Zack Bruell used to watch PlayhouseSquare office workers sit outside at Star Plaza and eat sandwiches in the park. He thought, They could be my customers. Now, thanks to Dynomite, a new fast-casual burger shack in the Star Plaza kiosk, many of them are.

During its first week, Dynomite frequently had lines 30-people deep and ran out of hamburger buns by 3 p.m. (don't worry, they ordered more). Bruell hopes this is an omen.

"I was basically opening it so t... Read more >

Welcome to Cleveland, an artists' visitation weekend hosted by Northeast Shores CDC and the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, drew about a dozen artists to Cleveland, many of whom have signed leases and are expected to move here.

"The weekend exceeded our expectations by far," says Brian Friedman, Executive Director of Northeast Shores. "We didn't know they'd be so ready to go."

The artists were impressed not only by Clev... Read more >

You can add one more to the list of artisan businesses choosing North Collinwood as the place to launch and grow. Fears' Confections, a sweet shop specializing in scratch-made brownies and candies, has opened in the former Arabica space at 818 E. 185th Street.

The business, launched by Cassandra and Jeremy Fear, uses "sweets to die for" as its tagline. The bakery and confectionery offers "thick, fudgy, decadent creations made from scratch using only the... Read more >

John Farina and Adam Tully have been collecting art for years, and like many collectors, they've always wanted to open a gallery to showcase work of artists they love. That idea will become a reality next month as The Maria Neil Art Project opens up on Waterloo.

"There are a lot of artists in Cleveland who are either unrepresented or underrepresented," says Farina, who also recently bought a home in North Collinwood with Tully. "This work should be know... Read more >

Campbell's Sweets, a homegrown business that has three stands at the West Side Market and a store on W. 25th Street, is set to explode across Cleveland, with an additional shop in Lakewood, a production facility in Slavic Village and an east side store in the works.

"It's been two years this August since we opened the W. 25th Street store, and it's gone really well," says owner Jeff Campbell. "We predicted that we'd steal business from our m... Read more >

Currently, visitors to the Carnegie-West branch of the Cleveland Public Library find an underutilized park across the street. But soon they'll stumble upon a literary wonderland of peanut butter sandwich boats with sails, spaghetti tubes and a stone soup mural.

Inspired by children's books, a love of reading and the ambition to bring families and community members together, Literary Lots will kick off Saturday, August 3rd in Novak Park in Ohio City and run for two... Read more >

Slavic Village Recovery, an ambitious effort to provide an extreme neighborhood makeover to a 530-acre chunk of the east side, has begun the process of purchasing 40 homes that will be rehabbed.

Two of these properties already have been put on the market with new mechanicals and other finishes for a mere $60,000, says Marie Kittredge, Executive Director of Slavic Village Development, a partner in the project along with Forest City Enterprises and Safeguard Properties.
... Read more >

Hemingway Development and Geis Companies have completed the third building of the MidTown Tech Park campus at 6555 Carnegie Avenue. The $9 million project brings the campus to a total of 242,000 square feet of new office space.

"When we arrived in MidTown, we wanted to develop one building a year, and we have exceeded that with the opening of this building,” said Fred Geis, a Hemingway principal, in a press release. "With the growth of the MidTown Tech Par... Read more >

The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) has mapped out what our region's future looks like if we stay on the same, urban-sprawl-lovin' course. Spoiler alert: It ain't good.

The group's "Business as Usual" scenario attempts to answer the question, "What will happen over the next 27 years if Northeast Ohio just keeps doing what it has been doing?" using sophisticated mapping.

NEOSCC's predictions includ... Read more >

The Cleveland Shop, a 34-year old vintage clothing and costume rental store, has relocated from Detroit and W. 117th to the Gordon Square Arts District, adding to a growing fashion presence in this burgeoning near west side neighborhood.

The shop, which opened July 11th, took over the former duoHOME space at 6511 Detroit Avenue. It is open Tuesday through Thursday from 12-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12-9 p.m. and closed Sunday and Monday. It joins Turnstyle Clothing ... Read more >

Former L'Albatros GM Brandon Chrostowski just signed a lease to open EDWINS, a restaurant that will serve as a training program to help people reentering society after prison to gain relevant job skills. Chrostowski will open the eatery, which will be located in the former Grotto Wine Bar space at Shaker Square, this fall.

"The food will be industrial French -- I've only worked in French restaurants, so it's kind of like taking that cuisine and putting an... Read more >

Three prominent community development groups in Cleveland have merged, and staffers say the resulting alliance will help strengthen community revitalization efforts across the city, foster more unified advocacy, and allow for greater efficiency in citywide efforts.

Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI), a community development intermediary that provides grants and technical assistance to community development corporations (CDCs), has merged with Cleveland Neighborhood Developm... Read more >

The jazz institution Nighttown has opened two new patios -- one for people and the other for people accompanied by their four-legged friends -- at its home on Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights. They're not what you might expect: Unlike the traditional look of the restaurant's interior, the patios are very contemporary.

"The whole back of the building is basically a patio complex," says owner Brendan Ring. "We created two side-by-side patios, one enclo... Read more >

For Gordon Square residents and Edgewater Park visitors, the long wait finally is over. The bike-ped underpass at W. 76th Street that connects the west side to Edgewater reopens next week -- albeit a few years late and millions over budget. Public officials plan to celebrate on Tuesday, July 2nd at 5 pm with a ribbon cutting at Battery Park Wine Bar.

Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) spokesperson Amanda Lee says the delays were caused by environmental issues that r... Read more >

The Willeyville is named after John Willey, the first mayor of Cleveland, who reputedly demolished a portion of the first bridge to Ohio City to keep a steady stream of business pouring into the Flats. In those bygone days, the area actually was nicknamed "Willeyville" because of the mayor's practice of protecting it.

The new restaurant, which opened at W. 10th and Front streets in the Flats, is a bridge to the city's past and future. With elegant, creat... Read more >

The gradually expanding network of bike-friendly streets in Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs just got a little wider with the addition of a bike lane and sharrows on Edgehill Road from Overlook Road down to Little Italy. The route, one of the most heavily-trafficked for east side bike commuters, was just freshly paved and restriped.

"This is part of the Circle-Heights Bicycle Plan," says Chris Bongorno, Director of Planning with University Circle Inc., whic... Read more >

A determined group of Heights parents who have long sought a creative educational experience for their kids are opening Cleveland's first-ever Waldorf school. It is expected to open this fall in the former Coventry Elementary School in Cleveland Heights.

"This is a great thing for Cleveland Heights," says Amy Marquit-Renwald, a Shaker Heights resident who grew up in Cleveland Heights and helped to create the new Urban Oak School. "We're going to see... Read more >

The developers behind a new 62-unit apartment building in Ohio City say they'll start demolition of existing buildings this week. Construction will begin later this summer, and moving trucks should start pulling up to the newly minted units by fall 2014.

"It's the right time to do something," says Brian Koch as to why he chose to pursue the long-stalled project on Detroit Avenue between W. 30th and 32nd streets, which originally was planned as condos bef... Read more >

Bar 145, a popular gastropub with locations in Toledo, Kent and soon Columbus, will open its fourth location in the former Grind space on W. 25th Street south of Lorain in Ohio City. The tagline "burgers, bands and bourbon" sums up the pub's concept.

Owner Jeremy Fitzgerald has signed a letter of intent with owner MRN Ltd. and intends to execute a lease and start construction this summer. Bar 145, specializing in chef-driven, foodie fare accented by regular ... Read more >