December 20, 20177 yr I really worry that progress is going to slow even more in the next few years if Congress removes historic preservation tax credits in the new tax bill. I believe the House and Senate versions differed in this regard, and I don't know whether the reconciled version keeps them or not. But it will be devastating if they get eliminated.
December 20, 20177 yr I really worry that progress is going to slow even more in the next few years if Congress removes historic preservation tax credits in the new tax bill. I believe the House and Senate versions differed in this regard, and I don't know whether the reconciled version keeps them or not. But it will be devastating if they get eliminated. The current bill retains the historic tax credit, but weakens it by stretching claiming out across 5 years (versus 1 year now). This will make it less valuable for projects.
December 20, 20177 yr I've got to think that the slowdown has more to do with the overall local economy, but yes now the historic tax credits will most likely make it slow down even more unless we can get some big job games. I know I talk a lot about Walnut Hills but it seems there is more big projects going on up here than there is in the basin with Paramount Square, Anthem Site, the Woodburn Avenue (Towne?) project finishing up, and Firehouse Row which hasn't broke ground yet but seems to be on it's way. Another neighborhood that seems to be picking up is College Hill. So while it seems downtown and OTR have slowed down to a degree, some other neighborhoods are moving quicker. That said, new construction and rehab is going on downtown and OTR probably at a value much higher than all the neighborhoods combined, we just don't have a lot of big projects going on down there relative to what was announced...
December 20, 20177 yr Also, some of the OTR projects are quite massive. The first phase of Market Square renovated an entire block of buildings and the second phase, now underway, is renovating another entire block.
December 20, 20177 yr ^I agree, and there is a lot of single family stuff too. We just missed out on the project at Liberty and Elm which is dissapointing, but I've got to imagine the economics look better and better downtown and OTR but we just aren't at the end game yet where no subsidies are needed. Another big one coming online soon is the PNC Annex building or is it City Club Apartments, so we aren't without precedence, just some dissapointments with Fourth and Race now stalled and also the same currently as far as we know with Skyhouse.
December 20, 20177 yr It hasn't officially been cancelled but there has been no news recently and I think the developers originally said ground would already be broken by now. I think many of these projects (Liberty & Elm, Fourth & Race) are having trouble getting financing.
December 20, 20177 yr It hasn't officially been cancelled but there has been no news recently and I think the developers originally said ground would already be broken by now. I think many of these projects (Liberty & Elm, Fourth & Race) are having trouble getting financing. All the money is going into Bitcoin instead? www.cincinnatiideas.com
December 20, 20177 yr It would be nice to see more individual parcels developed instead of all the superblocks.
December 20, 20177 yr It hasn't officially been cancelled but there has been no news recently and I think the developers originally said ground would already be broken by now. I think many of these projects (Liberty & Elm, Fourth & Race) are having trouble getting financing. The last story I heard was that yes, their financing that they had cobbled together fell through by the time they got through all of the fighting with OTRCC. I don't understand the details, but apparently there are some constraints that banks have in terms of their funding mix, and by the time this was ready to go, they no longer could be supported, at least not this year. They had still been hoping to break ground by the end of this year but that isn't happening. So, looks like it might be effectively dead.
December 20, 20177 yr It's easy to be negative but... Liberty / Elm looks dead. 4th / Race is having trouble with financing. The Banks does not even have a developer at this point so it'll be a long while before anything moves there. SkyHouse is a big question mark. Cincinnati awarded very little in OHTC this past round which pushes everything in that pipeline back or kills it. Not to mention that the Department of Economic Development for the City has had lots of turnover at the top in past year or so. That being said...3rd / Vine (City Club Apartments) and 8th & Sycamore are getting close to occupancy (will add ~400 units) and Central & Walnut is actively under construction.
December 20, 20177 yr ) and Central & Walnut is actively under construction. With the pull 3CDC & Kroger have over city government, you have to wonder if they are actively road blocking other developments in order to ensure immediate occupancy of their new tower.
December 20, 20177 yr 4th / Race is having trouble with financing. I did see some work going on at the site on Tuesday morning. There were a few trucks, including some from Turner, and there were crews shifting the traffic barriers on Race over one lane into the street. There were also some crews doing some work down Duke manholes, though that might have been unrelated. I go by there at least a few times a week and that's the first I've seen anyone on site since the demolition was wrapped up.
December 20, 20177 yr 4th / Race is having trouble with financing. I did see some work going on at the site on Tuesday morning. There were a few trucks, including some from Turner, and there were crews shifting the traffic barriers on Race over one lane into the street. There were also some crews doing some work down Duke manholes, though that might have been unrelated. I go by there at least a few times a week and that's the first I've seen anyone on site since the demolition was wrapped up. The owner of Bromwell's has been complaining about the eyesore at 4th & Race for awhile. I think 3CDC agreed to temporarily turn it into surface parking until the tower moves forward.
December 20, 20177 yr ^Again, what if Cranley is blocking 4th & Race so that it doesn't compete with Kroger?
December 20, 20177 yr Well the rumor I heard was that banks are not willing to finance another big parking garage downtown. Every new development that's happened downtown has had a big ol' parking garage as part of it. How many hundreds of spaces have we added in the past 5 years? Remember, since the current administration split the Fourth & Race project in two, 3CDC is building just the parking garage and F&C is building just the apartment tower on top. So, under the current plan, one can't happen without the other also happening.
December 20, 20177 yr ^ I'd be more surprised if banks were comfortable financing a multifamily residential building in downtown Cincinnati that didn't have parking included, than them being unwilling to finance another parking garage. Also, other than the Banks garages, it doesn't seem like there have been too many new parking structures built downtown. Taking into account the removal of all the spaces from the Pogues garage, I'd say downtown parking supply has probably stayed about the same (riverfront excluded).
January 19, 20187 yr Good news for downtown: a small surface parking at 31 Garfield Place (currently used as parking for Groton Lofts) is getting infill development with 20 market rate condos. https://twitter.com/choosecincy/status/954419429319827461
January 19, 20187 yr Though I wish this spot was a tower, I'm glad to see something getting built there. Those parking lots that are catty corner to one another kill the flow of Piatt Park which is one of my favorite locations Downtown. Wonder when they plan to get started with something beyond a quick idea sketch.
January 19, 20187 yr Looks like the firm that is doing this is the same contractor working on Phase II of the 15th and Race condos and is a WBE. They have an aggressive growth strategy and can get things done. Exciting. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
January 19, 20187 yr Though I wish this spot was a tower, I'm glad to see something getting built there. Those parking lots that are catty corner to one another kill the flow of Piatt Park which is one of my favorite locations Downtown. Wonder when they plan to get started with something beyond a quick idea sketch. Yeah, it'd be nice for a tower... but I'm happy with 6 stories in this location. The Groton building just to the south is 7 stories. The beautiful LPK building to the east is 8 stories. 6 stories won't look too appropriate in this block, I think.
January 19, 20187 yr This was the old Blue Wisp parking lot. Back when the Blue Wisp was the best thing downtown.
January 19, 20187 yr This was the old Blue Wisp parking lot. Back when the Blue Wisp was the best thing downtown. Back in the 90's, wasn't the Blue Wisp in the basement of the LPK building? Is there anything using that basement space now?
January 19, 20187 yr Though I wish this spot was a tower, I'm glad to see something getting built there. Those parking lots that are catty corner to one another kill the flow of Piatt Park which is one of my favorite locations Downtown. Wonder when they plan to get started with something beyond a quick idea sketch. Yeah, it'd be nice for a tower... but I'm happy with 6 stories in this location. The Groton building just to the south is 7 stories. The beautiful LPK building to the east is 8 stories. 6 stories won't look too appropriate in this block, I think. Yeah, I think 6 stories will work just fine here. I had visions of something in the 15-20 story range which would be glassy and offer a modern counterpart to the area, but I get that the economics of construction change pretty dramatically above 6 stories and you can no longer use wood construction on a concrete base which this building will likely be.
January 19, 20187 yr This was the old Blue Wisp parking lot. Back when the Blue Wisp was the best thing downtown. Back in the 90's, wasn't the Blue Wisp in the basement of the LPK building? Is there anything using that basement space now? Yeah they lost the space because one of the building's tenants wanted the basement space for storage. The sidewalk entrance was replaced by an ATM machine. That place was fantastic. It was pretty intimidating the first time you went there because you had to walk down a staircase and the whole place would turn and look at you. There was a large pillar that blocked the view of the band from much of the room and there was a loud air conditioner that would kick on during quiet parts in the songs. There was still a rotary dial pay phone back by the bathrooms until they closed it down in 2002 or 2003.
January 20, 20187 yr Though I wish this spot was a tower, I'm glad to see something getting built there. Those parking lots that are catty corner to one another kill the flow of Piatt Park which is one of my favorite locations Downtown. Wonder when they plan to get started with something beyond a quick idea sketch. I was working in conjunction with Towne Properties at the time the Groton Bldg on the north side of Piatt Park was developed. We tried everything to get the owner of the lot at the NW corner of Race and Garfield Place to sell, offered way more than appraised value, and he still wouldn't sell. He asked for some crazy amount, thinking the City/Towne would agree to it if he held the larger development hostage, but they didn't and he was stuck with a small little parcel.
January 20, 20187 yr That's interesting, thanks for the story. There are so many examples throughout history of the people holding out thinking the bigger developer will just succumb to their ridiculous demands and buy them out but then they don't and they're stuck with something nobody wants and isn't that useful. Most famous example is the building that Macy's built around for their Herald Square flagship store in Manhattan. Tiny three story building on the corner held out and Macy's basically said, "fine then" and built around it. They finished and that corner was basically worthless because nobody wanted it and Macy's wound up buying it for less than they originally offered and then covered it with a billboard.
January 20, 20187 yr My senior architecture thesis site was the northwest corner of Garfield and Race, including the little building at 807/809 Race. It was an attempt to incorporate that smaller building into something larger, while also maintaining the alley (bridging across it). It's an ok plot of land, and I was even able to squeeze in underground parking, but only just. The design itself ended up being an aesthetic disaster, due in no small part to constantly butting heads with my professor, but the functional and urbanistic aspects of it were sound at the very least. It also ended up being 7 stories, which is not a bad ratio for such a site. Either way, it's such a nice street that having any surface parking is criminal, so it's great to hear something is finally happening.
February 15, 20187 yr West Fourth Group recently purchased 223 W 4th ( https://goo.gl/maps/to3pqKD95tT2 ). The address listed for West Fourth Group is 4675 CORNELL RD SUITE 100 CINCINNATI OH 45241 which is the same address as trustaff. It is kind of an odd shape with small floor plates for an office building and trustaff recently signed a 10 year lease at their current office ( https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/07/23/exclusive-fast-growing-staffing-company-moving.html )... so I am curious as to what their plan is.
February 16, 20187 yr Woman-owned firm to develop downtown condo project A growing woman-owned real estate company plans to build a condominium project in downtown Cincinnati. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/15/exclusive-woman-owned-firm-to-develop-downtown.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 22, 20187 yr EXCLUSIVE: Luxury townhomes, condos coming to downtown Cincinnati By Tom Demeropolis – Senior Staff Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier Feb 22, 2018, 10:58am EST Updated 2 hours ago A real estate development and construction company has started work on luxury townhomes and condominiums in downtown Cincinnati. https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/22/exclusive-luxury-townhomes-condos-coming-to.html NW corner of 4th and Plum, six residential condos, street level commercial condo and a parking garage. Three new two story townhomes will be built above the existing building at 413-417 Plum St.
February 23, 20187 yr ^That plan has been in the works for several years now... not sure what caused the delay.
February 23, 20187 yr Peek inside Kenwood’s newest upscale apartments Just weeks after its grand opening, one of the newest upscale apartment communities in Greater Cincinnati is almost fully leased. The Bluffs are an expansion of the Kenwood by Senior Star, one of the largest retirement communities in Greater Cincinnati located at 5435 Kenwood Road in Madisonville. Twenty-two of its 24 units have already been leased and most the residents have moved in to their new homes. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/23/peek-inside-kenwood-s-newest-upscale-apartments.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 24, 20187 yr Reminds me of this playset i had growing up, but with less detailing. https://www.etsy.com/listing/553099708/vintage-1970s-fisher-price-little-people?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-toys_and_games-toys-other&utm_custom1=85524bb2-c2d3-48b2-b01a-1e7cf79148c2&gclid=CjwKCAiAlL_UBRBoEiwAXKgW5_dte1VciEauVYo3sV_jNqkMiiwFEeESNjKD36kuBXOzHAILdBpysBoCufoQAvD_BwE
February 28, 20187 yr Avril-Bleh has announced on Facebook that they are closing their sandwich shop on Court Street, although the butcher shop (which they say is still growing) will continue to operate.
March 1, 20187 yr Towne Properties investing millions into its downtown apartments Towne Properties is in the midst of a refresh of four apartment buildings in downtown Cincinnati. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/03/01/exclusive-towne-properties-investing-millions-into.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
March 6, 20187 yr The details of Cincinnati's bid for Amazon HQ2 are now available. So now we can all dream about an alternate reality where Amazon picked Cincinnati and we got: The Banks completed FWW capped with new buildings All of the parking lots on Third Street (3 1/2 blocks worth) replaced by new buildings Fourth and Race replaced with a new Amazon tower Riverfront Transit Center opened with BRT route to the airport, and potentially, other BRT routes and the Oasis commuter rail line Streetcar expanded to Newport A commitment to the city's bike master plan Nearly $3.8 billion in new revenue for Cincinnati Public Schools over the next 30 years In terms of tax incentives, it wasn't anything too crazy, as it was the standard tax incentive package that was offered to GE, with the exception that Amazon would've been offered a refundable tax credit instead of a non-refundable one. (Tax credits are never offered on the portion of the property tax that goes to CPS, hence, $3.8 billion in new revenue for them.)
March 6, 20187 yr Hopefully some of these things can go from ideas to action items. "A commitment to the city's bike master plan" for instance costs nothing, it's just the will to do it. And using the Riverfront Transit center for BRT to the airport and around town is a good idea too that wouldn't cost hardly anything compared to other transit projects. Why don't we do these things now, so when the next big bid for a company comes along we can point at real successes and not potential ideas?
March 6, 20187 yr Because the administration doesn't want to. Just like making the streetcar work. This is 100% about Cranley and his cronies. Jim Coppock from the city engineering office told me point blank that the city is under no obligation to follow the bike plan if they don't want to.
March 6, 20187 yr The problem is that none of these things are a high priority for city, county, or regional leaders. The bicycle transportation plan has already been enacted but we are not actively implementing it because the mayor is opposed to adding more on-street bike lanes. Opening the RTC is something that gets discussed frequently on this board but I don't think it's on the radar of anyone at OKI, SORTA, or the City. I just don't know how we make any of the items a higher priority without a company like Amazon holding our feet to the fire.
March 21, 20187 yr Building permits were issued for a Taproom at 1632 Central Parkway (Urban Site's Film Center). It will be interesting if that is a small independent operation or an extension of a local or outside of the region brewery. Incidentally it is right across the street from Sam Adams' Brewery but they do not seem to be interested in opening taprooms at this point.
March 22, 20187 yr On the minutes for the most recent Downtown Residents Council meeting there is a note about the Provident Bank Building (7th/Vine) being turned into 160 apartments with work starting this summer. http://www.ilivedowntown.com/031318.pdf
March 22, 20187 yr On the minutes for the most recent Downtown Residents Council meeting there is a note about the Provident Bank Building (7th/Vine) being turned into 160 apartments with work starting this summer. http://www.ilivedowntown.com/031318.pdf ^Whoa! That's awesome. I love that building... and 160 apartments in the heart of downtown is great for the city! I hope as part of the renovation, they replace the tinted plate-glass windows which really detract from the historic facade.
March 22, 20187 yr As long as they leave Haru and Madonna's alone. But seriously, that will be good to bring more residents closer to the core, I feel like a lot of the new apartments in the CBD have been on the edges.
March 22, 20187 yr Don't the developers have to have lease agreements with nearby parking lots?? No way people will be able to manage that on their own!
March 28, 20187 yr Developers plan $38 million renovation of historic downtown Cincinnati building An Indianapolis-based real estate company is planning a $38 million conversion of a historic downtown Cincinnati office building into apartments. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/03/28/exclusive-developers-plan-38-million-renovation-of.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
March 30, 20187 yr Big apartment building planned for Kenwood, directly across from the mall: https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/sycamore-township/local-developer-proposes-building-90m-apartments-hotel-retail-space-near-kenwood-towne-centre They acquired and are planning to tear down 21 homes. Is this gentrification?
March 30, 20187 yr ^ https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/sycamore-township/local-developer-proposes-building-90m-apartments-hotel-retail-space-near-kenwood-towne-centre "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
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