Cleveland Clinic unveils next phase of Innovation District

By Ken Prendergast / September 28, 2023

In the midst of a global pandemic, state, local and Cleveland Clinic officials in 2021 announced the Cleveland Innovation District to expand health care research. Today, as part of that initiative, Cleveland Clinic unveiled the first phase of its expanded research facilities and announced plans to launch major construction of two new research buildings. The state-of-the-art facilities will be dedicated to scientific investigation and will significantly increase laboratory research space on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.

Latest TMUD wish list is NEO-light

By Ken Prendergast / September 23, 2023

One of the favorite past-times among some Northeast Ohioans is to complain that too much of their state tax dollars are going to the rest of the state and not enough to Northeast Ohio. But if you don’t ask for anything, you don’t get it. That’s the case when it comes to the latest round of Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credits. Northeast Ohio TMUD applications represent only 10.8 percent of the total dollar amount requested statewide for Ohio’s fiscal year 2024 round and only one downtown Cleveland project was submitted. Ironically, the TMUD program was the brainchild of a Cleveland developer to encourage more downtown Cleveland projects.

University Circle apartments planned

By Ken Prendergast / September 7, 2023

Although still very early on in the development process, a Greater Cleveland real estate partnership is considering building a 24-unit multi-family development in Cleveland’s University Circle and has a target date of next August for breaking ground on it. The potential development site is across East 118th Street from Case Western Reserve University’s Nobby Ballpark and next to the old East Cleveland Township Cemetery.

Seeds & Sprouts 32 – Glenville library turns page, Cliff Hangers to Clifton, Microcosm Publishing expands, PB Express’ Big Creek container yard

By Ken Prendergast / September 2, 2023

See the Glenville Branch library’s renovation plans, along with the proposed Cliff Hangers restaurant-bar on Clifton Boulevard. Meanwhile, Microcosm Publishing is expanding in Cleveland’s Lee-Miles neighborhood and PB Express trucking is planning a new shipping container terminal along the Big Creek in Old Brooklyn.

Midtown developments accelerate

By Ken Prendergast / August 29, 2023

Long considered as the affordable and accessible place to live between downtown and University Circle, the Midtown neighborhood of Cleveland is starting to take off. Multiple development projects are under way or planned in this area, midway between two of Ohio’s largest employment hubs — the city’s central business district and its eds-and-meds hub. And a project that many consider to be the key to unlocking further development in Midtown is finally moving forward.

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.

For sale: The Justice Center

By Ken Prendergast / August 18, 2023

All five above-ground buildings in downtown’s Justice Center complex, plus a below-ground parking garage, are being offered for sale by Cuyahoga County as a result of other efforts that could partially or completely vacate the entire 2-million-square-foot facility. The sale includes a three-year leaseback with four additional one-year renewal options so the county and city of Cleveland will have time to carry out those vacating efforts. No sale price was listed for the property but if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it anyway.

McNair tapped as new development director

By Ken Prendergast / August 17, 2023

For the past 14 years, Tom McNair rode the Rapid from Shaker Square to Ohio City where he led its community development corporation in different roles. At the end of September, his train will have a new destination — Cleveland City Hall. Mayor Justin Bibb announced yesterday that McNair will be the city’s new director of economic development.

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.

Cleveland East