Coming Soon: A Transformative Idea for Cleveland's Irishtown Bend

"The Port of Cleveland took a big step Thursday toward shaping a new vision for the crumbling Irishtown Bend hillside, which could become a 17-acre park on the Cuyahoga River with superlative skyline views and links to the Towpath Trail and Whiskey Island on Lake Erie," reports Steven Litt.

The big step includes appointing a design team, engineering firm Michael Baker International and landscape architecture firm CMG. The design process will be funded by an $80,000 grant from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, in addition to $10,000 each from Ohio City Inc. and the Port, reports Litt. "LAND Studio, the nonprofit design and planning agency that led the recent renovation of Public Square, is contributing $25,000 donated by the Joseph and Nancy Keithley Foundation to enhance design quality."

This initial investment is expected to yield a concept plan for Irishtown Bend by fall of this year. The concept plan will accompany a larger, $49 million proposal to stabilize the Irishtown slope.