CLEVELAND, Ohio – Shaker Square, the historic, early 20th-century shopping center with a rapid transit line running through it, is one of the city’s signature civic spaces.

Yet the 5.5-acre square, located at Moreland and Shaker boulevards on the city’s East Side, is showing serious signs of age as it nears its 90th anniversary next year.

Crumbling sidewalks are paved in contrasting slabs of concrete that break up the continuity of the space. Lawns in the center of the square are isolated by roads and rail lines and are devoid of activity unless programmed events are underway.

Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Fire Food and Drink at Shaker Square.

The buildings that line the square turn their backs to surrounding neighborhoods with blank facades and corners, and with parking lots missing trees or pedestrian paths.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

A bronze pavement plaque references the octagonal shape of the shopping center.

To figure out how to address those and other deficits, the nonprofits Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and LAND Studio have raised nearly $400,000, primarily in private and philanthropic donations, for a nine-month planning process beginning this month.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

A pedestrian at Shaker Square

Joel Ratner, president and CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, called the process "the opportunity of a century to prepare Shaker Square for the next 100 years."

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Passersby can put coins in yellow receptacles at Shaker Square to aid those in need rather than give to panhandlers.

The project will involve extensive public input. A kickoff meeting is tentatively scheduled for October, although a date has yet to be announced.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Paving at Shaker Square

A 13-member panel representing the city, residents, public agencies, foundations and Coral Co., which owns the square, will soon select a design team from finalists including Hargreaves of Cambridge, MA; !Melk of New York; Realm Collaborative of Columbus, O; and Merritt Chase of Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

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Plain Dealer Historical Photographic Collection

Shaker Square in the early 1950s

Completed in 1929, the square is widely regarded as one of the most innovative open-air shopping centers of its time, along with the Country Club District in Kansas City, Missouri.

Both were among the first shopping centers in the U.S. designed to accommodate automobiles. Shaker Square also incorporates a commuter light rail line, effectively making it what today would be called a “transit-oriented development.”

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Head-in parking at Shaker Square will get a fresh look in an upcoming planning process.

The project will address everything from the renovation of the square’s outdoor spaces to how they might be owned, funded and managed in the future.

Options might include transferring the outdoor spaces from the Coral Co. to another entity, possibly a nonprofit funded with an endowment for long-term maintenance.

Coral President Peter Rubin said he fully endorses the project and is open to transferring ownership of the outdoor spaces if it’s in the best interest of the square.

“The process that’s laid out is incredible, outstanding, thoughtful,” he said.

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Plain Dealer Historical Photographic Collection

The Van Sweringen brothers, Mantis, left, and Oris.

The square is the brainchild of developers Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen, the railroad and real estate tycoons who developed Shaker Heights and the Terminal Tower downtown, connecting the two with the transit lines passing through Shaker Square.

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Courtesy LAND Studio, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

Shaker Square was originally configured as a circle.

Originally configured as a traffic circle, the square was ultimately designed as an octagon by architects Philip Small and Charles Bacon Rowley, with low-rise brick buildings in the Colonial Revival style.

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Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and LAND Studio

An ownership map of Shaker Square and adjacent properties.

Listed as part of Cleveland and National Register landmark districts, the square has 19 acres of buildings, civic spaces and surface parking divided among multiple owners.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

The Moreland Courts condominiums overlook Shaker Square.

The City of Cleveland owns the streets. Coral owns most of the buildings and the sidewalks and green areas. And the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, which owns or leases the rapid right-of-way.

(Disclosure: This reporter lives near the square).

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

A CVS drugstore anchors the northeast quadrant of Shaker Square.

The planning project is co-chaired by Anne Goodman, president and CEO of the St. Luke’s Foundation, and Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin, standing in for Ward Councilman Ken Johnson, whose district includes the square.

The Ward 4 and 6 Council representatives have long agreed to share oversight of the square, Johnson and Griffin said.

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Shaker Square, in gray, is a crossroads between rich and poor, white and black.

Griffin, Ratner and others involved in the project said social and economic equity will be a major focus, given that the square lies between prosperous East Side suburbs and some of the poorest African-American neighborhoods in the city.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Pedestrians at Shaker Square.

"It’s the absolute fulcrum of every political, social and economic dynamic that’s affecting the region,” Ratner said.

Accordingly, the plan will address aspects of the square that contribute to perceptions of racial inequality, he said.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

The approach to Dave's from Buckeye is an unwelcoming prospect.

For instance, the square provides welcoming access to residents coming from Shaker Heights while turning blank facades, fences and parking lots to residents coming from Cleveland’s Buckeye neighborhood, located to the south and west.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Shaker Square turns a blank corner toward Van Aken Boulevard on its southeast side.

Buckeye was populated by immigrant Hungarian and Jewish families when the square was designed, but African-American residents view the design as a “keep out” message directed at them, Ratner said.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Signs of age at Shaker Square.

"People may not know the history, but the perception now is that there is a back [to Shaker Square], and that back is intentional,” said Greg Peckham, executive director of LAND Studio.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

A door facing into Shaker Square at Dave's directs shoppers to an entry off a back alley.

Safety, which Rubin said Coral improved recently by installing 50 security cameras that are monitored 24/7, will be another focus of the plan, along with traffic flow, transit, parking, bike routes and pedestrian access.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Edwin's restaurant at Shaker Square.

Another issue is that the 130,000 square feet of leasable space in the square is small in relation to the outdoor spaces it needs to support, said Wayne Mortensen, director of design and development at Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.

Hence the project will look at the potential for new development on the parking lots behind the square’s existing buildings.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Paran Management Co. bought the former Franklin Simon retail complex on the southeast flank of Shaker Square, and plans to redevelop it with apartments.

Project funders and donated amounts include the St. Luke’s Foundation, $150,000; the Cleveland Foundation, $85,000; the Gund foundation, $50,000; and the National Endowment for the Arts, $20,000. Private donors include Coral Co., which donated $30,000, and philanthropists Char and Chuck Fowler.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Ornamental grasses provide greenery and texture at Shaker Square, but prevent more active uses of a great deal of the space, says planner Wayne Mortensen.

It’s impossible to say ahead of the process how much its recommendations might cost, or how they would be funded, planners said.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Shaker Square features plastic planters recycled from the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

But Mortensen said he expected that improvements inspired by the plan should be under way within three years, if not sooner.

"If we haven’t started implementation within three years, we’re moving off course,” he said.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Edwin's restaurant at Shaker Square occupies a building in the square's Colonial Revival style.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

Outdoor dining areas at Yours Truly, right, and Fire Food and Drink, left, are detached from and attached to their respective establishments.

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Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer

An alley at the southeast quadrant of Shaker Square provides access to a parking lot where dumpsters fill the breeze with the odor of garbage.

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