thebillshark

^I'm pretty sure that it is a distillery in the works by the owners of Pet Wants. I rode my bike to the location last night and the mailbox says Born Again distillery- so maybe they have changed the name to OTR Still House? Or Still House is the name of event center/bar portion that you mention? Seems like a cool project!

Sounds like a perfect fit! Perhaps NIOSH can design a walkable campus like the plans for the corridor. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/05/22/exclusive-niosh-chief-hints-at-where-110m-lab.html

Nice. Definitely something to point to when people scream gentrification. My hope is if this is successful they try similiar projects in the future. Meanwhile the bar Low Spark on the corner opens soon and John Hueber is working on 5 single family homes (2 rehab and 3 new) on Republic just south of 14th.

Precisely. Could you imagine parents staying there for campus visits and having the streetcar extension putting the all the attractions of downtown and OTR at their fingertips? Sounds pretty good for UC, the city and the economy.

Hello all, I've updated my Uptown Four concept to more clearly state my proposal: a high frequency (10 minutes or less headway) transit network serving the Downtown and Uptown cores of Cincinnati, made up of four new bus lines that connect to the Cincinnati Streetcar line. I've tweaked some of the lines, redone the transit center, and renamed the concept "Cinculators." Through my research I've found it covers a significant percentage of the city's jobs (~52%) and population (~30%). While there may be challenges implementing some portions of this plan, I think it's unique compared to the other concepts for the Uptown extension being proposed. I would be humored if this concept was at least studied for feasibility when the Uptown extension is finally planned in earnest… Presentation is located here: http://bit.ly/1L8RCnp A pic of the transit center from the presentation: (located on the south edge of remodeled University Plaza) I think the other most interesting options for the Uptown extension are the following: first, a full blown, grade separated light rail line. When you think about it, any future light rail line is destined to connect Cincinnati's two centers of Downtown and Uptown, so while this seems a big mental leap to take right now, it may be the logical next step. Second, a streetcar that actually enters UC's campus. I think that would provide a super strong anchor (thousands of transit-oriented young people and a big jobs center) for the existing line.

Now that there's The Verge will there also be The Verge Pipe? It's all so bittersweet.

^I bet their theory is it would reduce the vehicle count using the Hopple Street 75 exit making it easier to shoot up MLK to their institutions (At least theoretically.) I'd be careful giving them too much guff about this. It could make them wary of weighing in on controversial issues and lessen the chances of them coming out to support the streetcar.

^in Soviet Russia, streetcar crancels you!

Civ IV forever! I'm in a strange game right now as the Portugese and have no access to coal or oil so no railroads even though I'm into the modern era. There's a windmill sitting on a coal plot that should be my territory but it's right over the border with the Egyptians whose cultural borders are expanding into my territory! I think they built the Eiffel Tower. It's difficult to attack them because we have friendly relations and they are the largest Civ in the game.

And I thought you were for mixed use development!

Comments on this story about the common sense move to charge valet companies for parking spots they use are completely bizarre. So angry, confused and completely incoherent. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/15/city-to-valet-companies-no-more-free-ride/27388537/

That sounds like the absolute last place in the universe I would want to go, OTR or otherwise. My version of hell, actually. I would say that sort of thing fell out of favor (outside the Jersey Shore) with the advent of hipster culture of the older mellenials. As an older mellenial, I am getting older, and maybe out of touch, though...

This is why I'm an urbanist. Here we have a nation of sedentary people who have eliminated the useful walk being faced with traffic congestion and increased commute times... and the solution being proposed is self-driving cars. Uhh... How about building neighborhoods with sidewalks? Bike paths? Adjusting land use to allow people to live closer to the things they need to get to?

They always planned on putting something shorter there so it wouldn't block the views of the people in The Banks apartments. Originally this was going to be townhomes, but that got scrapped in favor of making it part of the hotel. Now we can all start speculating about when something will be built on the office tower pad at The Banks. I predict they will build a spec Class A office tower without a specific tenant in mind -- otherwise, they will lose the development rights. And, due to the recent incident, they know there is at least some possibility that they could be replaced by another developer. With P&G shedding off brands, I'd like to see them spin a brand or group of brands off into a stand alone company based in Cincinnati instead of simply selling them off to out of town interests. I want to see Cincinnati keep the jobs and also the local business, design work, etc supported by these brands. I think the office pad at the Banks would be the perfect location for something like that- a hip urban location with lots of amenities close to the old mothership. There is precedent for what I'm talking about- Sunny Delight and was spun off of P&G into a stand alone company for example. Sometimes a spin off can become a big deal in its own right- like Family Matters coming out of Perfect Strangers!

^your fears are misplaced. Once a country reaches first world economic development standards, population growth naturally levels out and even starts to decline. That's because people have less children (they become more certain the ones they have will survive into adulthood) and have them later in life. The real question is whether the global systems we have in place is conducive to Third World countries developing to First World levels. The third world is where some truly huge mega cities are emerging with very poor infrastructure and sanitation.

I really like the basement level offices/apartments on those. Adds diversity to the streetscape and kinds of uses possible in OTR. If it was me, I'd run an Airbnb out of there and see how big of a dent I could put in that mortgage!

1420 Race is for sale for $650k, it's a 3000 sq. ft. single family home that's part of Westfalen condo association.

I wouldn't mind a Chipotle- (a ChipOTR?) - there's been quite a few times when I've biked down to the one on Fountain Square. Just looking for something convenient at that price point. But that one is close enough to OTR, really. But the problem with chains is (besides it being pretty arbitrary for someone at 3CDC to decide which chains "fit the vibe") is it takes a little creativity to patronize local small business. It's easy to forget that Picnic and Pantry has to go sandwiches or Revolution Rotisserie is right down the street if a Chipotle is right there and it's your default option.

The $108 plan wouldn't bother me, and the status quo also does not bother me. A $1,500 on-street permit would be absolutely ridiculous and I do not believe there would be any demand for it. One thing I take issue with in the veto logic... If you were trying to recoup the investment into OTR put up by the taxpayers of the other 51 neighborhoods over the past decade, (a statement that in itself has its own issues,) wouldn't you want a residential permit in place so that OTR visitors would be forced into city meters or 3CDC garages instead of finding a free space? That way you could collect money from the significant portion of the visitors that come from outside the city limits or even outside Hamilton County. As it is, you're saying it's better to leave money on the table because there's a chance a city resident from outside the neighborhood *might* be able to snag a free spot on a Saturday night. But like I said, I'm fine with the status quo. Right now in the NWcorner of OTR South of Liberty, the unmetered spots are off the beaten path enough that true tourists don't want to park there, but they are available for residents, people visting residents, and people working in the neighborhood. Maybe after another year or so of development I will see a need for a residential permit program like this but not so much now.

I already emailed. I think we'd be surprised at the readership of this site. I know some folks at city hall read it, not sure who all, and I think members of the press do as well. It would shock me if no one at 3cdc did. We're discussing the work they do all day so it would be pretty interesting to them I'd imagine.

I think urbanist consensus is forming in favor of two way streets. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/17/why-one-way-streets-really-are-the-worst/ Jeff Speck also talks about this in Chapter 5 of Walkable City. Business owners are just like the general public, some will oppose changes of any sort, even if it would help them in the long run. And a lot has been written about how the numeric goals of traffic planners can be at odds with the well being of a city overall.

The back side of 1508 Race is in bad shape. A hole in the back wall has expanded and now there is a gaping hole in the roof too. Needs stabilization. Posting this here in case 3CDC personnel read this board.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Oh heavens no. Why not? One of the biggest drives of the move to Plano was the high cost of of their California office in Torrance. They said that NKY was not considered for the HQ because they were seeking a neutral site between the two offices but who knows how their calculus would have changed if we had a direct flight to Japan. When I worked at a Japanese company there was constant travel of expats and others back and forth to Japan.

I'm a big fan of walkability and traffic calming, but MLK is going to be an auto oriented road, and in fact millions are being spent to make optimize it for that purpose in between 1-71 and I-75. I believe in even in Jeff Speck's book he has a section about Picking your winners (in other words choosing your battles.) Just saw the biz courier article- land bridge over MLK looks cool.