oakiehigh

Interesting sign of the times.

^Very good points! I won't knock this just yet, because I really haven't seen the other projects that some of you talk about they've done. But CincyDad, I agree 100% with you and your views. I wonder when the area is going to say enough is enough!! They are going to wait too long and be oversaturated with retail and have essentially, what we have in Forest Park (Cincy Mills). If the bankruptcy of Bridgewater doesn't raise a few eyebrows, I don't know what will. Seems they are just shooting themselves in the foot, because whether this is successful or not, it will come at the expense of one of the other new surrounding developments.

^Don't forget liquor and cigs!

Cyclones Holding Pep Rally On Fountain Square Last Update: 12:30 pm It's going to be a historic weekend for the Cincinnati Cyclones. The hockey team will be competing for the right to hoist the Kelly Cup beginning Saturday night at US Bank Arena. The Cyclones will be taking on the Las Vegas Wranglers. This is the first time that the Cyclones have advanced to the ECHL championship. Fans wanting to get in on some of the excitement will have an opportunity on Thursday. There will be a pep rally for the team on Fountain Square from 5 until 6:30 p.m. The puck drops for game one Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Full article at http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=54fe5459-a6df-423a-93f8-a68cae63febd

^Looks like Covington!

Study: Tower's impact $1.66b a year BY KEITH T. REED | [email protected] http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080522/BIZ01/305220048/ Western & Southern Financial Group has released an economic development study that pegs the annual economic impact of its planned Great American Building at Queen City Square at $1.66 billion. The report was produced by the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center for Education and Research, which was hired by Western & Southern to study the project. Among the findings: the building would generate or retain 8,655 jobs worth a total of $388 million annually to local workers. Its three-year construction would contribute $715 million to the local economy, as well as 5,388 jobs worth $3.7 million in wages.

Finished square beckons BY KEITH T. REED | [email protected] http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080522/BIZ01/305220047/ Fountain Square restaurants are gearing up for their busiest summer ever with construction of the square finally complete and an increasing number of places to eat and things to do drawing people downtown. A plethora of new restaurants have opened since the square’s $42 million renovation – from Italian eatery Via Vite to Brazilian steakhouse Boi Na Braza and the only Graeter’s Ice Cream downtown. Within a block, there’s also French-inspired JeanRo Bistro, the American fare of Cadillac Ranch and Latin fusion restaurant Nada. A new upscale seafood restaurant, Oceanaire, will open in early June. Managers at many of those restaurants said they get a boost when there are public events on the square and this summer, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., which controls it, is tweaking its lineup of free events to draw more foot traffic to the area. Some entertainment is being scheduled later in the evening to accommodate downtown workers who have proven willing to return to the square after going home to dress down. And instead of monthly large-scale events, 3CDC is focusing on daily entertainment to draw downtown workers and those in the city for events on weekends. “After the first year, we found out what types of programming does better and what times do better,” said Bill Donabedian, the square’s managing director. “We always wanted to do one big event per month, but to be honest, we are not there in our fundraising to do that yet. But what we did find was that people like the series,” he said, referring to a slate of free concerts that began last year. 3CDC plans to expand its PNC Music Series to five days a week, incorporating new genres, from salsa to soul to country. The organization just held the first of seven “Reds Hot Weekends,” which will bring musical acts and food to the square on weekends when the Cincinnati Reds play at home. The Taste of Cincinnati food festival, which will feature dozens of restaurants offering samples of their cuisine, will be on the square and along Fifth Street this weekend. Donabedian said he expects the new events to attract far more people than last year, when construction was still ongoing. In another boost to the square, the Ohio Legislature last year passed a law permitting 3CDC to obtain a license to sell beer and liquor at its events on the square. But Donabedian can’t quantify how many people visit the square in a typical day. 3CDC will try to count attendees at square events for the first time this year, using aerial photography to estimate how many people are on the quadrangle at different times of the day. He estimated that as many as 500 people were on the square at any given time last weekend. Restaurant managers don’t need to be told how many people are outside to notice that business picks up when it’s warm and there’s more activity outside. “When sunlight gets longer, people tend to go out later than usual. Downtown is really event driven. If there’s something going on at the Aronoff or there’s something here on the square, we see more people,” said Pete Sedgwick, Via Vite’s general manager. But that doesn’t mean everything 3CDC does makes square tenants happy. Events bring in business to the new Graeter’s store, but the ice cream chain’s owners are cold on 3CDC’s deal with competitor United Dairy Farmers. UDF is serving free ice cream during Reds Hot Weekends. “It’s like come on. They’re coming up on our turf and serving ice cream. We’re paying good rent here,” said Chip Graeter, Graeter’s vice president of retail sales. It can also be tough to tell whether those businesses are feeding the square or vice versa. “I think this restaurant in particular gave a huge shot in the arm to Fountain Square,” said Soloman Mohamed, a manager at the seafood restaurant McCormick & Schmick’s. The eatery, part of a national chain, opened at the southeastern corner of Fifth and Vine streets in November 2006, directly across from Fountain Square. Mohamed, who also lives downtown, said he’s watched the evolution of the square as its massive fountain was moved and a nearby garage was renovated. “Pretty much all the time something was shut down; something was always being worked on,” he said. “But now that it’s fully open, it’s…pretty much busy all the time, and that’s been good.” The work on the square, which began in 2005, was intended to make it more accessible and welcoming to pedestrians. Its centerpiece, the Tyler Davidson Fountain, was moved, and a granite wall that used to line its periphery was removed. A 24-foot by 42-foot video screen was hoisted and fastened atop the Macy’s building on the northwest corner of Vine and Fifth streets, so movies and Reds games could be shown to square crowds across the street. An elevated promenade that connected office buildings around the square – and kept many workers from ever going outside, was torn down. Most of that work was finished by 2006, but the finishing touches – including the dramatic lighting on the new façade of the Fifth Third Center building along the north side of the square – were still being added last summer. Most of those changes were welcome ones to Rob Marsh, 32, who lives in the suburbs but works downtown. Eating lunch on the square on a breezy Wednesday afternoon, Marsh said his only complaint was that there weren’t more tables. “They should add more tables since they took away the wall,” he said. “Before, people would sit up there if they couldn’t find a seat, but now there’s just not enough places to sit down.” Newer restaurants such as Brazilian steakhouse Boi Na Braza weren’t around for the slower days that preceded the square’s makeover. But general manger Neimar Hensel said there’s a noticeable difference in business when there are activities on the square, a trend he hopes will continue in summer. “I’m not saying 100 percent that the square brings in the business, but we are certainly busier when there are things going on the square,” he said.

This could be what finally brings KY Speedway a Nascar race...... Speedway Motorsports to buy Kentucky SpeedwayBusiness Courier of Cincinnati http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/05/19/daily44.html?surround=lfn Speedway Motorsports Inc. is expected to announce Thursday afternoon its purchase of Kentucky Speedway, according to NASCAR Scene, a sister publication of the Business Journal of the Greater Triad, a Business Courier sister paper in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C. Sources familiar with the deal say Concord, N.C.-based SMI (NYSE: TRK) will purchase the 1.5-mile oval in Sparta, Ky., that opened in 2000.

^well put! I love the fast food district.

I say, don't be scared Covington! Go higher, 22-30 stories.. :wink:

I live in this vicinity, and folks really feel this is what needs to be done to help rekindle some community pride/economic development. Props to the city for recognizing the problem and attempting to do something. City Planning To Demolish Nine Vacant Buildings Last Update: 9:56 am Reported by: Jenell Walton Web produced by: Ian Preuth Some Westwood neighbors are celebrating as the City of Cincinnati prepares to demolish several vacant buildings in their community. It's part of the Neighborhood Enhancement Program. Demolition crews started knocking down a vacant apartment building at 3100 McHenry Avenue Wednesday morning. The vacant apartment building was declared a blight to the community last year. "If you've got so many vacant apartments, they can't charge enough rent to maintain the properties. Then the apartments start falling apart," said Jim McNulty, the President of the Westwood Civic Association. McNulty is happy to see the first of nine vacant buildings torn down as part of the city's Neighborhood Enhancement Program. MORE: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f8c1a33d-184d-4641-a939-8099add139a4

How it Happened. 20 updated photoes here. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080522/NEWS01/805220395/

Amazing what 10 years has done. Urban used to be a taboo word around the midwest. Now suburban developments are trying to incorporate the word into thier projects. Funny!

Well, that washes this past weekends sweep in C-land away!

That paragraph at the end sounds like an invite to me. Cincy could help in expanding a local business into new markets. Wouldn't that be a win win all around?!!!

I flew in to Ft Laud. last year and found it very interesting how, from the air you could make out Everglades Park boundary's very well (I guess it was the park or urban boundary's). Great shots though.

Different angle.

There is no alt. for these folks. There is talk of shifting and merging east and west bound traffic to one lane on the remaining westbound bridge.

^They put a "Coming Soon" sign up yesterday but I couldn't read it last night. I will check today in the daylight. It is either a Dunkin Doughnuts or Starbucks, but I think their is already a Starbucks in the Kroger across the street. Dunkin has been the rumor for months now.

^LOL!!!!

Holy Crap! Looks as if the trailer jumped away from the truck! That just F%$#ed up alot of different peoples commutes coming from Indy and Harrison for awhile!! Ouch!! At least nobody was hurt and they were able to stop traffic on the bridge before things could get any worse.

I don't think I have ever heard of Kroger putting a gas station on the opposite side of the road from their actual store. I don't get on the Pike much but isn't that on the other side of the road? Jiffy Lube site cited; Kroger buys lot next door BY HEIDI FALLON | [email protected] http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080516/NEWS/805150477/1086/RSS1107 DELHI TWP. - While the fate of the Jiffy Lube business on Delhi Road still is in question, Kroger has purchased the property next door. Click on link for article.

You better sit down for this one!!! On Your Side: What's Good In Cincinnati? What's right with Cincinnati? It's a pretty general question. You can probably come up with a list of what you think is wrong, but what is right with our hometown? We aren't naive. We know that nothing's perfect here (or anywhere,) but between the crime reports and the traffic accidents, there is good news about greater Cincinnati, and it's high time we all admit it, starting with Fountain Square, which boasts redeveloped eateries. "This is the happening spot," said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. "It really is." Mayor Mallory continued continued on, mentioning other gems of the city. "[We're] one of the few cites that has a world class opera. A world class ballet. We have art museums, we have everything. For the variety of arts and cultural venues that we have to offer, it's hard to beat Cincinnati." Read full article here: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4b096d52-93a8-4b31-a8ec-973d2c16aa52

They were fun to watch at the Gardens!

I like that idea!