TEDxCLE is an annual forum that gathers the region's big thinkers to share ideas worth spreading. Organizers -- and recent "brain gains" -- Hallie Bram and Eric Kogelschatz seek to change the perceptions of people who live here as well as those outside the region by sharing stories of success, innovation and inspiration.
MMPI, owner and operator of the forthcoming Medical Mart & Convention Center, stands to save $5 million over 14 years thanks to a newly signed contract with Cleveland Thermal. Rather than build its own on-site heating and cooling system, the mart and convention center will use heating and cooling energy provided by Cleveland Thermal.
Cleveland Thermal is a district energy supplier that serves about 125 commercial, institutional, municipal and federal buildings in Clev... Read more >
The 78th Street Studios, a warren of creative-minded businesses located at 1300 W. 78th Street, recently welcomed a new showroom run by environmental artist Susie Frazier.
Three years ago, Frazier designed the logo and public art elements for the $3.5 million Gordon Square Arts District streetscape, which perk up Detroit Avenue between W. 58th and W. 73rd streets. From markings she'd observed along the Lake Erie coastline, she created unique crosswalk patterns, amoeba-sh... Read more >
The idea behind Urban Infant came to Eric Eichhorn when his sister Kelly Friedl had her first child. "All of the baby gear had ducks, bunnies or bears on it," he recalls. "I wanted to get beyond pink and blue to something that had solid, hip colors and was edgy."
Eichhorn and Friedl, who lived in Chicago, dreamed of products that would be geared towards parents "making the conscious decision to raise kids in an urban environment," Eichhorn explains. Friedl's expertise in ... Read more >
While the verdict is still out on how powerful the Medical Mart and Convention Center will be to Cleveland's economic growth, the construction that's currently going on is definitely bringing jobs to the area. The Medical Mart reports that more than 200 construction workers are currently on site.
The numbers are impressive for small business enterprise (SBE) companies, with more than 25 SBE subcontractors hired for specific jobs thus far.
Brian Cook stands in the oval-shaped dining room of an apartment at Ludlow Castle, a signature Tudor-style building off Shaker Square. The distinctive room has hardwood floors and opens up to a sunken living room with wood-burning fireplace and a wall of windows overlooking the street.
"My wife would kill for an oval-shaped dining room like this," Cook says, "and for the closet space in these units."
The neighborhoods of Shaker Square have long been a popular dra... Read more >
Ever wonder who is responsible for the elements of a restaurant that guests don't eat? This engaging video offers a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic players who had a hand in designing Michael Symon's B Spot restaurant. Like Symon, these characters are all "CIA grads." But rather than attending the Culinary Institute of America, Scott Richardson, Paul Sobota and Alexander Lombardo graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Thanks to Jeff Mancinetti for ... Read more >
James DeRosa purchased the old Marshall McCarron's bar at Randall and John Avenue in Ohio City with dreams of reviving it as a hip restaurant.
Then, in 2008, the economy did a spectacular nosedive. Unable to get a loan to make even basic repairs on the dilapidated property, DeRosa and his partners put their dreams on hold. A mounting list of code violations soon landed them in housing court.
"We were faced with the option of tearing the property down or fixing i... Read more >
Homeowners were taking out equity loans with alarming abandon just a few years ago, yet now many are reluctant to invest money in their homes. "With housing values falling, demand for home repair loans has also fallen," says Larry Slenczka, Vice President of Community Development for Dollar Bank.
Yet Dollar Bank continues to finance home rehabs through a partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize Cleveland neig... Read more >
CheapFlights included Cleveland on its recent list of the World's "Top 10 Emerging Fashion Destinations."
"With the increase in cheap flights making different countries and cultures more accessible, the world evolves more fully into a globalised society with a lifestyle that takes influence from many different cultures. As such, it makes sense that fashion would influence travel and travel would influence fashion, putting new cultures top of mind and opening doors and min... Read more >
When TV crews descended on Slavic Village three years ago, the neighborhood was dubbed the "epicenter" of the foreclosure crisis. While that infamy was brief -- the crisis soon expanded to other parts of the country, with California, Florida and Nevada among the hardest hit -- the damage it left behind was real.
However, this resilient neighborhood is now becoming known for its innovative response to foreclosures. Through its Neighbors Invest in Broadway program, Slavic V... Read more >
The stately Tudor Arms has been vacant since 2007 when its last tenant, Cleveland Job Corps, moved to a new home. Now, thanks to a $22 million restoration project, the landmark property appears set to reclaim some of its former glory when it reopens this spring as a Double Tree Hotel. The project is the latest in a string of successful urban developments by local firm MRN Ltd.
Last week, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) figuratively broke ground on its new home at Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road in University Circle.
Yet much like spring in Cleveland, MOCA's literal ground breaking, one hopes, isn't too far off. The 34,000-square-foot facility, which will cost nearly $27 million to build, is scheduled to begin construction within the next two months. The grand opening is slated to follow one year later.
Artist Nicolette Capuano has spent the past year painstakingly restoring the ornate plaster trim and low relief sculptures in the Tudor Arms building.
Yet she's doing more than simply recreating the past; she has worked closely with building owner Rick Maron and designer Cindy Rae Cohen to create her own masterpieces -- original, hand-painted murals -- that will grace the landmark structure.
"We wanted to highlight the beauty of this historic building while addi... Read more >
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) will soon break ground on SmartHome Cleveland, a passively-heated home that does not require a furnace and is designed to challenge the way that people think about the issue of climate change.
The 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home will be presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibit, Climate Change, from June to September 2011.
"The SmartHome will show that it's possible to use dramatically less energy i... Read more >
At a public meeting held last week at Market Avenue Wine Bar, planners showed off designs for the future Market Square Park, an Ohio City park slated to receive a $1.5 million makeover this year from the city.
"We hope the new Market Square Park will become the de facto outdoor dining room for the West Side Market," says Ben Trimble, Program Manager with the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation (OCNW). Trimble says the park, located at the corner of Lorain and West... Read more >
Valerie Mayen may have left Season 8 of Project Runway prematurely, but she won't be leaving Cleveland anytime soon. In addition to headquartering her burgeoning fashion label Yellowcake here, the Corpus Christie native will soon launch an innovative sewing co-op for budding designers. And that is just the beginning.
Verb Ballets, a national repertory dance company based in Cleveland Heights, is planning to expand this year to a larger space in a Shaker Heights church.
The city of Shaker Heights will provide a $10,000 job creation grant to the dance company to facilitate their move to the basement of Christ Episcopal Church on Warrensville Center road. Shaker Heights has recently gained attention for its proactive efforts to recruit new commercial tenants to the city, which has histo... Read more >
A recent Wall Street Journal article on the spectacular designs of architect Rem Koolhaas and his followers also mentions plans for the innovative new MOCA Cleveland museum. The building is described as having "triangular facades that, from certain angles, allow luminescent peeks at the museum's interior."
The new MOCA museum was designed by Foreign Office Architects (FOA), an offshoot of Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). OMA is responsible for some o... Read more >
Columbus Business FirstThursday, February 03, 2011
News of Rock Ohio Caesars Cleveland's recent land purchase of 16 acres adjacent to Tower City Center is making its way across the news ticker. Rock Ohio is the development arm of Dan Gilbert, who is building a $600 million casino in downtown Cleveland.
On Tuesday, as reported in this Columbus Business First article, Rock Ohio Caesars paid Forest City Enterprises $85 million, $11 million of which was paid this week with the balance set to be paid through 2012.