Aerial Drone photo of fall foliage at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: Aerial Agents, Thomas Wasinski

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Designers working on a new vision for Shaker Square know they’ll stir controversy this week by proposing that Shaker Boulevard should be removed to make the square a greener, more welcoming place.

But they want to see how the public reacts anyway.

The $400,000 planning project, organized by the nonprofits LAND Studio and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, intends to shape a vision for the future of public spaces in and around the square.

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The ‘Shaker Park’ concept proposed for the future of Shaker Square by Hargreaves Associates envisions removing Shaker Boulevard's east- and westbound lanes to create a neighborhood park. "Dense urban gardens at both the center and perimeter of the square offer unique opportunities for immersion in nature, within this bustling transit hub," the designers say.

“We are expecting strong reactions to some of these ideas,” Tiffany Graham a senior project director at LAND Studio, said about the proposals.

Two of the four concepts that will be unveiled by the designers in meetings public Wednesday and Thursday involve removing the boulevard.

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Promenade’ is one of four concepts proposed by Hargreaves Associates for the future of Shaker Square. The proposal allows Shaker Boulevard to remain as a "shared street" that could be closed for special events, while signaling to vehicles that the square is a pedestrian-oriented urban zone. The perimeter promenade around the square would be enhanced, and parking would shift from head-in to parallel.

Another concept calls for reinforcing the perimeter promenade around the square in part by replacing head-in parking with parallel parking to open more space for pedestrians around the square’s edge.

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Under the ‘Forest Crossing’ concept proposed for the future of Shaker Square by Hargreaves Associates, a multi-use trail would connect South Moreland Boulevard to North Moreland Boulevard, creating a broad plaza through the center of the square. The connection would link communities south of the Square to Doan Brook and the Lake to Lakes Trail that runs alongside it. Shaker Boulevard would remain in this concept.

A fourth idea would carve a north-south walkway through the square, enabling pedestrians to cross the boulevard and the rapid transit tracks that run east-west across the square.

The meetings will be held Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. at Shaker Heights library, 16500 Van Aken Blvd., and from 7 to 9 p.m. at Our Lady of Peace, 12406 Buckingham Ave.

A third meeting will be held Thursday from 8-10 a.m. at the North Union Farmers Market, 13207 Shaker Square. A light breakfast will be served.

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Aerial Drone photo of fall foliage at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: Aerial Agents, Thomas Wasinski

Finished in 1929, 5.5-acre square and its surrounding, Colonial-style buildings constitute one of America’s first automobile-oriented shopping centers. Yet even though it is nearly 100 percent leased, it’s showing signs of age after decades of patchwork repairs.

Planners will use public feedback to refine a vision for the future of the square and its public spaces before making final recommendations in June.

Those recommendations could mix and match ideas from any of the four initial concepts. The design would be reviewed and approved by the city, RTA and other entities.

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Shaker Square, in gray, is a crossroads between rich and poor, white and black. Courtesy LAND Studio, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.

All the current proposals include space for the weekly North Union Farmers Market and would preserve mature, healthy trees.

The question posed by LAND Studio and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is how improvements to the square’s sidewalks and green spaces could encourage greater use by the public, greater connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods and parks, and more commercial activity for tenants.

Among other things, the plan will address Shaker Square’s position at the intersection of the wealthy suburb of Shaker Heights and low-income, majority black neighborhoods in Cleveland.

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An ownership map of Shaker Square and adjacent properties, courtesy LAND Studio and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.

Planners expect that improvements could be underway within three years. The report in June will specify everything from financing to whether ownership of the square’s public spaces should be transferred to a nonprofit entity.

Planners also said they’re working hard to avoid repeating the after-the-fact installation of Jersey barriers at Public Square, which has marred a $50 million renovation completed in 2016.

Peter Rubin, president of The Coral Co., which has owned the square for 14 years, said that despite concerns about some of the design concepts, he’s open to it all, even the idea of removing Shaker Boulevard. He didn’t signal a favorite idea yet.

“The more it gets refined, the more we can start see how it enhances not just the public space, but how the public realm and private realm play on each other,” he said.

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Fire Food and Drink is one of the attractions at Shaker Square. Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

The lead consultants on the project work for Hargreaves Associates, a leading American landscape architecture firm. With offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco.

The firm’s credits include a master plan for the University of Cincinnati that led to an acclaimed makeover of the campus and surrounding commercial areas over the past 20 years.

“Our experience around the country has proven that improvements to public realm can have a catalytic effect on the zones around them,” said Mary Margaret Jones, a senior principal at Hargreaves.

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Aerial Drone photo of fall foliage at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: Aerial Agents, Thomas Wasinski

The four ideas proposed for the square are:

- Promenade: The concept would widen leafy areas at the corners of the square, replace head-in parking with parallel spaces, add a bike route and flank the RTA tracks with rows of trees.

- Forest Crossing: A variation on the Promenade, this concept would emphasize north-south pedestrian movement across the square, now blocked by the RTA fence.

- Shaker Park: By removing Shaker Boulevard, the proposal would make way for a two-sided park with a grove of trees on the north, a lawn on the south, and room for a performance stage on the southwest.

- Community Commons: A variation on the park concept, the commons would emphasize an elliptical central space edged by plazas. Pedestrians would have four crossings over the RTA tracks.

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The "Community Commons," concept for Shaker Square, created by Hargreaves Associates, is the fourth of four proposals for the future of one of Cleveland's most beloved and historic retail districts. The concept, which would remove Shaker Boulevard, focuses on "an iconic central green."

The concepts include many more details, which are intended to address everything from changing demographic, economic and social conditions, to Cleveland’s racial divide.

“I think that this project crystallizes and amplifies issues that are happening in cities across the country and this brings them all together,” Jones said. “It’s about the history and future of a place that has great, great potential.”

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The ‘Shaker Park’ concept proposed for the future of Shaker Square by Hargreaves Associates envisions removing Shaker Boulevard's east- and westbound lanes to create a neighborhood park. "Dense urban gardens at both the center and perimeter of the square offer unique opportunities for immersion in nature, within this bustling transit hub," the designers say.

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A plaque identifies Shaker Square in Cleveland. Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

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This is a plaque on the sidewalk in Shaker Square in Shaker Heights on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. Shaker Square is 90 years old, and looking tired, battered and not in a good position to compete with new lifestyle centers springing up at Shaker Van Aken, Pinecrest and Legacy Village. Cleveland nonprofits, foundations and private donors have teamed up to fund a nearly $400,000 planning process to reposition the square - especially its public spaces - as owner Peter Rubin readies to sell the historic shopping center to a new owner. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer) ORG XMIT: CLE1808290827272494 The Plain Dealer

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Aerial Drone photo of fall foliage at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: Aerial Agents, Thomas Wasinski

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Aerial Drone photo of fall foliage at Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: Aerial Agents, Thomas Wasinski

Aerial Drone Photos of Fall Foliage over Shaker Square in Cleveland, Ohio. taken by: aerial agents

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Before and after images show Shaker Square in Cleveland as it exists today and as it would look according to a proposal by Hargreaves Associates, the landscape architecture firm leading a nine-month, $400,000 planning project to re-envision public spaces around the square. This concept and three other proposals will be the focus of public meetings Wednesday and Thursday February 19 and 20, 2019.

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