jdm00

I bet that 309 Mulberry lot has some awesome views.

Hey, No worries! It wasn't harsh at all! Yeah I understand what you are saying and I am no expert at all. And I was just using $100k as a simple example. Those rehabs do cost a fortune I know. I think I was trying to say, was that hypothetically if you wanted to do a $1,000,000 rehab in OTR without a streetcar, it would be a higher risk for a bank to loan that money to you or any developer, etc. thus it will have a higher interest rate, or no loan at all, than if it was the same $1,000,000 rehab at the same location with a street car. I think theoretically this is correct? If the streetcar spurs development around your rehab, nicer stores and more foot traffic around, etc. the bank would be confident that you could rent or sell it to pay the mortgage. I am not sure if that is correct or not, but just how I see it. Then, it would make it more affordable for other developers besides 3CDC, thus spurring more and faster development. I think 3CDC's loan fund is somewhere around a 2 - 4% interest rate, which is a lot lower than most commercial interest rates, I believe. That is why developers are now able to do the rehabs because the loans from 3CDC are affordable. http://www.3cdc.org/who-we-are/cnmf-and-cef/ Sorry if I am way off my rocker, I like learning about this type of stuff! Thanks! Not off your rocker. I think the streetcar will definitely help, though that help is a ways off. My main point was that the rehab is not based on the value of the property as it sits, but as it will eventually be completed. If the streetcar makes the value of the property as completed higher or more stable, that will certainly help the rehab process.

Well, fine then! ;)

I don't buy that--we certainly have the raw population and density to compare to Columbus and Indy. Of course, we also have (I suspect) a higher number of Krogers per capita than either of those places, and we also have multiple Fresh Markets, the Trade Joe's in Kenwood, Whole Foods at Rookwood, not to mention Jungle Jim's in Fairfield and Eastgate. I suspect that it may not be numbers on a raw scale as much as numbers compared to the stores that are already in place.

Totally agree with the content of you post as a whole. But it should be pointed out that this section is pretty specific to OTR. You can easily renovate a house of similar age in say, Newport or Covington for $100k (I completely redid mine for a lot less). But, the buildings in OTR are a much bigger on average, and many have been completely vacant for years. So with most rehabs you get lucky and only have to address some combination of the roof, HVAC, windows/doors, structural issues, in addition to the cosmetic things inside; whereas in OTR, you usually have to address ALL of those before you even start thinking about kitchens, bathrooms, hardwood floors, drywall, paint, etc. This makes it really hard for individuals and small companies to realistically take on an OTR rehab. Like it or not, 3CDC is probably the only way most OTR properties are going to get rehabbed unless major construction firms take notice and start buying and renovating multiple buildings themselves. Yes, you are exactly right about that. I should have been clearer. The shells I have seen in OTR typically require so many things when you are rehabbing that it is very hard to do it on the cheap, so to speak. The flipside, of course, is that hopefully you are getting cool italianate architecture and a great location. But you will probably be able to get that a lot of other places--historic parts of Covington and Newport, or even places like the West End (if it ever takes off, it will be big time rehab central over there).

Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh (which my first sentence does). Just wanted to make the point that the rehab process is not driven by the value of the property as it sits there, but by the eventual value of the property once it is done. You are right that the streetcar will only help things, however.

This is not how financing a rehab works, or people would never be able to actually rehab things. In a lot of ways, the process is not much different than if you are building a new house in the suburbs on a greenfield. The plot of land with nothing on it may be worth, say, $50k, but you want to build a house worth $300k. The bank making the construction loan is not basing the loan on the value of the land--they are basing it on the value of the property once it's completed with a house on it. It's the same way for a rehab. Even if your building is only worth $5k, if you are doing construction on it, they are going to (in theory) finance based on the value of the rehabbed property once it's complete. And your example lets you see why, actually--if the dilapidated building is worth $100k on its own, or you can take out a loan for $100k and rehab it, no one is actually going to do that. You'd just sell the building for $100k and move on to something else. You want to gain value based on the amount of money that you are putting into the property to improve it. The real issues (as someone dealing with this a little bit) are two fold. One, it's expensive to do a rehab. I'd love to find a place that you could really do for as little as 100k, but if you are talking about a freestanding building, I think you would be hard pressed. Heck, just the costs of modernizing mechanicals, HVAC, electric, and all that quickly get you up to an amount like that (before you even consider anything structural or any, you know, actual finishes). Two, as with anything, you need to have comps. It's easy to finance the house being built from scratch on a greenfield in a suburban subdivision because the bank can see 10, 20, 50 other homes either in that subdivision or in that suburb that have sold for X amount, and feels comfortable doing it. Rehabbing in somewhere like OTR is much more unique, and it is not nearly as easy to find comparable sales to justify the amount you want to have loaned on the property (when all is said and done). That's why, in all honesty, every time any new condo/townhouse/detached house sells in OTR, it's good for the future financing by everyone, because it is building up a base of comparable sales that can be used when you want to rehab.

They have essentially doubled the prices in 3 years. I'm half wondering if I should sell now (and put the proceeds to my rehab).

I just saw the pricing for One Mercer (which is right next door to me). Holy cow. I am glad I bought when I did.

Gotcha. I hadn't seen her name elsewhere. You never know! Could have been like Boutros Boutros Ghali or something. Bearcat fans I've seen on various message boards seem to be displeased with this turn of events.

Is it really two Desiree's or is that a typo?

^I'd looked at Aurora on the map and wasn't sure if it was considered a Cleveland suburb or Akron suburb. Or maybe there isn't really a difference and it's all just NEO. The Cincinnati restaurants are all very good, but there is definitely a "fine dining" air about all of them. Has anybody been to the "Inn Walden"?

Not necessarily a "list," but Triple-A Diamond ratings are out: http://newsroom.aaa.com/diamond-ratings/ No five-diamond restaurants in the state. Cincinnati has 5 4-diamond restaurants, Columbus 2, and Cleveland 1. There is a five-diamond hotel in Aurora (the Inn Walden). Columbus has 5 hotels that make the 4-diamond list, Cincinnati 3, and Cleveland 2. (No idea how exactly they come up with these lists, but still interesting to see these kind of ratings.)

Looking from the outside, this has been one of the strangest coaching searches I've seen. I feel for Browns fans (because it certainly gives the impression that the FO doesn't know what the heck it's doing).

Did anybody make it to the hearing yesterday?

Ease up on Ann Murray. Everyone loves her music. It may be a little too easy listening, but come on.

I believe it. I am coming around to it. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Did you see what it was like before the roundabout?

Wow. Those are some seriously tall floors, based on the first floor. It looks like you could fit three storeys of the Millennium in there.

Tom Demeropolis of the Business Courier tweeted today that construction on the Phase 2 apartments at the Banks will start this month.

It's been closed for at least a month. Kind of a pain--I often would cut over that way to get to Ezzard Charles and the highway.

Yeah, the traffic is not good at all there now. Ugh.

Nice that in that downtown map of attractions, they actually are listing OTR as one of the things that you are "in the heart of." How things can change in the course of a few years. Proximity to OTR now touted as a selling point.

If Clowney works out like teams think he is going to work out, he's going to be gone before pick number 4. It's going to be interesting to see what happens for the Browns at number 4, actually. If you assume Bridgewater, Clowney, and Anthony Barr of UCLA are all in the top 4 picks somewhere, the Browns will either be able to pick the next best QB after Bridgewater, or get whichever is left of Barr and Clowney. Might also be a good year to trade down and pick up extra picks if they just aren't sold on anyone at that spot. Someone is going to start reaching for a QB.

I really don't understand the Packers situation. Don't they have like some massive wait list for season tickets???