City Hall Gets Involved in Regent Square Foreclosure: CLE Daily

Plus, everything you need to know from in and around Northeast Ohio and Cleveland.

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 2, 2026 | 6:45 AM

Photograph courtesy NEOtrans

⛽ Ohio's Gas Tax Holiday Is a Go: State lawmakers voted Wednesday to suspend the 38.5-cent gas tax (and the 47-cent diesel tax) for 90 days, using $725 million in state reserves to backfill road funding. It takes effect as soon as Gov. Mike DeWine signs it, which his office says he will.

🕵️ Solve a 1920s Murder at Stan Hywet: Akron's Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens turns its Manor House into a crime scene this month with "Murder in the Mansion," where guests go room to room questioning suspects and hunting clues. Half the October dates are already sold out, and Jazz Age attire is encouraged.

🎬 A Village of 4,000 Is About to Host Filmmakers From 31 Countries: The 17th annual Chagrin Documentary Film Festival runs Tuesday through Sunday, Oct. 11, with 74 films, including 10 world premieres. Tickets are on sale now.

ICYMI: Remember our oral history of Balloonfest '86? Forty years later, the people behind the release of nearly 1.5 million balloons look back at the record-setting spectacle, the storm front that sent it all sideways and the fallout that followed.

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Today's Trivia

This landmark, which opened on Memorial Day 1890, became the first Cleveland building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Development: City Hall intervenes in Reserve Square property foreclosure lawsuit.

By Ken Prendergast, NEOtrans

Mayor Justin Bibb's administration filed a motion this week to intervene in the federal foreclosure case over Reserve Square, the Downtown high-rise complex at 1701 E. 12th St. City Law Director Mark Griffin says the move is meant to force action on 19 outstanding violation notices covering 52 code violations, including elevators, water intrusion and the parking garage.

How It Got Here: Lender Fannie Mae filed to foreclose in July 2025 after Willoughby-based owner K&D Group defaulted on a $78 million mortgage. A court-appointed receiver has managed the 996-unit property for more than a year without a set sale date.

Why the City Is Stepping In: Occupancy has fallen from 93% to 50%, driven partly by fewer international students at nearby Cleveland State. The city wants the court to require fixes before any sale, rather than passing unresolved problems to a new owner.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Strongsville, Mentor and other Northeast Ohio school districts are heading back to the ballot to avoid deep cuts. Strongsville warns of a $14 million reduction that would wipe out music, arts and sports if its levy fails, and 13 area districts are trying income taxes instead of property levies this fall.

Clevelanders can buy a vacant lot next door for as little as $200 and get up to $5,000 to turn it into a yard or garden. Land Bank applications close Nov. 20, and the first Green Space Grant deadline is Oct. 15.

University Circle's next high-rise is already moving. The 24-story, $140 million East Stokes tower at Chester Avenue will add 281 apartments and ground-floor retail to the Circle Square development, with completion targeted for June 2028.

The chairman of JobsOhio's board is being deposed in the federal lawsuit over FirstEnergy's bribery scandal. Josh Rubin advised FirstEnergy executives and later lobbied for the utility. He attended a 2018 dinner where prosecutors say he urged leaders not to disclose a meeting with regulator Sam Randazzo.

La Pecora's owners just opened a slice shop on Larchmere. La Pecora Slice Shop serves 18-inch, New York-style sourdough pies by the slice or whole, plus salads and pastas, for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Things To Do: Pickle Fest, Rock Hall and more.

By Cleveland Magazine staff

🥒 Cleveland Pickle Fest takes over Mall C Downtown on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with pickle-eating contests, food trucks, live bands and a new 5K, all benefiting Greater Cleveland Volunteers.

🎶 The Rock Hall's Hispanic Heritage Month celebration brings free performances by Artist in Residence Carlo Michel, Grupo Son Gitano and DJ Fuse1 to the plaza Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

🎥 Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison introduces "Stop Making Sense" at the Ohio Theatre Saturday at 8 p.m., screening the restored 1984 concert film.

🏰 Renaissance at the Garden fills Cleveland Botanical Garden Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. with live music, performances and local vendors. Costumes are encouraged, and tickets are $15 for members, $25 for nonmembers.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

What organization, a vital part of the national temperance movement, was founded in Oberlin in 1893? The Anti-Saloon League

Check back Monday for the answer to today's question.

From the Editor

It hit 83 degrees on the first day of October, but don't let the thermometer fool you.

Fall is here, and Northeast Ohio is about to show off. Leaves are starting to turn along the Towpath and through the Metroparks; orchards and pumpkin patches are open for business; and the Halloween calendar is already filling up, from haunted walking tours in Gordon Square to a 1920s murder mystery at Stan Hywet.

Grab a flannel, keep the sunscreen handy and get outside. Winter will be here soon enough.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Let us know what is on your mind at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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Ron Ledgard

Ron Ledgard is Cleveland Magazine's managing editor and a Pittsburgh native who has made his peace with Cleveland (except on Sundays). He's a University of Pittsburgh graduate, a veteran of The Athletic and the Akron Beacon Journal, and was there for every chapter of LeBron's Cleveland story. After two decades of chasing deadlines and box scores, he's happily landed in magazines. He's a sucker for a long story done right, the kind you save for a Sunday morning (before kickoff, of course). When he isn't editing, he's out on a trail, trying a new restaurant or hunting for the next great thing to do. Sports is his subject of choice, and coffee is his fuel. Most Starbucks baristas in the area greet him like the Cheers crowd greeted Norm.