Bob Stark, the self-titled "poet developer" who created a more elegant Lifestyle Center at Crocker Park, is bringing together his grand plan for a $1 billion urban, mixed-use development that starts in Cleveland’s Warehouse District and extends to the Lakefront.

“This is the Creative Urban Neighborhood,” Stark told an audience at Levin College on October 17. “I’m tired of suburbia. I’ve done my time. I want something that challenges me creatively, and I want to do it now.”

Imagine a SoHo style neighborhood with well-designed, eight-story buildings that have ground floor shops and lofts above in place of the giant surface parking lots bound by W.6th and W.3rd streets and Superior and St. Clair.

After inking deals with parking lot owners, Stark sold his vision at the major retail convention in Las Vegas earlier this year. Not one retailer turned him down, he says.

“Tomorrow we can sign leases for 1 million square feet of retail. No one in the last 35 years has been able to say that.”

Developer Robert Stark cleared the first big hurdle today for his Pesht project (the working titled is based on the attractive city center in Budapest, Hungary). He signed a development agreement for three, key downtown parking lots between West Third and West Sixth streets owned by Weston Inc., a Solon-based developer controlled by the Asher family, the Plain Dealer reports.

With site control locked up, Stark heads to the International Council of Shopping Centers convention this weekend in Las Vegas. The deal will allow him to market the property to retailers there.

Pesht could transform downtown Cleveland. But, a few key questions remain. Can it be the downtown destination and lead in sustainable design practices? Will some ordinary Clevelanders be able to afford to live & shop there?

Engage in the discussion here.

Pesht, Robert Stark’s proposed, large-scale mixed-use development on 21 acres of surface parking lots in the Warehouse District, could be transformative for downtown Cleveland.

Stark says Pesht would be a $1 billion project that stretches from Superior (between W. 6th and W. 3rd streets) north to the Lakefront with development over the train tracks to connect with more development at the Port Authority parking lot just west of Cleveland Browns Stadium. He envisions 1 million square feet of street-level retail and, above that, parking and 6 million square feet of mixed residential and office space.

Multiple issues need to be addressed.

• A series of Sun Newspapers articles penned by Ken Prendergast pegs downtown Cleveland's current population at less than 10,000 and quotes development consultant Steve Strnisha saying 15,000 people "should be enough of a market to support basic retailers, like full-service grocery stores. In turn, that should attract more residential construction."
• Can Stark attract the retail at the same time proposing to add tens of thousands of new residents?
• A cover article in the Feb. 27, 2006 Crain's Cleveland Business reports that a possible hurdle is the profitability of the parking lots. How much parking needs to get built into Pesht to offset the loss of the surface lot and accommodate the new residents?
• It's almost inevitable that the developers will seek a TIFF or public subsidy for the parking deck - how much tax revenue will the city and the schools be asked to forgo?  
• Will the developer consider the average household income of the region and include at least a percentage of units that are affordable for the average Clevelander?
• How does Pesht become an example of an exciting destination that utilizes sustainable technologies and becomes a national model for commercial green building?

PD story on the Stark plan for the Warehouse District (4/23/06)