RestorationConsultant

It took 12 Dumptrucks to haul away the house behind ours that the city tore down. It would have been more but our neighborhood group salvaged the brackets fireplace mantles,doors, transoms, door trim beaded board and newel posts. But there were things we didnt have time to save like the flooring, stair treads, and original siding and windows. Not to mention al the structural timbers that could have been saved. The city spent 12K demolishing a house that had NO STRUCTURAL ISSUES and could have been saved. I just did a blog story about a Italianate duplex on McMicken that the city demoed while HUD was taking the owner through foreclosure!

Well, I and others have sent emails and calls to our illustrious city council (whose apparently very busy trying to get re-elected) and there has not been much response. Apparently the concept of saving historic structions is not on their priority list. I guess a vacant lot is going to generate tax revenue? Perhaps if enough people complain loudly enough and the council understands that many consider the loss of our architectural heritage to be a serious issue, maybe?

There is no way to "ballpark' something like that. One would need to know what type of building , masonry , steel clear span? Site issues:level lot, site remediation issues(lead) setbacks, drainage, off street parking etc. If you are building new construction you have to follow local building codes, You will have to provide water and sewer on site and sprikler system, you may also hava ADA (Americans with disability acts requirements). You may also need a zoning change depending on how the site is surently zoned. If you are trying to compare the cost of building an 8000 square foot new construction vs restoration of a historic building, there is NO WAY to compare the two. Need allot more specifics to give any kind of an answer.

That whole area is very underutilized, it would be good to see some redevelopment there.

This entire facility is going to create about 40 jobs, thats it. On the other hand you have a great deal of restoration going on in Price Hill, properties are selling and prices are going up. You have some new infill on State Street. Price Hill Will is doing some good rehabs. A couple of people I know that used to restore over in MT Adams are now over in Price Hill. It really looks like the next neighborhood to potentially go "upscale' in the city. I've had a bunch of inquiries from people about writing restoration plans and bid specs over there who recently bought houses, and if you take the time to actually drive around there is a lot of new restoration going on. People forget that Mt Adams and Columbia Tusculum were not always "upscale". Price Hill has some great architecture ,good views, and its close to the downtown. A turn around of Price Hill will result in hundreds of construction/trades jobs over the next 5-10 years, you will see new business going in. More new infill and condo development. In my opinion it's a good thing that the people in Price Hill are not willing to just "settle' for a business. They are looking to see if there is a higher, better use, for this site and there very well may be. I've heard that there is move underway to pin the council candidates down on this issue and there appears to be an attempt to campaign against those who are in favor if it. I think a lot of people in Price Hill will vote based on this one issue. That could change the makeup of the council.

I watched Indianapolis downtown transform over the last 15 years. They gained 30-40,000 people downtown in the last 5 years alone and are still growing. The downtown neighborhoods are all restored and the poor got pushed out to the townships. In fact the reason I decided on Cincinnati is I know its headed the same way, just with better architecture and most people who live there have no clue whats coming over the next 5-10 years. I wouldn't be surprised at all if in a few years, those foreclosed suburban McMansions are converted into Section 8 apartments. The burbs are horribly overbuilt and in my opinion unsustainable. People have a limit to how far they will drive.

I learned this morning from Margo Warminski that a local company called ResErection Inc has purchased 3 landmark mansions with plans to dis-assemble them and rebuild them out of state. Full details on my hitoric Preservation blog: http://victorianantiquitiesanddesign.blogspot.com/2009/10/3-landmark-mansion-in-eminent-danger.html This represents a major threat to retention of historic property in the city of Cincinnati and Immediate action is needed by the city council to enact ordinances preventing the removal and or moving of historic properties without a council vote. We need to mobilize EVERYONE to contact the council and the mayor to stop this. Other cities threathened with removal of historic architecture have enacted ordinaces to protect them and unless our council does this we are in serious danger of losing our architectural history which will be removed and reconstructed in 'suburban tracts" in other parts of the country. The 965 Burton property is on the National registry and was built by Samuel Hannaford! It is being offered moved and rebuilt for 2.8 million (it was bought earlier this year for less than 100K). This same company is responsible for the disassemby of the Kemper house which is being rebuilt in Texas in 2010. Unless IMMEDIATE ACTION id taken none of our historic architecture is safe!

If you are using Concrete counter tops with the typical home improvement store cabinets you will have serious problems down the road. They won't hold up to that much weight. If you are going to use them I recomend that between each cabinet there is space usually 1/2 inch. Most cabinets are screwed together at the front only when several are put together. You need to buy some good cabinet grade plywood and fill the space between the sides of the cabinets going all the way to the floor. Just use the cabinet side as your template (less the face trim). I also recomend buying some 3/4 inch plywood and cut to fit and attach it to the backside of the row of cabinets for extra strength. You may also want to replace those cheap plastic corner brackets most cabinets have to hold the corners together with metal. There really is alot of work involved in this.

You presently have a building that need SERIOUS work done to it. I do not think the numbers would work to rehab it and bring it up to code for low income housing. Incidently those codes are under review by the federal government and may become much tougher. Probaly the reason the current owner wants rid of it. Sometimes you need to go after the highest possible use for the building which would likely be a boutique hotel or condominium conversion. I think Cincinnati is possibly getting close to 'saturation point' however with condos. If you look at Indianapolis, they are majorly overbuilt downtown with 500K to million dollar condos. A 3-5 year supply AND they are still building. A boutique hotel makes sense and if its done right, it could be converted to condos in the future should market conditions warrant it. Cincinnati needs this kind of development downtown.

That means there was some city level approval, I will see what I can find out, this could be interesting.

Goog NEWS!!! thanks to some blogposts today getting the word out and some active lobbying from members of the Historic Preservation Community, neighborhood groups and Clifton residents (great how screaming and yelling works in an election year), the city has put a 'hold' on any demolition!

The house at 2210 Ohio Avenue in Clifton Heights has been declared a public nuisance and is subject to demo by the City but, thankfully, has not been put out to bid yet. The house is believed to be one of the oldest in the neighborhood, built c. 1838 in the Greek Revival style and later enlarged and Victorianized. It’s on a choice site opposite Bellevue Hill Park. As far as anyone can tell, there is nothing structurally wrong with it. The city has cited the deteriorated porch and a detatched garage as the primary reason to demo it. CPA and the neighborhood are trying to save it. Why the city wouldn't perform an "emergency repair" to the porch and bill the owner like they would with a board up is beyond me and another example of how the city system is broken.

If you don't mind driving to Indianapolis, White River Salvage, http://www.whiteriversalvage.com/ They have a huge salvage operation and they have craftsman era pieces including doors, door locks, columns, restored craftsman lighting and usually some built ins. Be prepared to make a day of it its a huge operation but you can find a lot of craftsman era items. While you are up I would suggest checking out the Meridian Park Historic District which has some great craftsman homes.

I think the tax credit program is a great idea. Having said that I wish the state would come up with a program greared towards Historic Restoration of Homes in "blighted" areas. As someone trying to help turn around a neighborhood with great architecture, it is frustrating to not have any incentives to get other people willing to come into this area and restore homes. Maybe something as simple as a 5000 Urban pioneer credit. Of a Historic Facade tax credit,to encourage people to come into urban areas of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and make the leap into neighborhoods with great architecture and assume the financial risk of doing restoration where you know, you will be upside down on your house for years to come. The tax credit program is great and certainly helps many "high dollar" projects but the Historic preservation community needs more help at the neighborhood level.

The neighborhood sits in Fairmount basically on the line that seperates North Fairmount from South. Streets are Knox and Fairmount between Beekman and Harrison. The area was built primarily as weekend and summer cottages for the wealthy who hung out at the Schuetzen Verein which was an exclusive German Club with beer garden and shoorting range that used to sit where St Clair Park is today (see photo). Houses range in size from 1500 square foot cottages all the way up to 6-7000 square foot mansions. In addition to an outstanding collection of Victorian era Italianates and Second Empire cottages and homes the area also has several Greek revival homes that may be some of the earliest houses on the westside dating to the 1840's. Neighborhood website: http://sites.google.com/site/knoxhillneighborhoodassoc/ The Neighborhood Association was formed in 2008 by a handfull of preservationists and long time residents intent on stopping the decline of the area.

Yeah Sherman they were riding up and down Fairmount over the weekend doing 60 MPH popping wheelies despite the fact there are small kids all over the place. Police arested one of the "fine individuals' on Tuesday over there on some open warrants after they threathened a city inspector. Neighbors cheered when the building came down. Our neighbrohood group is planning on planting a flower bed accross the front as soon as the lot is seeded to prevent people parking on it or using it as a dump site. So its Knox Hill Neighborhood Association 1 :-D Ruthless Riders ZERO! :-(

The circa 1902 building at 1900 Fairmount Avenue was demoed yesterday by city contractors. The property had been a hotbed of criminal activity over the years and the city ordered it demoed last year. The city backed off demolition which was scheduled for a couple of months ago to give our Neighbrrhood Association, Knox Hill, time to find a buyer. Estimates were 50k to stabilize it and 150,000.00 to restore it. The building had some structural issues on the back. We actually found a buyer for it but the owner would not return calls or reply to a written offer to buy the property. Two weeks ago neighbors noticed the building being cleaned out and assumed the city was finally ready to bull doze it BUT they learned that the "Ruthless Riders' motorcycle club was patching together the building to use as a motorcycle club. Of course, no permits and in violation of city orders. The establishment of a motorcycle club in that building, sitting in the middle of a residential neighborhood, would have been a major step back for Historic Restoration efforts, so reluctantly, we asked the city to demo the building. Which they did in record time. It was unfortunate to lose this building, but the owner wouldn't sell and we couldn't have a biker club at that location. If anything good came out of this, it was that a clear message has been sent to slumlords, that it isn't business as usual in the Knox Hill Neighborhood anymore and you need Permits and zoning. On the plus side we think we have a buyer for a house that was scheduled to be demoed so we win some, we lose some.

The neighbors have about 12 cats at any given time they do animal rescue. The house is about 1800 square feet it is one of the larger 'cottages', If you drove around there are several mansion sized homes on fairmount near the park. It is an interesting area architecturally and you really dont feel like you are in the city.

Thanks, we are getting close to having the outside done, We wanted to have positive impact on the neighborhood and getting the house done in a multicolor preservation paint pallette was key. That, and cold weather is coming. We custom built the new square bay bumpout and porch, Still have to finish up railings and get the steps installed but we are getting there. I have blog on historic preservation and I post weekly updates on the house there: http://victorianantiquitiesanddesign.blogspot.com/

Fascinating discussion and on that I am at this moment heavily involved in. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20090726/NEWS01/907270347/ Our neighborhood Knox Hill is in Fairmount. It was built mostly as weekend homes for the wealthy industrialists of Cincinnati between 1860-1885. When the city expanded and many of those people built grand homes in Avondale and Westwood, these weekend homes were sold off. Mostly to professional businessmen who were by no means wealthy they were 'well off' many of these homes rarely if ever changed hands. In fact my home was pretty much in two family control from 1871 when it was built until 2000.It was only after 2000 it became a rental and seriously declined. For more info, click link

2471 McBreyer is currently undergoing asbestos remediation and will likely be torn down Monday. The 1881 Italianate was built asa summer or weekend home, in the Knox hill neighborhood.. The home originally had several ornate cast iron and slate mantles and walnut bead board wainscot that ran the entire length of the staircase and upper hallway. Area neighbors salvaged the one remaining fireplace and part of the wainscot when the demo was formalized earlier this year. The home still had its original windows with wavy glass under the metal storms and at least one transom. The city cited "foundation issues' as the reason for demo. I looked at the house, top to bottom, and the only foundation issue I saw was some minor cracking in the stone foundation wall caused by a tree too close to it. This repair could have been made for less than a 1000.00. The house needed cleanup. The last tenants left everything whe they left. But the house was an easy restore. I asked a member of city building inspections why the house was being demoed given the relatively minor nature of the problem and was told "No one in their right mind would put money in a house in That neighborhood!'. Ironic since there are several on going restorations in our neighborhood ( over 1.2 million) in historic restorationb investments. They got the 1930's era asbestos siding off of it yesterday and it appears the original clapboards are in excellent condition. This house sits behind our 1871 Second Empire cottage , currently undergoing restore. Not wanting a vacant lot for decades that will be an overgrown weed infested dumping ground I sent emails to Greg Harris, Cincinnati city councilman and Ed Cunningham of City Building inspectiosn asking the city to pursue the demo lien and gain control of the lot so we can buy it, fence it and landscape it but I have not had any reply from either of then or other city officials I have attempted to contact, so it appears the "blighted' house will be replaced with a 'blighted' vacant lot that the neighborhood will have to deal with for decades. Another FAILURE by the City of Cincinnati on Historic preservation and more of the fabric of our neighborhood lost to this cities "blight=bulldozer" mentality.

Wewere down working on our second empire cottage and stopped by. Extremely frustarting! Fortunately our neighbor saved teh Wrought iriin fence when they showed up to bulldoze it. FRom what I could tell of ythr rubble it had good woodwork and floors. I was able to find one really nice victorian doorlock in the debris. Which we saved! As bad as it is too see this senseless destruction at least we saved and are restoring one. Second empire architecure is the most coveted of Victoorian Architectural styles and ANYWHERE else there would have been an out cry to save it. We have 11 second Empire cottages in our neighborhood and the city has its sights on one of them right now. I do not understand how a city that is "allegedly" broke and 40 Mill in hole , has all this money for demo. Something doesnt add up! I wish the state AG's office would do some investigating about where this demo money is going and just who is getting the contracts?

I covered this in detail on my blog today, if you want the whole scoop. http://victorianantiquitiesanddesign.blogspot.com/ Short story. This house AT 2547 TREVOR was ordered condemned in 2007 when Deutschebank owned it, they sold it to Nu Life Investments in California in 2008. They are blindsided by finding out they bought a condemned house because it didnt show up on title search! They listed it with a local agent and no where on the listing is it mentioned there is condemn order. (agent probably didnt know). An offer is accepted and is listed as PENDING SALE in the local MLS. In the meantime the city Bulldozes it! I actually saw this house, It's not far from our neighborhood and it was in easily restorable condition, therewas nothing wrong that couldnt be fixed easily. It had great Second Empire Cottage architecture and would have made a stunning restoration. I hope they sue the city over this. We need to force the city to record demo orders or barricade so they show up on title search. Can you imaging the buyer finding out the city bulldozed a house while they were waiting to close? Another senseless demo!

Indiana recently passed a law that says if you have existing orders against a property , you are prohibited from buying a foreclosure. Sounds like we need a state level law that if you have orders against a property you are prohibited to buy ANY property other than one you intend to owner occupy. This would severly limit the "slumlord/investor" types from out of state.The only exception being if you are buying property as part of an approved redevelopment plan. I also think we need a state level law that requires all back property tax be paid in order to transferr a property ownership, this would prevent these LLC's from trading property back and forth to avoid the hearing process.

This article clearly identifies the problem. "investor types' know how to play the system. There are clear 'holes' in the city system of code enforcement. The inspectors do their job and their hands are tied because the courts will not support the interest of the community and order that these properties be repaired. Demolition should NOT be an option. The option should be ' fix it, or sell it to someone willing to fix it", period. The city should have required a development plan when it considered the first demolition. I know from my own experience of looking for a commerical building in OTR to restore for our business. You see a likely building, You track down the owner (not an easy process since many of these people hide behind multiple LLC's) and the answer when you ask about buying it is always the same "well I have plans". or, "I am waiting for prices to go up when the neighborhood turns around" or the asking price is about 5 times the value of the building in its deteriorated state. What NEEDS to happen is the city needs to have comprehensive redevelopment plan in conjunction with preservation and local business groups. The city then needs to use eminent domain to acquire these properties back from the 'dreamers and slumlords' then in conjunction with developers or individuals with proven experience , they need to restore OTR. You need to wipe the slate clean, get these people who are sitting on property "out of the picture' and bring in people who know what they doing and have the financial means to do so.