Cleveland Development Discussions (Huron, Union, Weston: urban decay, regulation, usage)

[1watertiger]

A picture from urban Ohio on the progress of the lumen apartment tower at Playhouse Square this morning.
https://forum.urbanohio.com/uploads/...d4edce193e.jpg

[1watertiger]

Another cool picture from the top of the lumen apartment tower looking west from Playhouse Square to Public Square.
https://forum.urbanohio.com/uploads/...1f1fb5121.jpeg

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by 1watertiger

Another cool picture from the top of the lumen apartment tower looking west from Playhouse Square to Public Square.
https://forum.urbanohio.com/uploads/...1f1fb5121.jpeg

Wow! Amazing shot. I'm nuts about this building; can't wait till it opens so we can check out a unit (even if just for show)... The visual impact on PHS is amazing, even with the still unfinished (but closed in) empty building. I can only imagine what it will be once it opens ... on a warm evening ... esp theater night! ... Cleveland's little piece of Manhattan.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by TheProf

Wow! Amazing shot. I'm nuts about this building; can't wait till it opens so we can check out a unit (even if just for show)... The visual impact on PHS is amazing, even with the still unfinished (but closed in) empty building. I can only imagine what it will be once it opens ... on a warm evening ... esp theater night! ... Cleveland's little piece of Manhattan.

It's better than a parking lot, but it's height and size will turn Euclid Ave. at Playhouse Square into a more gloomy, urban canyon during daylight, and probably increase ground-level winds significantly. Apparently Cleveland, unlike Manhattan, has minimal setback requirements and height restrictions.

[216facts]

Originally Posted by WRnative

It's better than a parking lot, but it's height and size will turn Euclid Ave. at Playhouse Square into a more gloomy, urban canyon during daylight, and probably increase ground-level winds significantly. Apparently Cleveland, unlike Manhattan, has minimal setback requirements and height restrictions.

Its actually hard to see the building from most of Playhouse square. I mean, if you look straight up you'll see it, but the impression most people will continue to get of playhouse square, at street level, will be dominated by the theatres, the chandelier, the Playhouse Square retro sign and the first 4 floors of buildings facing Euclid.

Your point well taken though, it is a glass box and hopefully the wind currents will not blow people into the street.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by 216facts

Its actually hard to see the building from most of Playhouse square. I mean, if you look straight up you'll see it, but the impression most people will continue to get of playhouse square, at street level, will be dominated by the theatres, the chandelier, the Playhouse Square retro sign and the first 4 floors of buildings facing Euclid.

Your point well taken though, it is a glass box and hopefully the wind currents will not blow people into the street.

I guess I see Lumen as bit more than simply a tall, dark glass box, either invisible (supposedly from PHS) or casting ominous shadows and creating a potential dangerous street-level wind tunnel for theater-goers. I mean, the Chandelier is cute and all but, I'm much more excited about a 34-story, sexy (imho, esp with rare, in Cleveland, balconies) high-rise apartment complex in a city and largely bereft of them. Downtown needs density -- both in terms of people but also visually skyline-wise, and Lumen will deliver on both counts. And I'm not following your idea that people won't see it in Playhouse Square unless their looking straight up. The fact is, whether you enter from the east or west along Euclid, Lumen has an impact... much more so coming from the east, of course, where ultra modern Edge and Lumen create a fine visual entrance into our theatre district where Lumen, I'm sure, will also have a significant street presence, esp being directly across the street from 2 core PHS theaters: the (Connor) Palace and the State. Edge, and especially Lumen, create a nice seamless bridge between our growing downtown and the much improved/still improving Campus District, which CSU's college town within the city. Before this, and even now, to some degree, PHS was/is kind of an island and the area immediately to the east was a rather barren, unattractive dead zone... but no more.

Downtown has been screaming for such a, ground-up new residential high-rise of this type for a long time. And the fact that it's been nearly 50 years since there's been erected downtown anything remotely comparable (the complex now known as Reserve Square a few blocks away) says a lot.

[WRnative]

Cleveland will be an ugly, unpleasant city if it doesn't learn from NYC and institute setback requirements IMO.

https://jorgefontan.com/nyc-zoning-setback/

<<Opponents of the buildings were outraged at the unprecedented volume of the building, which cast a seven-acre (28,000 m2) shadow on the surrounding streets, casting a permanent shadow on the Singer Building up to its 27th floor, the City Investing Building up to its 24th floor, and completely cutting off sunshine to at least three other buildings shorter than 21 stories.[11] Many New Yorkers reasoned that further construction of buildings like it would turn Manhattan into an unpleasant and dark maze of streets. In response, the city adopted the 1916 Zoning Resolution which limited the height and required setbacks for new buildings to allow the penetration of sunlight to street level. Specifically, new buildings were afterwards required to withdraw progressively at a defined angle from the street as they rose, in order to preserve sunlight and the open atmosphere in their surroundings.>>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equita...d_construction

The Lumen will block the southern sun from properties north of Euclid Ave. As these are largely owned, like The Lumen, by Playhouse Square, there may be no complaints. Additionally, the Lumen isn't remotely as massive as the Equitable Building and the Lumen's attached parking garage west of the Lumen will continue to allow much sunlight into Playhouse Square given it has just a few stories.

However, the time to institute setback requirements is now, before Cleveland enters a new building boom perhaps due to the expected Great Climate Change Migration. More sun always is better than man-made daylight shadows engulfing a city.

[WRnative]

Set-backs also reduce ground level winds. When the wind hits a side of a tall building, air pressure pushes winds downward. Set-backs break these downward flows reducing ground-level wind speeds. Another means of reducing downward air pressure are open floors, such as with NYC's 432 Park Ave. building discussed in the following article, likely a seldom used technique. In any case, Cleveland should be requiring building designs to minimize ground level winds. In my experience, this already is an issue on East 9th St. on windy days.

https://www.theb1m.com/video/how-tal...-tame-the-wind

Does Cleveland even require ground wind studies, and independent reviews, before approving a building's construction???

<<In Leeds, 35-year-old Edward Slaney was crushed after strong winds toppled a lorry [large truck] near the 32-storey Bridgewater Place, the city's tallest building, in 2011. This was one of several incidents, some resulting in injuries, reported to the council....

The City of London Corporation is not going this far, but it is changing the way it works with developers. The level of wind predicted by developers and that which actually occurs can differ "somewhat", says the corporation's head of design, Gwyn Richards. So there's going to be independent verification of studies carried out by developers to ensure they're as "rigorous and resilient" as possible, he adds.>>

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33426889

With northerly winds dominant in Cleveland, the 21-story Keith Building (which houses the Connor Palace Theatre on its lower levels) on the northern side of Euclid Ave. across from The Lumen will partially shield The Lumen, hopefully mitigating ground level winds to some extent. Also, the face of The Lumen on Euclid Ave. is rather narrow. This face also has some tapering which likely disrupts downdrafts. So I'm hopeful The Lumen won't produce any noticeable adverse ground level wind impacts.

The Lumen Apartments | Playhouse Square

[1watertiger]

Plagued by violence, prostitution, massage parlors, strip clubs, gangs and drug dealing the past 50yrs, W25th is changing fast for the better!

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/...ments.html?m=1

[1watertiger]

Food manufacturer moving 125 jobs from Richfield to Cleavland Midtown neighborhood .

https://www.crainscleveland.com/real...d-headquarters