Cleveland Skylift would mix gondola cars with mixed reality for lakefront 'transportainment'

Cleveland SkyLift's Jon Stahl shares his vision for the city

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jon Stahl has invested four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Cleveland Skylift, a lakefront "transport-ainment" project that aims to remake tourism in Cleveland.

The Skylift would give gondola rides along the coast of Lake Erie, with the bonus of "mixed reality" -- facts or videos that would pop up along the glass.

It sounds crazy, especially when you find out he'd need to construct six buildings on the lakefront as stops for his 30-50 gondola cars. But Stahl stands by the idea as a high-tech attraction that would catapult Cleveland in front of tourism competitors like Chicago and Austin.

"This is a race," he said. "I'd like to be first."

First, Stahl needs the go-ahead from Cleveland City Council. He's not asking for taxpayer money, he said, but wants to raise $700,000 to hire engineers to do a complete feasibility analysis. caught up with Stahl on the former Hornblower's barge near Burke Lakefront Airport, where his company, LeanDog, shares space with Arras Keathley Advertising.

Outside, where a mock-up of a gondola car sits, Stahl explained his dream.

So what exactly is a skylift?

Here's the idea: Riders would get on a gondola car at a multimodal hub in near First Energy Stadium. Stahl said they'd initially have 30 to 50 cars.

There could be multiple experiences to choose from, whether it be a simple gondola ride for a look at the lake and the Cleveland skyline, a dining tour of Cleveland or an educational tour of the lakefront.

"Having things flying across the waterfront shows a vibrant, alive city," he said. "I view this as sharing the views of Cleveland with everybody, not just the people in the high rises."

It's much more from getting from point A to point B, Stahl said. For example, the organization could partner with organizations Great Lakes Science Center to provide learning experiences.

How would an educational experience or entertainment experience work?

This is based on technology that doesn't really exist yet, Stahl said. The idea is to work with augmented reality and virtual reality.

In augmented reality, developers can place a data overly into a user's view. Think about the dog filters on Snapchat or the Pokemon Go app, where animated images are fused with the image your camera sees. Facebook is also working to incorporate the technology.

Virtual reality is creating an artificial world where a user can submerse themselves, like with the Oculus Rift.

The problem is Stahl doesn't want his riders to have to wear glasses or headsets to tap into an augmented reality experience. He thinks his company could create technology that would allow the glass of the cable cars to act as a screen, showing information about the buildings passengers are seeing or links to buy Browns tickets, for example.

Stahl has another company, Magic Leap, that is working on the kind of experience he's looking to create. Magic Leap works in mixed-reality, which means mixes digital objects users can see in their view in the real world, with the potential to interact with them.

This research could stand alone from the skylift project, but it's essential to Stahl's transportation-entertainment combination idea.

Where would the skylift stop?

Stahl said he would need developers to create the stops for the sky lift. These could be building with classroom spaces and retail opportunities.

Initially the idea was to spread it across the lakefront, with 14 stops. Now, it's down to six.

The stops would be:

  • The RTA multimodal hub downtown
  • East Bank
  • West Bank
  • Wendy Park
  • Edgewater Park
  • Canal Basin Park

Are other people trying to build this same thing?

Stahl said there are about 19 cities who have expressed interest in making the same kind of system.

A proposed East River Skyway in New York would connect Brooklyn and Manhattan. In Texas, designers think gondolas could be a good way to get around traffic problems.

Among other cities Stahl lists are Seattle, Chicago, Cincinnati, Banff and Toronto, Canada, and San Diego.

Disney World has gondolas are in the works to connect parks and hotels, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

What needs to happen, besides the money, to make this a reality?

A lot.

Besides the actual plans and the fundraising, there has to be buy-in from City Hall.

"I've done everything I can," he said. "I can't take investor capital and then say 'Yeah, the mayor doesn't believe in this vision.'"

Stahl hopes to get that meeting soon, and he made a presentation to City Council's planning commission. There hasn't been any progress on that front since then.

But he's still working on it, and is optimistic about the future of the project.

"It'll be iconic for Cleveland and something that no other city has," he said.

Read more about other projects on the waterfront here.