Downtown Cleveland Inc. makes a move

Starting next year, the new home of Downtown Cleveland Inc., formerly
the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, will be 668 Euclid Ave., just a short
walk from its current home at 1010 Euclid Ave. The move is touted by
the nonprofit development corporation as putting it more in the center
of the action downtown  and will help it reduce operating costs (Yelp).
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In written statement to the media and others, Downtown Cleveland, Inc. today announced board approval of its move to a new office location next year. The decision comes after careful consideration of the organization’s operational needs and strategic goals, with the aim of bolstering visibility, enhancing accessibility for stakeholders and the community, and reinforcing its refreshed brand identity.

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Midtown developments accelerate

Funding procurement for the Warner & Swasey redevelopment has advanced
far enough to where the project is up for conceptual approval by the city this
week. Plans show the long-abandoned site will be reborn with 112 afford-
able apartments for seniors and families with a future phase offering 28
market-rate apartments. The project is considered by many to be a
catalyst for further development in Midtown (Geis).
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Long considered as the affordable and accessible place to live between downtown and University Circle, the Midtown neighborhood of Cleveland is starting to take off. Multiple development projects are under way or planned in this area, midway between two of Ohio’s largest employment hubs — the city’s central business district and its eds-and-meds hub. And a project that many consider to be the key to unlocking further development in Midtown is finally moving forward.

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Shoving ye spades into the leitir

Local, regional, state and federal officials assembled today near Merwin’s
Wharf in the Flats, across the Cuyahoga River from the unstable hillside
that will host Irishtown Bend Park to celebrate the start of construction
of hillside stabilization work. That will precede construction work on
the park itself, due to get under way in 2025.Ward 3 Councilman
Kerry McCormack kicked off the ceremonies (KJP).
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Today was a hooley 175 years in the making. Hundreds of people celebrated today on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, across the waters from the lietir, or hillside where work is already starting to stabilize a slope on which Irish immigrants settled under difficult circumstances long ago. Today, their struggle is about to be memorialized with the $100-plus million Irishtown Bend Park.

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The fate of East Cleveland

Sixty years ago, my mother and two older brothers lived in the Superior
Glen Apartments at left, at the corner of Superior and Glenmont Avenues
in East Cleveland. Across Superior, at right, a small portion of Forest Hill
Park is visible. The city has fallen far in the six decades since and isn’t
done falling. Multiple apartment buildings at left were demolished. The
apartments at right were vacated in the late 2010s. The fate of Forest
Hill Park and East Cleveland is not hopeful (Google).
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In the 1950s, after my mother Edith March Prendergast divorced her first husband, she moved herself and her two boys to Greater Cleveland to be near family. After a brief stay at the Alcazar Hotel, she settled at the south end of Glenmont Avenue in Cleveland Heights. Then she moved to the north end of Glenmont which is in East Cleveland. There, she, Dale and Dean stayed until the early 1960s when she married my father James and moved into his home in Lyndhurst.

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For sale: The Justice Center

Cuyahoga County is offering for sale its 2-million-square-foot, 7-acre
Justice Center complex in downtown Cleveland to the highest bidder
and the county would continue to use and lease much of the complex
for at least several more years until new, renovated and/or expanded
facilities costing upwards of $1.2 billion can replace them (Cuyahoga
County). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

All five above-ground buildings in downtown’s Justice Center complex, plus a below-ground parking garage, are being offered for sale by Cuyahoga County as a result of other efforts that could partially or completely vacate the entire 2-million-square-foot facility. The sale includes a three-year leaseback with four additional one-year renewal options so the county and city of Cleveland will have time to carry out those vacating efforts. No sale price was listed for the property but if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it anyway.

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City Club Apartments tops out

At today’s topping-off ceremony, construction workers signed the final beam
to be placed atop the new City Club Apartments tower on Euclid Avenue
near East 9th Street in downtown (Cleveland Construction Inc.).
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Cleveland Construction, Inc., the contractor behind the City Club Apartments project in downtown Cleveland, celebrated a significant construction milestone as the project reached its full height. The “Topping Out” event was held today and highlighted by a team lunch provided by Fahrenheit’s food truck and a ceremonial steel beam signing by all the craft professionals building the project.

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McNair tapped as new development director

Tom McNair has served leadership positions at Ohio City Inc. since 2010.
At the end of September, his workplace will move across the Cuyahoga
River to downtown, seen behind the West Side Market in the back-
ground (NAIOP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

For the past 14 years, Tom McNair rode the Rapid from Shaker Square to Ohio City where he led its community development corporation in different roles. At the end of September, his train will have a new destination — Cleveland City Hall. Mayor Justin Bibb announced yesterday that McNair will be the city’s new director of economic development.

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