Mayor Justin Bibb

Browns Stadium talks tackled for no gain

At a press conference this week, Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam raised some eyebrows with their comments about the current stadium and where the football team might play in the future. Among other remarks, Jimmy Haslam interjected that “The only thing Dee and I would say for sure is we’re not leaving Northeast Ohio.” According to a team source familiar with its negotiations with the city of Cleveland, that remark was a subtle nudge to the city to resolve an apparent impasse in negotiations. The source added that, if the team doesn’t see more progress, it could leave Cleveland for a new stadium in the suburbs.

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City considers re-legalizing the city again

The city of Cleveland’s Board of Zoning Appeals’ docket regularly sees cases like this. On Monday, Sally Banks LLC will ask the board to allow it add a 1,100-square-foot addition to its popular Treehouse pub, 820 College Ave. in Tremont, without adding off-street parking spaces. It’s the second time the pub is expanding and it’s the second time it has had to go through the process of getting a variance to ignore the city’s zoning laws. Those zoning laws say the pub has to add an off-street parking space for every 100 square feet of new business space. The average cost per parking space to build a surface parking lot is $5,000, city data shows.

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city-owned land is proposed for parking lot

Lakefront vision to be unveiled July 27

Although the downtown lakefront plans to released publicly on July 27 will be preliminary, they will give more insight into the direction city officials received from prior public input sessions on developing the city’s “front porch” as officials call the lakefront. And since these plans are still preliminary and conceptual, city officials said they want more public input on them before refining them and adding more design details to them.

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Downtown Lakefront projects flow

Several large-scale projects along downtown Cleveland’s lakefront are moving forward thanks to developments in recent days. In addition to multi-million-dollar grants being awarded for lakefront projects, the City Planning Commission approved plans for the $100 million expansion of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also, a national nonprofit that promotes racial equity revealed it is partnering with the city on designing an inclusive lakefront. And plans for converting the Shoreway highway into a boulevard are crystalizing but may complicate Amtrak’s passenger rail expansion plans.

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Bibb appoints interim director

Less than a week after Tessa Jackson left her post as Cleveland’s economic development director, Mayor Justin Bibb has found a replacement — at least temporarily. This morning, Bibb named Terri Hamilton Brown as the city’s interim director of economic development. She was sworn in and began work today following the departure of Tessa Jackson on June 15. The city expects to open the application process for the permanent position later this week.

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North Coast Connector: ready for its close-up

The North Coast Connector — a project that’s considered by many city and community development officials as the key to unlocking the potential of downtown Cleveland’s lakefront — is starting to come together. The state is moving forward on a big piece of funding for its construction. The city is moving forward on funding for detailed architectural designs. And public involvement meetings to help shape those designs will be held starting this week. To quote Gloria Swanson in the 1950 classic movie “Sunset Boulevard,” the proposed land bridge is “ready for its close-up.”

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Browns, city want you to rule out FES renovation

“I stand by my sources.” I write that after this week’s statement from Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam which followed NEOtrans’ most recent article about the Browns’ desire for a new all-purpose stadium for Cleveland. At the National Football League’s (NFL) Annual Meeting, the Haslams said “They remain committed to upgrading the Browns’ stadium — with the primary goal of renovating FirstEnergy Stadium in accordance with the City of Cleveland’s plans to upgrade waterfront area between Lake Erie and downtown.”

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Sources: Browns want new stadium; Mayor wants community input

Browns, city deny claims; say focus remains on FirstEnergy Stadium According to several sources, the Cleveland Browns and its majority owner, the Haslam Sports Group, want to move faster than City Hall on what happens before the team’s lease at FirstEnergy Stadium expires at the end of 2028. That reportedly includes a new football/multi-purpose stadium

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City staffing shortage threatens some Cleveland projects

At the start of 2024, the city of Cleveland’s new tax abatement policy will go into effect. While the policy will remain basically unchanged for much of the city, it will become less supportive of developments in neighborhoods where construction has been most active — University Circle, Ohio City, Tremont and parts of downtown. So, in those areas, developers are trying to expedite the delivery of projects before the 15-year property tax abatement on new developments declines from 100 percent to 85 percent. But there’s something standing in the way of that acceleration: a lack of city staff to get projects approved in time.

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