chinkley

East side and west side uniting through beer! as it should be.

Yikes! Bad couple of days for cranes, it seems. NYC crane incident last friday was crazy to see.

Building that witnessed both of A. Lincoln's elections is being torn down. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/08/city-decides-fate-of-historic-fifth-street.html

Reading Rd between McMillan and Forest is unbelievably depressing now and very unwelcoming.

Thanks for the clarification. That seems kinda silly.

Is UC saving or tearing down the old Sears building at Reading and Lincoln? I took the 43 this evening and that building is stripped to the bone and the corner part is semi-demolished. I was under the impression that the building was going to be saved as-is.

Biz Courier is reporting that the apartment units will be going for about $2.10 a square foot. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/05/how-much-will-it-cost-to-live-at-downtown-s.html

Ha! Good point. Though if they'd gone to Kenwood they wouldn't be either.

I have no information on Saks, but I'd suggest that they look to partner with the new owners at Fourth & Walnut Centre to be a major anchor tenant there. Updated building, higher profile space. Then the old building could be razed for a new tower or three.

I'm intruiged by how cars will navigate that ramp in the foreground. Will one side of the concrete pillars be "up" and the other "down"? Or can cars fit both ways between the pillars and the wall, leaving the other side for parking?

Pretty damning article about spending at the MSD over the past 6 years. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/03/special-report-680m-memo/79691776/ I'm disappointed to not see any discussion regarding *why* we as a county can't afford the upgrades. I believe that an honest discussion about that would have to touch on the facts that Hamilton County has lost 15% of its population since 1970 (two years after MSD was created). And at the same time, the existing population is spreading further out around the county. Both facts mean that there are fewer people to pay for more infrastructure. It's like we're trying to repair a leaky bucket but at the same time are actively poking more holes while also running out of repair materials.

This is what we need to do to break up the superblock and increase building density at the banks: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4986766,-81.6900485,3a,75y,356.61h,88.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKyDmvlsMsIvlj9DzyIzARg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Look at that lamp post! We should have replicated those along over-the-rhine streets.

Far more than creepy or dead, too many intersections downtown are just plain ugly and inhospitable for pedestrians.

that background is just cruel.

The parking lot at Central/Vine that CMHA owns would provide 120 feet of frontage on Central Parkway and 45 feet of frontage to Vine St, which is a huge opportunity for street level activity, if properly designed. If the garage is going to be so large, then removing those 14 surface parking spaces ought to be considered a mandatory. From a design perspective, it would also allow the building to "step up" to its full height. If it's constructed with 3-4 stories at Vine St, it will be less jarring to step up to the 9 story height than if the surface parking remained and it just shot straight up to 9 stories, with no connection to the surrounding buildings. Looking at the above image, it appears that the corner of Vine and CP becomes a sort of park with some trees. Would be awesome to see an even taller building there eventually.

Speaking of accountability, does anyone know how much this thing will cost yet? Or are we still cool with building it and figuring the cost out later?

isn't the whole point of the project to enable the fastest ingress and egress of commuters from Blue Ash and Indian Hill to get to and from uptown jobs? I can't imagine anyone at ODOT is losing sleep over how "livable" the area is now or will be once the project is complete.

Yeah they've gone full google out in union township with basketball courts, exercise equipment, food/snacks. All they need is to start running a bus from Central Parkway out there every morning and night as a service for all that young talent that has chosen to live in civilization! :laugh:

More on that here: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/01/26/plans-for-28m-otr-grocery-store-development-move.html Color me unimpressed: a 9 story building that is half garage, across the street from a 30 story building, and a block west of an 18-story building. Central Parkway needs buildings that are at least the size of the American Building. And good god, please someone propose a project without parking.

What's a more normal grade? 3-4%?

@jmecklenburg, do you have any idea how sound that OKI drawing is? I'm looking at it and questioning the ability of heavy rail to make some of those grades, even if deep-bored. Specifically I'm questioning the climb from LPH to St Lawrence and then up Vine St. Looks like there's a stop at Vine and W Clifton/McMicken, and then again under McMillan/Calhoun. Is that possible?

I rode the bus up Gilbert at dusk last night, happened to look back, and WOW. The view is fantastic. Downtown looks like it's full of tall towers and they're all nicely lit-up. Separately, I walk past the new hotel every day after work on my way home, and I've noticed that the left-most lane on 7th is completely blocked from Sycamore to Broadway. It has been for months now. I wonder if DOTE has noticed this and taken traffic counts.7th is obviously a major feeder to Gilbert/71, and yet traffic seems to move along just fine. It also looks like the lane will go away permanently due to the new hotel. My hope is that DOTE takes note and starts to become ok with reducing lanes within the CBD.

I will second both of these. I'm also a little confused about Freeport Alley. Will it still enable foot travel from Logan to Elm? The parking ramp seems like it might be in the way.

Fair point.