Ahh, okay, that makes a lot more sense.  It will have a nice impact on the ground and also from up in Mt. Adams and coming into downtown from 71 and Columbia.  Also the hotel development is doing a ton for that area as well compared to the ugly parking ramp it was before.

That parking deck that was there before was probably the worst in the city. Even moreso than the one on 4th in my mind. At least the one on 4th had height to it. This was just long, short, ugly, poorly built and detailed, and a sidewalk killer.

 

My dream is for all the dated parking decks around the basin along the peripherals (like all the terrible ones by the Convention Center) find the end of their lives approaching fast and replacement parking being integrated into more developments like this. We wind up with a garage partly hidden behind development, a new tower, and a new hotel all on the site of a crappy garage and nondescript 2 story building. That's a win in my mind. If we could replicate that in the ten or so garages remaining around Downtown that are around the age of the garage that was along 7th then we would have a significantly stronger core.

^Completely agree.  Also, you got to think the city has a lot of TIF money stacked up right now.  I am sure we will start seeing a few more significant projects in the near future...

We could honestly probably handle ten more of this project and not feel a relief from demand. We need some BIG developments to really start happening. 100-200 units here and there is great and I love it, but we need some 300+ unit towers popping up in key areas.

Ahh, okay, that makes a lot more sense.  It will have a nice impact on the ground and also from up in Mt. Adams and coming into downtown from 71 and Columbia.  Also the hotel development is doing a ton for that area as well compared to the ugly parking ramp it was before.

 

I rode the bus up Gilbert at dusk last night, happened to look back, and WOW. The view is fantastic. Downtown looks like it's full of tall towers and they're all nicely lit-up.

 

Separately, I walk past the new hotel every day after work on my way home, and I've noticed that the left-most lane on 7th is completely blocked from Sycamore to Broadway. It has been for months now. I wonder if DOTE has noticed this and taken traffic counts.7th is obviously a major feeder to Gilbert/71, and yet traffic seems to move along just fine. It also looks like the lane will go away permanently due to the new hotel.

 

My hope is that DOTE takes note and starts to become ok with reducing lanes within the CBD.

I may just be making things up, but I thought a part of this project was to remove that odd shift the northernmost lane on 7th made before turning onto Broadway. It was completely unnecessary and the road didn't need to expand at the intersection for any reason other than allowing cars to turn faster. The hotel's design seems to reaffirm this since it's up to the sidewalk and doesn't step back at any point.

^Completely agree.  Also, you got to think the city has a lot of TIF money stacked up right now.  I am sure we will start seeing a few more significant projects in the near future...

 

I was secretly hoping the TIF money was being saved because we were still in the running for GE HQ after all, but it is going to Boston. Now I hope they use it to help develop the Terrace Plaza. (Rehabbing the Dennison would be a good use too.)

We need an eccentric billionaire to help with all these projects. Why are all our ultra wealthy so conservative and old school?

^Haha, let's all pool our money together, I got $5 on it

 

Looks like the developers are finalizing designs 

Still looks more or less the same as the original concept renderings minus a handful of floors. I like the tower portion still. The base has some oddities going on but knowing Senhauser's past work it will likely turn out nicely.

 

Question: Where does someone navigate in the Cincinnati-oh.gov page to find stuff like this?

Here is the link to the pdf file that has more detail.

 

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/about-city-planning/city-planning-commission/feb-5-2016-packet/

 

Usually they release a packet each month.

 

Also to note looks like there are elevation estimates in the report. Sorry I can't make it out on my phone but here it is:

 

 

It looks like level 17 is 295', that would make the roof around 305'.

^That's above a base elevation of 100'-0 though. The building's highest floor is at 299'-6" so 199'-6" above the ground level. Add in the ceiling height, parapet height, and slight differences in ground elevation around the base and you wind up around 225' which was the figure they gave us after they revised the floor count down slightly. It's hard to see the numbers, but I believe the long string on the left gives a total height of 224'-6" + 1'-6" from base ground level to the sidewalk on Sycamore meaning a total building height from Sycamore of 226'-0"

 

I'm bored today and don't feel like doing much so I'm going to model this building and plop it into some skyline photos and will share once finished.

Still looks more or less the same as the original concept renderings minus a handful of floors. I like the tower portion still. The base has some oddities going on but knowing Senhauser's past work it will likely turn out nicely.

 

Question: Where does someone navigate in the Cincinnati-oh.gov page to find stuff like this?

 

There are two good sources:

Planning Commission packets: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/about-city-planning/city-planning-commission/

Historic Conservation Board packets: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/buildings/historic-conservation/historic-conservation-board/

Thanks! I knew about the Historic Conservation Packets but didn't know where the Planning Commission Packets were kept online. I know I'll be reading those from now on as well.

Did anyone catch there is going to be a pool on the sixth floor(I think)…is there any other residential within CBD limits that has a pool?

Current @ The Banks has a (tiny) pool as does one of the apartment buildings built in the early 90s on Piatt Park. I can't remember which it is. The Greenwich?

 

I've mostly modeled the building. I got a little overzealous with detail but it looks damn good if I do say so myself. I'll upload photos later tonight since I'm being lame and staying in and watching Fringe.

As promised, here are some views. When inserted into Google Earth the color came out far more saturated and burnt-orange than the rendering but it's not a big deal.

 

If anyone has a specific view they're curious about let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wow. What an improvement. The podium on this thing is so much better. I am so happy they went with smaller windows punching through larger panels that are offset by all glass balconies with smaller window panes compared to what they had shown previously with almost an entire glass curtain wall with very skinny panels. The improvements give the podium verticality compared to the horizontal lines that dominated it previously. It's also nice to see the smaller window effect and tighter window panes carried on all the way up the tower, diminishing the blockiness of the previous design.

Sure, can we see the 7th Street elevation? It looks worrying from what I've seen so far.

So I didn't get ultra detailed with the garage portions. I didn't even include the garage entry which is along this side. But the drawings that were presented of each elevation aren't exactly uplifting for 7th Street. It's more or less a blank facade.

 

Having some vertical planters for vines would help that a lot.

I think literally anything would be better than a blank wall. But some sort of screen/panel system to make it feel less cavernous and open that could then serve as a place for vines/plants to grow up over the years would do wonders. It's just unfortunate that the little parking lot across 7th at the corner isn't going to go away anytime soon so the 7th street side will be exposed far more than normal. And the people staying at the new Holiday Inn are going to have an uncomfortable walk against a big blank wall.

 

I have a feeling that Senhauser had nothing to do with the design of the garage itself, hence the lack of articulation. It feels like it was done purely by an engineer and then handed off to be designed around.

Wow! I'm legit impressed by the presented designed. It seems to really blend in with the street imo.

Won't that last view of the parking gargage be blocked by the Holiday Inn? Or do I have my orientations mixed up?

Won't that last view of the parking gargage be blocked by the Holiday Inn? Or do I have my orientations mixed up?

I don't think so. The Holiday Inn will cover the east-side of the garage. But that last view is showing the south side of the garage that will face 7th Street.

I see.

 

The more I look at maps of this side of downtown, the more I think we need to be putting together a long-term plan to deal with the mess of ramps that connect the downtown street grid to I-71, I-471, US-50, and Gilbert Ave. We need an FWW-type solution that reduces the amount of space taken up by highway ramps and allows for new development over there.

I see.

 

The more I look at maps of this side of downtown, the more I think we need to be putting together a long-term plan to deal with the mess of ramps that connect the downtown street grid to I-71, I-471, US-50, and Gilbert Ave. We need an FWW-type solution that reduces the amount of space taken up by highway ramps and allows for new development over there.

 

That'd be great... but expensive. Even without any reconfiguration, there are several surface lots that could be easily redeveloped today:

• the block bounded by Broadway, 6th, Culvert and 7th.
  
• the triangular block bounded by Eggleston, Reedy, and Court
  
• the surface parking surrounding the Casino
  

All those lots down on Eggleston could very easily house 5 or so towers with 5-8 story bases without having to worry about any expensive reconfiguration. If reconfiguration ever occurred you could then add development to the East side of Eggleston.

 

This side of Downtown has room for literally thousands of units and probably a dozen or so towers between the lots by the Casino, the lots on Eggleston, the lots going up to Broadway from underneath the highways, and the lots going out to Sawyer Point where One River Plaza was supposed to go.

Lots of potential for development in the area- I put it on my map for a Mt. Adams Gondola https://cincinnatiideas.wordpress.com/mt-adams-gondola/

 

Just thought I'd share the view from my office…super excited to watch this over the next year!

lobanio0[/member] - thanks for the photo! It looks like your photo is from the 10th or 11 floor of the Kroger building. Can you grab a photo from one of the higher up floors?

The parking garage construction in under way and you can see the ramps for the first level.

 

 

Roadmap Cincy just tweeted a photo of the construction site:

 

I'm intruiged by how cars will navigate that ramp in the foreground. Will one side of the concrete pillars be "up" and the other "down"? Or can cars fit both ways between the pillars and the wall, leaving the other side for parking?

It definitely looks like one structural bay will be "up" and the other will be "down."

Biz Courier is reporting that the apartment units will be going for about $2.10 a square foot.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/02/05/how-much-will-it-cost-to-live-at-downtown-s.html

That's some good pricing. That is at the low range of what allows for highrise apartments to be built. Between this and Radius @ The Banks (I hate typing that silly name) going for around $2.50/sq. ft. we're starting to see the price territory where developers don't have to worry as much about potential profit margins and won't rely as heavily on public money.

The new OTR apts by Grandin (I believe; on republic and 13th) are going at $2/ft.

The Hogan? I didn't realize those were that much. And those are pretty basic apartments and the building itself is more or less as nondescript as you can get from an historic building in OTR.

Yes, nice price points on these.  More or less I am starting to think that in 5 - 10 years, we will see that a lot of OTR will become a "quiet" type urban neighborhood and busy on the main corridors like Vine Street (maybe a similar dynamic to Lakeview in Chicago?), while downtown will become much more lively and busy as these newer towers come to life and hotels open, 4th street becomes more activitated, new offices users move in, etc. 

 

The reason I say this is because looking at current plans, like on Elm Street in OTR, they are building single family homes and I think a lot of the missing pieces in between the historic buildings will end up being single family.  Where as downtown, there are so many pads and it seems a lot more conversions available in larger buildings that the ppl/block density will be much higher.  Any thoughts on this?

 

I also agree that this price point looks good moving forward.

The Hogan? I didn't realize those were that much. And those are pretty basic apartments and the building itself is more or less as nondescript as you can get from an historic building in OTR.

yes that's it. I was curious so compared their stated square footage to their prices per month; As I recall the result was $2 almost exactly for all of the units.

 

And I agree that the building and units are not special. I'm curious how they are renting.

My friend wanted to look and when he contacted them he said they told him the one bedrooms were all spoken for. And this was very shortly after it opened.

Who has updated pics? Bueller?

I was actually going to do a giant construction update at some point this week since it's so nice out. I'm sure someone will post before then, but if you give a few days I'll likely have a post purely on construction updates around town.

Taken this morning. Enhanced a bit because the original was too dark. They are up to the 5th garage level and are pouring the first floor ceiling along Sycamore.

 

March 26, 2016:

 

May 30, 2016:

I'm excited to see the tower start moving up.  Looks like a nice project all around and hopefully spurs some more residential across the street

 

*Edit: Just realized across the street is the Joseph Groups Property.  So probably nothing there for another 30 years :oops: