Realities behind Amtrak’s ‘new’ train to Florida

Amtrak has a shortage of these bilevel train cars on its western long-distance trains
because it cut maintenance staff during the pandemic. Amtrak hasn’t fully reinstated
them and has dozens of cars awaiting overhauls and other routine work. So Amtrak
is taking the bilevel cars from its Chicago-Cleveland-Washington DC service, seen
here, to keep its western trains running. Normally, Amtrak visits Cleveland in the
pre-dawn hours except when trains are very late, as was the case here on July 17,
2023 (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While Amtrak’s press release about the creation of a direct-but-temporary Chicago-Florida passenger rail service through Cleveland touted it as an achievement, the reality behind it is actually quite different. According to several sources, the direct service is being implemented to rescue Amtrak from its own shortcomings — both internal and external.

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Library Lofts turning next page at Circle Square

Workers on Sept. 12 were busily attaching exterior panels to the 11-story Library
Lofts development at Circle Square in Cleveland’s University Circle. This week,
the first residents are moving in. In the background at right is The Artisan apart-
ments, part of Circle Square and the tallest structure in University Circle (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With a partial occupancy permit from the city awarded, arriving residents are opening the book on Library Lofts — the latest building to be offered at the Circle Square district of Cleveland’s University Circle. Like a novel with a thick plot, progress on the apartment building-over-public library has taken lots of turns, though it’s not done yet. But this page-turner is almost there. And what a poetic conclusion it may turn out to be.

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Bridgeworks – one more review ’til they’re through?

Bridgeworks’ development team hopes this is the last rendering in the design-review
process before work crews can descend onto its site in Cleveland’s Ohio City neigh-
borhood to prepare it for construction. That will be determined later this
week (GLSD). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

It’s been said before — many times; many ways. No, not “Merry Christmas.” But “We hope this is the final design for Bridgeworks.” And the Bridgeworks development team hopes to start site preparations by the end of next month with construction to follow — perhaps by the time chestnuts are roasting on an open fire at Christmas, by the way.

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East Stokes skyscraper concept wins approval

A wider rendering of the proposed East Stokes Tower than the one NEOtrans intro-
duced three days ago when we broke the story of the latest high-rise slated to be
built in Cleveland’s University Circle. The new, mostly residential tower would
feature top-floor amenities, lots of ground floor retail and second-floor
offices (SCB). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland’s City Planning Commission today gave unanimous support to the conceptual design of a proposed mixed-use high-rise in the University Circle neighborhood. If the project is able to move swiftly through the design-review process, the proposed 24-story East Stokes Tower at the southeast corner of Chester Avenue and Stokes Boulevard could see construction start as early as spring 2025.

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Asiatown mixed-use development plan revived

Proposed for both sides of Payne Avenue in Cleveland’s Asiatown neighborhood
are 120 affordable housing units atop ground-floor commercial and community
uses in two buildings. This development concept was proposed by the same
architect that was involved the last time a similar development was planned
 here three years ago (MA Design). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Three years after a development team planned a mixed-use project at the closed Dave’s Market, 3301 Payne Ave., in Cleveland’s Asiatown, some members of that development team are back to invest in that site again. This time, a $42.3 million development is proposed with a more focused approach on affordable housing in two four-story buildings with ground-floor commercial and community uses.

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Metroparks, GCRTA to aid soccer stadium project

A pedestrian bridge over the rapid transit tracks and station, leading toward the
proposed new soccer stadium at right, could be aided by actions underway at
the Cleveland Metroparks and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority (CSG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In two different ways, two Greater Cleveland public-sector organizations are stepping up to support the Cleveland Soccer Group’s (CSG) effort to build a $150 million, 12,500-seat soccer stadium just southeast of Downtown Cleveland. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Metroparks’ board will vote on whether to acquire land for the stadium while the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is pursuing an amendment to its long-range plan to add a rapid transit station to serve the stadium area.

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New skyscraper planned for University Circle

East Stokes, a massive, 24-story apartment tower over ground-floor retail
and several levels of parking, is planned for the next phase of the Circle
Square development in Cleveland’s University Circle (SCB).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The development team for Circle Square, a district bringing more than one million square feet of mixed-use development to market in Cleveland’s booming University Circle, is about to introduce its latest addition to this booming district. And that addition, at the southeast corner of Chester Avenue and Stokes Boulevard, will challenge Circle Square’s The Artisan for the tallest building in Cleveland’s “second downtown.”

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