News
'Authenticity is Shaker Square's key asset.' New owners say glow-up will restore original design
Ideastream, Kelly Krabill
Change is coming to Shaker Square. On Thursday, the public got a first look at what those changes might mean to the nearly 100-year-old shopping center in Cleveland near the Shaker Heights border.
“The community has spoken — authenticity is Shaker Square’s key asset,” said Tania Menesse, CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a nonprofit that co-owns the shopping center with Burten, Bell, Carr Development, a neighborhood development organization.
The owners have been collecting public input on the project for months. The first Shaker Square consensus-building event took place in May. About 200 people attended. Feedback included a desire for additional security, local business support, safe crossings and walkways for pedestrians, more programming and a space for artists, according to the Shaker Square Vision Project.
One of the central messages organizers have received in collecting feedback on the square’s future, including survey results from nearly 500 people, is that the public doesn’t want the square reinvented, Menesse said. It wants it relaunched.