What does a quarterback like to do? Run a winning team and call his own plays. With that, Cleveland-area native and former football quarterback Dan Whalen is taking the snap from center this week by launching his own real estate development and investment firm -- Places Development. Not only is the new firm based in Cleveland, Whalen said most of his business focus will be on Cleveland ..read more

If there was one thing that surprised Cleveland State University urban affairs students as they put together an ambitious research project and report on how to improve the light-rail Waterfront Line, it was the consistency of ideas and suggestions they got from stakeholders. The summary of those suggestions was for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to run the rail line all-day, every day and for the city of Cleveland to incentivize more equitable development along it ..read more

A representative of a development partnership told the city's Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) yesterday that the long-awaited Bridgeworks development in Cleveland's Ohio City's neighborhood could "hopefully" see a groundbreaking ceremony by late summer. But there are still a few more hurdles to clear before that happens, including an appearance before the city's Landmarks Commission in the coming weeks ..read more

Last week, two things happened in the rail world that are probably related. They have been brewing in the background for a while, but they finally appeared in public almost simultaneously. Federal corporation Amtrak and private-sector company Brightline showed their hands that they may compete for Ohio passenger rail expansions and real estate developments. And Cleveland may end up the winner ..read more

Along a Cleveland street known historically for dumping everything from trash to murder victims, a long-neglected property is about to gain something almost priceless -- a future. On Train Avenue in the city's Clark-Fulton neighborhood, a truck terminal turned junk yard, infested with weeds, littered with abandoned vehicles and tagged with graffiti, is due to be replaced by a growing glass-glazing business and nearly 20 jobs from the suburbs ..read more

Here comes another change to the PearlBrook Shopping Center at the northwest corner of Pearl and Brookpark roads in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood. Plans were submitted to the city last week for a new RISE Dispensary of medical cannabis to be located in a building at 5100 Pearl Rd. that was built for a Federal Department Store and later became a Peaches Records & Tapes store ..read more

When Cleveland Browns representatives last week showed state lawmakers designs for optional stadiums in Downtown Cleveland or in suburban Brook Park, they also shared something else -- a proposed public-private cost sharing arrangement ..read more

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard is expected to establish safety zone requirements for the barge-based installation of steel-wall bulkheads along the edge of the Cuyahoga River at Irishtown Bend in Cleveland. Those requirements will likely result in the daily closure of the river channel to commercial shipping for hours at a time but leisure and recreational boating is not expected to be significantly affected ..read more

If you remember AJ Rocco's as a coffee shop in the neighboring Caxton Building in Downtown Cleveland, the new AJ Rocco's is going to be a big change for you. Restaurant-bar owner Brendan Walton and building owner Paul Shaia spared no expense in renovating a 19th-century bank building at 828 Huron Rd. to its Gilded Age glory with all of the rich woodwork, brick walls and metal decorative elements one would expect in a cozy downtown pub ..read more

Cleveland's Central and Fairfax neighborhoods haven't been a hot zone for new real estate development since the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 30s. Back then, streets like Cedar, Central and Quincy were hopping with jazz clubs, speakeasies, flappers and gangsters. Aside the many night spots were factories that hummed with tens of thousands of jobs during the daytime hours. Most were tightly clustered along the four-tracked Pennsylvania Railroad that was elevated in 1915 to reduce traffic congestion ..read more