seanian

The picture in the article is deceiving. At first, I was thinking this was right along 3rd street downtown next to the FWW area, but when pulling it up on a map (115 W Third St) it is all the way over on the other side of 75, across Gest St.

I try to keep things on a positive note, but when something presents itself in such a horrific manner, I just have to put in my two cents. That rendering of the new Covington City Hall has to be one of the ugliest city hall buildings I have ever seen. Mind you, I haven't seen many renderings of city hall buildings, but I have seen many government buildings that do look nice. Dare I say fashionable and beautiful. For a city right across the river from Cincinnati, it is almost like they are bowing down and licking Cincinnati's boots as an uncreative submissive. So disappointed in Covington!

I now listed to that podcast interview. I'm not understanding his comment on where he says inflation has increased the prices dramatically for steel and wood, especially steel. Not that the prices haven't increased a lot, but I have heard this same story about the increase of building materials for a skyscraper every single decade. I heard it in the 90's, I heard it in the 2000's, I heard it in the 2010 and now in the 2020's. Not long ago they said that the Skyhouse building on the river couldn't go forward because the price of materials went up too much. It's every time there is a project. Then I see other projects like the Sherwin Williams skyscraper in Cleveland going up without issue. I see other projects going up without issue. I guess I just don't like it when I hear this, because it is always going to be true. I never hear about prices going down allowing someone to move forward with a project. It's either you do it and deal with it, or nobody ever builds a skyscraper again and I know that just isn't the case. Prices for materials always just goes in one direction.

When looking at the size of those buildings and compare it to how much parking there is for this development, it just doesn't balance. Looks like a bit of overkill for parking spaces. Actually, a lot of overkill. I don't see any mega retail or office structure to justify this much parking space. It just looks like a basic strip mall.

Very poor reporting. The articles author [email protected] should be notified of the false and misleading statements that were made. I'm guessing nobody at this Cleveland 19 news verifies the data for their articles and the reporters can say whatever they want and not have it based on facts. No proofing at all. I guess that's the era we live in now.

While it has come to be the norm over the past several decades for these kind of large office projects to get built outside of a downtown area, isn't that one of the things that makes downtowns better appealing to these mega office projects. Downtowns are better equipped to deal with the size of large office projects. Instead, they build in these areas where they add traffic and people to neighborhoods that were built for homes and small to mid-sized businesses. Not mega projects. Is there a reason why they couldn't build in the central business district? With uptown being a major business center, that would also make sense. A large sign plastered on a skyscraper downtown would also make more sense.

I do not see how Publix will last in the area. I have shopped at the Publix in Florida, and everyone down there calls it the rich man's grocery store as they over charge on basic items. They do BOGO sales all the time and it brings the prices down to normal pricing, not an actual sale when you compare what other stores prices are for the same products for their everyday prices. Kroger and Wal-Mart have much better pricing. The only reason Publix gets traffic in Florida is because people don't like to shop at Wal-Mart as Wal-Mart service sucks, but when you throw Kroger into the mix, you don't have to deal with the overpriced Publix prices or the Wal-Mart chaos out of necessity.

Actually, having another convention center expanding across the river would be beneficial. Haven't you ever noticed all over this country that places like drug stores all show up next to each other. Walgreens on one side and CVS on the other, restaurants forming in pockets, etc... That's because even though they are in competition, they still feed off each other and do well next to each other. The same can be said of a convention center. What's good for Covington expanding is good for Cincinnati, vise-versa. The Covington convention center would want more hotels around them, which helps with the number of hotels rooms for the downtown area when the really big conventions come in or other events that require large amounts of hotel rooms. I hope they do this expansion properly and get serious and build out enough space and allow for enough room to grow. Hope they also build a nice HQ convention hotel for Covington as well. The synergy of the two convention centers has a multitude of benefits.

Perhaps I am oversimplifying this, but I am not understanding why it is so hard to picture a Cincinnati/Covington/Newport route for a Kentucky leg. Imagine a route starting somewhere in The Banks or a continuation from The Banks area and heads West and then goes over the bridge to Covington (Clay Wade Bailey Bridge) hits the areas around downtown Covington, hotels, etc. and then the Mainstrasse area or any other area deemed necessary, until you would get back for a turn on 5th, head East on 5th Street, eventually cutting over to 4th street across the bridge going into Newport (they are rebuilding this bridge and I believe space was being included for rail). Then hit all the great places in Newport, downtown Newport, aquarium, etc and then turn back heading West towards Covington and head back to Cincinnati. This would essentially just be creating a Newport/Covington (East/West) route with a bridge connection into Cincinnati's riverfront area. This would uncomplicate the route and give it everything necessary to thrive. Looking at that map that has it going across two different bridges just looks horrible. It looks overly complicated.

From the OHIO COUNCIL OF RETAIL MERCHANTS Retailers and Restaurants Ask Hamilton County to Keep Employees Downtown They say loss of 1,200 jobs would undercut downtown vitality, create empty parking lots, and plywood-covered buildings. Shocked with the critical lack of weekday returning worker traffic to downtown Cincinnati, the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants (OCRM) joined with the Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) to plead with the Hamilton County leadership to retain their more than 1,200 employees in a Downtown business location. Hamilton County is currently seeking proposals to move as many as 1,200 county employees to new office space. The OCRM and ORA are concerned that Hamilton County is leaning towards a location outside of downtown. “We hear Hamilton County is favoring a building in Bond Hill, nearly seven miles from their current Downtown location,” said Evan Andrews, Montgomery Inn vice president and chair of the Cincinnati Restaurant Alliance. “They are considering this, despite a recent University of Toronto School of Cities study that shows Cincinnati has seen only 57 per cent of its downtown workers returning to their downtown offices post-pandemic. This move would be ruinous to our downtown and a stab at the heart of Southwest Ohio’s economic and cultural vitality.” “Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati have spent years building Downtown Cincinnati into the vibrant centerpiece of the County. County leadership in particular set the example by developing the Banks, the stadiums and the incredible Cincinnati skyline that now defines our city,” said Andrews. “We are advocates for the health of downtown Cincinnati,” said Gordon Gough, President of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants. “Since there are nearly 100 retail stores and retail corporate centers located in Cincinnati’s downtown district, the loss of this many downtown-based employees could have a devastating “ripple effect” impact on downtown, the region and our members that have locations downtown and Over-the-Rhine. We sincerely believe that if Hamilton County leadership keeps its employees downtown it will set the example for other employers to step up and protect the heart of our region.” Ever since the pandemic when employees had to work from home, both organizations and their members have been concerned about the health of Ohio downtowns. Some downtowns are recovering faster than others. Data from a recent study by the University of Toronto School of Cities indicates that only 57 percent of downtown employees have returned to downtown post-COVID compared to 89 percent in Columbus. “Hamilton County’s downtown Cincinnati nucleus appears to be very fragile. If the County moves out, then other downtown businesses may do the same and trigger a total collapse of our downtown. And if the downtown collapses, then the region collapses,” said Gough. “All County taxpayers, including our members, deserve not only the best location in terms of delivering County services, but also the location that will best keep the county and region healthy and thriving.” The Ohio Retail Merchants and the Ohio Restaurant Association’s Cincinnati Restaurant Alliance together have close to 200 member businesses in Downtown employing more than 5,000 downtown full-time and part-time workers. Annual payroll for those workers exceeds $100 million annually. https://www.ocrm.net/retailers-and-restaurants-ask-hamilton-county-to-keep-employees-downtown/

There should be additional funds for caps for any area of Interstate surrounding the general downtown/OTR area. I know there was a section in the infrastructure bill that includes funds for helping to reconnect neighborhoods that were torn apart during the big Interstate projects that tore through cities. I-75, I-71, Ft Washington Way and basically everything in the general downtown area had neighborhoods torn apart. Should be able to have all the caps paid for from the bill. The caps would literally help reconnect the neighborhoods. If they include funds from the new bridge being built or if we can request additional funds for all areas where caps can be added. It's worth a shot. Unless I missed it, I'm surprised I haven't heard anybody mention this.

Can I ask why there is a beach in this picture? I don't see any towels or beach chairs, but it is definitely a beach, lol.

I can see that this is going to be under processed with small buildings. You can drive outside of the metro area and see this same type of development that is being envisioned. There is a pent-up demand for downtown living and Covington has an opportunity to give into this demand. There should be high-rise apartment/condo towers lining any park put in the Covington riverfront area. With the park directly below with direct access and the downtown views of Cincinnati, this would be a very desired area for residential. Keep all office and retail behind the area. Covington has the ability to leap forward with this opportunity, but I fear it is going to be missed by looking at what has been presented so far.

Indoor amusement park? Then it can be abandoned like Forest Fair Mall. I really do not like to be negative, but a lot of this just screams Forest Fair Mall.

I never really understood observation towers that stood alone. Something can be built at that height with a nice observation section on top with apartments and/or condos as the actual tower. It could remain slim incorporating these living spaces. That would bring more life to the area. More dense projects that incorporate more than just an observation/restaurant/event space on top of what looks like a large pole is missing an opportunity. Not sure if more office space is needed for that area, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate it into the other residential towers and make them mixed use giving way to 25-35 story towers. Retail on bottom, with 8-10 floors of office and 15-20 floors of residential. That is downtown Covington and it deserves better than a suburban feel. I do like the open space park feel to it, but it needs more high density towers around to give more life. 10 story or 15 story towers spread around is not sufficient. Covington has great views and great access to the riverfront.