Of all the projects underway in Cleveland in preparation for the Republican National Convention the one that seems to be benefiting the most from the unseasonably warm fall this year is the overhaul of Public Square.
Those behind the $50 million project said whiel working on a tight deadline to get the Square done in time for the Republican National Convention, they built in weather as a factor when mapping out the plan.
"We couldn't take a risk that it wouldn't get done," said Group Plan Executive Director Jeremy Paris. "That's why we ran double crews this summer, we wanted to make sure we were ready for the worst that winter could bring and ready to turn the square over to landscaping... when the weather turns to summer."
The unseasonably warm weather though has enabled them to in a sense get ahead of work that in past years may have had to have been put off until spring.
"You can see the perimeter trees are in, we're getting concrete in, we're getting all of this stuff done that you can't do in colder weather," Paris said.
Work continues on three major hotel projects as well in downtown Cleveland, most of that work though has now shifted inside. The next hotel to open will be the conversion of the old Schofield Building at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue into a Kimpton Hotel. That will open in late February. In the meantime the conversion of the old Cleveland Schools Administration Building on East 6th Street is on pace to open as a Drury Hotel in April.
One project that was never slated to be done for the RNC is the second new Innerbelt Bridge which is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2016. That was never a factor of weather but rather production.
"Really it's about the steel coming out of the factory," said ODOT Spokesperson Jocelyn Clemings. "We're putting it up as fast as we can get it."
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