Urban Community School recently announced it has received a $5 million pledge from an anonymous donor. That pledge, the largest in the school's history, will allow the well-regarded institution to expand by one-third and serve an additional 150 children.

"This gift will help us to continue to provide quality education to kids that don't otherwise have access to it," says Sister Maureen Doyle, Director of Urban Community School, which is located in Ohio C... Read more >

Jacobs Entertainment is pumping $70 million into the world-class Greater Cleveland Aquarium, which is set to open early next year and draw upwards of 480,000 annual visitors. The watery attraction will employ 40 people while generating an economic impact of roughly $27 million per year. But since this is Cleveland, where everything unfolds with a twist, the new aquarium will be housed in a very old building.

More than 100 people attended the Flats Forward Waterfront Summit, held this week in downtown Cleveland. Those in attendance learned how cities as far away as Duisburg, Germany, and as close as Pittsburgh, have leveraged their historic waterfronts into magnets for recreation, investment and tourism.

Flats Forward is a one-year-old effort to create a new identity for Cleveland's historic birthplace. Planners are now focused on improving the Flats' infrastructure, t... Read more >

Michael Christoff and Bradley Fink are all about using imagination to create the unthinkable. That’s the idea behind the Cleveland Design Competition. Now in its fourth year, the competition invites people to address the city’s underused sites and come up with new architectural ideas for their uses.
 
Every year, the competition has brought entries from around the world. This year’s project was the Cleveland K-12 schools of the future. “Our int... Read more >

As an approach to planning, designing and managing public spaces, “placemaking” is gaining momentum across the country. This strategy gives local residents a voice in shaping new development so that addresses their needs as opposed to those of the developers. Simply put, placemaking is likely the best path to improving a neighborhood, city or region.

Two prominent local nonprofit organizations, Cleveland Public Art and Parkworks, have announced plans to merge and form LAND Studio. If the organization's new name sounds like that of an edgy architect's studio, that may be no coincidence. LAND Studio hopes to foster great public spaces in Cleveland by leading civic conversations about design and urban planning.

According to a press release, the mission of the new nonprofit organization will be "to create pla... Read more >

The typical Cleveland bus shelter is a drab glass-and-metal box whose primary purpose is keep the wind, snow, rain and salt off riders. They are not exactly known for their aesthetic appeal.

Yet two new shelters installed by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights take a more creative, sustainable approach. The solar-powered shelters light up in various colors at night, contain larger, more comfortable benches, and fe... Read more >

The 22-unit Sylvia apartment building has been an eyesore ever since it became vacant two years ago. When its owner died unexpectedly, leaving nobody to care for the property, Detroit Shoreway neighbors watched as the vacant building, which is nestled mid-block on Franklin Boulevard, fell into disrepair.

Beginning this fall, however, nearby homeowners should have something to celebrate: The Sylvia is slated to receive a $3 million makeover that will preserve this historic... Read more >

Last month, crowds poured into the third annual F*SHO, an exhibit that showcased locally made contemporary furniture. The goal of the Midtown event was to promote what is widely being described as a burgeoning local industry. This year's F*SHO was twice the size of last year's. If you didn't make it, check out Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski's visual tour.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church couldn't save itself, yet the developer of a new CVS in Lakewood is at least saving it from the wrecking ball. Zaremba Group, a Lakewood-based developer, has recycled 80 to 90 percent of St. Paul's Lutheran Church at 15501 Detroit Avenue, where a new drug store is slated to be built this fall.

Some of the church's finer elements have been rescued from the landfill and soon will gain new life as locally-made furniture or raised ga... Read more >

This weekend, September 16 through 18, IngenuityFest returns to its shadowy perch on the lower level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge. Now in its seventh year, the event has blossomed into one of the largest art and technology experiences in the nation. The theme for this year's production is Cur(Re)nts -- as in the power of forces that flow around us every day, be they air, water, information or grey matter.

When savvy small business owners with an eye for form and function set their sights on historic Cleveland properties, the resulting atmosphere soars beyond the reach of boxy suburban strip malls and bland skyscrapers. Behold recycling on the most profound level: repurposing spaces created decades ago into modern, functional, and inspiring workplaces.

F*SHO, a trade show that showcases the growing cadre of contemporary furniture designers who call Cleveland home, is set to take place on Friday, Sept. 9th in a Midtown warehouse.

This year's show, which is the third annual, will be bigger than ever. It features more than 20 designers, including two that are based in Columbus and Toledo.

"The furniture design industry here keeps growing -- this year we even had to turn a few people down," says P.J. ... Read more >

“Downtown is where the action is,” says Alex Cortes, an attorney who lives in the Warehouse District. Cortes is one of the 10,000 people who call downtown home. But to reach the 20,000-resident figure that boosters say Cleveland needs to truly become a vibrant neighborhood in the city, more retail, green space, and housing options will have to come online.

 When it opens on September 1, The Nest will be yet another creative weapon in Tremont's arsenal to lure art-friendly shoppers to the neighborhood. Located in a storefront immediately adjacent to Edison's Pub, the boutique and gallery will feature an eclectic array of fine art, photography, jewelry and clothing.

Inventory will range from $6 jewelry items all the way up to $4,000 paintings. There will be products geared towards children, adults, and home d&eac... Read more >

Long-planned renovations to Perk Park, a downtown park where two men were shot in a grisly robbery more than two years ago, are now almost finished. The new park is set to reopen in October.

The $1.6 million first phase of the project, which was completed last fall, removed sunken areas that were considered unsightly and unsafe because they provided places for individuals to hide. Funding for this phase came from the City of Cleveland, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, busine... Read more >