Cleveland's Lakefront Development Taking Shape: CLE Daily

🌦️ 77°; Sun and a few showers

📚 Library Strike Averted: Cleveland Public Library workers ratified a new contract Wednesday night, calling off a strike that had been set for Thursday. The deal includes a 15% average wage increase, four weeks of paid parental leave and a ratification bonus. 

🔥 Arrest Made in Church Arson Case: A 19-year-old was arraigned on a felony arson charge and held on a $10,000 bond, accused of setting the fire that gutted the historic Friendship Baptist Church on East 55th Street. Court records say he and two friends entered the vacant building to film a social-media "urban mining" trend.

🌱 Slavic Village Picks Its Own Priorities: Residents voted to fund five neighborhood projects through the People's Budget Cleveland pilot, splitting $100,000 among an expanded pet-food pantry, a First Tee golf-and-culinary scholarship fund, a vacant-property survey and more. It's the first test of resident-led budgeting in the city. 

🌭 Cleveland Gets Its Dog Due: Ohio Magazine rounded up 15 of the state's best hot-dog joints for its summer travel guide, and Cleveland's own Happy Dog made the cut for its famously overwhelming menu of 50 toppings. The list also spans Toledo's century-old Rudy's Hot Dog and Mentor's Scooter's, which burns through nearly 87,000 pounds of potatoes a season for its fries alone.

ICYMI: A mysterious headless bronze statue that spent decades in the Cleveland Museum of Art's rotunda turned out to be looted from a Turkish archaeological site in the 1960s. The museum returned it in July after a two-year legal fight. 

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Trivia Question

Abdullah Mason is the third Clevelander to win a professional boxing title. Who are the previous two?

Development: A handful of Cleveland's lakefront projects are already taking shape, with bigger ones still to come.

By Harrison Whittaker, NEO Trans

Cleveland's most ambitious lakefront proposals are still years off — a possible 450-acre park if Burke Lakefront Airport closes, and a 52-acre stadium site master plan due in October — but several smaller projects along the shore are already under construction or complete.

A New Kind of Boathouse: Cleveland Metroparks' Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center opened in June at 5555 North Marginal Road, the first facility of its kind on Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline, with two sailing simulators, indoor and outdoor dining, and a nearly 4,000-square-foot boathouse rounding out the 24,000-square-foot complex.

Rock Hall's $175 Million Bet: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is nearing completion on a 50,000-square-foot expansion with space for concerts, a student center and offices, designed by New York firm PAU and built by Cleveland's Higley Construction. The museum also recently bought the neighboring Harbor Verandas building.

Closing the Gap on Foot and Bike: The Metroparks' Mandel Community Trail is upgrading the existing Lakefront Bikeway and adding a new 2.7-mile western extension, creating an off-street path connecting the East 55th Street Marina to East 9th Street Downtown. It's set to finish this fall, though parts are already open.

Gordon Park's New Chapter: Since the city handed Gordon Park's southern half to the Metroparks in 2023, crews have broken ground on $10 million in improvements, including a Great Lawn, playground and picnic pavilion. The park is expected to reopen in summer 2027.

Worth Noting: Both the sailing center and Gordon Park work rely heavily on Cleveland-based firms and contractors, including Osborn Engineering, LAND Studio and SmithGroup.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

PNC is about to get a lot more crowded at its Downtown tower. The bank is reportedly moving hundreds of employees out of leased satellite offices in Brecksville and West Park into PNC Center on East 9th, part of an $8 million floor renovation and a broader $200 million overhaul of the 35-story tower. It follows PNC's move in May to end remote work companywide. 

A little-known Cleveland nonprofit quietly hands out hundreds of thousands in public money. The Cleveland Citywide Development Corp. approves business grants and loans up to $250,000 without City Council sign-off, often deciding behind closed doors under a state law exemption for confidential business information. A new council member who stumbled onto a meeting says he's still trying to understand why so much of the process is private.

Cleveland's police discipline overhaul could end up in court. The Community Police Commission is moving to adopt its most significant rewrite yet of how officers are disciplined, giving commissioners real-time input on cases instead of only reviewing them after the fact. The union representing rank-and-file officers says its contract blocks the change and is threatening legal action.

Ohio's gubernatorial candidates both have concerns about Flock cameras, but for different reasons. Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy have each raised issues with the license-plate reader system Cleveland and other cities use.

Cleveland is expanding its student safety effort, but telling the public less about it. The city's Safe Passage program, meant to protect kids walking to and from school, is growing this year. Officials have shared fewer specifics on staffing and routes than in past years, making it harder for parents to know what's changed. 

Myles Garrett's old house didn't stay on the market long. The former Browns star listed his 4,300-square-foot Wadsworth home for $2.1 million after his trade to the Rams in June. It closed this week for above the asking price, more than $800,000 above what he paid for it in 2018. 

Things To Do This Weekend

Josh Groban: Stage, Screen and Symphony at Blossom Music Center | Music | Aug. 28 The multi-platinum pop singer performs songs from Cinematic, his new album of soundtrack classics, at 7 p.m. 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com

Hasan Hates Ronny/Ronny Hates Hasan at Connor Palace | Comedy | Aug. 28 Hasan Minhaj and Ronny Chieng co-headline a mock-debate-style comedy show at 7 p.m., riffing on topics like immigration and the economy. 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org

Nikki Glaser at Connor Palace | Comedy | Aug. 29-30 The three-time Golden Globes host brings her stand-up to Playhouse Square for a two-night stand at 7 p.m. 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org

Cleveland Blues Jam Series at the Sixty6 | Music | Aug. 29 This quarterly series celebrates the legacy of local bluesman Wallace Coleman, who performs alongside another local artist. 1966 E. 66th St., Cleveland, 216-615-7261, thesixty6.com

Riverfest at Collision Bend Brewing Co. | Festival | Aug. 30 The Flats brewery hosts a day of local bands, including Madison Crawl and Country Honk, starting at 11 a.m., with proceeds benefiting local rescue dog organizations. 1250 Old River Road, Cleveland, 216-273-7879, collisionbendbrewery.com

See the full state of events

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

The annual Stop the Hate contest, allowing Northeast Ohio students to write essays, poems and songs to inspire positive change, is sponsored by which Beachwood Museum? Maltz Museum

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

Watching the lakefront pull itself together piece by piece has been one of the more satisfying stories to track this year. The sailing center already feels like a preview of what's coming: the Rock Hall expansion, new trail miles, a rebuilt Gordon Park. None of it happens overnight, but Cleveland is building toward its lake instead of away from it. With more to come.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Have a story idea? Tell us what we should cover at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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