soul of downtown brings funky elegance to House of Blues ... · brings funky elegance to ... out of town, MRN contracted Cleveland’s eBlueprint to coordinate ... and then build

House of Blues Clevelandbrings funky elegance tosoul of downtown

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In the final weeks before Houseof Blues Cleveland opened tothe public in November 2004, a

few members of the construction anddesign crews were walking throughthe new, 47,000-square-foot livemusic and dining complex, checkingthe status of remaining work.

Scott Rauch, project manager withD-A-S Construction Co., remembersstanding on a staircase leading intothe venue’s 1,200-capacity musichall when Project Architect MikeLowry, with Atlanta-based firmCooper Cary, Inc., ran his handalong the stairway’s iron railing andmentioned that it could use somedressing up.

“No, no, leave it alone,” said avoice from the top of the stairs.

Artists from the New Orleans-based development/creative servicesdepartment of House of Blues pausedfrom their work nearby.

“It looks too good already,” saidLead Artist Holly Mandot. “Don’t doanymore. In fact, we wish it was inworse condition.”

Rauch recalls that by the next day,the painters had poured Elmer’s glueall over the iron railings and “just letit drip down, leaving globs of glue onthe underside of all the railings.”

“Now when you walk up and downthe stairs and slide your hands alongthe railings, it feels as if there are athousand coats of paint on there,” hesays, with a laugh. “You see thosekinds of tricks all over this place. It’swhat made this project so unique for

us, but it’s just what they do. Houseof Blues spends a fortune makingnew [clubs] look old and funky.”

“The nicest House ofBlues club yet”

Founded in 1992 as a home for livemusic and southern-styled cuisinewith the opening of its first club inCambridge, Massachusetts, House ofBlues has evolved into an entertain-ment powerhouse with internationalrecognition. House of BluesEntertainment, Inc. is now thesecond largest live music promoter inthe world (second only to ClearChannel Entertainment). Thenumber of its namesake club venuescontinues to grow as well.

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House of Blues lands new home in ClevelandStory by Mark Watt | Photos by Roger Mastroianni

Celebrating the culture of bluesmusic and folk art, House of Blues’eight operating clubs - located inAnaheim, Chicago, Los Angeles, LasVegas, Myrtle Beach, New Orleans,Orlando and now Cleveland -attract more than eight million visi-tors annually.

The layout of each club is unique,largely due to a preference to forego

new construction in favor of exten-sive, adaptive reuse of old, existingbuildings when finding homes fornew venues. But all eight clubs sharea similar look and feel - a funkyamalgam of rustic, Southern juke-joint charm and folk art surrealismunderscored by striking imagery fromall major religions - that is central tothe House of Blues experience.

As its newest completed project,House of Blues Cleveland continuesthe chain’s tradition. Located at EastFourth Street and Euclid Avenue andserving as an entertainment anchorfor development firm MRN Ltd.’sEast Fourth Street Neighborhoodproject (see related story, page 13),the venue combines old and new fea-tures in creative ways.


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BLUES BEACON Located at East Fourth Street and Euclid,Cleveland’s newest dining and live music venue House ofBlues (above) features a 1,200-capacity music hall (left), a300-seat restaurant, a special events room, a richly detailedprivate club and a souvenir store, as well as a substantialcollection of folk art and worldly artifacts.

With an essentially L-shaped floorplan that curlsaround the mixed-use resi-dential and commercialWindsor building on theintersection’s southwestcorner, House of BluesCleveland is carved intothe old Woolworth’sBuilding on Euclid and theRainbow and Lee’s build-ings along East Fourth.Within this shell sit thetwo-level concert hall, a300-seat restaurant, sixbars, private club areas anda special events room, all ofwhich are furnished withexotic, unconventional fur-nishings from around theglobe.

From custom paintedmurals and intricate fauxfinishes to original pieces of folk artand exotic ornamentation, the wallsand ceilings of virtually every publicspace of the club are covered withunique treatments that communi-cate the House of Blues mission to“celebrate the diversity and brother-hood of world culture.”

“There’s a little flavor on justabout every aspect of the building,from hand-painted art frames tocustom-built bar panels,” says JoePerra, construction design managerfor the House of Blues Development& Creative Services Department.

The finished project is an excitingaddition to the city of Cleveland,says Molly Rose, principal ofIdletime Network, Inc., which repre-sents House of Blues.

“It’s the nicest House of Blues clubaround today,” Rose says. “We feelthis is the best yet because each timea new club goes up, it’s better thanthe last. This is going to be one of theeasiest clubs to operate because itwas thought out, planned and builtso well. Plus, [the artist team] has justgone all out.”

Building the house“It’s amazing how many people it

takes to put [a House of Blues club]together,” Rose says. “People mightnot realize just how many consult-ants, designers, engineers, vendors,

contractors and others need to beinvolved for a project of this size anddetail.”

Pulling the job together was theresult of the work of many contribu-tors not just from Northeast Ohiobut also from throughout the rest of

the United States, she says, but itwould not have happened withoutthe initial concept of area develop-ment firm MRN Ltd.

“The fact that Cleveland now hasa House of Blues all began with Rickand Ari Maron [the father/son team


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LOCAL LOOK Showcased in the restaurant, a mural by Cleveland artist Peter Wood celebrates the 1952Moondog Coronation Ball, a Cleveland event considered the first rock ‘n’ roll concert.

that lead MRN Ltd.]”, she says.“They had a vision and because ofthem the project is there.”

Seeking a quality anchor for itsambitious mixed-use redevelopmentalong East Fourth Street, MRN Ltd.contacted House of Blues to enticethe company to believe in MRN’svision and open a club in an areathat had once struggled with emptystorefronts and a seedy reputation.

“For a whole host of reasons, wewere excited about what House ofBlues does as a company and theimpact that it could have on ourproject and the city of Cleveland,”Ari Maron says. “In turn, theybecame very excited about the futureof Fourth Street and the lower EuclidAvenue area. They decided theywanted to be a part of that future.”

As the planning process began fora new House of Blues in Cleveland,roles for the construction becameclear. MRN Ltd., along with its roleas landlord, was to be an operatingpartner with House of Blues andwould handle structural steel and sys-tems contracting. House of Blueswould take care of audio/visual/light-


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ing systems contracting. D-A-SConstruction was enlisted as con-tractor for general trades withProject Manager Scott Rauchresponsible for overall schedulingand coordination. Holding longtermrelationships withHouse of Blues,Idletime Network,Inc., based inWindermere,Florida, would serveas owner’s represen-tative and CooperCary, based inAtlanta, would pro-vide architecturalservices with MikeLowry as architect-of-record. Locally,City Architecture, represented byAugust Fluker, would handle historiccredit issues and work with the cityof Cleveland on additional issues.

Since a number of the firmsinvolved in the project were locatedout of town, MRN contractedCleveland’s eBlueprint to coordinateall drawings; with eBlueprint’s serv-ices, drawings could be downloadedand changed efficiently. (“This cutsdown dramatically on any errorswhich saves time and money in theend,” says eBlueprint’s Todd Taylor.)

An original timeline was set:although preliminary work began

with light demolition in early 2004,the official start date would beMarch 2004 and continue for the fol-lowing 12 months for a March 2005opening.

“To maintain the schedule, we’dhave big pow-wows every twoweeks,” Rauchsays. “With somany of us spreadout across thecountry, efficientcoordination wascrucial.”

Constructionbegan in the oldWoolworth’s build-

ing with the removal of 9,000 squarefeet of the building’s first floor tocreate two levels for the music halland a mezzanine seating area toaccommodate 1,200.

“The first part was trying to figureout how you take the building apartand then build the new parts backinto it,” Rauch says.

As there were no real drawings ofthe 1950s-era Woolworth’s buildingas reference, investigative work wasrequired early on.

“Because of the lack of drawings,we ran into some structural issuesthat really put us in a holding patternfor about six weeks,” he says. “We


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BLUES IN GREEN Touring bands playing House of Blues Cleveland can kick back in one oftwo backstage “Green Rooms”with kitchen facilities, showers and other amenities. In “GreenRoom B,”a nude Janis Joplin portrait fills an entire wall.

“This will be oneof the easiestclubs to operatebecause it wasthought out,planned and builtso well.”

Molly RoseIdletime Network Inc.

were able to work but we were forcedto make changes to the sequence.That was probably one of the biggerchallenges that we ran into on theproject.”

As Rauch explains, the originalthought process on construction ofthe music hall and lobby was toinstall the club at the existing floorlevel and install the mezzanine levelabove. Structural issues changedthose plans.

“Instead, we needed to dig downfor the lower level and try to buildthe upper and lower levels togethercoming off of Third Street,” he says.“It required us to develop a brace outof construction slab to hold back thestreet. That whole situation entirelychanged our thought process on howto do this project.”

Throughout the job, existing por-tions of the building were modifiedto meet the needs of the venue. Inthe club area, for instance, AndersonIndustrial Construction cut morethan a dozen new openings into theexisting masonry. Workers openedup three-foot thick masonry walls,patched original sections of marbleand granite and provided andinstalled new stones to match theoriginal.


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BOLD STROKES Faux finishes aboundthroughout the club. By the box officewindows in the lobby, detailed paintworkgives an illusion of stonework. A muralabove commemorates various “blues gods.”

Concurrently, construction beganin the Rainbow and Lee’s buildings,the site of the venue’s restaurant andretail shop, where more surprisesawaited the crews.

“We were already four months intothe project when we reached apoint that it was quite clear thatthe Rainbow building was struc-turally unsound,” Rauch says,explaining that the brick andmortar had deteriorated signifi-cantly over the years. “As a result,we had to brace the front of thebuilding and tear down the interior- it looked like the set for acowboy movie - and we had to startall over in that area. The solutionwas to create a new building insidethe old shell with a new foundationand structural steel supports.”

“During that period, there was alot of cooperation and a lot ofyelling,” he says with a laugh. “Itseems there were some significant

obstacles but in reality it wasn’t thatdifficult. It was just a matter of think-ing outside of the box.”

The forced plan revision caused bythe Rainbow building’s structuralproblems worked out for the better in

some ways, says Idletime’s MollyRose. Each House of Blues venuetypically include a private club calleda Foundation Room, which offersfirst-class dining and even moreexquisite furnishings than the club’spublic areas. Originally, there was noFoundation Room in the initial con-cept for the Cleveland venue.

“There was a desire for it but therewasn’t an available location,” Rosesays. “Because the interior of theRainbow building needed to berebuilt, an opportunity arose to fitone into the plans because the

Maron’s really wanted one. “When portions of the Rainbow

building crumbled, Ari [Maron]came up and said, ‘What do youthink about putting a foundationroom up there?’ I thought he wasjoking. It wasn’t a month later andI realized he was serious. The amaz-ing part is that they were able tobuild it and not delay the opening

of the main venue.”Despite the hurdles, by the end of

summer it became apparent that, infact, the project could be finishedahead of schedule.

“Once this was realized, House ofBlues pushed for a November opendate so we compressed everythingand the 12-month project turned


ROOM OF RICHES Exotic furnishings abound in the Cambridge room, a club area with a bar and small stage for special events.Throughout, curtains can be drawn to create eight-by-eight-foot private cubicles. Overstuffed furniture surrounds a gas fireplace featuringa bronze-cast mantel from a Civil War-era Southern plantation.

“(Overcoming obstaclesduring the project) wasjust a matter ofthinking outside ofthe box.”

Scott RauchD-A-S Construction Co.


Since the House of Blues’ beginning, folkart and worldly artifacts have been anintegral part of its overall design style.

The focus on these striking visual elements canbe traced to the company’s founder.

Isaac Tigrett, who had previously co-foundedthe Hard Rock Café restaurant chain, launchedHouse of Blues partly because of that venture’ssuccess, partly because of his love of African-American culture and partly because of hisspiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s influence(Sai Baba urged followers to “Love all, serve all”- a phrase that is now a slogan for House ofBlues).

With a fortune helped considerably by thesale of his share of Hard Rock Café,Tigrett begangathering art and building materials fromaround the globe. When he launched House ofBlues, the massive collection, eventually storedin a 2,000-square-foot warehouse in NewOrleans, became the primary source for furnish-ing clubs as they began to pop up around theUnited States.

“He purchased whole Indian temples andbought out the whole interior of a church inEngland,” says Joe Perra, of the House of BluesDevelopment & Creative Services Department.

Although the original collection is nownearly exhausted, the team continues to gatherfurnishings,mostly from folk artists - tradition-ally defined as self-taught artists.

“Originally, we’d go to the sources directly,”he says.“We’d rent U-Hauls,pull up to the artists’houses and buy pieces right off of their fences.”

The warehouse has become a design work-shop of sorts with a crew of about 30 people,including glass and metal artists.

“Over time we have begun doing productionwork for functional items,” he says.

At the Cleveland club,one such item is a retailkiosk in the music hall’s lobby, built with rawsteel (manually rusted by storing outside in wetweather) and plywood. Pieces of tin have beenhand-tacked on the exterior as ornamentation.

Other items at House of Blues Clevelandshowcase another specialty of the creative crew.An installation piece, also in the music halllobby, celebrates the city’s 1952 MoondogCoronation Ball - regarded as the first rock ‘n’roll concert - with original artwork that incor-porates artifacts. Scott Guion, an artist whoprovided painted murals throughout the club,built the installation within a gothic inset fromthe New Orleans warehouse.

At times, Lead Artist Holly Mendot will com-mission local artists for special pieces withinclubs.For instance, a mural of the Moondog Ballin the club’s restaurant was created by Clevelandartist Peter Wood.

Perra says House of Blues is proud of what it’sdone to help all of these artists.

“By having their work displayed by House ofBlues, which now owns the largest collection offolk art in the United States, many of theseartists are now becoming better known,” Perrasays.“We’ve been able to raise awareness aboutwhat they do, and now folk art, in general, isbecoming quite popular.” –MW

FINISHING TOUCHES A vintage English church door and an installation piece by artist ScottGuoin, celebrating Cleveland’s 1952 Moondog Coronation Ball, add charm in the lobby.

Behind the artifacts

into an eight-month process,”Rauch says.

As summer turned to fall, thealready fast pace accelerated. Thefinal months of work marked thearrival of House of Blues’ interiordesign team who would put the fin-ishing touches on the project -painting murals, adding faux finishesand installing dramatic art pieces -just in time for the club’s Novemberopen date.

In through the out doorUpon entering House of Blues

Cleveland from the Euclid Avenueentrance (primarily intended for con-certgoers) visitors pass through glassdoors, which were built to match thebuilding’s originals, and are greeted bya spacious and lofty lobby. Mergingremnants of the building’s past withnew House of Blues treatments, thelobby includes a box office, a coat-room and ample floor space.

A series of marble support columnsfrom the old Woolworth’s storeremain as well as salvaged pieces ofthe original floor. Overhead, theceiling, which includes recessedspeakers and bits of the original plas-ter coating, projects a sense of ageand wear; House of Blues paintershave smeared oily, brown asphaltum,an earthy mineral pitch, into thepaint to provide a nicotine-stainedlook. Straight ahead, a “stainedglass” fanlight - actually plexiglassthat has been meticulously painted -rests above aged doors leading intothe music hall. Above, stretchingaround the tops of the lobby walls isa moody, hand-painted mural depict-ing “blues gods” from Muddy Watersto W.C. Handy.

Through a set of doors on thelobby’s eastern wall is a room calledThe Cambridge, which is privateclub area with a bar - dubbedHarvard Square - and small stage forspecial events. Throughout, curtainscan be drawn to create eight-by-eight-foot private cubicles.Overstuffed furniture surrounds a gasfireplace featuring a bronze-castmantel from a Civil War-eraSouthern plantation.

“It’s almost on the level of aFoundation Room,” Rose says. “You

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don’t find this type of room in theother venues.”

Back through the main lobby, visi-tors enter the music hall throughdoors on the southern end of theroom. As they pass through, concert-goers are greeted by a commissionedpiece of art depicting Cleveland-native music artist Screamin’ JayHawkins (most known for hisrecording of the song “I Put A SpellOn You.”) Two flights of stairs, lead-ing to the mezzanine level of thehall, flank a separate set of stairsleading downward to the club’sdancefloor.

On the dancefloor level, two bars- named Jake and Elwood after thecharacters played by John Belushiand Dan Akroyd in Blues Brothers -are placed along the back wall. In themiddle of the room is the sound-booth, which controls atop-of-the-line sound system; spreadthroughout the entire venue is over$1 million in audio/visual equip-ment, including more than 70 videomonitors. Beyond the soundbooth is

the club’s mosh pit and, finally, theclub’s stage, which features a prosce-nium decorated with symbols of theworld’s major religions. On the mez-zanine level are two more bars -

Eastside and Westside - and rows oftheater seats from an authenticmovie house. Overlooking the stagefrom either side of the mezzaninelevel are balcony boxes and two


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SOUL AND SPIRITS House of Blues Cleveland features six separate bars. From the restaurant’s bar (above), patrons are provided with aview of a small stage at the back of the dining room as well as pedestrians walking by outside along East Fourth Street.

backstage rooms, for visit-ing bands and theirentourages, with windowslooking directly down ontothe stage from behind thecurtain.

Corridors lead from thebackstage area, as well asthe Cambridge Room, tothe loading dock, officesand eventually the restau-rant, although patronstypically enter that areafrom the club’s FourthStreet entrance.

Entering House of Bluesfrom its East Fourth Streetentrance (primarily for diners), visi-tors pass over a tiled “front step”depicting the House of Blues logo,through a set of doors past a pair offolk art sculptures and into the mainrestaurant, which offers Southern-styled cuisine. Ahead, therestaurant’s main room and anadjoining second dining room seat300. A stage on the far wall is suitedfor smaller local acts. Set into a por-tion of the main dining room’sceiling are bas-reliefs of “blues gods,”

transplanted from the originalCambridge, Massachusetts House ofBlues club which closed last year.

The restaurant’s kitchen is deckedout with stainless steel appliancesand a durable, thermal shock-resist-ant polyurethane floor.

Near the restaurant’s entrance andpast its sizeable bar is the club’s retailshop where visitors can buy mer-chandise ranging from keychains andt-shirts to original pieces of folk art.

Above the restaurant is the club’sFoundation Room, which is the most

richly furnished area of Houseof Blues Cleveland. WithAfrican, Asian and Indonesianfinishes, the two-story area fea-tures exotic drapery, orientalrugs and woodcarvings.Offering five-star dining andservices, Rose says, the ameni-ties are “the best you’ll findanywhere in the city.” A pri-vate dining room with a mediacenter allows for presentationsand an outdoor patio overlooksFourth Street. A privateentrance into the music hallfrom the foundation roomallows celebrity visitors to

move about without drawing muchattention.

Bringing it homeNow that the project is complete,

the team is proud to see the successof House of Blues Cleveland so far.As MRN Ltd. continues its workdeveloping the rest of East FourthStreet, Maron is clearly pleased thatHouse of Blues bought into thevision for a revival of the area. “It’san exciting time,” he says.

Rauch concurs.“This project definitely had its

challenges but at the end it wasextremely rewarding,” Rauch says.“Just being around and getting toknow the operations people, weknow that they are well pleased andenjoying the space. Just as important,it seems to be really working well forthe city of Cleveland, too.”


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P

A century ago, Clevelandtheatergoers didn’t travel tothe area between East Ninth

and East Eighteenth streets foroperas and plays as they do now.Instead, they would head severalblocks northwest up Euclid Avenue.

Before Playhouse Square cameinto existence in the ‘20s, the city’s“theater district” was situatedaround the area now known asEast Fourth Street. Its numeroustheaters, including the EuclidAvenue Opera House, served as adestination point for locals andvisitors alike.

Over the following decades, thetheaters disappeared and early- tomid-century department stores likeWoolworth’s, McCrory’s, S. S.Kresge and W.T. Grant popped up,found prosperity for a time and thenfaded or moved.

As the population shifted to thesuburbs beginning in the ‘50s, thearea felt the effects and by the end ofthe century had essentially dried up.Storefronts were boarded up and thearea grew a reputation as a haven forprostitutes and drug dealers. Thingshad changed.

In the mid-’90s, though, opportu-nity arrived as the Gateway sportscomplex sprang up mere blocks away.Recognizing a chance to make signif-icant improvements in the area, thecity’s recently formed HistoricGateway Development Corporationhelped to re-imagine the area as acenter of activity once again, alongwith five likeminded developers.

One of those key developers, MRNLtd., had previously focused prima-rily on residential projects inCleveland’s eastern suburbs. But atthe urging of Tom Yablonsky, execu-tive director of both the HistoricGateway Neighborhood and HistoricWarehouse District developmentcorporations, the firm set its sightson downtown, specifically on thatarea along Fourth Street betweenEuclid and Prospect avenues, MRNLtd. partner Ari Maron says.

MRN’s first residential project inthe Historic Gateway neighborhoodwas the 36-unit Buckeye Building, atthe northwest corner of ProspectAvenue and East Fourth Street,

which opened in 1995. Findingsuccess with that developmentproject, the firm expanded itsreach in the area. In 1998, the 52-unit Windsor Block opened on thesouthwest corner of East FourthStreet and Euclid and, a few yearslater, the old National City Bankbuilding reopened as a home for aHoliday Inn Express and variousother new tenants and theCommercial building re-openedwith 35 units of residential space.

“We found ourselves stillfocused on East Fourth and it wasaround that time that we began tolook at the street itself as a devel-opment,” Maron says. “[The area]makes sense from a development

standpoint. It’s within walking dis-tance of Jacobs Field and GundArena and connects [the] Gateway[sports complex] to Tower City andeventually the lakefront. With


Live, Work, PlayRedevelopment of East Fourth Street builds momentumBy Mark Watt

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Playhouse Square nearby, it’s just acrucial hub of activity. If you look atthe areas around Fourth Street youget a number of hotels and a daytimeoffice population of about 160,000.And, of course, Gateway gets about4.5 million visitors annually. From adevelopment point of view, we wereright in the middle of all of theseeconomic drivers.”

The vision was to create a wholeneighborhood, complete with enter-tainment and retail spaces on thefirst floor of each of the buildings

along Fourth Street and surroundingareas, with residential spaces locatedon the floors above.

“The development was comingtogether but the challenge that wewere facing was site control,” he says.“We owned about 80% of the prop-erty in the area at the time but therewere about 300 additional propertiesbetween Prospect and Euclid ownedby about 250 different people.”

Turning to the city for help, MRNand four other like-minded develop-ers went to then-Mayor Michael

White to inquire about using emi-nent domain to acquire theremaining space. White’s answer wasthat the city could only help if theplan was expanded to include severalblocks between Euclid and Prospect.The developers agreed.

Five years later, the East FourthStreet neighborhood is a reality.With the addition of residential andcommercial mixed-use developmentin the area including the W.T.Grant, Frederick, McCoy, Gravesand Sincere buildings, the neigh-borhood now offers nearly 300residential units, a 4,000-car park-ing garage and, filling a niche fordining, entertainment and retail,several key attractions for residentsand visitors alike.

The 27,000-square-foot diningand entertainment venue Pickwick& Frolic and the newly openedHouse of Blues serve as high profileanchors for the neighborhood.These will soon be rounded off witha number of additional key additions(such as the Tremont-transplantedrestaurant Lola).

“Each of these are a destinationbecause they each represent a qualityof experience that is not offered any-where else in Cleveland,” Maronsays. “Since they are one-of-a-kind[establishments], if you want to go toa House of Blues or if you want to goto Pickwick & Frolic, you need tocome downtown to East Fourth.”

With a goal to make the area a des-tination, MRN felt a need to makethe street a destination itself or, morespecifically, “the coolest street inAmerica,” as Maron says.

A project completed last fall, thestreetscape of East Fourth betweenProspect and Euclid was completelytorn up and replaced with a pedes-trian-friendly and creativelydesigned right-of-way. Handled byEnviroCom Construction, Inc., twovehicular lanes were reduced to onethat snakes between expansive side-walks, all of which are fully heated(“There will never be snow on thisstreet again,” Maron says.)Streetlights have been replaced withstrings of lights that cross the streetoverhead, 12-foot lighting columnsproviding ambient illumination andtwo 25-foot sculptures - phoenixes


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designed by San Francisco artistCork Marcheschi to signify thestreet’s rebirth - stand guard ateither end of the street.Additionally, space was allocated toprovide for street performers inwarmer months.

“Living, playing and working in acity’s central business district is a rel-atively new idea, maybe 15 to 20years old, but it’s hardly a conceptinvented by MRN,” Maron says. “It’shappening around the country and,from the beginning, we felt that theidea would work in Cleveland.”

So far, the assumptions haveproved correct. The percentage ofoccupied space in the area is cur-rently in the mid-90s and demand ishigh, Maron says.

“We’re thrilled about the future ofthis neighborhood, ” Maron says.“It’s exciting to see the momentumbuilding which started withPickwick & Frolic, then House ofBlues and now Lola, and we expectthat momentum to continuethroughout 2005 and beyond.”

Thomas Starinsky, project directorfor Historic Gateway NeighborhoodCorporation, is similarly excitedabout the changes in the area.

“It’s interesting too,” Starinskysays. “With all of the new stages forlive entertainment [at Pickwick &Frolic and House of Blues], the resi-dential spaces and with retail on theway, Fourth Street is lively again. Ina way, we’ve come full-circle from acentury ago.”


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soul of downtown brings funky elegance to House of Blues ... · brings funky elegance to ... out of town, MRN contracted Cleveland’s eBlueprint to coordinate ... and then build