Getting downtown Cleveland in touch with itself: editorial

This editorial that Scott sent me from Cleveland.com last night was too good not to share. The possibilities and excitement in Cleveland right now are palpable.

Cleveland needs an updated blueprint for how to connect downtown's new amenities, including a planned casino. Luckily, a blue-ribbon Group Plan Commission assembled by Mayor Frank Jackson is working on just such a vision to make the heart of Greater Cleveland more walkable and inviting to visitors, workers and residents.

Like any proposal, the tentative plan may need tweaks. The full 15-member commission has yet to sign off on it, and Jackson has indicated he wants to see a traffic study on the impact of closing Ontario Street to make Public Square more pedestrian-friendly. But Cleveland can't afford to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine its center and piggyback on more than $1 billion of public and private projects already under way.

Besides creating two large, rectangular spaces at Public Square by closing Ontario, the commission's working groups suggest a walkway connecting existing Malls to the lakefront and courtyards, gardens and a reflecting pool o the Malls atop the new convention center.

The overall effect would be to encourage foot traffic among downtown's emerging centers of energy, including the Warehouse District, East Fourth Street, the medical mart and the Terminal Tower casino.

Shepherded by City Planning Commission Chairman Anthony Coyne and including many downtown stakeholders, some of whom can be expected to contribute to the final cost, the commission has come up with an exciting roadmap while remaining true to the spirit of the original Daniel Burnham Group Plan.

Money remains an obvious issue. But the projected $90 million price tag does not seem insurmountable. One working group continues to look for private sources of capital, including naming rights. Given the large public investment in the convention center and Inner Belt Bridge, the private sector needs to step up. The commission also must find the right entity to maintain and program the new public spaces.

The opportunity is enormous. The vision and the civic willpower appear to be keeping pace.

(Article Courtesy of The Plain Dealer Editorial Board)

Forest City closes $85 million sale of land for Cleveland casino

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The developer of a planned Cleveland casino has purchased 16 acres of downtown land from Forest City Enterprises Inc. for $85 million.

Forest City sold the land and air rights to Rock Ohio Caesars Cleveland LLC, the real estate company announced this morning. The property is adjacent to Forest City's Tower City Center, an office, hotel and retail complex on Public Square.

The casino developer paid $11 million cash at closing and will pay the balance in installments in late 2011 and 2012.

"This sale is milestone in the process of bringing a first-class casino to Tower City, and the start of an exciting new future for downtown Cleveland entertainment," said David LaRue, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Forest City. "The sale is also a demonstration of the value embedded in Forest City's portfolio of real estate. We anticipate that a successful casino will stimulate further downtown revitalization and economic development, and will also have a positive impact on the long-term value of our Tower City assets."

Rock Ohio Caesars LLC is a joint venture between Rock Gaming and Caesars Entertainment, which plan to develop and run casinos in downtown Cleveland and Cincinnati. The developer is expected to open a first phase, short-term casino in the Higbee Building at Tower City and to open the larger casino behind Tower City in 2013.

(Article Courtesy of Cleveland.com)

New Downtown Cleveland Lofts COMING SOON!

As a Cleveland blogger (who also happens to work in real estate) I love to admit that I sometimes get the inside scoop on properties before they become available. So I am MORE than pleased to announce a new downtown condo property that will be on the market quite soon! I don't have updates on pricing, and cannot share the exact location. However, I did work on getting some inside shots of the building and some of the homes inside. We have pics from a family that currently lives there, but new units are under construction as we speak. Click on this Flickr page to see the AMAZING photos.

Enjoy! I know I have been daydreaming about it since I saw them....

Coral Co. ramps up residential construction next to Crocker Park

WESTLAKE, Ohio -- The Coral Co. is dusting off its plans and building homes again next to the Crocker Park shopping center in Westlake.

The developer, based in University Heights, has started construction of 11 homes and just received city approval of plans to build 11 lofts along the western edge of a parking garage.

Despite the sluggish real estate market, Coral and several other Northeast Ohio homebuilders saw sales pick up in 2010 - and they are hopeful about this year.

"We think that 2011 is a stabilizing year," said Peter Rubin, Coral's president and chief executive officer.

New home construction in Northeast Ohio slid from 8,023 housing starts in 2006 to 2,625 in 2009, according to data for nine counties tracked by Atwell, a real estate services company. Atwell research specialist Trista McClelland expects last year's housing starts to be in the 2,700-range.

After several slow years, Coral sold off the last of its 24 completed homes at Westhampton in 2010. The project eventually could comprise 125 homes, and buyers already have committed to five of the 11 that Coral recently started building to the south of Dick's Sporting Goods. Construction could start on the second group of 11 homes in June.

Coral's buyers generally are empty nesters and young professionals. Many residents at Westhampton have lived outside Northeast Ohio and are familiar with more urban-style home designs, such as a garage on the first floor, a living room and kitchen on the second, bedrooms on the third and a rooftop patio. Prices at Westhampton range from $309,000 for a two-bedroom loft to $495,000 for a four-bedroom manor home.
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Crocker Park, which is inking deals with retailers including Anthropologie, according to public records, is a huge draw. Steve Rubin, the chief operating officer for Crocker Park developer Stark Enterprises, would not identify any potential tenants at the shopping center but said almost all the space is spoken for or is the subject of negotiations with retailers.

Westlake isn't the only community where residential builders are pushing ahead. On Cleveland's west side, Vintage Development Group closed a dozen sales last year and is building eight more townhouses and two freestanding homes at Battery Park.

In Cleveland Heights, developer Ken Lurie plans to break ground for 16 townhouses at the Bluestone community, after averting a foreclosure on the project's condominium building last year and slashing prices.

WXZ Development is building another cluster of homes at East 118th Street and Euclid Avenue in University Circle, and sales have been steady at 27 Coltman, a high-end townhouse development in Little Italy.

Westhampton is about 18 months behind schedule because of the recession and the real estate crisis, Coral's Rubin said. But the privately held company, which also owns and manages apartment buildings and shopping centers, has the money to move forward and the patience to see the project through.

"It's going to be another challenging year," he said, "but the trajectory is getting better."

(Courtesy of Cleveland.com)