1400 Sycamore

I'm guessing you haven't driven a truck.

The reason for the right turn lane is for the frequent truck traffic accessing I 71 via Kennedy.

It was the late 60's and early 70's. Panties were optional.

Seems like it would make sense. Those men who come to UC to rob people could be coaxed into the new Student Union building and offered some ice cream treats and maybe a game of basketball. Unfortunately, I was at UC when that experiment was tried. Whether it was Langsam or Bennis I don't recall but what transpired was a period when what seemed like the entire Hughes HS student body invaded the campus every afternoon. It was unbearable. But, it only lasted a few years. Long enough for everything made of vinyl or leather to be knifed and for coeds to learn to never register for night class versions of subjects they could take in the daytime. Today, it is a different problem. The neighborhood is ok, it is just that there isn't anything worth robbing someone for in our worst neighborhoods and people there are more likely to fight back. So they come to UC. By the time a trial date would come the students are gone. Criminals today are a whole lot more sophisticated about the system. They are no longer afraid. UC crime has a built in get out of jail free card. And, UC will do anything they can to suppress reporting of crime. I doubt anyone will want to make it easier for the dorms to become more inviting targets than they already are.

Whether it is wise or not, UC's administrators know that UC has one really big problem. UC students are robbed and assaulted in numbers only seen on major urban campuses. It is what the Police call a target rich environment." Because every college student has exactly two things on him or her: a cell phone, and a credit card. They tried community policing and it got them millions in troubles. Isolation is now the only choice for UC.

No, Yves, you played the "humble beginnings card" on the wrong hand. What is going on with 1714 Vine, should you care to know, is the usual scam of creating crap and charging for caviar. There are 10 tiny units in the two buildings plus a little bit of white box retail in that project. And, for over $100,000 per unit in renovation plus a 300,000 tax credit, they got a Soviet era quality kitchenette and throw away finishes throughout. That bathroom floor tile in 12x24 is not just dismal, an idential lot was $0.05 per square foot on Fast Track Auction and they couldn't give it away. They could have done something nice but dismal is what they got.

I'm surprised that you, of all contributors, don't know that it doesn't have to be dismal to be economically affordable. That is more than dismal.

Ouch! That is dismal.

Me too. I was in Philly for a while. We thought it would be about cheese steak. They were there but also about 50 other nationalities represented. Makes a lot of sense to build a commissary, get it approved and then enter a lottery for a permit.

The City made it virtually impossible for food carts. First, you had to have a commissary inspected and approved by the Board of Health. and you had to have carts, and you had to have insurance. Then you applied and maybe did not get spaces. But the coup de gras was then they made the cart vendors go into a lottery to see if they could retain their locations. Vibrant cities have hundreds of food carts.

I might have misremembered the Code Section but I think they had 3% loans to take up the slack after the Korean War vets poured in. Today, one cannot really make a two family work here due to real estate tax rates unless it is a slum. But, I'd like to try conversion of a 4 family into two luxury apartments. Hyde Park is probably the place to experiment. Get one of those 4 family flat roof buildings and put a full roof deck and remove all the interior walls and put in floor to ceiling glass.

Being of a certain age, I can add a little to this puzzle. First, the incremental income tax rate (what your rich folks paid) was 70% up to Nixon. And, the multifamily depreciation rate was 60 months for FHA. Add to it the FHA515 multifamily loan program and the continued housing shortage and that meant that the rich folks could sign a few papers and reduce taxes by astronomical amounts. Then Nixon had a moratorium on the multi family program. but, was it needed? All of a sudden, in the late 60's when I was about 20 every single one of my acquaintances had to have a single family ranch in Milford or Western Hills or Mt. Washington. No one wanted to live in multifamily and no one did. It was considered a failure to live in an apartment.

This is the reality of accepting public money for what should work as a private project. Which begs the question, would that building work as a 100% private project?

I was puzzled when he quoted the mortgage in his flyer at $1500/mo. How could that be? I have another unit coming available and I am trying to price it correctly. 2 Bed 2 full bath, 2 floors and 2 off street parking spaces available.

I am a little confused about 111 Elder. Is that $750,000 for the one floor of that building?

It will be interesting to see what happens. One of the most interesting sites is 5618 Whitney Pl. where my sister in law grew up. Recently purchased from other owners, it is a civil war era multifamily with out buildings and is up on a tremendous hill (a rarity in Mudville).

The problem with Madisonville is that there is no predicate for development. Only incentives. Bad sign unless you are just milking the construction.

Is this what they tore down? If so, it was a mercy killing.

Concrete was being poured on Friday. I sat behind the trucks for a while.

Hideous. He got his plans from Stratford Manor. There were about 32 of those munters on Red Bank rd. But, in fairness, his own house is no better.

Sycamore is the dividing line. the odd numbers (west side of the street) are OTR. the even numbers are in Pendleton. I'm in both.

Its an incredible location. Wasted on Artworks. Think of the retail alternatives for the space.

That tower looks nothing like the rest of the church. I wonder when they added it? EDIT: Well, I've read the stories and they keep referring to it as though it has always been there, but everything about it is different than the main church building.

That is a definite possibility. I represented a store displaced by 3CDC for a lease buyout and that was the first thing the Development Officer at 3cdc offered. I think that reduced rent was the supposed incentive.

Actually, Jake's comment above related to the cost of creating these units is exactly what keeps development north of Liberty somewhat stagnant. At $250/sq. ft. for renovation, it doesn't make much sense to work on 2 and 4 unit structures because there is not enough incentive to make them pay and not enough non recourse financing to make it a profit just to build them. The $80MM projects can work either way. And, the little units say up on E. Clifton, Peete, Mulberry, as desirable as they are can't be economically renovated. Some of that is the City's fault with their rigid application of the rules. Some of it just economics.