Also, I was thinking, it could be that I'm over-reacting - I never looked closely at maple leaves but some of the newer leaves on my new amur maples are also a little "rougher" and not as smooth and beautiful as a mature leaf. could it just be that the new growth is different than the mature leaf? And the tips just may have burned from a temporary lack of water?

Not sure about the leaves, sorry, but do some research on Bradford Pear problems before deciding to get one as a replacement.

I got a Northern Red Oak today. I am going to take the red maple out and put it on some property we have and see if it lives.

I did research about the Cleveland Select and decided it would not be prudent to place it on the tree lawn due to downed branches, etc. Thank you for responding!

Looked up Northern Red Oak pics--beautiful. I hope the red maple makes it too. Good luck!