New Toledo Developments (Sylvania, Perrysburg, Perry: real estate, condos, crime)

[paintballer1708]

Being and Urban Planner i am interested in some of the new developments going on in Toledo. I dont know much about Toledo, except it has a very nice skyline with a river running through the middle half of the city. I know Toledo has the sixth most amount of development going into it around the midwest, thats great news. Does anyone know about any of the new developments along the waterfront? I heard from other forumers in another thread that they are planning new stages for the waterfront, they added on largely to their Art Museum. I know Toledo has one of the best Art Museums in the country. So does anyone know about the new developments going on in Toledo? If so do you have any sites where i can research this to get a better idea of what is going on in the city? Thanks for any replies.

[Azrider]

I was back in Toledo in July, and was suprised to see everything that has changed after 5 years. They built the new baseball diamond downtown, which is nice, and have fixed up many areas around Summit/Superior st. Many new stores and shops have moved in on the water front since the field opened. They are planning to knock down an old power plant on the east side of the river, and build condos and more shopping there, but it hasnt gotten off the ground yet. They are still trying to clear up the red tape. They did add on to the museum. There is a new I-280 cable-stay bridge going in too-- to replace the old drawbridge (the craig bridge). That should be interesting when it gets done. It seems the development is slow but sure. The city is investing a lot of money and resources in its re-vamping.

Hopefully this will help Toledo's economy and job situation some. It was in bad shape when I left, and my family says it has improved but not much.

[paintballer1708]

Well i have heard from residents that live there and urban planners that live there in Toledo that it is changing. It is completely different than it was 20 years ago. I heard that its changed a lot, not just a little. Thanks for your reply anyway. I wanted to hear some more about the area.

[Azrider]

I will agree with you on this. Toledo is definately different than it was 20 years ago. For the better for sure. Your orignal post was not referring to the last 20 years-- just the current developments. Toledo has changed "for the better" in the last 5 years, but not as much as the last 20.

[paintballer1708]

^Yes, your right i was talking about recent developments. But, overall Toledo has changed drastically over the last two decades. Im looking at some of the new things they have gotten. Like one of the best Art Muesuems in the country. Toledo is getting better, i have gotten interested in all the new development. I have heard a lot of positive things coming out of the city and i wanted to know what all was going on.

[EuroTraveler05]

Paintballer, I live in Sylvania, and try to keep up on local developments. The Marina District as the call it, has been kicked around for years. As recently as yesterday they were talking on the local newscast about moving the sports arena (across main street from the docks in the marina district) into the down town. If that happens many say it will push back any marina plans even further. With a new mayor as of last november (Carty Finkbeiner, who was also the former mayor) there should be alot of changes coming up. Carty is real big on cleaning things up and getting the ball rolling. One of his projects has been his "dirty dozen", 12 homes in deplorable condition that need to be fixed up or torn down, which has gone well with only minor controversy, and he has worked very hard at getting a shopping center that wasnt bringing in the business turned into a new outdoor mall type area (similar to Levis Commons in Perrysburg, Ohio), which is under construction now with a Costco as it's anchor store. The downtown area is still pretty stagnant despite the new mud hens stadium and Toledo hosting the Minor League All Star Game over the summer, but a down town areana could help change that. The Toledo Blade occasionally runs something about the marina district, but I find that the Toledo Free Press which started up a couple years ago, does an excellent job of telling Toledo's situation like it is, and gets pretty deep into what's going on and what's going to be going on. Email me at spdvolunteer709@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

[architect2781]

Id like to start by saying that I was born and raised in Toledo and love the city. Downtown Toledo has a lot of potential to be one of the jewels of the mid-west and I hope that more people can realize that Toledo, while has its negatives, is a truely great city.

I am also glad to hear that there many interesting projects being proposed for downtown Toledo. Currently I live on the east coast, so I often lose touch projects for the city. I feel it is about time the government gets more involved in helping the city overcome a struggling downtown. Just look at the demographics, in the 70's Toledo had over 700,000 residents and a realitively low vacancy rate in the downtown area also having structures like many of the downtown hotels and Portside were being constructed. This showed much promise for the future of the city. Now with the depature of O-I and the vacant Fiberglass Tower (the second tallest hi-rise in the city which has been emtpy since 1997 from asbestos), the vacancy rate is at an all time high, and Toledo is about to cross under the 300,000 mark for the first time in 60 years. The Government officials need to realize cities like Toledo are going to have to work extra hard to attract people to their areas because as the baby boom generation retires from their mid-west jobs, they are leaving these cities and moving to warmer climates. Not to mention recent college grads, myself included, who love Toledo, but move elsewhere because of a struggling job market.

I think another problem is the city lost a great opportunity to use the momentum of the new ball park as a chance to revitalize downtown. Even years after the parks completion, the street directly behind the field contains abandoned warehouses that could easily be one of the best places to see and be seen. I feel that moving the sports arena to the downtown area is a great idea and gives the city another opportunity to capitalize where they didn't before. Basically the goal of getting people downtown, and keeping them there for drinks, dinner, entertainment. These need to be established first, before residential projects would seem viable. Especially since the commercial real estate of downtown continues to struggle.

Thanks for everyones updates on projects in downtown Toledo. I am glad to hear that others see the potential in downtown Toledo and are excited to see it change. I look forward to reading more about these proposals!

[13squared]

Turns out they made a mistake in the latest census. I guess it is standard to include a cities incarcerated persons (prisoners) and those people in old-folks homes or crazy-houses in census counts but for some reason they didn't do this for Toledo. After looking at the data, they realized their mistake and Toledo's population remains above the 300,000 mark.

The first phase of the marina project is ongoing, try this link:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5897866

Rumor has it that the Big Blue building downtown (formerly OI's headquarters) is going to be Fifth Third's new corporate home... who knows though.

Once the new I-280 bridge is completed, there is going to an opportunity for an awesome linear park along the former highways right of way.
Try this link: http://www.lookuptoledo.org/

[theace]

Toledos economy continues to fall although you wouldn't know it by the way they continue to mislead the public by posting reports of how the jobless rates continue to fall. Yes it is true, we have more jobs, what they don't tell you is that we continue to add more low wage jobs while we continue to see the higher paying factory jobs leave. Toledo is a wonderful city but without a good economy it is heading for disaster. Flooding issues in recent years have exposed serious problems with sewer systems which have damaged and destroyed many homes leading to lawsuits the city will be accountable for. With a large deficit already hanging over the citys head, this will only result in a tax increase which will way heavy on the newly lower waged citizens. Crime is also much worse in recent years along with an increase in gang activity. This city is one major employer deprture away from a big meltdown, and I for one am looking elsewhere to spend the rest of my life!