edale

^ Yeah, Cincinnati MSA looks down right impressive on this list! We always hear about how Columbus is dominating the state when it comes to growth, but Cincy has double their job growth in this time span! I initially thought some of these numbers could be inflated by job sprawl south of Dayton, but in another thread (can't remember which), it was said that almost all of Dayton's southern sprawl which gets counted in Cincy's MSA is residential. Austin Landing is in Montgomery County, so whatever jobs have sprouted along there get counted as Dayton. It makes me wonder, though, where all these jobs are coming from. I know the CVG area is growing quickly with industrial/warehouse growth, and the Monroe-CinDay area is also booming with industrial type of growth, too. I'd also wager that the service industry has grown quite a bit.

Well Macy’s isn’t a Cincinnati brand or company, despite its back office “HQ” being based here. When people think of Macy’s, they think of NYC, not Cincinnati. That is where their flagship store is, where they sponsor the thanksgiving parade...it’s iconic to that city. Had Lazarus or McAlpins or Pogues become the Macy’s of our day, then yes, it would be strange to not have a flagship store in downtown Cincinnati.

Wow, that is a major get! I tried (unsuccessfully) to get tickets to the show at the Broad Museum in LA, but they were always sold out. Day of standby tickets drew hour long lines starting in the early morning. People will definitely be traveling throughout the Midwest and midatlantic to come see this. Great for Cleveland and Ohio to get this kind of buzz!

^ oh come on, you know he meant Washington Park.

^ I largely agree with that sentiment, but in the cases being described in this thread, all the services in the world can't save those people. If you don't want help, you won't get it, no matter how many services are out there. The case of the homeless man in Cincinnati who froze to death on the street despite there being amble beds open in the shelter is absolutely tragic, but if you'd rather stay out in 6 degree weather than go to a warm shelter because you can't drink, or because the dudes in there are snoring or whatever, then sorry, you've made your choice and should have to deal with the consequences. The state shouldn't be responsible for forcing people to live and make smart decisions. We absolutely should provide services for the people who need them and choose to utilize them, but beyond that, what can we do? LA's homeless situation is absolutely horrendous, and it breaks my heart to see the condition that many of them are in. I always wonder, 'what happened to their families?' Surely some/most of these people who are out on the streets have siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, etc. How can they sleep at night knowing their family is suffering in the street? At least we don't have dangerous cold to deal with, but these people live miserable existences, and many of them have severe health issues that are ignored. As tragic as it sounds, I often wonder why the suicide rate isn't higher among this community.

^ Pretty sure that is the inside of the Ferry Building.

^ Doesn't this already exist? There are psychiatric hospitals still in existence, you know. And the term '5150' is used to refer to an involuntary hold of people exhibiting damaging or dangerous behavior, usually for 72 hours. After the 72 hours, some are released, and some are transferred to other facilities or referred to other doctors or mental health professionals for further evaluation.

One of my favorite cities! Great photos!

^ Are there any cool neighborhoods in Sacramento? I know they miss out a bit by not having a major university, since Davis is a bit outside the city, but there must be some interesting neighborhoods and things to do, right? People in LA say it's boring and bland, but I've always attributed that to coastal bias and general ignorance.

Nicely done!

Really nice tour! Hard to pick a favorite set, but I loved the desert shots and rainy and green San Diego. I really need to get up to Sacramento sometime, as I think I would enjoy it. The city gets hated on a lot in LA (probably SF too, but idk), but so does San Diego, and I like it there. Thank you for sharing these photos.

This probably isn't it, but that image kind of looks like old photos I've seen of Swifton Commons in Cincinnati.

^I think they will exit the region entirely, unfortunately. When they announced they would not be going to the Kenwood Collection, I think that all but sealed their exit from the market. The only way I can see them staying is if they replace Dillard's at the Kenwood Mall, which actually could be plausible. Kenwood's tenant mix seems to be almost identical to Beechwood in Cleveland, and they have a Saks there. I hope they can stay. Tiffany's recently signed a lease extension a year or two back, I think. At that time, they said that business was good, and there was no benefit to moving. I think they could hang on downtown, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they moved up to Kenwood, too. They city has been 'working' on keeping Saks and Macy's for almost 5 years at this point. I was involved in some of those meetings and discussions with Macy's execs, and most of the stuff the city was touting as reasons to stay have not panned out. No new residential tower over Macy's. 4th and Race's original proposal died, and then the drastically downsized replacement proposal seems to be stalled, if not dead, too. The Crown Plaza building sits empty and decaying. The convention center remains undersized and the parking lots around it still undeveloped. The Millennium is still a mess with no real plan for improvement. The west side of downtown is pretty crappy, and the city doesn't seem to care too much about making it better and more attractive to retailers, so I really can't fault Macy's or Saks for wanting to leave. I'm actually shocked they have both hung on for so long.

It's such a shame that a coach who has been around 15 years without a single playoff victory is the best we can do in Cincinnati, but that does appear to be the case. I haven't really followed or cared about the Bengals since the Steeler playoff game collapse, so I don't really care what the inept organization does, but it would be nice if they even gave the appearance of caring about success occasionally.

Is there a way to get a high-res version of this map?

Isn’t Maplewood part of the Thunderdome group of restaurants? Those guys are relentless in trying to turn their establishments into chains. Good for them, but kind of annoying that these cool restaurants that start downtown or in OTR become less unique as they become chains.

^ I'd be more surprised if banks were comfortable financing a multifamily residential building in downtown Cincinnati that didn't have parking included, than them being unwilling to finance another parking garage. Also, other than the Banks garages, it doesn't seem like there have been too many new parking structures built downtown. Taking into account the removal of all the spaces from the Pogues garage, I'd say downtown parking supply has probably stayed about the same (riverfront excluded).

This was a really great photo thread. I especially enjoyed the Toledo shots (Old West End?) and the ones from Vermilion. I had no idea about those lagoons! Looking forward to seeing more photo threads from you, CDM!

The comments on that article are quite depressing.

^ Woah, that seems crazy high for Cleveland.

My point continues to be completely missed. Forget it. If this site was so desirable for dense multi-family housing, why has no one proposed anything for it yet? In a larger city, or one that is actually growing in a meaningful way, maybe we’d see more ambitious proposals for sites like these. But this is low to no growth Cincinnati, where we can barely develop riverfront housing, in what is supposed to be some of the best real estate in the region. This is a site in the West End, a neighborhood that has some of the worst crime and poverty stats in the city and highest concentrations of public housing. The majority of surrounding development is townhomes or detached single family homes. But yes, let’s continue to lament that this site isn’t getting developed with a 500 unit apartment building.

^ It could house 500+ people, just like Cincinnati's population could be 500,000, or Cincinnati could have a functioning subway. There are massive slums in Mumbai and Nairobi with very high populations and population densities that support almost no legitimate retail. South Los Angeles has some extremely densely populated areas that have almost no retail presence outside of liquor stores or bodega type corner stores. Neighborhood success is a bit more complex than having 'people, and lots of them.'

I was pleasantly surprised by the housing at Weninger Circle. It is a step above all of City West and I think its the best new-urban single-family infill in the entire city. If you compare it to other peer-city markets new urban residential like in Columbus (Gay and N. 5th for example) then its at best a C+ but for Cincinnati this should be the standard for infill, not the exception. Wow, I looked at the example you listed at 5th and Gay in Columbus, and those are really excellent! Columbus does so much more with so much less, compared to Cincinnati. I'm not expecting great architecture from this development site in the West End, and I'm not stoked about the relatively low density for this location, either. That said, there are elements of the development that are positive. Design is not the only consideration when it comes to development, especially when we are talking about development in a very low income neighborhood like the West End. Here in LA there are lots of straight up ugly neighborhoods that function well and provide safe and decent housing and retail for residents. The current West End functions very poorly. For starters, there is very little retail presence in the neighborhood, in part due to its declining population, but also due to the low purchasing power of its residents- most of whom are either impoverished or close to it. Venture beyond City West to streets like Baymiller, and see how fractured and destitute the community is up there. There isn't pent up demand to live in the West End, otherwise we would have seen development proposals for this site and others in the neighborhood before. Cincinnati barely gets proposals for development of surface lots in the CBD, so to expect some hyper dense, beautifully designed structure here is a bit naive, IMO. We can do better in terms of design and site planning, for sure, but to come to the conclusion that the project sucks because of these issues is to totally overlook the challenges of the neighborhood, and the positive results that will come from introducing owner-occupied housing, and residents of choice to the West End.

I think we might be talking past each other. Was there another Citirama in the West End? To my knowledge, there has not. City West is a Hope VI project that mostly consists of public housing, so equating that to this is not fair. I don't think this development is going to be a magic bullet for the West End, but I do think that adding wealthier home owners to the WE is a positive thing, and will help the neighborhood. If Cincy becomes some boom town in the next couple years, and development takes off all over the basin, maybe then we can lament about how this is a missed opportunity. Other Citiramas have been successful, I would say. They provide relatively affordable, smaller new homes in the city limits (plus Woodlawn last year), and present the opportunity for new home ownership for a lot of people who otherwise might not be able to purchase such a home. Specifically, I would imagine Citirama is popular with African Americans who want new construction but don't want to move out to Fairfield or West Chester to find it. College Hill, which has had several Citiramas recently, is doing really well these days, and there is a fair amount of development happening right along Hamilton Ave. There is some pretty nice new infill multi-family right on Hamilton, and there are some quality restaurants that are planning to open in the heart of the business district, too. Maybe these things aren't a result of having hundreds of new residents in the neighborhood due to Citirama, but I don't think that hurts!

Just what we need: More detached single-family homes right next to downtown. They can't even do rowhouses or townhomes!? Or any other missing-middle quality infill? What is their target demographic? Mind-boggling. Just curious, where are the other detached single family homes right next to downtown?