Friday, January 19, 2024

Sherwin Williams: ‘didn’t build tall enough’

Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower is near to topping out at 616 feet
among its three big brothers around downtown Cleveland’s Public Square. To
the left of it is the Grand Dame of Cleveland skyscrapers, the 708-foot-tall
Terminal Tower. At far left is the 658-foot-tall 200 Public Square and at far
right is the 948-foot-tall Key Tower. Some company executives reportedly
said they should have built taller as the company continues to grow
(Bennett Atchison). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

From Sherwin-Williams’ C-Suite executives to construction workers taking their lunch break, more rumblings continue to emerge about what may follow the completion of the global coatings giant’s new headquarters west of Downtown Cleveland’s Public Square. And as time goes on, the rumors about a follow-on headquarters project are getting more detailed.

READ MORE

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

George plans new Flats redevelopment

An aerial view from above the Cuyahoga River looking at the Flats East Bank
redevelopment of three Old River Road properties sought by Bobby George’s
Ethos Hospitality Group (Bowen). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Scheduled to appear before the City Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee this Friday is a proposed redevelopment of several Flats East Bank properties. It’s the latest effort by restauranteur Bobby George and his Cleveland-based firm Ethos Hospitality Group to remake these riverside buildings into a restaurant and entertainment complex. This time it would include a new building, a dockside “river garden” and rehabilitated historic structure.

READ MORE

Monday, January 15, 2024

Cleveland’s Carnegie contains a comeback

Construction on phase two of the Foundry Lofts, at the Carnegie Avenue end
of the development, is wrapping up. This is the completed phase one at the
 Euclid Avenue end and is one of many developments planned, underway or
recently completed in his section of Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood
(Signet Real Estate Group). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Carnegie Avenue in the 70s of Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood was a mixed bag of speed, sin, steaks and seafood. And that applies to both the decade and the 10-block stretch of the East 70s along one of the busiest streets linking University and Downtown. But today, the scene is changing quickly as the growth in jobs and residential development in those two hubs is spilling over to the place in between.

READ MORE

Saturday, January 13, 2024

The downtown tower that almost was

Park Place Technologies considered building a mid- to high-rise office
building like one of those proposed at left by Bedrock Real Estate for its
riverfront development. Alas, the growing tech firm stayed in the suburbs
and bought an existing building that would be cheaper and faster to move
into (Adjaye Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

High construction and financing costs along with a longer move-in timeline doomed an intriguing new Downtown Cleveland headquarters building for a growing tech firm relocating from Mayfield Heights. Those construction market headwinds along with the rise in remote working led to Park Place Technologies finding an existing office campus next to Interstate 271 in Highland Heights near its current offices that fit its needs like a glove.

READ MORE

Friday, January 12, 2024

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RR to downtown Cleveland to be studied

A regional transportation planning organization today voted to hire a
consultant to conduct a study of extending the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic
Railroad north about 10 miles from Rockside Road, shown here, in sub-
urban Independence to downtown Cleveland. The study will take about
a year to complete (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

While it’s only 10 miles from the northern terminus of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (CVSR) in suburban Independence to Downtown Cleveland, it will take years to get there in the best of circumstances. But that first step in the long journey was taken today when a metropolitan transportation planning organization voted to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study of the potential route extension.

READ MORE

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Cuyahoga County nears a courthouse decision

The last time Cuyahoga County went through a major, open-ended real
estate request for proposals process like the Consolidated Courthouse RFP,
it resulted in a new county administrative office building and a mixed-use
tower renovation. In this case, the county sold the tower to Geis Companies
and is leasing its offices from Geis with an option to buy (Google).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

Cuyahoga County and its real estate consultant are getting closer to making a recommendation for a Consolidated Courthouse proposal in downtown Cleveland. NEOtrans has learned that one or more proposals were eliminated from further consideration in part because the timeline for delivering a new or renovated/expanded courthouse facility is apparently an overriding factor for county officials. In this era of high construction costs, the aphorism “time is money” couldn’t be more true.

READ MORE

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Cleveland seeks urban core tax-increment financing district

Officials and families gathered June 29, 2021 for the Wendy Park pedestrian-
bike bridge ribbon cutting ceremony. More urban core public infrastructure
projects like this could be afforded with the city’s proposed tax increment
financing district. But some are concerned that services and infrastructure
in neighborhoods away from downtown will be neglected (Cuyahoga
County). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland’s biggest source of tax base is its downtown which supports services and infrastructure in the rest of the city. City officials are seeking to leverage investments in its urban core to create a feedback loop to support downtown and other neighborhoods. But not everyone is convinced this is a good thing for the rest of the city and cynics are seeking more information and research before deciding.

READ MORE