Cleveland Development Thread

[Ruken]

I'm not sure if you're being serious or being sarcastic, but I'll take the opportunity to present to you a "vision". Is it great? No. Do I love it? Not at all. Just giving the info.

Mayor Jackson is in his final term. He proposed an idea to reinvigorate public square and it seems like this is how it will take shape. Ontario and Superior will no longer intersect with traffic... This breaks ground on Monday, March 9, 2015.

Source: http://www.land-studio.org/project/public-square-redesign

Also, back in 1903, the concept of the malls (Mall A, Mall B, Mall C) were born with the idea of connecting the urban City to the lake. Clearly, while the malls are nice, they fall short of iconic, in my opinion.

As you can see, it's void of life and activity. They're certainly nice, but there really isn't a "park" feel to it whatsoever. We'll see what happens when the new Hilton is opened (left side of the picture, across from the County courthouse). Perhaps, the Malls will come to life a bit. As it stands, they sit smack-dab between a ton of 8-5 buildings or buildings that are largely vacant outside of a few weeks a year.

I love the new public square design. My only question is where will all that traffic go?

 

[Soda]

I love the new public square design. My only question is where will all that traffic go?

It's a part of it I don't buy.. They're going to direct traffic around the square still; however, that will be very congested unless someone re-engineers the traffic around the design.. I liked the plan to make the "square" actually a circle surrounded by a round-about to move traffic and install a uniquely round and iconic look. As you can tell, this half-assed take is to my chagrin.

 

[getBUCKED]

I was being serious. After being in Chicago so much for work, I realized how much green they have even though their one of the biggest cities in the US.

It's really a gorgeous city, Cleveland could learn a lot from Chicago.

 

[Soda]

I was being serious. After being in Chicago so much for work, I realized how much green they have even though their one of the biggest cities in the US.

It's really a gorgeous city, Cleveland could learn a lot from Chicago.

I love Chicago.. Especially in the summer.

What can Cleveland learn to do, though? Burn down completely and re-start from scratch? Most cities don't get a mulligan and get to re-start from scratch like Chicago did.

http://www.thechicagofire.com/

 

[brownindian]

Can we just add one more lane to I 480? That to me will be the biggest and most sensible development which will make an immediate impact.

 

[bgfalcon]

I currently live in Chicago. I moved here from Cleveland about a year and a half ago. I think one of the biggest things that Chicago has that would really help Cleveland is some kind of shopping district downtown. It doesn't have to be on the scale of the magnificent mile or anything, but a legitimate shopping district with both upscale and affordable stores would absolutely do wonders for the city.

 

[macbdog]

I currently live in Chicago. I moved here from Cleveland about a year and a half ago. I think one of the biggest things that Chicago has that would really help Cleveland is some kind of shopping district downtown. It doesn't have to be on the scale of the magnificent mile or anything, but a legitimate shopping district with both upscale and affordable stores would absolutely do wonders for the city.

Chicken and egg thing. Our downtown was like that once- but everyone moved away n stopped coming downtown. As more people move downtown I think shopping returns. But first u got to get an immediate pop. Look at the latest malls- they incorporate housing like Crocker. It'll come.

Edit: this is what the planned building across from Q wants to do. So maybe that would be a start.

 

[macbdog]

It's a part of it I don't buy.. They're going to direct traffic around the square still; however, that will be very congested unless someone re-engineers the traffic around the design.. I liked the plan to make the "square" actually a circle surrounded by a round-about to move traffic and install a uniquely round and iconic look. As you can tell, this half-assed take is to my chagrin.

Busy roundabouts are Satan. One of the vices of British colonialism. They stop up traffic they don't help it. Now if you just mean making it all one way, maybe- but then why get in far lane of you just need to fight back over to get out halfway around circle? Having traffic both ways makes it logical to get in and stay in a left lane.

As for the new pub square- look at it this way, one light was eliminated from a spot with 6. That alone should help.

 

[Soda]

Busy roundabouts are Satan. One of the vices of British colonialism. They stop up traffic they don't help it. Now if you just mean making it all one way, maybe- but then why get in far lane of you just need to fight back over to get out halfway around circle? Having traffic both ways makes it logical to get in and stay in a left lane.

As for the new pub square- look at it this way, one light was eliminated from a spot with 6. That alone should help.

That's the thing... Public Square hasn't been, nor will it be a two-way route... It's been a square and will remain a square, just without the intersecting roads in the middle. I feel like a roundabout would be better, rather than having people turning left at 3 different lights to make it around.

I admittedly don't know about roundabout use out of my suburban ones that work great, but it seems to work pretty well around Central Park in NY (NW corner to be exact).. That's pretty much my knowledge of how they work.

 

[macbdog]

Hmm after you said this I think Shaker Square might be the best comp. It is one way around the oval with stop signs. Might work downtown. Wouldn't be a traditional roundabout though.

 

[Ruken]

Lets just hope all of it is done by the RNC.....

 

[Pick6]

not going to take the time to look for links, but public square construction has began (last week I believe), and the pedestrian bridge has been postponed until after the RNC. I'm pretty sure work on the opportunity corridor has just began as well.

 

[Soda]

Public Square construction began on March 9th. It was weird to walk by and see so much space leveled.

Dead-on about the bridge. Won't be ready for the RNC. Bummer.

On an additional note, the Cleveland Natural History Museum is getting a $150 million upgrade that will take 5 years to get done. Here's a rendering of what was just approved by a City design review committee.. Plenty more pictures at: http://www.cleveland.com/architectu...st_stage_of_cleveland_museu.html#incart_river

 

[Phills14]

On the public square redesign, it looks like Ontario St will definitely dead end at the square to vehicle traffic. What about Superior? Will that also dead end at the square or is that space in the middle still a road?

 

[Soda]

On the public square redesign, it looks like Ontario St will definitely dead end at the square to vehicle traffic. What about Superior? Will that also dead end at the square or is that space in the middle still a road?

Superior will still be usable to an extent. It will be open to bus traffic; however, it is able to be closed for special events.

If you want to read more: http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2014/12/public_square_makeover_and_new.html