Ohio City

Quiet Land Conservancy tackles blight, spreads green throughout Northern Ohio
From the reclamation of the Henninger Landfill to saving a Russell Township farm, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy fosters thriving urban centers, green space and more by preserving some 5,000 acres annually.
 
West 25th Street Lofts merge historic architecture with contemporary design
A group of buildings built in the late 1800s on Church Avenue between W. 25th and W. 28th Streets in Ohio City were once the hallmark of a manufacturing town – housing everything from the original Baehr Brewing Company and Odd Fellows Masonic Hall to a machine shop and a tin and sheet metal shop, among other business and residential dwellings. 

Exhibit Builders last owned and operated the buildings fronting W. 25th Street. More recently, the heavy industrial buildings housed the Phoenix Ice Machine Company, Lester Engineering Company, then a charter school and the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.
 
Today development partners Rick Foran of Foran Group and Chris Smythe of Smythe Property Advisors are converting the structures into contemporary apartment lofts with a nod to their unique history. “You know you’re in historic buildings, but with modern amenities,” says Smythe.
 
The project has been nine years in the making. Smythe and Foran bought their first property in the group from CMHA back in 2008 with a bank loan. Then the real estate market tanked.

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Cleveland insider: meet three stalwart volunteers
Three long-time area volunteers reveal what drives them to give so generously, how they've soldiered through the tough times and the ways in which their efforts pay back – and then some.
Some saucy brew - and pizza - coming to Hingetown
How big is Cleveland's heart?
In this special op-ed for Fresh Water, Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute, gives Clevelanders powerful and sobering reminders on the heels of the city's remarkable summer of 2016.
 
La Villa Hispana: an economic and cultural Latino hub
Years in the making, plans for La Villa Hispana – a center celebrating Latino heritage and commerce in the Clark Fulton neighborhood – will be unveiled next month at a City Planning Commission meeting.
Gary and Laura Dumm: Here There Be Monsters
Local artists Gary and Laura Dumm mix the likes of Frankenstein and vampires with pesticides and global warming - along with a side of humor - in an evocative new show.
New business set to bloom in Ohio City
Franklin Castle to be offered as part of "America's Most Haunted" mini village collection
The Bradford Exchange, purveyors of all things collectible from Thomas Kinkade to Disney, has set its latest sights right here in Cleveland - at Franklin Castle no less.

As part of its "America's Most Haunted Village Collection," the fave local landmark will be offered as Issue Two. Issue One will be the Amityville House. Structures measure 4.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches long by 5.25 inches deep.

Per the company's site: "Each sculpture illuminates and features a wealth of detailing like the ghoulish apparitions that are seen peering out from their windows. Plus, learn about the events that took place in each historic place and what is thought to haunt the space with the included printed newspaper cards."

Full information, including images of the fun and funky miniatures, is available here.
Q & A: Rick Kemm
The executive director of the May Dugan Center chats about his passion for health and human services and what ignited his decades of work in the nonprofit sector.
Program to offer men with cancer unique roadmap
Bon Appetit takes a CLE foodie tour
From Bon Appetit:

“People ask me why I left Portland, and I tell them that Cleveland now is very similar to what Portland was 15 years ago,” said Robert Stockham, general manager at the city’s premiere coffee roaster, Rising Star. Except Cleveland is a city with its own swagger, and a cost of living so low that Stockham said, “You can buy a house for less than a car, and you should never pay full retail price for anything here.” Also: Cleveland is the place for a hipster hotdog hangout that puts Froot Loops on its dogs, a brewery that has residents lining up for Christmas-spiced beer, and one of the world’s best symphony orchestras. Come hungry, and let Stockham be your guide.

Take his whole tour here.