For decades, the east side of Cleveland was almost hopelessly cut off from its lakefront by scars of past planning mistakes -- the ugly sutures of highways, concrete barriers, railroads and, of course, industry.

No more. With the opening this week of the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, these impoverished neighborhoods -- and indeed, all of Greater Cleveland and beyond -- have access to a premiere wildlife habitat in the heart of the city.

This new, 88-acre urban preserve is located just north of where Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. meets I-90, and it is accessible from Lakeshore Boulevard before it enters Bratenahl. The park is built upon the former Dike 14, a dredging disposal facility operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1979 until 1999.

For more than a decade, a coalition of environmental groups calling themselves the Dike 14 Nature Preservation Committee has been fighting to turn this manmade outcropping into a park. Their vision was simple: no ballfields, just park benches and a loop trail that allow visitors a peaceful retreat among the flora and fauna, as well as stupendous view of downtown Cleveland from the "beak" of the park.

Thanks to the critical leadership of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority, this vision finally became a reality. When new CEO Will Friedman took the Port's helm, he made the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve an institutional priority. The Port will continue to manage and oversee the Preserve now that it's open.

Despite the barbed wire fences, birds still stop here on their annual migrations, trees and plants grow in abandon, and many animals call this place home. (Truth is: hikers, birders and wildlife lovers have been slipping through a neglected gap in the fence for more than a decade to enjoy winsome walks along the coast.)

Still -- there's something to be said for the fact that it's now official.


Source: Earthday Coalition
Writer: Lee Chilcote

In a few months, beer lovers who have conquered the Winking Lizard World Tour of Beers will have another well-stocked venue where they can wet their whistles. When the popular Winking Lizard chain opens Lizardville in the Galleria this summer, as many as 32 draft beers from Ohio and contiguous states will be available on tap. The venue also will serve Ohio-made whiskey and wine, plus a full menu of food crafted from local ingredients.

Winking Lizard owner John Lane announced plans to bring his successful Lizardville concept, which first opened in Bedford Heights last year, to downtown Cleveland. He plans to take over a former art gallery space on the first floor near Dollar Bank, while adding a 1,000- to 2,000-square-foot patio with a bar.

What distinguishes Lizardville from Winking Lizard is the concept of specializing in locally made libations of all stripes.

"I don't know of another place downtown where you can get all of these Ohio beers on tap," says Lane. "We're bullish on the area because it is so close to the new Medical Mart, Convention Center and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When people come to visit Cleveland from out of town, they ask the bartender, 'What do you have that's local?'"

Lane is bringing the Lizardville brand to other cities in Northeast Ohio, including a location in Rocky River that will offer beer and wine to go at retail prices, like the original in Bedford Heights.


Source: The Winking Lizard
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Fresh Water commissioned local videographer David Wester to take viewers inside the newly opened Greater Cleveland Aquarium. While there, Wester was guided by general manager Tami Brown, who discussed the nature and scope of the watery exhibits. Already off to a swimming start, the attraction aims to lure 500,000 visitors per year.

If you fancy yourself a fan of Cleveland and its offerings, you have doubtless been asked for a recommendation or three. Having lived and worked in town for 20 years, Nina McCollum considers herself an unofficial tour guide, dispensing advice on everything from food and shopping to arts and entertainment. In preparation for a visit from an out-of-town friend, McCollum has devised her dream weekend in Cleveland.

To tap into demand for affordable yet professional office space from local start-up businesses, two local entrepreneurs have kicked off 2012 by opening a new shared workspace, Cowork CLE, in a decommissioned Ohio City firehouse.

“Meeting clients at Starbucks can get old; we offer a more professional setting,” says Emmett McDermott, who has partnered with Graham Veysey of North Water Partners, a video production company, to launch the 1,000-square-foot space on W. 29th Street. McDermott also owns 12five9, a web development firm.

Their pitch goes something like this: Are you a solo entrepreneur? Are you tired of working from home or fighting for an outlet at your local coffeehouse? Renting a desk at Cowork CLE can be as little as $250 per month. There's an airy, light-filled room with refinished hardwood floors, high-speed wireless, live Twitter feed on a flat-screen TV, conference room and even a private phone booth.

McDermott and Veysey visited similar coworking spaces in other cities, including Chicago, before they decided to launch Cowork CLE. “This is something that’s become popular in bigger cities,” says McDermott. “We chose Ohio City because it is an artisan neighborhood. We believe our clients are creative, independent artisans who are yearning for a collaborative environment."

The owners of Cowork CLE hope that the space will function as a kind of entrepreneurial incubator. By developing relationships in a shared work environment, their customers will be able to share useful information, help each other grow and eventually even refer business to one another, they say.

“We’re hoping people will make connections,” says McDermott.
Veysey, who owns the firehouse building, has also leased space to Rising Star Coffee Roasters, which will open Cleveland’s first “brewbar.” Rising Star will offer bags of beans for sale and also brew coffee by the cup. This will offer entrepreneurs here the best of both worlds -- a functional work environment and a downstairs coffee shop where they can easily get their caffeine fix.

Cowork CLE is located at 1455 W. 29th Street.


Sources: Emmett McDermott, Graham Veysey
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Despite its long-suffering reputation, Cleveland's real estate market seems just fine to Kosta Almiroudis, an entrepreneur who moved last year from New York City to Lakewood to revive dilapidated old apartment buildings for fun and profit. In the past year, he has bought, renovated and fully leased more than 50 once-vacant units.

"I come from a village in Greece that has a 1,300-year-old castle," says Almiroudis, whose wife's family also lives in the Cleveland area. "So I love acquiring these 100-year-old buildings and bringing them back to life."

The first project that Almiroudis tackled is a 45-unit apartment building situated on Detroit Avenue across from the former Phantasy Concert Club. When he first began visiting his wife's family in Cleveland, he was surprised to learn how affordable real estate prices were. "I sold a single-family home in Greece and had a down payment for a 45-unit apartment building," he says with a laugh.

Since then, he has bought and fixed up another 12-unit building and signed a contract for an additional 11-unit building next door. All of his properties are 100-percent leased. He says the key to being a successful landlord is purchasing distressed properties for no more than 60 percent of their current value, investing up to 85 percent of their post-rehab value and overseeing the work yourself.

Even so, getting a loan was no walk in the park. Lenders are still skittish because they're carrying bad loans from investors who got in over their heads during the boom years. Still, the only way out of the current housing mess and the surfeit of vacant, multi-family buildings is through lending to good investors, he says.

"I don't see many people doing what I'm doing now, most likely because the banks are not releasing funds for these kinds of projects," he says. "They have the money. The only way to put this neighborhood back together is with banks releasing funds. Private investors want to put money back into real estate."

Almouridis, who was weaned on interior renovation projects for the likes of Donald Trump while starting out in New  York, isn't holding his breath for an avalanche of easy money, however. Instead, he's partnering with a private investor who sees apartments as a safe bet at a time of low homeownership, high apartment occupancy and wild, tough-to-fathom stock market swings. Together, the pair intend to purchase and rehabilitate additional apartments in Lakewood.

The value-laden properties are plentiful, he says, in part because the professional children of Lakewood's middle-class landlords seem to want nothing to do with rentals. "I think maybe it skips a generation," he says with another laugh.


Source: Kosta Almouridis
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When Ohio Department of Transportation  (ODOT) officials recently asked business leaders from across the state to rank their region's planned infrastructure projects by importance, the Greater Cleveland Partnership ranked the West Shoreway project as the number one priority for Northeast Ohio.

For City of Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown, that's one more reason why ODOT's numbers don't add up. The state agency gave the city zero out of ten points in the "economic development" category on its recent application for $28 million in additional funding to complete Phase II of the project.

"States all across the country are beginning to think differently, and they're realizing that projects like this can actually improve their economic competitiveness," Brown said at a recent community meeting to discuss the project. The 10-year-old plan would transform the underutilized, 50s-style freeway into a landscaped boulevard with bicycle and pedestrian pathways. It would also offer residents and visitors improved access to Lake Erie.

As evidence of economic impact, city officials cited Battery Park, a new home development that has attracted 70 new residents, many of whom bought homes because they believed the West Shoreway project would come to fruition. Phase I of the Shoreway project is underway, and includes the redevelopment of two pedestrian and bicycle tunnels and a new interchange at West 73rd Street.

Residents who attended the meeting also questioned ODOT's cost estimates, which have ballooned from $50 million in 2003 to $100 million today.

"ODOT doesn't have enough controls against contractors coming back for more," Ken Silliman, Chief of Staff for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, told the audience. "We believe their contracts are too contractor-friendly. That's why we're trying to convince ODOT to give us the funding and let us manage the project locally."

Cycling advocates who attended the meeting also questioned the city's commitment to bike and pedestrian access, suggesting that Cleveland hasn't fought hard enough to fund the project's multi-modal pathway.

Adopting a mantra of "Keep the promise, finish the job," City officials vowed to press on with the project. They are planning a caravan trip to Columbus on December 15th for a crucial ODOT meeting where funding decisions occur.

Source: Ken Silliman, Bob Brown
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Mike Kubinski is positively full of holiday cheer. The co-founder of CLE Clothing Company, known for its funky, Cleveland-themed T-shirts and other apparel, just quit his day job and opened a new store at E. 4th and Euclid in downtown Cleveland. Since the venue opened just in time for Black Friday, it's been flush with visitors.

Kubinski's new apparel shop also is a big, fat present to Cleveland. Bearing the catchy slogan "Spreading Cleveland pride one T-shirt at a time," CLE Clothing has brought a fresh, new concept into retail-starved downtown Cleveland.

"Ari [Maron] really didn't want another restaurant; he wanted retail," says Kubinski, who hurried together the store concept after being recruited earlier this year by Maron, a principal of developer MRN Ltd. "It was a good fit because we offer something cool, positive and different from what's already there."

The downtown CLE Clothing outlet actually is the company's second store; the first, called Native Cleveland, is located on Waterloo in North Collinwood.

"We built our business online first, but then we had an overwhelming response when we did pop-up stores," says Kubinski. "We opened Native Cleveland as a test, and then Ari Maron approached us about a store on E. 4th Street."

The new store is located adjacent to Positively Cleveland, the travel and tourism agency for Northeast Ohio. A passageway allows visitors to travel between the two locations.

"We sort of act as the gift shop for people visiting downtown Cleveland," says Kubinski. "It's a cool relationship that's just beginning."


Source: Mike Kubinski
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The end of the NBA lockout came late last Saturday night, a gift to sports fans and downtown businesses alike. B-ball action isn't expected to hit center court until later this year. But even after it does arrive, many will be looking for other, cheaper, better ways to have fun downtown. Here are just a few.

Luther Heggs has been a roadie, sound engineer and lighting technician for rock and roll bands from the juke joints of Nashville to the splashy clubs of Las Vegas. He also had stints as an on-air personality for local radio stations. Yet when his kids were born, he switched to wiring studios as his way of earning a living. Still, he often longed for the excitement and drama of the rock and roll shows of his younger years.

That's why he created the Heggs House of Horror. For 15 years, Heggs has transformed the yard of his Old Brooklyn bungalow into a delightful, homemade scare-fest that is a tribute both to rock and roll and the Halloweens of his youth.

"He loves to put on a show, and this became an outlet," says Luanne Bole-Becker, a local filmmaker and personal friend who is creating a documentary about the so-called Master of Scare-a-Monies. "He builds these characters in his yard from all kinds of stuff, whether it's oscillating fans or stuff he finds at garage sales."

The Heggs House of Horror began modestly with a paper mache witch and a giant spider web. Today, the entire yard, driveway and side yard of the house are filled with an artful, ghoulish display that attracts thousands of visitors from Northeast Ohio and beyond each year. Some of the characters include Gene Simmons of Kiss, Freddy Krueger and classics from Heggs' childhood such as Ghoulardi.

"It's become sort of like a block party with a Halloween twist," says Bole-Becker. "Other families get together at Christmas, but his family hangs out at Halloween. Now there are other people on the street decorating their houses, too."

Ultimately, Bole-Becker says that the Heggs House of Horror is not intended to compete with more commercial fare -- Heggs spends his own money on the display and doesn't charge admission. It's designed to bring people together.

"For baby boomers like me, it reminds us of the Halloween of my childhood, when the neighborhood became magical," says Bole-Becker. "It sort of feels that way. This really plain bungalow all of a sudden becomes this odd wonderland."


Source: Luanne Bole-Becker
Writer: Lee Chilcote