Three big county projects about to advance

This is an unofficial conceptual massing (a rendering to show scale, not
design) of what a new Consolidated Courthouse could look like if built
near the lakefront at The Pit between West 3rd Street, at left, and West
9th Street, at right. In between, atop five levels of structured parking
and a layer of public atriums of shops and restaurants could be two
courthouse structures of nearly 450,000 square feet each. Such a com-
plex would not only meet Cuyahoga County’s requirements but also
provide stadium parking relocated from a to-be-developed lakefront
(Ian McDaniel). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Fifteen years ago, when the Great Recession could let someone go bowling down East 9th Street without hitting anyone, three major construction projects were about to get started and provide the city of Cleveland with much-needed economic stimulus. Back then, construction of the new Huntington Convention Center, the Flats East Bank redevelopment, and the new Inner Belt highway bridges represented a total public works investment of nearly $1.5 billion.

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Oswald HQ moving to Flats East Bank

Oswald Companies is moving its headquarters across Downtown Cleveland
to the former Ernst & Young Tower at Flats East Bank with an option for
future expansion in the same building. Oswald will gain naming rights to
the 23-story building (LoopNet). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Oswald Companies today announced that it has entered into a lease agreement to move its headquarters to a larger space at the former Ernst & Young tower on the East Bank of the Flats, a prominent fixture on the downtown skyline. Once all necessary approvals are received, the move will be completed in 2024 and plans include a name change to Oswald Tower.

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More international flights arriving Cleveland

Sangster International Airport is located just east of Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Starting in March, Cleveland will be just four hours away from this Carib-
bean destination thanks to the return of the first direct flights on this route
since 2017 (Shutterstock). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Joined by Cleveland airport officials, Frontier Airlines today announced that it will be starting nonstop flights to Montego Bay, Jamaica in March with an introductory low fare. The new, direct flight is the first new international flight from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport resulting from its new crew base there. But it may not be the last.

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Cuyahoga County’s economy surges

Multiple construction cranes preside over the Cleveland Clinic’s Main
Campus near University Circle. In the foreground is the site of one of
the largest building projects in Ohio — the 1-million-square-foot
Neurological Institute on Carnegie Avenue. It is eclipsed only by
the Sherwin-William headquarters downtown. In the distance are
two cranes for the Cleveland Clinic’s new Global Center for
Pathogen Research & Human Health measuring nearly 300,000
square feet (Courtesy, clevelandskyscrapers.com).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In the spirit of Oscar Wilde, one could say that a year’s worth of economic output data might be considered a curiosity. But multiple years may be considered a trend. Last year, the growth of Cuyahoga County’s gross domestic product (GDP) ranked 10th among Ohio’s 88 counties and was the best performer among Ohio’s most populous, urbanized counties. according to new data released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Cuyahoga County OK’s first microgrid utility in USA

Compass Energy Platform was chosen to serve as the utility opera-
tor for Cuyahoga Green Energy to serve Greater Clevelanders
(Shutterstock). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

This week, Cuyahoga County has launched the first microgrid electrical utility in the United States. Cuyahoga Green Energy (CGE) has contracted with Compass Energy Platform to serve as the operator for the county-run utility.

Cuyahoga County Council unanimously approved the 10-year contract at its Dec. 5 council meeting. Together with $1.8 million of Department of Energy funding secured by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Compass Energy Platform will bring its own capital and engineering partners to develop and finance the utility’s first three projects planned in Euclid, Brooklyn and the Aerozone region adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

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BrandMuscle opens new Cleveland hub

BrandMuscle opened its new office hub yesterday in Downtown
Cleveland — one of two for the marketing technology company.
Their new spot is the Post Office Plaza in the Tower City Center
complex. The other is located in Chicago (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The bad news is that a Downtown Cleveland employer has reduced its office footprint. The good news is the company, BrandMuscle, a mid-sized marketing technology firm, opened a new office yesterday downtown. The better news is that BrandMuscle kept Cleveland as one of its two remaining office hubs along with Chicago, while closing other offices in Austin, TX and Kansas City, MO after switching to a largely remote-work culture.

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Birthing Beautiful Communities to rise on Chester

Northeast Ohio’s first stand-alone birthing center, in what would be a visible
and accessible location, is designed to help reduce Cuyahoga County’s
nationally high infant mortality rates (City Architecture).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

For the non-profit organization Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC), their mission is often noted in news stories detailing Cuyahoga County’s infant mortality crisis. Sadly, the county has had one of worst infant mortality rates in the country and is a symptom of much larger problems including poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate housing and unaffordable health care. Much of the need is in Cleveland’s inner city and especially on the East Side. So, to meet the need, BBC is seeking to construct Northeast Ohio’s first free-standing birthing center in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood, on the north side of Chester Avenue, between East 63rd and 65th streets.

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