Great to see this building finally used again!

 

National medical group opens Cincinnati surgery center

Feb 6, 2015, 11:16am EST

Barrett J. Brunsman Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

The Laser Spine Institute, a national medical group based in Tampa, Fla., opened its first surgical center in Greater Cincinnati on Thursday. The Walnut Hills facility specializes in the treatment of people with chronic neck or back pain.

 

Dr. Thomas Francavilla, a neurosurgeon, leads a staff of 37 at the facility, which includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Many worked at established spine practices in the area.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/02/06/national-medical-group-opens-cincinnati-surgery.html

^Agreed. It's a beautiful building that seems ideally suited for this kind of medical facility. Glad to see it occupied again.

Really glad to see another large residential proposal for East Walnut Hills! The neighborhood is starting to feel like it's turning a corner, and I think it's really important to keep adding residential close to the business district to make sure that momentum continues.  Hopefully we'll see more neighborhood serving retail and restaurants as the residential market becomes even stronger around the DeSales Corner.

Really glad to see another large residential proposal for East Walnut Hills! The neighborhood is really starting to feel like it's turning a corner, and I think it's really important to keep adding residential close to the business district to make sure that momentum continues.  Hopefully we'll see more neighborhood serving retail and restaurants as the residential market becomes even stronger around the DeSales corner.

 

Its already amazing what's happened so far - DeSales was one of Cincinnati's best underutilized neighborhoods, hopefully there will be more mixed use to fill in some of those gigantic parking craters near the neighborhood too.

Looks like the rumored redevelopment of the Alms Hotel into condos is pushing this kind of press:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/03/16/winburn-alms-owners-ought-to-be-ashamed/24853369

 

I have been in this building many times.  It's a total disaster. 

Cincinnati’s latest office-to-apartments conversion gets OK

Mar 17, 2015, 7:06am EDT

Staff Cincinnati Business Courier

 

A well-known Cincinnati office complex could begin its $27 million transformation into 176 apartments as early as this summer after a City Council committee granted its approval on Monday, the Enquirer reports.

 

The budget and finance committee gave its OK for Neyer Properties to redevelop the former Baldwin Piano property in Walnut Hills at 625 and 655 Eden Park Drive. The full council could approve the plan as early as Wednesday.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2015/03/cincinnati-s-latest-office-to-apartments.html

Cincinnati’s latest office-to-apartments conversion gets OK

Mar 17, 2015, 7:06am EDT

Staff Cincinnati Business Courier

 

A well-known Cincinnati office complex could begin its $27 million transformation into 176 apartments as early as this summer after a City Council committee granted its approval on Monday, the Enquirer reports.

 

The budget and finance committee gave its OK for Neyer Properties to redevelop the former Baldwin Piano property in Walnut Hills at 625 and 655 Eden Park Drive. The full council could approve the plan as early as Wednesday.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2015/03/cincinnati-s-latest-office-to-apartments.html

 

The most intriguing part about this project is the potential land swap with the Hamilton County Park Board for the strip of land south of the building that runs between Gilbert and I-71. Neyer is proposing potentially constructing multiple buildings and green space on that stretch.

^That is very, very interesting.  I've always wondered why there were no buildings on the West side of Gilbert between 71 Elsinore and the Baldwin Building, and I never knew that the park district owned and operated the land.  The activation of this site would help complete Gilbert to the bottom of the hill, and could be a way to provide more basic amenities for Walnut Hills, OTR, Downtown, and Mt. Adams residents. 

The whole area south of the Baldwin Building between Gilbert, Reading, and Elsinore was a park called Deer Creek Commons, which had four baseball fields along Reading Road.  Near Gilbert was also the right-of-way of the CL&N Railroad, but it was always an open park otherwise.  Back in the day Eden Park stretched all the way to Reading, at least on paper, but the rough terrain, heavy industry, and railroads down there made it less than desirable for a park, so much of it was sold off.  It wasn't until after many of the tanneries and steel mills started to move that the park idea came back in the early part of the 20th century, but then I-71 reamed it out. 

Ok that makes sense now. I was wondering why have a 1200 space parking garage if you're only making 100-something apartments. Hope it does turn into a much bigger project.

Here's a map of what it used to be like a century ago. 

 

And before that it was a very deep and completely useless ravine.  The dirt that created Deer Creek Commons was brought down the hill by the CL&N, which incredibly was originally built on a trestle in this area.  It took them over a decade to bring down enough dirt to bring the grade up to the level of their tracks on that trestle. 

Corporex still showing the Baldwin Building on their website, even though it was foreclosed on last year:

http://www.corporex.com/index.aspx?page=story_home

Corporex is the worst.

 

In other news, the Baldwin renovation deal will give WHRF a revenue stream, where Neyer will pay 7.5% of the value of their giant abatement to WHRF for the life of the abatement (12 years).  Very cool way to have new development reinvest in the community.

Baldwin Piano Co., 655 Eden Park Drive, Walnut Hills was awarded historic tax credits.

 

Trevarren Flats II was not awarded tax credits.

 

Central Trust Co.-East Hills Branch in EWH was not awarded tax credits

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/06/30/cincinnati-tax-credit-awards/29507137/

What is up with the partial road closure of Eden Park Drive at the Springhill Suites and Baldwin Building?  We are now in Week 3 of this nonsense. 

Paramount Redevelopment Group LLC recently closed on 719-737 E. McMillan in Walnut Hills near Fireside Pizza. The parcels include two vacant buildings and a bunch of vacant land in between.

 

The LLC was incorporated on 9/14/15 by Edward Horgan, Marc Gilioli, and Samir Kulkarni.

 

Edward Horgan is responsible for renovating the Verona on Park Ave: http://citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-18975-not_so_thoroughly_modern.html

 

Samir Kulkarni started and runs a construction company: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2013/07/26/tortoise-reminds-fast-paced-samir.html

Brother of Shree Kulkarni?

What is up with the partial road closure of Eden Park Drive at the Springhill Suites and Baldwin Building?  We are now in Week 3 of this nonsense. 

 

Probably utility work to prep for the renovation of the Baldwin Building in to apartments?

What is up with the partial road closure of Eden Park Drive at the Springhill Suites and Baldwin Building?  We are now in Week 3 of this nonsense. 

 

Probably utility work to prep for the renovation of the Baldwin Building in to apartments?

 

No. There was a water main break: http://www.wlwt.com/news/water-main-break-closes-part-of-eden-park-drive/34570456

Trevarren Flats lands 1st retail tenant

 

Trevarren Flats, the multi-phase $9 million redevelopment project that is transforming the Walnut Hills business district, has its first retail tenant.

 

Just Q’in BBQ of Cincinnati, a barbecue restaurant that started in Cincinnati as a popular food truck, will open its second location at 975 E. McMillan. Matt Cuffs, owner of Just Q’in, said when he started looking for a second location, he wanted a spot that was centrally located, in an up-and-coming neighborhood and in an area where the restaurant could have the biggest impact by working on personal development for its employees.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/10/23/exclusive-trevarren-flats-lands-1st-retail-tenant.html

The Paramount Building won roughly $2 million from the latest round of Ohio's historic tax credits: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/12/16/cincinnati-developers-win-big-state-tax-credits/77388784/

 

Paramount Square, Walnut Hills

Project cost - $20,093,697

Tax credit - $1,999,000

Address - 900-921 and 957 E. McMillan Ave., 2436-2454 Gilbert Ave., and 2363 St. James St.

Developer - Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and Model Group

Details - Six historic buildings and two non-historic buildings centered around the former Paramount Theater are expected to feature 15 commercial spaces and 44 market-rate residential units.

HUGE news. This is fantastic for Walnut Hills. Seeing the Paramount Building part of a larger development effort is perfect.

^ Yeah huge news, to put it lightly... That looks like a massive development in the heart of Walnut Hills.  Will this be both the Paramount Building, that building on the SE Corner of Gilbert and McMillan, and then the string of buildings to the east of it on the southside of McMillan?

 

I haven't seen any renderings yet on this.

I believe (though I could be wrong) that these are the buildings in the project:

That's big big news for Walnut Hills.  I can't wait to see a rendering.  I think Model and WHRF is still going for Trevarren Flats 2 which should tie together this project and Trevarren Flats 1

Yeah, this is great news for Walnut Hills. This is still very much phase 1 of redevelopment for WH, though. The Trevarran project, along with this one, will do a lot to bring life and stability to the heart of Walnut Hills. The SE quadrant of the neighborhood is pretty stable and is consistently, if slowly, improving all the time. The Windsor School redevelopment will be a nice shot in the arm for this part of the neighborhood, too. But the rest of Walnut Hills is largely still a disaster. Especially the neighborhoods north of McMillan. Lots of abandonment, vacant lots, serious crime issues. Even South of McMillan, west of Gilbert is also still pretty bad and similarly abandoned. 15 new commercial spaces is a lot. I hope they can be filled.

Yeah I was thinking that is a lot of commercial spaces.  Maybe they are projecting that Trevarren Flats phase 2 and the Windsor School start moving fairly quick.  With the 2 Trevarren projects, the Paramount Square project, and windsor Hills, that is adding around 200 market rate apartments to the area, I believe.  Still a long way to go as you have detailed, and I agree that the Northern Part of Walnut Hills is in really rough shape still.  WHRF should work like a smaller 3CDC once they get these next two big projects finished, and eventually here is to hoping more of the private sector starts to involve themselves to round out the big developments.

These projects may seem "big", but so were the old Walnut Hills condos and the DeSales Corner apartments from 5-10 years ago.

 

There is basically nothing whatsoever going on in Walnut Hills from small developers or even individual rehabbers.  Good, undervalued homes aren't coming on the market with any regularity because there aren't very many of them.  This area simply does not have the consistently ideal sort of housing for rehabbing like Northside.   

Not arguing against what you are saying, but these projects are bringing to life a huge area of the Walnut Hills commercial district that is a mess right now.  Time will tell if this sets off more private development, but it should help tremendously. 

 

I would say though that I see evidence of individual rehabs on buildings and smaller developers especially in the East Walnut Hills area off William Howard Taft Road.  Someone is actively working on the large building on the NE corner of WH Taft and Hackberry, rehabs on East Walnut Hills strip and some individual houses in the area. 

 

Albeit, there isn't a ton of activity, but it is definitely there.  I agree that the homes aren't as conducive to rehab in regards to what you see in Northside, but there seems a small but steady stream of them.

I lived in WH for 4 years in a condo. Wanted house in WH but there are never any solid single family homes on the market. All the houses are chopped up into apartments. It was disappointing because I liked living there. I moved to PR.

Honestly I don't think the strength of Walnut Hills will be in its smaller buildings, but rather new construction on the tremendous amount of open land along the commercial strips. Walnut Hills has taller buildings than OTR and could very well support 6-10 story infill in most areas without sacrificing the nature of the urban fabric. This density will likely eventually spread to sidestreets where new construction on a smaller scale will fill in the gaps between the existing homes.

The 24/7 check cashing place at the Southwest corner of Gilbert/McMillan has moved out. Great news for that intersection and the upcoming rehabilitation of the Paramount building.

Photos from January 30, 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting Jake.

 

I work in Walnut Hills, actually just on the other side of Walnut Hills in E. Walnut Hills, so I see it everyday.  The business district has really great potential but I think it's still a ways off.  This new project Paramount Square along with Trevarren Flats is going to really do a lot of good for the area. 

 

I think more than anything though, it's kind of sad how bombed out the west side of Gilbert is going along McMillan.  Is this where a lot of buildings were torn down somewhat recently?  I had read at some point that they were at a point of no return, but still sad none the less.

The Curtis St. Garage could be something very cool!

It was listed in 2015, or it might still be listed.  i remember it saying that it actually has an apartment in it.  But it will take a lot of money to turn it into something, and it has no street visibility. 

I think more than anything though, it's kind of sad how bombed out the west side of Gilbert is going along McMillan.  Is this where a lot of buildings were torn down somewhat recently?  I had read at some point that they were at a point of no return, but still sad none the less.

 

They were torn down recently, however I don't think all of them (esp. not the original greaters building which was further down the street) were unsalvagable.

 

I think that the WHRF has given up on making the area a really urban place that it was and should be.  There is the bones of a neighborhood like Chicago's wicker park here and they threw much of that away.

 

I feel this way in part because of what they've proposed to replace the torn down buildings, too many pocket parks and a handful of really badly designed infill buildings (a few have been built, which sadly IMO are not hidden by the main drag but highlighted because they decided to put a pocket park in front of them :P.)

 

I don't think all work they are doing is bad, but I do think their priorities are screwed up for a strategically important neighborhood and underutilized asset in Cincinnati.  I'm happy to see 2 way streets, promotion of form based code and the 6 story building revitalized but they are taking a looser approach that doesn't realize that this neighborhood is potentially a very hot commodity.

What new buildings have been built?

 

I think more than anything though, it's kind of sad how bombed out the west side of Gilbert is going along McMillan.  Is this where a lot of buildings were torn down somewhat recently?  I had read at some point that they were at a point of no return, but still sad none the less.

 

Yeah the big empty space was occupied by a smattering of vacant brick row buildings until about 2012.  One of them had a Paramount Vodka ad painted on it very similar to the one a block away, so there while driving around May St. two Paramount Vodka ads came into view on the same side of the street.  They were all in horrible condition. 

 

Redevelopment of the Paramount Theater and the Kroger will be a big improvement, but I still don't see this neighborhood taking off on its own without a subway tunnel.  There are just too many areas around town with great intact housing for under $100k.  Mt. Auburn is closer to downtown and Covington & Newport are closer to downtown and there are tons of great houses and commercial buildings there (and empty lots). 

 

Now, if a subway were built between DT Cincinnati and Norwood with stations beneath Gilbert at McMillan, Woodburn at Madison, and the Woodburn/Montgomery X, then we'd see big things happening in Walnut Hills and Evanston and Norwood.  I don't think a streetcar line to DT and/or to UC is enough.  Walnut Hills has a good location and some good streetscapes, but as I said there are a half dozen other underperforming neighborhoods we can say that about. 

 

What new buildings have been built?

 

These:  http://tinyurl.com/govwv78

 

This streetview is from 2014, in the time since they've put a pocket park in front of the vinyl side.  It would have been fine if these were hidden by a nicer building on the main drag...

Those look worse than City West!

What new buildings have been built?

 

These:  http://tinyurl.com/govwv78

 

This streetview is from 2014, in the time since they've put a pocket park in front of the vinyl side.  It would have been fine if these were hidden by a nicer building on the main drag...

 

Those are not all that new...and the pocket park looks like a temporary condition to me. We may need to have a little more patience in Cincinnati (compared to the Chicago market) for the comprehensive redevelopment most would like to see in Walnut Hills. It most likely starts with more rehab, followed by new construction in the years to come. Those vinyl units could be hidden by new development in 2-3 years, after the cluster of historic buildings around are rehabbed.

The ones on Chatham St. (pictured) went up in 2014.  The similar ones on Taft went up around 2007, I think.  The unnamed and very weird area south of McMillan between Gilbert and I-71 has a hodge-podge of cheap infill from the 70s-90s.  If you drive around this area at night in the summer you will see a lot of houses with their front doors open -- that's to let the light from street lights in and some fresh air since a lot of people don't pay their electric bill. 

 

I see what you mean, they took A LOT of buildings down in this area.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1261202,-84.4932605,3a,75y,103.2h,93.77t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWhaAChtlVQrdmxVu809DQQ!2e0!5s20090801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1260984,-84.4928816,3a,75y,30.36h,89.86t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8MK1uzVhmZNqRupoiAnWOg!2e0!5s20140801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1260598,-84.4922536,3a,75y,259.09h,88.97t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFNYfsNpuSdnXz8S5_uv9jA!2e0!5s20140801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

 

I wish somehow they could have been saved.  Those were some handsome buildings that would have been very nice if they were able to be saved.  I guess it wasn't meant to be.  You would hope that at least when they do infill these large vacant areas, that they "land" in a way similar to what they did before.

 

Those are not all that new...and the pocket park looks like a temporary condition to me. We may need to have a little more patience in Cincinnati (compared to the Chicago market) for the comprehensive redevelopment most would like to see in Walnut Hills. It most likely starts with more rehab, followed by new construction in the years to come. Those vinyl units could be hidden by new development in 2-3 years, after the cluster of historic buildings around are rehabbed.

 

I've never heard these parks are going to be temporary, in fact I'm pretty sure they are a permanent thing unless you have information to the contrary?

 

Also I mean Cincinnati likes its parks more than it likes its urbanity.  Look at that stupid plaza in Clifton which took out some admittedly unexciting commercial structures and replaced them with a plaza that IMO is always dead even in good weather in the summer (and there is a park right down the street complete with a plaza surrounding a statue where I actually see people hanging out).

First I've heard on the KOI warehouse repurpose:

 

http://m.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/24/exclusive-cincinnatis-urban-resurgence-brings-new.html

 

Cincinnati nonprofit plans new $19M facility

 

Cincinnati’s Lighthouse Youth Services is planning to begin construction as early as June on a new $19 million facility, WCPO reports.

Lighthouse is planning to convert a four-story industrial building at 2314 Iowa St. in Walnut Hills into a new homeless shelter with 39 one-bedroom and efficiency apartments.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/03/04/cincinnati-nonprofit-plans-new-19m-facility.html

 

This looks like a great re-purposing of an old warehouse.

 

EXCLUSIVE: $100M redevelopment planned for Baldwin Complex

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/03/29/exclusive-100m-redevelopment-planned-for-baldwin.html#g3