Date Archives: January 2022

The past few weeks have been cold and snowy here in Cleveland with temperatures holding steadily below freezing. In an effort to ease the winter chill, your favorite local Cleveland experts at Progressive Urban put together a list of some of the city's best winter-friendly patios, each offering either a heated tent or seating surrounded by several portable heaters. Let us know which spot(s) you check out!

1. The South Side (Tremont)

2207 W. 11th Street

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2. Betts (Downtown)

2000 E. 9th Street

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3. Market Garden Brewpub (Ohio City)

1947 W. 25th Street

This one features a grand outdoor fireplace!

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4. All Saints Public House (Battery Park)

1261 W. 76th Street

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5. Merwin's Wharf (Irishtown Bend)

1785 Merwin Avenue

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6. Jukebox (Ohio City - Hingetown)

1404 W. 29th Street

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7. Felice Urban Cafe (Larchmere)

12502 Larchmere Boulevard

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8. Platform Brewhouse (Ohio City)

3506 Vega Avenue

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9. Ninja City (Gordon Square)

6706 Detroit Avenue

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10. Taza (Downtown)

1400 W. 6th Street

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11. Astoria (Gordon Square)

5417 Detroit Avenue

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12. Toast (Gordon Square)

1365 W. 65th Street

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Progressive Urban Real Estate has been an active member of the community in the city of Cleveland since being founded in 1986. With deep roots in downtown Cleveland and the first suburbs, Progressive Urban has been an advocate of urban revitalization and contributing to the growth and development of Cleveland's urban neighborhoods. Not only do many of our realtors live where they work, our agency also supports local organizations such as the Brite Winter festival. Progressive Urban Real Estate is proud to be a bronze level sponsor of this year's Brite Winter festival; an annual outdoor music, arts, food, and beer festival hosted during one of Cleveland's coldest months.  

So how did the Brite Winter festival come to be? It all began when a couple of friends were sharing a pitcher on a patio at the end of the summer. Conversation turned to two things: what can younger people do to get more involved in the community; and what are things you've always wanted to do? We decided that Cleveland really needed to embrace winter and have fun with it. They ended up finding an enormous amount of support in the community and found that there were way too many things to show off in this town. Their first event consisted of 800 people listening to music, building snow forts, and sliding around on ski-bikes in an urban park. The second year lead to even more partnerships and fun. Since then, the event has grown to one with over 20,000 visitors, tons of community partnerships, and over 3 dozen musical acts.

The team at Brite Winter wanted to contribute to the Cleveland cultural landscape with  free/low cost and accessible events during underserved times of the year, like winter; an event where anyone can experience our city through traditional and innovative activities. Brite Winter marries fire, participatory art, food, music, and games to build community while helping Clevelanders embrace the cold winter months.

Brite Winter embraces their core values of positivity, community, creativity, artistic excellence, and accessibility contributing to the Cleveland cultural landscape with a free/low cost, and accessible events during underserved times of the year, like winter; an event where anyone can experience our city through traditional and innovative activities. We at Progressive Urban Real Estate are proud to be a community partner of the Brite Winter organization.

The Brite Winter festival is scheduled for Saturday, February 26th from 3p to 12a in the West Bank of the Flats and costs $5 a ticket. For more information about the event, click here. We hope to see you there!

Getting ready to sell your home and looking for advice on how to stage your house for a quick sale? Here are 10 tips for staging a beautiful home. 

1. Keep your furniture simple. Avoid creating crowded living spaces and make it easier for potential buyers to move about the home while also providing some layout inspiration. 
2. Keep your decor simple. Remove any unnecessary items or holiday decor that may be distracting or cause an appearance of disorderliness. 
3. Avoid clutter. Put away that pile of mail or the basket of magazines by the fireplace. Clutter can distract potential buyers from seeing themselves in the home.
4. Create a designated office space. With so many people working from home these days, having a designated office space is imperative for many buyers. This can be done in a bedroom/office combo or by showing a dining space that doubles as an office. 
5. Remove all personal touches. Put away all personal belongings like picture frames to make it easier for potential buyers to imagine their own personal items in the home. 
6. Make storage space a focal point. Clean out any clutter from storage spaces that may be a top seller for potential buyers. Storage space that is easily accessible is oftentimes an important must-have for many buyers.
7. Add extra light/replace any broken fixtures or lightbulbs. Replace light bulbs in any lamps that are blown out or dim. Staging looks best in brightly lit spaces!
8. Use furniture to designate spaces. Is there a room or spaces that need a little imagination? Use furniture to designate that space. 
9. Make small upgrades in your kitchen to attract potential buyers. Maybe set up a designated coffee or tea bar. Give your appliances a good cleaning and make sure they remain clean before each showing. Remove any excess items from the countertops and only leave important items that add value to the kitchen's appearance.
10. Make your bathroom sparkle. This tip doesn't entirely involve furniture or decor but is a big task that helps with the general appearance of your home. Before showings, give your bathroom a deep cleaning. Remove or limit clutter from cabinets, the sink countertop, and shower/bath. Add simple finishing decor touches like a nice hand towel and soap dispenser.

Interested in learning about the benefits of staging your home? Click here to read our blog post. 

The city of Cleveland is a place that locals love and visitors enjoy. The city has an outstanding restaurant scene, a number of local breweries, an award-winning park system, and a wave of architectural revitalization and new development. With the new year brings a number of new projects in our growing city.

Progressive Urban Real Estate has been working on the forefront of revitalization in Cleveland through both new construction projects and the re-sale of existing homes. Only a few days into 2022, here are some predictions on upcoming home design trends for the year that we expect to see making an appearance in Cleveland.

Minimalism

Once again, minimalism is expected to make a big appearance in the design world both architecturally and in decor. Within the past two years, there has been a wave of households doing away with the old and refraining from bringing in the new. Making room for empty space is expected to continue making waves in the design world.

Organic Design

With the ongoing pandemic, there is expected to be an increase in creating spaces with organic design. Think about the merging of the outdoors and indoors; neutral and earthy tones, lots of greenery, and bright natural light.

Multi-Purpose Entertainment Rooms

With many of us staying home more often, there is expected to be an increase in creating entertainment spaces at home. For example, a full service home-bar setup in a once rarely used basement perfect for small group gatherings. Or a home gym or an entire room dedicated to art.

Vintage Decor

This one has been a consistent trend prediction for a number of years and will likely continue to see a strong following. Not only is it a more sustainable way of furnishing or decorating a home, there has been a new wave of upcyclers that are giving new life to furniture that may have seen better days or repurposing in a completely new way. 

Sustainable Design

In both architecture and decor, sustainable design is expected to continue having a strong presence. Many new construction projects are implementing green-building process' that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly. In reference to the previous trend prediction, decor is also seeing a sustainability renaissance. Whether that means repurposing unused furniture or buying sustainably-made pieces, this trend is sure to continue to see a strong following.

To research our trend predictions for 2022, we read a number of articles from a number of top design publications including Architectural Digest, HGTV, and House Beautiful.