CEO's for Cities Mall view.JPG

Attendees to the CEOS for Cities conference took in the view from the convention center roof overlooking Lakeside Avenue and the Cleveland lakefront.

(Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- They came, they saw and for the most part, they were impressed – but not without reservation.

A regional conference last week drew roughly 150 urban planners, business leaders, foundation officials and nonprofit managers from eight U.S. cities to Cleveland for a close look at the city's comeback.

Organized by CEOs for Cities, the Cleveland- and Chicago- and Washington, D.C.-based networking organization for urban leaders, the two-day session focused on Cleveland's recent accomplishments in downtown and neighborhood development – and lessons to be learned.

The organization is headed by former Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher.

Participants in "The Connected City: A City Cluster Workshop" came from Dayton and Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Greenville, South Carolina; Greensboro and Asheville, North Carolina; Indianapolis; and Knoxville, Tennessee -- as well as Cleveland.

Lectures and workshops in the Ernst & Young conference took place in the Flats East tower and focused on redevelopment efforts in other cities, including Detroit Future City, an ambitious revitalization plan funded by the Kresge Foundation.

But the core of the Cleveland event focused on walking and bus tours through downtown, the Euclid Corridor and East Side neighborhoods.

On Thursday morning, June 19, roughly 30 participants strolled from Public Square to Playhouse Square, taking in the Mall, the Eastman Reading Garden, the Arcade, East Fourth Street, and the Ameritrust Complex at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue, which Geis Cos. is redeveloping as a hotel, apartment and retail complex.

Along the way, the group listened to descriptions of the city's revitalization efforts.

Jeremy Paris, executive director of the Group Plan Commission, described proposals to re-landscape Public Square.

Developer Dick Pace touted his vision of a new lakefront development. Developer Ari Maron described how his family's firm, MRN Ltd., turned East Fourth Street into a downtown dining and entertainment mecca.

And developer Fred Geis, standing beneath the skylighted dome of the 1908 Cleveland Trust Rotunda, discussed plans to insert a Heinen's supermarket in the space.

The reactions of conference attendees during the downtown tour were non-scientific and strictly anecdotal, but instructive and credible, in that they ranged from positive to mixed.

Larry Cecchini of Greensboro, president of Secure Designs, an Internet security firm, said he was powerfully impressed by Cleveland's downtown – and how businesses, nonprofits and government seem to be collaborating on getting things done.

"There's some kind of juice going on here," he said. "I don't know how to bottle that, but it's what we're trying to do in Greensboro."

Ryan Peiffer of Greenville, vice president, Hughes Investments, a real estate firm, said he thought Cleveland was "cool," but he wasn't convinced that downtown had become a truly pedestrian-oriented district.

"The city feels sprawly. It doesn't feel dense to me," he said. "Even in downtown Greenville, it's an enjoyable walk. There's texture, there's public art. As I was walking down the street [in downtown Cleveland], I felt off-put."

Peiffer said the downtown Mall, which doubles as the green roof of Cleveland's new convention center, was, "a wonderful piece of property, but it's underutilized." He also criticized Cleveland for not having developed clearer pathways from the north end of the Mall over the lakefront railroad lines and the Shoreway to North Coast Harbor.

"How do I get down to the water? How do I get a coffee? A beer? Grab a sandwich? The city has got to make a concerted effort to pull people down there."

Nevertheless, he said the city has momentum.

"If it continues, it will be exciting to see in 10 years," he said.

Derrick Braziel, a project manager in Cincinnati for StriveTogether, a nonprofit that strives to improve educational outcomes, said he grew up in Middleburg Heights and frequently visits his mother there, but has rarely spent time downtown. After last week's visit, he's rethinking.

"I was always ashamed to say I was from Cleveland," he said. "Now I'm feeling a little buyer's remorse [about that attitude]. I'm really excited to see Cleveland is reinventing itself. Cleveland's a cool place to live."

Jeb Banner, the CEO of Smallbox, an Indianapolis Web marketing company, said that Cleveland surprised him.

"I was expecting the rotten core of a postindustrial city," he said. "Now I'm thinking this would be a really cool place to come back with my family.

"I've been pleasantly surprised by Cleveland," he added. "I was expecting something closer to Detroit than Chicago, but it's more like Chicago than Detroit."