When Cleveland Heights resident Michael Adams first got serious about making the switch from law to opening a restaurant, he looked at lots of forgettable locations -- "kind of cookie-cutter," he recalls. Then someone told him about a space on the second floor of the Rockefeller Building, at the corner of Mayfeild and Lee roads. For Adams, it was love at first sight.

"It's a gorgeous space," Adams says of the former bank, with its original, well-preserved stone floors, ... Read more >

The St. Clair Superior neighborhood welcomed two new businesses recently, a café and a coffee shop, both in former factories, and both indicative of the forces that have been driving development in the area in recent years.

The 30th Street Café opened in Asia Plaza at East 30th and Payne, serving selections from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines. Owned by the Hom family, prominent local entrepreneurs, Asia Plaza is a two-story retail center that was once a... Read more >

When a Johnny Malloy's sports bar occupied the old Centrum Theatre on Coventry, management "honored" the once-grand movie house by installing an impressive array of video projectors and screens, to show multiple sporting events at once. Johnny Malloy's is now gone, and new occupant Fracas is taking a decidedly different approach.

Owner Phil Romano enlisted the aid of the Cleveland Heights Historical Society and Sherwin Williams to track down the colors the theater sported... Read more >

University Circle's Uptown project took a major step forward last week when the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland board approved plansfor a new home, a dramatic, six-faceted, $27 million structure ofhighly reflective stainless steel and glass to be built at EuclidAvenue and Mayfield Road.

The new building should make quite an impact on visitors to the busyintersection: "Viewed from the exterior, the building will appear as aninventive massing of six geometric fa... Read more >

For several years, Kim Crow watched as the contracting newspaper business shed people, including many of her friends and colleagues, and laid ever-increasing burdens on those still employed. So relinquishing her duties at the Plain Dealer -- editing three sections, supervising six reporters and, the work she's best known for, writing a fashion column -- was the easy part.

At least compared to opening a store.

Crow recently unveiled Evie Lou -- "A contemporary ... Read more >

When Dobama Theatre was forced out of its longtime Coventry Road home in 2005, it marked the end of a nearly 40-year tradition of live theater in the Coventry Village neighborhood. But the recent drought will end next year when the Ensemble Theatre takes over a portion of the
old Coventry School building for classes and shows. Last week, Cleveland Heights Planning Commission approved their request for a zoning variance.

Ensemble, now in its 31st season, was founded ... Read more >

Wendy Park on Whiskey Island might be Northeast Ohio's greatest greenspace success story.Less than 10 years ago, precious few Clevelanders had ever visited thesite, which sits right where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Nighon impossible to get to, and offering little more than volleyballcourts, there just wasn't much point. Steady improvements under countyownership have pushed annual visits from about 7,000 in 2006 to morethan 200,000 today, and the work is not nearly over.Read more >

The recession would seem to provide businesses with a ready and compelling excuse not to consider investing in something like solar power. But Cleveland-based Kalman & Pabst Photo Group looked at it another way: There are substantial federal and state tax incentives available for investing in the green technology, and they probably won't last forever.

K&P, a commercial photo studio whose clients include Progressive and Arhaus, recently hired Bold Alternatives, of ... Read more >

It's taken several months, but Vicky Poole says she's finally getting ahandle on what will grow well in a mall. Herbs, for one thing.

Poole is co-owner of Gardens Under Glass, the innovative urban hydroponic farm, market and experiment under the magnificent glass ceilings of Galleria at Erieviewon East 9th Street. The growing began last winter. Poole recently addedthe Re-Source Center, selling related products from local vendors, someof whom, like A Piece of Cleveland,spe... Read more >

What can we do with what we already have? That simple question drives two movements that are rapidly gaining momentum and reshaping Cleveland: urban farming and deconstruction -- because, for better or worse, land and condemned buildings are plentiful. In the same glass-half-full spirit, some local artists are turning to items that would otherwise have ended up in landfills to change perceptions about "trash," and perhaps spawn a new industry.

As the playful name hints, P... Read more >

Hundreds of Northeast Ohioans bike to work downtown. Many more surelywould, but for the challenges that present themselves upon arrival --like parking and, well, sweating. But next year the city will have ananswer to those deterrents: The Bike Rack, set to open next spring inthe ground level of the parking garage at East 4th and High streets,between Harry Buffalo restaurant and Quicken Loans Arena. Ground wasbroken there in late October.

Modeled on bike stations in Europe... Read more >

Cleveland's slow but steady transformation from national leader in jobloss and foreclosures to national model for urban farming took anothermajor step forward last week in the Kinsman neighborhood. That's wherefederal, state and city officials introduced the Cleveland UrbanAgriculture Incubator Pilot Project.

Six acres of land at East 83rd and Gill, donated from the City LandBank, will be turned into a farm, thanks to $100,000 grants from theOhio Department of Agriculture... Read more >

Mike Graley, a wine buyer for Heinen's for 20 years, is applying his expertise to a new venture, Battery Park Wine Bar,a.k.a. YOLO Wine Bar in Battery Park. YOLO stands for "You Only LiveOnce," which Graley says is the theme of his unpretentious,contemporary joint, in the former Eveready plant in Detroit Shoreway'sBattery Park neighborhood.

This "not-so-typical wine bar," asGraley describes it, will carry well over 100 varieties, all sold at just$12 above retail -- unlike... Read more >

How is it possible that hip Tremont has gone all this time without avintage shop? Whatever the explanation, the oversight has been remediedwith the opening of Deering Vintage at 2678 W. 14th St. (formerly Kelly Randall Gallery).

"It just seems like an exciting place to be right now," says ownerCynthia Deering, who owned Suite Lorain, at West 69th and Lorain, for20 years before selling in March. Development in Detroit Shoreway tothe north had resulted in Lorain becoming a ... Read more >

It's not a sports championship, but in some ways it's just as big. Lastweek a consortium of some of the wealthiest banks and foundations inthe world announced that Cleveland would receive major support forinnovative developments that will create hundreds of new jobs wherethey're needed most.

The Integration Initiative, by the New York-based Living Citiesphilanthropic collaborative, will pump almost $15 million in grants,loans and targeted investments into Cleveland. One o... Read more >

Northeast Ohio could reap more than half the benefit of newly announcedstate tax credits intended to spark development. Key CommunityDevelopment New Markets and Northeast Ohio Development Fund, both basedin Cuyahoga County, were awarded $3 million and $2 million,respectively, in credits through the Ohio New Markets Tax Credits. Alltold, $10 million in credits were distributed to four funds in thisfirst round of grants.

The credits are modeled after and supplement a federa... Read more >

The location search tool on the Ohio Film Office'snew web site is a fun way to peruse some of the most scenic sites inthe state. Choosing category "Industrial," subcategory"Factories/Plants/Mills," and region "Northern" will lead you to dozensof photos of the Flats, in all its Rust Belt glory. You don't have tobe a filmmaker to enjoy it; the scenes almost start to write themselves.

But producers and directors are the intended users of the site, whichwas launched earlier t... Read more >

Thomas Paine would be proud. At a time when it seems like every new idea is first floated online, Plain Dealer architecture critic Steven Litt has chosen good old-fashioned paper as the primary vehicle for his impassioned paean to beautiful surroundings, Designing a Better Cleveland.

"To the extent that Cleveland fails to make the most of public andprivate investments in buildings, highways, bridges, streets, parks andwaterfronts, it will waste opportunities, fail to com... Read more >

Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority officials recently revealed that they are reconsidering long-stalled plans for a ferry between Ohio and Ontario. Last week, they announced another international transit plan, this time for container service.

The Port and Great Lakes Feeder Lines of Burlington, Ontario arediscussing a deal that would make Cleveland the first city on the lakeswith regular container service to and from Canada. TheCleveland-Montreal connection could be... Read more >