Downtown: Huron may close for street market

A recent study by Downtown Cleveland Inc. identified Huron Road near Euclid
Avenue as one of the best places in the central business district to try to provide
a street market of pop-up vendors and artists. The site is between Playhouse
Square and the Gateway District sports complexes and has many
residential and office buildings nearby (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although early in the process, Playhouse Square Foundation is leading an effort in Downtown Cleveland that could result in the closure of Huron Road to vehicles. The goal is to effectively expand US Bank Plaza and create a venue for a street market of pop-up vendors and artists. The potential closure to cars and trucks could affect a short stretch of Huron that’s closest to Euclid Avenue.

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Progressive Insurance puts offices up for sale

Progressive Insurance’s offering puts a tremendous amount of office space on
the market, not just in Greater Cleveland but around the country, further straining
it and developers’ creativity on what do with it all. This is Progressive’s Campus 1
in Mayfield Village (Hines). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although the global insurance provider cautioned that this day was coming, it doesn’t make its arrival any easier. Mayfield Village-based Progressive Insurance has announced that it will offer for sale millions of square feet of office space here in Greater Cleveland and around the country. This comes at a time when nearly every office-based employer is shedding office space in favor of remote work, too.

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Superman statue, creators’ tribute plaza near to landing in Downtown Cleveland

Cleveland native Superman will gain a permanent home in Downtown Cleveland
at a newly landscaped plaza at the corner of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue,
outside the expanded Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. This exhibit
on the creation of Superman by two Cleveland natives is on display at the Cleve-
land Public Library downtown (CPL). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

There’s lots of stoic statues around downtown honoring Clevelanders and others who helped make the city and the United States great during their lives. But there could soon be a new statue and plaza downtown for a man who never lived at all except in comic books, on television and in movies. The statue of Superman is as much about honoring two men who did live — native Clevelanders Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who created one of America’s first and most beloved superheroes.

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Rocky River apartments to open May 1

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Orris apartments on Center Ridge Road
in Rocky River. Most of the interior work is done, meaning that residents could start
moving in as early as May 1 (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In recent years, Cleveland-based Krueger Group has been busily adding new apartments in Cleveland’s hottest neighborhoods in the urban core. But on May 1, they and partner RHM Real Estate Group of Lyndhurst are due to open ORRIS, 22655 Center Ridge Rd., the first new apartment building in suburban Rocky River in a decade.

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Renovated Odeon in Flats to reopen this year

 Old River Road in Cleveland’s Flats East Bank has been relatively quiet since The
Odeon Concert Club closed more than a year ago and the neighboring Frozen
Daiquiri Bar & Restaurant soon followed. But the volume is due to rise again
later this year after planned renovations are made to the three-decade-
old concert venue (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With a new owner, a new venue manager and some freshening up planned in the coming months, The Odeon Concert Club, 1295 Old River Rd. on the East Bank of Cleveland’s Flats, is due to begin hosting new live performances again, perhaps before the end of this summer.

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Park Place Tech seals HQ deal

Park Place Technologies plans to renovate the former Progressive Direct Insurance’s
Alpha Campus for its own headquarters needs. This is what the renovated east
entrance to the new Park Place headquarters could look like (Park Place).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

After a year-long search for a new headquarters, Park Place Technologies has closed on its deal to acquire Progressive Direct Insurance’s Alpha Campus in Highland Heights. Consummation of the purchase agreement sets the stage for renovating the multi-building campus and ultimately relocating to it 500 headquarters employees from neighboring Mayfield Heights. Warehouse operations in Solon will also be consolidated on the new site.

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Phase 2 awaits: Innovation Square, Fairfax Market

Looking north on East 105th Street toward the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus, the
Aura at Innovation Square is in the foreground and the Medley at Fairfax Market just
beyond represent the first phase of their developments. But their second phases
may not be imminent (LoopNet). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two mixed-market-rate apartment developments that just opened along East 105th Street in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood have phase-two projects proposed. But construction on the pair of follow-on projects may not occur for a year or more as lending remains tight and leasing activity has been uneven. But things could accelerate next year after interest rates fall and hiring starts for thousands of permanent jobs at several large Cleveland Clinic buildings under construction nearby.

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