Downtown’s new AJ Rocco’s reopening in May

Built in 1880 as The American Savings Bank, this three-story building on Huron
Road just west of East 9th Street in Downtown Cleveland was added onto twice
in its history. One addition was in back and the other was this terra cotta façade
that was cleaned and restored to its former beauty to match the attention to
detail of the renovations made inside for AJ Rocco’s new home and new
full restaurant concept (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

If you remember AJ Rocco’s as a coffee shop in the neighboring Caxton Building in Downtown Cleveland, the new AJ Rocco’s is going to be a big change for you. Restaurant-bar owner Brendan Walton and building owner Paul Shaia spared no expense in renovating a 19th-century bank building at 828 Huron Rd. to its Gilded Age glory with all of the rich woodwork, brick walls and metal decorative elements one would expect in a cozy downtown pub.

READ MORE

Cleveland’s Central-Fairfax: the next hot zone?

This is where Cleveland’s Central and Fairfax neighborhoods meet, at Norfolk
Southern’s elevated railroad tracks near East 71st Street and Quincy Avenue.
The railroad was once a four-track line and had many industries clustered along
it. Now the area is largely devoid of employers and poverty is far above the
national average. City, county and private leaders are working to assembly and
clean properties to market them for redevelopment (Site Readiness Fund).

Cleveland’s Central and Fairfax neighborhoods haven’t been a hot zone for new real estate development since the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 30s. Back then, streets like Cedar, Central and Quincy were hopping with jazz clubs, speakeasies, flappers and gangsters. Aside the many night spots were factories that hummed with tens of thousands of jobs during the daytime hours. Most were tightly clustered along the four-tracked Pennsylvania Railroad that was elevated in 1915 to reduce traffic congestion.

READ MORE

Downtown’s next crane may be MIA for a while

It may look like Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower and a potential con-
cept for a phase two tower in Downtown Cleveland. But it’s actually the Texas
Tower in Downtown Houston. Perhaps Sherwin-Williams could build a similar
tower for its expected second phase to handle its growing office employment
(Comprehensive Zoning Services). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While the nation’s employment is high and incomes are rising, in many respects, the slowdown in new real estate construction projects is the worst the nation has seen since the credit crunch of 2008-10. Back then, everything stopped. Nothing new was getting built. Things aren’t too different now unless you’re building new data centers, warehouses or small housing projects.

READ MORE

New Downtown Lakewood plan, grocery store announced

Downtown Lakewood’s redevelopment of the 6-acre site of a former hospital com-
plex has gone through multiple iterations since Lakewood Hospital closed eight
years ago. The latest plan proposes a sequence of construction like what was an-
nnounced last fall but with a new boutique grocery store tenant that may hopefully
make this project move forward. This view is looking southwest with Detroit
Avenue on the right of the site (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Sitting dormant since Lakewood Hospital was closed in 2016 and demolished in 2019, a 6-acre city-owned site in Downtown Lakewood has a fresh strategy and a new tenant to potentially and finally reactivate it. While that strategy and a new tenant, a neighborhood grocery store, was enthusiastically received by City Council members at a committee meeting tonight, it remains to be seen whether it can overcome financing hurdles affecting it and all other projects nationwide.

READ MORE

Tower City’s Astro lifts off tomorrow

Astro Boy, Groot and Darth Vader guide down (or up) the stairs to the restrooms
at Astro Restaurant at Tower City Center in Downtown Cleveland. They’re just
some of the characters that liven up the family-friendly restaurant (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Yes, a new restaurant at Tower City Center in Downtown Cleveland really is out of this world. And The Astro Restaurant is going to lift off at 11 a.m. tomorrow, one block from the neighboring RocketMortage offices. But since the restaurant will be open only for dinner, it may prove to be popular for people attending evening events at the RocketMortgage FieldHouse just down the street.

READ MORE

Sherwin-Williams: already outgrown its new HQ

With Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters parking garage accommodating
fewer than one-third of the building’s employees, the company is developing
a parking and transportation plan to handle commuters for its new HQ and
possibly its HQ2 (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With the completion of Sherwin-Williams’ new Downtown Cleveland headquarters tower delayed well into next year, the global coatings giant has a some extra time to consider its options on how to handle various aspects of its unanticipated growth. Since the company has already outgrown its new HQ before it is finished, that means weighing a second HQ tower, expanding remote work, as well as addressing parking and commuting options.

READ MORE

Cleveland Museum of Art’s $8M lobby reno starts May 1

After a $320 million renovation and expansion that concluded in 2013, the
Cleveland Museum of Art is more popular than ever. But that has led to over-
crowding in its three lobbies. Those will be renovated from May to October to
allow for a more efficient movement of crowds, tour groups and special event
registrations (Iryna Tkachenko). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Increasingly crowded with students, tour groups and attendees of special events, three lobbies at Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) are about to be renovated thanks to $8 million worth of donations. Those gifts will help make those gathering locations in one of Cleveland’s most popular museums a place to enjoy rather than deal with.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

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.

READ MORE

Cleveland’s Greyhound/Barons Bus station futures

Likely to be the new home for the foreseeable future of Greyhound’s
and Barons Bus’ Cleveland arrivals and departures is the Stephanie
Tubbs Jones Transit Center. But the long-term station site may be
a planned multi-modal transportation center on downtown’s lake-
front (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While city-to-city bus services have vacated traditional downtown stations for remote, curbside boarding locations in Ohio cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Cleveland travelers may be spared that treatment in a plan being worked out with the city. But city planners and advocates say the long-term station site may be a new multimodal transportation center linking all modes of intercity and intracity transportation elsewhere in Downtown Cleveland.

READ MORE

Fairview Hospital unveils North Campus options

In this massing — an image intended to show only the location and scale of
proposed structures — Cleveland Clinic shows how a new Medical Office
Building (MOB) and Cancer Center north of Lorain Avenue might overlook
the Rocky River valley and extend east with two floors below a new multi-
level parking garage (CannonDesign). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

At a community meeting this evening at Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Foundation officials showed five design options for developing a new clinical building containing the Moll Cancer Center and medical offices plus a new parking garage on Fairview Hospital’s North Campus, north of Lorain Avenue. While there were some variations in the scale and shaping of the clinical building, the greatest difference between the options was where and how to construct a new parking garage or three.

READ MORE

Rezoning recommended for Ohio City project

Facing Lorain Avenue could be a 45 West, a new development by My Place
Group, if Cleveland City Council approved a rezoning recommended by City
Planning Commission. Among other features, the project includes a new five-
story apartment building and a 159-year-old house on Lorain renovated as a
proposed retail space (Vocon). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In February 2023, the first of many public meetings were held for a medium-sized development called 45 West proposed by Cleveland-based My Place Group on Lorain Avenue at West 45th Street in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. More than a year later, a rezoning request was recommended by the City Planning Commission to City Council to allow the project to move forward.

READ MORE

Cleveland skyscraper’s new owner plans upgrades

Downtown Cleveland’s third-tallest skyscraper and the fourth-tallest in Ohio,
200 Public Square’s deed of ownership officially transferred last week to an
affiliate of Namdar Realty. The new owner has hired a building manager and
plans improvements to the building, although some were already underway
by the prior owner (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Purchase of Downtown Cleveland’s third-tallest skyscraper last week was officially confirmed today by the skyscraper’s new owner. A partnership of Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management, both of Long Island, NY, also said they have a formed a five-year capital plan to improve 200 Public Square and hired a new building manager to carry out that plan. Enhancing the retail offerings in the tower’s atrium for office tenants and nearby residential buildings is part of its goal.

READ MORE

County courthouse to have new address?

The days of going to the 1976-built, 26-story Justice Center tower in Downtown
Cleveland to attend a hearing at Cleveland Municipal Court or the Cuyahoga
County Court of Common Pleas appear to be numbered. Also at the Justice Cen-
ter is the Cleveland Division of Police, seen at left, and the two jail blocks
behind it. Those three buildings may be demolished after the police and jails
leave. If the courthouse tower survives, it will like have a new purpose
(Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. 

A Cuyahoga County committee has reportedly rejected all but one of the proposals that could have kept a Consolidated Courthouse at the current site of Downtown Cleveland’s existing Justice Center. NEOtrans has learned that, of the four surviving proposals, one involves a complicated, time-consuming double-move of courthouse functions from the current site and back again. If rejected, it would end a five-decade run of the Justice Center site as a law enforcement, adjudication and penal facility and set the stage for its redevelopment.

READ MORE

Playhouse Square arrives at Greyhound Station

Downtown Cleveland’s landmark-designated Greyhound station will repor-
tedly be redeveloped by the Playhouse Square Foundation as a performing
arts venue but could also combine dining and other nightlife, a source said.
Ultimately, the move was made by the foundation to expand Cleveland's
theater district (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Playhouse Square Foundation this week closed a deal to acquire the Greyhound station in Downtown Cleveland to expand the theater district northward and convert the station into an entertainment/dining venue, according to a source familiar with the transaction. While Playhouse Square officials were mum on their plans, a spokesperson told NEOtrans that Greyhound bus operations will be relocated on a schedule that works for them and their customers.

READ MORE

Cleveland planners OK 150-foot-tall billboard in Flats

A 150-foot-tall billboard to be built at Flats East Bank and proposed by business-
man Tony George won City Planning Commission approval with little pushback.
It is one of three billboards resulting from a court-enforced settlement allowing
the demolition of George’s vandalized building for the Irishtown Bend
Park (CPC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland City Planning Commission today approved placing a 150-foot-tall pole-mounted billboard at a Flats East Bank property owned by an affiliate of controversial local businessman Tony George. It is the second of three billboards that George has received city permission to build in order to fulfill a court-approved settlement prior to demolishing an oft-vandalized building for the Irishtown Bend Park in Ohio City.

READ MORE

Ohio City retail defies recent trends

Ohio City retail is on the upswing, unlike many traditional main street-style
retail districts facing competition from big-box retailers and e-commerce.
The Cleveland neighborhood’s growing population comprised of people
with healthy incomes supports its brick-and-mortar retail establishments
that include restaurants and cafes (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

This spring, the flowers aren’t the only things blooming in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. So are the new stores and plans for more, including restaurants and cafes. While many new and renovated buildings have opened elsewhere in the city, their ground-floor retail spaces tend to fill with a pre-programmed routine of bank branches, coffee shops, the occasional bar/restaurant, art gallery, or stay empty for a long time.

READ MORE

Lorain Road corridor wins transit planning grant

Clifton Boulevard in Lakewood and Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood has
dedicated bus lanes during rush hours only. Euclid Avenue from Downtown Cleve-
land to University Circle has dedicated bus lines 24 hours a day. A mix of these
conditions may be developed on Lorain Avenue from Cleveland’s Ohio City
neighborhood, through Fairview Park and North Olmsted to near the Lorain
County line with transit-oriented development along the way (Cuyahoga
County Planning Commission). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a continuing effort to create more affordable housing and transportation choices for Americans, the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced $17.6 million in grants going to 20 communities in 16 states to support equitable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Greater Cleveland was among those communities.

READ MORE

Lake Erie island stadium concept floated

“There is no place like dome” said Congressional sponsors of legislation that
created the Lake Erie Island Stadium Authority and awarded $1 billion toward
the expected $10 billion cost of building a huge island off-shore from downtown
Cleveland, connected by highway and public transportation (CSU Memory
Project. Seasteading Institute, KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Borrowing on the 1970s plan for a Lake Erie jetport, NEOtrans has learned that a $10 billion stadium concept considered for professional football in Cleveland could involve an off-shore site as well as its island gaining potential sovereign status and inclusion in a longstanding free trade program with the USA and potentially Canada.

READ MORE

Three redevelopments to boost Cleveland’s Lee-Harvard

These three catalytic redevelopment sites identified in the Lee-Harvard
Community Master Plan are the subject of a request for qualifications
from the city to attract investment in developing them. They are: 1. Miles
 Avenue land bank lots; 2. ex-Gracemount School site; and 3. the John F.
Kennedy High and Recreation Center campus (HCSC).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Three large redevelopment sites totaling nearly 20 acres on Cleveland’s Lee-Harvard neighborhood are the subject of city efforts to focus investment on them. The effort is intended to reverse decades of disinvestment that has occurred in Cleveland’s southeast side by producing jobs, new housing and catalyzing more investment. In fact, there’s some evidence that such a reversal is already underway.

READ MORE

Ohio City megaproject nearly ready for roll-out

 The question of how might the largest undeveloped site, its parcels outlined
in various colors, in Cleveland’s booming Ohio City neighborhood be deve-
loped could be answered starting in April. That’s when a development master-
plan may be presented to the community by Ohio City Inc. and others. The
site is the Lutheran Hospital parking lots, across West 25th Street from
preparatory works for the new Irishtown Bend Park (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

 As early as next month, plans may go public for a significant mixed-use development on the largest undeveloped site in Cleveland’s booming Ohio City neighborhood. Sources familiar with the project said the release of plans for the development, first confirmed by NEOtrans in October 2023, was delayed as the development team attempted to include a well-known property but will instead move forward without it.

READ MORE

Sherwin-Williams HQ delayed into 2025

Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower west of Public Square has
topped out but isn’t fully enclosed as it was scheduled to be by this time.
That means the project will probably not be completed by the end of
this year, as planned (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Sherwin-Williams’ headquarters construction management team had hoped to enclose its new 616-foot-tall office tower in Downtown Cleveland by spring. But with April right around the corner, the building has not yet reached that milestone. While delays are happening to a lot of building projects due to supply constraints, Sherwin-Williams has made sure its employees won’t be left out in the cold.

READ MORE

New Downtown Cleveland Clinic, Cavs center to see groundbreaking by year’s end

By the end of 2026, more than 210,000-square-foot Cleveland Clinic inter-
disciplinary center will serve as a performance training facility for the
Cleveland Cavaliers, the community and athletes from around the
world (Populous). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Today, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Clinic and Bedrock Real Estate revealed the first official renderings of the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center. Pending city approvals, groundbreaking on the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is anticipated before the end of 2024.

READ MORE

Browns stadium likely going to Brook Park, if…

An unofficial site plan for a potential Cleveland Browns Stadium built in
suburban Brook Park, showing how a ballpark village between the sta-
dium and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport could be built along
along with large surface parking lots and transportation infrastructure.
A stadium here would not be built along with large surface parking
lots and transportation infrastructure. A stadium here would not
be located below any airport flight paths (Noah Belli).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

NEOtrans has learned that the Cleveland Browns and their owners, the Haslam Sports Group, want several things from their stadium over the next 30 years that the City of Cleveland appears unwilling to give them. That includes a dome that adds another $1 billion-plus to the stadium’s cost and control over revenues from parking and a ballpark village development.

READ MORE

Cleveland Public Square’s continuing transformation

Concrete “jersey” barriers were removed from Downtown Cleveland’s
Public Square today in a ceremonial start to the construction of the Su-
perior Crossing Project to improve pedestrian safety on Cleveland's central
commons (Michael Collier). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Construction started today on the Group Plan Commission’s Superior Crossing Project with a ceremonial farewell to the unpopular and infamous concrete barriers that have stood on Public Square since its major reconstruction eight years ago. But for the next three months, that means some traffic reroutes, bus detours and transit stop relocations to learn.

READ MORE

One downtown garage down, more to go?

In November 2023, demolition crews were busily taking down the 65-year-
old Arena Parking garage in downtown Cleveland’s Gateway District. Two
more aging downtown garages were recently closed due to their decaying
conditions and many more garages are reaching the ends of their financial
and structural lives at a time of increasing remote work and declining of-
fice markets (Kevin DeFranco). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s a tough time for Downtown Cleveland parking garages built in the 1950s and 1960s. Three of them in particular, each with just over 300 parking spaces or 966 total, are having a rough go of it. One already was demolished. Two others were closed due to their worsening condition. Many other downtown garages are of a similar age and may face financial and structural uncertainty in a weak office market.

READ MORE

One Hulett may be saved — in Canton

When the Hulett Ore Unloaders were first introduced, they reduced the time to
unload Great Lake ships from several days to several hours,  thereby allowing
a tremendous increase in the production of steel in Cleveland and other manu-
facturing cities. The economic growth that resulted made Cleveland one of the
wealthiest blue-collar cities in the world. Unfortunately, today, funding could
not be found to save one Hulett in Cleveland. These were Huletts in action on
Whiskey Island in 1948  (Glenn Zahn via the Cleveland Memory Project).

Where once there was four Hulett Ore Unloaders, soon there will be none. But at least one of the massive, dinosaur-like machines that revolutionized the steel industry and Great Lakes shipping through high-volume efficiency, now has a chance to survive extinction.

READ MORE

It’s official: Board of Elections to ex-Plain Dealer building

Cuyahoga County Council will begin considering next week whether to approve
a lease agreement at the former Plain Dealer building, 1801 Superior Ave., for
relocating the Board of Elections and some Health & Human Services
offices (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Confirming news first reported here at NEOtrans two weeks ago, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne informed county staff that he will introduce plans to Cuyahoga County Council on Tuesday to lease the former Plain Dealer building downtown for the new Board of Elections (BOE) offices. In a memo circulated today to certain county employees, he also outlined plans for additional real estate moves by the county.

READ MORE

Cuyahoga Land Bank gets $10M from Cleveland

This home renovation project on West 89th Street in Cleveland’s Cudell neigh-
borhood is an example of the work the Cuyahoga Land Bank does. This latest
financial infusion from the city will help the countywide agency focus its efforts
on three city neighborhoods (CLB). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland City Council has awarded $9.9 million of remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Cuyahoga Land Bank to build and renovate homes in three wards that include four historically disinvested neighborhoods including Central, Clark-Fulton, Collinwood and Glenville. The targeted wards are five, 10 and 14.

READ MORE

Metroparks buying more Cuyahoga Riverfront land

On Whiskey Island is a 4.5-acre piece of riverfront land, across the Cuyahoga
River from Downtown Cleveland. The Cleveland Metroparks is seeking
to buy the property just beyond its new Wendy Park Bridge, overhead,
to expand its waterfront recreation offerings (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Adding 4.5 acres of land along the Cuyahoga River is a relatively small contribution to the 1,000 acres the Cleveland Metroparks has acquired in just the past three years. But this latest addition may be one of its most visible and strategic. The site the Metroparks is acquiring is located in Cleveland on Whiskey Island, between the river and the park system’s new Wendy Park Bridge.

READ MORE

Irishtown Bend Park design features unveiled

Design features of the Irishtown Bend Park include the Coal Docks site
featuring foundation remnants of the Erie Railroad Coal Derrick and
the Iron Power Building, Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show. Such
workplaces employed Irish and other immigrants 100-150 years
ago. This is at the north end of the planned park, next to the
Cuyahoga River and the Detroit-Superior Bridge (Plural).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Tomorrow, the board of the Cleveland Metroparks is expected to authorize requesting a $10.8 million grant from the state to pay a significant portion of the construction costs of the planned Irishtown Bend Park in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. The proposed improvements and their projected costs are based on designs that were released today.

READ MORE

Cleveland suburban office market ‘bloodbath’

This is one of two office buildings for Hyland Software in Westlake that’s
on the market. And it’s just one of multiple office buildings that are either
for sale or for sub-lease. The peaceful, bucolic-like setting belies the tur-
moil in the local, regional and national office markets that isn’t limited to
downtown central business districts. Suburban areas are taking equally
big hits (CBRE). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The numbers are downright ugly. High office vacancy rates and even higher availability rates exceeding 20 percent owing to a big jump in office spaces available for sub-lease. Numerous Class A office buildings are for sale with few if any interested buyers. For those in a buying mood, their lowball interest may be only for the land to hold for a possible conversion to new uses or for the hopes that better days may return to the office market — someday.

READ MORE

Downtown Cleveland’s recovery accelerated in 2023

Downtown Cleveland is where Greater Clevelanders converge to enjoy
festivals and big events like Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day parade which,
according to TheIrishRoadTrip.com, is America’s fifth-largest. At Su-
perior Avenue and East 21st Street, the parade assembled yesterday
for its 182nd annual march through downtown (The GBX Group).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a data-heavy report released today, Downtown Cleveland, Inc. (DCI) outlined its achievements in continuing the recovery of Cleveland’s business and hospitality center and one of Cuyahoga County’s fastest-growing residential areas. The data, contained in the 2023 Downtown Cleveland Economic Development Report, says the recovery of Cleveland’s central business district is outpacing that of its peer cities in Ohio and the Great Lakes region.

READ MORE

Flats On Pearl OK’d, Row On Garden tabled

Landmarks Commission members approved this updated design of the Flats
On Pearl, a new-construction apartments-over-retail building next to the 134-
year-old, to-be-renovated Kerns Building at the corner of West 25th Street and
Garden Avenue. Behind the Kerns office building are four houses in varying
degrees of decay that developer Kostas Almiroudis plans to demolish (Brandt).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A next step for developer Kostas Almiroudis went forward when the Cleveland Landmarks Commission approved plans for the mixed-use Flats On Pearl. But the commission didn’t take as many steps forward as Almiroudis wanted, in requesting the demolition of four neighboring, decayed houses and a small townhouse development that would replace them.

READ MORE

New design for Cleveland Shoreway tower OK’d

The developer of a planned residential tower overlooking Edgewater Park
redesigned it based on market analysis and a need to control costs. The end
result was a new design that won more praise and support from the Cleve-
land Landmarks Commission. This view looks southeast from above upper
Edgewater Park (EAO). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A desire to make a proposed residential tower overlooking Cleveland’s Edgewater Park more viable produced a design that won for it more praise from a city review panel. The proposed 13-story Shoreway tower grew from 95 apartments to 112 and shrunk its floorspace from 204,400 square feet to 140,000. In so doing, its grid-like exterior gained an intentionally distorted and sculpted appearance that earned it unanimous praise.

READ MORE

Hamilton Brown, Niro to lead St. Clair-Superior CDC

The St. Clair-Superior neighborhood of Cleveland is located near the Lake
Erie shore east of downtown to the Glenville neighborhood. This view looks
 west above St. Clair Avenue from East 60s toward downtown (SCSDC).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A well-known name in Cleveland development circles this week has lost the “interim” prefix to her job title as executive director of the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation (SCSDC) in Cleveland. Not only did Terri Hamilton Brown become the Cleveland neighborhood’s new permanent director, Michael Niro was named chair of the development corporation’s board by unanimous board votes, announced today.

READ MORE

Cleveland’s new Bridgeworks plan takes next steps

In Cleveland’s Hingetown section of Ohio City, Bridgeworks’ new design will
likely make a return to city review boards starting next week with an eye
toward demolition work and possibly construction later this year. The
proposed development would rise at the northeast corner of West
25th Street and the Detroit-Superior Bridge (GLSD).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Bridgeworks, a mixed-use development proposed in Cleveland’s Hingetown section of Ohio City and that’s gone through several iterations, will be back in front of city design-review panels this month in the hopes of getting construction started this year. If approvals are granted, demolition of existing buildings at the northeast corner of West 25th Street and the Detroit-Superior Bridge could start in the coming months.

READ MORE

Streetcar deck of Detroit-Superior Bridge wins $7 million for bike/ped path

Cuyahoga County won $7 million in funds to plan for the reactivation of the
long-closed streetcar subway deck of the Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial
Bridge over the Cuyahoga River, between Downtown Cleveland and Ohio
City. The subway deck may be permanently reopened for used by pede-
strians and cyclists (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cuyahoga County won $7 million in federal funds today for the reactivation of the streetcar deck of Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial Bridge linking Downtown Cleveland and Ohio City. But instead of bringing back streetcars for the first time in 70 years, the funding would start planning for permanently reopen the deck as a pedestrian-bike path protected from rain, snow and fast-moving cars, trucks and buses on the roadway deck above.

READ MORE

Cleveland, other climate havens win Bloomberg bucks

Cleveland and other Great Lakes cities are considered to be climate havens in an
era of rapid change. Not only is Cleveland’s climate moderating, but its low
property insurance rates and nearly unlimited access to fresh water make
it climate-safe and affordable place to live (ClevelandWater.com).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland was selected today by Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of 25 U.S. cities to join Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities (BASC) and be the recipient of $200 million divided roughly equally among them. BASC is a three-year initiative designed to leverage historic levels of federal funding to incubate and implement transformative local solutions to build low-carbon, resilient, and economically thriving communities.

READ MORE

Adding ridership generators to the Waterfront Line

This is the Waterfront Line’s Flats East Bank station, viewed from the then-
new Aloft Hotel in 2014. Every station along the Waterfront Line might
need this much density, diversity and mixed uses around them to make the
light-rail line more usable (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Over the next two months, a Cleveland State University study will identify untapped lands in Downtown Cleveland along the inactive light-rail Waterfront Line and consider how to encourage their development for the benefit of the lakefront and the transit line. The findings could ultimately be incorporated into the city’s lakefront plan which has yet to be finalized.

READ MORE

Elections board to the ex-Plain Dealer building?

The former Plain Dealer building on Superior Avenue on the east side of Down-
town Cleveland appears to be the favored landing spot for the Cuyahoga County
Board of Elections (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While not as controversial or as impactful as the county’s pending moves of its consolidated jail or courthouse facilities, the new site of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) could boost its new surroundings. With up to 200 permanent employees, plus hundreds more at election time and many more visitors for early voting, the positive and negative impacts on the BOE’s new surroundings could be significant.

READ MORE

Browns continue to add land in Berea

Either an affiliate of the Cleveland Browns or the city of Berea own all of the
land visible on the right side of Front Street including the former Serpentini
Collision Center until reaching north to Lou Groza Boulevard, marked by the
traffic signal in the distance. Both the Browns and the city also own much of
the land on the other side of the street, including the last house on the left.
In their place, the Browns’ owners plan to construct a large, mixed-use
development (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Property acquisitions in the Cleveland suburb of Berea appear to be nearly wrapped up for a large, mixed-use development featuring an expanded headquarters for the Cleveland Browns and its ownership, the Haslam Sports Group. Only one or two homes need to be acquired to make way for a new headquarters office building, the professional football team’s practice facility, hotel, shops, restaurants and community recreation facilities, first reported by NEOtrans.

READ MORE

Hough health center ready for $19.5M rebuild

Closed and boarded up after a fire nearly three years ago, the Hough Health
Center for Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services Inc. on Hough
Avenue is finally starting to see movement toward reopening and serving
the community again (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

On May 19, 2021, shortly after the Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services Inc.’s (NEON) Hough Health Center, 8300 Hough Ave., closed for the night and employees went home, an apparent electrical fire sparked. The resulting flames spread throughout the building, causing millions of dollars in damage.

READ MORE

North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. names its first executive director

Implementing Downtown Cleveland lakefront projects that result from a
final version of this vision will be ultimate goal of newly hired North Coast
Waterfront Development Corp. Executive Director Scott Skinner. But his
 first goal is to start hiring a support staff to help him implement those
projects (FO). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Over the decades, one of the biggest barriers to developing Downtown Cleveland’s lakefront with public and private amenities was the lack of a staff dedicated to that purpose. That barrier began to come down today with the hiring of the first staff-person to lead the new North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation (NCWDC).

READ MORE

Slavic Village’s Olympia Building to be renovated

Although the Olympia Building at East 55th Street, Broadway and Hamlet
avenues is reported to be in fair condition, it’s actually in much better con-
dition than many other nearby structures in the heart of Cleveland’s Slavic
Village neighborhood. Some of those other building are subject of another
redevelopment effort called The Village 55 to renovate or replace them
(Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Increased interest in reviving historic structures around the mostly intact Broadway-East 55th intersection in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood has expanded to include the 113-year-old Olympia Building, 3335-3361 E. 55 St. That building will feature renovated apartments over existing storefronts and the preserved lobby for the Olympia’s adjacent movie theater demolished long ago.

READ MORE