This unofficial rendering is how an NBA-sized basketball court could fit on the now-grassy lot of the Meet Me Here Park at the northeast corner of Ontario Street and Huron Road in Downtown Cleveland (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Park to link Bedrock’s Rock Block, Riverfront
Downtown Cleveland is getting a new public park — which is to say that a mostly useless patch of grass is about to get activated. And the proposed use probably makes sense, given what’s across the street from it.
That city-owned, 30,000-square-foot area of grass at the northeast corner of Ontario Street and Huron Road has been dubbed the Meet Me Here Park. Near the Huron sidewalk are bench-like block letters which spell out “Meet Me Here.”
And aside from the massive, 1,650-space JACK Casino South Garage looming behind, those block letters are the only thing notable about that grassy lot — for now.
Plans were submitted to the city yesterday by Cleveland-based Osborn Engineering for constructing improvements to the park, featuring a new basketball court surrounded by an enhanced plaza setting. The site is in downtown’s Gateway District.
Another unofficial graphic shows the location of the Meet Me Here Park and how big an NBA-sized basketball court, shown in orange, would look if placed in the middle of the 0.7-acre site. The court and the gray around around it represents the total 19,823-square-foot area of proposed park improvement (Google).
“This project consists of converting an existing grass lot to an asphalt basketball court with a concrete and pavered plaza area,” wrote Ryan Wheeler, a civil engineer at Osborn Engineering, in a permit application to the city’s Building Department.
Although plans were not attached to the filing, there was a description of them. A National Basketball Association (NBA)-sized basketball court covers less than 5,000 square feet, and the area of proposed improvement measures 19,823 square feet. No utility — water, sewer, gas or electrical — service lines are proposed to be added.
The site is across Huron from Rocket Arena, where the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers play their home games. To the east, it is across East 4th Street where site preparation work is underway for the new Cosm shared reality sport-entertainment venue.
And, at the bottom of a to-be-restored Eagle Avenue ramp, the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center is about a year away from finishing construction. The Cavaliers will relocate their practice facility to this site from suburban Independence.
The Meet Me Here Park as seen from Huron Road and Rocket Arena, which is directly behind the camera (Google).
“Downtown Cleveland, Inc. (DCI) is excited about the future plans at Meet Me Here Park,” the community development organization said in a written statement sent to NEOtrans.
“With the development of the Cosm and the Cleveland Cavaliers Practice Facility nearby, we look forward to incorporating this space into our Gateway community,” DCI added.
But despite a myriad of other questions about the project — such as estimated cost, who is paying for it, and projected date of work completion — DCI had no further comment: “We currently do not have further information to share.”
Last month, Rock Entertainment Group CEO Nic Barlage at the City Club of Cleveland teased the future investment in the Meet Me Here Park to create a more useful public space.
The Meet Me Here Park is seen at the bottom-center of this aerial view of Downtown Cleveland (Google).
“We’ve got some really unique plans for that,” he said. “We can’t debut those yet, but we’re working with Michael Deemer and his crew at Downtown Cleveland Inc. to really work on transforming that into more of an experience as well.”
One other thing that DCI wouldn’t comment on is why the proposed park improvements are labeled in the permit application as “temporary” or how long “temporary” might actually mean.
The park has been rumored as a development site for Bedrock Real Estate which, like Rock Entertainment Group, are among the many Rock Ventures family of companies owned by Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert. If improved, the park can help link Cosm and the Rock Block with Tower City Center and the Riverfront.
“These are all the things we’re starting to think about,” Barlage said. “When Dan (Gilbert) and I talk about this, the thing he cares most about is connectivity.”
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