Is Team Neo Nuts?

[Bill Call]

It seems that way to me. According to them remodeling a movie theater and adding brink pavers and restoring a local theater have generated $350 million dollars in economic activity:

http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf ... conom.html

By those calculations the Giant Eagle in Lakewood generates $1 billion in economic activity each year. Are PHD's really that dumb?

[Bryan Schwegler]

Bill, alot more is going on there than what you mentioned. Part of that $351 million is due to new businesses, housing, and consumption going on in that neighborhood.

Comparing what is going to Gordon Square to Giant Eagle is not even a close comparison.

[michael gill]

I suspect that those figures consider the $100 million invested in Battery Park, the money invested in complete renovation of several other nearby apartment buildings, and several restaurants and other new businesses up and running nearby.

[michael gill]

Not necessarily to say that Team NEO isn't nuts, or that such reports aren't designed for bragging. But there was a whole lot more money spent there than what went into the theatre and the streetscape.

[Bill Call]

Bill, alot more is going on there than what you mentioned. Part of that $351 million is due to new businesses, housing, and consumption going on in that neighborhood.

Comparing what is going to Gordon Square to Giant Eagle is not even a close comparison.

Overall, the Gordon Square project is well worth the effort and time. The only problems I have with the project are the design aspects of the Capital Theater and the condos.

If they wanted to restore the theater they should have restored the theater. Since they decided to "modernize" theater then they should have put in stadium seating. I am not that large and I found the seats uncomfortable and cramped.

The condos seem to have been designed by architechts who got straight "A's" in the courses titled "Uglification of the Urban Landscape". Cleveland Heights and Tremont have condos with a similar price point that are pleasing to the eye.

My pet peeve here is the "value added" computations used by NEO and backers of the New Frontier bond issue. They assume that just because the project cost x dollars that the economic result is x times y. I don't see that at Gordon Square.

If someone who is thinking of buying a $225,000 condo at Rockport decides to buy the $225,000 condo at Gordon Square does that decision really generate more money for the region?

And if that buyer might have bought in the Winton Place doesn't the existence of the Gordon Square Option harm existing development?


To the extent that projects encourage people to stay in the region those projects can have regional benefits. Otherwise they just move people from one neighborhood to the other.

One thing that would help Lakewood and the Lakefront area of Cleveland is for people to realize that downtown is dead and it is not coming back. If people are convinced of that then the shoreway area can be opened up to the neighborhoods without worrying about Commuting time".

[sharon kinsella]

There are even more things that will bring even more business to that area. In October, the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland will celebrate our 35th anniversary. We will be having a week of events, centered in the Gordon Square Arts District. It will draw a bunch of money to the area, lots of exciting things will happen for this event.

In 2014 there will be the gay games here. The financial benefits for the city are astronomical and since the Gordon Square District is out and proud, guess where people will eat and play.

By being fearless, by being positioned correctly, Gordon Square is ready to rake it in. Lakewood could have had a piece of the pie. But being known for a city that freaked itself out by flying the Gay Flag, we've shot that opportunity in the foot.