Shaker Heights is much older than the Van Sweringens, the brothers who developed the suburb (and the Terminal Tower) in the 1900s. The town's original settlers include the North Union Shakers, the tightly-knit religious order for which the suburb was named, and early farmers who migrated here from New England.

Asa and Chloe Carter Upson were among Shaker's earliest farming families. They migrated from Barkhamstead, Connecticut and built a farmhouse in 1836 in an area tha... Read more >

Viktor Schreckengost, a nationally-heralded designer that put Cleveland on the map for industrial design, will soon have his own museum at the Tower Press Building, just east of downtown Cleveland. The museum is scheduled to open in April or May.

The nonprofit Viktor Schreckengost Foundation recently signed a lease on a 2,450-square-foot space on the first floor of Tower Press, a former factory at 1900 Superior Avenue that was turned into loft apartments, artist studios ... Read more >

In the so-called Internet Age, the public library has taken on a broader role. More than a place to grab a novel, photocopy a letter, or scour a thick resource book, the library has also become a hub for computer use, digital resources, and social and professional gatherings.

With this in mind, the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) is getting a 21st-century facelift. Among the enhancements will include a centralized location for computers and technology, a... Read more >

Damon Taseff's job is scouring Northeast Ohio's commercial real estate market to find the best deals for his clients. So it's no surprise that as he began looking for a new headquarters for his own company, Allegro Realty Advisors, he knew exactly what he wanted.

He rattles off the list with ease: "A downtown building that is unique, close to highways, with parking, in a place you could get in and out of easily and within walking distance to other downtown areas."
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Just a few short years ago, Cleveland State University students who wanted a meal before a grueling, four-hour evening class had limited options, meaning if Rascal House pizza wasn't your thing, you were limited to starving.

That was before CSU's master plan, a $300 million initiative to transform its urban campus into a friendlier, more vibrant environment with new student housing, classrooms and retail.

Recently, Jimmy John's opened a sandwich shop at 1938 Eu... Read more >

Skinny houses wedged onto small lots. Church steeples dotting the skyline. Factories and blue-collar taverns. Eastern-European accents heard on the street.

These phrases might call to mind multi-ethnic Cleveland neighborhoods like Tremont, St. Clair-Superior, Collinwood and Slavic Village, but Lakewood?

Ah, but you don't know Birdtown. Lakewood's only "company town" was carved out in the 1890s for employees of the National Carbon Company (now GrafTech). Located... Read more >

Key Bank will open a new branch in October at Steelyard Commons, adding another retailer to the pioneering Tremont shopping center that debuted in 2007.

The bank will open five new branches and create 30 new jobs in Northeast Ohio during the next 15 months. Key Bank, which is headquartered in downtown Cleveland, cites available real estate, lower costs of construction, and "market disruption" -- the void left by banks that close or reduce services -- as factors driving it... Read more >

Downtown Cleveland is ripe for new retail development. That's the message being conveyed by two local entrepreneurs who will open Dredgers Union, a 4,500 square foot apparel and home-goods store on East 4th Street in June of this year.

One part mall alternative, one part purveyor of urban chic, Dredgers Union will sell private-label men's and women's clothing, made-to-measure suits and dress shirts, kitchen and home items, and clothing brands that are new to Cleveland an... Read more >

When it comes to retail, how much is too much? That's the question being raised by residents who live near the former Oakwood Country Club, a 154-acre parcel where First Interstate Properties proposes to build a shopping mall that would rival nearby Legacy Village in size.

"There are moribund, vacant retail areas all over the Heights, so why do we need another mall?" asks Fran Mentch, president of the Severance Neighborhood Organization (SNO), a Cleveland Heights-based ne... Read more >

If South Euclid's Green Neighborhoods Initiative were a reality TV show, it would be called "Extreme Bungalow Makeover." The suburb has now completed renovations on two previously bank-owned bungalows. In December, the city hosted an open house to showcase the dwellings to buyers looking for a low-maintenance lifestyle.

"The city realized it has aging housing stock that doesn't make sense in today's marketplace, and wanted to do something," says Joe Del Re, New Business ... Read more >

Technically, Ohio Knitting Mills' first retail store in Cleveland is temporary. "But the reception has been tremendous," says owner Steve Tatar, "and it's encouraging for staying the long term."

Tatar's Ohio Knitting Mills sells sweaters and other apparel manufactured long ago -- between 1947 and 1974 -- by a large Cleveland-based company of the same name. "Beginning after World War II, the Mill plucked samples of each style they produced and put them into storage," the w... Read more >

Digiknow and Downtown Cleveland Alliance have partnered up in a new mobile marketing plan that uses QR codes to provide information to on-the-go residents. The QR codes will connect residents and customers to online profiles of downtown stakeholders such as bars, restaurants, entertainment venues, hotels, and commercial and residential properties.

It may seem like the massive and sometimes controversial InnerbeltBridge project has been in the works since Elliot Ness called Clevelandhome, but design planning is reaching its final stages. Tremontresidents and others with questions or concerns about what thisbehemoth will look like, particularly where it touches down on citystreets, should not miss the Ohio Department of Transportation's nextpublic meeting.

"The lion's share of the design work is already committed," s... Read more >

Creative signs are making a comeback in Cleveland. Dramatic signage not only perks up a neighborhood visually, it makes them more competitive by helping indie retailers stand out from national chains. For proof, look at East Fourth Street.

It's not that they want people to get sick, but University Hospital's Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood is poised to capture a sizable patient population when it officially opens in January 2011.

Part of the attraction to patients obviously will be the quality care, but the 144-bed hospital also will likely turn heads with its technology. And not just for the comprehensive imaging center or state-of-the-art catheterization labs.

With input from physicians, nurses... Read more >

Through the Poultry Project, Lakewood resident Kelly Flamos has taken on the unimaginable tragedy of the African AIDS epidemic. She is helping one child at a time with the assistance of an unlikely flock of angels -- chickens.

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 >

In a spirit reminiscent of progressive outposts like Seattle, Cleveland is becoming a national leader in deconstruction, a movement that treats vacant homes across the region not as an eyesore but a post-natural resource.

The marriage of high-tech design and high-end dining is proving a win-win for diners, local restaurateurs and Epstein Design Partners, a Shaker Square-based design firm.