Mentor Developer Buys Winton Motor Carriage Works; Guardians Aim To Fight Back: CLE Daily

Plus, things to do this week in and around Cleveland.

by Ron Ledgard | Oct. 5, 2026 | 5:00 AM

Photograph courtesy NEOtrans

🗳️ Today Is the Last Day to Register to Vote: Ohioans have until the end of today to register or update their address for the Nov. 3 election. Already registered? Double-check where you vote, since more than 40 Cleveland precincts have new polling places after CMSD's school consolidations. Early in-person voting starts tomorrow. Here is our guide.

🍝 Dante Boccuzzi Is Swapping Sushi for Spaghetti on East Fourth: The chef closed Goma in August and is turning the space into Casa Nostra, a casual Italian spot with housemade pastas, meatballs and chicken parm, opening this winter.

🎃 Ohio Inmates Are Growing 1,700-Pound Pumpkins: Incarcerated growers at Belmont Correctional Institution hand-carry up to 200 gallons of water a day per plant to compete in a statewide prison giant-pumpkin challenge that started at Mansfield in 2022. This year, one of their pumpkins placed 10th at the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival weigh-off, against professional growers.

🏆 Best of the Best: Grab tickets to our Best of CLE event and see all of the selections and more at our annual party on Oct. 15.

ICYMI: Remember Downtown at Valor Acres nearing completion? The $678 million Brecksville development now has restaurants, a bar and three apartment buildings open around its walkable main street, and 73% of the downtown units are already leased.

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Today's Trivia

This Shaw and University School alumnus had a lengthy movie and television career but is best known for voicing Mr. Magoo and playing Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island.

Development: The factory that built America's first commercially produced car is getting a second life.

By Ken Prendergast, NEOtrans

A Mentor developer has bought the Winton Motor Carriage Works, 7.3 acres of brick factory buildings at 10300-10630 Berea Road in Cudell, for $300,000. The deal stops a plan to demolish 183,000 square feet of the historic complex.

Saved From the Wrecking Ball: The previous owner, a Weston Inc. affiliate, applied for demolition permits in February to make the site more attractive to industrial users. Buyer John Ellis, whose projects include Shea's Downtown theater in Ashtabula and townhomes in Old Brooklyn, plans to reuse all of it in phases. "I'd love to show it off as a rebirth of a really cool piece of history and Cleveland," he says.

Cleveland's Car Capital Roots: Alexander Winton, a Scottish-born bicycle maker, founded the company here in 1897, sold the nation's first commercially produced car in 1898 and saw one of his cars make the first cross-country U.S. drive in 1903. In the early 1900s, it was the largest auto plant in the country.

A Long, Colorful Afterlife: General Motors bought the plant in 1930 and built diesel engines there until 1962. Later occupants included a carton maker, the Cleveland Railway Co., the U4IA rave club and, for years, Roman Chariot auto parts.

Worth Noting: Ellis says he has tenants lined up but won't name them yet, and he expects renderings and plans within two weeks.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Photos of Downtown Cleveland in 1976 are on display at the main library. Dorothy Handelman's bicentennial-era shots of crowded sidewalks, department stores, diners and meter maids hang in the Cleveland Public Library's John G. White Corridor through Oct. 23.

Rocky River's Andrew Bailey is headed to Pebble Beach, and likely Augusta, after becoming the first Ohioan to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur. The 34-year-old former Cleveland State star beat Nate Smith 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final at Sand Valley in Wisconsin, earning a spot in the 2027 U.S. Open, the Mid-Am champion's traditional Masters invitation and exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateurs.

CMHA approved $9 million for lead paint testing across its properties. Four firms landed three-year contracts to inspect units for lead-based paint, with options for two more years.

Lakewood wants backup power before next summer. After two summers of multi-day blackouts during 100-degree heat, Mayor Meghan George is asking state regulators to make FirstEnergy provide stopgaps such as generators while it works through a nearly decade-long infrastructure overhaul.

Ohio's unemployment rate dipped, but not for a good reason. Ohio's labor force shrank by 10,000 people from July to August, Policy Matters Ohio reports, and the state is averaging just 3,100 new jobs a month this year.

Things To Do: Guardians, Cavs and more.

By Cleveland Magazine staff

ALDS Game 2 vs. Chicago White Sox (Monday): The Guardians are taking on the White Sox in a best-of-five series in an American League Division Series. This Monday, catch Game 2 in our home ballpark. The Guardians lost Game 1 on Saturday 3-0. 5 p.m., $82-$130, 2401 Ontario St., Cleveland, mlb.com

Brews and Bites with Malley’s (Wednesday): Great Lakes Brewing Company is hosting Malley’s Chocolates for an educational night of chocolate and beer pairings. Each ticket includes four 7-ounce beers and four chocolate bites. 6:30 p.m., $35, 2516 Market Ave., Cleveland, thisiscleveland.com

Chamber Music in the Galleries (Wednesday): Inside the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Italian Baroque gallery, Case Western Reserve University Historical Performance Practice musicians will perform a mixed set of pieces amongst the beautiful artworks. 6 p.m.-7 p.m., Free, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland, clevelandart.org

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics (Thursday): This Thursday, the Cavs host the Celtics in a preseason matchup in Rocket Arena. With only two games left in the preseason, regular season basketball is on the horizon. 7:30 p.m., $42-$404, 1 Center Court, Cleveland, nba.com

Friday's Trivia Answer

This landmark, which opened on Memorial Day 1890, became the first Cleveland building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Arcade

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

From the Editor

Ohio drivers got a break at the pump Sunday, when the state's 38.5-cent gas tax dropped to a penny for 90 days.

Lawmakers say that's $3 to $7 saved per fill-up, and the law bars stations from pocketing the cut, though some Democrats warn much won't reach drivers. Either way, don't expect cheap gas.

Ohio's regular average still sits around $4.16, and diesel tops $6.60. Blame the Iran war. Closing the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world's oil, caused what the International Energy Agency calls the largest supply disruption in history, and Houthi attacks have shut Red Sea shipping. Tankers are moving through Hormuz again, and the U.S. is tapping its strategic reserve, but Brent crude still hovers near $100, up 50% or more in a year.

The holiday goes through the November election and then ends around New Year's. Enjoy it while it lasts.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Let us know what is on your mind at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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Ron Ledgard

Ron Ledgard is Cleveland Magazine's managing editor and a Pittsburgh native who has made his peace with Cleveland (except on Sundays). He's a University of Pittsburgh graduate, a veteran of The Athletic and the Akron Beacon Journal, and was there for every chapter of LeBron's Cleveland story. After two decades of chasing deadlines and box scores, he's happily landed in magazines. He's a sucker for a long story done right, the kind you save for a Sunday morning (before kickoff, of course). When he isn't editing, he's out on a trail, trying a new restaurant or hunting for the next great thing to do. Sports is his subject of choice, and coffee is his fuel. Most Starbucks baristas in the area greet him like the Cheers crowd greeted Norm.