Downtown Just Got Serious

So someone has been listening to my prayers at night because in the last few months some major players have stepped up with some game changing projects in Downtown Cleveland. Not just rehabbing an old bank into apartments with a Subway or Domino's on the 1st floor... OH NO!... Like when you're driving into town from Stark county for the 3rd freaking night in a row on your vacation at 11:30 pm and noticing that the skyline is different from Independence--game changing.

So we in Cleveland, like most mid-range cities in the Midwest, have a handful of buildings that you can throw on a skyline silhouette t-shirt that make up our architectural identity as a city. Our skyscrapers are the go to icons for the longest wiener contest that cities have when it comes to who's better. I'm not saying it isn't a good measuring stick for our status in this here U.S. of A. but in the whole scheme of things... well sometimes you want a Space Needle or Gateway Arch to distinguish you from the rest of the similar sized towns who are all doing the exact same thing to try to "revitalize" their downtown areas...THE. EXACT. SAME. THINGS. Sure we have the Rock Hall's pyramid and record player overhead view but in all reality... you can't see it from 77 or 480 or 71 or any of the other highways that carve this city up. I mean Clevelanders know the best spots to get a great skyline view but most travelers get the highway view of the city while driving by and it's kinda... well... ehh at best. Sure we have 3 of the top 4 tallest buildings in a state where the suburbs crush downtowns so it's like being the smartest 17 year old in 3rd grade...but it's something! Truthfully we have a bunch of buildings that used to be impressive before corruption, racism, highways, NAFTA, and poor state planning halted any progress taller than 3 stories in this state for about 40 years. Now we have a drug store on every corner of our sprawling suburban utopias while places like New York and Chicago have torn down Key Towers to build even bigger buildings without thinking twice about it. Well finally we're starting to see progress down the long road towards correcting that...

Cleveland looks like a winter wonderland in this picture!

Let's start with Nucleus... or nuCLEus! (I know I've written about it already but I tie it all up at the end with a nice little bow.) Either way you spell it, it's set to become the 5th tallest building in the state when it's completed. It's going to have it all -- condos, apartments, parking, a hotel, commercial, and the "uh duh" award for continuing the East 4th street retail and restaurants all the way to the Q. Yup, take that 1 block that everyone goes to and continue it another block. Freaking genius! Anyways, it has everything built right in and is mixed use so it's flexible for changing times. Plus it looks like you were bored playing Jenga and added some Legos! Not only is it's height a much welcomed skyline addition but it's unique look is exactly what this city needs... new and different!

We have a sh!t load of history. Hell we've covered up and demolished more history than most cities had in their heyday. Let's get some "new" in here. You can only charge big bucks to live in a concrete coffin for so long before people get tired of blindfolding their friends until the get to their apartment door so they don't actually see how ugly the 9 is from the outside. I'd live in the stairwell of this building just to be able to point to it and say "I live right there!... but we should go to your place to do this because mine is being fumigated and definitely not a stairwell." I only need to tell most people that once for a myriad of reasons. Anywho, it's in a high visibility area with a ton of foot traffic so even past being a new part of the skyline, it'll be right there between dinner at E 4th and the Cavs or Indians game for everyone including out-of-towner's to gawk at.

The other big project that I'd like to point out isn't necessarily going to add to our skyline (maybe in some places) but is going to fix another issue that this city has had for decades... that pile of sh!t that's to the northwest of Public Square!!! The sea of surface parking lots that sits as a scar from when life beat the hell out of us is finally going away! This really needed to happen before any other project that's going on in this city as it is a terrible eyesore that goes on for blocks and is clearly visible from the ceremonial center of our city. It's like having a whole sections of stands removed from our baseball field because we can't sell out games anymore... oh wait. Either/or I say hallelujah to the fact that someone has finally stepped up to take on this project!

Did I Photoshop a turd on this picture?... Most would say "no".

I'll call it the God-send project for now but this little beauty could be a freaking Mega-Walmart for all I care as long as it isn't surface parking. That being said it's way more beautiful than a Walmart and goes from sidewalk to sidewalk like a good urban project should. There's lots of glass and street front commercial spaces. There are weird shaped towers but nothing as tall or Jenga-like as nuCLEus. I can only imagine that if you're building something on a city's "Public Square" you can't get too crazy in the old architectural department. It's again mixed use so it's looking to provide different types of amenities to it's future residents and the current downtown residents and is flexible depending on what the demand calls for. Sure you can bring some restaurants and laundry to the table but usually these large mixed use projects fill a big need like a grocery store or a public relaxation area or a headquarters full of jobs. We'll see what comes along with the apartments and restaurants when we're given more details but in my eyes there's no need to oversell what is already a blessing.

It's shiny, new, and isn't a surface parking lot on our public square.

The Cleveland Browns fan in me says that something's going to happen and one or both of these are never going to get built. It's too much and there are too many forces (financial, regulatory, governmental, fate, whatever) working against it. I have to think that, if it was easy to do, it would have been done already. Can we really keep this momentum moving forward? I guess to get the answer to that you have to not only look at these big projects but at the small ones as well. Downgrading highways to pedestrian friendly boulevards that don't act as walls between us and the Lake Erie shore. Adding bike lanes to once dangerously busy streets. Seeing small businesses open up. Watching new apartment conversions fill up before they open. Seeing people on the streets. There's something different this time around. It's not just a few stadiums and a business tower. It's grass roots and it has some good people leading the way. This just might...just might happen.

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My Walk Downtown

11/10/2014 - Bank holidays... they're a pain when you need to go to the bank for one reason or another. I guess now-a-days though you can pretty much do anything from an ATM but you always seem to need to get a cashiers check on Arbor day or whatever crazy holidays banks celebrate. I can remember how much I envied bank and government workers for their generous amounts of days off while I had to go in to my healthcare job which pretty much involved me working on every holiday. Now however... I say nah nah na boo boo to all you poor schleps who had to work on Veteran's Day... oh and who lets a Tuesday holiday go by without also taking the Monday before it off. Not this guy! 4 day weekend!!!!

Luckily or unluckily (I guess depending on if you're married or not) Gina had to work 12 hour shifts on both days. Ya my running buddy -- who I drag downtown further away from her hot farmers on green mechanical monsters in the middle of nowhere listening to songs about beer and trucks -- wasn't around to bore to death with fun history stories about our fare city while she walks holes in her shoes from new billboard to new shop. I'm sure she was crushed.

As I popped up from the Flats, I got to see a little sign history... and in chronological order too. The Tower city sign doesn't really seem to point to anywhere anymore. It used to give you directions to the tower city parking lot way back when but I think that's gone now. I'm not sure why it was taken away but I remember going down there to park. It feels as if over the years the powers that be have slowly taken away any left turns on Ontario or West Huron. It's like it's the edge of the downtown world. Even as you walk you can't see down the hill to the river because of the overgrown brush behind the fence. It's the perfect boundary to keep you in and not interested in what's across the river or the nature that's calling you from below.

You can only really start seeing the flats once you get to Tower City. Now don't get me wrong, I see the point of view of the Tower City folks in that they want a beautiful view but the area between them and the river is PRIME REAL ESTATE!... and not for Casino Phase 2 unless it's part of a tall structure that includes condos, apartments, and retail. Like Macy's level retail. Big and universally accepted. Stop hiding it from everyone and let us enjoy the flats for more than the glorified parking lot that it is. Yes kids, that's 2 flats rants in a row! This one was a bit more tame. I'll stop now and continue on my walk.

I continued walking until I got to the "Welcome to Cleveland" sign. This is a newer sign but is only cool enough to be here I guess. It greats you as you get off of the highway and head to the casino or stadium parking garages. I think that hits a good percentage of traffic but there really should be about 7-8 more of these. Be proud of the city you are and make sure everyone knows it!...and greet surface road travelers as opposed to highway drivers who are just passing through. Their trip should be as dull and boring as possible in my opinion. That being said, put other signs here:

1. If there's one at the airport, I haven't seen it but it should be there
2. One on Clifton Blvd on the Lakewood border
3. One on Lorain as you cross the Rocky River
4. One on Lakeshore Blvd as you come in from Euclid
5. One on Euclid Ave as you come in from East Cleveland
6. One on Shaker Blvd as you come in from Shaker Heights
7. One on Broadway Ave as you come in from Garfield Heights
8. One on Pearl Rd as you come in from Parma

It's also kinda nice that this sign was here and this ad campaign was thought up before Lebron decided to come back. I really don't want the city to use the revenue generated by 1 man as a crutch especially when he could up and leave... again. We made our strides when he wasn't here and we should continue on that path as if he wasn't. I'll bet on a group over 1 man any day.

Oh and in case you forgot... Lebron plays here and there are 2-4 billboards downtown to remind you. I like Lebron. I really do. I didn't when he left and no matter what excuses are made and how much better he is this time around, I will always feel some sort of indifference when it comes to him. The thing that makes it worth it for me is that his story parallels many boomerangs who left after high school and returned later in life. They're good people too and they care about where ever it is they call home. They went and maybe took advantage of opportunities that they couldn't have taken on here. Good colleges, jobs, weather, etc... The fact is that for whatever reason they're back and ready to contribute to the well being of this city. I applaud that but keep in mind the biblical tale of the prodigal son... and how much I hate that story.

The other thing that miffs me is that Lebron's not from Cleveland and he and his people make that very well known. We hold him in the highest regard but when it comes down to it his highly publicized humanitarian efforts tend to happen outside of Cleveland. Don't get me wrong, Akron needs help too and it's great that he spend so much time and effort helping them. I'll say this... this is not an anti-Lebron paragraph. It's more of a "I wish that I had Jesse's girl" kinda paragraph. If "Jesse" was Akron and "girl" was some sort of local hero. Someone along the lines of Drew Carey but who had a business in the city and enough money to build condo's along the lakefront. Someone who championed our cause with some mega financial backing. Like Dan Gilbert is to Detroit or like Donald Trump is to New York or Warren Buffett is to Omaha... somewhere in middle America. 

In the second half of the 19th century and early in the 20th century all of these millionaire's (although none born here) lived in Cleveland and on the same street, Euclid Ave:

Families living along "Millionaire's Row" included those of John D. Rockefeller (during the period, 1868-84),^[2] Sylvester T. Everett, Isaac N. Pennock I (inventor of the first steel railway car in the US), arc lightinventor Charles F. Brush, George Worthington, Horace Weddell, Marcus Hanna, Ambrose Swasey, Amasa Stone, John Hay (personal secretary toAbraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under William McKinley), Jeptha Wade (Cleveland benefactor and founder of Western Union Telegraph),Alfred Atmore Pope (iron industrialist and art collector), Worthy S. Streator (railroad baron, coal mine developer, and founder of the city of Streator, Illinois), and Charles Lathrop Pack. Euclid Avenue's most infamous resident was con artist Cassie Chadwick, the wife of Leroy Chadwick, who was unaware that his wife was passing herself off to bankers as the illegitimate daughter of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.

-From Wikipedia

We must not be a city that produce's genius millionaires on the regular huh? There are wealthy people in Northeast Ohio who regularly donate to the universities, museums, hospitals, and charities located in Cleveland which is wonderful and helps us push forward into the future. Unfortunately they do it from Chagrin Falls, Bratenahl, and Gates Mills. I can't blame them though. Cleveland was a nightmare when they were growing up and just like I don't dare step foot into East Cleveland for any reason, those kinda things stick with you. Since I was questioned on the tone of my last post I'll say this... Thank God for all of the people who help this city continue to thrive and pull itself out of the 50 year depression that nearly destroyed it... I just hope that one day we have a hero.

I have been hearing some pretty wonderful things recently about the 5th Street Arcades so I made that my next stop... and boy am I glad I did. In cold winter cities like ours there is a lull in sales from sidewalk shops when the snow and the wind whip up. Back in the long long ago before suburban malls came along and exploited the laziness in everyone, someone had the brilliant idea to put a roof over the streets where the shops were. This means that you could shop at some of your favorite stores all year long without the fear of frostbite or losing a small child in a snow drift. A wonderful day indeed!... and then retail dried up in Cleveland leaving these beautiful reminders of our once glorious past abandoned and practically empty. Go Walmart.

Today these beauties are near capacity as downtown dips its toes into the retail waters again testing the market temperature. Currently it's lukewarm but getting warmer as small independent business and start-ups fill storefronts across the city and service a growing downtown population. Even though there's not a lot of big well known players there are a lot of designer, arts and crafts, and vintage out there right now and they are holding there own. 3 major factors that play into their success are:

1. A supportive city and a great business plan
2. Lack of any major competitive retail
3. A growing demographic of hipsters, millennials, and artists

The next great retail giants are out there and if this city continues to fully support small business, we may see some of our own grow into major players in their markets and industries. Lord knows we have the beautiful spaces like this to put them in as they grow. That's what's great about this time in Cleveland's history... potential and hope.

From the arcades I walked over to Public Square and was able to get a decent view of a press conference the county was having about some major projects around downtown. One of them was the nuCLEus project which is being put together by Stark Enterprises. The plan is to build a $250 - $350 million mixed use development in the space currently occupied by a surface parking lot and some run down buildings between E 4th St and The Q. It's the latest development plan in the list of great projects in Cleveland over the past 5 years but it's not Stark's 1st plan in downtown. Years ago there was a project that was put together by Stark that would have built a similar concept on the surface lots just Northwest of Public square. That plan unfortunately never materialized. You may not know Stark Enterprises by name (or get them confused with Stark Industries from the Marvel universe) but if you've ever shopped at Crocker Park or The Strip just outside of Belden Village, you have them to thank.

Towards the end of the press conference CEO Robert Stark stood up in front of the small group of us and basically said the words that are written on my heart for this city. He talked about what used to be and the recent strides that have been made. He reminisced about being a boy and loving to go downtown. He talked about the importance of mixed use development and its interaction with the sidewalks, streets, and people. He emphasized the need and demand for retail, residential, and class A commercial in downtown as it continues to grow and hover around 95% occupancy. He made sure that we understood why the county was a part of this public/private joint venture and that nothing gets done in today's economy without a buy in from multiple parties across lines that haven't traditionally been crossed. Finally he ramped up the rah-rah Cleveland talk in a Howard Dean type of way but made sure that the message was true. It touched the hometown fans in all of us and I hung on every word. I really did smile most of the time... well there was an old Asian lady who started screaming in here native language at County Executive Fitzgerald from the sidewalk. Her tone and the look on her face didn't really convey a positive message... but other than laughing at that for a brief moment, I smiled the whole time. I was inspired. Not that I didn't already but I believe that this will be a game changer and I trust the hands that are guiding it. It unfortunately won't be completed for the RNC in 2016 but like a true business man, Stark hopes to have the parking garage open and ready for the luxury automobiles that will fill our streets during that time. You gotta love a man with vision. 

Soon the Geis's and the Stark's of this city will become house hold names and forever be known as the people who helped rebuilt downtown. They will be remembered along side the Van Sweringen's and the Jacob's as people who saw the potential of downtown as a profit center and as a great city. I'm not naive, I know they're businessmen but they took a chance and that's what's memorable.

Once the speech was over I took a quick tour of the Soldiers and Sailors monument. Yes there's an inside and if you've never been in there... YOU ARE MISSING OUT! History buffs, this is a must see. It's beautiful and historical. The man who was working the door was very passionate about what the monument and museum were all about. Even if you had no clue what it was or what it was memorializing, he's there to help.

My last stop was to the casino. I'm still writing this blog so I didn't strike it rich. It was fun and relaxing though.

So in summary:

1. Take down the Tower City sign that points you to nowhere
2. Put up more welcome signs throughout the city
3. The shores of our river deserve to be more than parking lots
4. Plan a Christmas shopping day downtown and get your hands on some really unique and fun gifts
5. Get on the waiting list right now for the nuCLEus project
6. Check out the Soldiers and Sailor monument
7. Stop going to Mountaineer and start coming up and supporting your local casino
8. Love Cleveland and say goodnight

You may have missed these 3 previous posts SOOOOOO if you're bored, please check them out:

• Random Stuff This Week Post
• Chicago Part 1 - The Train Ride
• Chicago Part 2 - The Rivers

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