[ahhhhhhhhhh]

I grew up in Springfield, MA — and I was seeing similar red flags reading his post about Cleveland. Springfield also has a very clean heart of downtown, but it's a total ghost town after 5pm and really only has one significantly sized employer (there are also museums and good places to eat in Springfield). "Clean" means nothing for a downtown area.

Real estate is also very cheap because no one wants to live there (few jobs, violence) and people struggle to upkeep the very large houses from the times when Springfield was actually prosperous.

[tcbawo]

Cleveland is by no means a large city, but the Metropolitan population is probably 4-5 times that of Springfield, MA. Also, Cleveland peaked in population 60+ years ago, so the housing stock is relatively old and cheap, and the cultural landmarks are outsized for a city it's size. Like Detroit, the suburbs were more prosperous than the city center, although there is massive resurgence happening downtown with breweries, restaurants, and art galleries popping up everywhere. There are many large, lofty buildings that are incredibly cheap (like Chicago's West Loop 30 years ago). Overall it seems like a turnaround story similar to Pittsburgh and Detroit.