2LiveCarew

I saw today that they appear to be tearing up the reasonably big surface parking lot south of Mehring Way and immediately west of the Roebling Bridge (as opposed to the huge surface lot north of Mehring Way and west of Roebling). I hope that this means that parking lot is going away for good. Any time you see urban surface parking lots being replaced, especially in a prime location like this, is a great thing.

Does anyone know what's going in on the western side of Race St. at the corner of 9th or 10th? My girlfriend and I were walking back from Bluegrass Thursdays at Washington Park and noticed that what looked like a restaurant was being built there. That would be exciting--Race St. between 7th/8th and Central is kind of dead (it would help if Shooter's wasn't such a bunker of a building).

I didn't find this article biased in any real sense. Not compared to other Horstman pieces, anyway, where it's pretty clear what his angle is (e.g. downplaying any good news--"City, Duke head to court over streetcar" instead of "City, Duke reach operating agreement" springs to mind). He's reporting potentially very bad news for the streetcar project. He's not making good (or neutral) news bad. The bids were way high.

PNC Bank to announce "major gift" to Smale Riverfront Park: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/02/04/pnc-bank-to-make-major-gift-for.html Come on PNC! Beat P&G!

Per the Enquirer, the 580 Building will house 176 apartments when the conversion is complete, and a construction loan is already in place. The speed of this has been pretty impressive. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130205/BIZ/302060041

I kid you not, the enquirer's headline for this is "city, duke head to court over streetcar." Written by Barry horstman.

Not really news, but construction on the park seems to be humming along (likewise with Yard House). Today seemed especially active. Does anyone know if the current phase involves removing any of the surface parking lot area whatsoever? I remember Dave Prather claiming in one of the videos that the area of the park would be significantly expanded--maybe tripled?--by this spring, but it seems hard to imagine that it could be tripled given the current area that looks under construction, unless some of the parking lot goes. Also, I want to reiterate that this is going to be awesome once it's done. I mean the parts that are done are already great.

On my way to work yesterday, I noticed that there was a sign saying (in so many words) "GTFO, this parking lot is closed for Dunnhumby HQ construction starting today." Today some orange plastic fences and some orange barrels went up. Seems like things are at least moving forward.

I don't... I can't... what?! EDIT: not to take you seriously when you might be being sarcastic, but you do realize that OTR has been and is currently undergoing a massive redevelopment/gentrification that started years ago? Have you seen Vine Street south of Liberty in the past three years?

A lot of news here for a lot of topics, so I'll just stick it in here: The Ohio Development Services Agency approved Historic Preservation Tax Credit awards for a number of properties in Cincinnati, including: 308-316 Main Street 521-523 E. 12th Street 961-975 E. McMillan (already posted in another thread) Abington Flats (33 Green St, near Findlay Market in OTR) Eden Park Pump Station (Brewery Project) And a couple of projects in Pendleton. http://development.ohio.gov/files/media/pressrelease/12.20.12%20-%20Release%20-%20The%20Ohio%20Development%20Services%20Agency%20Announces%20Round%209%20Ohio%20Historic%20Preservation%20Tax%20Credit%20Awards.pdf

Not sure where to stick this, but the Enquirer is reporting that the developers behind the Reserve at Fourth and Race are so pleased with the success of their project that they're considering redeveloping the Ingalls Building into residential, as well: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20121216/BIZ/312160066&Ref=AR Louisville-based Arcadia Communities, developer of the Reserve, had such a good experience that president Brian Durbin is now considering the possibilities at the Ingalls Building at Fourth and Vine, largely vacant except for the Bruegger’s bagel shop at street level. “We’re definitely looking to see if there’s other opportunities,” Durbin said. “We’ve kind of kept our eye on (the Ingalls Building). It’s right down the street from us, and it’s a tremendous location.” As someone who lives downtown, this is gratifying. The more people around, the more amenities there will be downtown (and it's already a pretty nice place to live). Pretty soon you would think that a grocery store could be sustainable (a Trader Joe's would be terrific). I do hope that office vacancy rates improve, though. Maybe dunnhumby's expansion will help with that. Also, does anyone know when Kao USA is moving downtown, or has that already happened?

It's the same as before, but with a "negative outlook." Which I believe is just them saying "we're concerned, for reasons X, Y, and Z, that the situation may deteriorate to the point that we'll lower the actual rating." It's sort of like if you've had a couple of great months with your girlfriend and think "man, I could marry this woman"--girlfriend with a positive outlook (vs. if you had a bad couple of months and think "I may need to break up at some point"--girlfriend with a negative outlook. In either case, she's still a 'girlfriend' until the status has been officially changed.) That's my mostly uneducated thought.

Leeper did have some very good things to say about the pending design of the building, but you never really know whether that's a genuine assessment or puffery. 3CDC has a good track record IMO, so I'm hopeful. Other things Leeper said that seemed new (sorry to only be posting this now, and also sorry it's not completely on topic for this thread): Fountain Square will get a number of additional improvements, including a better LED screen, in the near future. Many of the visual improvements will be near Via Vite. He also said that 3CDC has looked/is looking at opportunities to convert office space downtown into residential, although he was pretty vague about that (it seemed like the Bartlett Building isn't going to be a 3CDC project, if anything happens with that). He suggested that the area surrounding Findlay Market would be a "natural extension" of what 3CDC is doing now, although he seemed kind of non-commital about specific plans for the area. All in all it was a good talk, and free to boot. Plus free breakfast. All you had to do was RSVP. I was kind of surprised it wasn't totally packed with UrbanOhio types. Sorry for not posting all of these tidbits in their respective threads--I work too many hours. :-D

On my phone, sorry if brief. Steve leeper spoke at Masonic center this morning. Residential component and grocery aren't happening here. Construction starting early 2013. Seems the building will be midrise and much wider than it is tall.

I work a ton, but I'd love to join in if someone set up a cleanup event.

Yes, "Simply Grand." It's a pretty good sandwich/soup/salad place that seems to cater to the lunch crowd.

That didn't work as a link, but I found this, which corroborates your picture: http://www.emstructural.com/the-banks-phase-ii-carter/ Nothing explicitly saying "this is the official rendering for this," but it's definitely interesting. Thanks for posting this.

How did you come by that rendering? I think it looks really cool.

What's on Deck? The city of Cincinnati is launching a national design contest to “connect the blocks” between downtown and The Banks residential/retail district rising on the riverfront. A park? More stores, more bars? A Ferris wheel, perhaps? http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120914/BIZ/309140088/What-s-deck- I think a park would be fine, so long as it was more like open space than a landscaped park (a la Smale Riverfront Park). What space does downtown have for pickup football, ultimate frisbee, kickball, etc.? It's Washington Park's event lawn and nothing else, right? Which seems a little sparse. The upside of just putting grass fields there (maybe with lines or something) is that it would be cheap and be a pretty beautiful venue for pickup sports, or informal tournaments (maybe select soccer could happen there). The downside is that it may not look as nice as public monuments or a ferris wheel. But I think it would be functional. Maybe I'm overestimating the number of people downtown who would be interested in that sort of thing, though. There are plenty of decks for capping, though. Maybe two could be used in that way, and one could be something more 'monumental'--like a Ferris wheel, or something else. Anyway, I think that as long as it somehow gets capped, it would be a big win for the Banks and the rest of downtown.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/09/10/cincinnati-one-of-the-nations.html Economic Health of 102 Major Metropolitan Areas Columbus checks in at #7 and Cincinnati at #15. Akron and Toledo perform pretty well, too.

No no no, stop that sh*t. This isn't NYC where people just make up neighborhood names on a whim. It is Over-the-Rhine! +1

My screen name is what I would name my act if I wanted to join Cincinnati's hip hop scene.

ugggghhh

Here are my problems with this article: The word "vibrant" has an understood meaning. It is not a meaningless buzzword. It denotes (or at least connotes) an active area in which there are things to do, and in which people (particularly younger people) can enjoy themselves and are welcome. The fact that people use a word frequently does not strip meaning from that word. Frank caricatures this idea, creating an extreme (and incredibly foolish) straw man for himself to tear down. However friendly a city is to artists and "the creative class" (that term makes me gag), there are obviously broader economic factors in the city's economic and social success or failure. Regardless of how "cool" Silicon Valley is to hip people, if global demand for computers and software crashes, that community will suffer. But--all else equal--it is better to have a reputation for being a fun and active city than a stodgy, boring place with absolutely nothing to do. "Vibrancy" is good. It's not the only good, but it is good. And at least part of the problem that cities like those he's mentioned has been is in getting smart people who grow up there to choose (if they have a choice) to stay there. "Vibrancy"--like clean streets, or smog controls, or bike paths--is a word that refers to one (but not all) elements of a city's quality of life. Simply picking one quality of life issue, pretending as if urban planner-types see only that issue, and lampooning them for it, is silly. Saying "Oh, you think we should introduce a concerted effort to sweep streets regularly and pick up litter? HA! As if that by itself will turn your city's economy around!"is a bit silly, because no one thinks that clean streets will cure all ills. But at the same time, no one thinks that it's better to have dirty streets than it is to have clean ones. There is no magic bullet to turning a city's economy around. But it is certainly better to be "vibrant" than to be the opposite, both for instrumental economic reasons (better quality of life attracts people and business to the area) and direct reasons (better quality of life is just nice in and of itself). Having things to do, an attitude that is friendly to the arts, and a decent nightlife won't cure every evil. But no one says they will, slogans aside.

Hope he's okay. I guess he didn't go to the hospital, so maybe that's a positive sign. I got mugged (not in Cincinnati) earlier this year, and managed to get pistol-whipped in the process. Not the nicest experience I've ever had.