Overall, this is a wonderful project, but I'm pretty disappointed with the material they used for the piers on the first floor Euclid Ave. facade- I don't know what it is, but I know what is not- real granite like it appears to be pretending to be.  I do like the pedestrian level lighting on the piers, though.

^I agree... I actually had to stop and check it out... Seems like a ceramic tile with a faux paint.  They should have gone with granite bulkheads and stone or terra cotta similar to the prospect side.

Actually ... I dont even think its ceramic tile.  I think it is just some kind of paint.  for a while it looked like just drywall; although I'm sure it wasnt just standard drywall, maybe fiberboard or something.  But over a couple of days it went from drywall-esque to what it looks like now.  pretty amazing all concerned.  But would look much much better if granite and what not was used.

Whole facade first floor somewhat modern - walls, windows, light fixtures.  Marquee modern as well. All I can say is they're aesthetically attractive and fairly neutral, design-wise. Like what many preservations promote for additions to historic building or new bathroom fixtures when remainder of bathroom original tile, etc. Also, technically, if a department store had never left the building it is conceivable these sort of things would have been modernized by now. It's all compatible. However, proposal drawings show a more detailed marquee with skylights. They could have gotten older looking light fixtures.

West wall looking better. To have kept it ugly wouldn't go with a building with fairly high rents, nor with a public exterior mini-park with parking garage entrance.  Nor with the view from downtown's traditional center - Public Square.

Yes, some of us watched the dapple technique applied on the first floor. Now I'm thinking it's the very same materials used for the remainder of the facade? Was there reason to believe the other floors are true terra cotta? I was hoping, though it always looked like a limestone, at best. And we saw that special technique applied there, too, to create that spottled (and, fortunately, slightly weathered) effect....

Was surprised to see the trees going up already along west elevation. Thought they'd do more with the old brick wall, first. I guess the idea was to smooth over the worst of it and leave the rest as a compromise - right? Funny anyone wants to keep that odd little storefront along the next building, added not that many years ago as sort of a fill-in. Does anyone know if something specific is planned to go there?

East wall still doesn't look so hot - could use some sort of cleaning. But if that's planned one would have expected it to have been done already. All in all these brick walls don't look so appropriate for a basically luxury apartment building. With enough exterior amenities it could hold its own, I suppose....

Funny anyone wants to keep that odd little storefront along the next building, added not that many years ago as sort of a fill-in. Does anyone know if something specific is planned to go there?

 

If you're referring to the old Continental ticketing office, then no one really wants to keep it there.  Unfortunately it's part of a historic building and therefore cannot be demolished.  This was discussed some time ago when the Dollar Bank building came down.  And I doubt that anything is currently planned for that space, but I don't know for sure.

How would that little thing be part of an "historic building?"  I mentioned it because its walls this week are also being treated.

i would love for 515 to get going. but yes i am just adding a +1 to this development. I think e4 pouring on to euclid can just keep growing! The bodies exhibit should provide traffic for people to look around and see what great opportunities there are.

HTS121 - what are you referring to with our reference to post 116?  I pass this mini-building all the time, and I clearly recall when the last business there. I do not see anything that should be considered "historic" about it.  Explain, please. :wink:

Lafont - read this post.  There's some explanation of why it can't be altered.

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,14701.msg381595/topicseen.html#msg381595

^ I was simply celebrating your post number "216" on this site (get it?)....  Having the benefits of being a premium member, I removed it now that you are at 218.  You passed on your chance to live on in infamy.

Does anybody remember the "black mold issue" back in August? I was on of  the people trying to push it here and administrative levels of K&D, which led them to "disapprove" my application just ~10 days before my move-in while everything was OK.

 

I did not post it here then, I do not know why. Maybe I was really happy with my new place and finally get rid of K&D. You know, everything happens for a reason!

 

Anybody heard anything about the mold again? Because even the "golden disapproval letter" they have sent me, they did not deny/admit the issue. I want to share that letter here, if it will not cause me any legal problems (it does not say it is confidential)

lionmilk where did you end up again?

Judging from his avatar, I would say his "residences on Euclid" have not been built yet ;)

willyboy: Euclid Blocks on E 4th.

 

Hts121: yeah, I upgraded.

From an outsiders perspective it seems like K&D does 95% of a project top notch, then gets lazy/greedy/or just take the eye off the ball for the other 5%. 

That whole lease thing sounds like another shady thing all together

 

Am I wrong, but wasn't there a mold or some ventilation problem that got people sick at Quay 55 and Pinnacle as well?   

That whole lease thing sounds like another shady thing all together

You cannot talk negative about K&D. Period.

We never had a mold or ventilation problem at the Pinnacle.

Hts121 - Okay, now I get it. Anywho, I know there was a taller building on that site which got demolished in the '60s for the bank (which retained an extremely '60s-looking interior for most of its life). Apparently the bank built a slightly narrower building and that little thing filled in the gap and allowed for a business, as well for some sunlight to stream in for  the adjoining Colonial Marketplace building.  In this case I think it's kind of a shame of some legislation requires the building to remain, unless it can be useful to the minipark now created. It could be an obvious take-out place, for example.

Yeah it took me a while to get where Hts121 was coming from there, but once I got it, it was good!

 

Yeah I find the little building puzzling as well.  If it has to be there...  Take out.  How about a news stand?

Yeah it took me a while to get where Hts121 was coming from there

 

About 7000 Euclid.

OK, thoughts about K&D as an operator aside... as many people look through these threads in determining where they may want to live I want to make something abundantly and unequivocally clear.  There is currently no "mold" issue in this building of any type.  Absolutely none. What this stems from is an anonymous posting on cleveland.com, and for the life of me I still can't figure out why we're giving any credence to the most unreliable source of information in human history, wherein someone claimed to work for the construction company working on the building said that no one should move into the building because K&D failed to secure the roof of the building and during a big rain storm water poured the roof causing massive flooding in the upper floors of the building leaving it in shambles and it undoubtedly would lead to black mold that was going to make everyone sick and die... or something to that effect.

 

Let's consider a few things here. First, we have absolutely no idea whether that cleveland.com poster actually worked on the building.  Maybe he did.  Maybe he knew someone who knew someone who did, and he/she just wanted to spout off about it online. Or maybe they were just one of the 99% of moronic cleveland.com posters that like to talk about how everything in this city is a disaster.  I do know this, I was passing by this building about 4-5 days after the alleged flood that "destroyed" the upper floors of the building that would without doubt lead to black mold sending everyone to the emergency ward in the clinic.  I ran into someone I know that was exiting the building (not affiliated with K&D or the Cleveland Construction company) that had just gone through a complete walkthrough of the building.  At no point did they say "man there's water damage everywhere, it's a real mess".  To the contrary they talked about how well the interior was coming along.

 

Secondly, is it possible that in a building that was vacant for a decade+ that parts of the roof were unstable and water damaged occurred? Absolutely. I have spent a good deal of my life on job sites and I have seen all kinds of things happen; floods whether natural or from faulty sprinkler system testing or plumbing issues, small fires, and all kinds of minor "disasters" that occur during the construction process.  I think it's pretty rare when you have a major project go off without a hitch.  And honestly, K&D wouldn't be "responsible" for securing the roof... the contractor they hired would.  So in this case the poster would be implicating his own company.  But again I seriously can't believe that people choose to believe "insider information" from someone on cleveland.com.

 

Third, in regards to K&D not signing some letter or guarantee presented to them by a future occupant.  Well, no offense, I'd never do such a thing either.  There are no true guarantees when you move in anywhere.  I mean, even if I'm selling a house and a buyer wants a written guarantee that there will be something such as no mold issues in the home when they buy it... you open yourself up to sooooo much liability.  There may have been some sort of flooding or water damage, that wouldn't surprise me.  But it's not exactly difficult to remedy a situation like that mid construction.  I've since been in and toured the building, and personally I think it's immaculate and I would have zero issues moving in myself.

 

As for K&D... yeah, they can be a pain in the rear sometimes.  And yes, they've been known to "value engineer" things from time to time.  I was incredibly disappointed when they walked away from Sandvick as the architect.  This is still a great project and tremendous residential property.  It does sadden me a little bit knowing it could have been spectacular if they would have followed through on the original sandvick vision.  Then again, that would have required more money, which probably wasn't an option.  But like I said, minor details aside, I was still blown away when touring this place, and when I walked in one of the units facing Euclid Avenue I almost fell down... those massively large windows (and you have no idea how large they are until you're inside), with views framing parts of the Garfield and New England buildings... well, it was like looking at a giant framed piece of the most beautiful painting you've ever seen taking up an entire wall.

 

Personally speaking, and again this is just me, I wouldn't even blink before signing a lease at this place.

I didnt really take the Cleveland.com poster very seriously, but I think I questioned a bit the way K@D seemed to tip toe around the issue/non-issue.  I get this in a sense, and yes there is never any gaurantee that something couldnt happen.

 

McCleve.  what were some of the things that didnt happen from the original vision? 

 

Third, in regards to K&D not signing some letter or guarantee presented to them by a future occupant.  Well, no offense, I'd never do such a thing either.  There are no true guarantees when you move in anywhere.  I mean, even if I'm selling a house and a buyer wants a written guarantee that there will be something such as no mold issues in the home when they buy it... you open yourself up to sooooo much liability.  There may have been some sort of flooding or water damage, that wouldn't surprise me.  But it's not exactly difficult to remedy a situation like that mid construction.  I've since been in and toured the building, and personally I think it's immaculate and I would have zero issues moving in myself.

 

 

Whenever I have sold a house, I have always bought the buyer of our house a one year insurance guarantee that covers them for issues that may arise within the first year they own the home.  This is actually fairly common practice, and it typically costs under $500. 

Sorry... I probably worded that very poorly.  Homeowner warranty's are pretty standard.  And really that isn't much different than the terms you see in a lease.  If you move into an apartment and the refridgerator breaks down, or the sink starts leaking, or if anything is defective, odds are unless you signed the worst lease ever written... it's covered. I wouldn't sign any above and beyond special circumstance letter. Odds are no matter what comes up it will be dealt with. When I first got out of college my friends and I moved into a big old semi dumpy house.  It wasn't the best place ever but it was a big place we could all live together, it was cheap, and we had fun.  the bathroom had recurring mold issues.  We told the management company, they had the place professionally cleaned, replaced a small section of drywall, aired out with fans, and painted it with kilz... no more mold.  We didn't ask them to sign any additional paperwork.  My guess is if we would have, they wouldn't have and someone else would have taken our place.  They still took care of the issue.

 

 

What I am saying is, all I did was to ask questions to K&D people (questions that was advised to ask by people here). Please review the pages 28-29 of this topic and you will see. Again, you cannot talk negative about K&D!

 

McCleveland: you said that you would call Carl from K&D, somewhere in 29th page. That letter came to my door "hand delivered" later on that week. Would you share what was the impression on K&D side when you talked to them?

Newsstand for little building - perfecto!  One of those hundred things downtown Cleveland now lacks that it used to have and real big city downtowns always have!

There's a newsstand across the street.  And in Tower City.  I'm fairly certain there are at least a few others, as well.

There's a newsstand across the street. And in Tower City. I'm fairly certain there are at least a few others, as well.

 

The one in the arcade?  Thats not much of a newstand.  I think we were thinking of one with a street presence that you can look at magazines etc...

No, the one directly across the street, in the old Nat City building.

Correct. There's also one on the Euclid side of the Huntington Building.

There's also one on E6th between Euclid and Superior if I remember correctly... near Moriarty's and Tea House Noodles.  It may be a small convenience store but that should count.

It's primarily a "tobacco store", though the selection isn't nearly as extensive as Cousin's.

For those of you interested, construction of Titans Gym is almost complete!  We should be receiving the bulk of our equipment on may 3rd and be open for business towards the middle of that week.  I invite you all down to take a tour of the facility.  Check out our website @ titansgymclelveland.com

 

Thanks and see you all soon hopefully

Congratulations, Tripspapa! That's great news!

 

Is the cafe and tanning still scheduled to open up upon move-in? I know that was your initial intent. Can't wait for some performance smoothies! :)

In response to all this supposed locating of newsstands in the vicinity of 668; a newsstand could have a large number of magazines, but I was hoping for one with many newspapers - concentrating on out-of-town.

The Arcade has absolutely zero - nothing for quite a few years. On E.6th, just to the north of the relatively new parking garage, was the last major one - Erieview News - in all of downtown, but it closed close to 10 years ago and space still vacent. Take-out place in Nat'l City has small one, Huntington has small one on Euclid level, Tower City has small one but best downtown for newspapers, and Borders Express best place downtown left for magazines, with few newspapers.

A large newsstand with dozens of out-of town newspapers, besides a large number of local ones - e.g. neighborhood, ethnic, etc. - is one of the many large-city, urban amenities we used to have and gradually lost over several decades. I think it might work and that would be a great location for it, if there's sufficient space. CPL receives a large number of papers, but don't count on more than a handful from the past few days. :-(

^I don't know about this.  I for one love scoping out things at a newstand and for years was a regular at Erieview on East Sixth Street...however, it is clear now that people are buying less newspapers and magazines and it seems like almost a monthly event that a long standing magazine goes out of business.  I don't blame somebody for not risking his capital to open such a venture.  I sure would not do it with my hard earn cash, especially is the current environment.

Hopefully everything will be opening next week, yes.  The cafe maybe a little later in the week as we have health inspectors and what not, but it should be close!  Stop on up!

Here it Friday. No go. No, I didn't bring my camera, but I'm very surprised to have no posts here for a few days, when so much is going on at 668! That new mini-park should prove to be pretty nice, even with that not-too attractive wall.  Do hope a decent mural goes up there. The way the brick walks dip is a bit odd.... Wonder when the advertising agency's windows will be up to snuff.  Still looks like area in front not too occupied. I was hoping when marquee were finished the agency's windows would look good, but no....

Impatiently waiting for when public can walk into the building from both sides. We were told here entrances from both streets would lead to a lobby or atrium in the center.

Here is some news!  Titans Gym is officially open for business on Saturday, the 8th, whish is tomorrow.  TG Tanning will also be open for all of you tanners.  I hope some of you stop in and intoduce yourselves!  See you all soon

Congrats and GREAT news!  I'll stop in as soon as i can.

That new mini-park/garage entrance area is lookin' quite good except one l'l thing :lol:: the brick walks that go from the sidewalk on up.  And I mean UP.... Okay - given the fact the street walk is at a lower level than the doors the brick walks are leading to, and I fully realize why a step or two would not have been chosen, but why are the walks not more gradual? They rise at a greater slope about halfway down, which just don't look too cool.... [or do they go down? I'm not onsite and don't recall].  The point is the ramped brick walks are hardly gradual.

they ramp up towards the prospect side of the building.  Actually this isn't much different anywhere else.  The topography of the land in Cleveland continues to slope downward the closer you get to the lake.  This is why The Arcade has entrances on separate levels depending on whether you enter on Euclid or Superior.  If you even look at the Colonial and Euclid Arcades you will see this incline towards prospect.

 

As for why it isn't more gradual and why it doesn't start until about halfway back from Euclid... I'd imagine it is so they can keep the entrance drive for the vehicles at a level grade.  If you wanted the walkways to have a complete gradual upward grade (similar to colonial and euclid arcades) you would very likely need fences along the edge of them to separate them from the auto driveway.  I don't think it looks that bad (for what it is).

That new mini-park/garage entrance area is lookin' quite good except one l'l thing :lol:: the brick walks that go from the sidewalk on up. And I mean UP.... Okay - given the fact the street walk is at a lower level than the doors the brick walks are leading to, and I fully realize why a step or two would not have been chosen, but why are the walks not more gradual? They rise at a greater slope about halfway down, which just don't look too cool.... [or do they go down? I'm not onsite and don't recall]. The point is the ramped brick walks are hardly gradual.

 

Go back in this thread and look at some of the ideas for those walls....    Interesting.

he was talking about the brick walKs, not walLs.

I looked at the minipark again today and, actually, it looks like brick walks slope down from sidwalk and then up toward entrances to buildings in back.  Perhaps an optical illusion, but that's why it looks a mite funny.

i believe they slope down slightly with the parking ramp.

They do slope down, and i think McCleveland hit it on the head as for the reason why

 

 

As for why it isn't more gradual and why it doesn't start until about halfway back from Euclid... I'd imagine it is so they can keep the entrance drive for the vehicles at a level grade. If you wanted the walkways to have a complete gradual upward grade (similar to colonial and euclid arcades) you would very likely need fences along the edge of them to separate them from the auto driveway. I don't think it looks that bad (for what it is).

 

I don't think they look that bad and actually go with the overall Euclid Brick design.  So that is a plus.  As to the Wall ideas that EC was refering to, now that they have done all the brick tuck pointing I dont think the wall looks half bad.  you can see a bit of the change that the building has undergone over the years.

 

Also, a lot of drywall work going on in the little annex building right there.  Anyone know of plans for it?

The wall does look better, however, it was never meant to be an exposed wall so I was just thinking that it was too much of a contrast against the facade. I suppose if lots of trees are planted it will improve the look, although I do like my suggestion of the huge hanging banner (Like the LeBron James one) that would be a montage (or collage, or whatever it is called) tribute/testament/homage to the history of all the great department stores along Euclid. It could be in sepia with dates, bullet point interesting facts and some classic looking art paintings/drawings of the buildings. It would also allow the wall to breathe.

^I like that.  That would show some pride in the city.