University Circle Development Continues; New Dante Boccuzzi Restaurant Set: CLE Daily

Plus, things to know from in and around Cleveland.

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 6, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Photograph courtesy NEOtrans

🗳️ Early Voting Starts Today: Ohioans can now cast ballots in person for the Nov. 3 election at their county board of elections, and early voting runs through Nov. 1. Bring a photo ID and check our voting guide for absentee deadlines and what's on the ballot.

⚾️ Guardians Now In Must-Win Mode: They dropped Game 2 to the Chicago White Sox 4-3 on Monday at Progressive Field. Down 2-0 in the best-of-five series, they now need to win Games 3 and 4 in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, then come home to finish it off on Saturday.

🌭 Rudy Is Ohio's Fastest Wiener Dog: A 7-year-old dachshund named Rudy beat 87 other dogs at Woosterfest's 10th annual Wiener Dog Race after finishing second last year. Competitors came from as far as California, and one owner trained his dog with sprints on the beach at Fairport Harbor.
🍽️ Where Kiln's Chef Eats on His Night Off: Griffen Stephens shares his go-to spots, including the bar at Jaja, the Italian sandwich at Herb'n Twine, The Doris breakfast sandwich at Martha on the Fly and the pizza at Boom's, which he calls some of the best in Cleveland.

ICYMI: Remember our roundup of five products we love from women-owned businesses in Cleveland? Just in time for Halloween, it includes Freckles & Flux's hand-made stained glass ghosts, along with crocheted T-shirt-yarn purses from Mochet and pastel grip socks from Richual.

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Today's Trivia

Which area college traces its roots back to 1837, when Berea Seminary was incorporated?

Development: University Circle's next high-rise is already breaking ground.

By Ken Prendergast, NEOtrans

Crews are moving fast at 10700 Chester Ave., where a 24-story, $140 million apartment tower known for now as East Stokes is set to become the next big piece of the Circle Square development. "The site is being activated as we speak," says Alex Smith of Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate.

By the Numbers: The 263-foot tower will have 281 apartments, nearly 17,700 square feet of ground-floor retail and four levels of parking with 315 spaces. Chicago's Power Construction is the general contractor, and the project is targeting a June 2028 finish.

Work Underway: Old parking lots are being torn out, and a curving Chester Avenue intersection is being rebuilt at right angles. Excavation for the foundation is beginning.

Circle Square Keeps Rising: East Stokes follows The Artisan, a 24-story, 298-unit tower finished in 2023, and the 11-story Library Lofts, completed at the end of 2024. Townhomes along MLK Drive and a hotel on top of the parking podium are planned for later phases.

Worth Noting: East Stokes is just a working title. A marketing team will choose the building's permanent name.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Cleveland has signed 52 community benefits agreements with developers since 2023, but there is no reporting on whether they're being kept. The deals cover $1.3 billion in projects and $259 million in city incentives, with promises on local hiring and diverse contracting, yet City Council still hasn't received the required quarterly compliance reports.

Four of the five active members of Cleveland's Community Police Commission aren't seeking new terms. Co-chair John Adams cited constant fights with fellow commissioners and the city, and six or seven new members are expected to join the 13-seat panel in January.

Shaker Square could be the next neighborhood to get Cleveland's new form-based zoning. The proposal would allow mixed-use buildings of up to five stories along Buckeye, Larchmere and the Shaker boulevards, and it goes before a Ward 6 community meeting Oct. 13.

St. Clair-Superior is getting new homes built smaller on purpose. Knez Homes plans 10 three-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot houses on East 67th Street as part of the Housing Innovation District, drawing thanks from a planning commissioner for not chasing "big is better."

Crunch Fitness is taking over West Park's empty Big Lots. The 34,000-square-foot space at Lorain Avenue and West 150th will be the chain's first location in Cleveland proper, after the landlord said fitness centers were the only serious candidates to lease it.

Courtesy Dante Boccuzzi

Food & Drink: Dante Boccuzzi trades sushi for spaghetti on East Fourth Street.

By Douglas Trattner

Five years after opening Goma, Dante Boccuzzi is turning the Downtown Japanese restaurant, which closed in August, into Casa Nostra ("our house"), a casual Italian spot opening this winter. "I just think it was time to rebrand and rethink things," he says, citing rising labor costs and a crowded sushi scene.

The Menu: Look for housemade pastas, including tortellini, pappardelle, bucatini and cavatelli, plus polpette (meatballs made with beef, pork, lamb, turkey or ricotta), arancini, Tuscan bean soup, steamed mussels, chicken parm and steak.

The Room: Part of the open kitchen will be closed off; the space will get a warmer Italian feel, and Goma's central sushi bar becomes the main bar and dessert station.

The Inspiration: The concept builds on Boccuzzi's D.C. Pasta Co., which he opened in Strongsville in 2011 and closed during the pandemic.

Read the full story.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

This Shaw and University School alumnus had a lengthy movie and TV career but is best known for voicing Mr. Magoo and playing Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island. Jim Backus

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

From the Editor

Cleveland is always weighing what to build against what to save.

Last week, a Mentor developer rescued the Winton Motor Carriage Works, where America's first commercially produced car was built. Meanwhile, a 1925 house near Shaker Square is coming down after sitting vacant and neglected for years. A 24-story tower is rising in University Circle, and the Cavs keep betting big on Downtown. New buildings are welcome, but lost history doesn't come back.

So tell me: What's the one Cleveland building you'd save? Email conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

— 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.