mcadrenaline

But in all honesty, the crowds at Mixx on Friday and Saturday...yikes!

Agreed. Really frustrating to see Cincinnati back on top again. I have been noticing that Delta is slowly starting to reneg on its fare drops a few months ago. A simple CVG-NYC itinierary in a few months is $450, but is $230 from Dayton and $300 from Columbus.

MTS, we may have to agree to disagree on this. Even IHG is well aware the CP brand is suffering and is trying to take steps to correct that. You can read about it in this article from last year here: http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/6329/IHG-to-Crowne-Plaza-owners-Move-up-or-move-out But from someone who travels alot and keeps tabs on hotel product developments across the industry, CP simply does not have the consistency or cache of the brands they seek to compete with: Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton. In fact, the majority of CP properties I have ever stayed in were once a part of said brands, but switched flags. In any case, glad to see Westin enter Cleveland finally. This is a big win for the city and business travellers who love Starwood. So now we just need a f/s Hilton downtown to have presence from all the big players. :-)

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I just love how much effort is put into these update videos and the level of detail they go into. It really makes me realize how fortunate Cincinnati is to have so much wonderful stuff happening simultaneously!

This is fantastic news, truly fantastic. This is relatively far north and will move the action up to an area that still has some riff-raff problems. Hopefully this building coming online will force Kroger to clean up their act with monitoring activity in their parking lot and keeping it clean....neither of which happens right now. Our waitress at Senate this weekend indicated that Senate's owners are scoping locations for a new bar concept, but no timeline yet because the owner's wife is about to have twins. So more to come. Also, chatted with the wife of the one of the guys involved in Hapa. She was surprised I knew so much about the concept and location and censored herself a little bit once I started asking specific questions, but did say it will be Pan-Asian incorporating lots of communal seating.

Drove the new Ford Focus today...holy crap! What a fabulous automobile. The drive and interior felt much closer to Audi than one would expect from an American compact car....which makes sense because I read that Ford bench marked it against the A3. And again, this is one of those cars than can get close to 40MPG on the highway making the hybrid look less and less attractive (Toyota's interiors are last-gen and not particularly well appointed imo)

You guys might consider looking at the Hyundai Elantra as well which gets near-hybrid fuel economy without actually being a hybrid. Prius c is by FAR the best value in hybrid though...nicely equipped for 20K and while it's small, it is very versatile. This should be on the top of your list for sure.

Passion Pit was added as a headliner, which is pretty cool. Excited to see the DJ stage!

^^^ For the most part, Crowne Plaza is a brand where once higher-end hotels go to die. They have a serious problem with substandard hotels and lack of consistency across the brand since most of these properties were conversions from Sheraton, Marriott, etc. This was not unique to the Cleveland market.

Definitely interested in VW Diesel -- not sure why they are the only ones that have brought diesel passenger cars to the US...they sell like crazy here and the clean diesel technology is widespread in Europe. The downside are expensive oil changes, questionable VW quality, and an overall higher price of entry vs. Toyota's hybrids. I'm not someone who keeps cars for more than a few years -- in fact, I plan on leasing. I don't see driving enough to realize any cost savings in the 3 years I'd have the car, but I'm intrigued by the prospect nontheless. And I suspect that heading into an election season here we'll see stable, lower fuel prices. I suspect lots of people that buy hybrids are the greenwashed, Whole Foods shopping, Lululemon yoga-doing yuppies who are concerned about image more than fuel savings.

Just wanted to poll the audience here-- I am currently looking at new cars and the Prius C has sparked my attention. I test drove one yesterday on a whim and was pleasantly suprised. It's a nicely packaged, smaller, city hatchback that gets nearly 55mpg in the city and mid forties on the highway. But it's around $20k, which is quite affordable in the hybrid segment BUT rather expensive for a compact car. A similarly equipped Honda FIT, Hyundai, Kia, etc can be had for a few thousand less and usually with more features. I do a mix of highway and city diriving. In Cincinnati I feel like a fair amount of highway driving is kind of inevitable if you want to go anywhere decently far. Cleveland is the same and I think Columbus is even worse with this. My understanding is that hybrids really deliver the best MPG in heavy stop-and-go city traffic. So I ask, is the additional upfront cost of the vehicle enough worth the savings in fuel? or is it better to just buy the cheaper car and eat the cost of using more fuel? Any other takeaways/opinions/thoughts/rants/raves from hybrid drivers?

FWIW, I do know that Hilton is scoping out the Cleveland metro market for its new Home2 brand (essentially an aloft/Hyatt Place competitor). Nothing announced yet though.

some early pictures of the new terminal rennovation at CVG: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120426/BIZ/304270034/Exclusive-look-CVG-s-36-5-million-Concourse-A?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s no pics of the restrooms though, which is where I hear they really splurged

also announced today that Vision will operate CVG - Myrtle Beach this summer. should be nice for families.

New Asian restaurant coming to Over-the-Rhine http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2012/04/new-asian-restaurant-coming-to.html An Asian-inspired restaurant has signed a lease for a space at 14th and Vine streets in historic Over-the-Rhine. The restaurant will be named Hapa, and is rumored to be operated by the same owners as Pho Lang Thang. also this little tidbit in there: "Construction work is scheduled to begin on the $53.5 million Mercer Commons development later this year, and officials with The Model Group say to watch for an announcement this summer on a new development in partnership with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation."

Does anyone know if the building on the west side of the street at the corner of Vine & Liberty is 3CDC's? I see that the check cashing business here closed to relocate recently, but the (rather dilapidated) hair salon next door seems to still be open. Both of these buildings seem to have lots of vacant housing opportunities above them. This is the spot: http://g.co/maps/zm6xs

Daveed's had great food but the location was not right for the prices the were charging....no parking, not even valet. Cramped seating. Super drafty in the winter. Dated decor. Not much of a view to speak of from the dining rooms inside. Looking forward to this new spot!

Pretty impressive we're getting a stop on this! BIG names too! www.idfestival.com/ THURSDAY 07.19.12 CINCINNATI, OH TICKETS:$25 $40 $60 MAIN STAGE + ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK STAGE ERIC PRYDZ NERO-DJ SET EXCISION MADEON ARTY SHOWTEK BINGO PLAYERS VENUE INFO RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER 6295 Kellogg Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45230

On another note, what is with the inability to attract/retain a decent tenant into the old Park+Vine location that actually fits the direction of the GQ right now? There was a store called "Shoez" or something like that there and now there's a combination nail salon/ghettowear shop. Seems like this space would be under pretty high demand, no?

I'll be interested to see what kind of concept this Hapa place is seeing as how it's the former Beluga owner. Beluga had good food, but it was very pricey and had an identity crisis: Nightclub, lounge, or sushi restaurant? If I recall right, in the last few years before they closed there were cover charges and dress codes on the weekend. It was a total "see and be seen" place and we all know those places peak and then fizzle (a la Passage, BANG, Lunar, etc etc) And the interior was I'm sure very expensive when Beluga was first built, but now just looks silly and outdated. Hoepfully he's learned a thing or two on the way...

New restaurant summary: 1. Anchor restaurant, a seafood concept, has signed a lease at 1403 Race Street on the NE corner of Washington Park, and plans to open in July with the Park. 2. Hapa restaurant, an Asian concept, signed a lease at 14th & Vine in Trinity Flats. 3. 3CDC is currently in the process of preparing a lease for a first floor restaurant tenant in the Paint building anything I'm missing?

^^^ real talk. Bounce/Union Station, the "flagship" gay club of Cleveland is in a sad state...

What's the timeline on phase 2? Is it funded yet?

^^^real talk. You could eat at Senate for what Cafe de Wheels costs. $4 for fries?!?! AWW HELL HAW

^ ^ and 3CDC did not exist yet