Scott Wolstein, the chief executive officer of Developers Diversified Realty Corp., will step aside Jan. 1 to become the executive chairman of the company’s board of directors.

The shopping center company announced today that Daniel Hurwitz, the company’s president and chief operating officer, will succeed Wolstein as CEO and president. Hurwitz, 45, will be responsible for the company’s performance and will report directly to the board of directors… (go to article)

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland announced more than $1 million in funding for economic development projects in the City of Cleveland that are expected to create 40 and retain 625 jobs.

The projects were approved today by the State Controlling Board.

“We are making strategic investments in Ohio communities and businesses to retain jobs and to advance urban redevelopment efforts,” Strickland said.

Flats East Development LLC will receive a $1 million Rapid Outreach Grant for the costs associated with building construction in support of the company’s redevelopment project in the City of Cleveland (Cuyahoga County)… (go to article)

Cleveland’s City Council threw a life raft Monday to private developers hoping to tackle a major real estate project along the east bank of the Flats.

Council members approved a substantial financial package, including a $30 million loan, that Mayor Frank Jackson proposed last month as part of city and state efforts to revive the recession-stalled plans. A $270 million first phase is to be anchored by a new office building to house the Ernst & Young accounting firm and the Tucker Ellis & West law firm… (go to article)

A just-announced combination of state funds totaling $24 million, a new loan from the city of Cleveland for $30 million and plans to use new federal Recovery Zone Bonds for additional financing may put a downsized Flats East Bank Neighborhood project in Cleveland back on track.

The project stalled last fall after it could not get financing as the global financial crisis erupted. The new plan calls for construction of a 450,000-square-foot office tower and 150-room business-class hotel, a small amount of retail and a new park on the riverfront. However, the developers will shelve the residential component until the housing market recovers… (go to article)

Buildings could start rising soon at the stalled Flats East Bank development in Cleveland, now that the city and state have earmarked $54 million in loans and grants to get the project moving again.

The new funding will enable developers to start work on a slimmed-down, $270 million first phase of the waterfront project — including an office tower to house accounting firm Ernst & Young and law firm Tucker Ellis & West. The first phase of the project also will include a hotel, stores, restaurants, a health club and 14 acres of public parks and green space. It could be complete by spring 2012… (go to article)

Participants in a waterfront tour hosted by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson got a glimpse of a few updated renderings of the Flats East Bank project tonight.

here has been little news about the project in recent months, as the Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties continue to seek ways to fill financing gaps created by the recession and an ongoing credit crisis for commercial real estate. The developers have continued cleaning up the site and preparing it for construction. But actual building — including an office tower to house accounting firm Ernst & Young — remains stalled… (go to article)

I have had a bit of time to look over the waterfront proposal. As it is I remind you that I have not gone to the formal presentation and therefore a lot of these questions/issues may have been answered, however without knowing this for sure I thought I would bring up the two most obvious queries/suggestions that come to mind.

1. Injecting a neighborhood/development of this scale with only 3 vehicular access points may severely minimize the possibility of success. However if an attempt to create more cohesion and integration into the surrounding neighborhoods was undertaken than perhaps a stratification of the region could be avoided… (go to article)

This is the last in a series of questions that Michael Scott asked me in an interview.  My response follows.

How are areas such as the Flats holding up amid the recession? What sorts of sustainability efforts should the downtown area be pursuing moving forward?

The recession has been a problem for everyone and all their development projects.  The Flats East Bank development project by Scott Wolstein, of Developers Diversified, has been delayed, but they recently got a loan from the state to finish land remediation work (essential to prepare for development).  Read this to learn more about the Flats East Bank project… (go to article)

Plans for two new Inner Belt bridges over the Cuyahoga River are under way as the current deteriorating bridge is repaired so it can remain open to all traffic.

Ideas are being discussed for the design, landscaping and other aesthetics for a $400 million, five-lane Interstate 90 westbound bridge, now scheduled to open in September 2013.

The current Inner Belt Bridge will then be replaced with a new five-lane bridge to carry eastbound traffic. That bridge, which could open around 2015, may be built a little north to parallel the westbound bridge… (go to article)

“One of my friends, Ted Ferringer, took these photos while wandering around Cleveland.  He’s a Kent architecture alum who lives in Ohio City and works at a local architecture firm.

He says that Scranton Peninsula is one of his favorite places in Cleveland…” (go to article)

“The irony of the recent cooking oil spill in the Cuyahoga River during what was supposed to be the celebration of our 40 year anniversary since the river caught on fire on June 22, 1969, is really not funny.  This year has been dubbed ‘The Year of the River’ because for the last forty years we have been working on cleaning up the polluted river.  This is a set back.  Hundreds of birds died in the oil spill that happened last week, and state wildlife workers had to euthanize contaminated birds…” (go to article)

“Look for work to resume this summer at the Flats East Bank project along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland after the developers announced that the Ohio Development Financing Advisory Council has approved a $3.2 million urban redevelopment loan to the city of Cleveland for the project.

The money is in addition to dollars previously committed to the project.

In a news release, Flats East Bank developers said the state money, combined with $1.5 million from the Cuyahoga County Brownfield Revolving Fund and a $1.25 million loan from the city of Cleveland, complete financing for this stage of site work…” (go to article)

“The Wolstein East Bank project is in limbo but that hasn’t stopped the City of Cleveland from feeding Scott Wolstein $1.4 million for land for a future walkway and park along the Cuyahoga River in the Flats.

The city, via two government grants, has paid Wolstein $1,417,000 for less than a half acre of land, according to a document made available to me by the city…” (go to article)

“Used to be, back before ex-mayor Mike White had his goons harassing bars out of business on the East Bank of the Flats in the ’90s to make way for The Future, Cleveland’s riverfront entertainment district had the highest bar-to-drunk density from New York to Chicago. But then three high-profile drowning deaths went down in a month, and it wasn’t long before most of the East Bank would go dark, food for the wrecking ball…” (go to article)

“Misheff said Ernst & Young still wants to move its Cleveland headquarters to the Flats East Bank project. But the $522 million development stalled last fall, as development loans became costly and rare, banks backed away from real estate and the market for bundles of commercial loans froze up.

There’s no predicting when the developers, the Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties, will be able to get the financing they need. Last week, Scott Wolstein made a bid to jump-start his project by marrying it to Cleveland’s new convention center and medical mart, but Cuyahoga County commissioners opted to rebuild at the city’s current convention center…” (go to article)

“Sewer district trustees are considering paying nearly $5 million more than planned to complete the Flats east bank sewer project, even though it’s unclear whether a planned neighborhood will ever be built.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District had earlier agreed to pay $8 million of the sewer overhaul to coincide with developer Scott Wolstein’s $522 million residential, retail and office development on the east bank of the Flats…” (go to article)

“Cleveland City Planning Commission last Friday approved a request by developers of the $500 millon Flats East Bank Neighborhood to demolish the former Crooked River Brewery building at 1101 Center St.

That’s right — on the Flats’ West Side.The site will be used for Hustler Club’s new home, which Flats East Bank developers agreed to provide in order to secure the former Hustler Club property on Old River Road on the Flats’ East Bank…” (go to article)

“A luxury hotel topped by million-dollar condos plans to open in the redeveloped Flats by 2011, becoming possibly the premier hotel in Greater Cleveland.

Developers have partnered with Starwood Capital Group to open the 1 Hotel & Residences, a five-star, $48 million hotel and condo project. Cleveland joins a short list of cities, including Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C., selected for the eco-friendly hotel. The first is scheduled to open in Washington in 2010…” (go to article)

“That means two of three anchor office tenants the project sought have now committed to staying in Cleveland, as opposed to moving to the suburbs or even farther afield. They will be housed in the first office tower built in the city in about 20 years.

It also means that the mammoth task of revitalizing the Flats into a place where people want to live, work and shop – and that bustles with foot traffic at all hours – is really going to happen…” (go to article)

“In a news release, the senator said the money will help develop downtown’s first ‘full-service’ grocery store and create 52 full-time jobs. Half the money is in the form of an economic development grant to reuse a brownfield, and half in the form of a HUD Section 108 loan that developers repay. The funds will be used to clean up a site near Old River Road to make it suitable to build a 27,3000-square-foot grocery store…” (go to article)

“Wolstein also released fresh drawings of the remade east bank, showing a busy streetscape with a boardwalk along the river. The renderings did not include the new Ernst & Young building.

Besides moving to the Flats, Ernst & Young will move its education center from Middleburg Heights to downtown Cleveland. Wolstein, who has partnered in the Flats project with his mother, Iris, and Fairmount Properties, could buy the 23-acre suburban property from Ernst & Young…” (go to article)

“Mayor Frank Jackson, national and regional Ernst & Young executives and the Flats East Bank development team led by Scott Wolstein announced this morning that Ernst & Young will occupy the top six floors of the proposed building east of West 10th Street between Main and Front avenues. Ernst & Young estimates 1,200 employees will move to the Flats building in 2011…” (go to article)

“Part of the old Flats begins disappearing today as wrecking crews start razing the last buildings on Old River Road north of Main Avenue in Cleveland.

Empty buildings that once housed Flats stalwarts from Old River Road’s stint from the 1980s through the late 1990s as a hot nightspot will fall to make way for the $500 million Flats East Bank Neighborhood. Among the structures coming down are the former homes of Tangerine Farley’s, which more recently was House of Brews, and Circus Circus, more recently The Hustler Club…” (go to article)

“At its regular meeting Tuesday morning, the port authority’s regional economic advancement committee postponed a recommendation to make changes to the Flats development agreement until committee members have time to digest the changes requested by the Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties, the project’s developers…” (go to article)

“Ernst & Young could occupy more than 150,000 square feet of a 20- to 21-story office building planned for a block bounded by Main Avenue, Front Street and West 9th and 10th streets. The firm is the second confirmed tenant for the building, which also will house law firm Tucker Ellis & West LLP…” (go to article)