In 2004, Case acquired The Triangle, a prime piece of real estate at the corner of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue, in order to redevelop the lackluster 1970s-era shopping strip into a more urban, mixed-use development. Goals include better pedestrian access and strengthening connections between Case, CIA and either a redeveloped Rapid Transit station at E. 120th or a new Rapid station at Mayfield Road/Little Italy.

In early 2007, Case signed a development agreement with Zaremba, developers of Beacon Place and MRN Ltd., the developers of E. 4th Street on Lower Euclid. The pair is working on a mixed-use development at "the beach" site, a parking lot across the street from the Triangle where Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland plans to build its new museum (MOCA selected Foreign Office Architects for the project and has raised $7.4 million of the $25 million budget).

How the design of the district and the new museum address the goals as expressed by the developer and MOCA director Jill Snyder for an “external expression and pedestrian access” may be crucial to the success of making this an urban district that invites long visits and creates a sense of place in concert with University Circle's stature as the cultural heart of the city.

Case's North Residential Village and the arts and retail district, also known as Uptown, reflect the goal of developing an integrated living and learning environment for students and employees, Case Magazine reports in its Spring '07 issue.

Planning is well underway for Uptown, a mixed-use urban district flanking both sides of Euclid Avenue, from Mayfield and Ford roads to E. 117th Street. This retail, cultural and residential development will create an important connection between the much-loved Little Italy neighborhood, University Hospital, the campus and University Circle. The eight-acre development will include a new home for Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), an expansion of the Cleveland Institute of Art, and a 22,000 sq. ft. Barnes & Noble Bookstore...it is anticipated to be under construction within the next three years.

Updates

7-22-08—Uptown, after years of planning, appears ready to hit the ground. The developers and organizations behind it expect to announce details about the project today-and will begin marketing homes there soon, the Plain Dealer reports.

The changes could begin to appear within two years:

• MRN and Zaremba hope to open three residential and retail buildings by late 2010 along Euclid Avenue, on property owned by the university and University Circle Inc. The buildings include 102 apartments, ranging from 400 to 900 square feet, at undisclosed rental and sale rates; about 50 condos, at 900 to 2,400 square feet and priced between $250,000 and $1 million; and upwards of 180,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurants and stores, including a Barnes & Noble and campus bookstore.

MRN, which developed downtown's East Fourth Street entertainment district, and residential builder Zaremba have longer-term plans including 90 condos over businesses at Euclid and Ford Drive. They hope to build more homes and retail at the northeast corner of Euclid and East 115th and could work on an office building in the project.

10-5-07—Saitowitz Natoma Architects of San Francisco and Office dA of Boston selected to design multistory, mixed-use apartment and retail buildings at the Triangle for the Uptown Arts and Retail District.

8-6-07—MOCA has design for new musuem ready, waiting for construction feasibility study. Also, MOCA announces building will be LEED-certified.

6-11-07 The Plain Dealer's Steven Litt interviews the architects for the new MOCA building, Cleveland Institute of Art's and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's expansions.

12-9-06—Cleveland Foundation awards $1 million to MOCA for its new museum.

9-29-06—Parking lot developer John Coyne and his son, a commercial real estate broker, are buying six acres of vacant land that sit between University Circle and Little Italy (right behind The Triangle) for $1.3 million, the PD reports. The group will maintain surface parking for now, but hopes RTA builds a new Rapid station at Mayfield Road. In conjunction with RTA's plans, the developer would like to turn the site into a mixed-use neighborhood with homes and retail.

9-21-06—Cleveland Institute of Art received a $3.5 million grant from the Gund Foundation to plan a unified campus on Euclid Avenue (in the arts & retail district). CIA is in the early stages of a major capital campaign to fund construction of a new academic building adjacent to the McCullough building, which itself will undergo extensive renovation. With the Gund grant, the Institute has raised more than $7 million to date.