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in 1912]] Downtown Cleveland, the Central Business District of the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio , has experienced many changes over the years. A remarkable amount of investment in the area in the mid- 1990s spurred a rebirth that continues to this day, with over $2 billion in capital projects slated to involve the downtown area over the next few years. Cleveland has experienced much residential emigration from the city to its surrounding suburbs, and Downtown Cleveland is currently one of the city's neighborhoods that is gaining population. Cleveland's downtown population grew from 7,261 in 1990 to 9,599 as of the 2000 Census , and was recently rated by the Brookings Institution as one of America's "Emerging Downtowns", due to its 32.2% growth rate over this period. There are several new developments, both residential and commercial, planned for downtown. PUBLIC SQUARE The heart of downtown and first settled area, Public Square was laid out by the city's founder, Moses Cleaveland before leaving in 1796 and has remained largely unchanged since that time. It consists of a large open space, cut into four quadrants by Ontario Street and Superior Avenue. Public Square is the symbolic heart of the city, and has hosted presidents, vast congregations of people, and recently, a free annual 4th Of July concert by the Cleveland Orchestra . At one time Public Square was fenced off and inaccessible to vehicles. Public Square hosted the Perry Monument early in its history, which was a memorial to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry 's victory in the Battle Of Lake Erie in the War Of 1812 . The monument was dedicated in 1860 , and placed in the center of Public Square. In 1892 it was moved out of the square, which by then had the fences removed after lobbying by commercial interests. Public Square is also home to the Soldiers' And Sailors' Monument , which commemorates residents of Cuyahoga County who served in the Civil War . In addition the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Public Square is home to a statue of Moses Cleaveland , founder of the city, a statue of Tom L. Johnson , the city's most famous mayor, a large amount of shrubbery and other landscaping, as well as a large public fountain. Notable buildings in public square include the Terminal Tower , home to Tower City Center , 200 Public Square - the former BP Building (renamed in 2005), as well as Key Tower , the tallest building in Cleveland and one of the tallest in the United States. Public Square is also home to the historic Old Stone Church , completed in 1855 . The west side of Public Square was slated to become the headquarters of the Cleveland Trust Company, then called Ameritrust, but the project was cancelled after Ameritrust was purchased and merged into KeyBank, leaving that side of the square open to this day, with only a surface parking lot on the site. HISTORIC WAREHOUSE DISTRICT See Also: The Warehouse District Cleveland's first neighborhood, The Warehouse District , was originally a residential area, then changed to become a warehousing and shipping neighborhood, and has in recent times morphed into an entertainment, dining, and downtown living hub. The Warehouse District is the largest downtown neighborhood by population, and continues to grow with a vast assortment of shops, clubs, bars, and Loft Condos/apartments . This most recent transformation from empty, run-down warehouses to hip, happening clubs and restaurants is only the latest in a long life cycle for the historic area. It was announced at the end of 2005 that local developer Robert L. Stark, of Stark Enterprises, is planning a $1 billion redevelopment of what are currently surface parking lots in the Warehouse District, adding retail, office, housing, and structured parking in a series of buildings from the lakefront to Public Square, see "Stark Project" below. HISTORIC GATEWAY DISTRICT in the late 1960s.]] The Historic Gateway District was one of the first revitalized areas of downtown, thanks largely to the Gateway Project , which includes Jacobs Field and Quicken Loans Arena , home to the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavaliers , as well as the AHL Cleveland Barons . The baseball stadium and basketball arena are connected to Tower City Center, and RTA 's Rail Transit System , via an enclosed walkway. The neighborhood includes retail, housing, and a large variety of restaurants. East 4th Street, an emerging downtown neighborhood, is home to Pickwick and Frolic, a comedy club/restaurant, as well as Cleveland's House Of Blues , as well as other dining and entertainment options, retail, loft condominiums, and apartments. The Gateway District also houses the magnificent Cleveland Arcade , the first indoor shopping mall in the United States and a stunning display of period architecture. CIVIC CENTER As its name suggests, the Civic Center district includes most of Cleveland's public buildings. City Hall is here, as is the Justice Center Complex , home of the City Police Headquarters, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Municipal Courts Tower, and the Correction Center. The Cuyahoga County Court House is located in this area as well. The Cleveland Convention Center is located here, and its exhibit facility is built underground. Other buildings in the district include the Cleveland Public Library main building, the Federal Reserve Bank Of Cleveland , the Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse, and Cleveland Municipal Schools administration building. The Public Malls , Malls A, B, and C, also known as the Burnham Malls, serve as public green space and gardens fronting the lake. One of the two plans for a new Cleveland convention center includes adding an additional mall that extends north towards the lake, the other being a new center built at Tower City. FINANCIAL DISTRICT Cleveland's financial district consists of the areas around East 9th street, with a dense conglomeration of banks in the area. Ohio Savings Bank , National City , and a wide variety of law offices are headquartered in the financial district, as well as the skyscraper the Erieview Tower , part of the largely unbuilt Erieview revitalization project of the 1960s , with its attached mall, The Galleria , which was added to the Tower in the 1980s . Another landmark skyscraper, the "silver chisel" One Cleveland Center is located in this district as well. '' The Plain Dealer '', Cleveland's major daily Newspaper , is headquarted here, and WKYC , the local NBC Affiliate , recently built a new digital broadcast center on Lakeside Road on the eastern edge of downtown. Other stations headquarted here include WOIO , the CBS affiliate, and WUAB , the UPN affiliate. There is a large concentration of high-rise downtown housing in this area, largely concentrated in the East 12th Street area, with a major infill project set to begin in the 12th street area in the next year. The Financial District also serves as home to Cleveland's Catholic Cathedral, St. John Cathedral , the seat of its Catholic Diocese. A notable building in this area that currently sits vacant is the former Cleveland Trust Rotunda and Ameritrust Tower , which served as headquarters of The Cleveland Trust Company and its successor, Ameritrust, until their acquisition by KeyBank . The rotunda features a large stained glass window on its ceiling, and was recently purchased by Cuyahoga County, which is planning to reuse it as the centerpiece of the county's new combined administration center. The center will either refurbish and adapt the former Ameritrust Tower to its uses, or tear the building down and build a new tower that connects with the rotunda. NORTH COAST DISTRICT Home to Cleveland Browns Stadium , the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum , Great Lakes Science Center , Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum and the USS Cod , North Coast Harbor is the tourist district of downtown Cleveland. The North Coast District is home to the city's port at present time, although there are long term plans in place to move the port west of the river and open up the area for housing and lakefront development. North Coast is also the former home of the infamous Cleveland Stadium , better known to some as the Mistake on the Lake. Cleveland Stadium was torn down after the former Cleveland Browns franchise left the city in 1995, and was replaced with Cleveland Browns Stadium, which serves as the home of the reborn football franchise. Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport is located east of the Rock Hall, and serves as a commuter and business airport that keeps traffic down at the larger Cleveland Hopkins International Airport , located west of downtown. Burke has been under study in past years as to whether its land would be more useful opened up to development, and no consensus has been reached on the issue. The district fronts Lake Erie on the north and also includes Voinovich Park and a fishing pier. Future plans for the city's lakefront include adding thousands of housing units, retail shops, a marina, and other amenities to north coast harbor, see "Lakefront Plan" below. PLAYHOUSE SQUARE DISTRICT Home to the largest theater district between New York and Chicago, Playhouse Square Center is downtown's cultural heart. The State, Ohio, Allen, Hanna, and Palace theaters are located here. WVIZ / WCPN , Cleveland's Public Television and radio stations (incorporated as "ideastream"), recently renovated the former One Playhouse Square, an empty office building, into a downtown headquarters, including high definition television studios, control rooms, radio studios, and performance space fronting Euclid Avenue , as well as a variety of high-tech business startups and other tenants located on the building's upper floors. The building is now known as the Idea Center , and had its official opening in the Fall of 2005, though ideastream is continuing the move in process at this time. QUADRANGLE DISTRICT The Quadrangle District is home to Cleveland State University , the city's large public university. Cleveland State has in past years been derided as an open enrollment commuter school, but has recently moved to dispel that belief. The university is embarking on a master plan to raise standards, enrollment, and rebuild its fortress-like campus. CSU wants to build a college town in the middle of downtown, including thousands of resident students in housing, retail and shops for them, restaurants, and other amenities currently sorely lacking in the Quadrangle. The university's desire to attract more traditional college students and begin to raise its stature as a research university figure into these plans a great deal, and CSU will open its second residence hall, a complete retrofit of Fenn Tower, in the fall of 2006. Additionally, CSU wants to partner with the city and other area stockholders to transfer technology research and other work the school does into startup companies and enterprises, improving the economy of the area and stimulating downtown life in the Quadrangle. As part of CSU, the Wolstein Center , formerly the CSU Convocation Center, is located in the Quadrangle District, and serves as the home of CSU Men's Basketball, as well as holds various concerts and special events throughout the year. In addition to Cleveland State University, the Quandrangle is also home to Cuyahoga Community College 's Metro Campus. FLATS DISTRICT See Also: The Flats Once the most popular nightlife district in Ohio, The Flats have recently fallen on hard times. Though there is no one reason for the decay, most point to a series of drownings, beatings, and other unruly behavior that sullied the reputation of the nightlife district to most residents and outsiders. The Flats crowd migrated east to the Warehouse District, leaving the east bank to decay. The west bank of the flats, home to numerous restaurants, bars, and new housing continues to thrive, and is the site of a large urban apartment/condo complex known as Stonebridge. A local developer, Scott Wolstein of Developers Diversified Realty Inc, recently proposed demolishing the structures on the east bank and replacing them with a new mixed-use neighborhood. Demolition work is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2006, and the flats will be reborn once again as a residential neighborhood. This is interesting in that the flats were actually the place Moses Cleaveland himself first landed when he founded the city, and thus the area is reclaiming its past heritage as a residential area. In addition to the East Bank development, there have been plans floated for the Irishtown Bend area, in addition to more housing on the west bank in the area near the Powerhouse entertainment complex, currently a large surface parking lot. NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND PROJECTS Euclid Corridor One of the city's major projects, the Euclid Corridor Project will introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the area. The project is a complete rebuild of Euclid Avenue from Public Square to University Circle , and will include bus-only lanes with center-median station boarding, priority signaling, and fast commute times. In addition to the transportation rebuild, the Euclid Corridor Project will also invest heavily in the streetscape of Euclid Avenue, rebuilding the street from storefront to storefront, removing old vaults and streetcar tracks, and building new sidewalks and lighting. The project includes a large public arts component, with different areas of the Euclid Corridor route being developed by area and national artists. The project expects to spur investments in residential, retail, office, and mixed-use redevelopments, including over 4,000 residential units along the corridor. Construction of the $200 million dollar project has begun, with full service slated for 2008. Flats East Bank The long-suffering east bank of the Flats will be torn down, realigned, and reborn in a plan put forth by Scott Wolstein of Developers Diversified Realty, Inc. Wolstein's plans include a complete demolition of the current east bank, realignment of Old River Road, and the construction of hundreds of apartments, townhouses, and retail over parking, connections to the RTA Waterfront Line , and a new office building that is being pitched as the new home for the local Defense Finance And Accounting Service office, scheduled to add over 500 jobs in the next two years. The development will also include a boardwalk and marina, and is part of a larger plan to develop the lakefront and river shores of downtown that has included a large number of apartments built on the west bank of the flats, in an area called Stonebridge. The east bank redevelopment plan is working its way through the council and planning commission approval process and is scheduled to begin sewer work in the first quarter of 2006. Current East Bank property owners will be offered an appraised amount for their property, with the owners who refuse to sell subject to Eminent Domain proceedings. Wolstein expects the development to be ready for residence by late 2008 or early 2009, with the office building on-site ready for occupancy by 2007. Avenue District Cleveland is also getting its own higher income downtown district - the Avenue District. Located on the site of a current set of parking lots on East 12th Street, the development is slated to include over 400 condominiums, including lofts, penthouses, and townhomes, street-level retail, garage parking, and pedestrian friendly sidewalks and streets. The developer is touting this as downtown's new upscale, quiet neighborhood, with easy access to the attractions and amenities of downtown. The development will be located adjacent to The Galleria at Erieview, and it is hoped that the residents will provide a customer base for the mall's tenants. The development is a project of Zaremba, Inc., and is scheduled to begin construction in early 2006. The Avenue District will be built in phases, with future surface lot development based on market demand. East 4th Street MRN Ltd has bought most of the buildings along East 4th Street and is currently installing street retail such as high-end clothing, restaurants and coffee shops with outdoor seating, hundreds of loft apartments in the upper levels, and an upscale martini bar/bowling alley/restaurant created by the founders of Gameworks, to be known as the Corner Alley. East 4th Street is home to Pickwick and Frolic and the Hilarities 4th Street Theatre, a comedy club / restaurant, and the House of Blues Cleveland, located in the former Woolworth's Building. Lola Bistro, a well-known local restaurant, will be opening on the street early in 2006, and an East Coast-style "ultralounge", known as View Nightclub, recently opened as well. MRN will be adding more apartments to the area in conjunction with the Corner Alley martini bar / bowling alley, with funding assistance from the City of Cleveland. Lakefront The Cleveland City Planning Commission recently completed plans for a lakefront revitalization to stimulate interest in Cleveland as a city to live in. These include thousands of housing units, retail shops, public parks, connections to the Light Rail waterfront line, an 18 hole Golf course, office buildings, a boardwalk, and other amenities. Cleveland's current industrially-oriented lakefront is slated become a thing of the past, and a new, public-minded and recreational lakefront will rise in its place. The chief roadblock to the implementation of this plan is the relocation of the Port of Cleveland to an area west of the river, as well as the tearing out of Ohio Route 2, better known as the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway . The Shoreway is an expressway that currently blocks downtown from the lakefront, separating lakefront development and restricting pedestrian access. The city's plans include converting the shoreway to a low-speed, at-grade boulevard. Convention Center Cleveland is working on a long term replacement for its outdated and dilapidated convention center, currently located underground beneath Mall B, a grassy open space fronting the train tracks and North Coast District. Plans vary from replacing the current center beneath the mall to construction of an addition to Forest City-owned Tower City Center. Recent cost projections have put the underground site at an estimated cost of over $500 million dollars, which is well over what the city and county wish to pay. Forest City, who had pulled their Tower City site from consideration, have recently announced they would like it reconsidered as a potential spot. The site is considered a front runner as it would cost around $350 million to expand a convention center onto it, a closer number to what the city/county wish to spend. Stark Project Robert Stark, of Robert Stark Enterprises, spoke of building a coalition of developers to redevelop large areas of downtown and to inject a large amount of population, workers, and retail into the long-languishing district. He identified an area that he coined the "Y" of Downtown Cleveland. The bottom of the Y is Forest City -owned Scranton Peninsula . The upper right of the Y reaches along Euclid Avenue, where revitalization is already under way via the Euclid Corridor project, and the other arm of the Y is the Warehouse District, currently choked by an ocean of surface parking lots. Stark plans to build on the 21 acres (8.5 hectares) of surface parking lots that have prevented the area from becoming a true urban neighborhood. On the largest area of parking, measuring 8 acres (3.2 hectares) within the block bounded by Superior Avenue, West 3rd Street, St. Clair Avenue and West 6th Street, Stark will build phase one of his development. Phase one, a $1 billion redevelopment of surface parking lots in the Warehouse District, will be a multi-building, mixed-use development of retail, offices, housing, and structured parking. Stark has plans to open the development by 2008. The next phase of the plan includes extending the downtown street grid from the Warehouse District to the lakefront, developing a large section of waterfront land currently in use by the Port Of Cleveland . Lighthouse Landing Announced in April of 2006, Lighthouse Landing is a proposed dual condominium tower development to be built on the site of a current surface parking lot bordering the Flats and Warehouse District. The site is currently owned by Victor Shaia, and the development architect is Paul Volpe. 228 for-sale units will be built in two towers of 18 and 22 stories, with a parking garage to be built inbetween them. This project has generated some controversy in light of Scott Wolstein's East Bank project, in which Wolstein is redeveloping the desolate east bank of the flats into a new neighborhood. Wolstein has stated that he wants to leave the property in question as a surface lot in phase I of his development, and thus opposes the project. Shaia's nephew Alan runs a development company out of Richmond, VA, called Walnut Grove Ventures Development Corp, and that company is the developer on this project. Construction is slated to begin next year, though it remains to be seen if an amicable resolution to the Wolstein/Shaia conflict can be reached. Others 515 Euclid Avenue, a parking garage that recently opened, is slated to become a 28+ story condominium tower in the future once demand is built. Tower City Center continues to attract downtown shoppers, and Forest City Enterprises says they are waiting for the downtown housing market to mature before it plans housing developments on its Scranton Peninsula. Additional developers have floated ideas for developing the peninsula and areas surrounding the flats with housing as well; in particular, local developer John Ferchill has announced plans to build housing along the river's edge at Scranton. The project will represent Ferchill's first project in Cleveland in many years, as he refused to work with previous Mayor Michael R. White. Riverview Hope, a project in Ohio City, will introduce hundreds of market rate housing units integrated with public housing along the river. Stonebridge, a new apartment and condominium development in the west bank of the Flats, is adding a new building and restaurant to its offerings, and the project's developer has stated his intentions to fully build out the west bank of the Flats when finished. Quicken Loans , owned by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert , has announced plans to open a large online loan center downtown near the arena. New housing condo/apartment projects are frequently announced, and Cleveland is projected to have a downtown population of over 20,000 in the near future. REFERENCES |
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