While musing at the possibility of the Lakeshore Power Plant closing down, I had an idea that it could allow for part of the East Shoreway to be rerouted away from the lakefront. I did a little doodling in Google's MyMaps editor and came up with this (text was added in Photoshop)...

 

 

It would open up almost half a mile of shoreline to the public, and would provide better connection between Gordon Park, Lakefront Nature Preserve, 55th Marina, etc. It's one of those pie-in-the-sky, will-probably-never-happen ideas (soil contamination at the power plant may kill any chance of redevelopment there), but I figured I'd share it anyway.  :-)

Once upon a time, the Shoreway itself was a pie-in-the-sky idea too! You never know what ideas will get their sea legs.

Bravo, Equillibrius. All the time I've spent dreaming up ways of developing the lakefront, I never thought of simply moving the Shoreway in that particular spot. That actually seems feasible! Well, compared to most Lakefront plans, that is.

So in your mind would two and a half exits just be eliminated, or just details you weren't prepared to put in?

I'd at least like to see the ramps from East 72nd Street to/from the east removed -- and I'll bet ODOT would too as they hate "short weaves" -- which in no way refers to my hair (or lack thereof).

Great idea -- Let's reclaim lakefront property.

 

Developers could potentially build another Battery Park-esque new neighborhood as part of the total redevelopment of such prime real estate... And add a new elementary school??

Thanks for the feedback guys. I should keep it around and submit it to the proper people as a suggestion, when/if the day ever comes to close the power station.

 

The roads would retain their exits, especially MLK Boulevard. I decided on not drawing them in because I felt they would clutter up the map. Maybe in an updated version of the map if I ever get some free time again?

^The CEI power station IS closed, as far as I know:  From PD in Feb 2014: "FirstEnergy Corp. will close its Eastlake and downtown Lake Shore power plants this fall rather than next year as planned."  http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/firstenergy_to_close_eastlake.html

 

or are you referring to the CPP power station east of BKL on North Marginal?

There's steam coming out of the tallest stack all winter, think it may still be in use.

How's this?? BTW, routing the Shoreway through the power plant property puts the responsibility on ODOT to clean the property before subdividing it and selling parcels to the next end user(s).

 

Bravo, Equillibrius. All the time I've spent dreaming up ways of developing the lakefront, I never thought of simply moving the Shoreway in that particular spot. That actually seems feasible! Well, compared to most Lakefront plans, that is.

 

Agreed! 

 

Even more radical:  Make Opportunity Cooridor into a freeway, we annex East Cleveland, and blow a freeway through there to Collinwood rejoining the 90.  Shoreway gone!  Suburbanites, happy!  ;)

 

 

^ I see you are full of the April Fools spirit today

The termination point definitely looks better. I'm still opposed to its location (I would rather it connect to the top of the GLSC garage and continue the walkway directly to the new developments north of First Energy Stadium). With the termination point between GLSC and RRHoF, I think they need to do some serious work over there. The pointless grassy fields need to be developed and/or converted into urban plazas/gardens. It's probably unlikely, but I wish someone would develop the field in front of the GLSC and move the wind turbine elsewhere.

 

This is an immensely important issue, yet it gets close to zero media attention. Whatever the criticism of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, I remember it having a very good and sensible pedestrian access. Here we have virtually no coherence between our greatest attractions.

 

I'd like to hear at least some mention that city planners have something in mind. The closest thing I can recall is that some spokespersons at the Rock Hall or Science Center mentioned being excited about improvements in connectivity, but that can mean anything. The Rock Hall and GLSC need to bring some of their content outside. It will enliven the worthless dead zones and help bring people inside.

 

Anyone else get the idea that all of the reliance is on Pace? It's pretty sad that Cleveland always seems so dependent on private developers to look out for the public interest.

 

So I was thinking about surf's point regarding the Rock Hall/GLSC bringing more programming outdoors. I have thought about this space before and wanted to share an idea I was working on. I thought how a small open air theatre could work well there. Programming for the venue would be shared by the Rock Hall/GLSC/NCH and even the Browns. It could also be reserved for weddings/corporate gigs/parties. The RH could have some cool acoustic sets on summer nights, the Science Ctr. could have lectures/demonstrations, NCH could do boating/fishing events, the Browns - player meet and greets. In actuality that lawn space looks a little different than what is represented in the rendering so some hardscape work would need to be done. Something of this size could work as I don't think anything should block the view of the RH coming across the bridge. Don't beat me up too much about the numbers, just my best guess.

 

Love it!! Why not expand the radius of the looping bridge ramp and put a theater-in-the-round inside the loop? It could almost fit the current design.

Neat idea!  What about raising the stage, versus having it below grade?  I would think if you stood kind of far back, you wouldn't be able to see the stage with it being below grade.  This way you could have people speaking on stage for the entire lawn area to see. 

^Thnx. Actually the stage is above grade. The green line represents ground level and the stage is about a foot above that. The first row of seats would be about 2 feet below ground level, then the next row, then the concourse level which is at grade. The whole idea was to keep the structure low enough that it wouldn't block views of the harbor/rock hall.  Maybe it's not drawn clear enough idk... I am not a professional I just play one on the internet :-D

FirstEnergy closes 104-year-old coal power plant, electric rates to rise (interactive map)

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The last three FirstEnergy's coal-fired power plants on Lake Erie closed forever today.

 

The shutdowns come more than three years after the company announced it would close rather than modernize them to meet new clean air standards.

 

Built generations ago, the three small power plants are in Ashtabula, Eastlake and Cleveland.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/04/firstenergy_closes_104-year-ol.html#incart_river

 

Welp, now it's official. Time to move the Shoreway and develop that land! ;)

this news is awful

sincerely - fish and seagulls

My uncle worked at the Eastlake plant for many years, but switched to being a lineman 3-4 years ago because they all knew this was coming.

How's this?? BTW, routing the Shoreway through the power plant property puts the responsibility on ODOT to clean the property before subdividing it and selling parcels to the next end user(s).

 

 

Hell of an idea, to quote Lou Brown.

 

If you want to do something really radical, swap the land north of the tracks and west to 55th to Bratenhal, in exchange for a cut of their tax receipts over the next 25 years or so.  :)

 

(On second thought, I'm only half kidding.....)

Thanks, but please note that this is Equillibrius' idea. I just added some meat on the bones of his great idea....

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,3638.msg750723.html#msg750723

Hell of an idea, to quote Lou Brown.

 

If you want to do something really radical, swap the land north of the tracks and west to 55th to Bratenhal, in exchange for a cut of their tax receipts over the next 25 years or so.  :)

 

(On second thought, I'm only half kidding.....)

 

What would the point of that be?

1 problem with all of this.

 

if you read the article...

 

"High-tech and expensive electronic voltage support equipment will be built at the Lake Shore and Eastlake sites. That equipment, which will require a few workers,  is designed to stabilize the grid and allow the company to begin importing electricity from its Ohio River power plants."

 

 

How long will that work will be continuing? Sounds short-term.

It sounds to me it would be likely that they would knock-down the power plant within 3-5 years once they do any asbestos abatement.  The other area around E.70 Street is all transmission and distribution facilities. They may want to keep that there for a long time. That seems to run right into the I-90 plan.  Certainly that can be moved out of the way but that will be obviously some huge expense. 

Thanks, but please note that this is Equillibrius' idea. I just added some meat on the bones of his great idea...

And you drew up a far more detailed version of my idea too. :)

 

As for the power plant, I can't see the regulator substation needing to be so huge. They usually aren't much bigger than a typical substation, and it could be built where the plant's step-up transformers currently are (far southern end of the plant property, near the railroad tracks). It doesn't seem to block where the new Shoreway could theoretically go. Cordon off that part of the property, and the rest could still be redeveloped.

Relocate it to the east end of commercial district with a newer, more modern and efficient substation. The utility tie-in for the new commercial district could be a selling point.

1 problem with all of this.

 

if you read the article...

 

"High-tech and expensive electronic voltage support equipment will be built at the Lake Shore and Eastlake sites. That equipment, which will require a few workers,  is designed to stabilize the grid and allow the company to begin importing electricity from its Ohio River power plants."

 

Yeah, right.

 

It's likely also designed to keep control of the site so that CERCLA/superfund does not become an issue. 

 

Trying to push them into a corner to use the rest of the space is how Love Canal happened.

Hell of an idea, to quote Lou Brown.

 

If you want to do something really radical, swap the land north of the tracks and west to 55th to Bratenhal, in exchange for a cut of their tax receipts over the next 25 years or so.  :)

 

(On second thought, I'm only half kidding.....)

 

What would the point of that be?

 

Oh,when I first posted that it was a semi-parody on support for mergers. 

 

But if someone wanted to do some upscale development adjacent to Bratenhal, there'd be advantages to annexing the site to same.

 

They know a lot more about higher end development.  Plus the land value would increase, and it's still CMSD territory.

Here ya go. I opened up my checkbook, moved the FirstEnergy substation, constructed the warehouses and light industrial buildings, and built the mid-rise residential buildings that grow in height from the Quay 55 on the west to the approximate current height of the top of the First Energy smokestack (the numbers in the buildings show building heights in stories, except when followed with a K which refers to the thousands of square feet those commercial buildings could be sized). So when you head out east on the Shoreway, let me know how you like it! :)

 

Oh,when I first posted that it was a semi-parody on support for mergers. 

 

But if someone wanted to do some upscale development adjacent to Bratenhal, there'd be advantages to annexing the site to same.

 

They know a lot more about higher end development.  Plus the land value would increase, and it's still CMSD territory.

 

I'm not sure what advantages you mean.  Have you been to Bratenahl?  Their idea of high-end development is mansions with carriage houses.  The residents threw a sh!t fit when those two highrise condo buildings (Bratenahl Place, I think?) went up in the late sixties, and nothing similar has been built since.

 

I'd think that Cleveland would be much more open the sort of lakefront housing developers are interested in building today (condos and apartments) than Bratenahl, since that stuff is going up all over the city.  Plus Cleveland hands out abatements like candy.  Can a micro-municipality like Bratenahl afford to do the same?

 

Of course, that's all super hypothetical.  As much as I would love it, I can't imagine the Shoreway will be relocated any time soon, if ever.

Here ya go. I opened up my checkbook, moved the FirstEnergy substation, constructed the warehouses and light industrial buildings, and built the mid-rise residential buildings that grow in height from the Quay 55 on the west to the approximate current height of the top of the First Energy smokestack. So when you head out east on the Shoreway, let me know how you like it! :)

 

 

Where's the substation?  Is there a key to the numbers?

 

 

Where's the substation?  Is there a key to the numbers?

 

 

The substation is there. I moved it, as-is, with some room for expansion.

 

I forgot to explain the numbers on the map. They are the maximum number of floors of each residential building (the black blocks). The numbers ending in K are the sizes of commercial structures (superstores, warehouses, light-industrial) as measured by square feet. So 50K is 50,000 square feet.

Ah, I see it now.  Out of the area in question.  Good idea.

 

I still suspect FE will try to hang onto as much land as possible because they don't (or do) know what's buried and don't want to pay for cleanup.

I go on a vacation binge to Ireland and New York and no one posts the news while I'm away.... C'mon kids, you're the ones with all the energy! :)

 

Despite pause, Cuyahoga County is still committed to design for iconic lakefront pedestrian bridge

By Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

on May 22, 2015 at 5:08 PM, updated May 22, 2015 at 5:34 PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Two months after announcing it would delay construction of an iconic design for a $25 million lakefront pedestrian bridge by one year until 2017, Cuyahoga County remains committed to the project.

 

Originally, the county, which is leading the construction, had hoped to complete the bridge in time for the Republican National Convention in 2016.

 

But the tight deadline, coupled with the fact that only a single design-builder made a bid on the project, caused the county to pause.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2015/05/despite_a_pause_cuyahoga_count.html

^ Where is the paragraph about integrating the bridge with the Transit Center?

KJP, in the comments section, makes the case for tying into an intermodal transit center, but Litt ignores him.  Some other poster named gadgetking similarly addressed it, but Litt only cryptically asked him who else agrees where the transit center should be located?

 

Not surprising that Litt doesn't address the transit center in his articles because, although he's otherwise an excellent urban architecture critic, he doesn't give seem to give a crap about rail transit... He's only given extensive coverage to the Health Line, but not the Rapid while the theme and goal of his Convention Center-to-Lake connectivity articles is covering up those ugly tracks.  He's even gone so far to suggest the city made a colossal mistake in 1919 by voting for the Van Sweringen's Union Terminal Tower complex instead of the Daniel Burnham proposed end-of-the-Mall train station; despite the fact the Van's proposal wisely segregated out passenger railroad traffic from freight rail traffic which, combined, had hopelessly clogged the lakefront (a situation that still to this day leads to absurdly late Amtrak trains waiting behind priority freight hauls) and despite the obvious advantage that the Van's proposal better facilitated rail transit as a through-running station adjacent to the crossroads of surface traffic and transit and is closer to CBD employment, retail and entertainment.

 

Litt is typical of the pervasive mindset of local leaders, mainly that mass transit is not as relevant as it should be.

I am interested to hear of any updates from Cumberland regarding their plans for the lakefront. It seems everything has come to a halt.

Litt on more than one occasion has downplayed extending Mall C over the tracks because it'd block light to the convention center. I can't be the only one that thinks that's a dumb reason to be against the idea.

 

I understand the desire to have natural light but It's nothing some light wells and bulbs wouldn't cure. Plus I'd think a direct connection to the CC would be way more important to potential meetings than a view of the lake that most people wouldn't see anyway.

 

The guy comes off as out of touch with the real issues. If you want something iconic than it needs to be useful first and foremost.

Litt on more than one occasion has downplayed extending Mall C over the tracks because it'd block light to the convention center. I can't be the only one that thinks that's a dumb reason to be against the idea.

 

It's exceedingly dumb.

 

Anyhow if you look at KJP's rendering it appears the CC can still have natural light and some good views if the sides of the extended mall have windows.

I am interested to hear of any updates from Cumberland regarding their plans for the lakefront. It seems everything has come to a halt.

 

I'm still waiting on Mike Holmgren to elaborate on all the exciting changes that are taking place!

 

Just kidding. It is frustrating to have so much talk over the years go absolutely nowhere.

Litt on more than one occasion has downplayed extending Mall C over the tracks because it'd block light to the convention center. I can't be the only one that thinks that's a dumb reason to be against the idea.

 

It's exceedingly dumb.

 

Anyhow if you look at KJP's rendering it appears the CC can still have natural light and some good views if the sides of the extended mall have windows.

Exactly.  They can move the window North as they expand.  That "excuse" is BS.  Heck they could probably add window east and west if they expanded north.

I am interested to hear of any updates from Cumberland regarding their plans for the lakefront. It seems everything has come to a halt.

 

Hmm...in an article today Steve Litt  described Pace's development on the lakefront by the stadium as a "feasibility analysis".  I thought it was a lot more than that at this point.  We have been  doing these analysis for 30 years.

Hmm...in an article today Steve Litt  described Pace's development on the lakefront by the stadium as a "feasibility analysis".  I thought it was a lot more than that at this point.  We have been  doing these analysis for 30 years.

 

Yep. Wake me when Pace submits a building permit application to the city.

Hmm...in an article today Steve Litt  described Pace's development on the lakefront by the stadium as a "feasibility analysis".  I thought it was a lot more than that at this point.  We have been  doing these analysis for 30 years.

 

Yep. Wake me when Pace submits a building permit application to the city.

 

"Feasibility Study" is political code for "how much taxpayer money can be anted up..."

Hmm...in an article today Steve Litt  described Pace's development on the lakefront by the stadium as a "feasibility analysis".  I thought it was a lot more than that at this point.  We have been  doing these analysis for 30 years.

 

 

 

Yep. Wake me when Pace submits a building permit application to the city.

 

 

"Feasibility Study" is political code for "how much taxpayer money can be anted up..."

 

 

I wish we could have pooled all the money that has been spent on feasibility studies for lakefront development. I am sure that money could have paid for one of these concepts.

 

Cleveland Metroparks to build new Edgewater Beach House with eatery, shop and elevated walkway

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – First, they cleaned up the beach. Now the Cleveland Metroparks has moved on to bigger projects at Edgewater Park, which the system took over from the state of Ohio in 2013.

 

The Metroparks has just announced plans to construct a 12,000 square foot two-story Beach House that will include a fast-casual eatery, a sundries shop and significantly, an elevated walkway from West 76th Street to Edgewater.

 

More:

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/they_have_just_announced_plans_to_construct_a_12000_square_foot_two-story_beach_house_that_will_include_a_fast-casual_eatery_a_sundries_shop_and_significantly_an_elevated_walkway_from_west_76th_street_to_edgewatercleveland_metroparks_to_build.html#incart_gallery

 

Woohoo! I never expected an elevated walkway with direct connection to the pedestrian tunnel. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but still, this will be cool.

Cleveland lakefront construction, long a dream, could start in September (photos)

By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer

on June 03, 2015 at 9:15 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland's long-discussed dream of lakefront development will become much more solid this month, as developers take a big step toward controlling the land and seek early design approvals for a restaurant near Voinovich Park and their first apartments and offices north of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

 

After more than a year of negotiations, Cumberland Development and Trammell Crow Co. expect to meet a June 15 deadline to exercise their option to lease 28 acres of city-owned land along Lake Erie. That move will start the clock ticking on the companies' ambitious plan to create a neighborhood on underused properties at tip of East Ninth Street and the northern rim of First Energy Stadium.

 

Documents submitted to the Cleveland City Planning Commission indicate that Cleveland-based Cumberland and Trammell Crow, of Dallas, aim to break ground within months for their first two buildings.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/06/cleveland_lakefront_constructi.html

 

^ Awesome! I was hearing tiny rumblings about the Cumberland lakefront development, but was assuming they were just rumors. I appreciate how realistic Phase I is. I actually feel pretty confident that it will get done. Also, it appears that they slightly adjusted the site plan for the future phases - I think it's an improvement.

 

Really, the only negative I can think of is the pedestrian bridge from the Mall to the RRHOF (which I know isn't really Pace's fault). We really need a multi-modal transit station, with a pedestrian walkway over top of it. Anything less than that is simply a rushed compromise.

"Yep. Wake me when Pace submits a building permit application to the city."

 

Time to wake up!! (Almost) :)

 

I like this... If it really goes as planned this would totally transform the area in an amazing way. Very positive...