OUR STEELYARD COMMONS LEARNING CURVE

Can we re-roll this tape, please?

Four months ago (PD story on final Planning Commission approval):

Schneider said he is negotiating with nine national retailers for Steelyard Commons, but he declined to name them.

"We believe the demand is there and retailers will do well," he said.

Tenants at First Interstate shopping centers elsewhere include Target, OfficeMax, BJ's Wholesale Club, Kohl's, Home Depot and Marshall's.

Two months ago:

Morris, spokesman for Wal-Mart's Midwest development, said the retailer is not pursuing plans inside the city "at this point," but he said there were "potentially developers that have submitted their plans to us."

Mitchell Schneider, president of Lyndhurst-based First Interstate Properties Ltd., could not be reached for comment on his $90 million Steelyard Commons.

Will Wal-Mart make its Cleveland landing there?

"It's all the buzz," Councilman Joe Cimperman said. "I'd give it 50-50 odds."

Four days ago:

Schneider argues convincingly that it [an ordinance limiting sales of groceries in big box stores] would doom Steelyard Commons. Wal-Mart rarely enters a market by building superstores. But it has told Schneider that it will not come if future expansion is impossible. And because Cleveland is considered such a weak market nationally, Schneider got Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot to sign "letters of intent" only by promising each of them that the others would be at Steelyard Commons.

Two days ago:

Other prospective tenants, such as Target and Home Depot, have linked their leases to Wal-Mart being a tenant at Steelyard Commons, he said.

"I currently know of no 'Plan B' to go to," said Schneider, whose company developed Legacy Village in Lyndhurst.