Cleveland Development Discussions (Mayfield, Orange: cancel, white, hours)

[reioh]

Originally Posted by RobF1129

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...e-on-the-rise-

Loan deal clears way for Church & State project in Ohio City | Crain's Cleveland Business

Man, Cleveland really is on the rise. What an exiting time for this city!

With many new residential units being built, would it attract people from other areas? Would Cleveland's population finally start to stabilize, and maybe even grow?

[RobF1129]

Originally Posted by reioh

With many new residential units being built, would it attract people from other areas? Would Cleveland's population finally start to stabilize, and maybe even grow?

I think that's a question of whether or not Cleveland schools will continue to trend in the right direction, and whether or not Cleveland can attract new business.

As for attracting new people, Cleveland has really put themselves on the map as a start up hub, particularly in bio technology and the medical field. What's difficult for any city though is attracting fortune 1000 companies. It isn't unfair to say losing Eaton and Progressive to suburbs set us back a decade or more. Moves like that don't happen often, and it goes to show we're still healing our wounds from past administrations that didn't understand the cost of doing business.

I will say this, private developers aren't investing millions of dollars to build vertically in Cleveland for their health. They seem bullish about Cleveland's future, and if they feel that way it can't be a bad thing.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by RobF1129

It isn't unfair to say losing Eaton and Progressive to suburbs set us back a decade or more.

Progressive never was headquartered in the City of Cleveland, to my knowledge, and certainly never in the last 40 years.

[TBideon]

Progressive was set on moving downtown until Michael White, in part due to pressure from parking lot owners who flipped out about free parking for Progressive employees, chased them out to Mayfield Village.

[RobF1129]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Progressive never was headquartered in the City of Cleveland, to my knowledge, and certainly never in the last 40 years.

See post by TBideon, btbh, I wasn't 100% on where in NEO they were headquartered prior to their new Mayfield campus

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by RobF1129

See post by TBideon, btbh, I wasn't 100% on where in NEO they were headquartered prior to their new Mayfield campus

Before building its current corporate headquarters, Progressive was headquartered on the same campus in which they are currently located, and I believe the old headquarters building is visible from I-271 and still is in use.

My familiarity with Progressive began in the 1970s, when friends began to be hired there. I remember being told that Progressive had only about 200 employees in the early 1970s, and I certainly was unaware of Progressive before friends and acquaintances began to work there as the corporation mushroomed, making small fortunes for some employees and early public investors.

I found this history of Progressive. It was headquartered in Cleveland at 3600 Euclid Avenue before moving to Mayfield Village only in 1974. I never knew that. It apparently was located very near the old Cleveland Arena (at 3717 Euclid Ave.) and the Masonic Temple, now the Midtown area.

http://case.edu/ech/articles/p/progressive-corp/

https://www.progressive.com/progress...rance/history/

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Progressive was set on moving downtown until Michael White, in part due to pressure from parking lot owners who flipped out about free parking for Progressive employees, chased them out to Mayfield Village.

...and downtown CLE missed out on a new corp headquarters building in the shape of an 800' tower placed on E 9th Street over the dreaded ''moat'' to the lakefront, which, 30 years later CLE is still trying to deal with.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Progressive was set on moving downtown until Michael White, in part due to pressure from parking lot owners who flipped out about free parking for Progressive employees, chased them out to Mayfield Village.

Michael White didn't become mayor of Cleveland until 1984, a decade after Progressive left Cleveland for Mayfield Village.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._White

Here's a brief blurb on Peter Lewis' proposed North Mall Project to house the Progressive corporate headquarters.

The biggest unbuilt projects of the last 30 years - Crain's Cleveland Business

Do you have any link substantiating your theory that "free parking" killed the project? Free parking for new Progressive employees moved into downtown wouldn't have hurt existing parking vendors.

In 1987, Lewis described the North Mall Project as still in its "fantasy stages."

This article blames the failure of the North Mall Project on George Voinovich as well as Michael White.

Decision on fate of pedestrian bridge needs grounding in stronger lakefront vision (photos) | cleveland.com

BTW, this article says Progressive had only 100 employees when Peter Lewis took it over in 1965.

https://weatherhead.case.edu/about/facilities/lewis/

Also, Peter Lewis was notorious for loving the process of architectural creation perhaps more than the actual act of building a creation.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/05/g...k-no-bang.html

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Michael White didn't become mayor of Cleveland until 1984, a decade after Progressive left Cleveland for Mayfield Village.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._White

Here's a brief blurb on Peter Lewis' proposed North Mall Project to house the Progressive corporate headquarters.

The biggest unbuilt projects of the last 30 years - Crain's Cleveland Business

Do you have any link substantiating your theory that "free parking" killed the project? Free parking for new Progressive employees moved into downtown wouldn't have hurt existing parking vendors.

In 1987, Lewis described the North Mall Project as still in its "fantasy stages."

This article blames the failure of the North Mall Project on George Voinovich as well as Michael White.

Decision on fate of pedestrian bridge needs grounding in stronger lakefront vision (photos) | cleveland.com

BTW, this article says Progressive had only 100 employees when Peter Lewis took it over in 1965.

https://weatherhead.case.edu/about/facilities/lewis/

Also, Peter Lewis was notorious for loving the process of architectural creation perhaps more than the actual act of building a creation.

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/05/g...k-no-bang.html

Michael White wasn't elected Mayor until November 1989, taking office in Jan. 1990.

The Progressive Tower project was a fantasy in the later '80s under Voinovich, but solid proposals were put forth under White's administration. The deal was to consolidate Progressive Hdqt in a 850' lakefront tower.

The article you cite to simply states, lazily, that Voinovich and White failed to pursue the project. Seriously? Whatever did happen to this project came under White's administration. There was a ''falling-out'' between White and Lewis, so much so, that Lewis held a grudge for some time with the City of Cleveland.

As eccentric as Lewis was, White was a little Napoleon who held no prisoners. Regardless, White blew the Progressive Tower deal but did leave Cleveland with an even worse lakefront legacy project: Browns Stadium.

White also blew FedEx building a hub at Hopkins.

[RobF1129]

Not to derail the current topic, but this is awesome news. I would say it is long overdue, which it is, but couldn't come at a better time as Cleveland gains popularity as a destination city.

Major music festival poised for downtown Cleveland | Crain's Cleveland Business