That would help!

I think Tower Place needs to just be office space.

A movie theatre I think would be the best option...but I doubt you'll be able to get anyone to spend the money to renovate it to the point of being able to use it for that purpose though.  I bet you'll either see a movie theatre pop up at The Banks or Fifth & Race.

I don't know how you could make a movie theater at Tower Place without spending a ridiculous amount of money, considering the layout :-/

Developer plans to wake up sleeping retail in Tower Place

BY JESSIE GRIDLEY | DOWNTOWNER

August 28, 2007

 

DOWNTOWN - Tower Place will soon wear a new face, in hopes of attracting more retail and possibly a new name.

 

Located in the heart of Downtown at Fourth and Race Streets, Tower Place and the adjoining garage have been purchased by Northeastern Security Development Corp. for approximately $21 million combined, says NSDC President and CEO Armand Lasky.

 

"We're excited about reinventing [the] mall space," says Lasky, whose company owns many parking garages and developments, predominately across the Midwest.

 

Lasky admits that the parking garage itself was a very enticing part of the deal. According to the Hamilton County Auditor's report, the 118 W. Fourth St. garage sold for $8.5M.

 

What's to come of Tower Place?

Walking through the three-story mall is somewhat of a sad sight. Vacant spots dot the mall in between existing shops. "For lease" signs hang in the empty windows.

 

Capital Growth Madison Marquette will continue to manage and lease to Tower Place tenants. An official with the company reports that all current leasing contracts will be honored with no closures at this point.

 

Lasky says that even with the same management, Tower Place will take a different approach in the coming development. "We will be a little more aggressive."

 

Potential demolition of the Fourth Street ramp to the parking garage holds the key to which type of retail will be vying for the street-level storefront that used to be Closson's, a furniture store.

 

"We are investigating the feasibility of taking down the ramp on Fourth and opening up that whole dead retail space," says Lasky.

 

Architectural stipulations of the ramp are being evaluated, including consideration for the coming and going of garage traffic. Disposal of the ramp would grant some breathing space to potential retailers, and possibly be the deciding factor for those interested.

 

Chatter is all over the City of a potential gym or grocery store opting for the spot. Lasky admits that his sights are set on bringing in a high-end grocery store (possibly Trader Joe's) if the ramp can be removed. "That is our No. 1 target."

 

Any hope for T.G.I.F. Fridays?

In June, a Capital Growth Madison Marquette official said that talks for T.G.I.F. Fridays were tabled due to the pending sale of Tower Place.

 

Now that the sale is complete, Lasky confirms that for now, the answer is "no."

 

"The offer that came from the prospective tenant at Fridays was in my opinion not sufficient in commitment to justify the investment," he argues.

 

As far as other food establishments, Lasky says they are in the process of negotiating with another possible restaurant that could fill the space which Morton's vacated. Still, he remained tight-lipped on who that may be.

 

The tenants speak

Judy Nguyen has owned Elite Nails in Tower Place with her husband for nine years. She says that shopping over the past few years has been slow the past few years, especially on

 

Sundays, when she has been open. The clients aren't coming.

 

"Before they had Express, Limited, Lerner New York and Banana [Republic], and then they moved to Kenwood," says Nguyen.

 

With the new ownership, Nguyen wants to see changes and she is willing to do her part by making coupons for her nail shop for distribution in any new marketing campaigns.

 

The store space to Elite Nails' right is empty. "Any store. It doesn't matter (what it is)," she exclaims, shaking her head.

 

Kathleen Kern, owner of Churchill's Tea Room & Shop, agrees that Tower Place needs to be more aggressive in securing leases and in marketing.

 

She uses the word hidden when describing some of Tower Place's assets.

 

"I'd like to see a sign stick out. I'd love to have an awning. The previous owners looked at it more as an investment and weren't developing," says Kern.

 

The intoxicating smell of freshly-brewed teas fill the 2,600-square-foot space of Churchill's downstairs.

 

Meanwhile, Kern says the 2,500-square-foot space upstairs is not being used to its fullest capacity. She hopes to renovate in the future, but is waiting to see what type of investments

 

Lasky and his company are willing to put into Tower Place before she makes further investments of her own.

 

Kern has plans waiting in the wings, perhaps an extension to the event-producing side of Churchill's. She is leaning toward a Celtic wedding theme for the space upstairs.

 

Along with her own growth, Kern hopes to see the rest of Tower Place grow as well. To her direct right hangs another "for lease" sign in the spot that used to house Banana Republic.

 

"I'd love to see an upscale boutique of women's fashions. I'd love to see a grocery store," says Kern.

 

A stronger marketing campaign for Tower Place also appeals to Kern. "People don't know the difference from Tower Place and Carew Tower."

 

Will the name stay the same?

 

With so many changes, it seems only natural to ask if Tower Place will get a new name to reflect those changes.

 

In addition to a strong marketing campaign and a whole new format to revitalize the three-level shopping space, Lasky says, "We are investigating changing the name."

 

Kern smiles at this possibility. "I'd love to see them change the name to reflect the type of retail that we are."

 

For more information on current retailers at Tower Place, visit www.TowerPlace.com

"We are investigating the feasibility of taking down the ramp on Fourth and opening up that whole dead retail space," says Lasky.

 

YES!!!

 

When I was at Tower City a few weeks ago, all I could think about was how much Tower Place needs help. Let's hope something positive happens.

That ramp demo has been being discussed for at least 10 years, let's hope it happens soon. 

Step one would be to remove the ramp.  Step two is to re-tenant.  Step three is to FREAKING ADVERTISE THAT YOU EXIST!

I think thats the ramp I used to get into that garage (which i use as an alternate to the Fountain Square garage).

 

The ramp isn't about Tower Place, is it?  It is on the parking garage next door.  I don't see how taking the ramp off would hurt or help the shopping center itself.  Maybe hurt if people cant figure out where to park.

 

 

 

 

Maybe hurt if people cant figure out where to park.

 

I hope you didn't mean that.

The ramp is obnoxious to pedestrians. I was exchanging e-mails with Jay Lask (Madison-Marquette) a while back, he was happy to talk about Tower Place. I asked him why they're not trying to recruit better retailers in there and he said they've tried; but top retailers require top notch space. Hopefully they'll invest heavily in remodeling the interior. I didn't see anything about that while skimming through the above article :-/

 

As for the name, any destination with a strong sense of "place" doesn't need to have "place" in the name. I'd rather see it changed to something better; nothing wrong with re-branding.

 

Maybe hurt if people cant figure out where to park.

 

I hope you didn't mean that.

 

There's always court street  :-D

^

actually I have parked on Court Street!  Its close to some places on Main that I like.

 

 

Hey I used to live on Court Street and used the free parking from 5PM-8AM every evening!  VERY reliable parking, even on ball games days.

There is a garage above Tower Place and it can only be accessed through the much older block-long old McAlpin's garage.  It's a very strange garage as the Tower Place skylight takes up the center of it, meaning there really aren't too many parking spaces up there.  It's also responsible for the thick pillars that travel through the center of the mall.   

 

I didn't even know where Tower Place was for several years after it opened and didn't know it had a garage above it until maybe 1998 when I looked over the railing on the McAlpin's garage and saw the skywalk bridge.   

 

Tower Place's exterior is terrible, there's no hint that there's even a mall in there.  Originally I suppose it wasn't such a problem because McAlpin's and the skywalk between it and Tower Place was still open.  Bare minimum they need to redo the corner of 4th & Race with glass and maybe have a corner entrance directly into whatever store is there.  Then there needs to be conspicuous signage on the north side of the Carew Tower and facing the square.  This stuff is so obvious it probably shows whoever owns the mall isn't even making an attempt. 

 

The relationship of the parking garages is odd and means that if the McAlpin's garage is ever torn down there will be no access to the Tower Place garage.  Considering the McAlpin's garage is pushing 50 years in age if not more, that's a serious matter.  It also means a lot of money might be sunk into this old garage at some point meaning it might live to age 100. 

The relationship of the parking garages is odd and means that if the McAlpin's garage is ever torn down there will be no access to the Tower Place garage.  Considering the McAlpin's garage is pushing 50 years in age if not more, that's a serious matter.  It also means a lot of money might be sunk into this old garage at some point meaning it might live to age 100.

 

You raise a valid point about the relationship of the two garages, but I would say that you could completely tear down the old McAlpins garage without sacrificing the parking levels above Tower Place, how you ask...robotic garages.  You simply retrofit the levels above Tower Place to be compatible with a robotic garage system.  This would minimize the impact.  It would take some serious desire though to do this, and like you said...probably lots of money.

the costs are broken down here

 

http://www.robopark.com/revenue.html

the costs are broken down here

 

http://www.robopark.com/revenue.html

 

That's excellent...thanks for posting it.

how do these things work when 20-30 cars want to get into the garage at the same time... wouldn't that KILL trafic flow in the area? . . .

I would assume this would be a garage more suited to residential applications than say, after a bengals game

I would assume this would be a garage more suited to residential applications than say, after a bengals game

probably wouldn't work for a retail area either then...

It depends on the system...it can be designed to accomodate multiple lifts for cars, that would ensure that multiple cars could be parked simultaneously.  Of course there would be some type of que, but even for retail...you don't have 20-30 cars all arriving at the same exact time.  Those cars are normally distributed over time...they may be during the same time period, but not really all at once.

 

The problem would come if you had a rush before/after an event (Bengals/Reds game) or during evening rush hour when everyone is pouring out of the garages.  If it is earmarked specifically for Tower Place Mall shoppers, then it would probably be just fine.

 

There are animations that show how the system works...they are really quite quick from what I've seen and if designed correctly, probably wouldn't hurt traffic flow all that much.  I imagine it couldn't be any worse than the traffic flow disruption from vallet parking, taxi stands, etc.

So that gigantic garage on 4th with the controversial ramp was the McAlpins garage?  It looks like McAlpins was doing the same thing Rikes was doing in Dayton, buiding huge downtown parking garages to maintain the viability of the downtown store. 

 

I recall trying to park in the Tower Place garage back in the days when the mall there was still pretty busy, and you would just circle up it, and then give up, drive back across the bridge across Race, and park in the Mc garage.  The spaces are somewhat tight up there, too. 

 

And it is pretty ironic seeing the suggestions for a mechanized parking garage in lieu of Tower Place, given the history of the site.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, just look at how the old department stores had to tear down other stores in order to provide parking.  Same thing with Shillito's and that hideous garage to its north.  Really that garage tells the story with the synagogue and church the only things left standing on that block. 

There is a garage above Tower Place and it can only be accessed through the much older block-long old McAlpin's garage. 

 

I always remebered that garage as the Pogues garage, not the McAlpin's garage.  Am I remembering it incorrectly?

 

Also, I may be thinking of a different building, bit I think the parking levels above Tower Place were originally serviced by an elevator for getting the cars to the parking level.

^

yes it was, an elevator garage from back in the 1930s or 40s, which is why I thought it was ironic to see this proposed again for he site.

 

 

You are both sort of correct.  The garage was the Pogue's garage originally, Pogue's sat where Tower Place is today.  The mechanical/elevator garage was separate, it was an entirely different structure built as part of the Carew Tower Complex, if I remember correctly, it had to come down when Tower Place was built, but it was unanticipated.

Here are some pics...

 

The Carew Tower, you can see the garage was adjacent and akin to the hotel portion of the complex.

 

The orginal Pogue's building

I drove down 4th St. the other night and realized that garage was not directly opposite McAlpin's, but one block over.  Considering I've taken photos of the McAlpin's work from that garage I should have realized that.  Duh. 

Same thing with Shillito's and that hideous garage to its north.  Really that garage tells the story with the synagogue and church the only things left standing on that block. 

A little off topic for the thread -- sorry! -- but does anyone know why Macy's/Shilito's abandoned their interesting Art Deco-faced turn-of-century building for the totally bland Fountain Place? Was it just too expensive to renovate the old building for modern retail needs? I bet that atrium was nice back in the day...

Same thing with Shillito's and that hideous garage to its north.  Really that garage tells the story with the synagogue and church the only things left standing on that block. 

A little off topic for the thread -- sorry! -- but does anyone know why Macy's/Shilito's abandoned their interesting Art Deco-faced turn-of-century building for the totally bland Fountain Place? Was it just too expensive to renovate the old building for modern retail needs? I bet that atrium was nice back in the day...

 

I can't remember why they wanted to move.  My guess was to downsize.  :(  The current Macy's/Lazarus store is nothing compared to the old Shillitos/Lazarus. 

Lazarus/Macy's moved to be closer to Fountain Square. They weren't getting the foot traffic on 7th Street, although it probably also made sense to downsize the store as well.

The old store was massive, I believe about 850,000 square feet, but it was actually made up of like 5-7 buildings all wrapped in the art deco siding (with the exception of the alley side which you can still see).  There were pillars everywhere and the floors were not exactly level with one another, there were often 3-5 steps up between buildings on the same "floor".  It was kick ass and old school though, I loved it!

The old store was massive, I believe about 850,000 square feet, but it was actually made up of like 5-7 buildings all wrapped in the art deco siding (with the exception of the alley side which you can still see).  There were pillars everywhere and the floors were not exactly level with one another, there were often 3-5 steps up between buildings on the same "floor".  It was kick ass and old school though, I loved it!

 

I can only imagine...that would be awesome!

The old store was massive, I believe about 850,000 square feet, but it was actually made up of like 5-7 buildings all wrapped in the art deco siding (with the exception of the alley side which you can still see).  There were pillars everywhere and the floors were not exactly level with one another, there were often 3-5 steps up between buildings on the same "floor".  It was kick ass and old school though, I loved it!

 

I can only imagine...that would be awesome!

 

The Shillito Dept. Store was the largest in the nation for over 60 years!

I vaguely remember the various department stores from when I was a kid and remember the Christmas displays and one that ended with not one but four Santa's because there were so many kids coming through.  I always hated going to stores with my mom though.  I think a few of those stores had a lot of mirrored pillars which I always hated and one that had a black mirrored ceiling in the dinnerware department that I really hated.  The stores were really dim and everything was pretty crammed compared to stores now.     

The old store was massive, I believe about 850,000 square feet, but it was actually made up of like 5-7 buildings all wrapped in the art deco siding (with the exception of the alley side which you can still see).  There were pillars everywhere and the floors were not exactly level with one another, there were often 3-5 steps up between buildings on the same "floor".  It was kick ass and old school though, I loved it!

 

I can only imagine...that would be awesome!

 

It was pretty cool.  I have a lot of good memories of the old Shillitos/Lazarus on 7th and Race.  The top floor had a hair salon, there was a coffee shop that served food as well, a candy counter, a book section, and the "Final Countdown" section in the basement.  This was their clearance section, and you could find some very good buys there. 

 

Over a year ago, Macy's announced that they were going to try adding cafes to their stores.  I had to laugh because this was not a new idea!

I still remember the department stores of the past. Lazarus' at City Center. Star's and Sear's in downtown Ashland, Kentucky. Stone & Thomas in downtown Huntington, West Virginia. :(

The crowd to cuss on this whole question is Dillard's. Downtown was all set for an upscale McAlpin's (which was a far superior store to Lazarus) and then the Arkansas crowd bought Mercantile and now we have parking lots and a small Lazarus. Think of downtown if they had managed to get the Maison Blanche and a new Lazarus (which was coming anyway for the reasons described above). Arrggh!!!

I still remember the department stores of the past. Lazarus' at City Center. Star's and Sear's in downtown Ashland, Kentucky. Stone & Thomas in downtown Huntington, West Virginia. :(

 

Where was the Stone & Thomas? Was it where Mack and Dave's is?

Tower Place's new owner says it has a plan

BY LISA BIANK FASIG | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER

November 9, 2007

 

The company that acquired Tower Place Mall in August has ambitious plans to transform the beleaguered center into a downtown jewel that will help connect the newly renovated Fountain Square with the developing riverfront.  They also mentioned an interest in attracting a supermarket such as Trader Joe's.

 

Another one bites the dust.......

 

I walked by the Nine West store today in Tower Place, and noticed they were having a big sale.  I then saw the sign that said "store closing". Boo.

^Yikes

More room for the Beer Hall of Fame!

Tower Place gets dollar store

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081016/BIZ01/310160011

 

you stay classy cincinnati

I thought the new owners had a plan?  This sounds like pure desperation.

They can reach out to all the tenants they want, no one respectable is moving into an outdated dead mall unless the place is remodeled. Someone please explain to me how we could possibly expect companies like Trader Joes to come in when we haven't heard a single word about a Tower Place remodeling job anywhere in local politics. I highly doubt the new owners have the resources to do it themselves, and even if they did, they would have a very hard time making a profit after spending so much to make the place up-to-par.

I was kinda hoping for something like this...not a dollar store!!

 

 

 

HUB CAP WORLD will be next! :wink:

How disappointing.  :(

They can reach out to all the tenants they want, no one respectable is moving into an outdated dead mall unless the place is remodeled. Someone please explain to me how we could possibly expect companies like Trader Joes to come in when we haven't heard a single word about a Tower Place remodeling job anywhere in local politics. I highly doubt the new owners have the resources to do it themselves, and even if they did, they would have a very hard time making a profit after spending so much to make the place up-to-par.

 

Why exactly does it need to be remodeled?  Do you personally think it looks stale or outdated?  I think it has more to do with whoever is managing the damn thing.  Additionally, indoor malls are dinosaurs.  There needs to be more street-level shopping options.