thebillshark

Here's how I would finish out Lot 24 and the surrounding area at the Banks: COSM- see here https://www.cosm.com/ (perhaps this or something like it was the "immersive entertainment and media experience'' suggested by the most recent proposal for Lot 24?) Lot 24 Building 1- a taller skinnier residential building Lot 24 Building 2- residential building with larger footprint, ground floor commercial spaces. Could CRC or even Great Parks run an indoor playground in a ground floor space here? That could become a destination for families during bad weather. With the entrance facing south or east it would be complementary to Carol Ann's carousel. Could help partially replace the 1,000 Hands playground at Sawyer Point that was recently destroyed. Permanent urban flea market area- A foot traffic driver that could operate every weekend, special events, Christmas season. Could have synergies with the music venues (indoor and outdoor), even help support music festivals. Would provide a setback and buffer for the building frontages facing the outdoor music venue. Aerial Gondola lift- would really elevate the Banks experience! see here https://cincinnatiideas.com/gondola-at-the-banks/

Should be the location of the terminal for an air gondola over the Ohio River

Here is a concept for a pair of streetcar loops Uptown. Both loops would have streetcars going in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise, so most streets would have a pair of tracks on them. I made 7 maps on the post but here are 3:

this is one of my oldest blog entries that has no real-world update: https://cincinnatiideas.com/the-banks-phase-3/ I think a superblock might be too boring here. Not sure if they could fill all the restaurant/retail spaces, there is a lot of supply of places like this now. They need something interesting such as small scale interior streets/alleys with something interesting that draws people in perhaps like a market that somehow wouldn’t take away from Findlay Market (Flea market? Mini-Outlet mall?) and along the southern edge too. this would help the Banks stand out: https://cincinnatiideas.com/gondola-at-the-banks/ and they should do hotel or residential for 180 Walnut

Here that is on a map. Bengals and FC Cincinnati ownership go in together on owning an NBA franchise for the arena. The arena is also used for convention center events. The Bengals build a permanent indoor facility south of Mehring Way big enough for two fields, with perhaps an additional outdoor field somewhere nearby. The approaches to the new arena would need to be spruced up, and there would have to be some thought put into how people get there from the Banks street level elevation on the north side. A little far-fetched?

NFL is head and shoulders above rest of major league sports in terms of popularity and getting the city national recognition/impressions. If the Cincinnati area wants teams for these reasons NFL and the Bengals is by far the most effective to have. Additionally I think building a new football stadium elsewhere in the region would just be wasteful. The stadium looks great architecturally and positioned in its current location Edit: however I was not impressed at all with the plan for the stadium renovation/practice fields pitched to the county recently, seemed huge cost for minimal benefits

a good rule of thumb for space required by an arena without “limited concourses” is a 400 x 400 ft square. It won’t fit on the remaining Banks street grid. it would fit on the Bengals practice fields. That would be about 0.25 mile from the convention center and about 0.5 mile from the Banks Freedom Way strip of bars/restaurants by GABP.

Arena or not, maybe WCET could be a good fit for the main library north building. If I recall correctly from discussions before the main library renovations, there was extra space available on the upper floors (not sure current status)

That’s a nicely medium scaled historic building, kind of a quintessential industrial building to that area, I hope it is preserved.

I’m going to go counter to the consensus and guess that Cincinnati gets an NBA team. i guess that sports gambling has changed the equation and more teams=more games to play = more revenue for the league from gambling and media rights. I guess the NBA could expand by six teams and Cincinnati could be third in line behind Seattle and Las Vegas.

Makes me wonder if they are moving the semi trailer lots to this new property so an arena could be built immediately west of the brewery on the land bound by Liberty, Poplar, John St. and Central Avenue. An arena on Liberty directly west of the brewery would be walking distance to the garages already built for FC Cincinnati stadium. wonder if Sam Adams company or Jim Koch would partner with FC Cincinnati group on an arena project

Let me clarify- I thought the idea was for the 43 bus that goes up and down Reading Rd. to jog over to make a stop at the planned "Uptown Multimodal Center" on Harvey, just like the 17 leaves Hamilton Ave briefly to stop at the Northside Transit Center. In that case using Ridgeway (possibly together with MLK) for buses would make the most sense, and in that case Ridgeway would need to be widened for buses. However, I read that they already transferred land for the NIOSH campus, so I don't know if widening Ridgeway is still possible. If the "Uptown Multimodal Center" is just supposed to be for BRT, and possibly the local buses along Burnet (if there is an additional entrance from Burnet Ave)., I guess it's fine how it is. Still, a spur of Wasson Way along the north side of the NIOSH campus to the Uptown Multimodal Center would enhance connectivity.

Regarding the Uptown Multimodal Center: The planned NIOSH campus is going to subsume Hickman Ave. If the intention is to have buses jog over from Reading Rd. to stop at the Uptown Multimodal Center on Harvey Ave., then Ridgeway Ave. would probably need to be widened to accommodate this. But I haven't seen any provisions made for that in the plans for this area. It may also be helpful to redo Ridgeway and Reading intersection so that it meets at single point, or alternatively, put a traffic circle there. A spur from Wasson Way could also cross Reading in this area to connect to the Uptown Multimodal Center.

For $1.3 Billion it should include my concept for an aerial gondola lift at the Banks...

Hmm… I wonder if an underground parking garage is in the cards for Grant Park? Would be strategic for Vine St development.