University Circle’s ‘Holy Oil Can’ is up for sale

In Cleveland’s University Circle, two of that district’s tallest structures stand next to
the Wade Lagoon. The district’s tallest structure, The 267-foot-tall Artisan apartments,
was topping out in September 2022. But the district’s longtime height champion at
200 feet was the Church In The Circle, built in 1928 as the Epworth-Euclid United
 Methodist Church (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

When a church has been around for a long time, its name can often change. But for the 97-year-old Church In The Circle, 1919 E. 107th St., its appearance-based nickname has not changed — the “Holy Oil Can.” Nor has its ownership — until now.

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Ohio City Starbucks OK’d by Landmarks panel

The left side of this corner of an historic building in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood
is where a drive-through for a new Starbucks Cafe is planned. The cars from this drive-
through will exit here onto Abbey Avenue. In the background is the Intro development.
Out of view to the right is the West Side Market and, behind this camera is the Ohio City
Red Line train station Avenue (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A plan to renovate an historic car dealership with retail uses, including a new Starbucks in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, was approved today by the city’s Landmarks Commission. But the question of whether a proposed drive-through should remain in the design was referred to the city’s Division of Traffic Engineering to decide.

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Here’s the Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s to Playhouse Square

Along Euclid Avenue, to the left or east of Starbucks in the Hanna Building, will be
the latest location of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. The new parlor will take the entire
space between Starbucks and the arched Euclid entrance to the historic building
(Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While NEOtrans doesn’t normally devote an entire article to the planned opening of a small retail space, this is a new ice cream parlor in a high-profile location. And, of course, everyone loves ice cream, especially when it’s enjoyed before or after a show at America’s second-largest theater district, Cleveland’s Playhouse Square.

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Tony George buying Lake Avenue site

This office and warehouse at 8110 Lake Ave. on Cleveland’s west side is near to
being acquired by the George Group of Lakewood to apparently remain a
commercial use in a neighborhood with lots of residential development
(NEOtrans). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A high-profile businessman is near to acquiring a piece of property between Cleveland’s stable Edgewater neighborhood to the west and the fast-growing Gordon Square neighborhood to the east. But despite the number of new residential developments emerging nearby, this commercial site is apparently going to stay commercial — possibly charitable.

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Rose Building sign not a sign of construction yet

This proposed sign for Project Scarlet, a renovation and conversion of the former
Medical Mutual headquarters into apartments and a hotel, is sought to stir up
interest and create buzz about the project (Diamond Signs & Graphics).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Landmarks Commission is due to hear a proposal this week for the addition of a visible, unique sign atop an important building in Downtown Cleveland. But while the proposed sign on the Rose Building, 2060 E. 9th St., is touted as a “Temporary construction duration banner” — there is no sign that construction of a planned hotel-apartment conversion is imminent.

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NE Ohio Soccer HQ, training facility search begins

A FIFA-regulation-size soccer pitch measures just under 2 acres, like this one in at
the Old Crew Stadium in Columbus. In the winter, the field is covered with an air-
supported bubble dome that is usually 20 degrees warmer inside than it is outside
(KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG) has issued a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) to municipalities, civic leaders and community development partners to establish a new headquarters and training facilities for two professional soccer teams debuting in 2026 — a men’s team and Ohio’s first women’s professional soccer team that will be announced soon.

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Next in Cleveland’s BVQ District: Vega Ave. Studio Lofts

The Vega Avenue Studio Lofts doesn’t just overlook its namesake street. The apartment
building, clad in wood shiplap siding, will also overlook Interstate 90, set immediately
south of the BVQ Lofts in the former J. Spang Bakery Building (Vocon).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

If it seems like a new development is popping up just about every month in Cleveland’s Barber-Vega-Queen (BVQ) District, you’re right. The latest to pop up on public records is the Vega Avenue Studio Lofts.

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MGK’s Shooters Yacht Club gets go-ahead

Formerly Shooters on the Water had a 37-year run on Cleveland’s West Bank
of the Flats. It will be renovated as Shooters Yacht Club, whose ownership
group is led by musician and former Clevelander MGK (Share The River).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A new direction for a longtime Flats West Bank restaurant site on the Cuyahoga River is about to get underway. But it may be early August before before the public will have the opportunity to enjoy it, according to a spokesman for the construction contractor.

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National Acme redevelopment site to expand

Long abandoned and neglected, the former National Acme plant on East 131st Street
at Coit Road is getting demolished and its site cleaned up to make way for a new end
user offering new jobs for Cleveland’s Glenville and Collinwood neighborhoods.
And now it will expand with the addition of a neighboring former Republic
Steel site (Cuyahoga Land Bank). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The fate of the National Acme plant at 170 E. 131st St., where Cleveland’s Glenville and Collinwood neighborhoods meet, is an all-too common story about the demise of a major employer-turned-abandoned factory. But community leaders today said they hope that the rebirth promised for this neglected, toxic site will also become a common story for Cleveland’s many problematic properties.

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Cavs, Clinic extend partnership at riverfront center

The Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is under construction in
Downtown Cleveland as the first phase of Bedrock’s planned massive riverfront
development (Populous). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Cleveland Cavaliers pro basketball team and Cleveland Clinic healthcare system have finalized a 25-year extension of their partnership, lengthening the relationship to more than 55 years altogether. That makes it one of the nation’s longest continuous partnerships between a professional sports organization and a healthcare provider.

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Browns may not score enough votes for stadium win

A proposed enclosed stadium for Cleveland Browns football games and other
events may be in trouble based on a potential veto from Gov. Mike DeWine
and a lack of votes to override it in the Ohio General Assembly (HKS).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two extra years on the stadium’s current lease could have offered at least a cushion. The lack of that plus a potential gubernatorial veto and a lack of legislative override votes may be the biggest threats to realizing a $3.6 billion sports-entertainment district planned in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park.

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Construction starts on Shoreway Tower

The Shoreway Tower at right, and the current Shoreway Apartments at left, are shown
here from the north side, overlooking the Shoreway boulevard and Edgewater Park
in Cleveland. Construction is now getting underway on the site (EAO).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Nope, it’s not an April Fool’s Joke. Construction work is getting underway this week for Cleveland’s next new high-rise residential building. But it’s not rising downtown or in the University Circle area. Instead, crews are assembling equipment, materials, portable toilets, utility relocations and more on a bluff overlooking the Shoreway boulevard and Edgewater Park.

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Federal Building to be closed, agencies moved

The tall building at center, located next to Cleveland City Hall, is the Anthony J.
Celebrezze Federal Building. Reports are emerging that the federal building needs
hundreds of millions of dollars of work, that the building will be closed and its
occupants moved to other privately owned buildings downtown (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

More than 4,000 federal employees based at Downtown Cleveland’s Anthony J. Celebrezze (AJC) Federal Building, 1240 E. 9th St., are reportedly going to be moved out of the 32-story office tower to privately owned office properties downtown in the next three years, followed by AJC’s closure, according to a spokesperson for Congresswoman Shontel Brown (D-11) who opposes the sudden move.

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Cleveland Amtrak routes surge; but expansion lags

Nearly 50 people prepare to board the westbound Lake Shore Limited at 4 a.m.
March 14 at Cleveland. This train is the nation’s single busiest train as it
links population centers on the East Coast with those in the Midwest (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

According to the latest data from national passenger railroad Amtrak, America’s most heavily used passenger train passes through Cleveland each night. And it, plus the other Amtrak route through Cleveland, were the two fastest-growing long-distance routes in terms of ridership last year. But getting more ridership or better departure times at Cleveland will be difficult absent new federal policies, said a nonprofit rail advocacy coalition.

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Leaning laundromat of Little Italy demolition due

The 19th-century building at the center with the white siding is visibly leaning to the
left, into Maxi’s Bistro which is owned by the same principal. The leaning building is
due to be demolished but it remains to be seen if plans for developing the property
are imminent (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Italy has its famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Cleveland has its leaning laundromat of Little Italy. But while Pisa’s was built in 1372 and is in no danger of falling, Cleveland’s 19th-century version is a danger to surrounding buildings and may be demolished soon after five years of consideration.

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Bibb: fate of Cleveland Federal Building “concerning”

About 4,000 people are employed at the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building in Down-
town Cleveland. The Trump Administration has proposed to close and/or sell the 59-year-
old building without identifying where the federal services and the employees who
provide them would be located (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Earlier this month, the Trump Administration offered hundreds of federal buildings and properties for sale or other disposition but quickly withdrew the list in the face of national criticism. Now, the General Services Administration is issuing a new, much smaller list of eight federal buildings to be cast off in an “accelerated disposition.”

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Euclid Beach Park arch relocation ready

This 1951 postcard shows the Euclid Beach Park arch from the waning years of the
amusement park’s heyday. The arch is being relocated and preserved in a new pub-
lic park adjacent to this location in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood
(Cleveland Public Library). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s Office of Capital Projects is ready to start work on relocating and rehabilitating a gateway arch from the historic Euclid Beach Park to its planned new home a few feet away. That home is a new greenspace in the 15900 block of Lake Shore Blvd. in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood, with trees and walkways and the landmark arch spanning the main walkway lined with benches.

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Goodwill to open at Gordon Square Rite Aid site

August 2024 marked the end of the Rite Aid drug store at West 65th Street and
Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. But Goodwill
announced last week that it will open a store here this summer (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

On Friday, Ward 15 Councilwoman Jenny Spencer shared on her Facebook page a letter to the community from Goodwill Industries that they will open this summer a store at 6512 Franklin Blvd. in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. The location is a former Rite Aid drug store that closed in August 2024.

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North Coast Yard pop-up to activate lakefront

A street-level view of the proposed pop-up park at North Coast Harbor,
next to the Steamship William G. Mather Museum, north of the Great
Lakes Science Center (NWDC). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Like a company offering a free trial period to customers in the hopes of converting them into loyal subscribers, the city of Cleveland and North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation (NCWDC) officials hope to offer residents just that: a free trial period of lakefront activation and a tangible reason to support a permanent, fully-realized reimagining of an underutilized lakefront.

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Tower City Center lacks coherent future without more development, rail access

What was can be again, albeit modernized with trains now being manu-
factured for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, left, and
Amtrak, right. Tower City Center was built as Cleveland Union Termi-
nal — the city’s local, regional and long-distance passenger rail hub.
If Bedrock wants foot traffic and a vibrant Tower City Center,
restoring that rail hub will do that for them (Methodicle).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Like many who work in one of the dozen buildings of Downtown Cleveland’s Tower City Center complex, Nora Romanoff parks her car where more than 100 railroad passenger trains a day once pulled into or out of a labyrinth built as Cleveland Union Terminal. Just as rail travelers did from 1930-1977, she rides an escalator up into a grand railroad concourse that was significantly remodeled in 1988-90 to become today’s retail-heavy The Avenue at Tower City.

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