OCtoCincy

^ agreed. Ya- I haven't been to a nice pool hall in a few years.

Jim Tarbell is a streetcar supporter so vote for him on Nov. 2! Chris Monzel, who is running against him is very adamantly against it as his voting record on Council has shown.

No renderings- It'll officially be announced late winter early spring. Another large underground structure will be built, and it's likely 5th street will be closed similarly to how it was closed when the fountain square lot was built. How do you know this? Shoot me a PM if you have to, I'm legit! Haha- sorry- that's literally all I know. I have a friend who works somewhere* who let me know that. I would guess a decent size- (this is now completely speculation) of perhaps 15 stories and like I said, primarily condos. I wonder if they'll connect it to the Skywalk... haha *somewhere will remain nameless.. although I'm sure you can guess

No renderings- It'll officially be announced late winter early spring. Another large underground structure will be built, and it's likely 5th street will be closed similarly to how it was closed when the fountain square lot was built.

Officially they have nothing farther north than 15th street. They are doing Race and 14th right now, Washington Park and will start Mercer Commons next year. There are some random scattered properties throughout the gateway quarter they still own and have yet to develop. Also they are about to start City Home phase II. other than that- they will develop high rise condos at 5th and race (currently a parking lot) along with a couple other small things in the CBD. And thats all there is for now...

That really stinks. Are New Starts and TRAC II the other possible grant sources at this point? Hopefully those applications will be successful. the Streetcar is in the running for TRAC II funding. I don't know about New Starts.

damn. They were hoping for $35 million. That's a rough blow. :-/

^ I like this challenge...

Oh, its even worse, its "U Square @ the Loop" if you follow the link UGH!

^ Thanks so much! I'd bet it will be block two. That's where the hotel, apartments and condos will be. Putting the pool in Block one would mean half of the 15 story office tower would have a beautiful view of anyone laying out... haha

cool article! I didn't realize that (I take the 17 downtown all the time, but to see actual zero's is pretty interesting) oh and, I LOVE that the Sheriff touts it safety while the Enquirer bashes it. Hmmm...

^ Agreed, but I think there's some sort of an open area planned for the center of the complex. When standing on Walnut looking towards GABP you can see the large courtyard type area (currently just black framing that was recently put in) that I'm pretty sure will be developed. What I'm wondering, is if it will be accessible only to the residents, or if it will be an outdoor place for employees in the 15 story tower to use as well. you can sort of see here:

^ agreed.

^ U Square at the Loop is a horrible name. I almost thought nothing could be worse than Current @ the Banks but I may be wrong...

Another reason for my hesitation... no renderings have been made public (to my knowledge, and I've searched and searched) which is often a sign of mediocrity. Anything exciting has its renderings plastered all over the place...

I live in the area and drive by frequently, I have a really bad feeling about this project... It's three separate three-story apartment buildings with a grass courtyard in the middle. It seems to have no sign of being some sort of an urban landmark. I would have much preferred something similar to Michigan Terrace: http://urbanqueer.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/michigan-terrace.jpg but instead I'm fairly certain it's going to be more like: http://propimages.apartments.com/114838/001/BL010132.JPG Yes, I totally understand that certain structures, as significant as they may be, must be taken down as they are no longer usable in a profitable way. But the city should have pushed the developer to save at least one wall and perhaps, as mentioned above, send it to the art museum or even the Museum Center- and the city should demand a high quality replacement product that fits into the overall urban plan for the neighborhood. Just by looking at the construction site I'm fairly certain this is going to look like a bland typical little apartment complex. I REALLY hope I'm wrong.

^ not really, technically there is this image (from urbanout.com) http://urbanqueer.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/mercer-commons1.jpg?w=450&h=264 but it's not very helpful...

This is an interesting point- because genuinely after reading article after article of his (and I've read them all) he comes across being heavily streetcar-weary. Perhaps some of the good stuff was left on the cutting room floor, so to say...

^ I know a lot of people in this forum have complained about the side angle (picture 1 above) but i actually think overall, the building looks best from the side. From the font its this large massive rectangle with some tapering at the top.. from the side it has more definition and style.

Does anyone actually know Barry Hortsman?? After reading his streetcar articles (he seems to be the official streetcar writer... sarcasm) for just over a year now (I'm new here), I imagine him as this bitter curmudgeon who really liked playing with hot wheels as a kid and not a train set. Is it normal for the press to get access to many inside emails from the Managers office? I'm guessing someone forwarded them? What I love about this, is that those emails are in no way different from what you would expect coming from a for profit corporation getting ready to break ground on something, or announce a big new project. While conservatives often argue for government to run more like a company, the way Hortsman and the Enquirer lay out these quotes imply some sort of false showmanship on the part of the City Managers office. In actuality, I agree almost entirely with the process. Unfortunately it's true, that in order to maintain public awareness for the progress of a project (which is especially crucial when the primary print media source in the region is completely against you) you must plan out the presentation very well and ensure that you are making a noticeable impact. It's like the people who argue, the stimulus is doing nothing and isn't creating any jobs in my area- then when the feds put signs at every site funded by stimulus money so that the public actually knew what they were getting, the same people argued that the millions spent on signs was a huge waste of money. If I'm free, I'll attend the groundbreaking.

^ I'm pretty sure they haven't even moved everyone out, and because of the lawsuit against HUD and 3CDC nothing will be happening for quite some time. Sigh.

I think at this point the best bet will be to get them to repaint it- instead of white, a very shiny metallic reflective paint. There's obviously no way they will fill it in with glass or add more beams (personally I think that would have been the best design option), but at least by repainting it it could become more noticeable. sigh. oh, and GREAT pictures!

So New Mehring Way is supposed to open in November- they've already put street lights up and were doing the under the bridge cement pour on Friday when I walked by. About a week ago they did the intersection over by elm and the intersection by Nuxhall has been done for awhile. Also, the two parking lots on either side of the new road now have entrance booths lining New Mehring since Old Mehring will be ripped up soon. Pretty exciting.

^ ya, although in a way it ties in with the Reds Hall of Fame building which has similar brick... I hope the other few blocks get a bit more creative with their design and don't just become copy-blocks of these two.

ya- once Mercer is done you can genuinely describe the Gateway quarter as a large, homogenous district as opposed to strips of various streets. The budget for Mercer Commons is over $40 million. That means, it's almost the same size of a project as the entire Washington Park renovation or the entire Fountain Square renovation (both were in the mid to upper $40's. I go for a walk in the gateway quarter at least twice a week. and when you walk around the block that will be Mercer Commons and compare it to the rest of the development you can tell its sheer size. Pretty massive.