Brutus_buckeye

Most certainly. .Indy and Columbus have developed massive centers to get this business. It goes back to the 80s when they really started pushing this. Indy made their push with collegiate athletics, hence the NCAA moving there In the 90s. Indy really pushed the convention business and it has paid off. The whole RCA Dome and now Lucas Oil were developed with conventions in mind as well as football. I am not saying it will not be expensive, but if Cincy wanted to play in that space, it could certainly figure out a way to make it happen. It would be expensive, yes, but they could always build over the highway or go North or even South over the street to meet their goals. Point being, there is nothing that really prevents this (outside of cost). The convention hotel is a top priority and will likely be a first step. That I know is being talked about now and the city acquired the Convention Place Mall with the goal of exploring it as an option for a Convention Hotel. No matter what, it will take time and years to rreally get the business or poach business from Columbus per say. Not to say it could not happen.

Wherever it is, the arena is important to future convention business no matter what part of downtown it is located, so we need to figure a way to build something that will help supplement that business.

Outside of Chicago, Cincy can easily compete against Columbus, Indy or Nashville. Indy has an advantage because of the dome stadium, but Columbus could not offer anything that Cincy could not with a similarly sized convention center. I don't buy that argument. I do agree that the casino site is the most ideal site for the arena, mainly because it can host more events like boxing and concerts in connection with the casino and have better promotion and saturation there.

Yes, but there is not the political will for the next YUM Center but we could justify something else financially that can pay for itself that would be much better than US Bank. Let's figure it out. Personally, I think we need to do something as part of a convention center expansion or at the casino. THe Casino would be a great location because they could help underwrite the costs, the location would have good highway access and plenty of parking nearby.

Moncks Cove will not be going anywhere, it doubles as a real estate office upstairs and offers a nice tax write off for the owner. I have never found German Village to be that impressive. Mt. Adams is set up a lot better with a better defined business district than GV. I think Mt. Adams has much for potential than GV ever had. There needs to be something to cater to the older residents who live there. Maybe not 4 white table cloth places but 1-2. The Celestial was a dump and the food sucked but it had a great view and catered to the 50+ crowd. Like OTR, the 50+ crowd has the money to invest in the area and keep growth going. They are the ones that will actually be spending on the retail scene there since they have the money to do so. Also, losing the Art Institute and Empower/Clear Channel took away a lot of jobs to the area which helped to make it more of a 24/7 destination. Without the few hundred employees who work in the building. These were people who were going to happy hour at Longworths and A Live one during the week that no longer patronized the area.

It would be interesting to truly see the numbers on how the arena could support itself on a bunch of touring concerts, occasional convention, college tourney event, and some minor league sporting events. What type of tier 1 revenue dates (professional sports, top tier concert, NCAA tourney, convention) needs to be there and how many such events need to happen a year to make it profitable. What type of tier 2 events (WNBA, minor league sports, arena football) would be required and how many such events. What type of tier 3 events (HS tournaments, graduations, etc) would be required and how many dates. How many dates a year and events a year would be required to make a newer arena sustainable? I imagine sometimes days in use is not the same as # of events but I could be wrong. Point being, we may not be able to build a YUM Center or Nationwide without a pro team as the primary tenant, but we can do something better than US Bank that current and some expanded events can help sustain and make profitable. Why not aim for that at the minimum. We need to figure out what the revenues can support and do that level of arena.

Maybe now the Amazon pulled out of NYC we can get some of those jobs.

Mt. Adams became too bar centric/club centric in the mid 2000s. There was always Longworth's and Pavilion, but they were more geared toward the band scene or the outdoor patio instead of the whole club feel that they became too clubby. There used to be a mix of small restaurants for date nights, wine bars, more small bars and other establishments. Places like A Live One offered a place to get a drink after a dinner or a show. What is missed is places like the Fish Market. Mt. Adams is best centered around the Playhouse and establishments to support that as the anchor.

I thought the micro unit idea was shelved and they decided to do more market rate apartments? THis project has changed so many times. Outside of the building design, what exactly is it going to be? Last I heard it was luxury apartments??

^ Court street at Lunchtime is packed. With everyone at the Courthouse and Admin buildings plus Kroger HQ, there is a very good crowd of people down there. If you add a few hundred more apartments/condos to the area besides the Kroger building, you have the recipe for some long term success. Plus, you also have the new Kroger store to anchor the area pulling people in. It adds another reason for people to use the streetcar too.

I have always thought Court was under-rated and could be so much more. The Kroger will be huge for this area because the other block was pretty dead with the County Admin Building sucking life from the street. They need to figure out something to do with the parking lot on the other side of Court. If they can have a development that brings housing and some entertainment value, it will truly create a 24/7 destination. During the week, that area is always packed because of the Courthouse and County buildings.

The upgrade in 97 was because the owner of the Cyclones at the time was able to get control of it on the very cheap. At the time the Cyclones were in the IHL and drawing 10k a game to the gardens. By owning USBank, he now unlocked additional revenue streams to bolster his bottom line. In addition, drawing 10k a game would easily allow it to pay for itself and he could have a decent arena for his hockey team and then supplement with concerts and other events. The problem was that the Robinson family who owned the Gardens did not want to lose their revenue stream so they brought in the Ducks and it divided the ticket base. The Robinson family had a much lower operating cost at the Gardens whereas with the newly renovated US Bank arena, the lower attendance made it hard to compete at US Bank. Around the same time, the IHL started to flounder and eventually folded completely a few years later. Without the Cyclones, or the diminished Cyclones averaging 4k fans a game, it made it hard to cover the debt on the renovations and the facility went to bankruptcy in 2001.

^ Outside of Moheegan Sun, there really is no other team yet. That still does not change the fact that the WNBA is not a profitable enterprise on its own yet. Similar to why the NBA is not coming here you figure that any market they would go to without an NBA team would have to be a compelling market from an NBA perspective. Vegas would fit this outlier market. Given Cleveland was not able to sustain a WNBA team with an NBA team in market, I don't know if it makes sense in Cincinnati. So much of the corporate marketing involved buying NBA and WNBA advertising. You had to buy 2 for one In order to prop up the WNBA team. In addition, I don't think WNBA would qualify as an anchor tenant that is sufficient to pay the rent required to justify a new arena. WNBA is like the Cyclones. A nice attraction to keep the arena running, but not enough to demand the prime time slots, which would befit an anchor tenant. UC basketball could qualify as this. NHL, or NBA, but not WNBA. Cincy will never get an NBA team given the college bball passion in the area. I could see an NHL team coming if there is an owner who is passionate enough to bring one here.

WNBA really only works in markets with an NBA team because of co-Branding. WNBA is not a profitable league so they need to be subsidized by NBA teams. Again, it is why you really need the NBA in the market to make it work. Maybe that is part of the problem with the WNBA is that they try and tie themselves to markets that do not work for womens bball instead of places like Knoxville, TN where it could work better. I don't know.

I like it, I was thinking Tiger's status has shrunk a bit lately, but he would probably be bigger than Kraft.

Should we play the speculation game for fun? My first initial thought was Trump, but then I cant see that given the secret service protection he has had the last 3 years, would not be able to do that. So I am going with Brady.

This was supposed to be a down year for them anyway. They overachieved early and have fallen back to earth in the BIG play. Next year should be dominant. No cause for worry this year.

Jake, I am sure you were like the Godfather growing up keeping dead fish or horse heads in your locker to give to those who crossed you.

No, he should not resign. These are allegations, but he DESERVES due process. He DESERVES a full complete impartial investigation. He should not resign over allegations without having his chance to present a defense.

Why do you need to split it, there is an automatic easement that would be created if you sold it? Unless you are talking about creating a completely separate parcel, which in that case I get what you are saying.

^ This is not quite accurate. I have bought properties on land contract, sold properties, on land contract, and worked with both landlords and tenants to re-work busted land contracts. 1) You can get insurance, it is not as simple as if you have fee simple interest but you can get insurance. 2) after the down payment or holding the property for 5 years, if the landlord wants the tenant out, he would have to foreclose. For many individual landlords, this is not a pleasant process and often encourages them to work something out. There are a lot of bad land contracts out there. Many tenants do not do proper diligence in making sure they truly understand what they are signing. Some reforms are certainly needed, but not drastic reforms because at the end of the day, they serve a good purpose and the majority of landlords and tenants are working together to create a mutual benefit. What they should have is a standard form set that is required for land contracts and all legal contracts must conform to the forms (with variances for price, rate and length, and downpayment) This would help protect the consumer because the standard form starts out as a fairly neutral document, similar to a BOR document.

Bad idea. Land Contracts give homeownership to people who would never otherwise qualify. They are not bad, however, both landlords and tenants do not understand them completely and often sign bad deals. There are many better ways to fight the issue than attacking land contracts and lease options.

I love how they describe the sound study as "sobering". Holy misplaced rhetoric here. Something that is sobering is a study that finds lead paint is more prevalent then thought, that the chemicals used to treat our water actually cause cancer. These events warrant using the "sobering" term. What is overblown is using "sobering" to describe concert goers on a rare occasion having a low hum from soccer fans after a goal for a few brief seconds during the crescendo of Beethoven's 9th. There will be 24 soccer games, and there will likely be a good amount during the day hours. Any overlap will be minimal. I like the symphony, I used to attend a decent amount in the past, but these people need to get the stick out of their a$$es.

^ I dont necessarily buy that because prior t that they had plans to build a 55 story tower on the site.

5/3 may want a corporate upgrade. Their current HQ is 50 years old.