Brought to the city by Stark Enterprises (famous for Crocker Park and decidedly not a sendup of Stark Industries) and J-Dek, nuCLEus comprises a $250-million project that will sit on the parking lot at East 4th and Prospect. The PD’s and not the NEOMG’s Steven Litt reports on this morning’s meeting and provides this dynamic illustration:
Wearing a charcoal suit and a white shirt without a tie, [Robert Stark] spoke in a deep, booming voice and gestured broadly toward dual screens filled with projected images of diagrams sketching the basics of the plan.(Well, that actually sounds a lot like a sendup of Stark Industries.)
Here’s the gist: nuCLEus will involve tons of retail and office space, a 150- to 200-room hotel and some 500 residential units wrapped up in two 31- and 18-story buildings. A big parking garage will sit atop the retail spots. It’s essentially a mashup of Crocker Park, The 9 and the Flats East Bank project, each of which are here to mainline rails of glitzy entertainment into various neighborhoods downtown — Vegas-style. (See flashing East 9th advertisements, etc.) Along with the forthcoming Hilton hotel, this will alter the skyline to some extent.
“The project would start with a sizable parking garage on Prospect that would be enveloped in retail space to create a vibrant presence on the street rather than just a concrete wall,” Anthony Coyne, planning commission chairman, said this morning. He clarified that today’s meeting granted conceptual approval; the next step in the process will involve architectural renderings.
nuCLEus has been picking up widespread praise — and for plenty of good reasons. At the core of all this is, of course, the simple fact that a local outfit wrested a dreary parking lot away from its California owners. That the development is taking place in the heart of downtown Cleveland — the project’s namesake — complements the downtown renaissance narrative quite tidily.
But there is one small question that’s worth posing in a sort of social critique sense: How sustainable is the new entertainment economy in Cleveland?
Projects like nuCLEus, The 9, the Flats East Bank, East 4th, Gateway — concerted massive development projects and, in the end, entertainment districts — are certainly fun to most people. And despite these early, dolorous Cavs games, LeBron’s return to the city has absolutely galvanized a young demographic (the Big Party on opening night took place literally where nuCLEus will be built, for whatever that connection is worth). But is this what the city should be throwing tax-increment financing toward? Are civic leaders considering what demand for all of these districts, in aggregate, might look like on a regular old night in Cleveland?
Can Cleveland really fill all of these hotel rooms?
As Litt reports, Coyne ended this morning’s planning meeting with a smile and an “OK, I’m exhausted listening to this.”
All of a sudden, being excited about Cleveland is getting exhausting.
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2014.
I love you guys, but can you write these stories about Cleveland development with any POV other than skepticism? I’ve got cotton mouth you guys write these so dry.
I can’t imagine the majority of Clevelanders would argue to keep prime real estate a parking lot.
It’s always pretty funny to see your average joe convinced he has the economics of real estate development all figured out. Forget the established developers who take out hundreds of millions of collateralized debt and hold an equity stake – they don’t know what they’re doing! Right?
Developers in Cleveland almost always remain majority owners of the project. As a result, they absolutely have the most to lose – both in the long and short term. This project is no exception.
Public contributions routinely make a relatively small (as related to total project expenditure) but necessary piece of financing. Almost always, the tax benefit of a completed project like this pays back the initial public contribution in multiples.
But hey, best to listen to the people who literally have no idea what they’re talking about tell us what can and can’t be done.
I just want to work for a place called stark enterprises. Is that wrong?
@TJohnson. I couldn’t agree more. It makes me laugh when Scene thinks they are smarter than the billion-dollar hotel companies. And enough of the “leech theory” that news outlets in this city keep preaching. These projects are built to attract new people. They are not taking people off of E. 4th or Warehouse. The 9 has brought people Downtown and E. 4th is still doing fine and is even spilling over onto Prospect. nuCLEus will work well with the rest of Downtown.
this is great!
There isn’t enough housing for the demand Downtown and we desperately need more retail. This is an ugly, unused space that is an embarrassment. This guy has a history of success. I say it’s a big WIN for everyone.
Historic preservationists will demand that the VHS tape racks from the porno book store that stood on the site when Gund Arena opened in 1994 be incorporated into the design.
Agree with all of the comments putting into perspective Scene’s always-glib and always-righteous skeptical comments. Like a surface parking lot is somehow redeeming.
But Scene is already salivating at all the restaurant/bar/retail ads and fodder for upcoming events that this development will provide.
Hypocrites!!!
It’d be great if they would have affordable housing for the 99.I’d love to live downtown but can’t afford the rent.
I have to agree with commenters who say it’s crazy to think that these developers aren’t doing their due diligence. A city Cleveland’s size with a new convention center, the huge number of corporate offices here (many of which are Fortune 500 or 1000), the draw of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the insatiable demand for Downtown housing is only going to snowball this growth. Businesses like Eaton, who moved out to the suburbs from the city, are becoming exceptions as many businesses are moving Downtown because of the positive energy, the restaurants, and the Internet backbone that runs straight down Euclid Avenue. While Detroit may be huge, it has nowhere near as much going on in its economy as Cleveland does, as Cleveland has always been far more diversified—and Detroit has TONS of hotel space. All this new hotel space is desperately needed so large conventions can be held downtown without numerous people trekking in from the suburbs. And as conventions are held here, tourism for pleasure is certain to increase as well, since we are a fun AND cheap date! This is great momentum and I find it hard to believe it will slow down unless the national economy lays an egg.
It’s not about the undeniable fact that a development like this would be 100% more aesthetically pleasing than an existing parking lot. And, at least on paper, would provide a bunch of juice for the downtown economy.
The thing that random “commenter” doesn’t do is assess the risk/reward aspect when they sit down at their keyboard and spit fire one way or another. Cleveland, while obviously on the upswing, hasn’t proven that it can sustain the trend it’s on. And while it’s tough to admit because as Clevelanders we all have he sense of local pride, Cleveland doesn’t have a growing population-it has one that is simply redistributing itself from the suburbs to trendy urban neighborhoods. It doesn’t have a booming tourism economy like Chicago or even second tier cities like Nashville and Austin. It doesn’t have the real estate values that justify the cost of construction of these types of projects through private investment alone. It comes down to a developer who’s willing to take the risk, and a local government who’s willing to help decrease that risk with public investment-with the hopes that the result stimulates the local economy and helps influence growth-for the long term.
It’s exciting for sure. But there are a lot of assumptions at play with the amount of development going on–and they are all assumptions, not proven. Thousands of hotel rooms coming on-line, when vacancy rates are already high–banking strictly on conventions and medical visitors. There’s risk there. Even with all the new apartments, downtown still will only have a population of less than 15,000. Even with the new EY tower at the Flats, downtown’s office occupancy didn’t improve-it just moved existing downtown tenants to new space, and left other space vacant-still nearly 20% of downtown office space is empty.
The flow is obvious. Lure businesses to downtown, not to the burbs. That, and making continued improvements to connectivity should the goal of city and county administrators. Weighing the impacts of building new vehicular and pedestrian bridges against investments like street cars, expansion of the rapid system, or extensions of bus lines and improving streetscapes and placemaking. Companies like Progressive, Eaton, American Greetings…they all could have made decisions to commit to downtown, but for financial reasons didn’t. Companies like Cliffs are cutting jobs and Tower City has been bleeding to death for years. When you can get businesses to stay, you can get renters who want to be close to work, and then you can lure national retailers who will be confident that they can succeed with the proven density. Bob Stark is taking a risk. Albeit a calculated one with lots of studying behind it, no one really can tell the future. Its why real estate development is many times boom or bust-because the argument is chicken and egg. Does development spur long-term growth, or does proven growth spur increased development? There are hundreds of ways to answer, all of which are opinion and specific to each instance.
Cleveland looks to be heading the right direction, time will tell what happens, but this stuff is surely exciting.
I love the idea of more retail but why don’t we just invest in tower city and the galleria? I’d love to see those back to what they once were.
I pass that parking lot every day and can honestly say I’ve never been happier to hear about this development. This is just another reason to be excited that our city is growing!
You heard it here first, everyone. Iron Man is real and his company is in Cleveland. Can’t wait for Avengers Tower to be built.