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Design proposal in for Cleveland waterfront

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The Associated Press Updated 1:51 PM Sunday, July 12, 2009

CLEVELAND — Advisers with experience in urban waterfront design have reported to the Cleveland area's port authority that potential exists to make changes that would enhance the city's attractiveness and business climate.

Whether that can happen remains a long-term hope.

Cleveland needs to look at what other cities have accomplished, from Baltimore to Bilboa, Spain, according to a study New York-based Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut&Kuhn Architects has begun for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, which oversees docks and cargo storage along Cleveland's shoreline.

"This is potentially one of the great waterfronts in the world," said Stanton Eckstut, EE&K's senior principal, who met Tuesday with the port authority board's real estate and development finance committee.

The port authority is trying to set in place a 30-year plan that would change much of Cleveland's underused shoreline along Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River.

The main idea has been in place since 2004, when Cleveland came up with a waterfront plan.

Eckstut's firm was brought in to offer a clearer picture of what a transformed waterfront might look like.

PA Consulting Group of London was brought in to analyze revenue potential.

Both are expected to return with more detailed studies in August.

Since the mid-1990s, the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium was torn down and replaced by the new Cleveland Browns Stadium, with the Greats Lakes Science Center and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum built nearby. New plans call for widely expanding the concept of making the waterfront a place to go, use and enjoy.

Eckstut said other waterfront developments show what Cleveland might achieve by adding a mix of new marinas, dwellings, parks and entertainment and cultural attractions in three distinct sections. The middle section would focus on the area between the stadium and lake shoreline, which now includes a port parking lot.

The plan is "an incredible opportunity to develop Cleveland's waterfront and give it back to the people," Port President Adam Wasserman said.

The Cleveland City Planning Commission last year voted to approve a new port off the East 55th Street lakeshore, northeast of downtown Cleveland. The port would displace a state-run marina and popular fishing pier.

But overall development will take years, officials said. Cities have seen waterfront buildups play out for two and three decades.

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On the Net:

http://www.portofcleveland.com/pdf/July_7__2009_EEK_Board_Presentation.pdf

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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

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July 12, 2009 05:46 PM EDT

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