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.

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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.

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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.

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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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