Thursday, January 23, 2025

Blue Abyss inks deal with NASA Glenn

Commercial space training company Blue Abyss has signed an agreement with
NASA Glenn Research Center to provide astronaut training to the space
 agency (NASA). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

In a groundbreaking move for the commercial space sector, Blue Abyss has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Glenn Research Center. This collaboration aims to accelerate advancements in commercial space training, research, and infrastructure development, further positioning Blue Abyss as a key player in the global space industry.

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2025’s return to the office? It started in 2024

While there is hope in new office market data that the worst of the office glut is
over, real estate investors and lenders are cautious when considering support-
ing expansions, acquisitions or refinancings of office assets (Cresco).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Although a variety of four-letter words have frequently been used to describe the office market since the pandemic, there’s a new one being uttered lately — “hope.” That word made its appearance in the latest Cleveland office market report by Newmark, one of the industry’s most respected collectors and analysts of real estate inventory market data.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Bedford, UH reach settlement over hospital site

Bedford Hospital, now University Hospitals Bedford Outpatient Campus on
Columbus Road. As a city-owned property, it will become the subject of a
request for proposals for healthcare providers and other investors to
redevelop (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The City of Bedford has reached a settlement agreement with University Hospitals (UH) that includes the transfer of the former Bedford Hospital site and surrounding properties to the city and a $2.1 million payment. This settlement ends a two-and-a-half year legal dispute stemming from UH’s controversial August 2022 hospital closure.

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Moen moving its HQ to Chicagoland

The headquarters for Moen Inc. appears to be getting ready to hop on the highway
out of town. A press release and local sources say the longtime Cleveland-area
company will be relocating its HQ from North Olmsted to the Chicago suburb
of Deerfield, IL (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Faucet and fixture maker Moen Inc. is relocating is corporate headquarters from the western Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted to the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, IL by the summer of 2026, according to a press release and affected employees. It is not known how many of Moen’s 600-plus HQ employees are making the move but it appears that a significant number of them will.

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Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Long-sought Midtown developments have a pulse

It’s a rendering that’s been kicking around as long as the Warner & Swasey redevelop-
ment project has, through at least two developers and 15 years. But that project is
still alive, as is another nearby that’s been kicking around for a few years too (Geis).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Projects that have languished for half as long as the redevelopment of the Warner & Swasey factory, 5701 Carnegie Ave., were ultimately abandoned. But not this one and the reason is because just about anyone who follows redevelopment locally wants its catalytic reactivation for the benefit of Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood.

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Monday, January 20, 2025

Taking steps toward a more walkable Cudell

Fast-moving traffic along Detroit Avenue in front of the West Boulevard-Cudell
rapid transit station, at right, completes a pedestrian moat around the station. The
north and west sides of the station are blocked by railroad tracks. The avenue will
be narrowed and a landscaped pedestrian island added beyond the West Boulevard
intersection at the next traffic light (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Unfortunately, there are many places in Cleveland where crossing a wide, busy street is like being the frog in the video game Frogger. But having that be the case at the front door to a rapid transit station reduces the usage of that station. And it reduces the potential for that station to spur the development of housing, jobs and services within a short walk.

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Sunday, January 19, 2025

CSX makes CVSR downtown extension infeasible

Buried in the underbrush at the bottom-center of this view are the tracks that could
deliver Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad trains to this site for a potential Downtown
Cleveland station. This view was taken from the Lorain-Carnegie Hope Memorial
Bridge. A proposed CVSR station below this bridge was recommended by Bedrock
Real Estate which is building the Global Peak Performance Center at lower left
and owns riverfront land beyond (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Except for one brief instruction, property-owning freight railroad CSX Transportation didn’t participate in a feasibility study for extending the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad‘s (CVSR) passenger trains into Downtown Cleveland. But that instruction, described as “a gold-plated” request, forced the study team to conclude that the CVSR extension would not be feasible — for now.

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