CincyGuy45202

As Natininja said-- I think he was referring to the fact that they called him back and said - no break in... then he supposedly went down and found a broken door into an open empty storefront.

Was closed at least several years ago--- Part of a future phase of the Riverfront park.

Bond Hill is a suburban style neighborhood in the City of Cincinnati. In 1930 it WAS the only suburbs.

^ Since it passed, all they need to do is get $50,000 and they can have access to $1 million. If they can't find someone to loan them $50,000 for a cut of their profits they are idiots. I'm confident they will find $50,000 (if someone who was backing them hasn't already provided it for them) and then the City money can be accessed.

^ The deal was voted on about 2 weeks ago. It's a done deal. 6 yes votes, 3 no votes. No's were Qualls, Seelbach & Smitherman.

I think he meant the area between 2nd and freedom way- so where they built the underground garage. That's where the next Banks building is supposedly going up. The area in your photo won't get any Banks development until the County approves about another $20 million to build a parking garage. Probably won't happen till late 2013 at the soonest due to county politics & major money problems. County is in way worse shape financially than the City, which is actually on the up and up. My incredibly loosely predicted Banks timeline: November 2012: Construction starts for new Banks Block (above parking garage). Based on last time, it will be about 16 months of construction. <b>Fall 2013:</b> County begins construction of new garage south of Freedom Way (~18 months of construction- nearly twice as large as last garage which took just under 1 year) If this is delayed because of pressures by the Bengals the whole plan gets put another 4-6 months behind. April 2014: New Banks block opens with around 300 apartments. <b>Spring 2015:</b> Garage south of Freedom Way completed. <b>Summer 2015: </b> The Banks South of Freedom Way begins another block (fourth block). 18 months of construction. <b>Spring 2017:</b> 4 of the Banks 6 blocks built out. Original goal for the Banks & Riverfront Park was to have all phases done by 2018. I think the real date will be closer to <b>2021 or 2023</b>and the majority of the delay will be because the County will delay the next phase of garage construction.

In a loosely related topic: Barry Hortsman, famous for his 9 mile an hour walk and his rampant anti-streetcar news articles, apparently doesn't just like lying/sensationalism against the streetcar. His New "Frito-Lay Hall" Music Hall article claims the group buying music hall is going to rename it for $. The rgoup says they were telling him about naming things like a restaurant inside the place (like the current Critics Club) after a donor or naming the Ballroom or a new VIP lounge, and were NOT talking about naming Music Hall Barry Hortsman Hall. They've said they are not in anyway going to consider renaming the actual building. But he seemed to forget to mention that in his article. I can't tell if it makes me feel BETTER knowing he doesn't just lie/exaggerate about the Streetcar or WORSE that he's their top writer and he is constantly over the top and borderline lying in many of his articles. Anyone know when bids might go out for streetcars? If it's a 12-18 month lead time necessary, shouldn't it be in the next 3-4 months?

Water Main now complete from 12th to 14th. Parking in front of City Gospel Mission and neighboring buildings has no parking signs in front of them now with lines drawn on the ground for continued water main replacement.

Also- Garage is owned by County, street parking is determined by City. I doubt the City is going out of its way to get the County more revenue. :)

^ I've heard people talk about how the VBML's are bad, but I've never actually heard of a situation where it stopped someone from developing something. Can someone explain to me a real situation where someone was trying to develop something but a VBML stopped them? Not a hypothetical. But a tangible example. Trying to understand who these are hurting or what buildings in particular are stuck by them.

2 Live Carew- you have to learn something about Jake... He pretty much doesn't enjoy people. He loves Cincinnati though!! A lot! Just not the people who live here (today). Historical figures are great, general sentiments of what things "used to be like" are all fine. but not today: He hates on hipsters, the young professionals who live in 3CDC developments, the Suburbanites who patronize the vine street restaurants, the kentuckians who go to Toby Keith's and even the people who love the Lager House apparently. :) Your best bet is just to ignore it and enjoy his vast wealth of knowledge- which is very impressive- seriously.

Wowwwwww This is insanely off topic. Can we please get back to Newport on the Levee or move this conversation to a different thread.

^ You must be joking at the Burgers & Beer comment... have you seen their menu? It's amazing. Hell, I didn't even realize burgers are on there and I've had about 10 items off of it.

I heard rumors Dunnhumby wants something architecturally unique, but not something that looks fancy, pristine or over the top. Less tiaras, more raw. Possibly mixes of glass, concrete, metal, etc.

I think Kennedy Connector is supposedly on track to start "this summer" Nothing seems to have started yet though.

No one mentioned Lord's Gym!!! :P That's a joke (it's a social service agency gym) Also, if you can't find anything in OTR, This Summer brand new apartments are supposed to open at 4th and Race in Downtown. Called the Reserve at Fourth & Race.

I agree that the parking is a pain, mainly because you have to pay a decent amount when you're going there specifically to spend lots of money (almost nothing there is cheap). The fact that I can pay about $50 to take a date to see a 3D movie with popcorn & an icee and don't get all my parking money back is a bit ridiculous. It's cheaper for me to go out downtown on a Saturday night and not pay for parking than it is to see a movie at 3PM on a Sunday at NoTL. And I'm not one of those people who want it to fail or complain about it constantly. I think of Newport & Covington as part of the Greater Cincinnati Urban Core and WANT them to do well. Cov & Newport is to Erlanger as Cincy is to WestChester. I'd rather have people at NoTL than the Florence Mall. If they took that giant surface lot next to NoTL and built a sizable apartment building it would help the area dramatically.

god- how many more weeks do we need this Mahogany's bashing to go on. Look, it's happening. let's hope it ends up being successful. Does anyone know the opening dates of Crave or Tin Roof?

awesome. Here is the PDF of the preferred alternative for the two way conversion. http://www.uptownaccessstudy.com/Images/PDFs/Open_House2%20materials/AltF.jpg

Drive around CUF and then drive around Corryville. Corryville is now cleaner with less graffiti. CUF looks horrible lately. Trash covered side walks for blocks. Graffiti on every stop sign, every no parking sign and on many buildings filled with residents. I remember 4-5 years ago when CUF was fine and Corryville was scary and dangerous. Now walking around Corryville is nice and CUF has taken a huge dive! Wonder if the City or Uptown Consortium have any plans to fix up CUF now.

yup, Streetcar will help bridge that. I could be wrong but I don't see too many workers around 4th st hopping on the streetcar to take it to the banks for lunch. I also don't see too many people wanting to pay money to ride the streetcar to/fro lunch, especially for shorter distances. I agree. Caps, please. With buildings on them. Buildings that extend over current lanes of traffic to the north and south. The Buildings have a 4 story maximum, and due to ventilation issues (discussed previously thoroughly on this thread) there is almost no chance they would be residential (cancer rates in the towers built over the interstates in NYC are supposedly statistically significantly higher than nearby rates not over interstates). I don't see high demand for adding 4 more blocks of 4 story retail or office space when the Banks is already adding a ton of it.

Also- construction on the water main between 12th and Memorial Hall seems to be complete- Was patched solid with asphalt Friday. I'm guessing they'll be moving on to Memorial Hall to Music Hall next?

GABP is now the 2nd oldest stadium to never have held an All Star Game. Tropicana Field is the only stadium older than GABP to never have hosted an All star game. Speaking of The streetcar & Baseball. At Bockfest last night I was told by a friend with close knowledge of the project that the streetcar stop would indeed by on the South side of 2nd street and not the north side as had been rumored. So the stop would be right in front of Toby Keith's.

I just noticed that renovation sign says Apartments & TOWNHOMES. am I to believe that Uptown is actually going to support Home ownership in Corryville!? That would be amazing. Corryville & CUF need major investments in ownership properties because as all these new apartments open sending kids from converted houses into massive student housing developments absentee landlords will likely just replace college kids with section 8. And while I'm all in support of well managed affordable housing (Model does a pretty good job through brickstone) I'm not a fan of random landlords just filling their run down buildings with vouchers.

Although a state audit recently said 50% of all broken tax incentive deals had 0 punishments. Even if they were written into the deal, it's VERY rare for a municipality to use a clawback. Hell, Convergys had been "off" it's mark for over 3 years, but the City only went after them this year to close a deficit. I think the loan is fine- I'm mixed on the grant but whatever. The most important part is that I hope they do well. REALLY well. Tax incentives are not loans or grants. A taxing authority agrees to lower, usually payroll taxes, on new hires or retaining employees. No logical reason to do this deal with Mohogany. you do realize that 5.5 million dollars went to Toby Keith's right? And that the entire Banks private development was heavily backed with millions and millions of public money. Hell- On the Toby Keith deal, I read that the City is 3rd in line if the loan recipient defaults. $300,000 was a loan just like any other. It is backed with $300,000 in collateral including their property in Hamilton which is valued over $200,000. The grant we can of course argue over, but the rest is just another deal. and not all corporate deals are exclusively property tax based- earnings and income tax breaks are used often as well. Or you know, there are things like the City giving a building or land away for free to a private company so they build on it. That land likely had value. Value WAY beyond $600,000.