The Observation Deck

The Pee Dee is reporting that Jeff Weber of the Heritage Advisory Board made a presentation to city officials that proposed using the old part of the hospital as a hotel, building "cottage" housing at the south end, and placing the "health center" between Belle and St Charles, after removing the garage and office building.

My my. Maybe they'll even fit in a pants store!

Bridgette

You know how the game is played, promise everyone something, and then run out of
cash, typical plot for a musical in the 30s.

It all sounds so good, Historical Society told, "Dream Big" by the mayor, they say a little building, "Dream Bigger" said the mayor, a two story building at Lakewood Park, "no
dream bigger, dream bigger like out representative from the Czech Republic, "and the
most ineffectual group in the city says, "we are on board!"

Sooner or later it is time to cut the surprise cake.



So many people so eager to spend the money stolen from the community.

"Donner Party seating for 50,000."

.

Bridget Conant wrote:using the old part of the hospital as a hotel

But wait a second!
I've heard many "Kill Lakewood Hospital" members say that the current hospital building is collapsing and in need of immediate demolition.
How in the world could it be made into a competitive hotel?

Also, has noone told city hall that "the nature of the hotel business is changing"?
Have they not heard of "Airbnb"?
How will this hotel be competitive with Fitzy's new downtown hotel, which is under construction as we speak?

I'm remembering a $7,000 study a few years back?

The slid show was presented by Jeff Webber: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeff-weber/7/382/303

Here is the slide show:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentclo ... -ideas.pdf

The Mayor and others are repeating the misleading assertion that Lakewood has an aging population. Here is information from the census bureau:

OVER 65 UNDER 18
11% 19.6% LAKEWOOD
16.8 21.1% FAIRVIEW PARK
19% 21.5% WESTLAKE
17.7% 20.4% WESTLAKE
12% 24.6% CLEVELAND
22.4% 21.8% ROCKY RIVER
14.1% 23.7% OHIO

The bulk of Lakewood’s population is young adult. The challenge is to keep them here.

If there was a market for a hotel in Lakewood someone in the hotel business would build one. The County funded hotel next to the convention center was funded by the County because no one in the hotel business thought a new hotel at that site would not be able to make any money.

I suspect that the operators of that hotel will be the beneficiary of a lot of tax payer subsidies. Illustrates the problem with any project in Lakewood:

It must compete with taxpayer subsidized development in Downtown, Crocker Park and Avon.

I'll bet the pool and exercise room will be great!

As Mike Deneen and others have pointed out, the current hotel model is passé. They won't attract the younger population with that outdated model. Young people use AirBnB overwhelmingly.

It's a new world out there. brick and mortar retail is an outdated model.

Funny how they think the healthcare model is outdated (while they build that same model in Avon) but don't recognize that shopping, retail, and travel have all evolved into new models.

I guess that's what you get from old people. Maybe they need some young blood.

Don't forget that Jeff referred to the hotel as a "boutique" hotel several times during his presentation. We're not talking Days Inn here folks! We are talking exclusivity and $$$. You know, the type of folks Lakewood has a slew of!

Kudos to Jeff though, his proposal showed that an amazing amount of work and thought went into it.

I had no idea the hotel (Hilton?) by the convention center was county funded. No wonder the exterior looks cheap to me, not up to Hilton's standards if you ask me. At least we know it will get some good use next summer. Beyond that, who knows?

In my opinion, the police already have their hands full with Days Inn and Travelodge, but especially Days Inn. I know that there has been more than one prostitution bust at Days Inn within the past few years. The police are almost always there for fights, drug use, thefts, etc. I believe it needs to be a nuisance property. It appears to be a rent-by-the-hour hotel and drive-through pharmacy (if you get my drift). Besides easy access to Downtown, I don't know how the place stays in business. Reviews allege moldy bathrooms, bugs, dirty sheets, clogged toilets, uncomfortable beds, among other complaints.

To get back on topic, if the city is even considering another hotel to attract visitors, they need to:

Clean up the city.
The hotel should have their own security.
The city needs to keep a very close eye on what happens there (we have a great police department that works very hard, they don't need more dumped on them)!

Bridget Conant wrote:The Pee Dee is reporting that Jeff Weber of the Heritage Advisory Board made a presentation to city officials that proposed using the old part of the hospital as a hotel, building "cottage" housing at the south end, and placing the "health center" between Belle and St Charles, after removing the garage and office building.

My my. Maybe they'll even fit in a pants store!

The presentation purports to take no sides. However, there is no representation of a restored Lakewood Hospital with an attached Family Health Center.

There are however some allusions to top retailers and upscale housing. I don't know where they are going to fit it all.

Does anyone remember the promises made about The Lakewood Towne Centre? What we ended up with was Marc's Plaza.

THIS IS UNAUTHORIZED USE OF SAVE LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL'S LOGO. JEFF WEBER is not part of SLH and DID NOT CONSULT IN ANY WAY WITH SLH. SLH PROVIDED NO INPUT TO WEBER'S PRESENTATION AND HE HAD NO RIGHT TO USE SLH LOGO. SLH DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY PLAN WHICH WOULD DEMOLISH LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL, IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

The SOUTH part of the hospital is the NEWER part, with all the high-tech medical equipment, facilities, labs, testing, etc. and should be retained.

Marguerite Harkness wrote:THIS IS UNAUTHORIZED USE OF SAVE LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL'S LOGO. JEFF WEBER is not part of SLH and DID NOT CONSULT IN ANY WAY WITH SLH. SLH PROVIDED NO INPUT TO WEBER'S PRESENTATION AND HE HAD NO RIGHT TO USE SLH LOGO. SLH DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY PLAN WHICH WOULD DEMOLISH LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL, IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

The SOUTH part of the hospital is the NEWER part, with all the high-tech medical equipment, facilities, labs, testing, etc. and should be retained.

Marguerite

The only remedy for this is a cease and desist letter, followed by a lawsuit for damages.

I am sure DeVito can handle the paperwork.

If you do not sue, and write the letter you could lose "artwork."

.

This whole thing has gotten way out of hand. Is this the same Jeffrey A. Weber that signed the petition to save Lakewood Hospital? In my opinion, Summers and his friends have stepped too far and are a disgrace. This is the same person that has the gall to go on NewsChannel 5 and say something like "if anyone has a better plan, come forward with it". MetroHealth had a plan originally that vowed to keep the majority of the workers. The mayor ignored this plan. It appears that there must be one hell of a deal that was presented to Summers by the Cleveland Clinic. It is quite obvious that he liked what he was offered. I believe it must be pretty good, or why else would MetroHealth not be finalizing plans with us?