Downtown Cleveland Inc. takes over management of Public Square

Public Square has been the geographic, business, transportation and civic heart of
Cleveland for more than 200 years. Downtown Cleveland Inc. has taken over the
management of this public space to ensure it remains a a safe and attractive space
for the next 200 years (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland City Council has passed legislation transferring the management, marketing and programming for Public Square to Downtown Cleveland, Inc., effective upon Mayor Justin Bibb’s signature. This transition underscores Downtown Cleveland’s ongoing commitment to revitalizing the core and builds on the organization’s recent successes in securing significant funding for Public Square enhancements.

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Glenville-Collinwood site may finally get new life

The abandoned National Acme plant on East 131st Street at Coit Road is getting
swallowed up by Mother Nature. Demolition crews will soon lend a helping
hand by taking down the once-prolific factory so the site, abused by its
last user, can be returned to more uses in the near future (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s a factory name that conjures thoughts from classic Road Runner cartoons. But few are laughing from the enduring health and economic burdens that the long-closed National Acme plant, 170 E. 131st St., is having on Cleveland’s East Glenville and Collinwood residents. Once one of Cleveland’s largest blue collar employers, its fate is similar to that of other aging industrial properties across the city.

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Cuyahoga Land Bank appoints León interim prez

Ricardo León was appointed yesterday as interim president of the Cuyahoga Land
Bank following the sudden passing of its founder and longtime president Gus Frangos
last weekend (Cuyahoga Land Bank). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

At an emergency meeting held yesterday, Cuyahoga Land Bank’s board of directors appointed Ricardo León as interim president of the organization after the sudden passing of its longtime leader and founder Gus Frangos last weekend.

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Skyline 776 tower fills while under construction

While construction continues on Skyline 776 on Euclid Avenue in Downtown Cleveland,
the building’s lease-up is underway and is already more than 40 percent leased. This photo
was taken Aug. 7, the day after tornadoes  and severe thunderstorms raked Northeast Ohio
and tore off several panels from the top of the tower’s façade (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

When you first walk into the lobby of the Skyline 776 tower, 776 Euclid Ave., you realize you’re not in your usual Downtown Cleveland apartment high-rise anymore. Of the 11 downtown apartment buildings of 20 stories or more that preceded it, each has varying degrees of luxury or lack of same. And most tried to either highlight the architectural era in which they were built, or simply present the most modern appearances possible.

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Land Bank President Frangos dies unexpectedly

Gus Frangos spoke in 2017 before the City Club of Cleveland on the Cuyahoga Land
Bank’s first eight years  of existence, as it increasingly became more active in
repurposing blighted land. Frangos led the land bank from its inception
(Cuyahoga Land Bank). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One day after the Cuyahoga Land Bank won its largest score of Ohio Brownfield Program grants to repurpose blighted, long-fallow properties, land bank President and General Counsel Gus Frangos suddenly passed away.

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County officials urge Haslams to keep Browns downtown

City-owned Cleveland Browns Stadium has been the venue for the National Football
League team’s home games since 1999. And after the team’s lease expires following
the 2028 football season, city and now Cuyahoga County officials want the team to
play there for another 30 years following a $1 billion renovation (Iryna Tkachenko).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two Cuyahoga County leaders sent a letter today to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam urging the football team to keep playing at the stadium on the Downtown Cleveland lakefront rather than build a new domed stadium in suburban Brook Park. County Executive Chris Ronayne and Cuyahoga County Council President Pernel Jones Jr. said the Haslams’ Brook Park plan “does not make fiscal sense.”

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Cuyahoga County cleans up with brownfield bucks

In Downtown Cleveland, Bedrock’s Riverfront Development is planned on the Tower
City Center side of the Cuyahoga River. But the riverfront land has historically been
used for industrial purposes for nearly two centuries and needs to be cleaned up before
new construction can begin. Cuyahoga Land Bank won $10 million to help make
that happen (Adjaye Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., known simply as the Cuyahoga Land Bank, has secured multiple funding awards from the Ohio Department of Development’s Brownfield Remediation Program for demolishing more than 1,100 structures, mostly blighted single-family homes in Cleveland and East Cleveland. But there are also multiple funding awards it got for cleaning up polluted industrial sites so they can be redeveloped for new housing and jobs.

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