Stories
This weekend, check out the hot lineup at Brite Winter, celebrate comics at Comic Con, view “The Lives of a Poet” at CPT's Big Box and follow life, liberty and the pursuit of style all the way to Playhouse Square.
"The 39th Cleveland International Film Festival, presented by Dollar Bank, is proud to announce its Opening Night film on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 will be I’ll See You in My Dreams," CIFF announced in a recent press release.
"Directed by Brett Haley, the film had its World Premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Blythe Danner as a widow who’s settled into her life and her age, until a series of events propel her into a renewed engagement with the people and the world around her. The film also stars Martin Starr, Sam Elliott, Malin Akerman, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, and Mary Kay Place. The film was written by Brett Haley and Marc Basch, and produced by Rebecca Green, Laura D. Smith, and Brett Haley."
The closing night film will be Danny Collins, CIFF stated in the release.
"Danny Collins was written and directed by Dan Fogelman and produced by Jessie Nelson and Nimitt Mankad. The film stars Al Pacino as Danny Collins, an aging 1970s rocker who can't give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40-year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love, and begin a second act."
You can purchase tickets at www.clevelandfilm.org.
"Directed by Brett Haley, the film had its World Premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Blythe Danner as a widow who’s settled into her life and her age, until a series of events propel her into a renewed engagement with the people and the world around her. The film also stars Martin Starr, Sam Elliott, Malin Akerman, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, and Mary Kay Place. The film was written by Brett Haley and Marc Basch, and produced by Rebecca Green, Laura D. Smith, and Brett Haley."
The closing night film will be Danny Collins, CIFF stated in the release.
"Danny Collins was written and directed by Dan Fogelman and produced by Jessie Nelson and Nimitt Mankad. The film stars Al Pacino as Danny Collins, an aging 1970s rocker who can't give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40-year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love, and begin a second act."
You can purchase tickets at www.clevelandfilm.org.
"Chateau Hough, one of the first American vineyards set on reclaimed urban land, was started in 2010 with a $15,000 grant from the city and about $8,000 of Frazier’s own cash. Frazier’s main objectives were to beautify the lot across from his house (hopefully raising its value) and help out parolees, who often have trouble finding work. But he also wanted to see if Cleveland’s most notorious neighborhood could maybe make a pretty damn good wine."
Read the full story here.
Read the full story here.
Downtown Minneapolis is booming with new residents, and growth is spilling into outlying neighborhoods. Now plans are in the works to ensure that existing residents and artists have a seat at the table.
Cleveland's knowledge-driven "eds and meds" sector, which stands 11th nationwide in total employment, is a major factor in luring high-skilled immigrants to the North Coast.
Built as an elite garden suburb, Shaker Heights has reinvented itself through attracting startups, nourishing small businesses and welcoming international families.
"The vibrant redevelopment of a corridor linking art, educational and healthcare institutions with surrounding neighborhoods, creating lively outdoor gathering spaces, retail shops and restaurants, student and market-rate housing, and public transit connections," stated the Bruner Foundation its website.
Read the full list of winners here.
Read the full list of winners here.
Take your sweetheart to a ‘90s dance party, ward off winter at the Kurentovanje Festival, see a $1 family movie, and keep up the romance on Fat Tuesday by eating a Paczki with your Valentine.
As the first director of the newly-created Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, Mike Foley has visions of Cuyahoga County being a leader in green practices.
“I absolutely believe Cuyahoga can be the greenest county in the state,” Foley says. “We are lucky to have a lot of smart people, good public officials and a solid base of residents and businesses who understand that reducing our carbon footprint is the only sane alternative in the face of climate change. But I also don’t believe this is a county-by-county competition. Cuyahoga should become as green as possible because it’s the right thing to do."
Last week, Cuyahoga County executive Armond Budish launched the Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability and announced Michael Foley as its first director and Shanelle Smith as its first deputy director.
According to a news release,the sustainability department will promote economic development activity that supports businesses that provide environmentally sustainable products and services; educate the public about environmentally sustainable practices; and collaborate with businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to develop programs incorporating environmentally sustainable methods into accepted practices.
Foley says his priority is to make environmentally-friendly practices understandable and accessible to all businesses and residents in the county. While he is still getting his feet wet in the new position, Foley has a background in environmentalism and energy efficiency issues as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
“Climate change is important to the county, to the state, to the nation, to the world, and we need to address it,” Foley says. “I want to be a part of the minds to work on this stuff. I think that economic and social benefits come to those who adopt renewable and energy efficiency measures as soon as possible. Everybody, everywhere needs to be working towards the same greenhouse gas reduction goals in order to stave off real harm to the planet.”
Some of Foley’s early goals include investing in energy efficient technologies, solar power and collective buying power for groups. “You can’t do it one-off, you want to be a part of a group,” he explains. “We really want to make energy efficiency and green energy, such as solar power, more normal and not such a complicated concept.”
“I absolutely believe Cuyahoga can be the greenest county in the state,” Foley says. “We are lucky to have a lot of smart people, good public officials and a solid base of residents and businesses who understand that reducing our carbon footprint is the only sane alternative in the face of climate change. But I also don’t believe this is a county-by-county competition. Cuyahoga should become as green as possible because it’s the right thing to do."
Last week, Cuyahoga County executive Armond Budish launched the Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability and announced Michael Foley as its first director and Shanelle Smith as its first deputy director.
According to a news release,the sustainability department will promote economic development activity that supports businesses that provide environmentally sustainable products and services; educate the public about environmentally sustainable practices; and collaborate with businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to develop programs incorporating environmentally sustainable methods into accepted practices.
Foley says his priority is to make environmentally-friendly practices understandable and accessible to all businesses and residents in the county. While he is still getting his feet wet in the new position, Foley has a background in environmentalism and energy efficiency issues as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
“Climate change is important to the county, to the state, to the nation, to the world, and we need to address it,” Foley says. “I want to be a part of the minds to work on this stuff. I think that economic and social benefits come to those who adopt renewable and energy efficiency measures as soon as possible. Everybody, everywhere needs to be working towards the same greenhouse gas reduction goals in order to stave off real harm to the planet.”
Some of Foley’s early goals include investing in energy efficient technologies, solar power and collective buying power for groups. “You can’t do it one-off, you want to be a part of a group,” he explains. “We really want to make energy efficiency and green energy, such as solar power, more normal and not such a complicated concept.”
A deal more than a year in the making has finally come to a close, and as a result, another of Downtown's grand spaces is about to undergo a stunning transformation. The historic Garfield Building, 1965 East 6th Street, is slated to become apartments.
The West Coast-based Westcore Properties, which purchased the building for $8 million in 2008, has sold the 11-story, 160,000-square-foot structure to the Millennia Companies for $6 million. Westcore, however, did not lose money.
"On the surface, you could say we paid $8 million and sold it for $6 million, so we lost $2 million," summarizes Don Ankeny, president and CEO of Westcore Properties. "But along the way, we probably got 15 percent unlevered return on our capital. We enjoyed six years of very attractive cash flow."
Originally built in 1893, the refurbished building will be renamed the Corning Place. Preliminary plans call for 125 one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 540- to 1,325-square-feet with estimated rents from $1.70 to $1.90 per square foot.
The first floor, which includes the breathtaking column-lined lobby, houses between 35,000- and 40,000-square feet of retail opportunity, none of which has been locked into tenants.
Permits for the $40 million project, which received a $5 million historic tax credit, are pending and should be in hand within 30 to 60 days, well ahead of a construction start date in June. Units are expected to be ready for rental 18 to 24 months after that. Sandvick Architects are the designers on the job and the general contractor is American Preservation Builders. Both firms are based in Cleveland.
Westcore's sole tenant for the building was PNC, whose lease expired in December. The Garfield Building was the real estate acquisitions firm's only Cleveland holding.
"We had a good experience in Cleveland," says Ankeny, "and with the right opportunity we would come back."
The West Coast-based Westcore Properties, which purchased the building for $8 million in 2008, has sold the 11-story, 160,000-square-foot structure to the Millennia Companies for $6 million. Westcore, however, did not lose money.
"On the surface, you could say we paid $8 million and sold it for $6 million, so we lost $2 million," summarizes Don Ankeny, president and CEO of Westcore Properties. "But along the way, we probably got 15 percent unlevered return on our capital. We enjoyed six years of very attractive cash flow."
Originally built in 1893, the refurbished building will be renamed the Corning Place. Preliminary plans call for 125 one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 540- to 1,325-square-feet with estimated rents from $1.70 to $1.90 per square foot.
The first floor, which includes the breathtaking column-lined lobby, houses between 35,000- and 40,000-square feet of retail opportunity, none of which has been locked into tenants.
Permits for the $40 million project, which received a $5 million historic tax credit, are pending and should be in hand within 30 to 60 days, well ahead of a construction start date in June. Units are expected to be ready for rental 18 to 24 months after that. Sandvick Architects are the designers on the job and the general contractor is American Preservation Builders. Both firms are based in Cleveland.
Westcore's sole tenant for the building was PNC, whose lease expired in December. The Garfield Building was the real estate acquisitions firm's only Cleveland holding.
"We had a good experience in Cleveland," says Ankeny, "and with the right opportunity we would come back."
A research team studying touch and movement in prosthetic limbs at the Cleveland Clinic was just awarded a $2.5 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a suite of outcome metrics for advanced prosthetic limbs.
Through DARPA’s new Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program, Dr. Paul Marasco and his team of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute department of biomedical engineering will evaluate and identify and quantify the different technologies being used in prosthetic arms. “There’s no way to identify whether something works better or worse,” he says. “We’re trying to develop new ways to get a good sense of how these prosthetic limbs operate.”
Dr. Paul Marasco
Today’s advanced prosthetics work with the nervous system to actually provide sensation in the artificial limb, Marasco explains. While the technology has seen significant advancements in recent years, there is no standardized set of metrics to evaluate these technologies. This lack of information makes it difficult to communicate benefits to patients and demonstrate improved outcomes to insurance payers.
“We are developing metrics based on how people’s brains respond,” says Marasco. "How they move, how much attention they’re paying, reaction times.”
Each of the three groups involved in the research, including the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Alberta and the University of New Brunswick, will focus on two metrics. Marasco will coordinate all of the groups. “We operate as one big team, spread across Alberta, New Brunswick and Cleveland,” he says. “We’re working hard to blur that line between what’s prosthesis and what’s machine. We’re developing prosthetics where what you feel matches what you see – providing the illusionary feel that the prosthetic arm is part of the body.”
Through DARPA’s new Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program, Dr. Paul Marasco and his team of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute department of biomedical engineering will evaluate and identify and quantify the different technologies being used in prosthetic arms. “There’s no way to identify whether something works better or worse,” he says. “We’re trying to develop new ways to get a good sense of how these prosthetic limbs operate.”
Dr. Paul Marasco Today’s advanced prosthetics work with the nervous system to actually provide sensation in the artificial limb, Marasco explains. While the technology has seen significant advancements in recent years, there is no standardized set of metrics to evaluate these technologies. This lack of information makes it difficult to communicate benefits to patients and demonstrate improved outcomes to insurance payers.
“We are developing metrics based on how people’s brains respond,” says Marasco. "How they move, how much attention they’re paying, reaction times.”
Each of the three groups involved in the research, including the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Alberta and the University of New Brunswick, will focus on two metrics. Marasco will coordinate all of the groups. “We operate as one big team, spread across Alberta, New Brunswick and Cleveland,” he says. “We’re working hard to blur that line between what’s prosthesis and what’s machine. We’re developing prosthetics where what you feel matches what you see – providing the illusionary feel that the prosthetic arm is part of the body.”