The Observation Deck

Hi folks... Is there some kind of development going on at the church on Lake & W 117? There's a new street sign, as well as new storm windows there. I posted a blog entry on it (http://grossreport.blogspot.com). Has anyone heard any news?

--Steve

I have noticed they have started to mow the grass the last few weeks, which is too bad for people who can no longer hide their empty beer bottles there like Easter eggs.

If you are referring to the new address sign that is on the corner of the building (11650 lake or whatever), I noticed that a month or more ago after they trimmed some shrubs...I'm not sure if it was there before behind the overgrown shrubs or if it was new.

Last weekend I saw some guy doing something on the side of the building near the Key Bank atm machine, and he kept looking behind his back as he was doing it. It looked a little suspicious, but I just kept on walking. Maybe he was doing legitimate work on the building, though.

Last I heard, some tiny construction/property management company sold/gave the building back to the city of Cleveland a year or so ago, after they owned it for a year or so and just sat on their butt. I see no record of this on the county auditor's website, though. Maybe the city actually "hired" them to do something and then changed their mind?

Rumor has it that there are voluminous pigeon droppings inside, and that it would need incredible renovation to make the building usable.

According to a Westlake Cab driver, someone broke a gas line when demolishing a small part of the building on one side years ago. Due to the breakage, they stopped demolition...and the building has sat and collected dust.

My understanding is that it was built at a similar time as the Lake Shore Towers (originally a grand hotel, now a senior citizen apartment building) at Cove/Edgewater and was designed by the same architect.

In Giant Eagle's parking lot, you can still see signs that say "parking for Biblical Proof of UFO's only," so apparently Our Lady of Flying Saucers was one of the last denominations there.

Doug