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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What's in a name?



I ride my bike past this development once in a while during my commute. I watched these townhouses go up and while I was happy that they don't have the typical Cleveland Townshack base geometry and crummy materials (well, at least they aren't already falling apart). I wonder how many were to be built to give the complex a completed face as well as tie it into the mainstreet (this area doesn't have much of a neighborhood feel due to train tracks and some warehouses delineating the east and north side).

I think they are called Chicle because that was the name of the adjacent large building that has been turned into lofts (as from what I can tell is a pretty decent retrofit). Regardless the point of this rant is how confused I am by the term "post industrial resort". I believe since the site was cleaned a more accurate term would be a "post post industrial resort" or, if one were to assume that the manufacturing prowress of the nation were to grow "post post pre industrail resort", which I actually can find some enjoyment in.

Regardless, I am much happier to see this sort of reclamation project taking place instead of the usual "Deer Field" (or whatever displaced flora/fauna) greenfield development and am mildly content to see people taking the risk to bring in "non typical" (for Cleveland's standards) albeit tentative designs.

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# posted by Dru McKeown @ 6:50 AM
Comments:
After some research... I finally figured out who designed these babies... Lowenstien Durante, who seem to be starting to get a pretty solid foot in the door in the Cleveland conodo scene of late. Civic Builders built it and Progressive Urban is the Realtor.

Its strange to me that they are supposed to be 'post-industrial' and urban, but they are essentially a cul-de sac centered around a swimming pool, which is incredibly suburban. If it ever gets built to that stage, with the awesome housing market and all.

It is essentially place-less. Same old tricks, with just with new nomenclature and a different dress.

If developers/Realtors are starting to build and market new construction be 'post-industrial' and 'neo-industrial', does this mean any fetishism with post-industrial anything is dead, since its now getting watered down, comodified, and sold as $130k townhouses? (Granted its probably been over-fetishized for years)

They are better then a lot of stuff in town, but its more a brand refreshing then a new paradigm for residential development in Cleveland.

I generally have respect for all the parties involved with Chicle, I just pine for the day when someone in town finally takes off the kid gloves and does something all out instead of putting a new dress on the same old prom date.

http://www.civicbuilders.com/
+
http://www.progressiveurban.com/new_construction/chicle/
# posted by Blogger theodore : 11:36 AM, July 16, 2008
 
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