^Tower Place just evicted its last remaining tenants. In two months it will be 100% vacant. It is certainly worse off. Hopefully the city is evicting the tenants because they have a solid plan going forward.

^Tower Place just evicted its last remaining tenants. In two months it will be 100% vacant. It is certainly worse off. Hopefully the city is evicting the tenants because they have a solid plan going forward.

Wow that's amazing! Did the mall have stores along the lines of what Tower City had when it opened?

At its opening it had a D I S N E Y  Store (Then it was the only one outside of Orlando)

 

 

You've found the D-word trap. You are now a real UO'er.

At its opening it had a D I S N E Y  Store (Then it was the only one outside of Orlando)

 

 

You've found the D-word trap. You are now a real UO'er.

Haha I will cherish this moment forever!!! :)

^Tower Place just evicted its last remaining tenants. In two months it will be 100% vacant. It is certainly worse off. Hopefully the city is evicting the tenants because they have a solid plan going forward.

Wow that's amazing! Did the mall have stores along the lines of what Tower City had when it opened?

 

Not really. Tower Place is much smaller than Tower City. But in its heyday, Tower Place (and the adjoining Carew Tower arcade) had Victoria Secret, Banana Republic, FYE, Foot Locker, the Nature Company, Structure, Williams-Sonoma, Express, Brentano's, TJMaxx (still there, with separate access from the mall), Morton's The Steakhouse (still downtown, but no longer at the mall), a watch store or two and a decent food court.

I agree that Tower Place and Cleveland's Tower City are not an apples to apples comparison.  Tower Place is/was a very small mall, two floors on a quarter of a city block.  I think most downtown malls are doomed at some point.  A much more appropriate comparison to Tower City would be Columbus's City Center Mall (gone) or Indianapolis's downtown mall.  That said, I hope something happens soon at Tower Place!

 

At its opening it had a D I S N E Y  Store (Then it was the only one outside of Orlando)

 

 

You've found the D-word trap. You are now a real UO'er.

 

+1 lol

Tower City has trains full of people coming through it all day long.  Huge advantage. 

 

Originally it connected to McAlpin's department store via the skywalk.  McAlpin's closed in 1996 and so did much of 4th St. retail.  So instead of being placed between department stores and on the main retail strip, the mall thereafter was on the edge of the retail universe. 

^Tower Place just evicted its last remaining tenants. In two months it will be 100% vacant. It is certainly worse off. Hopefully the city is evicting the tenants because they have a solid plan going forward.

Wow that's amazing! Did the mall have stores along the lines of what Tower City had when it opened?

 

Not really. Tower Place is much smaller than Tower City. But in its heyday, Tower Place (and the adjoining Carew Tower arcade) had Victoria Secret, Banana Republic, FYE, Foot Locker, the Nature Company, Structure, Williams-Sonoma, Express, Brentano's, TJMaxx (still there, with separate access from the mall), Morton's The Steakhouse (still downtown, but no longer at the mall), a watch store or two and a decent food court.

Tower city should have approached more modest retailers like this (Except TJ Maxx) when it opened instead of shooting for New York style shopping throughout. My question is in Tower Place malls heyday was the downtown area a hot place to live like it is now and how was the surrounding area around downtown? Was the surrounding 5-10 mile area an area that would shop at Express, Banana Republic etc. or was it a lower income area? I ask this because that's one of the areas Tower City messed up at (along with aiming for too high end of shopping when the area regardless of downtown pop. couldn't support it) Also was downtown viewed as a "Safe Place" to shop in during the malls heyday because that subculture in Tower City that started to come around played a factor in driving people away, so I want to know was this the same thing in Tower Place.

Since Tower Place opened Kenwood Mall expanded and became Cincinnati's dominant mall.  I have no proof but believe this happened in part because Cross County Highway opened in 1997 and allowed the entire center and northwest parts of the county to get across to Kenwood quickly.  This took whatever high end business that predominantly middle class area could generate away from the I-275 malls (Tri-county, Forest Fair, Northgate).  Also the Rookwood shopping center expanded in the 90s on the site of the fomer Leblond factory on I-71 which also has high end stores. 

 

The problem with malls is that they're extremely expensive to build and renovations can only do so much to try to adapt to changing conditions.  This obviously includes downtown malls.  The interstates opened up so much land to development there is no way for any single entity to control every potential retail site.  So there will always be new competition lurking out there, somewhere, unlike the pre-highway days when people had to go where the streeetcars went, and it was easier to predict the actions of competitors.   

Dohoney: Deal to buy Tower Place requires mall to be cleared

Lucy May - Senior Staff Reporter - Business Courier

 

The city of Cincinnati is getting close to finalizing its purchase of the struggling Tower Place Mall at Fourth and Race streets downtown, City Manager Milton Dohoney told me Tuesday.

 

Dohoney also wanted to clarify something he told me last week regarding the eviction of the mall’s few remaining tenants.

 

I spoke with him Jan. 10 during a bus tour with federal officials to see various development projects in the city. And he told me then that he hadn’t signed any kind of eviction orders to force businesses out of Tower Place.

 

Cont

^Tower Place just evicted its last remaining tenants. In two months it will be 100% vacant. It is certainly worse off. Hopefully the city is evicting the tenants because they have a solid plan going forward.

Wow that's amazing! Did the mall have stores along the lines of what Tower City had when it opened?

 

Not really. Tower Place is much smaller than Tower City. But in its heyday, Tower Place (and the adjoining Carew Tower arcade) had Victoria Secret, Banana Republic, FYE, Foot Locker, the Nature Company, Structure, Williams-Sonoma, Express, Brentano's, TJMaxx (still there, with separate access from the mall), Morton's The Steakhouse (still downtown, but no longer at the mall), a watch store or two and a decent food court.

Tower city should have approached more modest retailers like this (Except TJ Maxx) when it opened instead of shooting for New York style shopping throughout. My question is in Tower Place malls heyday was the downtown area a hot place to live like it is now and how was the surrounding area around downtown? Was the surrounding 5-10 mile area an area that would shop at Express, Banana Republic etc. or was it a lower income area? I ask this because that's one of the areas Tower City messed up at (along with aiming for too high end of shopping when the area regardless of downtown pop. couldn't support it) Also was downtown viewed as a "Safe Place" to shop in during the malls heyday because that subculture in Tower City that started to come around played a factor in driving people away, so I want to know was this the same thing in Tower Place.

 

Downtown was in a long spiral of decline when Tower Place came online. I'm sure it was a hairbrained attempt to revitalize the downtown area. Downtown was not a popular place to live or shop.

 

5-10 miles is probably not a useful distance to consider, since most parts of the region within such a boundary would have had closer malls or retail centers in the burbs. There were a few upscale neighborhoods within 5 miles, but generally the inner-city population was lower income. That is still the case now, though less so.

Carew Tower could go residential

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130117/NEWS/301170139

 

One day you might be able to live in Downtown’s landmark Carew Tower.

 

“Active discussions” are underway about converting turn the 49-story building into residential, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls told The Enquirer in an interview today.

Innnteresting. I don't see it happening for a while, but I guess you never know.

Article followed the next day saying owners said they have no intent to convert it.

Take this for what it's worth, but I know someone of a position of power who is currently involved in these talks. They are most certainly happening, but are likely years off and therefore they're still trying to cater to the current tenants.

One tenant to go at Tower Place Mall

 

Tower Place Mall, Cincinnati’s all-but-deserted downtown shopping mall, is down to its last tenant.

 

I reported last week that I Love Cincinnati Shoppe was holding out for a relocation deal. Not sure what it got, but owner Dan Werling said Tuesday he’s moving this week to a spot in the Carew Tower arcade. That’s maybe a couple hundred feet away, on the same second-story level.

 

Werling said because he needs exposure to tourists and hotels, “I’m limited in where I can go. A block up the street and nobody’s going to find me. It’s not like I can go to Tri-County Mall or Kenwood Towne Centre. When you go to Florida, the souvenir shops are on the beach.”

 

He’ll be moving into vacant space next to Smoothie King, which is right next to the skywalk over Fifth Street.

 

Cont

I realize rent would be too high for a souvenir store but the "I Love Cincinnati Shoppe" should be on Fountain Square, not tucked away off a skywalk bridge.

Tower Place Mall is now closed. Construction fencing is up on 4th St. and Race St.

Gutting the inside?

Yes.

This may have been posted on here, but i stumbled upon the leasing brochure for the reconfiguration of tower place.. nothing groundbreaking but interesting to see some of it is already listed as leased.

 

http://i.cbcworldwide.com/236m0/p99djschznw14h25qm5emmyhb2i

Nice that in that downtown map of attractions, they actually are listing OTR as one of the things that you are "in the heart of."  How things can change in the course of a few years.  Proximity to OTR now touted as a selling point. 

Are we going to start seeing CUF, Mt. Auburn, and the West End marketed by realtors as "OTR-near" like Oakley and Norwood are "Hyde Park-near"? lol

I have a friend who lives "In OTR" on E Hollister St.

I have a friend who lives "In OTR" on E Hollister St.

 

My house is in CUF but my back yard fence basically serves as the border between CUF and OTR. I usually describe it exactly like that when people ask where I live, so “near-OTR” is definitely a thing already.

How about Pendleton?

I hope the exterior changes more than that.

Former Bengals player partners to develop Tower Place Mall: EXCLUSIVE

Tom Demeropolis - Reporter - Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Former Cincinnati Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe has a new real estate development and investment firm that is partnering to redevelop downtown’s Cincinnati Tower Place Mall.

 

Ndukwe started Kingsley Wells Enterprises LLC last year, and this will be his first major project.

 

“I hope this is the first of many,” Ndukwe said.

 

The Notre Dame graduate is bringing a “handful” of current Bengals as well as other professional athletes and a couple retired players as equity investors in the project.

 

Cont

Erasing Tower Place...

WOW ... So, what's this going to be again? So many changes in plans I'm completely oblivious.

They're turning the ground level retail around to face the street and converting the two levels above of retail into parking which will be connected to the existing top two floor of parking. All will be accessed by two new ramps (at least I think it's two...) since the current connection to Pogue's Garage is being removed.

The former mall is going to be a garage w/ ground floor retail. The Pogues Garage across the street is going to be a ~200 unit apartment building sitting on top of a garage and ground floor retail. It was going to be a 300 unit apartment building on top of a garage and grocery store. (Correct me if I'm wrong, people.)

Walked by this on my lunch break today...

 

Some big black awnings are going up over the windows... hopefully more finishing touches are added like this to make it interact with the street more and look like a finished product. Once the exterior retail is finished and the outside cleaned up it should look pretty nice.

 

Also, i never really paid attention as to how big the connector is from Pogues Garage to Tower Place... but that this is monstrous considering the space it is in. Once that comes down itll add a lot of light to the street and really open it up.

Are we going to start seeing CUF, Mt. Auburn, and the West End marketed by realtors as "OTR-near" like Oakley and Norwood are "Hyde Park-near"? lol

 

Interesting, Oakley is NOT hyde park-near anymore.  It's become strong enough on its own that Oakley is no longer lied about as Hyde Park. Values are up, demand and development are up, etc.  Ideally, that happens everywhere one day.  At first you pretend to be the nicest neighborhood near you.  Then you become a stand alone neighborhood worthy of having its own name. 

Any ideas about the TJ Maxx space?  I've heard some people have been going in and out of it recently.  Would love to see it get reused in some way, or just torn down and replaced with a mid rise.

Any ideas about the TJ Maxx space?  I've heard some people have been going in and out of it recently.  Would love to see it get reused in some way, or just torn down and replaced with a mid rise.

 

I would like to see it get reused... As it is connected to what is left of the retail in tower place..

 

It seems like it could be a challenging fit as it is a lot of Square footage and it has two floors. It is a shame TJ Maxx left... as a store in Newport is not really a substitute for a store in DT... I can easily go on my lunch break to a DT location.. I would not drive to Newport.  I would think both could stand on their own. Probably some corporate policy where you cannot have multiple locations that close together or something.

Any ideas about the TJ Maxx space?  I've heard some people have been going in and out of it recently.  Would love to see it get reused in some way, or just torn down and replaced with a mid rise.

 

I would like to see it get reused... As it is connected to what is left of the retail in tower place..

 

It seems like it could be a challenging fit as it is a lot of Square footage and it has two floors. It is a shame TJ Maxx left... as a store in Newport is not really a substitute for a store in DT... I can easily go on my lunch break to a DT location.. I would not drive to Newport.  I would think both could stand on their own. Probably some corporate policy where you cannot have multiple locations that close together or something.

They had a lot of problems with theft at that store.

I chuckled thinking back to when that TJ Max moved in, back around 2003.  At that time DT Cincinnati was so dead that the arrival of TJ Max was heralded as some sort of big accomplishment.  CityBeat ran an absolutely hilarious editorial where they riffed on the "TJ Maxx smell", that peculiar odor shared by seemingly all of their stores. 

Erasing Tower Place...

 

 

Any ideas about the TJ Maxx space?  I've heard some people have been going in and out of it recently.  Would love to see it get reused in some way, or just torn down and replaced with a mid rise.

 

under the new zoning code bowling alleys are required to have two parking spots per lane.

'Pizza theater' 1st tenant for Downtown project

 

A new Domino's Pizza concept will occupy one of three street-level retail spaces as part of a new 775-space Downtown Cincinnati parking garage development.

 

The Mabley Place parking garage at Fourth and Race streets opens Wednesday, but the tenant announcement came Tuesday during a grand opening ceremony involving the city and developers.

 

The dine-in "pizza theater" concept is a store design being rolled out by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company, which has more than 11,000 stores worldwide, around the country. Fewer than 100 stores in the United States have the design and it would be the first in Cincinnati.

 

Cont

^ It sounds like the "pizza theater" is just the kitchen being open (behind glass) to people watching their pizza being made. I guess you get to see what Domino's frozen "crust" looks like before it turns into soggy cardboard.

With all those parking spaces, why no deliveries from the Ultimate Delivery Vehicle?!?

I was hoping for some more dining options in this building. I don’t think I’ll ever eat at this Domino’s, though, but at least we are getting more dining/lunch options in that corner of downtown. There are a couple of delis in the southwest corner of the CBD, but not much else.

Investors buy downtown's Mabley Place garage for $15 million

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/12/11/investors-buy-downtowns-mabley-place-garage-for-15.html?page=all

A San Diego real estate investment trust and a group of private investors purchased the Mabley Place parking garage in downtown Cincinnati for $15 million.

 

JDL Warm bought in in the spring of 2013 for $1, invested $9 million in renovating it, and sold it for $15 million a year and a half later. That's a very impressive return on investment. Make it seem like the City was probably too generous in selling it for just $1. But in the end, the city just wants a highly valued property. Previously, the mall was a liability, losing money every year. Now it's a $15 million (taxable) asset. That's a good turn around for the city.

Investors buy downtown's Mabley Place garage for $15 million

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/12/11/investors-buy-downtowns-mabley-place-garage-for-15.html?page=all

A San Diego real estate investment trust and a group of private investors purchased the Mabley Place parking garage in downtown Cincinnati for $15 million.

 

JDL Warm bought in in the spring of 2013 for $1, invested $9 million in renovating it, and sold it for $15 million a year and a half later. That's a very impressive return on investment. Make it seem like the City was probably too generous in selling it for just $1. But in the end, the city just wants a highly valued property. Previously, the mall was a liability, losing money every year. Now it's a $15 million (taxable) asset. That's a good turn around for the city.

 

Look at it this way...if you invested $9 million in the stock market in early 2013 you'd have about $15 million right now. 

 

There are signs up in the windows for Inner Fire Fitness. I'm not sure when they're expecting to open.

 

Here's an article from earlier this summer about the business:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/06/20/exclusive-a-lindner-bringing-unique-gym-to.html