Last year I wrote this post about the proposed Eco Village Cottages  at W. 58th and Pear. It's an exciting project, and this past week it moved closer to fruition and occupancy with a ground breaking ceremony.

These homes will meet Leeds standards for energy efficiency, are all of the same design (I think there are five homes). They are part of the Cleveland Land Trust which means they will remain affordable throughout their lifetime. (The Land Trust sells homes at market value but the buyers buy at about 80% of market value). You can read about the Land Trust here.  

Green City Blue Lake has an informative post on the Cottages. Here is an excerpt:

"....The homes are universally designed, life-cycle homes that allow aging in place. They will include accessibility features such as ramped entrances to porches, and, in the three bedroom model, a first floor bedroom with bath. Buyers who need a fully accessible home can have the additional features they need added at no additional cost.

The cottage designs grew out of the Cleveland Green Building Coalition's Emerging Designers initiative, which brought together young architects to learn about green design while applying what they learned to real projects...."

There are income requirements for eligibility to purchase and of course the supply is limited. But it's exciting to see this project move along (they had projected an August ground breaking and they are pretty darn close to that date).

A wonderful side benefit? Short (and I do mean short) walk to the RTA Station.  To recap: affordable, unbelievably low fuel costs, close to public transportation. Do we need more of this all over Cleveland or what?

Peace Out - 3C

You know how sometimes you walk through a neighborhood and the energy is almost palpable? I swear you can feel the vibrancy of Detroit Shoreway when you are there. This Thursday we have a Twilight Tour in D/S and you might want to take the opportunity to try out new eateries, shop some galleries, take a zen moment at the Lake shore, and view some open houses, all in the same evening. What could be better?

About 17,000 people call this neighborhood home. Cleveland is divided up into CDC neighborhoods, and this one's borders (depending on who you talk to) go from Lorain Avenue to W. 50th to W. 117th and to the Lake. Now some of that area is  claimed by Edgewater Cudell (closer to W. 117th and Clifton) and Ohio City (closer to W. 50th and Franklin.)  But we aren't here to worry about borders now are we?

The heart of The D/Shoreway neighborhood can be found beating quite nicely at W. 65th & Detroit. So much has happened there and why it has happened can be seen in why Niki Gillota chose to open Gypsy Beans in Detroit Shoreway instead of anywhere else. She did her research, she was already an experienced coffee/bakery entrepreneur but she wanted her own place. She also felt the pulse of this neighborhood and decided this was going to be the next, hot district. She knew a lot of money (and I do mean a lot!) was being poured into it.  She knew other people were planning shops there.  Now Gypsy Beans is a destination for many Clevelanders, not just the locals.  (It's my favorite Cleveland coffee house.) Check out Norm Roulet's blog on the opening of Gypsy.  Many of us were there and we blogged about it but he did the best job!

In less than a year the Capitol Theatre will be open for business. The grand old theatre is being refurbished and will show independent movies, similar to the Cedar Lee venue on the east side. Two fabulous restaurants have opened up in the past few months so you might want to put one of them on your list for Thursday. Luxe was created and opened by Marlin Kaplan of One Walnut fame in Downtown Cleveland.  Luxe boasts a very chic and hip decor, not stuffy at all, and the food is fabulous. Here is an article by Douglas Trattner of the Free Times about Luxe.

 Many of us watched and waited and watched and waited as Stone Mad went through her own refurbishing on W. 65th north of Detroit. We watched beautiful stone and iron works get put into place. I think the owners were very meticulous about what they wanted. It's a traditional Irish Pub with traditional Irish fare. The PD has a gorgeous night photo of the pub and an article with further details.

My suggestion? Follow up a coffee and a pastry at Gypsy Beans with a home tour. We have a list of homes being held open Thursday evening, July 24th from 6-8 pm. (In fact if you stop at my open house at 1336 W. 54th Street, pictured to the left, I'll have some Gypsy Beans goodies for you). This Kings Terrace town house (listed at $259,900) is walking distance to Lake Erie with Lake views from the 3rd flr deck. Beautiful living space and walking distance to Gordon Square and public transportation.  

1781 W. 52nd will be open as well.  This 1910 built home is listed at $119,000.  As you can tell from the photo on the right, it has the cottage or school house beauty to it. Both the interior and exterior have been beautifully updated/restored.  It is truly right out of a magazine.

6303 Franklin is one of the grand old dames lining Franklin Blvd. At an affordable price of $159,900 you would be getting quite the house. Much original woodworking and fireplaces and nooks and crannies still exist in this home.  (photo on left)

There are many more homes to see that evening from 6 to 8pm. but I decided to list three of them to represent a spectrum of price ranges.

Come spend a fun summer evening in Detroit Shoreway this Thursday...you just might not want to leave. Oh yes, and after all is said and done, head to The Happy Dog for reflection and libation :-)

There is a lot of talent in Detroit Shoreway, here are just a few links to some of the creative people working their magic there:

Gordon Square Arts District

Cleveland Public Theatre

Capitol Theatre

Latitude 41 Restaurant

The Detroit Studio Web Design

Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery

Alternative Press Magazine

Peace Out- 3C

What if I told you that you could buy a new home, wind up paying less than $600 a year on natural gas fuel costs, be within walking distance to the Rapid Transit? And buy this home for less than $130,000? You'd say I was not of sound mind? Well you'd be wrong, this time anyway lol.  There is a new green housing development getting ready to break ground (maybe as early as late August) between W. 58th and Pear Avenue. This is exciting news folks. One Design's ECCO House was selected to do the project.

This is also the site of Cleveland's Eco Village which has always had as it's goal Transit Oriented Development (TOD) near a West Cleveland transit stop. The Eco Village Townhomes are luxurious and consist of about 20 town homes. They have been there long enough to have gone through some resales. They have been popular and currently none of them are for sale. One sold this winter for $210,000. They have fabulous floor plans indeed.

But how cool is it, that a more affordable option is being built? I'm not clairvoyant, but I predict they will sell well, especially since only five of them are being built on this parcel.

This to me is what tax abatement should be about...promoting green, TOD development. For more on the story you can go to a well written article in the Sun Newsby Ken Prendergast who I know would have been very excited to cover this story. He is a strong supporter of public transit as well as The Cleveland Hub Initiative/3C Corridor Plan.

For those of you who like to follow sustainability issues, green housing initiatives and transit oriented development updates, you might have been doing so on the Eco Village Website. It still exists, but they have focused their efforts now on Green City Blue Lake. The website has a sharp new look and is loaded with information. I hope you will check it out.

I'm also hoping the success of this project (yes, I'm hopeful!) will bring even more development of this nature to our area. My new mantra is: price points lower than $300k please. For more information you can also contact The Cuyahoga County Land Trust.

Peace Out - 3C

 This fire was at an apartment building on West 80th St in Cleveland, Ohio. The building was equipped with working smoke detectors. While working as a fireman on this fire I personnaly can vouch for the importance of a smoke detector program for every city. When we pulled up the alarms could be heard from the outside. Because of the noise that was produced the four residents were up hanging out of various windows. We rescued the residents with the use of various ground ladders.

 This is another reason why shutting down fire houses in the city of Cleveland, Ohio should not be tolerated by the citizens. You the citizens of Cleveland need to call the Mayors hotline to make your voice heard! Just ask the four residents of this apartment building if fireman are needed!

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