When people first began imagining the potential of Uptown more than a decade ago, the area east of the Mayfield Road-Euclid Avenue intersection was a stretch of tired businesses and craggy parking lots in an otherwise lively cultural city center.
In a tribute that’s as much a recognition of their collaborative vision as the project itself, the Uptown District has been named one of five finalists for an acclaimed national award for urban excellence. The 2015 Rudy Bruner award, sponsored by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Bruner Foundation Inc., honors transformative urban places and celebrates their benefits to the economic, social and physical fabric of America’s cities. The foundation has recognized such high-impact projects since 1987.
Today Uptown bustles with people visiting restaurants, boutiques, bookstores and even a brand-new bowling alley. But for many years, its success was far from certain—especially in the wake of 2008’s economic crisis. Fortunately, those involved saw too much potential to heed the doubters, and their collective perseverance prevailed. The $150 million initiative—which also includes redevelopment of student and market-rate housing, a contemporary art museum, and public transit connections—has drawn acclaim from media nationwide, not to mention visits from those eager to replicate the model.
The Uptown District was selected as a finalist from among 55 applicants nationally.
While Case Western Reserve submitted the Uptown entry, the application itself also reflected the cooperative spirit at the heart of the project. Cleveland’s Director of Economic Development, Tracy Nichols, project developer Ari Maron, architect Stanley Saitowitz, and Cleveland Foundation Program Director Lillian Kuri all provided statements as part of the submission.
“The Uptown district itself is a testament to the power of partnership,” said Case Western Reserve President Barbara R. Snyder, “and that same spirit continues in the collective engagement involved in this application. We are grateful to all of those who provided assistance, and to the Bruner Foundation for drawing attention to the positive results possible through innovative planning and execution.”
Among the elements contributing to the initiative’s success was the partners’ recognition of the importance of a comprehensive, integrated approach. Also key were the partners’ strong emphasis on collaboration and communication, along with architectural design of the highest quality.
Next month, Bruner Foundation staff will begin site visits to each finalist project in preparation for the committee’s selection of the medal winners in June. The medalists will receive cash awards to support their projects: one Gold Medal recipient receives $50,000; four Silver Medal recipients will receive $10,000 each.
The other finalists are in Baltimore; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Greenville, S.C.; and Olympia, Wash. A nationwide committee of urban experts selects the finalists and Gold and Silver Medalists.
Uptown is the result of a rare collaboration of public and private entities, including Case Western Reserve, private real estate developer MRN Ltd., the City of Cleveland, University Circle Inc., the district’s nonprofit development group that helped assemble land for the project, and eight major lenders, including The George Gund and Cleveland foundations. Stanley Saitowitz of Natoma Architects in San Francisco designed the complex.
Case Western Reserve revived the stalled project, which was first proposed in 2004, by agreeing to expand and move the university bookstore from its student center and by landing Constantino’s Market to provide a much-needed grocery store for the neighborhood and campus community. The university then signed the project’s master lease, which was necessary to secure the complex layers of financing.
Uptown, which opened in 2012 and has been described as a “new downtown” by The New York Times, is now expanding with a second phase—again collaborating with MRN, the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art and University Circle Inc.