Together With Chris Schlenkerman and the Collaborative HOME SALES Group

North Ridgeville Backyard Oasis

Nobody brags about a new furnace. But nobody wants to buy one their first winter, either.

At this 2005 Colonial in North Ridgeville, the expensive stuff is already done. New HVAC, deck, paint and pool liner in 2026. New roof in 2023.

Which leaves you with the fun parts. An open kitchen and family room with a gas fireplace and a view of the woods. Quartz counters, 42" maple cabinets and a center island. All appliances stay.

A private office behind French doors. A mudroom with a real drop zone. A primary suite with a 14-by-7 walk-in closet.

Out back: a deck of nearly 900 sq ft, a heated above-ground pool and a fenced yard on 0.42 acres.

The 1,400 sq ft basement is unfinished and plumbed for a half bath.

And the price just dropped $15,000 last week.

👀 Know someone who's outgrown their first house? Send this their way.

4 bed | 2.5 bath | 2,818 sq ft | $460,000 | Taxes: $6,615/yr

Thinking about selling? Call or text Chris for advice

BHHS Professional Realty, alongside the collaborative HOME SALES Group

^{_{*Sponsored Content. To keep TWB fun and no-cost to you, we partner with local businesses}}

Community Blend - Deep Dive

Cleveland Already Threw This Party Once

In 1936, Cleveland built a Great Lakes celebration on a lakefront landfill. (Nothing says "you're invited" like a former dump.) FDR pressed a button in Washington to open it. Seven million people came over two summers. It even had a Hall of Great Lakes.

Then it closed. Almost none of it lasted.

Ninety years later, on the same stretch of shore, two people want to try again. This time, for keeps.

Craig Astler (whose Cleveland Waterfront Coalition turned a parking lot into North Coast Harbor) and Bostwick Design Partnership architect Judy McGlinchy (who grew up biking to Lake Erie from near Amherst and Vermilion) want a "Lighthouse of the Great Lakes." They pitched it publicly Sept. 30 at Merwin's Wharf, as Paul Heney reported in a guest column for NEOtrans.

• 500 to 600 feet tall, lit up at night

• An observation deck, maybe a restaurant

• A museum on all five Great Lakes, which hold 21% of the world's fresh water

• One concept: five floors, one per lake, with water flowing between

For scale, that would still come in just under the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters (616 feet). In this town, the paint company that vowed to “Cover the Earth” always gets the last coat (My all-time GOAT logo.)

Their case that icons pay off:

• Seattle's Space Needle: Cost $4.5 million in 1962 ($56 million today). Draws 2 million-plus visitors a year, who spent $1.5 billion in 2024.

• St. Louis's Gateway Arch: Cost $13 million in 1965 ($138 million today). 2.4 million visitors, $572 million in annual economic impact and $30.7 million in tax revenue.

• Toronto's CN Tower: Cost $63 million in 1976 ($350 million today). Pulls $316 million in annual revenue and anchors an $8 billion tourism industry.

• Chicago's Millennium Park: Roughly half the acreage Cleveland has to work with. Cost $490 million, brings in $78 million a year in taxes, plus $11.1 billion in spinoff spending.

Chicago turned a giant shiny bean into a tourism machine. We have pierogies. Just saying.

The catch: there's no design yet, Burke Lakefront Airport limits heights in spots, and nobody's signed a check. A full lakefront plan from MVRDV is expected within a month or two.

Lakewood already ran a small test… on this exact question. In October 2015, the city spent $2 million turning a fenced-off grass slope in Lakewood Park into the Solstice Steps. Eleven years later, we have been there 100 times, and people clap when the sunset hits just right.

Our take: We're for it. A landmark that roots Cleveland in its own history becomes the place visitors gather, the photo they post, the spot locals bring out-of-town guests. And it gives the world a new story about us.

For decades we've been the river that burned. Or the city that released 1.5 million balloons and thought it was a really good idea.

A lighthouse built to celebrate the clean water we fought for? That's a better headline.

The Westside Pour Over

🏗️ Downtown - A late proposal to stretch the Huntington Convention Center north over the Shoreway would put it right on top of the city's planned lakefront bridge, which has $130 million in federal money on a late-2027 deadline. (Ideastream)

🍗 Rocket Arena - Cordelia is bringing its Delia's concession stand to Rocket Arena's Street Level concourse (near Portal 26), where chef Vinnie Cimino will serve his fried Chicken and Jojo's with "magic dust" and four new arena-only sauces, including black garlic mayo and Cleveland ketchup, starting with Cavs games this season.

🌭 North Olmsted - The high school’s halftime condiment race got three surprise entrants when Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones (ranch), Fire Chief Anthony Strazzo (mustard) and Police Chief Bob Wagner (ketchup) suited up, and the mayor took the win, proving ranch really does finish cool.

🌳 Avon - City Council voted Oct. 5 to apply for Clean Ohio funding to buy about seven acres of woods, so the trees get to stay trees and may eventually get a walking trail.

🌲 Avon Lake - The Kiwanis Fall Fest and the city’s 34th Arbor Day brought families out Oct. 3 to count rings on “tree cookies,” grab free “Today is a great day to plant a tree” T-shirts, and watch seven red sunset maples go in at the Play Space. (Morning Journal $)

Restaurant News

Tinman leaves the Westside 📍 Lakewood

Seven years. One legendary burger. A million napkins.

Eugene Kitchen has ended its run inside BottleHouse Brewery & Mead Hall on Madison. BottleHouse shared the news on Oct. 6.

If you never went, the Tinman was the reason to go: two thin smashed patties, melty American cheese, a Big Boy-style special sauce and crinkle-cut pickles. Chef Michael Schoen first served it at the Ohio City Galley, and it helped start Cleveland's smash burger craze.

BottleHouse hasn't named a new kitchen yet. For now, guests are welcome to bring their own food, so grab carryout from Woodstock or Thai Thai and settle in with a mead.

Still craving a Tinman? Schoen serves it at his Eugene Tavern in Chagrin Falls.

Jaja's wait list got a lot more fun📍 Ohio City

Olive Room opened Oct. 2 in the second-level patio at Intro. Jaja takes reservations. Olive Room is walk-in only, which makes it the perfect spot for a drink while you wait for your table.

It's also a grown-up stop while you wander Ohio City. Think rich woods, live plants, 38 seats and wide-open views (straight up, when the roof is open). The new cocktails lean Argentinian, including a chimichurri dirty martini. Hungry? Try the fried lobster croquettes.

For now, hours match Jaja's dinner service.

Bummer

We write this with heavy hearts. We honestly never thought it would happen.

In an era of rampant corporate greed, I guess nothing is off the table — except that the CEO of Costco will be buried 6 feet beneath the earth before he lets the price of a hot dog and a Coke increase above $1.50.

The tire air machine at GetGo now costs $3. Sigh…inflation.

I say we band together Buzz Nation. If they want us to pay for air (which is free to breathe, by the way), I say, good day!

Some helpful tips on where to get free air from the Reddit comment section:

• Conrad’s in Lakewood

• Someone offered up Eddy’s bike shop in River (I hope they don’t mind 20,000 friends knowing 😁)

• Sheetz has free air

Buzzstrip

Looking for a thoughtful gift? Pat does watercolors of houses, cars, pets, and more.