City Blights

Great point very true. The food in Cincinnati is exceptional no matter what city we're talking about IMO.

I want our gaping hole to go away badly. Hopefully Cincinnati won't have to wait more than twelve years to see ground broken on something really tall there.

The density will return if the CBD/riverfront turns around. Just look at Chicago.

Because they already owned the land and had a store there? (Mabley and Carew). Because they did their homework.

How do you figure...the flag pole? Ugh...doesn't count. ;) Unless, of course, you want to include the flagpole on top of Atrium II as part of that tower's height. BUT....we've already been down this road before. Some include flagpoles, some don't. From my estimation, Carew appears to be ten or so meters taller than it is listed, and no I don't mean flagpole. There is certainly logic behind constructing a tower where they did.

Carew tower plays at about 185 meters as opposed to the 175 it's listed as. Having two towers that play at 200 meters is not the worst thing in the world.

Those crap buildings are very old and just as historic as many of the buildings knocked over in this city that UO'ers gripe about so passionately. Not that I'm grouping you with them, just stating.

I believe many have qualms with the girth of the building because our downtown is actually filled in enough to support an 800 footer without much awkwardness, so our almost-700 footer doesn't pop out as the Babylonian tower some are looking for. I personally love the addition of color and glass to downtown, and the fact that it really exposes the areas around Walnut as in need of a taller presence. Hopefully that would influence a future project's location and scale.

So is this bldg going to be 695 ft with the tiara, about what it was supposed to be originally? Its already 565. From the Enquirer http://ow.ly/1Cek9

I'll make it simple for you. Cold weather + no arena attracting 12k a couple nights a week = struggles for downtown and OTR's entertainment district in the winter. Sunshine = more people downtown. No baseball on the river = no major draw at this point. It wouldn't be efficient to put a ballpark downtown and leave the river bare in the warm months. It wouldn't make sense to invest so heavily into the Banks if Reds Stadium wasn't there to ensure its visibility for six months.

I believe you said recently that a basketball arena would be perfect for Broadway Commons. Why would an open-air baseball stadium not care about its views, but a closed basketball arena would be perfect up against Mount Adams? A basketball arena fits there b/c it supports downtown and OTR through the cold season. Having the stadium on the riverfront with an outdoor sport makes sense, regardless of where the view leads you. At the end of the day I'd rather see money trickle into OTR than enjoy fantastic views of Mt. Adams at a baseball game. The complaining about the view is insane to me, because if people thought Cincinnati was cool enough on its own, it wouldn't need a postcard-worthy view at a stadium to attract visitors. The view is already very nice!

the stadium is intended to be a haven, a place where fans watch professional baseball, not their surroundings. 25k on the river 81 times a year works for me, regardless of which direction they could or couldn't point the outfield.

Agree. With current size/height of most downtown buildings a skyscraper of over 800' would stick out like a sore thumb - a very large....well, you know ... yeah, like Cleveland's 3 skyscrapers. ;) Exactly. Each state is only allowed to have one "fierce" skyline. Just by looking at this http://ic2.pbase.com/t6/73/280873/4/69974733.Un3myqOj.jpg Cincinnati looks to be crowned as Ohio's best skyline bar none.

Precisely.

I feel QCS's girth gives the tower a commanding feel of a taller building.

The street presence on the riverfront, levee and Reds stadium will be massive.

^ For sure, but Cincinnati has the goliaths to build a game-changer at any time. That's how I believe the city will get its next tallest. One day someone will step up and decide to build one with minimal speculation leading up to it. We have to remember that the major tenant of our new tallest isn't in the same conversation as 5/3 and some of the others.

It's almost useless to build 500 footers in Cincinnati at this point unless it happens to be west of Vine. The city needs an 800 footer to shadow Carew and a 700 footer on the western front for balance. Cincinnati should build tall in order to maximize the visual impact of building a tower. Too bad they aren't building 700+ footers in mid-markets on the regular.

Winning brings fans. It is incredibly easy to make the playoffs in the NBA, ask Cleveland. You limit yourself when you feel that every reason why something can't happen is justified and not worth challenging. Isn't this the streetcar debate that everyone is in favor of? I highly doubt Cincinnati is too small for a pro basketball team especially considering the love for hoops here. And don't give me the college-pro thing because that's preposterous. This city needs to be more well-rounded if it wants to be what it thinks it can be, and that's a bonafide cosmopolitan arena that directly competes with Chicago. What does Chicago have on Cincinnati? The Bulls, the L and the cleanliness.

Is that Uncle Optimism saying progress cannot happen in Cincinnati?

Broadway Commons is perfect for pro basketball. I'd put gambling on the westside of downtown. So sad....

It's amazing how famous Andre is, myself being another who knows the guy. Guy was a genius before he lost it.

Any day now they'll be topping it off at this pace

It's long been an embarrasment in my humble...what are you alluding to as an imminent upgrade of utility down there?

edale, good points. dmerkow, this is how race has been politically represented in Cincinnati historically. I don't think there's any question that the overarching perception of city neighborhoods is black = more than likely poor and violent. Let's be clear on this - you just conceded Cincinnati's limited number of socially integrated areas as a major issue. It would be nice if OTR worked out that way, but realistically, consider the politics involved. -Why would middle-class blacks jump at OTR? They will take a wait-and-see approach, possibly the longest of any potential major investor. -Conservative whites will be slow to move, and frustrated at all of the general things today's Republican would be upset over concerning public works that doesn't directly serve their wants. -South Asians and Middle Easterners will likely continue to establish themselves Uptown. Economically this figures to be a poor black and socially-mobile white juxtaposition. Have we found a way to make Mount Adams and OTR the same place again?