thebillshark

The parking is on the backside of the structures- the building sits over the spaces like a carport. There will be additional structures fronting Pleasant St. It's a phased approach now.

I think in other cities there is a legitimate debate about historic preservation vs. neighborhood affordability, but here we just tear things down for damn parking lots.

Terrible to think we lost historic structures to build a fast food restaurant but it could hold the seeds of opportunity: https://cincinnatiideas.wordpress.com/liberty-and-race-underground-garage/

I don't know the answer, but it should dwell at the Findlay Market Race Street stop since that's a transit-only lane. I hope Rhinegeist customers traveling south are able to board at Rhinegeist. People will be judging the streetcar on all kinds of trivial things to start off with and that could be one of them.

My main rationale for saving the Davis is actually to prevent such a scenario from happening. IMO the buildings of the past where built to a smaller scale which was better for walkability and keeping the pedestrian engaged but was also economically more robust because many different property owners were involved. It may be wishful thinking on my part but I think a new smaller multi unit residential building being built next to the Davis at Main and Central Parkway would be a sign that our economy and downtown are really in a roll as opposed to a larger, subsidized half block development. This guy said it better here: http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/12/7/best-of-2015-granularity I think the same argument applies to saving the Dennison.

Sorry if this has been covered before but does anyone know what will happen when a streetcar reaches the north end of the line? Does everyone have to get out at Rhinegeist? Can southbound travelers coming out of Rhinegeist board the streetcar right out in front of Rhinegeist and take a ride past the MOF, or do they have to walk to the Race Street Findlay Market stop? Where does the dwell time (the "break time" transit vehicles take to ensure that they're evenly spaced out and on schedule) take place- at Rhinegeist with the doors open, in front of the MOF with the doors closed, or at Findlay Market Race Street stop with the doors open?

The vacant lot is a larger (double?) lot, so maybe his plan is for the north side of the lot closer to the new house? Just speculating

The good news: one of my favorite buildings in OTR will be redeveloped (1420 Elm) The bad news: they are going to turn the vacant lot to the north of it into a parking lot. 1420 has a blank facade to the north such that infill could easily be built directly adjacent and the building is on the streetcar line! #noparkinglotsontheline http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/buildings/historic-conservation/historic-conservation-board/july-11-2016-staff-reports-and-attachments/

He's talking commuter rail to Lunken. Take an Uber. Would like to see business people to line up behind streetcar/light rail to Uptown where there is density to support ridership.

Yes they must have been counting the Mound Building era. There were Native American mounds all over the basin including one where Fountain Square is today and a larger one in the West End (origin of the name "Mound Street.")

Those mixed used developments (Marlowe Court, College Hill Station) are just what the doctor ordered to fix the holes in College Hill's NBD. Kudos to CHURC's Mike Cappel for putting these together!

I posted this to my blog recently based on things I've read in the news up to this point but there hasn't been any "Breaking news" about a real life project that I'm aware of https://cincinnatiideas.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/a-solution-to-downtowns-game-of-groceries/

That's a really interesting idea, bout I would imagine one advantage of them doing what they're doing is being able to design a modern lab facility from scratch. Plus, if Uptown Consortium doesnt score a win on this one for the "Reading Road Tech Corridor" they may as well stick a fork in that whole concept.

My bad! Just consulted some historical maps and apparently Republic (Bremen) St NEVER connected to Central Parkway (Canal St.) The block has always been split by just Baldwin and Doerr Alleys. So the Ndukwe proposal would be in line with historical form.

1) does anyone Know the status of the Ndukwe grocery store proposal? http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/01/26/plans-for-28m-otr-grocery-store-development-move.html 2) what if that project didn't happen, and we tore down the CMHA building, and reconnected Republic Street to Central Parkway instead? You could then have two smaller residential infill projects on the new section of Republic with prominent corners at Republic and Central Parkway. It might improve walkability by adding another entrance to the neighborhood west of Vine (while fixing what I guess was an urban renewal era action) while adding population.

People always suggest going through the middle of Camp Washington with the streetcar after reading that idea. There's a reason I drew the line in its own right of way along Central Parkway however: https://cincinnatiideas.wordpress.com/light-rail-vs-streetcar/ That doesn't make wanting the streetcar to go through the heart of Camp Washigton "wrong" but it does represent a trade off.

Here's what they should do to help this project out: 1) extend the Central Parkway Bike Lanes to Northside- would be accessible right over the Monmouth Street bridge from this development. 2) Extend the streetcar to Northside in the Right of Way of the old Rapid Transit (subway,) which is supposedly being preserved through I-75 construction. That would ensure separated right of way which means a quick journey along the line making it more useful transit. 3) Put a stop at Monmouth Street that would be easily accessible by walking or bike from the Crosley Building 4) Move City Garage to the wide open old Kahn's site into modern facilities 5) build Transit Oriented Development at the City Garage site, increasing the population of the area to support more neighborhood businesses, both along Central Parkway and Camp Washington's Colerain Ave strip Just so crazy it just might work https://cincinnatiideas.wordpress.com/northside-light-rail/

Would that be the Camp Washington Workhouse? I think it was a jail, designed by Samuel Hannaford of course.

He vaguely looks like Demetri Martin

I have always wondered why there is no UDF downtown (if Mount Adams can support a UDF with no gas component i would think downtown can). But the build out for the Howl at the Moon is already well underway at the old Toby Keiths space. Well, best of luck to them, but they won't be able to take full advantage of the all-hours (mornings included) foot traffic that will be going by there like another kind of business there might have. Maybe it's only tangentially related in this case, but I don't think many business people and leaders are thinking "fourth dimensionally" (as Doc Brown would say) about the streetcar yet!

I thought of the perfect thing to go into the old Toby Keith's space: A UDF. It's a local brand Would give the Banks neighborhood a convenience store option that would be a cut above a bodega. Would be a place for Banks residents to buy alcohol for home High foot traffic due to Streetcar Stop #1. People commuting to or from the whole Banks neighborhood via the Streetcar would pass it twice a day. High foot traffic on game days Ice Cream option for families visiting the Reds or Smale Riverfront Park The Lindners could see another little part of their empire from the Great American Tower

I think the placement of a downtown grocery store could be used to revitalize Court Street storefronts and drive all-hours foot traffic to revive retail there. I made some diagrams of potential store placements and the potential foot traffic patterns along each. The first two are the SE and SW corners of Walnut and Central respectively. The SE corner has been rumored for a residential tower/grocery combo. The SW corner shows the Monro Tire and Brakes next to Kroger HQ being replaced with a store. These could drive some traffic to Court Street by utilizing the median parking: The next one is building a long, narrow store in the Court Street median as we were discussing Friday afternoon. This is the most unconventional design but may succeed the most in driving the most foot traffic to Court Street: Finally there's the Chinedum Ndukwe proposals to build a grocery in the old CMHA site. This one wouldn't do much for Court Street but would be closer for foot traffic from OTR (especially if they had access via alley from 12th Street):

^you could even add a big "by Kroger" sign to the specialty brand store so people wouldn't be confused as to why there was a different supermarket brand in the shadow of Kroger HQ.

I feel like when people say downtown lacks a grocery store, what they mean is downtown lacks an upscale grocery store, other wise they wouldn't be completely ignoring the existence of Vine St. Kroger. However if Vine St. Kroger were ever replaced, the replacement would (should) still need to carry all the value brands low income people in the basin rely on. That being said what if Kroger opened one of their specialty brands in the CBD (Mariano's or "Main and Vine" concept) and left the Vine St. Kroger open? (Rather than closing Vine St. Store and building a superstore in the CBD.) I think that could satisfy the upper middle class "back to the city" types while leaving some solid neighborhood-centric retail near Vine & Liberty on the Vine St. commercial strip. I feel like even the chaotic little parking lot of the Vine St. Kroger is good urbanism, as good as a parking lot can be, constantly active while the store is open.

I just measured - the Court Street median is about 45 feet across and 360 ft long. This would be about the size of Vine St. OTR Kroger. But if it was two or three stories tall it would be significantly larger!