Cleveland Development Thread

[The Oi]

Bet that kid got suspended. Kid took the first shot pretty good.

 

[Pyro]

So speaking of development, what is going on with Phase 2 of the casino?

 

[TheNewEra]

Phase 2 of the Flats

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A dueling-piano bar, a pub and a two-story Panini's Bar & Grill are among a handful of new retail tenants joining the Flats East Bank, a downtown Cleveland waterfront project where offices, a hotel and several restaurants will open in June.

Most of the retailers are part of the project's $146 million second phase, which also will include 200 apartments near the Cuyahoga River. The exceptions are a cafe and a newsstand, which will open in the lobby of the new Ernst & Young Tower. The 18-floor office building, a 150-room Aloft hotel and a riverfront boardwalk are part of the $275 million first phase, where construction is winding down.

Local grocer Costas Mavromichalis, whose family owns stores in the Warehouse District and University Circle, will run the cafe. He joins previously announced first-phase restaurants including Ken Stewart's, Willeyville and Lago.

Meanwhile, the developers are lining up tenants and cobbling together public and private money for their second act.

On Tuesday, the Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties said they've booked more dining and entertainment -- most of it new to Northeast Ohio -- that might open in 2014 or 2015. And they provided more details about a 15,000-square-foot seasonal nightclub, now called FWD (and pronounced "Forward"), that they first mentioned in 2011.

"We grew up here, and we want to be part of the resurgence," Bobby Rutter, one of the club's owners, said in a written statement. "We are creating a summer destination for Clevelanders, tourists and business visitors."

Another entertainment venue, the Big Bang dueling-piano bar, will join the planned Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill and the Flip Side burger joint as the Flats project reaches toward the river. Launched in St. Louis in 2001, the Big Bang has locations in Tempe, Ariz.; Nashville; and Columbus.

Other phase two tenants include BBR, a Columbus-born sports bar that hosts live music; a Chicago-area pub called the Beer Market (which, according to its website, also will take a space at the Uptown project in University Circle); and Panini's Bar & Grill, a local sports bar chain planning a 10,000-square-foot Flats restaurant with outdoor patios, fireplaces and boat-docking.

Panini's, which has nearly 20 locations across Northeast Ohio, started on the east bank of the Flats in 1986.

With the new leases and other deals in the works, the developers have less than 25,000 square feet of retail space left in the project.

"Our family's dream of 20-plus years is now so very close to reality," Iris Wolstein said of remaking the Flats, a former entertainment district that slid into seediness and then sat fallow. "My late husband, Bert, would be so proud to see the interest from tenants locally and nationally who chose to invest in the Flats."

 

[Chardon]

Here is the same article, but with some renders of what it might look like.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/i..._east_bank_books_dueling-.html#incart_m-rpt-2

 

[Giambiwannabe7]

That just gives me goose bumps. I really miss what the Flats used to be. Pretty excited to see how this all manifests itself. It's great to some some of these long talked about revitalization plans actually taking hold.

 

[Soda]

A lot going on right now, I suppose.

Cleveland kicks off facelift project for West Sixth Street in downtown Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Downtown Cleveland's West Sixth Street will get a new look, thanks to a construction project unveiled Thursday and set for completion by mid-July.
Using a federal transportation enhancement grant, the city is making nearly $1 million worth of improvements, including wider sidewalks, benches, bicycle racks and marked crosswalks, between St. Clair and Lakeside avenues. By broadening the sidewalks by five feet, the city will create more room for pedestrians and restaurant patios.

Cleveland also is remaking West Ninth Street between Front and West Superior avenues in a $2 million project that will create a better gateway to the Flats East Bank project, a waterfront development where a hotel and restaurants will open in June.

The west side of West Ninth closed early this month. Construction depends on the weather, but the city expects work to be finished by July.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/04/cleveland_kicks_off_facelift_p.html

 

[DJTJ]

I don't understand why people like Panini's Food.

 

[Soda]

I don't understand why people like Panini's Food.

I don't understand why people like bar food in general. I can deal with a Panini sandwich every now and again, but I am not a fan of most bar food. A good wing joint, yes. Bar, no.

This is my biggest issue with the Winking Lizard chain.. Especially the new Winks.. All fried food.

 

[boxxer]

I like the lizard food!!! especially Bouman(sp?) sandwiches.

Plus my kids can be loud without feeling utterly embarrassed like I do at other sit down establishments...since the place is already loud.

 

[CavsFinals2016]

building blocks: this is what $4b in downtown development looks like

Think you know downtown Cleveland? Well, take a fresh look. Because this summer, when the windows are all polished to gleaming perfection on $4 billion in new development -- the flurry of ribbon cuttings begins in June -- you might not recognize your own city.

Downtown Cleveland is entering an era that will boost activity to the next level, say leaders, entrepreneurs and developers. With a big-bang effect of public, residential and commercial development happening at once, the area is experiencing growth that’s unprecedented in recent memory and is becoming more dynamic than it’s been in decades.

http://freshwatercleveland.com/features/buildingdowntown041113.aspx

 

[CavsFinals2016]

Meant to post this earlier:

PlayhouseSquare aims for a bright lights, big city feel with $16 million in signage, digital displays and amenities

PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland’s theater district, has won high praise from lofty arbiters such as The Wall Street Journal and the National Endowment for the Arts.

But although it has gorgeous historic buildings and draws a million visitors a year to roughly a thousand performances on 10 stages, it has never looked as lively and successful as it is said to be. Nor has it attracted the year-round street life it covets.

http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2013/04/playhousesquare_aims_for_a_bri.html

I'm not the biggest fan of the chandelier, but man, that retro "Playhouse Square" sign on top of Cowell & Hubbard will look amazing. Be sure to watch the video in the link.

 

[bigfoot5415]

That just gives me goose bumps. I really miss what the Flats used to be. Pretty excited to see how this all manifests itself. It's great to some some of these long talked about revitalization plans actually taking hold.

My inlaws are from southern Ohio, and they visited Cleveland in the 80's and thats all they talk about. When I started dating their daughter, they wanted to visit it, but I had to let them down by telling them the Flats were gone.

 

[Soda]

I like the lizard food!!! especially Bouman(sp?) sandwiches.

Plus my kids can be loud without feeling utterly embarrassed like I do at other sit down establishments...since the place is already loud.

The Lizard itself doesn't have bad food (not bad at all really). I'm not particularly against their stuff, but I do think a place that is such a cash cow can spruce up their ingredient quality a bit... My biggest issue lies with Winks. Just bar quality food at a place they preach is more than a bar... I have never had something less edible in a restaurant than their potato wedges...

 

[Huber.]

What are the chances the Phase 2 of the Flats actually happens?

 

[Soda]

What are the chances the Phase 2 of the Flats actually happens?

Well, to what extent, I'm not sure... I do know, though, that Lago (Tremont) closed already and is relocating to the east bank. Tenants are signed, so I do expect some kind of development there... The W. 9th project is to be done because the City wants to have a "gateway" to the east bank because as it stands, not a soul goes that way for anything..