I went to the Professionals in the City event tonight at The House of Blues. They had a panel of six speakers who are a part of redevelopment in the city, including Robert Stark and his Warehouse District project. Doug Price of K&G Group, building the Stonebridge project on the west bank of the Flats. Steve Strnisha, part of the effort to develop the east bank of the Flats. Nate Zaremba, part of the group behind The Avenue District. Ari Maron of MRN, the group behind the redevelopment of East 4th Street. And Vickie Johnson, who’s somehow a part of the Fairfax neighborhood and who I wasn’t really interested in.

They took questions from the audience and since I live in the warehouse district, I asked Stark about his plans. He said the first phase will encompass the current parking lots between Superior Avenue and St. Clair and West 3rd and West 9th. It’s a $1 billion project that will include 2 million square feet of retail, six million square feet of office space and 1 million square feet of residential. The project should break ground in Spring 2008 and be completed by 2011.

I also asked Strnisha about Larry Flint’s Hustler Club, a strip club on the east bank of the Flats that isn’t selling to Developers Diversified Realty and therefore is standing in the way of redevelopment. Strnisha said that is currently being fought in the court system. DDR wants to buy that land from Flint for a fair price and eminent domain through the Cuyahoga County Port Authority might be used to take it.

Strnisha mentioned that some buildings on the east bank, such as the old Joe’s Crab Shack (and Longhorn Steak House before that) Max and Erma’s and Dick’s Last Resort have already been torn down, opening up a view of the river from the street. He said plans are to create a true neighborhood with rental units as low as $700/month, condos, a bookstore, movie theater and coffee shop as well as green space and plenty of access to the river’s edge.

Maron mentioned some new development coming to East 4th Street: housing above The Corner Alley, La Strada World Cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant created by the owner of La Dolce Vita in Little Italy, and Zocalo Cantina, a Mexican restaurant, as well as a jazz club and The Bang and The Clatter Theater Company.

All and all an interesting event. However, being at the House of Blues wasn’t the greatest venue. There was over an hour of drinking and appetizers before the panel began and when they did, it was hard to get the crowd quieted down to listen. Besides that, some exciting things are happening in Cleveland!