TroyEros

The address in the 2 links

2 new businesses are coming to OTR this September/October. Corporate (a high end collectible store for shoes and apparel) will open right next to the Mercer, and The Candle Lab will open its first Cincinnati location (where you can make your own scented candles) on Vine right next to Union Hall.

Check out: -Smale Rivefront Park -Check out the latest developments in OTR (especially around Vine). -Stop by Taft Ale House on Race street in OTR. Won't regret it. Honesty the most that has changed in 2 years is probably the advancment of The Banks/Smale Riverfront Park, and the current ongoing redevelopment of Washington Park/OTR

I believe I read it was the first non east coast american city to be settled. It still pisses me off that history happened the way it did. Cincinnati and Chicago are so interchangeable. Cincinnati could have easily become Chicago today if it wasn't for a few setbacks in history, with a million plus population, and hundreds of skyscrapers, while Chicago could have easily become Cincinnati today. I disagree. Cincinnati could have been somewhat larger, and *perhaps* double its current size, but that would have required some dumb luck, and we are already very lucky to have had P&G happen here. Basically we needed 3-4 other giant companies to have happened to have started here. To get really big, a city has to have a period of time when things *had* to be in that location. An obvious example is Hong Kong during the Communist era. San Francisco was the only protected harbor for hundreds of miles, NYC was a deep water port at the mouth of a large river, etc. Cincinnati only had a very brief period of time when things *had* to be here. If technology had progressed more slowly, perhaps Cincinnati would have grown somewhat larger in the 1800s because there would have been no viable alternatives. But the fact is that the straight line of cities along the south shores of the Great Lakes is a big deal, and Chicago was the obvious jumping-off point from all of that commerce to the agrarian Midwest. And Chicago had nothing but flat land in all directions, so big money stooges couldn't hoard all of it as happened in Cincinnati. I agree with Jake on this point, however there are odd exceptions and that's usually due to sheer cultural willpower. A good example is Seattle Vs Tacoma - Tacoma was where the railroad ended and was in a natural port, probably one of the best in the US part of the pacific northwest, but Tacoma never became the alpha US city of the region, Seattle did, and Seattle did largely because of a campaign of boosterism that was extremely successful leading a less than ideal port to be the primary city of its superregion. Cincinnati doesn't have that kind of thing in its cultural DNA - it could have taken a route where it tried to fight against the natural/political barriers that were against it being a major inland cultural center/city but it didn't really do so and eventually developed into a place weary of new ideas that it is today. I am wondering though when that cultural conservatism took hold because it seems for a time Cincy was an innovative place? Furthermore Chicago's growth was largely due to rail surpassing canals as a means of transport. Chicago was at a better location to take advantage of both rail and canals due to a gap in the Appalachian mountains making it far easier to connect to New York City and the east coast. Its connection to the frontier was stronger too due to the canal/rail corridor's proximity to the Missouri River. Finally, the Civil War devastated the south, and much of Cincy's business was it being an inland connector between the rural south to the industrial north - with a weakened south that weakened Cincinnati as a whole. P&G was a very fortunate thing and Cincy was still a pretty strong city until about 1950 or so. It still has some impressive legacy institutions but it really needs to work on leveraging them to stick out from the pack. What it needs is jobs! The brandery/cincytech/etc are all good steps forward. We need these innovative entrepreneurs, creating businesses and vital brands, and most importantly valuing the city alongside it. I think that's what the Brandery is trying to do, in incorporating mentor ship with a mix of OTR/Cincinnati pride. Funny enough though, I've made a few friends who attend the brandery, and are out of staters. Alot of them say the same thing. They love Over the Rhine, and say how's there nothing like it in America. Truly a painting of Americana come to life. But when it comes to the rest of Cincinnati, they don't really seem to care. I've noticed that alot. Huge pride and love for OTR for whatever reason, but the rest of Cincinnati is kind of ignored. There kinda like "meh"

This is good news right? http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/31/nike-supplier-to-open-1st-u-s-manufacturing.html

Huh interesting. So fascinating how one neighborhood like Over the Rhine can tell a whole story about what made Cincinnati thrive (the celebration of german heritage), and what made Cincinnati ultimately die (said german residents, giving up there identities, and moving out of OTR and into the suburbs). It's almost as if you can say that Over the Rhine is Cincinnati's beating heart. It's the key to the past, and to the future.

I'm always curious why the German heritage that was so strong in OTR just up and vanished. I have a hunch its because of WW2 and ethnic racism turn germans.

I believe I read it was the first non east coast american city to be settled. It still pisses me off that history happened the way it did. Cincinnati and Chicago are so interchangeable. Cincinnati could have easily become Chicago today if it wasn't for a few setbacks in history, with a million plus population, and hundreds of skyscrapers, while Chicago could have easily become Cincinnati today. I disagree. Cincinnati could have been somewhat larger, and *perhaps* double its current size, but that would have required some dumb luck, and we are already very lucky to have had P&G happen here. Basically we needed 3-4 other giant companies to have happened to have started here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my history class always taught me that things are the way they currently are (the difference of size between the 2 cities) is due to steam boats and canals losing popularity for transporting goods compared to that of trains. From what I understand Cincinnati used to be the number 1 importer/exporter of pork due to Cincinnati's location on the Ohio River, thus the name Porkopolis. But because of the invention of the train, and the growing popularity for trains to move goods, Chicago became a central hub for that, and thus grew in size in relation to that

I believe I read it was the first non east coast american city to be settled. It still pisses me off that history happened the way it did. Cincinnati and Chicago are so interchangeable. Cincinnati could have easily become Chicago today if it wasn't for a few setbacks in history, with a million plus population, and hundreds of skyscrapers, while Chicago could have easily become Cincinnati today.

Chicago and San Fran are both newer than Cincinnati - both of which were incorporated around 1840 (Cincinnati was 1788). San Fran became an incredible boom-town around 1850 (the gold rush) and Chicago really didn't kick into high gear until the mid 1870s after loosing 2/3rds of its original building stock. Most of what's left in Chicago is 1880s-1910 that looks and feels similar to Cincinnati. Chicago's victorian neighborhoods are huge, but the quality of the housing stock isn't generally as good as what's in Cincy. (A few areas in the gold coast and Lincoln Park are impressive but much of its working class areas that were equivalent to OTR don't compare - Chicago's [not the loop which is where all the innovation really happened] real peak IMO is early 20th century with craftsman houses greystone 2/3/4 flats and courtyard apartments - its some of the best I've seen of that style neighborhood). San Fran is higher quality than what's in Cincy, incredibly ornate sequoia wood victorians with the occaisional brick corner building here and there. Though at the same time 1/3rd of all victorian era architecture was lost due to the 1906 earthquake. On the flip side the timing of that earthquake was such that it left some really impressive Edwardian and Art Noveau architecture in its place - the tendernob (or lower nob hill) is one of my favorite urban neighborhoods in the whole country it feels like a pastel harlem, or an old photo of downtown Cincinnati come to life minus the Italianate. OTR is extremely special, there is next to nothing like it in the US. Yes it was a common architecture of the mid-late 1800s but little of its level of quality remains - it seems that post 1870 that style of architecture became more simplified and less ornate unless it was a place like San Francisco. Most neighborhoods like this were wiped off the map between 1930-1970 and even then few were as dense or ornate as Cincinnati's. Well that puts it better in perspective. Thanks :) I still believe the success of OTR will ride and die on whether it becomes a tourist destination from all around the country. Here's why. I truly think that families locate in neighborhoods based on 3 factors: 1. Quality/Safety of neighborhood 2. Proximity to Job 3. Schooling for Kids I fee like the safety of OTR will continue to go up. And I think more jobs will continue to locate downtown as Cincinnati begins to boom again. That said, school wise, there's not alot of options for families. Yes, there's SPA, but the surrounding schools are less desirable to say the least. That's why I have this gut feeling that when these young yuppie couples, have kids and schooling becomes an issue, many of them will leave OTR to the suburbs for the more desirable schools/private schools. If you make OTR a year round tourist destination though you will have security in that you have that constant flow of visitors spreading out the wealth among the small businesses. Otherwise, I'm afraid that we might end up where we began 15-20 years down the line.

"I just built a really solid building that COULD stand for hundreds of years, but I hope someone knocks it down in a few decades to build something else." - No one ever We tend to give to much credit with the buildings in Over the Rhine. There are some damn fine buildings in OTR, that you can clearly see the love and passion in the architects head (especially those on Vine). My favorite building on Walnut; But the rest? The stock houses? Yeah, they were sturdy buildings, but it was nothing more than a reflection of the economical times. Those materials that allowed these buildings to last as long as they do were cheap to build. Again I love OTR as much as the next guy but sometimes this board has a circle jerk when it comes to every building in OTR. I feel we have to remind ourselves we are not dealing with grandiose European architecture like this: We are mostly dealing with generic Italianate stock houses that you can find practically anywhere in America/Canada/Europe, and that were built with cheap labor materials Again not trying to devalue the neighborhood as a whole. I appreciate every building as a whole, but I sometimes feel that "history" has blindsided us more than anything when it comes to OTR (lets not forget there are trees that are hundreds of years older than buildings in OTR, but we don't place the same value on those trees do we?). Yes the buildings are sturdy. Yes, in some cases as seen above, are beautiful gorgeous buildings that were designed with passion and love. But the rest? They were simply a home. They same way how my house in Montgomery is just a home. Yes, the times are different. Yes, it'll probably be blown away to bits in a tornado, yes my neighbors house looks almost purely identical. But at the end of the day, that's what it is. A home, that houses people. It's not the Sagrada Familia. But that's my point, the stock houses that housed families in OTR were never meant to be architectural wonders. And I highly doubt the original builders intended these buildings to last 200 years in the future. But that's just my thoughts.

It's like a blessing and a curse. On one hand, if Cincinnati became the current day Chicago, and became the main central train hub, and experienced that population growth and boom than I doubt much of Over the Rhine would still be there. I truly think almost all of it would be have been demolished by now for the way of skyscrapers, and other uses. The preservation that's still there, is just a testament for how much lack of growth Cincinnati has experienced over the decades, because you'd be hard pressed to find any historic district in America the size and density of OTR in other major metropolises around America. Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, Boston, Philly, they are all such historic cities, that were founded way earlier than Cincinnati (in most cases), yet there historic districts are so much smaller, and only surround a few blocks. So it's a blessing and a curse. You achieve something unique in OTR. But at the same time, you can't help but think that the progressive fore fathers that help build Over the Rhine would be rolling in there grave right now. I don't think any of them meant for Over the Rhine to be some Venice, or Rome, that we tend to treat it's Architecture on urban ohio forum, and would have probably preferred seeing 50 story skyscrapers and such and much more development, than a livable museum that it is today.

Not sure if it's historically accurate, but it's sexy and gives OTR a unique image, that's similar to spain.

15th and Plesant:

There's housing units going in the upper levels right?

Makes me curious how they were about to set a deadline and achieve within there time frame (restoring a whole historic church is no easy, nor quick task), yet there are much smaller rehabilitation projects in OTR that take sooooo much more time. Is it just that this firm working on the Transept is more motivated to get things done in a timely fashion?

Not to mention A Tavola which has another location and will soon have another sister restaurant; Quan Hapa which is owned by the same people as Pho Lang Thang; and 1215 which is owned by Tazza Mia. I would love it if the Thunderdome people would put a Currito somewhere in OTR. I find myself going Uptown for lunch way too often, either to grab Currito or Panera or something along those lines. Does anyone know what happened to the Indian restaurant proposed for OTR? I think it was from the owner and/or chef of the former Cumin in Hyde Park. I haven't heard anything about Hen of the Woods in over a year. Hen of the Woods had a article written about them last month in the Business Courier. They still plan to open, "soon", take that however you like. From what I understand, the owners are getting the final funding in place, and are currently promoting there in house products that they will be selling in the grocery store portion of Hen of the Woods around local Cincinnati shops and markets. You can find them on Facebook, they do a lot of promoting on there. I was curious about the Indian Restaurant as well. My guess is that it's probably dead. That said, an Indian eatery would fit right in with OTR blend of current restaurants, so hopefully somethings in the cards from someone. OTR definitely needs more cheaper casual lunch cafe type of sit down places, ala Panera Bread. I've also realized I'm okay with some chains entering OTR. I used to be opposed to it, but I also realize that people need there Starbucks, and there H & M's. Especially if OTR is ever to become a major travel destination, tourists like what they are familiar with, and currently almost everything in OTR is local.

So apparently Union Hall (where all of the startups are now located), will have a restaurant in the basement of that building in the next 6 months. And apparently another restaurant might also take place in the sub-basement as well. So from what I understand 3cdc is looking to squeeze 2 resturaunts in the basement, and the sub-basement of the Union Hall building.

I wouldn't say it's the "eventual goal". A lot of people on this forum would like to see it happen. But usually it can only be done a few blocks at a time, typically when there's a lot of new development happening on that same block. For example, the burying of utilities on Walnut from 12th to 14th was prompted by the development of Mercer Commons which included nearly every building on the west side of those two blocks. The odds that utilities will be buried on side streets like Clay or Republic seems very low at this point in time. Aren't overhead wires a safety issue though? Especially during storms and high winds? You would think, besides just the general goal of streetscaping, that having the utility wires buried would be a safety priority for the residents of OTR as well,.

I'm guessing the eventual goal is to bury all of the power lines on all of the streets in OTR? Don't streets like Clay and Republic still have overhead wires? Really destroys the streetscape imo, the quicker there gone the better.

1. Black Plastic Records is opening a 2nd location right across from the Woodward theater 2. How to flip a 17,500 home on Republic Street, to a 500K luxury loft. Comments are really to fun on that one. Either some say how beautiful OTR to looks like, to many people saying I hear it's so dangerous, how do you manage to be so brave! Lol, suburbians.

Am I the only one who thinks this would be a cool aesthetic feature to have in some of the streets in OTR, like Main for example? I know there are some setts where it's more of a cosmetic feature, so it doesn't create loud noise. Just think it would be to have in some of the otr streets to really emphasize the look and feel of the historical nature of the district, besides just the architecture.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Cincinnati's population close to 300K? And from what I understand about 50K of that population lives in the urban core of Cincinnati, no? I mean you would think a major urban grocery store that serves the population from Clifton to Walnut Hills, to the Banks, OTR, and Even those who live on the banks of Covington and Newport (I know Newport has it's own Kroger but still). You would surely think there's a large enough population downtown in Cincinnati and KY that would use it? Or is the population in the core truly that low?

If Kroger opens a grocery store down at the banks...Does that make the one on Vine street expendable? I mean, OTR is only 3 miles away from the banks, and the street car would easily take you down there in 10 minutes. I'm hoping that lot becomes another Mercer Commons type of project to revitalize that final stretch of Vine.

I'm guessing they close down that Kroger early because of potential looting, robberies?