I'm all about reimagining vacant space ... But a Greenspace "District"? Wouldn't that just be a park? Haha.

Buzzwords run amok.

I have a feeling this Midtown rebirth will be a failed project

6611 coming down TODAY!

It is so easy and cheap to create pretty pictures.

 

Not entirely true. Architectural services on a project like this will be at least $10,000, not counting project management and AOR duties like construction management that would bring it up to 5-10% project cost (supposed to be 10% but architectural fees have been slashed nation-wide since the Great Recession).

 

Renderings are cheap relative to redevelopment costs.

It is so easy and cheap to create pretty pictures.

 

Not entirely true. Architectural services on a project like this will be at least $10,000, not counting project management and AOR duties like construction management that would bring it up to 5-10% project cost (supposed to be 10% but architectural fees have been slashed nation-wide since the Great Recession).

 

Renderings are cheap relative to redevelopment costs.

 

That's a very broad statement.

I was in my hometown, Rochester, NY, for a few days and the first thing I noticed when getting off I-490 and approaching West Main Street was the terrific new lights along West Main. Then the part of Main Street in central downtown has featured another style of wonderful decorative lightpolesf for over ten years. All are deep green with gold highlights. I'm quite disappointed Euclid Avenue planners chose what they did, considering what other cities have done with their Main Streets lighting. Ours are not ugly but not good contemporary design, imo, and certainly not attractive historical lighting. Or a combination. I mentioned this disappointment in my article on Euclid Avenue that appeared in AIA Cleveland's "The Voice" newsletter of 5/07.

It is so easy and cheap to create pretty pictures.

 

Not entirely true. Architectural services on a project like this will be at least $10,000, not counting project management and AOR duties like construction management that would bring it up to 5-10% project cost (supposed to be 10% but architectural fees have been slashed nation-wide since the Great Recession).

 

Renderings are cheap relative to redevelopment costs.

 

That's a very broad statement.

 

But accurate.

This photo gives the idea of the wonderful lights along Main Street in Rochester, NY's central district:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbwendover/260150033/#

So what's going on with the Frost Building? Instead of making a good effort to remove the red paint from the brick on the Euclid side they're covering over the entire wall with new pale yellow brick? They're just adding pieces that would jut out? I imagine the former, though I had expected the painted brick to be cleaned.  How odd to cover it all over, and the extra layer can be seen from the facade. Are any of the other sides painted (no, I can't see the building while I write this....)?

 

Frost building brick kinda' funny.... Facade on side street yellow brick, north side red brick, west side facing Tavern also red brick, I assume, and I can't be sure if south side was yellow (facing street) or red brick (because side of bldg.) but I'm guessing it was red before painted brighter red. Now it's becoming yellow brick, again.  Like I said, terribly odd they're creating an entirely new brick wall.

Btw, I notice the new apartment building going up with the matching twin facade will not be same window arrangement as teh '20s twin has. The main thing is that the facades facing Euclid match; just seems a little funny the majority of both twins will have different exteriors. But then, no reason for the new construction to entirely copy the '20s building if there are good reasons to make changes.

 

I came across photos in my Euclid Avenue collection of two impressive, relatively highrise apartment bldgs. that used to be on Euclid just to the east of the "Frost" building.  Such a shame they were demolished in the late 1970s, and for NOTHING, really....

Only the street side has "facing" bricks, the yellow ones, because that is that only side that we are supposed to see of the building.  The rest should be covered by other buildings.

That's the usual situation but in this case I'm not sure there had been anything else between building and Euclid. All the more strange with building an entirely new wall of yellow bricks. I don't really go along with it.

 

I suppose many of you have seen the front-page PD article today regarding the new park....

 

Yeah, this one:

 

Dunham Tavern Museum aims to boost visibility, traffic through park project in Midtown Cleveland

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/07/dunham_tavern_museum_aims_to_b.html

 

No real surprises in here.  I just hope their expanded park plan is at a higher taste level than they've shown to date.

On Cleveland's Planning Commission's July 6th agenda is the 3rd District's Police Station for Chester Ave.

 

 

^This looks like a new design, although it has been so long since I viewed the first renderings I am not sure.  I hope they build up to the sidewalk as, if I recall correctly, the first plan had a pretty significant setback and (not sure) may even have had parking in the front.

 

Not crazy about the windows.  Would like to see more renderings.

^Checked out another rendering on the Planning Commission site.  It is apparently built to the sidewalk except for what appears to be a small strip of grass in front but, unfortunately, is surrounded by parking lots which are also build to the sidwalk on either side of the building.  It looks almost like an island in a sea of parking.

 

Edit:  The photo Cleveland posted is the rendering I was referring too.  Blah.

Yeah this one gives a good perspective.

 

This parking doesn't bother me that much.  Nothing worthwhile is going by the tracks and the western side lot is quite small.

^Checked out another rendering on the Planning Commission site.  It is apparently built to the sidewalk except for what appears to be a small strip of grass in front but, unfortunately, is surrounded by parking lots which are also build to the sidwalk on either side of the building.  It looks almost like an island in a sea of parking.

 

Edit:  The photo Cleveland posted is the rendering I was referring too.  Blah.

Yeah, but it's a police station, not a mixed use development.  Nothing to exciting should be expected out of a police station when it comes to parking.  The last thing we need is a cruiser on the 5th floor of a parking garage.

Not bad for a police station. At least they built it several stories tall and on the sidewalk of a major thoroughfare. I can't complain.

 

Beats the hell out of what was there before (vacant, weed-strewn lot) and what was there before that (an abandoned dairy that became a defacto homeless shelter that homeless advocates actually had the gall to want to save as in that condition as a shelter!).

Exactly where on Chester is this 3rd district Police HQ going?  Is it near Chester/E.55?

Yes, about halfway between E. 40th and E. 55th on the north side of Chester.

The new rendering is better.  The parking isn't ideal, but I agree that if we're going to have that, it's well placed next to the RR tracks.

I agree with the comment that its a police station, not a mixed use development. I'm not really that concerned about the layout of the parking lot of a police station. For what it is, I like the look of it. It'll be a pretty good looking station

Yeah, this one:

 

Dunham Tavern Museum aims to boost visibility, traffic through park project in Midtown Cleveland

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/07/dunham_tavern_museum_aims_to_b.html

 

No real surprises in here.  I just hope their expanded park plan is at a higher taste level than they've shown to date.

 

This article now has a rendering.

 

http://media.cleveland.com/business_impact/photo/dunham-conceptual-park-planjpg-a738465ff41069db.jpg

All I can say is I hope that attracts some density on the west side of 66th and the east side of 69th.

 

I like how they updated the graphic with the two-story MidTown Tech Park that Geis built across the street.

It's possible Dunham plan could spur more development for residential or office because it could be seen as a nice perk to be able to walk to.  But overall, I'm skeptical.

I'd like to see more detail...from what they published it is very uninspiring.

my concern is they are too small to actually pull off this project so it will actually be a draw.

Yes, needs more density within a block or so - apartments/condos/workers with lunch breaks! Then the park, if it maintains a safe image, may be popular in the better weather. Right now it's a little difficult to imagine one's walking, say, five blocks to spend time in a park in that location.  Let alone drive there as a destination....

 

Seems like a winning proposal to me, although I'd almost rather they had gone with all the parking relegated on one side or the other of the PD station so that the building can frame some kind of intersection.

 

On a side note, today I saw them spraying down the demolition site just down Euclid. Wow, that was fast..

Cleveland officials authorized to break ground on first new police station in decades

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland plans to break ground as early as late October on its first new police station in 34 years.

 

The City Council this morning authorized the administration to move forward with the estimated $17.5 million facility, which the city plans to build on Chester Avenue near East 45th Street.

 

The development will consolidate the existing 3rd District station, at East 107th Street and Chester Avenue, with the Public Safety Center at East 21st Street and Payne Avenue. Those two sites would be marketed for redevelopment.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/07/cleveland_officials_authorized.html

^ very interesting on the UC site becoming available.

^they have been talking about that for years...my guess is that they will still be talking about it for years even once the station moves.

This museum and plan seem so out of place. I thought midtown wanted to develop into more of a tech corridor. Just seems weird...

This museum and plan seem so out of place. I thought midtown wanted to develop into more of a tech corridor. Just seems weird...

 

Weird, yes.  I might even go a step further.

This museum and plan seem so out of place. I thought midtown wanted to develop into more of a tech corridor. Just seems weird...

 

When I read your comment earlier I immediately thought of Apple's new digs way out in suburban nowhere. Then this convenient article magically appears! The parallels to the tech future of Midtown are insightful.

 

What Cupertino, California is getting (a suburban spaceship)

vs.

What Cupertino, California needs (urbanity: a more walkable, people friendly environment)

 

The opportunity that Apple is missing to build a better neighborhood

 

I never intended to become so knowledgeable about Apple, Inc.’s new “spaceship” headquarters being developed in Cupertino, California.  Really, I didn’t.  But the design seemed to me to be way overscaled for humans and particularly wrong for a classic slice of California sprawl that is begging to be retrofitted into a more walkable and people-oriented environment.  Apple is already a world leader in consumer technology; this was its chance to be a world leader also for community-oriented sustainability.

 

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/the_opportunity_that_apple_is.html

 

 

I find that building somewhat unnerving. I can't place my finger on why, but it's there

Maybe they're building a super-collider in the basement?? Or maybe I've been watching way too much Big Bang Theory!

Maybe they're building a super-collider in the basement?? Or maybe I've been watching way too much Big Bang Theory!

 

Ha! It is essentially the headquarters that Dr. Evil would come up with.

^ very interesting on the UC site becoming available.

I'm far more interested in what happens in the building on Paine and even more importantly to the surface lots surrounding it.

Awesome news but depressing that the building across Euclid was just demolished:

 

"Hemingway Development, a division of Streetsboro-based Geis Cos., plans to spend $8.9 million to buy and renovate a vacant building at 6555 Carnegie Ave. to add to its Midtown office/laboratory complex...Hemingway bought the six-acre property at 6700 Euclid in 2008 and began construction of the $20 million building in 2010. The addition of the 7000 Euclid building to the complex was announced in April 2011, a month before the first tenant moved into the 6700 Euclid building. That first tenant was the entrepreneurial assistance nonprofit JumpStart Inc.

 

Now, said Tracey Nichols, the city of Cleveland's director of economic development, only 8,000 square feet remain uncommitted in those first two buildings."

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120723/SUB1/307239973

 

 

 

 

^Thanks for posting!  This is good news.  I think this is the building attached to the rear of Gust Galluccis. 

 

Also from that article:

 

Hemingway also is beginning to fill the four-story building that housed the Agora night club at 5000 Euclid and, a block south of Euclid, it is working with the city of Cleveland to get the 160,000-square-foot Warner & Swasey Building, a former machine tool factory at 5701 Carnegie Ave., into shape for redevelopment.

^I wonder what "getting into shape for redevelopment means" (the ws building)?  I just happen to drive by this morning and noticed that a few of the boarded up windows had the wood removed and what looked like new plastic sheeting was in the windows. It was just a few windows here and there and I was wondering what that was all about.

^Thanks for posting!  This is good news.  I think this is the building attached to the rear of Gust Galluccis. 

 

Yes, it's a 4 story brick warehouse in the middle of the block, and parking lot fronting Carnegie.  Hopefully the parking lot will be built on someday.  I didn't realize Hemingway was doing so many projects in Midtown.

more coverage (from PD)

 

MidTown Tech Park expanding with third phase, new tenants on Cleveland's Health-Tech Corridor

 

An urban business park keeps growing in Midtown Cleveland, where Hemingway Development is testing the market for growing Cleveland companies and suburban tenants looking to move.

 

The developer, part of the Geis Cos. of Streetsboro, has a contract to buy a 64,000-square-foot building at 6555 Carnegie Ave.

 

The deal, set to close in late September, will add a third structure to the MidTown Tech Park, an emerging suburban-style office park in a former industrial neighborhood.

 

With the $8.9 million acquisition and redevelopment of 6555 Carnegie, the park will comprise 242,000 square feet -- much of it leased or spoken for.

 

"I think this building has got a ways to go," said Fred Geis, a Hemingway principal. "But we wanted to create a three-building campus. ... It gives people moving from the suburbs confidence. They see an engineered community. They want to have a suburban feel, while still moving back into the urban environment."

 

(http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/07/midtown_tech_park_expanding_wi.html)

 

I love the fact that commerce is taking place in a formerly forgotten area, but all of this talk of Midtown as a suburb is just wrenching.

But it's here to stay.

Talk about suburban...now that the 6611 Bldg is gone, the Euclid Ave. approach to the Dunham tavern makes one feel like they're driving on River Oaks Trail in the 040, or something like that.

I understand your point, but I don't have a problem with this strategy. As I've said before, I believe its important to have one neighborhood that can compete with the suburbs. If Midtown needs suburban style development to bring in investment, then so be it. This is clearly a planned and deliberate strategy to make a suburban district out of Midtown. I'm ok with that