Downtown Cleveland residential occupany rates reach 95%! (Euclid, Union: apartment, condo, university dorms)

[costello_musicman]

I think it's time to build more housing Downtown.

This isn't even counting the huge influx of new Cleveland State University dorms that are opening this week, which will presumably be 100% full.


no vacancy: with more residents moving downtown, occupancy rates reach 95 percent

no vacancy: with more residents moving downtown, occupancy rates reach 95 percent

[gofuzzy]

That's great news!

Ever since you suggested this website a while ago, I read it just about every week. It has a lot of interesting stories about the community. Thanks again for sharing!

[Boffo]

It's kind of frustrating that even with these high occupancy rates, there are no residential units currently being constructed downtown. There needs to be more supply if downtown Cleveland's residential population is to keep growing.

[scarletneon]

I enjoy living downtown, but I wish there was more shopping in downtown. I feel like Tower City could be so much better. I feel like this is opposite town where all the high quality shopping venues are in the suburbs rather than downtown.

I'm probably just spoiled from Chicago but I used to spend a lot of time just walking up and down State Street shopping just for the hell of it.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

I enjoy living downtown, but I wish there was more shopping in downtown. I feel like Tower City could be so much better. I feel like this is opposite town where all the high quality shopping venues are in the suburbs rather than downtown.

I'm probably just spoiled from Chicago but I used to spend a lot of time just walking up and down State Street shopping just for the hell of it.

I know what you mean. Back when I was growing up, Euclid Avenue was a lot like State Street... it was bustling and there were several major department stores -- May Company, Higbee's, Halle's -- plus discount stores like Woolworth's, Kresge's, W. T. Grant, etc. It was a completely different place back then. Sadly, that's all gone now. Nowadays more people live right downtown than ever before, and I think that's a wonderful trend, but I really wish they could bring some of the shopping back. And Tower City actually was much better when it first opened around 1990 or so. So was the Galleria on East 9th when it first opened in the late 1980s... it was billed as Cleveland's answer to Chicago's Water Tower Place. Now, however, it's really struggling, just a ghost of its former self.

[JR_C]

From what I've read on the subject of shopping in downtown Cleveland, it seems like the resurgence of shopping downtown, and the introduction of downtown living missed each other. If downtown had today's population when Tower City first opened, I bet most of the high-end retail establishments wouldn't have left. But, since they left, it will probably be more difficult to get them back.

[Boffo]

I think downtown retail is struggling in almost all mid-sized cities these days. The retail that is in downtowns is mostly left over from the glory days of downtown shopping. It seems any new locations of national chain retailers are mostly in the suburbs.

However, Cleveland has shown some life lately with the opening of Dredgers Union on East 4th St. Hopefully if they're successful it will encourage more local retailers to open up, and possibly give rise to national ones later on.

[5Lakes]

With these vacancy rates you think there would be some more proposals for new apartment buildings downtown.

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

I enjoy living downtown, but I wish there was more shopping in downtown. I feel like Tower City could be so much better. I feel like this is opposite town where all the high quality shopping venues are in the suburbs rather than downtown.

I'm probably just spoiled from Chicago but I used to spend a lot of time just walking up and down State Street shopping just for the hell of it.

This will not happen until neighborhoods that are closer to downtown get revitalized as well as an increased downtown population.

Andrew61 is correct in saying that Cleveland used to have a quality shopping district, however as the city declined all of the money ended up in the suburbs and the retail soon followed. I'm in my early 30's and remember going to Higbee's in Cleveland when I was very young, which was much like the Marshal Field store on State Street in Chicago.

The mall at Tower City was actually pretty high quality back in the 90's, but most of the people who shopped there were suburbanites who did so for the novelty during the years following its opening. Once the novelty wore off the type of stores in the mall declined. I actually like the layout of the Tower City mall better than any of Chicago's downtown malls, and having it connected to a subway station is awesome. It's too bad the stores inside are not better!

And yes, you probably are a bit spoiled by Chicago. Few cities in the US actually have strong enough downtown retail to prevent those shopping trips to the suburbs.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

With these vacancy rates you think there would be some more proposals for new apartment buildings downtown.



This will not happen until neighborhoods that are closer to downtown get revitalized as well as an increased downtown population.

Andrew61 is correct in saying that Cleveland used to have a quality shopping district, however as the city declined all of the money ended up in the suburbs and the retail soon followed. I'm in my early 30's and remember going to Higbee's in Cleveland when I was very young, which was much like the Marshal Field store on State Street in Chicago.

The mall at Tower City was actually pretty high quality back in the 90's, but most of the people who shopped there were suburbanites who did so for the novelty during the years following its opening. Once the novelty wore off the type of stores in the mall declined. I actually like the layout of the Tower City mall better than any of Chicago's downtown malls, and having it connected to a subway station is awesome. It's too bad the stores inside are not better!

And yes, you probably are a bit spoiled by Chicago. Few cities in the US actually have strong enough downtown retail to prevent those shopping trips to the suburbs.

Oh I too think Tower City is brilliant in its design, really. In a way, the combination of shopping and dining with the train available seems very European, which I love. (The main station in Berlin made me damn near cry with its 3 levels of trains and 7 levels of retail).

I don't really mind going out to the suburbs for certain things (well, except for when I see the back end of a bus that only comes every hour out there like happened yesterday) and Steelyard's easy to get to for Target trips ... but I guess I just wish I could get a prescription filled after 6 pm on a weekday somewhere near my apartment, lol.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by Boffo

It's kind of frustrating that even with these high occupancy rates, there are no residential units currently being constructed downtown. There needs to be more supply if downtown Cleveland's residential population is to keep growing.

Given the fact that banks have been very, very reluctant to lend on housing projects, it's probably going to take 95% occupancy rates to shake that kind of financing loose. One positive note is that 515 on Euclid is "steel ready." It's currently a parking garage that was designed with the intent of putting a 20 story condo-tower on top of it. That's likely to be next.