mcadrenaline

As with all other urban grocery related things in this city, I'll believe it when I see it. This project has been stalled several times. I hope it's for real this time.

^^^ Yes, it does allow for connection to the last bank of west coast bound departures for the evening which leave between 8 and 9:30 Denver time. Just checked Flightstats and it looks like theres 10-15 options, mostly CA cities but also LAS, SEA, PDX, PHX, SLC, GEG, COS, OKC, and so on

Eagle Hospitality, Blackstone Reach Compromise: Sell Instead of Foreclose. http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/09/10/eagle-hospitality-blackstone-reach-compromise-sell-instead-of-foreclose/?mod=dist_smartbrief Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust, owner of 13 upscale U.S. hotels including the Cincinnati Landmark Marriott, struck a deal with its debt holder to avoid foreclosure. Eagle and Blackstone BX +0.44%Group agreed to a compromise to be announced Monday in which Eagle will market the 13 properties for sale. Blackstone will accept as payment an undisclosed sum that is less than the mortgage’s face amount but still more than what Blackstone paid to buy the loan earlier this year. Any proceeds in excess of Blackstone’s take will be divided among Eagle’s other creditors and equity holders. All told, Eagle’s hotel portfolio spans 3,538 rooms. It includes eight Embassy Suites hotels, the Hilton Cincinnati Airport and the Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge. The portfolio registered an average rate of $126 and average occupancy of 75.4% in the past year. Revenue per available room increased by 7.1% in that time. Eagle, which is owned by private equity firm AREA Property Partners, had faced a due date Sunday for the $606 million mortgage on its properties. Eagle was in a bind because it couldn’t refinance the mortgage, given that the value of the hotels had declined markedly since AREA bought Eagle in 2007. In addition, Blackstone bought Eagle’s mortgage at a discount last May from Maiden Lane, the Federal Reserve-controlled entity overseeing the assets and loans of now-defunct Bear Stearns. Blackstone could have moved to foreclose on Eagle’s hotels once the mortgage’s due date passed without payment this week. Marc Beilinson, Eagle’s chief restructuring officer, declined to say how long Eagle’s sales process will last. “It’s a great outcome that is beneficial and allows Eagle to enter a robust, wide-ranging marketing program with the opportunity of paying off Blackstone at a meaningful discount” to the debt’s face value, he said. Eagle Hospitality's Properties: Cincinnati Landmark Marriott (321 rooms) Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge (184 rooms) Hyatt Regency Rochester (336 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Columbus/Dublin (284 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Cleveland/Rockside (271 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Boston at Logan International Airport (273 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Denver-International Airport (174 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix-Scottsdale (270 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Tampa-Airport/Westshore (243 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel & Casino San Juan (299 rooms) Embassy Suites Hotel Cincinnati-RiverCenter (226 rooms) Hilton Glendale (351 rooms) Hilton Cincinnati Airport (306 rooms)

Something definitely smells funny with this. More to come I'm sure...

Really interesting to see the problem spots in OTR become very clear... OVER-THE-RHINE — A man was shot in the head late Monday outside Kroger, 1420 Vine St., Cincinnati police said this morning. The victim was talking with first responders at the scene immediately following the 8 p.m. attack and is expected to recover, police said. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120821/NEWS/308210012/Two-overnight-shootings-Cincinnati?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Also coming to U Square: Altar’d State, a Christian fashion retailer with a "modernized Christian shopping experience". Altar’d State will carry designer apparel for both men and women, as well as “inspirational” merchandise. ummm. yeah. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/30/were-not-just-a-christian-bookstore/ http://www.altardstate.com/

I have a friend that lives in the Banks and he has told me that there are several Reds players that essentially use it as a hotel while they are in town for games, but commute between their actual homes in Florida, Arizona, Texas, etc. This is further evidenced by the number of serious luxury cars in his garage with out of state plates that sit covered in dust and are rarely driven.

Covington Waffle House between the hours of 2AM and approx. 6AM is alot...to handle. haha.

There is one at Tech Square adjacent to Georgia Tech in Atlanta as well. It's in a newer student-oriented retail/housing complex so I imagine this one will be quite similar so that (I've been, it's a great concept) http://www.wafflehouse.com/in-the-community/events/20-waffle-house-restaurant--georgia-tech-opens

GENIUS. They will be packed. Not enough cheap, late night options in this area and certainly no good breakfast options.

It's worth the trip for sure. Lots of local vendors...food, clothes, furniture, antiques, etc etc. Findlay and the park are less than a 10 min walk from each other. If the weather is as good as it's supposed to be, I'd imagine it will be quite crowded tomorrow.

that Vine St. pic absolutely blows my mind. I've been looking at it for like 15 minutes. incredible.

^^^easily one of the best time wasters at work. Pretty cool to look at some big international airports and how airplanes are routed. One of Delta's 767's for example might go ATL-JFK-MAD-ATL-LAX-ATL-SEA-KIX-HNL-SFO or something crazy like that

I took Megabus to Chicago again last weekend and I must say, it is absolutely incredible that they city allows them to operate off of a sidewalk as they do. There are serious safety concerns here. This is in the middle of the city, in an area with plenty of pedestrians and traffic. Megabus uses the entire block for boarding and during peak times there are literally hundreds of people just milling about. There is zero signage about bus status, delays or boarding. No benches and no employees other than the drivers, many of which are some of which carry the most entitled, rotten power-trip attitides I have ever experienced. When it's time to depart, the busses simply pull out into city traffic and off you go. The whole thing is very third world and pretty inefficient (but very cheap to maintain and operate). That being said, I love the idea of their ultra low cost business model and I think the popularity of the service and full loads on their busses shows what an important and uptapped market they serve. It's such a simple concept but also relatively innovative in the US market where we are accustomed to more frills in our travel experience. They have grown dramatically in the past year and I suspect that growth has led to a slip in safety standards and a rush to minimize turn times and fully utilize their equipment. Here's to hoping they get their act together.

Bad news all around. What I'm really hoping is that the guys behind DU aren't done with the Cleveland market.... Surely this city can support that kind of brand, no?

I don't have any solid information about Millennium closing, but given the state of the property, I cannot imagine they will be open for many years to come -- just an opinion, nothing more. Now to address the over saturation concerns, let me add some perspective -- when a franchisee like SREE builds a hotel from a major chain, there is a complex algorithm and business case put together well beforehand to determine market feasibility. This takes into account a number of things like occupancy rates, demand, competition, cost per key to build, average rates in the city, etc etc. The list goes on and on. Keep in mind Hilton has plenty of market intelligence from the Cincinnati market as they already have a solid presence here, just not necessarily downtown. Put quite plainly, if the numbers did not work, these properties would not be built. Hilton, Marriott, etc would not even be considering the DT Cincinnati market. My understanding is that the hotel company will often scout locations they want to be in based on what shows as hot from their calculations, put together the business case and then approach developers about the opportunity to see if there is interest and try to "sell" the opportunity. There's money on the line for the the hotel chain as well as the franchisee.

jjames0408, I grew up in Cleveland and now live in Cincinnati -- both of these cities have their pros and cons, but I think that Cleveland wins out on access to outdoor activities. In particular, there is no good skiiing anywhere close to Cincinnati whereas within 5 hours drive of Cleveland there are many, many choices. Couple that with easy access to the Lakes & islands, Canada, etc etc..the list just goes on. Glad to hear you're happy there.

I also think some of the lots along Central Parkway could make good hotels sites...close to the casino and OTR resurgence and they would allow for new built rather than retrofit. Typically limited service brands prefer new construction.

Wouldn't be the least bit suprised if Trader Joe's/Whole Foods/Fresh Market/etc beats Kroger to the punch with a proper OTR/DT store. Wouldn't be suprised in the least.

^^ I can get things within 12-18 hours from Prime living in Cincinnati. Really awesome service.

It's also my understanding that in the past demolition has been discussed as an option on the table for the Millennium....which would make sense because the owners have invested ZERO money into it. Extremely outdated property. This comes from someone close to 3CDC.

I'd be curious if some of DT hotel traffic is lost to KY and the 'burbs simply because we do not offer a wide variety and/or cater to all price points. This project is a step in the right direction. Many people are likely priced out of downtown and head to Covington or Blue Ash. All I have to say is that there is definitely a reason why there's all this interest in downtown hotels. Not sure what that is though... Nielsen, Omnicare and KAO are now downtown and this does not hurt, but what else? The casino?

Cincinnati will likely get an aloft before a full on W. My bets are this brand will end up at the Banks. SREE has developed several of these, so this could all very well be the case. 21C should fill the high-end boutique segment quite well though.

If SREE is interested in limited-service (Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, etc) as the article states, TP is likely not going to be a contender...it has massive conference/banquet space, restaurant space, kitchens, etc that would not suit these type of hotels. I wouldn't be mad about some new infill though... And what is everyone's best guess on the Bartlett Building? Hotel or residential?

COAST even getting involved in this makes me want to rip my hair out and bang my head against the wall. Unbelievable.