This is an old post and the update link is a dead one. Google maps still show a chainlink fence around the site. Did the Good, Clancy thing get approval and funding? If not, then open it as a park or urban community garden site. The space may be needed for staging equipment to address the failing hillside. I sort of doubt that the bank's subsidence issues have fixed themselves.

One Mudslide, Coming Up More Info, But Still No Plan To Prevent A Chunk Of The Flats From Relocating To The Bottom Of The River

Whatever is speeding up the collapse of Riverbed Street into the Cuyahoga, it's not a leaky sewer pipe, says the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. That's good news for the sewer district but bad news for property owners in the Flats, who were hoping to offset some of the estimated $50 million it will cost to keep the hill below the Detroit-Superior bridge from falling into the Cuyahoga and shutting down our port ("A Creek", July 3).

According to Jean Chapman, a NEORSD spokesperson, the sewer district has invested $3 million to repair bows and dents in a sewer interceptor that lies below Riverbed. The damage was caused by the geological stress of the shifting ground there, which slowly moved the interceptor from its original location, like a glacier pushing a boulder. "It takes significant stress to move that interceptor" she says. "But there's no leaking. There hasn't been and there will not be." Good news, but hardly a solution. Unless someone picks up the tab and shores up the Cuyahoga, the hill and the sewer pipes beneath it will continue their short trip toward the river.

Unfortunately, property owners are not keen on cutting a check anytime soon. So to manage the seemingly inevitable catastrophe, the city is working with the Army Corps of Engineers on a response plan for when the hill finally falls into the Cuyahoga. The Corps released a copy of the Cuyahoga Riverbank Failure Contingency Plan to the Free Times last week. As detailed in the report, the Corps will become the decision-making agency in the event of a "catastrophic collapse," with the Coast Guard managing river navigation. The Corps has also compiled a list of contractors to call on to dredge the river and to construct bulkheads along the shoreline. The Corps also warns property owners that if they do not spend money to keep this from happening, they will be billed for the repairs once it does. — James Renner - Cleveland FreeTimes July 9th, 2008

While Flats Eastbank sits idling, rolling out some sod to make the demoed space a riverside park would be nice, too.