Now arriving: Cleveland’s newest water taxi

Seen at the Flats East Bank’s boardwalk, the Cleveland Water Taxi’s Harbor Hopper
looks like a waterborne school bus from this view along the Cuyahoga River in
Downtown Cleveland (GCP Instagram). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

First there was the Holy Moses Water Taxi. Then there’s The eLCee2 Water Taxi, which still operates on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Next, starting on July 21, the Cleveland Water Taxi’s Harbor Hopper plans to offer daily schedules and intends to serve many more waterfront destinations in the future than its predecessors.

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GCRTA breaks ground on new E. 79th rail station

Local, state and federal dignitaries braved the hot sun to flip some dirt at the start of the
replacement of the East 79th Street Blue/Green Line station. The station is closed during
the 14-month-long, $10 million reconstruction project that is intended to boost and be-
nefit from the redevelopment of job-producing sites along the Opportunity Corridor
(Rep. Shontel Brown). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Sometimes a piece of underutilized infrastructure can be revived to be a part of not only its own rebirth, but that of its surrounding area. And in return, that rebirth helps to justify the existence of the infrastructure in the first place. In this case, the infrastructure is the East 79th Street Blue/Green Line station that was considered for closure a decade ago.

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Haslams buy $25M beachfront mansion in Florida

It’s not the purchase of a Florida mansion that raised eyebrows among several media
outlets but its timing, coming just three days after $600 million of Ohioans’ unclaimed
funds were given by state elected officials to the Haslams for their planned new sta-
dium in suburban Brook Park (Traded). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Three days after Ohio officials approved $600 million in state funds for the Haslam Sports Group’s new stadium in suburban Cleveland, billionaires Dee and Jimmy Haslam closed on the purchase of a $25 million beachfront mansion in Florida. The two events are either a remarkable coincidence or some tone-deaf scheduling.

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CHEERS permits drag on, Port makes interim move

he lakefront east of downtown and the harbor north of it are all connected to the Port’s
Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS). Dredging of
the harbor to keep it open for shipping is deposited at the northeast corner of Burke
Lakefront Airport, seen at left. A dredging barge is visible just left of center (NEOtrans).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

With federal permitting dragging on to allow the Port of Cleveland to build on offshore island east of downtown, the Port board yesterday awarded a $4 million contract so the port could continue to deposit sediment from the Cleveland harbor and Cuyahoga River at the northeast corner of Burke Lakefront Airport until 2029.

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Cleveland developments to benefit from HB96

During a topping-off ceremony on July 8, crews set into place the last piece of struc-
tural steel (painted white) for the new Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance
Center for the first phase of Bedrock Real Estate’s Riverfront Cleveland develop-
ment. More projects on the riverfront and elsewhere downtown could be aided
by increased public incentives in the two-year state budget passed on
June 30 (Bedrock). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

When sifting through the many development incentives in the state’s newly passed two-year budget, it becomes clear that a lot of Cleveland urban core projects are going to be eligible for them and potentially benefit from them. But, as we saw from a state program to aid megaprojects, a program will only benefit a region if there are projects and their sponsors in that region who will apply for them.

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Year-round beer garden planned for Ohio City

Proposed for the southwest corner of Lorain Avenue and West 38th Street, the Noble
Market Biergarten involves renovating an existing building while adding a greenhouse
and patio for a year-round beer garden. The project’s backers say it will be the first such
beer garden in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood (Horton Harper).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A long-vacant gas station and underutilized historic building at the southwest corner of Lorain Avenue and West 38th Street is proposed to become a near-west-side expansion for Noble Beast Brewing Co. But this wouldn’t be another brewpub in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Instead, if realized, it would be the neighborhood’s first year-round beer garden.

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Port OKs financing for Berea, Cleveland, Lakewood, Richmond Hts developments

Redevelopment of the Lakewood Hospital site by CASTO of Columbus will be
called Lakewood Common. It was awarded financing today by the Port of Cleveland
to get that project underway (Dimit). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Port of Cleveland board of directors today approved bonds for five major development projects in four communities across the region — Berea, Cleveland, Lakewood and Richmond Heights. The total investment from the developments in these communities total more than $405 million.

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