northsider

^^^ that's fantastic.

Got it in one. Kroger's business model is really dependent upon doing large amounts of business since the gross margin from normal products is super thin. Whole Foods also has the luxury of having a clearly defined customer in mind, whereas Kroger wants to be able to please everybody. Because of these factors, Kroger wants a lot more square footage than makes sense in urban locations. Also, as I've mentioned before, the leadership of the company is heavily suburbanite. I get the impression that we'll be testing new models of stores soon, though, and I really hope that leadership is waking up to some of the demographic trends and deciding to get serious about exploring urban models. I was actually in dunnhumby's HQ today and I was reminded again how design-focused they are as a company. I'm expecting really neat things from this building!

The parties may have been great, but I shudder to think how much extra insurance UC had to pay because of those balconies. Can't fault them for taking them out.

I.e. where people move from being passengers to pedestrians, or where people move from one form of transportation to another?

It's my understanding that they had to use the lightest possible materials because of weight limits. I'm not sure why the buildings had to be uniformly beige though! And ultimately, the cap's successful from a design perspective because it does what it set out to do: create an area of buzz and excitement that facilitates pedestrians wanting to walk over the highway to get to the Short North or downtown. Absolutely. It's just cheap. Hey, I really like the CAC! And I think it serves its functions well. But I think your points about a lot of starchitecture and severe modernism stand. the question is this: what's the most cost-efficient way tody to get buildings that work both from a form perspective and an aesthetic perspective?

Yes, undoubtedly there's a more "logical", "efficient" way to use this land. The thing is, you could make that argument about all sorts of current businesses and nonprofits, not just the ALI. You might as well say that the City would make a lot more money if we tore down the Taft and put a luxury hotel in its place. City development is inherently not 100% efficient. What matters here is that ALI has a right to remain, and that the presence of ALI doesn't detract from the neighborhood or negatively impact the other residents of the area.

The Anchor just opened up, going to go eat there right after work tonight. This is the start of Race Street between 14th and 15th becoming one of the most coveted addresses in Cincinnati.

Moreover, the cap's design is directly inspired from Columbus's old Union Station: So people can complain about the architecture, but it's perfectly fine in context and actually refers to Columbus's own architectural history.

Sure. And if the ALI were the only place available to develop downtown, that'd be a potent argument for redeveloping it. :-P The ALI have been good neighbors and there's plenty of other places to redevelop downtown. W&S monomaniacally focusing on ALI makes them come off as crazy bullies - to me, at least.

The Banks and Bakersfield were supposed to be enough of a douchebag honeypot, but I think that the closure of Cadillac Ranch and Lodge have meant that we're still getting Bro Spillover. :(

Yeah, I just recently came to this conclusion as well. I think I'll start donating on a monthly basis to Tender Mercies or OTRCH, since those organizations are actually doing things to move people out of chronic homelessness.

If memory serves, the couple who started City Flea lived in NYC prior to coming to Cincy, and I'm pretty sure they mentioned the Brooklyn Flea as an inspiration in an interview at some point.

I've been to City Flea twice and really enjoy the mix of vendors. Basically: if you like the semi-annual Crafty Supermarket arts&crafts sale, then you'll like City Flea. If you don't care for antiques, modernist design, and/or hipster aesthetics, City Flea might not have what you're looking for - but it's a neat place to at least window shop and people watch, and you can experience how much better the local food truck scene is now.

Is that what's going into the Hanke Building? I'm a little surprised by this since US Bank already has a branch at Liberty and Sycamore, and another at Court near Main - I'm wondering if this means they'd be closing their Court Street location? I'm delighted to hear of more services opening in OTR though! ETA: looks like people mentioned this in the OTR Projects thread back in July. It is the Hanke Building and the former plasma place next door I believe, and this location will replace the two US Bank branches on Court and on Sycamore. I guess US Bank is thinking that office workers will be comfortable with venturing at least a block into OTR now, since that's who frequented the Court branch.

I'm wondering if that's because transit planning has to be done from a regional perspective?

Of which I had three today for lunch! you're not the only one. Someone did a survey back around 1990 that said that 80% of Cincinnatians had chili at least once a week. And that is probably why we're tops in hot dog consumption per capita.

It is a treasure trove for Cincy urbanism geeks.

So we finally have a look at the final draft of Plan Cincinnati before it goes to the city planning commission, and it's a doozy. I'd highly recommend going to http://www.plancincinnati.org/ and checking it out - it's over 200 pages of planning goodness. A few things stood out to me: 1) This thing is a map and chart nerd's dream. Seeing them map out the current neighborhood centers of the city and classify cincy's neighborhood by type is just, well, awesome. 2) Plan Cincinnati does a really good job at describing the current state of the city, where things need to go, and some possible ways to get there 3) It really hangs its hat on creating and sustaining walkable mixed-use neighborhoods. 4) For all the complaints I sometimes see about "gentrification" and what not, Plan Cincinnati puts a lot of emphasis on making sure to not forget about low income carless citizens, especially those living in areas underserved currently by mass transit. All in all, I'm pretty dang pleased with the document. I'd be curious to see what others think of it. (I hope there wasn't an existing thread about this already, but I couldn't find one. I'm sure the UO Thread Appropriateness Police will let me know if there's someplace else we should talk about this. :police:)

*facepalm* He does realize that everyone remembers what it was like beforehand, yes? And I find the use of "tourist" here to be curious, to say the least. Many Cincinnati parks have more visitors than just their immediate neighbors. That's healthy. I'm wondering if this is the final straw and will complete his slide into irrelevancy. I'm not even sure what his particular organization does at this point - the "news" section of its website was last updated in 2008. Are they the StreetVibes folks?

It is a very, very good steakhouse chain. Again: the mix of restaurants that are going into the Banks don't really seem to be my thing (though I really should try Mahogany), but I'm delighted that they are really popular. The Banks is just catering to a different crowd than the redevelopment in OTR, and that's okay.

and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why he's called OHSnap. :-D

Yeah, people being excited about music are just the worst. :-P Anyway, to be more accurate, those "loiterers" would actually be posting an update about how they just watched Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. But seriously, with the Washington Park revamp being so successful, i imagine that there will be even more demand for holding events at a renovated Music Hall, especially in the spaces that overlook the park. Success builds on itself!

Well, I wasn't claiming that visitors were preferable to downtown residents, just that visitors are an important part of the economy and building excitement around Cincinnati. You need a healthy mix of both, and right now we have less of both than we'd all prefer! I wonder if financing is more difficult to procure for CBD residential space than it is for hotels -perhaps that's a driving factor. If it is, god only knows why - every decent CBD residential product seems to lease out / sell out quite quickly. Perhaps it will take another year or two of consistently long waitlists for downtown residences before more development is announced. :/

..Huh? We don't want hotel visitors just so we have new people to talk to! :-D We want hotel visitors because of the money they spend in our shops, bars, and restaurants and the impact that has on our local economy. Also, better/more hotel options = Cincinnati being more likely to attract and host more conventions. But yes, I hope that more residential projects are announced soon too.

I work in one of the merchandising departments, so I don't really have visibility to store level financials. OTR, I'd recommend that your group contact the store management at the Vine Street Kroger. What I've heard from pals and UrbanCincy commenters is that the store management at VSK is very receptive to feedback, so my guess is that they'd be really interested in partnering with your group on making VSK a success and letting you know how much they need to improve to reach profitability. as for the Walnut Hills Kroger - since I'm not in Store Planning, I don't know of any future planned changes for the Walnut Hills Kroger as far as remodels or a potential closure goes. What I do know is that Kroger has not been talking about closing the store - the Buy 25 campaign is a proactive campaign to make sure that Kroger corporate doesn't even think about closing the WH Kroger.