Woah that's so crazy looking. How open does 4th feel right now? It must feel like an entirely different street.

 

It feels very open but less open than when 5th and Race was a parking lot. There are some very dramatic views of the Carew Tower.

Better get them now while you can! Will be the only opportunity within our lifetimes to get that angle.

Update: The corkscrew is gone, now just cleaning up rubble. Thought Id snap a couple photos of the area for folks who cant get down this way.

A few pictures from today:

 

 

^ Man, they cleared that up quick! I stopped by the site yesterday and there was a ton of torn down concrete and rebar, etc.

That is so unrecognizable.

^Yeah, those 4 excavators can make a lot of progress in a few days!

I hope it's along time before we have to see the ugly brick side of the hotel again.

i'm curious to see how 4th and Elm streets will be reworked once the project is complete. There is an opportunity to do some traffic calming on both streets.

i'm curious to see how 4th and Elm streets will be reworked once the project is complete. There is an opportunity to do some traffic calming on both streets.

 

In terms of traffic calming, the best thing would be to make 4th Street a two-way street. And/or, adding bumpouts at all intersections would help.

Perfect time for a throwback!

 

The garage being built in 1966:

 

 

The completed garage in 1974:

 

Does anyone have a pic of the historic buildings on the north side of Fourth street that the garage replaced? Were they gorgeous like the buildings on the south side?

 

What mass delusion was everyone under that made them think what they were building was as good as what they were tearing down? (Though the same could be said of our era I suppose)

 

Should be interesting to see if the new design feels worthy of its neighbors once built.

Here is the best i could find. Looks like similar to the south side but not as tall. This pic is a zoom of a much larger photo i found on Flickr a while ago.

The first picture is of what stood at the NW corner of 4th and Race. The second one is what stood at the SE corner of 5th and Elm

^Wow. The building at the SE corner of 5th and Elm was quite impressive.

I wish I could have been alive then. Tho I probably would have died of tuberculosis by this point.

^^ Wow, those are gorge!

What mass delusion was everyone under that made them think what they were building was as good as what they were tearing down?

 

There was a sense back then that old was ugly. And architects thought modernism was the hottest thing since sliced bread (or perhaps since the invention of the Model T). So it's not too far off to say there was mass delusion. It's kind of hard to say that we are not currently under such delusions, but we believe we aren't, and we certainly have the power of hindsight and more data, which was lacking back then.

 

Piggy-backing on the modernist architectural movement was the sense that we needed to redesign our inner-cities to accommodate automobiles: from the '40s to the '70s this was seen as the wave of the future. And it seemed obvious the cities needed to be retrofitted in suburban form to compete with the suburbs to which the cities were bleeding population. Of course, we know now this was futile, and cities would have better served themselves using their political weight to oppose policies which distorted the market in favor of suburban development.

Is it safe to assume they'll be two tower cranes at this site once construction begins? 

Where does all that concrete go?

Where does all that concrete go?

I saw them separating out rebar and aggregate into piles... so I assume it was sent out for recycling.

Where does all that concrete go?

I saw them separating out rebar and aggregate into piles... so I assume it was sent out for recycling.

 

Rebar will be sold for scrap, the concrete is taken to aggregate plants to be crushed down and reused as RCC or composite aggregate in asphalt and other road material.

When will they start building. I heard Feb. 17th

When will they start building. I heard Feb. 17th

 

This thing would be topped out and occupied if Qualls had been elected. 

From the most recent email update for the project:

 

 

Current/Completed/Upcoming Work:

 

Demolition of the old Pogue's Garage is officially complete.

Project leaders are finalizing the design and construction will begin in May.

Re-work on the Saks Fifth Avenue building has begun.

The reconstruction of Mabley Place will begin in the next month

 

 

When will they start building. I heard Feb. 17th

 

This thing would be topped out and occupied if Qualls had been elected.

 

And let's not forget it would have been a much larger, and taller project as well.

I wonder what they are doing with all that extra money they saved?  Was it 7th and Broadway ?  I thought I remember Cranley saying something about using some TIF Funds or something for the Macy's tower but that looks like it is on the shelf for awhile now. 

 

Even though Cranley looks to favor certain developers, etc., I kind of worry things are slowing down unrelated to picking certain developers (if you are inclined to think Cranley would do this?).  Anyways, I am surprised nothing for the pad at the Banks south of GE has been announced yet

Does anybody know when this project will start building

May

May

 

 

I don't think this will start in May. I have seen 0 activity since they tore down Pogue Garage

Yeah, I heard that it was supposed to start in May, but definitely not happening. I live across the street and nothing has changed for weeks. Anyone hear when they will start construction?

I wonder if there has been some financing issues or some other difficulties...also of note - 3CDC has stopped including this project in their 'monthly updates' summary.

I wonder if there has been some financing issues or some other difficulties...also of note - 3CDC has stopped including this project in their 'monthly updates' summary.

 

Their building permit is held up at the city. I expect it will take them a few more weeks to get the information and make the changes the building department and other agencies are requesting.

I wonder if there has been some financing issues or some other difficulties...also of note - 3CDC has stopped including this project in their 'monthly updates' summary.

 

Their building permit is held up at the city. I expect it will take them a few more weeks to get the information and make the changes the building department and other agencies are requesting.

 

I do international registration for our business for our overseas and also the regulatory things in the United States.  I would hate to be the person to gather all that info for the city on a big project like this, though I'm certain they got a process, that type of stuff doesn't just get figured out in one day.

most likely there has never been a project completed in the city that didn't first have its scheduled pushed back due to a delay at permitting.

Is this project even going to happen? With now skyhouse a go and the Kroger project just about a go. Does this project still happen? Seems very delayed. The garage has been down for months.

^Oh it's a go for certain, no doubt.  They have everything in place as far as financing, as much as I can tell.  The only thing missing is they need to get all the construction permits straightened out, which takes a long time as you can see over the last few posts have illustrated. 

I'm still holding out on a new design... or perhaps going back to tha Mallory version. 

I think it is all set in stone with the design and everything they just needed to tie up some loose ends with details on the construction permit unless something changed from last time.

Well we are in August, half of summer construction is over and yet this project has yet to break ground.

 

Congrats Cranley on your meddling.

 

Does anyone have information on what is going on with this project, something seems odd that its been very hush hush and no action beyond demolition.

In this particular case, I would prefer a parking lot on that location to the garage that was there previously.

 

 

Still hope the development comes through of course.

Well we are in August, half of summer construction is over and yet this project has yet to break ground.

 

Congrats Cranley on your meddling.

 

Does anyone have information on what is going on with this project, something seems odd that its been very hush hush and no action beyond demolition.

 

Stalled...just in time  for a recession. 

 

Cincinnati/Ohio urban development timeline:

 

- Project gets announced. Flashy renderings prepared

- Urban Ohio freaks out and discusses the proposal for 2 weeks

- Local politician gets involved

- Project scale and amenities get reduced

- Announcement is made that development team is still working on financing

- Project goes silent for many months/years

- Project either gets huge city subsidy or dies

We haven't heard anything official on this, I know it is frustrating but a little early to speculate unless someone has concrete information.

 

Also, it is still listed as a project on the 3CDC Website so I am assuming it will all go through still as planned at least for the garage and commercial front portion that 3CDC is constructing.

Cincinnati/Ohio urban development timeline:

 

- Project gets announced. Flashy renderings prepared

- Urban Ohio freaks out and discusses the proposal for 2 weeks

- Local politician gets involved

- Project scale and amenities get reduced

<-- YOU ARE HERE -->

- Announcement is made that development team is still working on financing

- Project goes silent for many months/years

- Project either gets huge city subsidy or dies

Should add:

 

-Project has a "groundbreaking"

-Project actually starts construction

-Project finishes construction

-Tenants finally move-in

and the last phase...

-urban White Castle

There is some small activity today at the site. I seen 5 or 6 people who look like construction workers walking around

Nothing happening yet...

 

 

Nice!!! I can also see why the soffits of Convention Place are failing. That roof is a patchwork of tarps.

 

Wasn't Convention Place a mall at one point?