A comeback for the CAC?

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

I spent the majority of my adult working life serving as the Athletic Director and later the General Manager of the Cleveland Athletic Club. In 1998, I left the Club when it fell to private ownership and pursued other avenues of employment. Ten years later and one shy of celebrating its 100th anniversary; the CAC closed its door – no longer able to sustain itself.

There were many factors contributing to the demise of the CAC. The economy took it toll, as did the exodus of major employers moving from the city. Probably the final nail in the coffin was the reconstruction of Euclid Avenue, which left access to that storied building at 1118 problematic, at best. I was there on New Year’s Eve in 2008 for its final day to have a last look around, speak to old friends and reminisce about the impact it had had on my life and my memories.

So when a developer interested in revitalizing the entire building contacted me to help him with his efforts to obtain financing, I jumped at the chance. He is hoping to reopen the entire CAC building (the first five floors of the 15-floor building were dedicated to office space) that would feature a Trader Vic’s Restaurant on the ground floor, a 180-room hotel on floors 2-10, and the return of the Cleveland Athletic Club on floors 11-15. It is an exciting idea which, I believe, will come to fruition. There are ongoing discussions to include a major health care provider in the mix to assure that the Club’s dedication to health and wellness will be the model for other Clubs in the Northeast Ohio and the country to emulate. The area of Euclid Avenue the CAC Building calls home needs this project and I hope the developer completes his financing and makes it happen.

I made it to the Metropark for a try at running a third day in a row. I was thinking I’d go around 25 minutes to test the achilles. It’s still a little tender when walking, as are my feet, but still on the mend. The trails were now frozen and provided difficult footing. A vehicle had driven over much of the bridle trails in an effort to pack down snow for easier hiking…at least that’s what I think the park staff is attempting. And it is a little easier to run in the tire tracks the first day…but after that, those tracks tend towards ice and not packed snow, which makes them an even more difficult surface on which to run.

Anyway, it’s still better than running the roads, so I slipped and slid my way to a 31-minute run, taking the extra time just because it was such slow going. I was surprised to pass the sledding hill and find only one family on it…and they were surprised to see a solitary runner plowing through the snow in a pair of shorts. No matter the conditions, I’m still sweating and find that running in shorts is comfortable on all but the most frigid days…that and the fact that John some how has my running pants in his backpack gear from our camping trip in September assured that I would keep running in shorts. Tomorrow should be even more fun if the weather reports are accurate and we get the snow they’re promising. I’ll get to add shoveling to my workouts, too.

Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 525.