June 18, 20186 yr I wonder why the new apartments in the business district haven't started yet on east McMillian.
June 18, 20186 yr I wonder why the new apartments in the business district haven't started yet on east McMillian. Yeah, next to the Firehouse? That sight has been shovel-ready...for 8-9 years. The developer got the land for free from the city.
June 18, 20186 yr ^ I was just wondering if that Firehouse Row development had started yet. People have been talking about that development for years, and still no sign of action? I know they got planning department approval, so it appears the development is alive and will happen, but at this point, I'll believe it when I see it.
June 18, 20186 yr The apartments have no started yet, but almost every store front has been gutted and it currently being rehabbed. Lots of work like that going on.
July 5, 20186 yr These turds just sold to Firehouse Row Holdings, so we might soon see some construction activity: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1254314,-84.4942017,3a,60y,36.56h,100.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYl2b6xt-E5Qg5Mw5L2_FIQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
July 5, 20186 yr Whats the crime like in Walnut Hills? For whatever reason, I'll hear alot about shootings/homicide in OTR/West End/Price Hill, maybe occasionally Clifton/mt auburn...but generally speaking I don't really hear that much about crime in walnut hills? Not sure if that would be a factor that would allow Walnut Hills to be quickly gentrified because the perception is not as bad than the perception that OTR once had....
July 5, 20186 yr I don't really know for certain but I do know there are some pretty tough areas in Walnut Hills proper where there is quite a bit of crime. A lot of Walnut Hills it seems to me is generational poverty.
July 18, 20186 yr Latest planning commission shows that the City is swapping some land with GCRA, and the City plans to putting several properties out to RFP for redevelopment as residential or mixed use: 835, 843, 845, 847 Oak. See page 33: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/about-city-planning/city-planning-commission/jul-20-2018-packet/
August 7, 20186 yr I am worried about the Columbia Tower. It was converted into condos 15+ years ago and now each unit takes forever to sell and now we see a listing for just $55,000: https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1591254/1815-Wm-H-Taft-Rd-307-Walnut-Hills-OH-45206 All around town, the apartment buildings that were converted into condos in the early-mid 2000s are faltering. Even in Hyde Park the condos aren't doing well.
August 7, 20186 yr I am worried about the Columbia Tower. It was converted into condos 15+ years ago and now each unit takes forever to sell and now we see a listing for just $55,000: https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1591254/1815-Wm-H-Taft-Rd-307-Walnut-Hills-OH-45206 All around town, the apartment buildings that were converted into condos in the early-mid 2000s are faltering. Even in Hyde Park the condos aren't doing well. The HOA is $295... which is more than a mortgage would be (if you could get a 30-year loan).
August 7, 20186 yr Well I don't know anyone in their right mind that would buy a condo that looks like a Myrtle Beach Days Inn from 1995.
August 7, 20186 yr Well I don't know anyone in their right mind that would buy a condo that looks like a Myrtle Beach Days Inn from 1995. If it didn't have such a high HOA, I'd consider buying one of those for $55k.
August 7, 20186 yr Most of that building seems to be 2-bedroom units. I'd bet that the HOA's are much higher for those. The HOA could include some utilities. But the bigger issue is that condo developments are on the verge of failing all over the place, 10 years into the housing recovery. If we have another severe recession, investors will buy out desperate owners for pennies and turn these buildings back into apartments.
August 7, 20186 yr Without a decent size kitchen, storage, and in-unit laundry then a condo is a tough sell, and these apartment conversions usually don't have that (they're lucky to get a stacked washer/dryer in a closet, but now you're down a closet). Those HOA fees aren't bad compared to what I've been seeing. Granted I'm looking more in the $125K range, but there's no shortage of buildings that have $400+ association fees. The big factor there is that those fees usually cover heat, water/hot water, and sewer since those were originally centralized and difficult to split apart. These old uninsulated buildings are fantastically expensive to heat, but when it's built into the HOA you have no control over what you pay for that, no matter how frugal and energy-efficient you might be.
August 13, 20186 yr Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation gets new leader The Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation has named Emily Ahouse as its next executive director. Ahouse will begin her new role on Sept. 4 and succeeds Kevin Wright, who announced his departure in March to launch his own urban growth firm. Ahouse was most recently preservation and planning specialist for the city of Covington. She also serves on the executive board and design committee for nonprofit Main Street Program, Renaissance Covington. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/08/13/walnut-hills-redevelopment-foundation-gets-new.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 2, 20186 yr The Firehouse Row site is fenced off. We might see action after 5~ years of hype. No new news from the Anthem site. It's still just sitting there.
September 11, 20186 yr This strip of buildings was demolished last week: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1258726,-84.4891418,3a,75y,143.17h,97.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7CTJXbxd4ObUrGY-5WrgWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
September 11, 20186 yr I think this is the Model Group Project going here too I believe something specific for single mothers with a training program for Associates or Bachelors Degree I believe. It surprised me driving past as I never thought about it but those buildings went back deep pretty far.
September 11, 20186 yr Walnut Hills is like driverless cars. We keep hearing that Walnut Hills is about to take off, but it never seems to happen.
September 11, 20186 yr I think this is the Model Group Project going here too I believe something specific for single mothers with a training program for Associates or Bachelors Degree I believe. It surprised me driving past as I never thought about it but those buildings went back deep pretty far. It's for Scholar House:https://www.wlwt.com/article/affordable-housing-for-single-parents-coming-to-walnut-hills/22117727 “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
September 12, 20186 yr This strip of buildings was demolished last week: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1258726,-84.4891418,3a,75y,143.17h,97.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7CTJXbxd4ObUrGY-5WrgWw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 More pocket parks, right next to benches that supposedly kill people.
September 12, 20186 yr I'm still a little salty that the OG Greater's building was torn down. In my home town a building caught fire and the facade was preserved with open windows and a courtyard inside. It does a lot to preserve the streetwall and add to the appeal of variable height without having to invest in a new structure. Too late now tho.
September 27, 20186 yr I drove through Walnut Hills a few times when I was back in Cincy a couple weeks ago, and the neighborhood honestly looked awful. Maybe worse than I've ever seen it. For all this talk of revitalization, I sure didn't see any evidence. The Paramount building and a few others did have plywood in the storefronts, so I know renovation is at least underway, but it was pretty discouraging to see how crappy the neighborhood looked. Kroger is obviously empty (was still operational when I moved away) and the buildings across the street were in the middle of being torn down. I know those buildings weren't anything special, but they did at least have some occupied businesses and contributed to the streetwall. Their absence, along with some other demolitions, made the neighborhood feel like a bit of a ghost town. There was no sign of action at the Firehouse Row site, and the neighborhood to the south of it is a fu**ing disaster. I've been skeptical of the WH revitalization claims for years, as the talk and hype never matched my observed reality, but this last visit really validated my skepticism. I hope for the best for Walnut Hills, but it really seems to not be doing well. All this while the former WHRF director is writing books and claiming to be an expert on how to revitalize urban neighborhoods. What a joke.
September 27, 20186 yr ^Eh sorry, I work there every single day. The buildings being demolished are going to be built back up again right away for scholar house which will be housing for low income single parents while they receive education benefits. Kroger left but that has nothing to do with WHRF. They’ve pulled together the street re-design and are working through redevelopment on many buildings including the Paramount and all the buildings across McMillan. The firehouse building is an awesome restaurant with I think 4 buildings across the street under current renovation, and the Fireblocks looks to be under way right now. The neighborhood is in the midst of a turn around with 40ish units being renovated in the Eastern Hills YMCA Building which has been vacant for many years and the continued redevelopment of the old Anthem Site into a large residential commercial and office redevelopment. Also a smattering of buildings which are under renovation or have recently been completed on Taft and further down the street on McMillan. So if you mean worse off that some buildings were torn down and Kroger is vacant then I could agree with you. I say come back and 2 years and you will feel different. Also if this is right or wrong for me to say idk but if you think worse off is less used needles, spent condoms, open air drug deals and shootings on McMillan St then it is worst off indeed.
September 28, 20186 yr I appreciate your optimism, but I lived right around the corner from the Walnut Hills Kroger for quite a few years, and the needle never really moved at all during that time in spite of the constant hype about WH being 'the next hot neighborhood'. The pace of development is soooo slowwww, and it's not like the rest of the neighborhood just stays as is while these new developments happen. The Dairy Mart next to the McDonalds, for example, is now shuttered and looks like a complete sh*t hole. While it was never great, it used to at least be a sign of life. I think the area south of Firehouse Row has gotten considerably worse in recent years, and there is just a ton of vacant lots and missing teeth all throughout the neighborhood. The area by the Stowe house is also a wreck, and more and more old buildings continue to be torn down around Madsion/MLK, leaving that area feeling even worse than before. Maybe once the Paramount Square project gets completed, and the Firehouse Row development actually gets built, the rest of the neighborhood will start to change, too. I'm skeptical of this, as I didn't see much evidence of one-off home repair or any of the other usual signs that a neighborhood is really changing organically. I don't mean to be a downer, but I found the state of Walnut Hills to be really depressing. I don't know how long you've been in Cincinnati IAGuy39[/member], but Walnut Hills used to be much more built up than it is now. The buildings weren't all occupied or in great shape, but there was a great deal more standing in the past, and the neighborhood really showed the bones of a significant place, and one could see how Peebles Corner used to be the second downtown of the city. With all the piecemeal demolition it was harder to see just how much had been chipped away, but seeing it now, with even more demolished than before, it felt small and deserted- both in terms of built environment and population.
September 28, 20186 yr I’m confused...aside from that block that was demolished a decade ago, I don’t remember many more recent demolitions in walnut hills since then. Also, the recent demo of the buildings across the Kroger for scholar house where 1 story structures that I’m not sure were even historic tbh... That said, let’s not forget how otr was before 3cdc and the Mercer building project on vine. This will be a process for sure.
September 28, 20186 yr Yeah I photographed Walnut Hills -- every single building on every single street -- back in 2007 for a real estate startup that went bust. It's fall of 2018 and almost nothing has happened in Walnut Hills since the crash. How many new single-family homes? 5? How many rehabbed apartments and condos? 50? How many new construction condos and apartments? Zero aside from Towne on Woodburn north of Suzy Wong's. We basically have a few bars and restaurants, the conversion of McMillan to 2-way, and that's it. There is actually a lot of flipping going on in Evanston near Hyde Park, all without any new restaurants and without the guidance of a neighborhood organization.
September 28, 20186 yr Demolitions haven't been as bad as they were maybe 10 years ago (especially McMillan near Stanton), but they're still happening. Several buildings went away around MLK/Gilbert because of the new interchange, and what's left is going down the toilet fast. That historic building at McMillan and Woodburn was torn down to build a parking lot. You can see some recent demos in Google Maps on Burdette, Myrtle, and Preston. Phillips Chapel at Park and Taft is now a vacant lot. It does seem like more of the neighborhood is succumbing to entropy than is being built back up, but there's some activity around the periphery (Madison & Cleinview condos, Woodburn & Lincoln, Windsor School).
September 28, 20186 yr I appreciate your optimism, but I lived right around the corner from the Walnut Hills Kroger for quite a few years, and the needle never really moved at all during that time in spite of the constant hype about WH being 'the next hot neighborhood'. The pace of development is soooo slowwww, and it's not like the rest of the neighborhood just stays as is while these new developments happen. The Dairy Mart next to the McDonalds, for example, is now shuttered and looks like a complete sh*t hole. While it was never great, it used to at least be a sign of life. I think the area south of Firehouse Row has gotten considerably worse in recent years, and there is just a ton of vacant lots and missing teeth all throughout the neighborhood. The area by the Stowe house is also a wreck, and more and more old buildings continue to be torn down around Madsion/MLK, leaving that area feeling even worse than before. Maybe once the Paramount Square project gets completed, and the Firehouse Row development actually gets built, the rest of the neighborhood will start to change, too. I'm skeptical of this, as I didn't see much evidence of one-off home repair or any of the other usual signs that a neighborhood is really changing organically. I don't mean to be a downer, but I found the state of Walnut Hills to be really depressing. I don't know how long you've been in Cincinnati IAGuy39[/member], but Walnut Hills used to be much more built up than it is now. The buildings weren't all occupied or in great shape, but there was a great deal more standing in the past, and the neighborhood really showed the bones of a significant place, and one could see how Peebles Corner used to be the second downtown of the city. With all the piecemeal demolition it was harder to see just how much had been chipped away, but seeing it now, with even more demolished than before, it felt small and deserted- both in terms of built environment and population. Edale, sorry if I came off harsh I’m just protective of the neighborhood ;-). I think you are right that it does feel much more deserted after Kroger closed up, and I even thought to myself, dang this place really slowed down. I think a lot of what I saw though was open air drug dealing at all hours of the day and that has really died down in the last few years. That said, I’m an optimist and believe that there is going to be tough spots that linger in the neighborhood but in 2 years it’s going to have a lot more legal activity and things going on. The city should also put some cap dollars into re-doing the streetscape at Gilbert n McMillan, and hopefully they can get some more of that intersection spine refurbished along with McMillan so it starts to work into the neighborhood. I think the neighborhood south of McMillan and East of Gilbert is seeing some redevelopment along with E Walnut Hills but besides that I agree it’s pretty bombed out. I am optimistic for the next two years! FYI I’ve been on Ashland Ave since late 2013 for work.
September 28, 20186 yr Yeah I photographed Walnut Hills -- every single building on every single street -- back in 2007 for a real estate startup that went bust. It's fall of 2018 and almost nothing has happened in Walnut Hills since the crash. How many new single-family homes? 5? How many rehabbed apartments and condos? 50? How many new construction condos and apartments? Zero aside from Towne on Woodburn north of Suzy Wong's. Wrong. There are 18 new single family homes on Cleinveiw alone, not to mention the myriad of rehabbed single family homes being sold. There are at least 3 singe family homes being rehabbed on Burdett Ave alone. The Port Authority has built at least four new modular homes with more coming. Windsor school redevelopment added 42 new apartments. They built new construction apartments on the same site adding 48 more new apartments. The Edgecliff building alone has had at least 30 condominiums that have been rehabbed and sold in the last two years. Could more be happening between Gilbert and Reading? Absolutely. But Firehouse row will completely change that area soon. Anthem site, as mentioned, will add three phases of new apartments, retail, and townhomes. To say nothing has happened is a farce.
September 28, 20186 yr Not sure I would include the already affluent area where Edgecliff is as part of the area in reference. That part of the neighborhood hasn't really had many of the same issues as the business district on McMillan. Just my opinion there. But as far as the business district, it has definitely improved, just at a pace that is far slower than what I would like, and at this rate it will be another 10 years before it's a healthy and vibrant area, if not longer.
September 28, 20186 yr That's a fair enough point. My overarching argument - that something has happened in East Walnut Hills/Walnut Hills - still stands. Pace aside, there are new homes, renovated homes, new apartments, and renovated apartments.
September 28, 20186 yr The SE area of the intersection Gilbert and McMillan actually seems like it is on the uptick though slowly, there have been rehabs going on there. I don't see a lot of hope for the other 3 quadrants in the near future but if they can get McMillan up and coming it should help out and my theory is in 10 years McMillan may be connected from Walnut Hills and to UC if the growth keeps happening at UC, so that will help it too. This doesn't include E. Walnut Hills which I think the areas between it and O'Bryonville that are spotty are starting to fill in and including the Anthem Site should be a totally different vibe there in the next 2-3 years. Some of that could bleed into Walnut Hills proper but I always see some issues with redevelopment in Walnut Hills
September 28, 20186 yr I think there will definitely be signs of momentum in a few years. Paramount will be done and the new brewery will be open. So will Firehouse Row and Scholar House. There are some other nascent projects in the planning stages right now that would really cement the momentum of McMillan and the rest of the neighborhood, including redeveloping the old Anthem site. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
September 28, 20186 yr The Cleinview project is solidly East Walnut Hills and edging over toward O'Bryonville. I forgot about the Windsor School project, but it's not a very large project. Basically nothing has happened in the center of what is actually Walnut Hills -- between I-71, Woodburn, and then from about McGreggor up to MLK. Stanton? May? Park? Concord? Yale? Oak? Chapel? Ashland? Melrose? Lincoln? Beecher? Absolutely nothing. Yes, I know all of those street names by heart.
September 28, 20186 yr According to the data from the City of Cincinnati's Open Data portal the estimated construction cost from building permits for Walnut Hills for the years 2016 to 2018 are: 2016 - $37M 2017 - $22M 2018 - $26M Seems like a whole heck of a lot more than "nothing."
September 29, 20186 yr "Walnut Hills" is a large area, and most of that money is being spent in the areas that were already nice, and typically on the edge of what can be considered "Walnut Hills". We're far from the point where something has happened on each block. There are still vast swaths of zero activity stretching across many blocks, right in the center of this supposed booming neighborhood. Large-scale redevelopment looks like this:
September 29, 20186 yr I think the core of Walnut Hills has a lot of competition from other city neighborhoods that currently offer stronger versions of similar things (for example, a more expansive business district, condition of housing stock, an established square or park.) An advantage Walnut Hills would have due to its location is connectivity with transit to Downtown and Uptown, if we had any sort of decent transit system. There is still work to do on streetscapes there. For example heading east parts of McMillan are still one way as well as the Woodburn bend. Gilbert could use some street trees and perhaps a road diet. Because there are so many main corridors going through the neighborhood, rebuilding a decent streetwall along each may end up making the neighborhood quite dense. The redevelopment of the Kroger looms large. McMillan and Kemper could be a really strong corner. www.cincinnatiideas.com
October 22, 20186 yr On 4/24/2011 at 10:20 PM, UncleRando said: On Friday a single piece of heavy equipment appeared on the Firehouse Row lot, a month after it was fenced off. On Saturday, wind gusts blew over about half of the fencing and some of the yuppie banners had blown away.
November 1, 20186 yr It appears that real life actually construction began on Firehouse Row last week, around Oct 25, so 7+ years after the buildings pictured above were demolished and we were told construction was imminent. Also, lights are now on inside the Paramount Theater building. The space for the microbrewery is surprisingly small.
November 8, 20186 yr On 10/22/2018 at 12:52 PM, jmecklenborg said: On Friday a single piece of heavy equipment appeared on the Firehouse Row lot, a month after it was fenced off. On Saturday, wind gusts blew over about half of the fencing and some of the yuppie banners had blown away. Demoing these buildings was nothing short of a tragedy, and I've seen the renderings for the firehouse row they are ugly low quality infill buildings. Cincinnati should have done better and the WHRF should be ashamed of itself.
November 8, 20186 yr Just now, neilworms said: Demoing these buildings was nothing short of a tragedy, and I've seen the renderings for the firehouse row they are ugly low quality infill buildings. Cincinnati should have done better and the WHRF should be ashamed of itself. Those buildings were demolished in 2008/2009 in anticipation for residual development from the casino (which never came). It was really the predecessor to Kevin Wright (who left earlier this year) that demolished the buildings. The guy was very old school and Kevin and the group of people that came after him were not. They would have saved them if they could but the buildings were already gone. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
November 8, 20186 yr Just now, JYP said: Those buildings were demolished in 2008/2009 in anticipation for residual development from the casino (which never came). It was really the predecessor to Kevin Wright (who left earlier this year) that demolished the buildings. The guy was very old school and Kevin and the group of people that came after him were not. They would have saved them if they could but the buildings were already gone. Just now, JYP said: Those buildings were demolished in 2008/2009 in anticipation for residual development from the casino (which never came). It was really the predecessor to Kevin Wright (who left earlier this year) that demolished the buildings. The guy was very old school and Kevin and the group of people that came after him were not. They would have saved them if they could but the buildings were already gone. Yeah I remember that, even wrote them a letter about it because I was seriously upset, if I had to pick a #2 after Over-The-Rhine to see restored it was that stretch of Walnut Hills. They made the excuse that the money was impossible to find. I didn't entirely buy that IMO because when there is a will there is a way and IMO I think Cincinnatians in general (not the people on this forum for the most part) at that point had no cultural frame to see what kinds of restoration projects were possible. Edited November 8, 20186 yr by neilworms
November 8, 20186 yr Just now, neilworms said: Demoing these buildings was nothing short of a tragedy, and I've seen the renderings for the firehouse row they are ugly low quality infill buildings. Cincinnati should have done better and the WHRF should be ashamed of itself. John Back resigned from the WHRF when the decision was made to demolish. In other news, on Sunday I saw a track hoe parked in front of the Dairy Mart. It could be gone by now.
November 8, 20186 yr Urban Sites is going to renovate 2806-08 Woodburn and build a 4-story rear addition. Will be commercial first floor with 19 apartments above (currently has 10 apartments): https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/11/08/exclusive-developer-renovating-expanding-east.html
November 8, 20186 yr Construction lights are now on inside this building, four years after we were told it was going to become a bar "soon": https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1260006,-84.4908272,3a,48.4y,195.01h,89.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sigPxPxdnYgW1N65Ain1N3g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Edited November 8, 20186 yr by jmecklenborg
November 8, 20186 yr Just now, ryanlammi said: I don't remember anyone ever saying that would be a bar. Let alone "soon'. I heard it from the WHRF at one of those 5-Points gatherings.
November 8, 20186 yr Just now, ryanlammi said: I don't remember anyone ever saying that would be a bar. Let alone "soon'. Yeah, WHRF was saying that the 'comfort station' (as they called it) was going to become a bar back in 2013.
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