Browns Celebrate Ground Breaking in Brook Park, New Chagrin Falls Burger Joint: CLE Daily

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🍷 Date Idea: Brick & Vine has a historic setting and a globally inspired menu that make date night perfect. 

👮🏼‍♀️ Growing the Force: Cleveland's Division of Police swore in 34 new officers this week. 

🎉 Year of the Horse: The Cleveland Museum of Art is celebrating Cleveland’s Asian American and Pacific Islander cultural landscape with a dance party today. 

ICYMI: Check out these eight Northeast Ohio-made gifts for mom.

Today's Trivia

What Playhouse Square theater namesake was known as the kingmaker, for his efforts to get William McKinley elected president?

The Browns celebrated the Brook Park ground breaking with a star-studded ceremony.

Development | By Dillon Stewart

Local leaders, Browns luminaries, and a few super fans gathered in Brook Park last night to see the ceremonial first dig. But with two notable panels, this event gleaned some news to make it more than just a back-patting occasion.  

Super Bowl City?

Doesn't seem likely, right now. The 200,000 people who descend on a city for the Super Bowl, many not even attending the game, expect a lot — delicious restaurants, PGA-level golf courses, and top-notch entertainment five-star hotels.

They also expect a roof over their heads. There isn't a quick count of hotel rooms readily available in Northeast Ohio, but the area is likely short of the 50,000 it will need for a Super Bowl crowd.

• But: Goodell said the NFL plans to bring the draft back to Cleveland, partially as a make-good for the COVID-affected 2021 NFL Draft that the city hosted. 

Roger Goodell: "You have the stage. You just need the facilities around you."

The Message of Funding
The proposed Brook Park stadium project is funded through a mix of public and private dollars, including a $245 million contribution from the city and a $600 million state performance grant, with $100 million guaranteed upfront by his ownership group.

• Browns owner Jimmy Haslam framed the public portion as self-sustaining. He continued to stress that it would be repaid over 20 to 30 years through new tax revenue generated by the development — such as admission and income taxes — rather than existing funds.
  

• Project materials estimate billions in long-term economic impact, though those projections and the repayment assumptions remain central to the ongoing debate.
  

• HSG also touts job creation numbers — a figure that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine celebrated — at roughly 6,000 temporary construction jobs over three years, more than 5,000 permanent year-round jobs upon completion, and potential internship programs with local schools

Other Highlights

• Cornerback Denzel Ward is excited to bring his game inside. He'll be almost 33 then, so we can imagine why.
  

• Linebacker Carson Schwesinger talked about the Dawg Pound's impact.
  

• HSG Partner JW Williams shared how the team plans to maintain the tailgating tradition.
  

• Browns owner Jimmy Haslam says HSG kept the fans in mind at every step in building the experience.

Talk of the Town

Downtown Cleveland's food truck series kicks off today and runs every weekday through Sept. 30. A variety of food trucks will be set up at one of five Downtown parks and plazas.

A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indicted Zayd Alameen for murder after Alameen allegedly stole a vehicle on April 24 and drove it at speeds over 100 mph, hitting two cars, killing a 54-year-old man and injuring three others. 

FBI Cleveland, along with other law enforcement agencies, arrested five men for their alleged roles in conspiring to steal nearly $1 million in food benefits from low-income families in Ohio and California. 

The Cleveland Metro School District postponed a decision on whether to share local levy dollars with partnered charter schools. The district is one of the few that already shares local levy funds with charter schools, reports Signal Cleveland. 

Chef Michael Schoen plans to open a new burger joint in Chagrin Falls.

Food & Drink | By Douglas Trattner

Since rocketing to smashburger fame with the Tinman at the Ohio City Galley back in 2018, chef Michael Schoen is embarking on his first solo project with a new restaurant in Chagrin Falls.

The Space: The tavern of Schoen’s dreams turned out to be the former home of Flip Side Burgers at 44 N. Main St., which closed after a decade in 2024.

• The space was briefly home to Lopez 44, a short-lived project from the Cleveland Restaurant Management Group.

• The small tavern seats about 65 guests, including the 12-seat bar.

What is the Tinman: The heavyhitter is a double smashburger with American cheese, special sauce, and sweet and spicy pickles on a brioche bun, and it will be on the menu when Eugene Tavern opens its doors this summer.

Schoen: “This will be a place where you and your wife or girlfriend can come on a date for a nice three-course meal with homemade desserts, or you can come in alone, sit at the bar and enjoy a burger and a beer.”

Read more about Schoen's journey and what his plans are for Eugene Tavern.

Things To Do This Weekend

Midwest Wine Fest at Lago (May 1): The organizers of this three-day event that takes place at Lago through Sunday promise "global discovery." Expect to sample wines from all around the world. Find hours of operation and more info on the website. 1091 W. 10th St., Cleveland, 216-862-8065 winefestcle.com

Free Comic Book Day at Superscript Comics and Games (May 2): Superscript in Lakewood will open at 11 a.m. with free editions of comic books for customers to take. Free. 13361 Madison Ave., Lakewood, superscriptohio.com

Monster Jam at Huntington Bank Field (May 2): The popular monster truck competition that's part of the Stadium Championship Series East rolls into Huntington Bank Field. The day starts with meet-and-greets at 12:30 p.m., and the trucks kick things into gear at 5 p.m. 100 Alfred Lerner Way, Cleveland, 440-891-5000, huntingtonbankfield.com

Failure at the Grog Shop (May 3): The alt-rock band from the '90s returns to the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. After a good run, the group splintered in 1997, only to reunite in 2014 after a 17-year-hiatus. It's steadily toured and recorded since then, and the current tour supports the space rock-inspired new album, Location. All Under Heaven opens, and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

This now-demolished Cleveland-area mall was billed as the largest in the world when it opened in 1976. Randall Park Mall

Check back Monday for the answer to today's question.

From The Editor

Brook Park is happening. Even Jimmy Haslam said, during yesterday's event, he wasn't always sure it would. Though the dirt is moving, the dust hasn't settled. Notably absent from yesterday's event were local leaders from the city (to be expected) and from the county, such as county executive Chris Ronayne. But if the Browns are going to bring another NFL Draft, a Final Four or a Super Bowl — a promise that now seems like a long shot based on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's comments yesterday — to Cleveland, or even just take full advantage of this inevitable new build, the difficult conversations and local cooperations are just getting started. -Dillon Stewart, Editor