Civvik

What's wrong with a 12 story building, other than you can't see it in the skyline? 180 residential units could be 9 stories, or it could be 18 stories. You're a planner. Whip out Sketchup and rough in the program and see what you get.

Umm ... Zurich and Melbourne are the world's top steetcar cities -- a whole lot of capitalism going on there. And the last I heard, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland are now free-market economies. I guess when you run out of ammunition, you just have to start firing blanks. Does he often fire anything else?

That machine is digging a fixed transit line in Cincinnati. My brain just exploded.

I'm sure Tickle Teabag was the original name of this franchise, but they had to change it to make it more family-friendly.

10-12 would be fine. Here is 8 stories on 4 levels of parking:

I had not heard of any Covington projects in the works. I guess lending is starting to loosen up.

Who do you think I am talking to. Those whose are committed to urban type developemts in the area should abhor this thing. This is just another urban sprawl development between Dayton and Cincinnati. Before long there will be so much sprawl that discussion of anything else will be mute. Sorry it is rather odd that you appear to be addressing the entire...forum community?

This is not how it usually works at all. What is your professional background, anyhow? I just kind of feel sorry for you.

Who in God's name are you talking to?

LIG: Do you teach at DAAP? I graduated from DAAP in the 70's. I know streetcars because I rode them as a kid and teen...but when I was in planning school at DAAP I was amazed by the way I kept having to explain to other students what a streetcar is. And for that matter, many had no basic understanding of any kind of mass transit technology. With all due respect, the students from the east coast, and the foreign students, had a much better perspective. To be brutally honest, I learned almost nothing from my BS in planning at DAAP. Other than how to use various software. I learned almost everything I know about urban issues through my employers, reading books by people like Duany and Kunstler, and through places like UrbanOhio. I graduated from DAAP having no idea how big a road was, much less any technical information on transit. Nearly 100% of what I learned came from one employer, and the internet.

5 Guys at The Banks might work really well.

Every time I think of massive floorplate new construction I think of this BOFA campus in uptown Charlotte. That's at least a 40,000 SF floorplate in that big piece, and probably a lot more. How do I know? Look at the big square parking garage on the east end, it's about 360x360, or over 100,000 SF. And the big office building is about half that. Also notice that the big parking garage is lined with about 40' deep of condos on the south side. So, in many respects, these are the kinds of dimensions and "feel" that the 5th and Race site could provide. Charlotte: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bank+of+america+campus+charlotte+east&ll=35.23476,-80.850744&spn=0.002723,0.004128&fb=1&gl=us&hq=bank+of+america+campus+charlotte+east&cid=0,0,5192308135396348751&t=h&z=19 Cincinnati: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cincinnati&ll=39.101539,-84.514901&spn=0.00183,0.004128&hnear=Cincinnati,+Hamilton,+Ohio&gl=us&t=h&z=19

I commented on their Facebook page that I didn't see any Slim Jims on their Bloody Mary bar. It's just NOT a Bloody Mary without meat in it and I refuse to drink one without. They deleted my comment from FB so I take that as a big old F--- You / not interested in customer feedback we don't agree with. Not a fan. Definitely not the way to get off on the right foot!

I wish it were that benign. Ugh. Why do I have a feeling Kasich is involved somewhere Kasich may be involved, but somehow I think the Obama administration has Cincy's back. I don't know why, it just seems that way.

If The Banks came in under budget, for the love of god use that money to make the next phase fancier than cinderblock and vinyl siding. I don't care who's money it actually is, just give me some nicer buildings.

America needs to get its shit together and radically change property laws to allow for the agressive redevelopment of existing commercial areas. The US is shockingly, and I mean truly shockingly, over-retailed. MOST of this land is starting to rot. Governments are going broke having to maintain services to underperforming -and sometimes literally rotting- strip malls, car lots, and vacant storefronts. You can see this easily just by cruising Google Earth and looking at Australia, similar in age to the USA and also fairly low density, but with maybe 1/4 the retail area of the USA. All this land is going to continue to underperform if we keep allowing developers to pave their way into short-term profit. This is a huge problem.

SOMEONE wandered into the cat section of Youtube again...

LOL

Aaaand I thought it couldn't get any more stupid. I was wrong.

I love how there is all this (supposed) angst over working too close to a vehicle that is tied to a fucking steel rail and operated by a trained driver, while Duke hangs people in plastic buckets over automobiles driven by 16-year-olds every day. When you really step back and look at this objectively, it's absolutely hilarious.

No, it's been pretty clear for years now that for some reason Duke as an organization has no intention of accommodating this project. Whether that's because they are against transit in principal or because they are simply maximizing their profits is beyond me. I will say that watching a corporation maximize its profit on the backs of citizen-paid ROW is disgusting.

Now the pressure is on to make the 5th and Race site mixed-use with an engaging retail front. If they plop a parking garage there and stick their offices on top of it like a birthday cake, it will be a travesty and continue the trend of the dying rustbelt city whoring its prime spots out to whatever once-in-a-blue-moon tenant wants it. Disappointed. The Banks would have been a much more exciting spot.

That's not entirely true, based on this: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/noncms/projects/streetcar/environmental/docs/Cincinnati%20Streetcar%20EA%20App%20C%20-%20Conceptual%20Streetcar%20Engineering.pdf I'm not really sure if it runs on either "side" of the street. It looks like both stops will be east-side bump-outs.

I have to say, while I'm not a fan of the overall site plan, it's filling in the space better than I imagined it would. The massing is not so bad. If they finish off their open space in an appropriate way, it will definitely add to the city, not detract from it.

For easy reference, here is the rough phasing of the park plan: