Since late June, 2006, a growing team of innovative community leaders has been working together with Lamond Williams, the owner of Hot Sauce Williams BBQ, and East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer and Community Development Director Tim Goler, and government leadership in Cleveland, to determine how best to redevelop the historic Hough Bakery Complex, formerly the Star Bakery, which Lamond also owns. The objective is to use that redevelopment as a catalyst for transformation of the neighborhoods surrounding that significant property, located on Lakeview, partially in both Cleveland and East Cleveland. On the map above, the Star Complex is in magenta, and the green circle marks a 1/2 mile radius surrounding that - the other colored areas are key neighborhoods and assets within that radius.
The site of the Hough Star Bakery Complex features the historic glazed terra cotta faced building above, and an even older out building, and several more modern structures, which are all in excellent condition, and described and documented in more detail in a posting here [1] - it is still in constant use by Hot Sauce Williams for food preparation and production and distribution. They even operate the remarkable Inner Circle Restaurant there on weekends, which draws huge crowds. But the complex is underutilized, and far from the asset it may be for the community, which borders University Circle, Case and Cleveland Heights.
As posted in this book [2], throughout this planning process we've pursued anchoring the redevelopment of this complex and the entire half-mile radius around it with the world-class Intergenerational charter school and other synergistic intergenerational facilities [3]. The combination of an exceptional school, with preschool, and a senior services center, and after school activities, all supporting optimal intergenerational living and learning, offers this community the potential to be a global model for building new villages right. At this stage, the challenge is defining what are synergistic, sustainable intergenerational uses to include in the complex, and how to radiate significant, equitable community transformation from that star.
Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative has been facilitating a related master planning process, with senior planner David Reed driving collaborative outreach. With city of East Cleveland community development and planning leadership, discussions are developing with University Circle Incorporated to build a shared vision [4] for the potentials of this redevelopment, so each may leverage their expertise to expand the dialogs. Sudhir Raghupathy has been driving discussions toward green development, and we have been working with East Cleveland technology director Abulime Alli to pursue transformation through information technology. From that foundation, we have made incredible other progress.
Experts in community gardens and locally grown food sourcing want to transform both the landscape and nutritian of the people of the community, even to the extent of farm raising fish on the property. We're discussing keeping the Hot Sauce Williams commercial kitchen and food production facilities there, as a food service and distribution learning and entrepreneurship center. A music producer wants to locate a community sound studio and editing suite there, in what we'd like to see become an open source community media arts center. 100s of people seriously committed to eradication of lead poisoning in our region are driving forward to make this community and all of East Cleveland entirely free of the harm of lead poisoning.
So, our region is looking at saving and optimizing a wonderful, historic property, that has a legacy warm in the hearts of all long-time people of the region, thereby transforming a well loved but faded historic neighborhood from an underdeveloped place, lacking convenient schooling and community and senior services, into a globally-recognized model of intergenerational living and learning excellence, with unique and valuable new economy entrepreneurial assets and opportunities, rooted in healthy housing and nutritian, communing as a sharing village, all within walking distance of the world's most powerful learning environment, and hubbed on world class public transportation leading everywhere in the region.
To help put everything in perspective, an environmental mapping expert has offered to help transform how people see this community, each plot at a time, using open source GIS. That is critical, as the Complex must be completed and open for learning and living in the Summer of 2008, at which time much of the surrounding community must be well into transformation, as well. By August, 2008, the number of lovely homes and caring residents must have increased dramatically, with good plans for further improvements, all including well developed greenspace and community gardens, tied together with world-class information technology.
Numerous private developers see the great potential of such a learning-based community transformation and are interested to work on the redevelopment. Habitat for Humanity wants to build there. Being just a few blocks from University Circle, there is interest from institutions there to see this area thrive, and they offer their support. In fact, in the 100s of discussions we've had about this project, not one has been negative, and not one person made aware of the initiative hasn't wanted to see it succeed - in most cases, folks want to help if they may.
That is the progress report, for 2006. Over the coming weeks, months and years, you'll see more about this surface here and in other media. At this time, anyone interested to be part of making this happen is welcome to contact me at realneo [at] inbox [dot] com or through private messaging at REALNEO. As a result, you can help make 2007 amazing - 2008 historic - for East Cleveland, Cleveland, and North East Ohio.