jdm00

John S., thanks for the kind words! Working with architects right now. Don't have any finalized designs, but certainly aware of the historic nature (and zoning/historic district overlays). When plans are approved I will certainly share them... And I agree with you completely re: the West End. Lots of very cool housing stock there.

Budget not unlimited, as you no doubt surmised...

As to the inside, it is very little to write home about. By that I mean it is primarily a bunch of wood paneling and drop ceilings. There is essentially no historical detail left in the building. But it's got space and views and a great potential as far as a yard goes.

You can kind of tell that they have pretty awesome rooftop decks on the front there to get a nice city view. I think they do a good job concealing them. When you are at streetlevel, it's very hard to make out the decks.

These are the houses directly across the street:

A couple of pictures: Here is the front. Property includes everything from the wrought-iron fence on the left over to the church sanctuary on the right (with the glass block cross).

I can tell you from first-hand experience of seeing numerous city council candidates traipse through my workplace giving presentations--Laure had BY FAR the most detail regarding the financial condition of the city and what needed to be done. I am sure that in her talk she went through more figures than every other candidate we saw combined.

Well, it's hard to tell but it's actually three buildings. The one on the left is from the 1880s-1890s. On the right, the left hand part is from about the same vintage, but the single-level sanctuary of the church on the far right is from somehwere around 1920. They look a lot different under that horrible 60s-70s facade that was added.

Certainly. There will be plenty of pics!

So, not that long ago, I purchased a property in OTR with plans to rehab it. It's located on Mulberry Street, so it's just on the border of OTR. Good views (especially of OTR, Music Hall, Union Terminal) and a quiet street. There are newer properties built within the last ten years just across the street. I am getting near the point where plans are coming together for the rehab, and I hope to keep track of some of the progress in this thread. (I have no idea if this will interest anyone at all, but hey, it seems like the right crowd for it!) There are some Urban Ohio connections at play that you will hear about as well. First things first: I am going to try and get some pictures of it in its present state within the next couple of weeks, and will post them here. More to come!

Cool. Thanks. (Somehow didn't seem right to go in "Projects" section.)

Just a quick question. I recently purchased a shell in OTR and am in the (very) early stages of rehabbing it. I wanted to do a thread on the project here just to document it, etc. Should I put a thread like that in the Pictures section, or the Projects section, or Preservation, or what? Thanks!

Right Jake. I'm trying to understand the federal money left in the project. Cranley seems to think you just ask and the money moves wherever you like. I'm hoping we don't live in that world. Roughly: $25MM from FTA Urban Circulator grant, as mentioned above. $4 MM from FTA passthrough to OKI CMAQ $16MM from TIGER3 from USDOT My very limited understanding suggests only that $16 mil could be easily reassigned. If that's the case, the city is getting a raw deal in any cancellation. The only money that can be reassigned is the CMAQ. Tiger and Urban Circulator Grants are subject to intense competition and environmental analysis. The Hop-On people would have to issue an RFP for consultants under a Federally-approved procurement. The environmental analysis would not be transferrable even it it used the identical route. And if they received Federal funds, they would have to have union drivers from Local 12 of the ATU. Their proposed costs would be much, much higher than what they have been talking about. All together now: "$41 million of the $45 million in Federal funds for the Cincinnati Streetcar will just go to another city if it's not used here in Cincinnati." Thanks for the clarification and input on this. So if $41 million of the $45 million cannot be re-assigned, then what's the purpose of inviting Cranley to DC for discussion? Any insight that you've heard regarding this that you could share? As I read those headlines/articles, it sounds like they may be discussing additional money for the streetcar from the feds--money that was rejected by Kasich previously. (I could just be reading this wrong.)

Wow. That would be huge.

Big game this week. If they can go on the road and pick up another at Miami, it will certainly tell us a lot about the toughness of the team. I was pleased they finally blew someone out. They had been on the verge of doing that but kept letting people back in games.

There goes my diet. Again.

Really bummed. I love that store.

Another nice win. I'll take it.

I'd bet the pace isn't even close to a record.

I was wondering that as I drove by today. With the way prices are heating up (overheating? I hope not) in OTR south of liberty, you'd have to think CityWest may start to get some spillover. The location is really prime.

Way too close today. If they had lost that game it would have been a real gut punch.

I think Landsman's approach is exactly what is needed. Whether you agree with it or not, it's getting built. So let's get people in there who are committed to making it successful and as well-run as possible.

Amazing how things can change. Great job, Michael.

I like the houses in Rossville a little better than the Dayton-Campbell historic district, but they're both great. And downtown is definitely on an upswing with the recent residential rehabs.

I was just in Omaha last week. Definitely check out the "Old Market" area. Interesting shops and restaurants. (And of course get a steak.) I had dinner at Upstream, which I think is a microbrewery, and it was pretty good. Not sure how long you will be there, but one thing I did notice is that I didn't see a single cab anywhere. I was there on business, and had to get the hotel shuttle to take me various places. Depending on your transportation situation, that could affect what you do. Old Market is definitely walkable from downtown.