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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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