Our Vision

City’s vision for the waterfront

In 2004 the City of Cleveland adopted the Connecting Cleveland to the Lakefront Plan with a vision that includes:

  • Creating vibrant new lakefront communities
  • Connecting people to the lake
  • Creating a place where the region comes together
  • Capitalizing on special public assets already in place
  • Creating natural beauty and enhancing the environment
  • Activating the use of the water
  • Establishing something uniquely Cleveland
  • Developing synergy between the lake, neighborhoods, and commerce
  • Celebrating Cleveland’s spirit, history, diversity and culture

Redevelopment Philosophy

The context of redeveloping the waterfront is to develop the existing site while allowing the maximizing of Port revenues through a phased redevelopment approach. The objectives are:

  • Development of a “catalytic” project to stimulate development on existing Port property and surrounding area over time
  • Commercially developing the site to generate nontax income and/or tax revenue for the City and Port
  • Developing the project to demonstrate to both the citizens and potential investors that the Port and the City are serious about redeveloping the area over time
  • Reinforcing other recently completed or projected projects in the immediate area
  • Leveraging recently completed capital/infrastructure projects and special assets

The redevelopment philosophy of the downtown lakefront plan is to develop a plausible strategy primarily concerned with putting in place a framework (development blocks, public access, the streets, the parks and esplanades) to support phased redevelopment over an extended period of time. The overall plan is concerned with the bigger, more influential, higher impact items, such as the following:

  • Guaranteeing adequate and quality public spaces
  • Workable and attractive streets for circulation and municipal services
  • Views (out and in)
  • Connectivity to uplands
  • Season-friendly
  • Transit service
  • Vehicular access
  • Pedestrian access
  • Blocks that lend themselves to market-oriented development
  • Existing city land use policies
  • Technical constraints such as FAA ht. limits
  • Water-oriented concerns and opportunities

top