Bridgeworks grows by shrinking

By Ken Prendergast / September 30, 2023

In Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, and in the face of financial headwinds affecting projects nationwide, the long-planned Bridgeworks development underwent a major redesign that would cut costs and add more space by filling land, not the sky. Gone is a 16-story building and separate parking garage, replaced by a single, seven-story building that incorporates parking within a structure that fills out more of the 2.13-acre site at the west end of the Detroit-Superior Bridge. The revised plans will be reviewed by the city’s design-review boards in the coming weeks. Financing from the city, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority was arranged last spring.

Sources: If Cliffs + US Steel happens, so does a new HQ

By Ken Prendergast / September 26, 2023

Something is happening inside 200 Public Square that isn’t happening at many other downtown Cleveland office towers — a major tenant is gobbling up more office space. The tenant, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., is adding hundreds of office workers to the building, a number that could reach 2,000 employees in the next few years if it is able to acquire Pittsburgh-based rival US Steel. If that happens, two sources who are close to Cliffs’ executives say Cliffs will reconsider 200 Public Square as its headquarters of what would become the nation’s largest steelmaker.

Cleveland suburb wants to be the next ‘Forest City’

By Ken Prendergast / September 21, 2023

While Cleveland was once called the Forest City due to the tree-studded neighborhoods it boasted in the 19th century, one of its suburbs might be in a position to claim that title in the coming years thanks to a generous grant from the federal government. The benefits of more trees are simple — they help provide cooling shade in summer, a windbreak in winter, and more attractive business districts and residential areas that can increase property values.

Big-name downtown tenants are on the move

By Ken Prendergast / September 18, 2023

Several major downtown Cleveland tenants are in the market for new homes and where they land could shake up the office market in the central business district. The moves come at a time when many companies are shrinking their office footprints and downtown office building owners are fighting to keep what tenants they have. Interestingly, several major tenants that are on the move are looking for larger space than what they have now.

NEOtrans partners with Cleveland Magazine

By Ken Prendergast / September 7, 2023

You’ve probably noticed this Cleveland Magazine logo and tag atop our articles in the past week. You’ll be seeing more of them. NEOtrans is excited to announce a new partnership with Cleveland Magazine, one of Greater Cleveland’s most important resources for the latest news on what’s happening around town in business, restaurants, government and from news-making people. It’s an opportunity for both organizations to tap into and share the latest news from veteran journalist and NEOtrans founder Ken Prendergast.

The fate of East Cleveland

By Ken Prendergast / August 23, 2023

In the 1950s, after my mother Edith March Prendergast divorced her first husband, she moved herself and her two boys to Greater Cleveland to be near family. After a brief stay at the Alcazar Hotel, she settled at the south end of Glenmont Avenue in Cleveland Heights. Then she moved to the north end of Glenmont which is in East Cleveland. There, she, Dale and Dean stayed until the early 1960s when she married my father James and moved into his home in Lyndhurst.

Would Cliffs + USS = a new tower?

By Ken Prendergast / August 15, 2023

Three years ago, when Cleveland-Cliffs made some big moves, NEOtrans asked the question. Three years later, we’re asking it again. If Cliffs is able to acquire rival United States Steel (USS), as recently proposed, what impact might this have on the combined company’s headquarters situation?

GCRTA stations: lots of opportunity

By Ken Prendergast / August 3, 2023

In recent months, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) has served notice that its rail system isn’t going anywhere. And that could be interpreted in one of two ways. In one way, GCRTA plans to invest $540 million by the end of this decade to rebuild its 34-mile rail system including a new, standardized light-rail fleet plus rebuilt tracks and stations on the Red, Blue and Green lines. Greater Cleveland’s “Rapid” is sticking around for decades to come. But taking it another way, there are no expansion plans while ridership on GCRTA buses and trains fell nearly 60 percent from 2013 to 2021 “led” by its rail system which fell even farther, from 9.3 million boardings in 2013 to 2.9 million in 2021.

Seeds & Sprouts 31 – Oliva Steakhouse on downtown’s menu; Starting Point center opening at Link59; Lido Lounge stripped by George, BofA

By Ken Prendergast / August 1, 2023

While Oliva Steakhouse is due to open by the end of the year in downtown’s Warehouse District, and Starting Point child development agency is opening at Link59 in Midtown, old Lido Lounge in Westown is due to be replaced by a Bank of America branch.

Reynolds enters Midwest market with local buy

By Ken Prendergast / July 24, 2023

In a move that expands its portfolio westward into a new market, East Coast-based Reynolds Asset Management, with financing provided in partnership with Northwest Bank, announced it has closed on the acquisition of a 125-unit multifamily apartment complex in the Greater Cleveland area. It is Reynolds’ first real estate asset acquisition in the Midwest and the first of more deals it is seeking in the Cleveland-area market.

Economic trends