rekxu83

Thanks for a re-post of those articles. They both sound alarmist at first but soften on their negativity towards the end. Even if NOTL has never paid a dime in taxes to Newport, the effect it has had on property values has got to be astronomical. Newport historic district is an absolutely fantastic neighborhood which probably would not have seen such a sharp increase in property value if it weren't for NOTL. My biggest beef with the project, or really w/ the city of Newport, is that they have yet to make Monmouth a 2-way street, or at least reversed its direction. People who come to NOTL might want to explore Newport, but not being able to take a south turn on Monmouth makes that very difficult for non locals. Monmouth is doing fine, but I wonder what it would look like if it one could navigate north to south.

I'll ask again: Does anybody have this company's P&L. How do we know NOTL doesn't make money? Based on newspaper articles or somebody who knows somebody? I'm a financial analyst by trade so I'd like to get ahold of their financials and see for myself. Also, does the fact that traditional retail fares poorly mean that the entire concept fails? I swear, the NKY bias and elitism on this board is suffocating sometimes. Something will be in Tropicana and Pacific Moon sooner than later. Restaurants/bars have always done a good job regenerating themselves at NOTL, and let me remind people, that venues like that close and reopen regularly. People always go for the 'hot new thing' and turnover is not indicative of failure. As far as NKY being isolated, I regularly walk from Covington to Bellevue and have no problem. I do agree that the management is slow to react at NOTL. As many have pointed out something like a bowling alley and/or upscale pool hall would fit quite nicely. Also if the hotel plan goes through I think you'll see some of the vacancy disappear. Comparing The Banks and NOTL is pointless. They should compliment each other nicely. Everybody on here can keep b#&$-ing and moaning about how the whole concept 'offends' them, meanwhile I'm going to see The Dark Knight, eat at Deweys with my wife, and meet friends at J Hall tonight. I'll let everyone know if I see anybody crying about the Levee's immenent demise while I'm down there.

Removing Fairfield's on-street parking would be disasterous for Bellevue. I'm frankly at a loss as to what they can do about the problem. The only two options I see are: a.) Put up w/ the traffic, just get used to it b.) Build a new road somewhere I'm betting we'll just have to get used to it.

If you've met one guy like Mr. Imboden you've met them all. I'm sure he felt slighted the first time the city did anything resembling holding his project up (which probably had something to do w/ his dumping...err illegal landfill dumping) and blew it out of proportion. Guys like him think everybody should bend over backwards for them. Which, I'll be the first to admit, is probably a good & neccesary trait if you're a developer.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/BIZ01/807130344/-1/NEWS0107 Didn't see this posted anywhere else. A pretty in-depth look at the development and the man behind it.

Typorir I hope you were kidding about that whole post. Skinny Legs is a welcome addition to the avenue, my only beef is they don't have draft beer yet! You should have see that building before Ezra bought it, it was horrible. Jimmy, I live on the river side of the Fairfield and there will be hell to pay if they try to put in a parking lot. One of my biggest pet peaves with the Bellevue gov't is their disregard for that part of the city (plus rumors that it's all slated for demo anyway, which if thats the case I better be compensated HANDSOMELY). Granted it has a lot of 'shotgun' houses that are only 1 story and probably can never be redone into something people will pay good money for, but there are also lots of nice 2 story row houses like the one I bought.

Maybe a bit of an overreaction folks? Norwood has been losing its industrial base for years and this just continues the trend. They'll be fine. They've done well diversifying their commercial tax base with Rookwood (even more if they get that last house demolished), and their new development on Dana. Plus, I doubt anybody is losing their jobs, Boone county is right across the river (airport). I agree with the point made previously that we're cannabalizing the regions tax base, but being close to the airport has got to be a major boost for them as well. Plus, their parent company was looking to consolidate two of their subsidiaries which i doubt there would be room for in their Norwood facility. Again, Norwood is WAY past the point of NEEDING 500 jobs. Yeah, having them located there probably lent a little prestige to the city but it is fast gentrifying (is that the right word? it honestly never got that bad) with people who want to be in Hyde Park "Near" Couple that with the tearing down of that horrible mall and wonderful historical housing stock and they'll be just fine. The sky isn't falling.

Grew up in Delhi Township in Cincinnati, bleh....Pretty standard post war suburb, a mix of housing from the 50's & 60's, plus some 1980's subdivisions. There was a time when I thought Delhi Pike had everything I would ever need.........WOW When we graduated from XU, the wife and I (then my fiance) bought a rowhouse in Bellevue, KY. That was two years ago and we are absolutely loving it. I consider it city living, very dense housing stock, pre 1900 most of it (and some very new, very expensive riverfront condos). Close to downtown Cincy, really right across the river from Mt. Adams. Take the bus to work in southern Covington, KY and downtown Cincinnati (I'm about an 8 minute bus ride downtown). Great business district. Voted one of the top 10 places to live, Cincinnati Magazine 2007 : ) City living or pre-war, 1st generation suburbs are where we'll be from here on out.

The new site is absolutely atrocious. Not only is it still a jumbled mess of links like it previously was (what's the difference between cincinnati.com, nky.com, enquirer.com etc...), the one thing it had going for it was its pleasant, easy on the eyes design. Now that's gone.

If this is the one they are taking down I think a party is in order. It was one of the most obvious signs of the failures of downtown planning.....a skywalk to nowhere....speaks volumes.. I know a lot of people found/find them useful, but there really does seem to be a minor street level renaissance that can be correlated with the removal of these monstrosities.

I love Dusty. No question his managerial style is a little too 'Old School,' but he is a genuine guy. Now if we could just get him to realize Corey Patterson should never be in a major league lineup again....

I guess I see it in a different way. Why add to the vacant space if so much already exists? It also makes more sense economically to try to develop them. What's the incentive to pay so many millions of dollars to complete them if the city can't get any tax revenue out of the space? In any case I'm excited this is back on the table again. Burying Ft Washington Way was a great start, covering it would be fantastic (even if they do put another park on it that I can't even walk my dog in :wink2: )

Who says green space is the only thing we can have? Like I've said previously, if that's the only way to cap them then so be it. Let's get it done. But more green space isn't going to do any good, especially with the new riverfront park going in a mere 2 blocks away. Nobody here is being negative, I'm just expressing my opinion that we don't need to settle for what most people will assume will happen. For the record I'm sure they'll do some sort of park if it happens at all, but I wish they wouldn't.

The "grand park" to which you are referring will be directly south of the Freedom Center, connecting/extending the most excellent parks already established. The FWW caps weren't originally designed to be "grand parks", their intent is to reconnect the CBD with the riverfront. I do hope their potential is maximized so they truly become grand, but Lets not lose focus and start bashing this project. (which seems to happen a lot here on this site) Nobody is bashing, and I agree with you, the Riverfront Park is plenty of greenspace along with Bicentennial Commons, Sawyer Point and the Friendship Park. Too much greenspace has the same (if prettier) effect as surface parking lots - disjointed streets and wasted opportunity costs.

^-- I'm no engineer but I'd imagine if they can put 5 story buildings on The Banks they could do it on the caps. The Banks are, after all, going to be built on 2 stories of parking, which brings us back to your other concern. I'd love nothing more than a grand park that really makes a statement and is enjoyed by all, but parks are rarely done right in this country, and even then it's a crapshoot on whether people will use them. Read Jane Jacobs critique on parks in our cities and you might change your mind.

I guess what I'm trying to say is The Caps (can I call it that?) should be a continuation of what The Banks is going to be - 3 to 5 story, mixed use buildings that continue the flow of the city all of the way to the river. Not sure how this became a referendum on skyscrapers, but what I don't want is more green space. Don't get me wrong, I love super-talls as much as the next guy. But Cincinnati is not even remotely in the league of those cites you just listed. How much sense does it make to build skyscrapers here when the vacancy rate is as high as it is (not high for the midwest, but we're not exactly busting at the seems for office space). Besides, we have enough tall buildings, time to fill in the rest of the spaces. Cincykidbc1.....you just described Pete Witte's dream for the Banks. This is exactly the kind of thinking Cincinnati is putting behind them. If a company wanted to consolidate a corporate HQ in Cincinnati they would have to build another building because there isn't enough contiguous office space available. That's why American Financial decided to consolidate in QCS, it's the only structure with enough contiguous space available. Not thinking big would risk losing them to some other city who starts to 'woo' them when they are thinking big. Cincinnati should never put good 'thinking' behind them. Unplanned growth gives us places like LA and Houston, who undoubtedly have great economies, but are horribly planned, car dependent "cities." Besides, how many companies the size of American Financial are located downtown that don't already have their own buildings? Our "Big Three" of Macy's, Kroger and P&G are already set in their digs. What's left is a bunch of medium to small enterprises that don't need or can't afford gleaming new skyscrapers, but maybe they would like a nice 5 story right on 2nd street? The reality is a city the size of Cincinnati (even w/ 2+ million in the region) is not going to be building more than a skyscraper or two every decade. Something needs to be done in the meantime. Hong Kong and Shenzhen are World Cities, we are a Regional City. Let's be honest with ourselves.

Don't get me wrong, I love super-talls as much as the next guy. But Cincinnati is not even remotely in the league of those cites you just listed. How much sense does it make to build skyscrapers here when the vacancy rate is as high as it is (not high for the midwest, but we're not exactly busting at the seems for office space). Besides, we have enough tall buildings, time to fill in the rest of the spaces. Cincykidbc1.....you just described Pete Witte's dream for the Banks.

I've noticed they're starting to put up some sort of white paint/stucco/siding stuff on the southeast part of the building. I'll try to get some pictures of it. I have to admit it makes the building look particularly striking.

I have mixed emotions about this development. First, it will be completely cut off from the rest of the city (it's on the river side of their levee). Of course all Dayton residents will have access to the shops/restaurants that this development will bring, along with the added tax dollars. Second, as a resident of Bellevue I look forward to all development around my area, I just don't know how much more traffice Route 8 (Fairfield Ave in Bellevue) can take. There are sometimes I worry about traffice destroying the wonderful shops and bistros that have sprung up in Bellevue in the last few years.

The more I look at that area the more I think some modest (in size) commercial and residential buildings would be the best thing. Nothing taller than the freedom center (not that the caps sound like they can handle much more). American cities need to realize that they don't need to build huge skyscrapers all of the time. We need to bring some more class to the city that Churchill called "the most beautiful of America's inland cities." Parisian-like buildings (they can be brick to look more 'American'), something with a mansard roof. True mixed-use. I'm getting carried away with myself here, but the worst thing that can happen is more green space. Downtown doesn't have the residents to justify the amount of greenspace on it's riverbanks currently (not that I mind, they're beautiful parks). I'm all for getting them capped as quickly as possible and I realize that might not happen if we wait for private development money. So go ahead, cap them, put a park on them, but let it be known that they are open for development.

Rowhouses next to the banks/downtown? Sign me up. Might be a little disconcerting if I heard traffic under my house all of the time.

^ So they had originally planned to demolish those structures? Seems strange to me.... Did 3CDC change their operating plan in the last couple of years, or did they just think those buildings were too far gone? Not disputing you, but it's hard to believe that they went from a Modernist city planning philosophy (get rid of blight, open spaces, blah blah blah) to a more urbanist philosophy in such a short span of time. Any organization that had planned to raize 22 buildings in a neighborhood listed in the national register of historic places should be put on the US terrorist watch list.... Good thing they didn't act on such a lapse in judgement..

^ I think this is a fantastic idea and they need to get moving on it. In the absence of a true residential aspect to NOTL, a good hotel is the next best thing. Think about it from an out of towner's point of view: they can sleep, eat and see a movie in the same complex. Plus walk to reds games etc. It seems like a no-brainer to me. In any case, anything's better than that horrible travel lodge right?

New, clean, industrial development in that area will hopefully provide a nice job base for the kind of workers you're talking about in Price Hill and the West End. Quick recap....The Banks is finally getting built (+residential, +commercial), Queen City Square is set to begin construction shortly (+commercial), 3CDC continues doing an awesome job in downtown and OTR (+residential, +commercial), NKY keeps building new condo developments (+residential) and now the city is rebuilding it's industrial base with what sounds like clean industries (+industrial). Great time to live around these parts huh?

Sounds like CPS is done standing in the way of progress in OTR. I hope they stick with their new attitude. 3CDC has really done a bang-up job down there, here's to them continuing their good work. ...