Football Team's Cleveland Plans Could Learn from the Past and Public

The plans for a lakefront mixed use development could learn from the example of Case Western Reserve University, which helped jumpstart a similar urban renewal recently.

"The university helped assemble eight acres of land and build the partnerships needed to create the beautifully designed housing, retail and cultural development now under construction at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road.

The Browns could play a similar role on the lakefront if the team lures private investment to the publicly owned waterfront land around Cleveland Browns Stadium and North Coast Harbor.

But while the Browns forge ahead, they ought to heed one of the great lessons of Uptown, which is that the University Circle project aimed high in terms of design from the very start and strove to blend private development with enticing streetscapes, plazas and other public spaces. "