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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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