plans call for the city and developers, the Orion Group of Little Rock, Ark., to redevelopment the center with all new shops, dwellings, parking and green space.

 

"Demolition (of existing buildings) will not come until after the holidays," Welo said. "There should be a (sign board, telling of the development) up in October."

 

"Demolition (of existing buildings) will not come until after the holidays," Welo said. "There should be a (sign board, telling of the development) up in October."

 

Oh, too easy.

 

But as long as its better than the lipstick on a pig reincarnated strip mall on the south side.....

That was a world-class response, Pope.

It had been implied elsewhere that nothing was going on with this project, but that'll teach me to believe what I read on Cleveland.com forums.

 

The place looks pretty awful now, with a lot of empty storefronts, maybe 50%.  I concur that I expect a lot more than what University Heights got, which was an updated strip mall.  I hope they release plans soon.  There are about 30 "Orion Groups" if you search it on Google and none of them are based in Little Rock, so I have no idea what they're capable of.

^Thanks for google information.  I was going to do a search as well to see what Orion is all about but will not waste my time.  I am anxious to see some of their work as this project could have a major impact on the Heights.  Clearly we don't want what was done across the street.  Coral disappoints time and time again.  Glad they did not get the South Euclid commission which they were apparently seeking.

that'll teach me to believe what I read on Cleveland.com forums.

 

You should have learned that long ago.:wink:  Those forums are full of people spewing bile and false info.  It's a shame that because Cleveland.com is the main internet portal for Cleveland, that those forums are probably what visitors are likely to run into first when looking for info on the city.

^So maybe we should buy ad space from them to put our new logo on.

Nah, just do some guerrilla marketing -- post lots of messages saying something like: "Tired of the negativity, irresponsibility and innaccuracy of information here? Get real urban. Go to www.urbanohio.com!"

We'll spam 'em!

well its not like they have any moderation over there...........

 

back subject please.

The place looks pretty awful now, with a lot of empty storefronts, maybe 50%.  I concur that I expect a lot more than what University Heights got, which was an updated strip mall.  I hope they release plans soon.  There are about 30 "Orion Groups" if you search it on Google and none of them are based in Little Rock, so I have no idea what they're capable of.

 

Many of the storefronts vacated in advance of this project (which may be what you were implying).  While I'm not a fan of the design of the University Square or southern Cedar Center developments, with this newest development, this area's becoming pretty dense and easy to live in without a car (w/decent bus service to dt). I wouldn't want to live there, but you could... 

Not nearly as many were vacant before the project.  The area around Marc's is still has most of its tenants but the middle section is almost completely vacant.  There's some backlash regarding the chasing out of long-time local tenants and I do hope the redesigned center will allow for more than just chains and franchises.

Cedar Center development plan approved

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Laura Johnston

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

South Euclid- In place of a tired mishmash of stores, Coral Co. envisions a gleaming row of retail and residential, a city park and community center to finish the makeover of Cedar Center.

 

A hub of the East Side inner suburbs, Cedar Center is where South Euclid meets University Heights on the west side of the intersection of Cedar and Warrensville Center roads. It's where Starbucks built its first Cleveland shop and Coral brought Cleveland's first Whole Foods grocery store.

 

more at: http://www.thecoralcompany.com/News/2007%20new/Coral%20to%20Develop%20SE%20Cedar%20Center.pdf

Interesting the Coral is doing it and not the Arkansas firm that was previously announced to the project.  I suppose I would prefer someone local to redevelop it.

The image in the print edition makes this look like it will be nothing special. Looks like there will be a lot of surface parking.

This is very disappointing news.  It appears Coral has been trying to wrest this portion for South Euclid for some time (if I recall correctly previous comments of one of the principals) and were finally successful.  I too wonder what happen to the Arkansas firm.

 

I am not a big fan of Coral.  Their work is just plain routine.  Poor design and I even have to question (from a visual standpoint) workmanship.  And boy are they SLOW (Further evidence in the article.  Plaza was to close at the end of this year for demolition...now they are talking about fall of 2008...and half of it is already deserted and starting to look even shabbier than it was).

 

Look at their previous projects...University Square at the Corner of Taylor and Cedar, UH side of Cedar Center, Courtyards at Severance.  All mundane.  Especially disappointing since good design and executions as these locations could have really done much for the respective neighborhoods.  A neighbor who is an architect told me that she had considered buying at the Courtyards at Severance but considered the construction shoddy.  The design would have been enough to turn me off.  They have had Shaker Square for quite some time now and while announcing grand plans way back when have done very little to implement them.

 

I hope they prove me wrong but I am not expecting much with this project expect lots of parking.

That's too bad. I haven't seen the image; hopefully they'll add it to Cleveland.com because I don't get the PD.

 

Coral's design on the other side of Cedar left a lot to be desired.  The writeup sounded good -- with a garage how much need could there really be for lots of surface parking?

 

And the timeline, yikes.  The center no doubt looks a lot worse now than it did before this ever started. 

I used to bowl there all the time.  It was cheap and a ton of fun.

I used to bowl there all the time.  It was cheap and a ton of fun.

 

Agreed!

Can anyone with the print version post a scan?

From the Free Times:

 

Appetite For Destruction

A South Euclid Redevelopment Plan Makes Sense To Just About Everyone - Except The Owners And Patrons Of The Unique Shops That May Not Survive.

By Rick Perloff

 

"I'll tell you the thing that drives me the most," confides South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo, sitting in her office amidst a desk full of notes, newspaper articles, city memorabilia and a sign her mother gave her proclaiming "Never Never Never Give Up." "I don't like the fact that people have to constantly defend why they live in Northeast Ohio or even the city of South Euclid. It drives me absolutely nuts. I look around and I know in my heart that my children were raised in the best place in America - not a good place, but the best place in America. And I just stop and think to myself, "We need to have a high standard that we have here, we need to continue with it.' And that's what drives me."

 

Although Welo did not grow up in South Euclid, she has come to personify the city - its small-town feeling, pride in neighborhoods and occasional defensiveness about living in the shadow of more affluent eastern suburbs. She also has become the synecdoche for South Euclid's gutsy but controversial decision to demolish and redevelop the northern portion of Cedar Center shopping strip.

 

South Euclid has adopted a more radical approach to suburban renewal than did University Heights, which is home to the southern side of the strip (across Cedar Road). University Heights accepted a developer's plan to add several new stores, such as Whole Foods and First Watch. But the structure of the mall stayed the same and some of the existing establishments stayed, albeit with an architectural facelift. South Euclid, after years of discussion and frustration with the increasingly dilapidated condition of stores on its side of the mall, opted to invoke the municipal equivalent of the nuclear option: eminent domain. Using the legal and political leverage that eminent domain affords, the city induced the landlords who owned the property to sell their turf to the city. This in turn meant that the shop owners, who pay rent to the landlords, had no lease and had to leave. The stores and restaurants - such as Abba's Market and Grille, Anatolia Café, China Gate, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Jacob's Judaic Book & Gift Center, Peking Gourmet Restaurant and Smokehouse Deli - have either closed or are expected to close over the coming months.

 

The city plans to sell the property to the Coral Co., a high-profile local development firm that also owns the University Heights portion, as well as other shopping districts, most notably Shaker Square. Coral will ultimately raze the storied shopping center. In its place, says Coral President Peter L. Rubin, will be a thoroughly modern and attractive outdoor mall, anchored by national chain stores and containing offices, residential housing, restaurants with outdoor dining and a park.

 

The local media have gushed with approval. A Plain Dealer article observed that "in place of a tired mishmash of stores, Coral Co. envisions a gleaming row of retail and residential ... to finish the makeover of Cedar Center." The local weekly, the Sun Press, quoted Rubin and South Euclid officials describing the redevelopment plans in upbeat terms. And at first blush, who could disagree? Rubin's plans seem innovative, and Cedar Center is old - it was built in the 1940s, and urban policy experts note that shopping centers have a 50-year lifespan. Change seems inevitable.

 

But change involves issues that are far more complicated, conflicted and ethically problematic than those sketched in news articles in the local press. A two-month investigation, featuring scores of interviews with South Euclid officials, shop owners, lawyers, real estate developers and urban policy experts, offers insights into just what happens when a middle-class suburb tries to rejuvenate its commercial base. This is a story of the hopes and dreams of South Euclid's leaders, who want to ensure the long-term survival of their community. It is a story of economic and psychological pain experienced by local merchants who feel let down by the system. And it is a story of how the landlords who owned South Euclid's portion of Cedar Center mall collectively walked away with over $16 million, while the proprietors of the stores that helped build the owners' portfolios received only thousands, and in some cases, nothing.

 

The atmosphere in Abba's, the once-bustling Orthodox Jewish delicatessen in Cedar Center, was decidedly eerie last November. With the deli scheduled to close in days, boxes, duct tape and wads of paper towels were strewn across the floor. The awards the restaurant received from the Cleveland Jewish News for its kosher food, once trumpeted as signifiers of success, were distractions now, signposts of an era that was swiftly receding into the past.

 

Abba's, the only kosher restaurant in the city that served Chinese food and featured an array of Israeli delicacies, had a loyal following among Orthodox residents. Those days are gone. "If you had been here last Friday, you would have thought it was condolence calls," lamented restaurant manager Shia Neuman. Customers were upset, and the store's employees - cooks, waiters, waitresses - had lost their jobs.

 

"I do not want to go on unemployment," Neuman said. "I hope to find a job. I'm not the kind of person who sits back." He was not sure if the restaurant could afford to relocate. "It's a very, very big investment," he said. "Who's going to pay for this?"

 

A few doors down, Gayle Glick, manager of Discovery Shop, an American Cancer Society-owned business that sells upscale secondhand goods, insisted that she will keep the store open as long as she can. Showing a visitor the Lenox plates, necklaces and clothing people have donated, she said that "the shop on the whole is very special because all the profits go to cancer research. And its purpose is deep-rooted for the community. We're giving back to them with a lovely little object and they're giving of themselves with what they can afford to give." Listening to her describe the flavor of the shop, a customer volunteered, "I love your store. I wish you were staying."

 

Neuman and Glick tried to be philosophical, but could not hide their anger and sadness. "What the city did was to take it upon themselves to present the facts," Glick said. "They said [the mall] was deteriorating. It never was deteriorating to the point they needed to create a reason to take it. But take it they did and take it they were going to do any way they could."

 

"You can't fight city hall," Neuman mused, "because, you know, there's lawyers' fees. It's like you have the big bully against this little kid. The little kid can punch as much as he wants. He's going to lose. That's the same thing fighting the city."

 

Proprietors of several other stores express similar frustrations. Some are palpably nervous about the future. Ken Lam, manager of Peking Gourmet Restaurant, seems dejected as he considers his prospects. Several Peking employees will lose their jobs, he says. The proprietor of Smokehouse Deli, Igor Shkolnikov, says he thought he would close very soon. "I'm looking for another business [location]," he says. "I know how to make sausages." Was he worried? "Of course. It's my baby."

 

Today the mall is quiet. Most of the shops are vacant, with signs in windows announcing new locations. At night, it feels deserted and the green steel beams that sustain the once-storied structure look creaky and archaic.

 

Cedar Center has been a major blip on the city's radar screen for over a decade.

 

Mindful of the deteriorating condition of the mall and the need to expand the city's industrial tax base, former mayor John T. Kocevar commissioned a report from a downtown planning and development firm. The report, completed in 1999, recommended the city develop a mixed-use mall, with residential, retail and office space. Although Kocevar persuaded the property owners to renovate portions of the mall, he said in a recent interview that he was somewhat frustrated with the pace of renovation, especially as he looked at the progress that was being made in redeveloping the University Heights side across the street and at glistening Legacy Village in nearby Lyndhurst. Eminent domain remained a possibility, but he did not want to "run everybody out."

 

Enter Georgine Welo, a prominent former member of South Euclid Council who was elected the city's first female mayor in 2003.

 

Although Cedar Center was not a major issue in the mayoral campaign, it soon became a salient agenda item. Councilman Edward Icove recalled that, in 2004, the ceiling of the long-abandoned movie theater fell through, leading to substantial water damage and the appearance of rats. Recognizing that it was time to move decisively on Cedar Center, Welo and her advisers tried to get in touch with the property owners to arrange a discussion. "I personally sent them letters offering to buy their properties at the appraised value that we got from our appraiser, and not one of them even responded back to my offer," says Michael Lograsso, the city's law director. There was "zero response, silence," he adds. (An attorney for the property owners, Sheldon Berns, counters that the property owners believed "the city did not negotiate in good faith and filed suit before they had a chance to respond.")

 

Welo grew frustrated with the pace of discussion. Concerned about the mall's deterioration and rapidly dropping home prices in the area near Cedar Center, Welo and her advisers began to weigh eminent domain more seriously. In Ohio, eminent domain allows a city to take property for its own use and sell it to a private developer, provided that it can show that it meets a series of conditions, which traditionally include that the property is significantly blighted.

 

If Cedar Center was in fact blighted, then eminent domain seemed a reasonable way of proceeding. And the evidence of blight seemed to be everywhere. There was the pervasive damage to the theater, fire code violations, plus sightings of rats. A city-planning expert reported collapsed roofs, holes in floors and walls, and the absence of sprinkler systems. There was videotaped evidence of graffiti on walls, a wood foundation rotting away, and garbage piled up in vacated retail space. Law Director Lograsso says that the space above the old Huntington Bank was a fire hazard, and there were abandoned offices, feces in toilets, and out-of-date, potentially dangerous parking in the back of the mall.

 

"Many of the property owners over the years let their properties deteriorate," says Community Services Director Keith Benjamin. "They did not continue to upgrade their properties to a level of safety and a level of attractiveness that consumers today expect when they go shopping."

 

Berns, the attorney for the landlords, argues that the property was not blighted, and that "it would have been helpful if the city had spent some money that could have been used in the upgrading of Cedar Center if their goal was to modernize it."

 

Tearing down only the movie theater, which nearly everyone agreed was beyond saving, and encouraging or funding modest improvement in the rest of the mall would have been a less confrontational strategy. But to Welo, that seemed like a short-term fix, at best. By 2005 she was convinced that the landlords were unwilling to talk, let alone sell, that the blight was getting worse, and that the city's long-term economic future hung in the balance. There was no longer room for compromise. "Cedar Center was going," she said, "lock, stock and barrel."

 

In fall of 2005, after obtaining expert testimony, council passed a resolution declaring that the South Euclid strip mall was blighted. Eminent domain, the tool of last resort, was now the technique du jour. The battle would continue in the ornate probate court at Lakeside and Ontario.

 

The landlords challenged the city in court, questioning whether the mall met the legal definition of blight. Ultimately, however, the landlords opted to settle. They faced increasing legal costs and believed that few tenants would want to rent space in a mall a city was determined to take over, according to attorney Jordan Berns. The probate court judge approved the arrangement, and the big fight was over; all that remained were smaller cases between a handful of landlords and shop owners over the amount of compensation.

 

The city forked over $16.4 million to the property owners, floating bonds to finance the purchases. But the store owners received a comparative pittance. And although a couple of cases are still pending, their outcomes are not likely to alter the egregious economic imbalance. Abba's seems to have received the most money - close to $100,000, according to sources close to the case. Jacob's Judaic Book & Gift Center received a $20,000 check, notes Probate Court Magistrate Heidi Koenig. Anatolia Cafe received a total of $30,000, according to Lograsso.

 

Other store owners - for example, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cleveland City Dance, Peking Gourmet Restaurant and the American Cancer Society - could not even file a claim. Their leases stated that if the shopping center were taken under eminent domain, they could make no claim for compensation.

 

All this is perfectly legal. Even though the store owners' success contributed to the value of the property - and therefore the profits the landlords received from selling to South Euclid - many had no legal claim on the money. A contract is a contract. But here's the rub: Leases are typically written to serve the interests of landlords, not tenants. "Tenants and landlords are not in an equal bargaining position," notes Jonathan Winer, attorney for Abba's. And this is "unfortunately standard" in eminent domain cases, explains Case Western Reserve University law professor Melvyn Durchslag. It is Capitalism 101.

 

"The tenants are ending up on the short end of the stick. Yet from a purely fairness point of view, your property is not worth a dollar unless you get a tenant who operates a successful business out of it," Durchslag observes.

 

And so it went. The landlords, who owned the property and had indeed taken risks, collectively walked away with millions. The shop owners, who rented the space and had materially contributed to the owners' portfolios, received mere thousands and in some cases, not a penny. There was nothing the most brilliant or canny lawyer could do. The outcome was legally tenable, if morally unfair.

 

Peter L. Rubin likes to talk about intersections. "That's what we try to create: commercial intersections, social intersections, civic-neighborhood intersections." Rubin, whose Coral Co. rebuilt the University Heights side of Cedar Center, can hardly contain his passion about redeveloping the South Euclid portion over the next couple of years.

 

"We don't look at it as our job to remake the neighborhood," he says. "We move into an existing fabric. We look at it as our job to reweave it, as a piece of broken fabric, to weave it back together." Rubin is grandiloquent about his plans, articulated in long professorial paragraphs replete with academic concepts like "civic space" and marketing phrases like "cultural intersections." He wants to impose a common vision on the disparate parts of the Cedar Center area.

 

"It's not a 12-acre project. It's a district. The corner of Warrensville [Center Road] and Cedar is the geographic and demographic center of the East Side suburbs of Cleveland," he says.

 

To make Cedar Center look like a district, he intends to use a common color scheme and marketing strategy for both sides of the mall, as well as University Square on the other side of Warrensville Center. He hopes to construct an architectural feature that will span Cedar Road and connect the two sides of Cedar Center, like the arch of St. Louis. "It will let people know: "You're here! You're in the district! You're in the Cedar Center district!'" You will want to go there, Rubin adds, "not just because you want to go to the restaurants, but because you love the experience. You love that intersection with neighbors, different people, diversity, choices."

 

It is an ambitious plan, requiring lots of capital. Rubin plans to anchor the mall with chain businesses that can afford the rent and have the brand image that resonates with customers. His vision invites questions: Will the redeveloped mall make money? Will it increase the economic vitality of South Euclid? And what are the consequences for the neighborhood?

 

From an economic perspective, it is a no-brainer to urban-policy expert Dr. Robert Simons, professor in the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Looking over a Coral Co. drawing of the project, Simons takes out his cell phone and crunches some numbers on his calculator. "It's about 130,000 square feet of retail, maybe 50,000 square feet of office, and 225,000 square feet of residential. Assuming industry standards, the total growth value is between $50 (million) and $75 million dollars. That's the tax base that will be generated. You get all the income tax of those residents and you've got the income tax of the retail workers and office workers here. It's a real plum."

 

Simons acknowledges the human costs: many, probably most, of the stores currently in Cedar Center will not return. "It's just a shame," Simons says. "It's very cut throat in Cleveland because there's so little growth in this overall metro. It's Darwinism, it's business Darwinism, survival of the fittest. It's just part of the normal cycle of change."

 

Others see significant drawbacks. Professor Norman Krumholz, a colleague of Simons' at CSU's Urban Affairs College, laments that the neighborhood will lose "the ethnicity of the shops. People are not drawn to places that look like Roadside America." It was the indigenous neighborhood places - Abba's, Anatolia Cafe with its Turkish cuisine, along with Discovery and Jacob's - that gave Cedar Center its distinctive charm.

 

"The community lost something special," attorney Winer says. "We have these Disney malls; they are surreal shopping palaces. You can go to Columbus, you can go to Chicago, you can go to Cincinnati, you see the same mall and you see the same stores and businesses selling the same product in the same way. Everything becomes very cookie-cutter. The Center was very different and that is perhaps lost and will never be replaced."

 

South Euclid residents, who were interviewed at two popular local city eateries, share these sentiments. Jim Lentine, who owns a family hairstyling shop in nearby Univer-sity Heights, spoke for many when he said, "You can go to a Target anywhere. Cedar Center always had individual owners, stores that you couldn't find anyplace else. But I think the project is a very good thing for the city. You got to break eggs to make an omelet."

 

Welo expects all the tenants to be gone by spring of this year. Some stores have already found new homes. Discovery Shop plans to open on Mayfield Road in Lyndhurst. Anatolia Café will reopen early this spring in the Cedar/Lee area. Jay Steingroot, owner of Jacob's, says he is still looking for a place. Abba's has yet to find a new spot for its kosher restaurant. Abba's former manager, Shia Neuman, is still looking for a job.

discovery shop!  One of "trash to treasure" spots.  :wink:

Glad to see Rick can write concisely!

I really didn't see the point of the lengthy 2 month long "investigation" of Cedar Center or this article/novel.  Yea you knock down outdated buildings with well liked tenants still in them and you stand the chance of losing said tenants even if a nicer building is developed.  Yes a neighborhood that got used to stores will now have to do without for awhile or maybe forever.  For a front page "expose" I was expecting something with juice not detailed happenstance.  There was no critique or outlook of whats to come just a lament at potentially perceived loss. Weird.