Civvik

Ummmm Channel 12 just sold the streetcar hardcore. Interviewed Pete Witte, talked about the western hills viaduct, explained how the tracks are light rail compatible, and brought up the future possibility of LRT going to the airport. Surreal.

This project is such a parallel to the area between Cincinnati and Dayton in general. Almost, but not quite, a metroplex. Just like the area has almost, but not quite, the growth momentum to truly connect them. Finally, it will have almost, but not quite, a regional retail powerhouse to call its own. Almost. But not quite.

What the hell? Did W&S write that piece or did the paper? Little Park is just a little corner of the CBD, and the CBD is not big enough to have its own "districts" nor does this area need to be "revitalized." It's just the f***ing CBD. Sure, build another tower or two. The only thing that will transform are the skyline and W&S's ego.

Who owns the parking lots that flank that little Great American building at Vine, Walnut and FWW? Why hasn't that ever been developed as a tower?

I don't see peak oil happening for a very long time. Peak carbon, maybe, if we get serious about climate change. Which we don't seem to be doing at all. In fact, with fracking and the US becoming an energy exporter, I don't even read blogs like Kunstler anymore. The way I see the story being written in the history books is that oil was artificially low in the 90's, driving was artificially popular, now oil is back at a realistic market price and it's high enough to promote a small but real investment in alternatives and city living, a trend that will continue into the future, but oil price isn't going to upend the US economy.

Interstate traffic is very busy in Ohio. But those counts Mr. Sparkle posted are confusing. Is that a 2015 projection? OKI published count in Warren county in that area is 19,000 "on I71 east of Rt 123" in 2009. But then they published 30,000 "north of Wilmington road" in 2005. I don't see substantially less traffic on the interstates connecting Cincy, Columbus and Dayton than I do while I'm actually in those metros. It's actually pretty annoying.

This is a complex project with a lot of different types of construction occurring simultaneously. There is no general photo set that will give you an overview of how far along Mercer Commons is. 3CDC keeps a good photo stream on Flickr, though. You can find it here:

Didnt they say that they would be open before year end? I would have to think they would not be constructing a new building if that is the goal. Does World of Beer typically locate in urban areas or is it more of a Kenwood/Blue Ash type of place? I have seen them in both, but more in walkable areas.

WOB is from out west I think. When we went to the one in Phoenix the dark atmosphere was cooling and comfortable in the hot sun.

For the townhomes, I think you just raise the main living spaces off ground level, like this: As for the office tower, I think someone asked; this is what 400,000 sf looks like on a (probably) similar floor plate:

"Sorry Fortune 500 company, we can't offer you a space at our signature development until our football team says it's OK."

A light-rail-ready tunnel, I'd imagine...

It is an engineering function for crying out loud. Why do you want to walk to anything? You come to work, do your job, and go home, simple. Does it have its own cafeteria for lunch? Far better to have an onsite lunch capability. Just like the facility I worked at in Mason. We rarely went out for lunch as the internal cafeteria was just so much more convenient and cost effective as it was subsidized by the company. The cafeteria employees were our own people, not some farmed out operation. The cafeteria manager reported internally just like any other department head and the employees received company benefits just like the rest of us. When we had outside customers in for sales presentations there were a couple of small dining rooms for privacy but the food was prepared by our own cafeteria. It sure optimized the time spent rather than going to external restaurants. Our cooks were very capable and could easily work in a restaurant. But working for us they received benefits they would not typically have in the normal restaurant. All of the food was prepared onsite, usually from scratch, not just dumped out of a can. When our Mason facility was built, the company president decided the cafeteria would be our own operation and geared to keeping the employees onsite to minimize interference with the work day. I must say it worked very well. Since I retired, occasionally I will drop in to visit some of my former colleagues, and I always time it to be there during lunch. Industrial facilities are just that, industrial. Their purpose is to provide a pleasant and efficient environment for working. They are not designed to attract the general public. So the cost vs benefits of office location revolve around...eating in the cafeteria.

The article said 400,000 square feet.

Another John Schneider idea was to rebuild the Madison/Edwards triangle as a large traffic circle, eliminating many of these issues. The idea is complicated by the fact that the traffic circle would overlap the municipal border between Cincinnati and Norwood. Like this?

Downtown Cincinnati Incorporated and Special Improvement District

I thought I heard that Phase 2 will start in June? I'm much more concerned about why there is no hotel built yet in Phase 1. That's a nice site for a hotel. I got the impression several years ago that several brands were very interested in it. And now, nothing.

Yeah haha the more you read about their plans in that article, the more pie-in-the-sky the whole thing sounds. 3 bars, a restaurant, a brewery, a national beer brand, building out a 3 story church in 6 months... I'm glad people are dreaming big though!

Or it is such a good project it does not need anymore subsidies and that additional subsidies can be applied to other worthy projects. Who cares the reasoning, it only matters the result. I would argue that the reasoning matters very much, because the total subsidy per unit is a reflection of how healthy the downtown market is.

It's a great sign for the Cincy market that the developer is acting like this project is not charity work that needs never-ending public subsidy. But kind of sad that a developer in Indianapolis believes in the project more than the mayor of Cincinnati.

Did you really just say that? On PAGE SIX HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX of the streetcar thread?

There are few cities I have visited in my life where I had an unrelenting physical urge to leave. Houston is one of them. The rest will remain unnamed for now. It's huge. Definitely gulf coast southern. Great BBQ and Tex-Mex. Other than that, my god, it's hideous.

I've been to restaurants where I assumed I'd see a lot of black customers and didn't see hardly any, like Wishbone in Chicago and Mary Mac's Tea Room in Atlanta. Then I've been to restaurants where I thought I'd see a lot of white suburbanites and saw a ton of black people, like Eddie Merlot's in Montgomery. Perhaps it was presumptuous to assume that black people would flock to a soul food restaurant to eat "their food?" A lot of black people I know who are middle/upper middle class and eat out on a regular basis have excellent taste in food and don't seem any more or less interested in soul food than I do. Good points Civvik. So who would be a good fit to take over this space? I think the problem with The Banks is that nobody knows what would be a good fit down there because it's not even close to being finished. We're going on 3 years since they opened Phase I and nothing has been built except for a restaurant pad.

I've been to restaurants where I assumed I'd see a lot of black customers and didn't see hardly any, like Wishbone in Chicago and Mary Mac's Tea Room in Atlanta. Then I've been to restaurants where I thought I'd see a lot of white suburbanites and saw a ton of black people, like Eddie Merlot's in Montgomery. Perhaps it was presumptuous to assume that black people would flock to a soul food restaurant to eat "their food?" A lot of black people I know who are middle/upper middle class and eat out on a regular basis have excellent taste in food and don't seem any more or less interested in soul food than I do.

I know people with student loan debt not many fractions less than the Mahoganys deal. Maybe the Enquirer can do several exposés on that issue. Not an ethical equivalent, but would sure put $300k in perspective.