To be fair it’s sort of hard to create sizes or density with those old roe houses.

 

I feel that certain parts of the city, especially otr, should be preserved. But there should also be a balance of looking at the past but also the future. We can keep every historic building, but we can also tear it down and create a student housing building that can hold 150 residents and students.

 

It’s a tough balance. The worst is demolishing for the sake of a parking lot. I think that is the definition of pure evil.

Also here is what was demoed pictures are worth a thousand words to those who get caught up in the rhetoric about it only being fast food places:

 

http://cincinnatimonocle.blogspot.com/2012/01/photos-of-calhoun-st-and-mcmillan-st-in.html

 

Looks better now.

To be fair it’s sort of hard to create sizes or density with those old roe houses.

 

I feel that certain parts of the city, especially otr, should be preserved. But there should also be a balance of looking at the past but also the future. We can keep every historic building, but we can also tear it down and create a student housing building that can hold 150 residents and students.

 

It’s a tough balance. The worst is demolishing for the sake of a parking lot. I think that is the definition of pure evil.

 

I get your point, but I would disagree that it is hard to create density with old row houses. South Philly is one of the densest neighborhoods in the entire country and it is all row houses:

 

You can get impressive density in a neighborhood of 3-4 story rowhouses.

But you NEED NBDs and other commercial for it to be good density.

Lots of commercial in South Philly. There are corner stores, restaurants, and cafes on just about every corner--in row house type buildings. And the neighborhood's "main street" called Passyunk Avenue is vibrant and bustling. Plus there's the famous Italian Market. All this without high rises.

 

I love high rises and I usually can't get enough of them. I live in one haha. But South Philly is an amazing, historic, high density, low rise neighborhood. It shows you can do high density right without the mass and scale of contemporary development.

 

 

Again, the commerical stuff could have been built on a smaller footprint to accomodate the old development.

 

Its not a hard concept here's an example in Chicago where a historic diner was saved:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8673165,-87.6392218,3a,45y,56.37h,94.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1si1s6fRBryLl003m8tIF-1w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

The original plan called for it being torn down, the community faught back, the developers who devleoped the bank of america next door and the shopping center that surrounds it built around the thing.

 

I agree with what you're saying neilworms[/member], and I similarly think that the new development on Calhoun and McMillan could have accommodated at least some of the more impressive historic buildings that were on the site. The example you provided of the diner in Chicago is a bit of a weird one, though, as the building that was saved is a simple one story structure, with no obvious historic value. Unless there is some sort of cultural or historical importance to this diner, it seems like this might be more of a NIMBY victory than a preservation one.  Also, based on this thread on SSP, it looks like Chicago has a pretty massive problem of their own when it comes to preservation: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=233475

You can get impressive density in a neighborhood of 3-4 story rowhouses.

 

It's more about how close things are built to rear lot lines.  Much of LA is much denser than Cincinnati because many square miles are filled with small apartment buildings that were built to the rear lot line.  So not a Dallas Donut/Cincinnati's Banks. 

 

Clifton Heights:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hughes+STEM+High+School/@39.1258895,-84.5193541,414m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8841b3f558203d6f:0xf1b19cd49d454b3b!8m2!3d39.128662!4d-84.521686

 

Hollywood, CA:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hollywood,+Los+Angeles,+CA/@34.093884,-118.3341171,316m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2bf07045279bf:0xf67a9a6797bdfae4!8m2!3d34.0928092!4d-118.3286614

 

 

Yeah, LA has a lot of what I'd call 'hidden density'. From the street, many of the neighborhoods look somewhat suburban or not all that dense due to the front setbacks that are so prevalent in the city. But you have a lot of apartment buildings that are oriented perpendicular to the street, and buildings (like you said) go to the rear lot line or very close to it.

 

This is close to where I live. Check the difference between the view from the street vs the aeiral:

 

Street: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.109982,-118.2863212,3a,75y,36.04h,91.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAhYqLoml7cIRwhVd8OYfzA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Aerial: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hollywood,+Los+Angeles,+CA/@34.1102277,-118.2862596,196m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2bf07045279bf:0xf67a9a6797bdfae4!8m2!3d34.0928092!4d-118.3286614

I agree with what you're saying neilworms[/member], and I similarly think that the new development on Calhoun and McMillan could have accommodated at least some of the more impressive historic buildings that were on the site. The example you provided of the diner in Chicago is a bit of a weird one, though, as the building that was saved is a simple one story structure, with no obvious historic value. Unless there is some sort of cultural or historical importance to this diner, it seems like this might be more of a NIMBY victory than a preservation one.  Also, based on this thread on SSP, it looks like Chicago has a pretty massive problem of their own when it comes to preservation: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=233475

 

The diner is kind of a cultural landmark, its a perfectly preserved 1930s diner aimed at a working class audience and is considered a local landmark for its longevity and representing a pretty much bygone era.  I wasn't giving a one to one comparison with Cincinnati it just was the best example I could think of where a mega development worked around an older established building - I wanted to illustrate that yes it can be done don't let the developers tell you otherwise.  I don't really think of this as a NIMBY victory either as the whole area was pretty desolate before those developments came in - it was a warehouse / industrial area probably urbanrenewed back in the mid century.

 

Chicago is pretty bad at preservation, I'm not as up in arms about it as I am with Cincy as Chicago does a lot to make itself stand out and Cincinnati has a very hard time branding itself in spite of itself.  (that and Chicago's neighborhood building stock outside of the loop isn't generally as impressive as Cincinnati's - I'd also make the same arguement for San Francisco or Boston just having better neighborhood vernacular)

This is currently occurring here as well where the new Kroger building on Central is being built around the historic 1 story bank building on the corner.

This is close to where I live. Check the difference between the view from the street vs the aeiral:

 

Street: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.109982,-118.2863212,3a,75y,36.04h,91.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAhYqLoml7cIRwhVd8OYfzA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Aerial: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hollywood,+Los+Angeles,+CA/@34.1102277,-118.2862596,196m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2bf07045279bf:0xf67a9a6797bdfae4!8m2!3d34.0928092!4d-118.3286614

 

That's a great example, and illustrates why people are so startled when they see LA's residential density figures.  It also illustrates why the original red line subway under Vermont up to Hollywood was not the irrational project it appeared to be.  Wilshire has always been the more obvious candidate for a subway...that's why Henry Waxman focused on stopping it.   

 

The thing about LA is that the basin is flat and so aside from the LA river there isn't any natural feature that blocks movement in all directions.  That's not the case in CUF, obviously, and is a reason why I still believe there is merit in extending the streetcar north from Henry St. via a tunnel in line with Clifton Ave. to a portal near Deaconess Hospital.  The thing that I think has even greater potential is a streetcar line on a reservation in Linn St. that connects to UC via a tunnel.  So with a downtown connection, Linn St. could be made to be a high-value location with fantastic accessibility to downtown and UC/Hospitals without building a ton of track. 

 

A tunnel entering the hill around Stonewall St. could quickly take streetcars from the existing line and a future Linn St. line to Clifton Ave.:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rhinegeist+Brewery/@39.1229746,-84.524039,1221m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8841b3f9acd61b67:0x402ea6be65897064!8m2!3d39.1172664!4d-84.5201012

 

...then the line would turn east at MLK and travel to the VA, UC, Children's, etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This would be similar to the "T" in Pittsburgh that emerges from a tunnel in the Dormont neighborhood.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dormont,+PA/@40.3909476,-80.0419569,443m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8834f71139cfbc43:0xf32f973034994c8!8m2!3d40.3959026!4d-80.0331092

Actully here's a more accurate example.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Hills+Junction+T+Station+Access,+Pittsburgh,+PA+15211/@40.4209611,-80.00916,632m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x8834f71139cfbc43:0xf32f973034994c8!2sDormont,+PA!3b1!8m2!3d40.3959026!4d-80.0331092!3m4!1s0x8834f134ecb4a643:0x758f3e4055916692!8m2!3d40.4209611!4d-80.0069713

The thing about LA is that the basin is flat and so aside from the LA river there isn't any natural feature that blocks movement in all directions.  That's not the case in CUF, obviously, and is a reason why I still believe there is merit in extending the streetcar north from Henry St. via a tunnel in line with Clifton Ave. to a portal near Deaconess Hospital.  The thing that I think has even greater potential is a streetcar line on a reservation in Linn St. that connects to UC via a tunnel.  So with a downtown connection, Linn St. could be made to be a high-value location with fantastic accessibility to downtown and UC/Hospitals without building a ton of track. 

 

A tunnel entering the hill around Stonewall St. could quickly take streetcars from the existing line and a future Linn St. line to Clifton Ave.:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rhinegeist+Brewery/@39.1229746,-84.524039,1221m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8841b3f9acd61b67:0x402ea6be65897064!8m2!3d39.1172664!4d-84.5201012

 

...then the line would turn east at MLK and travel to the VA, UC, Children's, etc.

 

I like this idea. What about extending your Clifton tunnel slight farther south to the subway tunnel? What about extending the line farther north along Clifton into a tunnel that connects to the rail interchange at Mitchell? You'd have an almost completely grade separated trip from the commuter lines to downtown, with a stop at UC and a potential connection to your MLK line.

 

You'd also avoid this issue:

I am not an expert on this issue but from everything I've heard it's impossible to add service south of Norwood without building a fourth track between Mitchell Ave. and CUT, which would cost in excess of $100 million. 

And solves this:

I do think that an intercity plan could be combined with commuter rail to justify an outlay for double-tracking.  But CUT would be a weak Cincinnati terminus.  The transit center would be better, and a tunnel through uptown would be much, much better.

According to the latest Planning Commission Packet the duo of Uptown Rental Properties and North American Properties want to develop a 3 building, 202-unit residential property with 231 parking spaces in a structured parking garage (beneath the buildings) in the area bounded by Eden, Donahue, Bellevue, and University Avenues.

I wonder if they're going to tear down their small circa-1998 buildings along Bellevue. 

According to the planning packet, they will demolish those buildings. I couldn't visualize them, so I took a look on streetview and they are some fairly ugly, vinyl siding clad structures. No real loss, especially since the site will see an increase of ~180 units once they're removed.

It looks like the only building on that block worth saving would've been this old church ... if it wouldn't have already been demolished something between 2014 and 2016. The USquare-ification of Corryville continues!

I walked from Mecklenburg Gardens to the FC game last Saturday. That area is really changing over quickly.

 

I still think eventually Walnut Hills and the university area will be connected, in 10 years or so.  Maybe not fully connected but I can see a lot of overlap happening. Perhaps the McMillan corridor could support some start up businesses and become a business area in the Walnut Hills proper area.

Hopefully both McMillan and Taft/Calhoun get fully converted to two-way some day and turn into nice urban streets connecting our Uptown neighborhoods and Walnut Hills, rather than the car sewers they are today.

It looks like the only building on that block worth saving would've been this old church ... if it wouldn't have already been demolished something between 2014 and 2016. The USquare-ification of Corryville continues!

 

The church is already gone :(.  Corryville is such a tragedy.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1333443,-84.5058011,3a,75y,132.74h,73.56t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssA86PaHgQY2jwcLf4rPlBA!2e0!5s20161001T000000!7i13312!8i6656

Due the topography, the parking garage won't be visible from the street level along University and Bellevue. There's a ~35' elevation change in this one block. So, unfortunately, the street view from Donahue will be mostly dominated by the parking structure. 

$30 million apartment development planned near UC, hospitals

 

Uptown Rental Properties LLC and North American Properties are planning to partner again to develop a 202-unit apartment building near the University of Cincinnati.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/08/17/exclusive-30-million-apartment-development-planned.html

Due the topography,

 

 

Fun fact -- there was a circa 1900~ proposal to bring the College Hill railroad (the one that paralleled Crawford and dead-ended at Spring Grove) into Downtown via Clifton.  There was going to be a bridge across the Mill Creek, then a tunnel under the Gaslight District from the canal south to approximately Richie's Fried Chicken.  The line was then going to travel on the surface to -- you guessed it -- the approximate site of this proposed apartment complex and take advantage of the strange gully as a portal location.  A second tunnel was going to go from Corryville south to downtown and surface onto an EL. 

Uptown Rentals to bring new life to long-vacant Short Vine buildings

 

 

Uptown Rental Properties LLC has acquired five long-vacant buildings on Short Vine Street with plans to bring new commercial and residential tenants to the neighborhood.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/08/22/exclusive-uptown-rentals-to-bring-new-life-to-long.html

^Oh man, all the classics: Sudsy's, To Jupiter and Beyond and the rasta store!

When I was in high school we had a teacher for one year who was about 25 who had just graduated from Yale and who lived in the apartments above the Jupiter Game Room. One time he thumbed a ride with my carpool and we dropped him off there, a serious detour from our usual route. 

As much as I dislike how Uptown Rents has near-monopoly status on Corryville, I'm glad to see them realize that the community needs vibrant retail/commercial spaces on Short Vine.

Imagine how much vibrancy there would have been here with all these new residents in the years before Universal Couchlock set in.

Update on The Deacon student housing project.

 

 

 

 

 

by Chad McCann, on Flickr

 

It appears that the rush-hour restrictions on parking have been removed on McMillan, so now cars can park along the curb at all hours (except for street cleaning). This is good news. I don't know if this is just a temporary pilot or what... but I hope they re-paint the lanes to make it clear to drivers that the curbside lane is NOT for traffic. Adding bumpouts at crosswalks would be nice too.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/can-uptown-development-boom-unlock-potential-of-key-clifton-heights-site-

 

Maybe something is finally happening on this site at McMillan and Vine? I know there was a rendering floating around here about a year ago of a hotel. It sounds like this may be different.

 

Quote

Bourgeois wouldn't name the developers or provide much detail about their plans, but he did say it would be "a project of scale" that will offer "tremendous views" of the city and cover the entire block between Vine Street, Calhoun, Scioto and McMillan. He said the project might include a hotel but definitely will not include student housing.

 

Would it be possible to straighten out the bend in Vine between McMillan and Correy?

I wonder if it will be the same development that was put out for that spot a year or two ago.

Considering the Fairfield right down the street, plus the new hotel happening at Euclid & Taft, it seems unlikely it will be a hotel. 

Also, looks like "The District" development posted a newer set of plans on their page here: https://courbanize.com/projects/trinitas-cuf/updates.

 

PDF: http://res.cloudinary.com/courbanize-production/image/upload/v1/information_plans/gwe4m77dcl7ze043kw7u

 

They dropped all the office space (including one whole tower) and reduced retail space from 106,500 sf to 75,000 sf. Residential staying at 850 units. It also looks like they got all the frontage on Clifton north of Straight St from those frat houses.

 

 

That site plan is an improvement of feasibility. It's still way too much retail, but I think they realistically would have struggled to actually get all that office space filled in that spot. A primarily resident-focused development makes much more sense.

I'm somewhat concerned about their plan for a more vertical hotel than has been built anywhere else in the area. I have a feeling that may end up being value engineered to be a typical squat 5 story hotel as you see being built in most places.

 

Overall the site plan is pretty good. There are a few odd moments, but overall it integrates well with UC and Clifton.

Also, if they actually somehow manage a 20 story residential tower in that spot those views are going to be insane. Its highest floors would be nearly twice as high above the ridge as Calhoun/Siddal which have amazing views from their upper floors.

There's so much booming development surrounding UC's campus and we still don't have frequent and reliable public transit linking it to downtown or any of Metro's major transit hubs.

I know that I'm just preaching to the choir here, but taking the streetcar up Vine and then having it branch off in two directions, one that follows either Jefferson or Short Vine to get out towards the zoo and another which goes down Calhoun/McMillan and turns north onto Clifton and eventually extends down to Ludlow and Northside beyond (when the city elects a decent mayor and council body) would be amazing for all these developments.

 

It would touch nearly every major node that's developing. Uptown is becoming much more dense around its existing nodes and new nodes, like The District, developing out of essentially thin air. Something needs to tie them together and to other existing nodes further out and in the basin.

The Fairfield is not a very nice hotel.  It does have a tiny pool in it but guests have to park in the public parking garage and then walk with their luggage a few hundred feet to the front door.  I don't think they ever have a valet.  Maybe the market exists for another hotel like the Kingsgate, which has ballrooms and conference space and a much more convenient parking situation. 

 

^ I could see this happening. The new one at Euclid & Taft is supposed to be a TRU, which has a similar price point to Fairfield. A higher end hotel could work if there's a market for it. Maybe for rich parents visiting their kids at UC combined with a convention function. It would have to have lots of parking though for conventions... Perhaps they could make underground parking work. 

The sloped site lends itself to "underground" parking.  The old Prime Time dance club was diagonal to the Mad Frog, but then had parking ABOVE it, level with Calhoun. 

 

I'll assume they plan to develop the entire site bound by McMillan, Calhoun, Vine, and Scioto. They could probably squeeze in 150ish spots on one  whole parking-dedicated level on McMillan. They could get another 70 or so if they split the 2nd level with the lobby and public spaces (on grade with Calhoun). With 220 spaces and minimal excavation, they could meet code with a decent sized assembly space and over 100 keys in the hotel. 

PUFF has opened a third PUFF on Short Vine.  So there is now PUFF WEST on McMillan near St. Monica, PUFF EAST on McMillan across from Shell, and now PUFF SHORT VINE on SHORT VINE.   

Does puff sell vapes or weed supplies? 

shoulda called the third one "GIVE"

2 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

shoulda called the third one "PASS"

 

FTFY

20 hours ago, Largue said:

The new (hotel) at Euclid & Taft is supposed to be a TRU,

 

Where are you getting details on this? I haven't seen anything in the news, and I don't see where a hotel could fit at that intersection unless something gets demolished... are they tearing down something (like the Superior Credit Union)?