After 18 years in the restaurant catering and food contracting industry, Lindsay Smith decided it was time to debunk some of the myths surrounding fine wines. Namely, Smith wants to correct the perceptions that wine is expensive, intimidating, and highbrow—and she's doing so at the new Flight Cleveland wine bar in the Gordon Square Arts District.
 

As retailers start opening their doors in Shaker Heights’ new Van Aken District, the emphasis is on local and regional makers. But there is also a strong female influence at the District, with more than 15 women-owned small businesses anchoring the 80,000 square feet of retail in the first phase of the $97 million mixed-use development project.

When fire ripped through the roof of Fernway Elementary School in Shaker Heights on July 10, 2018, it not only devastated the approximately 300 students, teachers, and staff housed in the almost century-old building, it devastated the community. Now the Fernway Forward fundraising campaign is poised to help it rebuild even better than before.

The holiday season is all about giving and getting together with friends and family. Mia Sakai and Lindsey Neidus, co-founders of SEA (Spaces, Experiences, Activations), have taken those holiday sentiments a step further by melding the two to create a pop-up holiday cocktail spot: Lake Effects Bar, located in the renovated historic 1901 Kimpton Schofield Hotel.

Like any good entrepreneur, Larry Bonton knows he must explore the concept a bit further when an idea hits. Earlier this year, he joined forces with six other creative entrepreneurs and associates to found Dream Creative Complex (DCC)—geared at helping other creative types fulfill their goals through community, collaboration, and connection.

If you haven't tuned into the Hamilton Collaborative yet, it's time to find out what's "happening at the Ham."

Like many folks in Northeast Ohio, Sara Scheuer and Amy Forrester do not work a typical nine-to-five workday. Scheuer is a paramedic and firefighter, while Forrester worked as a second shift supervisor in manufacturing for 15 years. The two women found they struggled with what to do with their dogs—Scheuer’s beloved dog Kirby, and Forrester with her dogs Donny Bag O’Donuts and Murray Fletcher­—while working off hours.

Ever since Brandon Chrostowski opened EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute on Shaker Square in 2013, he has had his eye on bigger things for both his graduates and the Buckeye neighborhood.

On Thursday, Dec. 13, Chrostowski will take a second big step forward in that vision when he opens EDWINS Butcher Shop at 13024 Buckeye Road, just steps from the $1.3 million EDWINS Second Change Life Skills Center campus he opened in 2016.

LaunchHouse has come a long way since 2008 when founders Todd Goldstein and Dar Caldwell first started working with entrepreneurs in a small office above Geraci’s Pizza in University Heights and eventually opened in an old Shaker Heights car dealership with about a dozen portfolio companies and a handful of members. Today, LaunchHouse is one of Cleveland's premier coworking communities—with two locations and a brand-new licensing model that will see it expand to as many as six more locations by end of 2019. The first licensee? CoWork Oberlin.

The 1950 holiday classic “Silver Bells,” written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, was inspired by the sounds of the Salvation Army Santas ringing bells on New York City street corners during the annual Red Kettle Campaign. Those bells have also been ringing on the streets of Northeast Ohio for most of the Salvation Army Greater Cleveland’s 150-year history. But these days—due to store closures and high use of credit cards—Major Thomas Applin says the Salvation Army is finding new ways to boost its largest and most known fundraiser.

Plain Dealer arts and entertainment reporter Laura DeMarco was so pleased with the reactions to her book Lost Cleveland­—a chronological look at beloved city landmarks and institutions that no longer exist—that she decided to write a second book on Cleveland’s living landmarks.

It takes a lot of room to pull off projects like a 14-story mural and an entire marketing campaign, ­not to mention countless video, digital, and computer-generated imagery (CGI) projects—so the growing TRG Multimedia recently leased 75,000 square feet on the former American Greetings campus in Brooklyn.
 

As shops and restaurants continue to open their doors at the new Van Aken District, James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz has announced that he will open his Miami-based Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in the space originally planned for his Genuine Pizza chain at 3427 Tuttle Road in Shaker Heights.

Most Clevelanders have driven past the former Quay 55 building thousands of times while zooming up and down the Shoreway. But what many locals may not know is that the building is now known as The Shoreline Apartments—designed to offer resort-style living right on the shores of Lake Erie, according to new owner John Carney.

One may not normally think of a 127-year-old church as a leader in green infrastructure practices, but St. Casimir Church—based in Cleveland's St. Clair-Superior neighborhood—has set an example as the first Cleveland Catholic Diocese church to begin installing a green infrastructure on its campus.
 

Just over a month after opening its new 855,000-square-foot North Randall fulfillment facility, Amazon is already making its presence known around the Greater Cleveland area—with officials demonstrating how happy they are to be here and their desire to be a good neighbor.

When real estate giant Forest City first approached architecture and design firm Vocon back in 2016 about moving its 400-plus employees from its 240,000-square-foot headquarters inside the Terminal Tower to 111,000 square feet in Key Tower, Vocon design director Bob Porter’s creative juices started oozing.

Cleveland Heights sisters Maya and Nina Serna haven’t even completed high school, and keep a busy academic and social schedule, but in their spare time they've spent the last two years developing an app specifically to help students who are homeschoolers like themselves.