Abstract
Robin Yates, a professional real estate developer, describes his professional history and experiences with neighborhood projects in the city of Cleveland. Yates also explains his bed and breakfast operation that takes tourists on tours of the city of Cleveland. Significant to Yates is not only the perception of Cleveland, but the means to increase residency and future residential developments in the city.
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Interviewee
Yates, Robin (interviewee)
Interviewer
Hons, Justin (interviewer); Yanoshik-Wing, Emma (interviewer)
Project
Ingenuity Fest
Date
7-16-2006
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
15 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Robin Yates Interview, 16 July 2006" (2006). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 905009.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/298
Transcript
Robin Yates [00:00:00] Oh, okay. All right. Is he ready? Start off.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:05] If you could say your name and today’s date and it is the 16th of July.
Robin Yates [00:00:10] Yeah. Robin Yates. July 16th.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:14] What do you do, Robin?
Robin Yates [00:00:16] I renovate properties and run apartment buildings in Cleveland, Ohio.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:22] Do you enjoy it?
Robin Yates [00:00:23] I love it.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:24] Are you pretty much in downtown area?
Robin Yates [00:00:28] Everything’s north of Detroit in Detroit Shoreway area, and then the rest are downtown in Midtown. Both areas are doing beautifully.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:39] How long have you been involved in this?
Robin Yates [00:00:41] 25 years. [laughs]
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:00:44] What can you tell me a little bit about the changes you’ve seen in this?
Robin Yates [00:00:48] Well, just every single week there’s signs of improvement in both areas. You see people rollerblading in Midtown. Never saw that before. You see people riding bicycles. Never saw that before. A lot of nice people moving in the neighborhood. A lot of workers, downtown workers, people jogging, people walking. You know, just like a normal neighborhood. It’s very safe. A lot of friendly new faces.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:18] Can you define for me the boundaries of the Midtown?
Robin Yates [00:01:22] Yeah, I think it’s 30th to about 79th, and Carnegie to like Payne.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:01:31] Now, do you have a favorite building or do you have a special connection to one of the buildings?
Robin Yates [00:01:37] Well, the Asman is my favorite building, and that’s at 4806 Euclid. And it’s actually the first licensed apartment building in Cleveland, back in 1868. And the first building and housing code was designed after this building. They built the building as an example how to build apartment buildings because we never had any before that, especially on Millionaires Row. If they’re going to build an apartment building, it’d better be a nice one. So to this day the building housing code is based on the construction of that building. Yeah.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:13] When did you purchase that?
Robin Yates [00:02:14] I bought that building 20 years ago.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:16] Was it one of your first?
Robin Yates [00:02:18] Yeah it was one of my first big buildings, and it’s always been an apartment building. It’s never been any homeless shelter or whatever. It’s always been just a nice little apartment building with nice little apartments and moderately priced, and nobody in Cleveland knows it’s there. [laughs] What can I tell you?
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:02:38] What was it like when you bought it? Was it physically-
Robin Yates [00:02:41] When I bought it, it was- When I bought it, it was a total mess. The owner actually thought the building was empty. That’s how much attention he paid to it, and it was completely occupied. So I had to go in there and throw everybody out. It was gangs, it was hookers, it was what Cleveland was like 20 years ago. Downtown and Midtown right now we’ve got law students, med students, one stockbroker, a couple of actors, a window washer, secretaries, an art teacher. Nice, real nice, diverse group of people. Going very, very well.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:03:19] Have you been able to maintain some of the- I mean, I imagine architecturally, being built so long ago, it might have been-
Robin Yates [00:03:28] Yeah. We have been on improving the building ever since I got it. Meaning we’re- All the drop ceilings are gone, so we have the original beautiful ceilings, all the tiles off all the beautiful oak floors. So everything that we- And they covered up the fireplaces with plaster, so we re-exposed those and the three staircases are just beautiful. And all three have been restored to natural woodwork. And yeah, anything that could be saved, we saved it.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:04:00] Your other properties, do they tend to be historical?
Robin Yates [00:04:05] They’re all over 100 years old. I’m starting on what I call the Chester Townhouses or actually the servants’ quarters for Mr. Perkins. He went and built these beautiful old townhouses in like 1850s. Then they went to Italy, brought back 20 Italian families. Then they built the big Perkins mansion, which was on Euclid, which is now a parking lot. And here are these damn little servants’ quarters are still there. And there again I got a NASA employee in one, an art dealer in an another one, a vice president of a big bank downtown, which I probably shouldn’t mention, two teachers, a secretary, a manager of a downtown restaurant, and a chef in a downtown restaurant. Unfortunately, when they widened Chester in the ’70s, they tore off the two end houses and had to put a new brick wall up. So the drive by, it looks like they were built probably in the ’50s because of the brick. But if you actually drive up in there, you can see that the things are 150 years old.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:05:09] Where is that?
Robin Yates [00:05:09] It’s on 40th and Euclid- 40th and Chester. Right across from the National City, across Chester from the National City Bank Building. [laughs] You’ll know it’s full of pigeons. The owner of the last two houses has the worst car in Cleveland and feeds these pigeons. So the drive by, you wouldn’t even think twice about it. But what can I tell you? I don’t own that place, that house.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:05:33] The pigeons- [crosstalk]
Robin Yates [00:05:34] You know the pigeons? Okay.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:05:37] What about in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood? Where- Which buildings?
Robin Yates [00:05:42] All my houses are north of Detroit. I own the big old- The original farmhouse on the corner of 49th and Tillman. It’s a big white house with black shutters. That was the original estate. And all of everything around there was vineyards. And in that house they still have a grape winemaking, crushed-grape thing down the basement. And Eliot Ness raided that house back in Prohibition days because the people bootlegged whiskey, and he raided it three times. Could not find where the booze was coming from. So he turned on the cold water tap and out comes scotch. And here they had a compressor hidden in the basement. The room’s still there where they had the liquor, and people would come with empty jugs, turn the tap, buy it, and leave. [laughs] So that’s one of my nice, prized houses too. I really renovated that thoroughly.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:06:41] Has that been divided into apartments? Or is it-
Robin Yates [00:06:44] Yeah, it’s three apartments. Three large apartments, and the tenants have been there for years and years and years. And I would like to sort of restore to make it a big mansion again. But, you know, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, and it works for me. Maybe someday somebody will buy it and do that. That’s fine.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:07:05] Where do you live?
Robin Yates [00:07:06] I live at 3649 Prospect, one of the rowhouses that I purchased 32 years ago. Back in the day, that’s when Prospect was Prospect. Okay? [laughs] I mean, it was completely- I mean, there was hundreds of prostitutes every single night. There was guns. There was- It was complete chaos every single night of the week. And it took 16 years to calm that down. It wasn’t until Midtown Corridor came into play that they started, you know, getting the police and code violation and tearing down the really bad buildings and arresting people. Back in the day, it was- It was like- The thing was, if you’re going to do something bad, do it on Prospect. We don’t care. But if you get in trouble, don’t come crawling to us. I would call the- I’ve called the police over 10,000 times in my life, and just about every time I got yelled at for living there, back- That was in the early ’70s. But, you know, then towards the ’80s, it got a little bit different. Now it’s completely- I haven’t had- I actually haven’t had to call the police in five, six years. So it’s made a complete turnaround.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:08:23] What do you really attribute that to? I mean, you mentioned the Midtown Corridor.
Robin Yates [00:08:26] Well, you know, we hit bottom. We couldn’t have gotten any worse. The buildings were cheap, the taxes were cheap. A lot of investors took advantage of these good bargains out here that set up in the Warehouse District, and that’s what happened all over, all throughout Cleveland. And so now that they own it, they’re investing in it. Things are getting better, better, better, better, better. I can’t believe how the pace of this city- Frank Jackson’s great. For once, you hear a mayor that actually says this is a great city, but it’s not- We don’t want to be like Chicago, New York. We want to- Cleveland is cool the way it is. We just want to make it better, and there’s a sense of pride. And I see that. And I have a bed and breakfast and I have five rooms and I strictly cater to tourists that want to come and see Cleveland. And I’ll tell you just practically every single one is just shocked. They had no idea. They thought we were coming to an old steel-belt, bankrupt city. We heard about the pollution and the river and the fire and they just can’t get over- They didn’t even know. Most of them didn’t even know we even have an art museum, let alone the best one on the planet. So it’s, it’s coming into its own. The world’s going to find out about Cleveland and I can’t wait to see it happen.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:09:45] Where do you point people that come and stay? Where do you tell them?
Robin Yates [00:09:49] Well, University Circle. First I start them off with a history with a picture book of Cleveland of all the history. I tell them there’s a quiz before breakfast and then we just- Then I just, what you would expect. I make sure they go to the University Circle and see that area. I don’t send to any suburbs, none of them. The beach, Ohio City, the West Side Market, Playhouse Square, Case, Little Italy’s on the list of must do’s, Metroparks, the bike trails, zoo, you know, the trolley, the Goodtime 3, the USS Cod, all that stuff.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:10:30] Are there any, I guess, favorite spots of yours that maybe you wouldn’t necessarily send people from out of town to, but that you really enjoy, maybe being a native CLevelander?
Robin Yates [00:10:41] I spent a lot of time up at Dunham Tavern, believe it or not, which is a little old stagecoach house. It’s the oldest building in Cleveland, and they have, I don’t know, four or five acres of just old farmland surrounding it. So I go to the Gallucci’s and buy lunch and go over there and sit in this old bar by the barn. And it’s like you get out of there, it’s like you went on vacation. And here it is right there on Euclid Avenue. That’s one of my favorite places. Of course, Edgewater Beach is always fun. I ride my bike down there, and the old canal, the new visitor center is amazing. Have you been to the old canal? The new towpath that they just opened up last year from Rockside to the steel mills, you go right, there’s a bike path on one side’s a steel mill. Then all of a sudden there’s a wetland with blue herons. I mean, it’s amazing. They did a wonderful job. And now they’re going to open up from that point, which is near Broadway, to downtown, and the fact that girls are staying with me that are designing the thing. So it’ll be fantastic when it’s finished.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:11:44] What brought you here today?
Robin Yates [00:11:46] Oh, the Ingenuity Festival. You know, it’s nice to see the positive energy. And I went last year and I know it’s bigger and better this year, and it’s just nice to see these people giving Downtown Cleveland a chance on a hot Sunday. So. And I hope they like it and hope they move here if they’re nice. Some people we don’t want here, but most of them we would.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:12:11] What’s been your- Is this your- Have you been here Friday and Saturday?
Robin Yates [00:12:15] No, this is my first day, but the B and B kept me jumping this way. I couldn’t get out of the place. But, yeah, this is my first. In fact, my guests are down here as well. I drove them down here. Yeah. Yeah.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:12:28] Is there something that you’re particularly looking forward to today that’s on the agenda?
Robin Yates [00:12:34] Well, I’m looking for this lady that supposedly has an M3 player, and it tells you the history of the architecture of Downtown Cleveland. And I read about it in the paper last week and I thought for sure she’d be down here. I got online and got one of her T shirts, so hopefully she’ll find me, but I’d like to know more about it. I think it’d be a wonderful thing for my guests to be able to have a guided tour of Cleveland’s architecture like that. It would save me a lot of time and gas, I’ll tell you.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:13:05] Do you do a lot of driving tours?
Robin Yates [00:13:06] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Practically everybody I just throw in the car and whether they like it or not, come on, we’re gonna go. Because, you know, Cleveland’s one of those cities you have to be taken around. I mean, they get to the art museum is great, but getting there, you could get lost. You end up in a really lousy neighborhood, have a really lousy impression of Cleveland. Same with the zoo, same with anything. All the tourist sites. So I take them, I give them an overall view. It takes about an hour and a half usually. I go up University Circle and I swing around. We do Tremont, the Ohio City, the whole bit. So at least they have an idea of what the layout of Cleveland. Then from that point on, they find their own way, and it works out pretty good.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:13:48] Do you think the Euclid Corridor project is going to change the way you do it?
Robin Yates [00:13:53] Yes, I do. I think. I mean, on Euclid Corridor, we have, like, the best hospital in the world, the best art museum in the world, two universities, second largest entertainment complex, law firms. Well, how could- We got more on that street than any street in Manhattan has? And once that train ties all that together, it’s going to be incredible. Every day I just get up and I’m so happy that it’s gonna happen. I get up there, I ride my bike. What did they do today? They poured more concrete. Good, good. So, yeah, it’s gonna be wonderful. And anyone that doesn’t, most people I talk to think, ah, it’s not going to be anything. They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, and they need to just get serious. It’s gonna be fantastic. There’ll be people living there, walking. It’ll be just like what I call a normal city. [laughs] Excuse me.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:14:43] Are there any other stories about Cleveland that you want to share before we wrap up? Anything else?
Robin Yates [00:14:52] Get me another day, okay? Because I could really go on a roll, [laughs] and I have to track this when [inaudible] get back to the B and B.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:15:00] Okay. Well, thank you.
Robin Yates [00:15:01] Well, thank you very much.
Emma Yanoshik-Wing [00:15:02] Excuse me?
Robin Yates [00:15:03] I’m sure-
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