climberguy714

hell yea! thanks a lot that is nice to see all of that development tallied on a map :clap:

what would be really nice is if they took it and did something mixed use like oakley station was going to be originally, dense, lots of apartments, retail or whatever, and tout it as transit oriented development since it would be right by the metro plus stop for the mall. just think of all the amenities people living in apartments there would have, kenwood mall and collection, lots of restaurants within walking distance, a couple of grocery stores, salons, a movie theater, etc...a guy can dream right?

Hm...That's some interesting history I wasn't aware of, thanks. I used to go to that Barnes and Noble all the time, but haven't in a year probably.

bingo! http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/11/14/flaherty-collins-ceo-were.html a day later, and its already released there is interest in building a tower in its place.

Yeah, odds are this is actually a good thing. Saks will have a new bigger store which will serve as the anchor for the collection, making the likelihood of that filling up quickly more possible. Then the space will be left for other stores to come in and use. I don't know much of the way the Saks building is, having never been in it, but why not find another big retailer for it, or remake it into several smaller stores or whatnot? Or it could be the opportunity to knock that building down and densify further, or add a tower on top. I don't know all of the details of that building, but why not? I live in Kennedy Heights and my fiance works in Kenwood Mall. Driving around the area often, I have been noticing how things here are getting bigger and taller, more dense. I don't know if people notice it, but I think it could easily become or is becoming another major node of business and retail activity. I don't think there is anything wrong with this and I think that having nodes of dense housing, business and retail further the cause of transit. This would also help explain why the first metro plus route goes there. I especially hope that transit helps the area a lot, because as it gets more dense and the collection comes online traffic is gonna be off the hook and people who might not usually consider transit might start seeing why it could be a good idea. :)

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/11/12/as-port-authority-delays-bond-sale.html In this, it says that the way it will work means that we will be defaulting on the lease. This could mean legal fees and other negative repercussions. I am so confused as to why Cranley thinks that this is an ok thing to do. How is this saving money and helping out the tax payer? I can only see this costing the tax payers more in the long run, when it comes time to balance the budget and there is no other answer other than raising taxes or cutting services. I honestly don't understand Cranley's logic here. Why try to save the city money with the streetcar on one hand, and then throw money right back out with cancelling this? Face Palm.

yes absolutely to all of those. very good point about cranley and coast wanting buses instead of street cars but will probably not support spending money on improving that alternative. i seriously think that we should focus on the metro plus lines and trying to get lrt. i have not yet ridden metro plus, mostly because it doesn't run on weekends. if the service ran on the weekend, it would have alot more people using it. i would definitely use it to go downtown or otr on friday or saturday nights.

The idea of building more smaller local bridges to take traffic load off of Brent Spence is definitely good, especially if cheaper because of less overall roadwork etc. If bridges could be designed to have light rail crossing the river too, that effect would be increased dramatically. Less people driving on Brent Spence = good. Less people driving in general = even better.

I forget if anyone has posted this idea on here before, but the possible resurrection of metroman made me think of it. I think it would be really cool if they bring back the moving sculpture from here and put it somewhere, like at the riverfront park or in one of the museums. Otherwise, they should just get it over and implode this place ;)

That's a really good point about the plan to become a huge tourist destination. I hadn't thought about that, but it seems to make a lot of sense. Which is a tourist more likely to go to, a restaurant or a furniture store? Definitely the restaurant.

I could be wrong, but the way I saw the story is that it really sucks for Joseph Williams, because it is a cool store, and it sucks to be priced out of your place. But at the same time, could it mean that the demand is increasing enough that 3CDC is raising the rent to reflect that? If so, that is a good thing, because it shows the demand for space is increasing in OTR. What needs to happen is for more private developers to come in and start developing more so that the supply of useable space increases, which would level everything out. I really wonder if it could be that simple, 3CDC can only move so fast in terms of redeveloping, and this limits the supply. You can't really fault them too much though for wanting more money, because this in turn helps them with developing more properties. It's not like they are just a straight up landlord jacking up the prices for sheer profit.

Exactly. We're not going to be seeing any 20-story towers in OTR. Maybe in Corryville some day... Yea this article brings up a good point I hadn't thought about. There is alot more vacant space for bigger buildings downtown. And in terms of livability, the street car makes it easier for people living downtown to get to findlay and up to the restaurants and shops in otr. That is pretty crazy that the estimates for the increase in value of buildings downtown will go up that much.

wow after all this time and all this debate and politics, its finally here :)

good news, just seeing that picture of the location makes me hope that this will help with the vibrancy of the neighborhood and encourage infill and new growth in the neighborhood with all those huge parking lots surrounding the area.

pretty awesome news, especially with them saying they are focusing on bike parking and transit

That's some good news. When I drive by on the ridge side of the block this is proposed for, I always notice the houses right there look really run down and abandoned. This could be a good way to get rid of those, since it seems no one wants to renovate them. It will also increase density and renovate an old commercial building there. It's good that even though they didn't chose a more urban design for Oakley Station, that Oakley is still interested in increasing density and becoming more urban. I sometimes dream of what it would be like if after Oakley Station is built, and all of the lots around there are built out that are possible. I think it would be genius if Crossroads built a couple of garages back behind their building, and then divided their property up into lots and sold off all the space in front of their buildings that is parking now. After everything else is built out, they could sell that space for millions, and then it would allow the Oakley business district to expand along Madison all the way to Ridge.

I'm really excited about this new development. It seemed to come out of nowhere. I really hope they focus on restoring it rather than totally gutting it and starting over. From pictures I've seen it looks like it was a really beautiful building inside. I'm glad the question about what to do with the old department store isn't stopping them from their interest in the building.

This meatball place sounds awesome. I love meatballs! By the way I also love the quote about the meatball festival. Wow.

These new details about the project today really excite me. In particular the part about them focusing on making the architecture exciting. I'm really looking forward to more varied and exciting architecture around the city. I absolutely love the oldschool buildings downtown and in otr, but I feel alot of the newer ones from the 80s and 90s are pretty boring. I was downtown this weekend at the Red's game, and was taking in the view of the city at night from the stadium. I was overwhelmed by how many of the towers in the city are mostly just big boxes sticking up into the sky. Also it makes sense for this project to have a more dramatic style, especially thinking about the planning of people on the square taking in the views and how much it will be seen since so many events happen there. I'm pretty excited.

Earlier this week I was wondering if this was completely done yet. Go figure I found this article this morning. Ribbon cutting was yesterday. http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/New-apartments-open-at-former-downtown-office-building/-/13549970/17329160/-/9f74slz/-/index.html

so i was there for midpoint on friday, went to the emery for port st willow and the antlers, it was my first time there and it was straight out amazing! me and my friend were talking about all of the different bands we dream of seeing there sometime once they restore it and fully reopen it, the sound is perfect there and it was packed for the antlers! its too bad that some had bad experiences during the festival, but my experience was incredible, i couldn't believe how many people were in otr friday night, it was good planning to have the festival the same weekend as final friday, it felt like a critical mass, there were so many people and so much energy and vibrancy, i felt like i was in like chicago without the traffic went to neons and there was a good vibe there, that place is awesome! then got food at some of the food trucks over by the midway, it just felt like what i imagine a big city feels like on a friday night, lots of things to do, lots of places to go, lots of people, it was great, and i hope a lot of the people there had good experiences like that and will keep coming back

Wasn't sure if it would be better to post this here or on a light rail thing. Saw this on enquirer website. Titled advandtages of light rail, though it doesn't talk about advantages of light rail, but more addresses some of the "disadvantages": access to stations and cost of building stations. http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20120829/NEWS/308290013/ It made me remember that I saw an article recently on some blog, I can't remember which one. It was about something called like rapid streetcars or something, Europe has been doing this alot. It was where there are streetcars that have a max speed of 40-50 mph and they can move back and forth between streets and their own right of ways. I was thinking maybe this could be a good solution for us. Or at least an option to consider. Does anyone else know more about these?

all i can say is wow! the park looks and feels awesome, even though it was hot as hell today there were so many people there. we went there and then went to 1215, bakersfield and findlay. it feels different to me now. all sorts of people, black, white, people from around the country for the choir games. there didn't seem to be any division, just people enjoying a magnificent park. by the way i've never been there in the past, the views of all the buildings and music hall are awesome. i just felt so positive about everything.

good article on the streetsblog: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/07/02/ohio-reps-rider-would-block-cincinnnati-streetcar-from-receiving-funds/ i'm glad to hear that it wasnt in the bill that passed on friday, i was panicking!

exactly! he has shown that he does not honor or care about the democratic process, the key part of this process being the vote of the public, he only cares about your votes if you're voting for him!