All GCRTA Blue Line stations in Shaker Heights to be rebuilt

This is what all of the single-level stations along the light-rail Blue Line in
Shaker Heights will soon look like, thanks to a federal grant awarded today.
Like the Farnsleigh station seen here, all will have new trackside platforms,
tactile edges, waiting areas and ramps to mini-high platforms so wheelchair
passengers and those unable to climb steps can board trains (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) needed $16 million from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to rebuild eight of its stations in Shaker Heights along the light-rail Blue Line. Not only did GCRTA get the full $16 million, it got the money it needed on the first try. That’s a big win considering the FTA received nearly $1.1 billion in requests nationwide for the $343 million in stations funding available this year.

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Greater Cleveland housing market among USA’s tightest

Houses for sale in Greater Cleveland have been harder to find for a while, but
that tightness in the market has become notable on a national scale, pushing
Greater Cleveland to near the top in real estate rankings that show it truly
is a seller’s market (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Spring time is the busiest time of the year for home shopping. That’s when most prospective buyers are out looking for new places to live and, under normal circumstances, it’s when most homeowners list their properties for sale. But these are not normal times in the housing market, especially in Greater Cleveland.

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Why aren’t the Browns buying this key piece of land?

Shown in white, FirstEnergy’s narrow strip of land is only about 100 feet wide but
extends about 1,400 feet into the center of the Brook Park site, shown in red, the
Haslam Sports Group apparently desires for a possible new domed stadium. On
that land is an active, high-voltage electrical transmission line that feeds a nearby
Ford engine plant. A football stadium cannot be built here until that utility right
of way is addressed. In the background is Cleveland Hopkins International Air-
port with Snow Road at lower left and Interstate 71 at lower right (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

On Cuyahoga County real estate parcel maps, a narrow strip of land owned by FirstEnergy knifes into the heart of a Brook Park site the owner of the Cleveland Browns football team reportedly wants for a possible new domed stadium. Despite its prominence on the map, no one in Cleveland media apparently has asked its owner if it has any agreements with anyone for its potential sale — until now.

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County secures funding for Fresh Water Institute

In Cleveland’s post-industrial era, good and bad remnants of that era endure such as
this steel mill ore dock along the Cuyahoga River at Scranton Peninsula, where more
than 600 housing units are under construction in the shadows of Downtown Cleve-
land’s skyscrapers. Addressing the freshwater impacts and opportunities of those
good and bad legacies is among the charges of Cuyahoga County’s new Fresh
Water Institute (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne announced a $250,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation to support the creation of a Fresh Water Institute in Greater Cleveland. He made the announcement yesterday during the Climate Leadership Conference in Downtown Cleveland.

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Cleveland’s Denison Manor may get rehabbed

Denison Manor Apartments and the Kleinschnitz Building at right are a few feet east
of the intersection of Denison and Lorain avenues in Cleveland’s West Boulevard
neighborhood. Its owner, a Long Island, NY investor, intends to turn its sub-
sidized apartments into larger, more marketable units (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

An historic apartment building set near one of the west side’s most important intersections is proposed to get a major renovation by its new owner. The Denison Manor Apartments, 3206 W. 100th St. in Cleveland’s West Boulevard neighborhood, could get its interiors completely rebuilt to offer larger, more marketable, subsidized apartments. But work reportedly began without securing the proper permits and the city ordered the work halted.

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Cohen to name its Downtown HQ tower

In Downtown Cleveland, Cohen & Co. intends to rename the Playhouse Square
office tower formerly known as the Renaissance Center and later as US Bank
Centre (Stratus). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With accounting and consulting firm Cohen & Co. growing its office staff in Downtown Cleveland and US Bank reducing its, there’s going to be a change at the top of the former Renaissance Center at Playhouse Square. Superior naming rights to the 1990-built, 16-story office building US Bank Centre, 1350 Euclid Ave., is going to pass to Cohen.

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Cleveland-area affordable housing wins financing

The Walton Senior Apartments is proposed to be built on a vacant lot
on Clark Avenue with access from Walton Avenue, west of Fulton
Road. This project won conditional approval from the state for
the coveted 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (RDL).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While only one proposed affordable housing development in Cuyahoga County was awarded the coveted 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) from the state, four others in the county got conditional approval, putting them in a good position to get financing in the near future. All five developments, if built, would add 247 total units of affordable housing in the county.

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