Michael L. Redmond

I love the pic, it is taken at a slight angle so it looks like it is falling down the hill (and maby it is) glad to see my house isn't the only one. There are several more of these including 13 and Reading/Liberty and I believe another at Vine and perhaps E Mcmicken which someone should get a pic of the Flintstone house over there, if anyone knows which one I am talking about, the word on the street is the owner is trying to scrape up the money to rehab

There are just to many projects to point to and more are on the way to say anything other than a turnaround. Is there anyone out there who truly believes that we are not better off today (in a residential sense) than at any point in recent history.

Mark, Correct, ignorance both inside and outside of the community. I know I have brought this up in the Mulberry thread but an example, City Beat writing about the Mulberry Hill Tour for Life "come see the rich people on the hill open their doors for the less fortunate" This type of ignorance is just as hurtful and creates an us vs them environment. Class warfare, especially when it is incorrect, does us no good whatsoever. It is not just the Burbs that are ignorant, but members of our own community.

Well I would not necessarily say apathy, at least not the people I am talking about. They seem passionate about their beliefs and more than willing to fight for them. And I more than most, probably have to deal with them more frequently. And I do take what they say somewhat more personal than perhaps I should as it does get frustrating from time to time. Now I will say that there are very few - true, anti-development people out there but they do exist and they are very vocal. (I always have to point back to CitiRama at the top of Hughes and how that was shot down by the very people it would have helped the most) I would not say there is necessarily low demand either, at least not relative to historic trends. Absorption rate is a factor (number of condos on market at a given time relative to closing rate) but OTR and CBD is seeing an upswing. Infighting can help diminish demand, (as it never seems to stay "in") and can certainly kill a proposed project.

Well congrats, which part?

Understood, no harm done. I think we are on the same page. My quick (and perhaps harsh) response to this comes because we do hear this everyday when talking about the redevelopment of OTR. Our biggest obsitacle seems to be ourselves. There is tremendous infighting everyday over not just how OTR should be redeveloped, but even some who ask whether it should be redeveloped at all. We all want the same thing (or at least the overwhelming majority of us) but I understand the fear that some have that they will somehow be left out. Every project that we work on in OTR or CBD is an uphill battle of changing minds and community image but these are but a handful of buildings out of litteraly thousands. No one will be left out, fewer will be displaced than you think (because some of these are vacant buildings) and the range of pricing will be all over the board and market driven. Students are certainly welcome, which seems to be your primary concern, look at all the signage stating "welcome SCPA Students" on buildings everywhere downtown. We are, and will continue to be diversified not only in race, sexual orientation, but in income also, no one is shutting the door in anyones face.

I heard this reported as being in OTR. My first thought was that it is going to be even harder to get a pizza delived to my house now. Thanks girls! Although this story has taught me a valuable lesson, I can indeed get a pizza at 10:30 in the morning.

I took 1k as an arbitrary number pulled out of the sky and not literal, I can show you today a couple of 1k rents in OTR today as well as some 300,000 plus properties. Does this mean that all of OTR is like this, of course not. But as Jimmy says, we are so far away that I can not imagine ever seeing OTR completely out of reach. I see homes in Amberly Village at 2 mil and I see other homes down the street at 180, OTR as with any other community will have a mix of high and low end homes for purchase as well as rents. Right now we are skewed so far towards the low end that no one should fear that OTR will be out of reach any time soon (or ever).

And even that map doesn't include some of the smaller projects ie 1,2,3 condo unit buildings. Also we have a tremendous amount of progress in Clifton and all throughout OTR like Dunlap and Main (I know I am preaching to the choir). I must take issue with the statements above and the backlash against unusualfire. Can anyone tell me that they do not wish to see each building in OTR brought to its highest and best use? With the amount of vacancies in and around OTR we need to come to the realization that perhaps this war between the classes has not worked and will not work. And saying that skid row always exist next to CBD is a statement of capitulation, it does not have to be that way. For those of you that feel this way it seems that you are content with the way things are, well some of us who live and work in OTR everyday are not content, and will do everything in our power to change things and we are already making strides. "Just getting rid of the over-the-rine one merely moves it from one area to another, with the possibility of making more skid rows." It is the responsibility of every community to try and make itself as viable as possible. OTR and Mt Auburn are my communities, not Westwood or Forest Park, if there are low income inventories in those communities then oh well. Other communities are changing for the better such as Covington, Newport and Clifton, why not OTR. I will stand up for my community and fight as hard as I can and there are people who throw around the gentrification word like it is a bad thing, well it is not, things can not stand the way they are, we will not capitulate!

I do not think it very necessary to have a "new" residential tower (although it certainly would not hurt) with Parker Flats, new const also at the foot of Mt Adams , One Lytle to have a face lift etc. I fear that the absorption rate may slow a bit across the board and with a whole new property giving us another years worth of inventory, I don't think that would do much for our market. I am very glad to see the buildings in Newport and Cov. and I believe the perception of us vs them may be changing and a holistic view of the 3 cities is starting to come into play and ones success is feeding off the other. Downtown Cincinnati was always destined to come back, people can only be dumb for so long before they realize what they have in downtown Cincinnati, the architecture, the entertainment, proximity to work. We still have a ways to go but the on thing that I do in my profession is trending, and looking at local as well as national trends for urban renewal, my bet is on downtown.

It is a big tent.

well he will have to get in line, I have my fair share of nay-sayers.

I agree, Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah! Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah! Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah! O Lord, kum ba yah! Someone’s laughing, Lord, kum ba yah

I can't help it if you are the victim of misinformation (just kidding). The word liberty stems from the Latin-liber meaning free (also book but I digress) people north of Liberty were FREE from city taxation and ordinances. "Further out beyond the city limits, north of Liberty Street was referred to as the Northern Liberties", since residents there were free from city ordinaces and taxes" (Mulberry Hill Tour for Life Program Pg. 14) "One of the Hill’s earliest residents was Dr. Daniel Drake who lived in a log cabin on the threshold of the forest (on Milton Street between Sycamore and Broadway) while his new home on Third Street was being built. He called the Hill “Mt. Poverty” and described his home as “the typical country home away from the noise of town”. (Prospecthill.info) "Originally called Key's Hill (after an early resident), it attracted many summer homes, but soon became the permanent home to many of the city's elite and by 1835 was renamed Mt. Auburn. (Mulberry Hill Tour for Life Program pg 14) So what about that Poverty Hill, I can live with that as I resemble that, so roll that in your postcard and smoke it! :mrgreen: The tour is over, mission accomplished, call it what you want.

Oh now we have been through this, I live in OTR my neighbor across the street lives in Mt. Auburn. Prospect Hill is Mt Auburn, Sycamore Hill skirts both, Mulberry Hill is a marketing solution for a tour. Mt ST Michael, there it is, I am having the plaque made tomorow!

The project was all but shut down for a couple of months due to a string of problems. Now he is turning the corner with a whole new strategy including a new builder and new marketing campaign. There was one bite on 72A by a piano teacher, however that deal fell apart for whatever reason. Fletcher Zorbec was to purchase one of the condos and I am assuming that is still on. Jim has been very busy with more aquisitions in the area and now he has a new investor on board also, hopefully this year will see some major changes between Mulberry and Mcmicken.

If you want to be historically correct max then it is "North Liberties" we were carefull to include that into the historical section of the tour book. But that also includes Prospect Hill and all properties north of Liberty were free from City Tax hence North Liberties. The original name of the hillside was Poverty Hill, So enough of waxing intelectual about the name, I am calling it Michael Mountain from here on out.

Bid is a business improvement dist. and a SID is a special improvement dist. usually for residential however some cases there are mixed use properties and could fall into either one.

anyone care to find out where this guy lives so I can propose a methadone clinic to go next door to his house. My best guess is that it is Andrew F Warner of West Chester, it is amazing how generous people are when they live 30 miles away. I am just seeing so much wrong with this article........ Another drive by community planner. I travel through West Chester and see a lot of vacant land and nobody is doing anything about it. Why are the people so againt somebody trying to do something for this communtiy? Mine sounds better.

I also posted this in the OTR near term projects After a brief pause in construction on Peete, Frintz, and E. Clifton, Jim Hohlbein is back to work with a new builder. 72 E. Clifton (3 condos) will be finished within the month. Joe Gorman called me last night and said he and Karen Blatt are moving forward with new construction on the South side of Mulberry (joe was the developer for the 5 new Vinyard Homes on Mulberry) and I can not give the addresses until closing but there will be at least 2 more major rehabs on Mulberry this year. 109 Mulberry top floor is now complete and owner occupied, the lower levels have just begun contruction and will be market rate condo hopefully on the market in the spring. The same owner of 109 Mulberry, Michael Evans of GBBN along with Cathy Frank of Comey have purchased the lower unit of 29 Mulberry and plans are now drawn up to make it into 2 condo units (making the building 4 units, 2 already sold) both 1 bed 1.5 baths, this is south side closer to Vine. I saw it posted above about 75 Peete St being sold, it was sold to a man named Joseph George. He and his wife came down for the tour and saw a side of OTR and Mt. Auburn they did not know existed, they live in Mason but now want to invest in the area.

I do not know of any SID's but I do know of many BID's some of which fall in business/residential urban areas. Here is a link I keep bookmarked on my computer for BID's, I do not know if this helps or not. http://web.mit.edu/11.204/www/webportfolio/BID/ Wait, found one; Coventry Village Special Improvement District www.coventryvillage.org c/o 1824 Coventry Road Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 (216) 566-0927 Fax: (216) 321-8377 And try High Street in Columbus, it appears that a SID is set up there also in conjuction with a BID

After a brief pause in construction on Peete, Frintz, and E. Clifton, Jim Hohlbein is back to work with a new builder. 72 E. Clifton (3 condos) will be finished within the month. Joe Gorman called me last night and said he and Karen Blatt are moving forward with new construction on the South side of Mulberry (joe was the developer for the 5 new Vinyard Homes on Mulberry) and I can not give the addresses until closing but there will be at least 2 more major rehabs on Mulberry this year. 109 Mulberry top floor is now complete and owner occupied, the lower levels have just begun contruction and will be market rate condo hopefully on the market in the spring. The same owner of 109 Mulberry, Michael Evans of GBBN along with Cathy Frank of Comey have purchased the lower unit of 29 Mulberry and plans are now drawn up to make it into 2 condo units (making the building 4 units, 2 already sold) both 1 bed 1.5 baths, this is south side closer to Vine. I saw it posted above about 75 Peete St being sold, it was sold to a man named Joseph George. He and his wife came down for the tour and saw a side of OTR and Mt. Auburn they did not know existed, they live in Mason but now want to invest in the area.

I agree 100% things are moving fast in CBD and OTR as well as the hillside. The brewery district is actually looking very promising as we are hoping to work on a major project over there (and don't forget about Dunlap). My point above however was about new construction and peoples aversion to it. Grasscat has been very good about listing properties that are being torn down all the time, not for new construction, but for decay. As part of a solution to this problem, new construction can help slow this down. A mixed market is what will be in OTR. Urban areas like OTR are unique in that each street acts as its own neighborhood. Main St can flourish (in a year or so) as a market rate community and one street over, Walnut, can exist as lower income with very little effect on Main. I have to be carefull on what I say about Citylink because I have several friends who are working very hard to fight it. I am opposed to any further social services in or around OTR, but will Citylink act as a consolidating force for various places that exist currently in OTR? If so, I have a hard time opposing them. I feel terrible for the West End and certainly wish that they would choose another location far outside either community, but if several individual places gets consolidated into one outside of OTR then good for OTR. Now I do not know if this is indeed the case or not, however I do know that strong rhetoric is being tossed around by both sides and it is difficult to distinguish which is fact and which is fiction. The West End is my neighbor, but OTR and Mt. Auburn are my neighborhoods, and I have to look out for what is best for my own community first. If you really wanted to hear the Brewery District up and arms, what if it went into KD Lamp? Crossroads looked at OTR before and I do not want them to turn away from the location at Club Chef and look back here again. Welcome to UrbanOhio OTRfan

Some of the potential that you speak of in OTR comes with a time table. These buildings will not stand forever and the question is what can be done to attract development and investment into OTR before these buildings are dropped. Infill housing is one of the quickest ways to draw more dollars into an area. Even Gateway will ultimately serve as a catalyst to surrounding buildings and they will be rehabbed, Vinyard homes helped push Mulberry, and we would not be talking about Washington Park now if it were not for the proposed construction over there. The architecture of new construction can be debated all day with no concensus, however no one can argue against the catalyst affects of infill and its effect on surrounding historical structures.

Who has the latest word on sheriff patrols in OTR, I had John Donaldson call me earlier today saying it just went to federal court (sheriffs wanting out of collaborative agreement) anyone know anything about a case?