Avondale touches UC, Xavier, and the largest Medical Center in the region. It also contains the Cincinnati Zoo which is one of the most visited locations in the tri-state. It's located on Reading Road, on the Metro Plus route, and is getting a new exit at MLK off I-71. There are almost no excuses for it to not become a successful neighborhood. It lacks a historic dense neighborhood business district, but provides a ton of potential sites for new brownfield construction which is cheaper and easier than historic rehabs that are required in OTR and Walnut Hills. I have hope.

Imo, the Reading Road corridor through Avondale is one of Cincinnati's most impressive areas. The scale and quality of architecture of the housing lining Reading is truly impressive, of course culminating with the Belvedere in North Avondale. The library branch and several of the former Jewish temples turned churches are also really beautiful. I hope that this development comes to fruition, in addition to the infill at the Avondale Center site, which will remove one of the largest gaps (surface lots) along Reading.

Bowdeya Tweh also wrote an article on the Steiner preferred developer agreement. He included this photo, which shows which sites are included in the PDA:

 

 

I'm curious/surprised why the PDA doesn't include more of the NTP-owned properties. There's the <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1444161,-84.4999966,3a,90y,281.14h,82.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMYufsOC0HhoMDj6SePo8UQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656">parking lot on the west side of Burnet, just south of the post office</a> and the <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1431049,-84.5001195,3a,89.9y,278.03h,82.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqkptjmtBffpqBBEiMe-MjQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656">two parcels just south of the gas station</a>. Those weren't included in the PDA, but they're owned by NTP Development LLC which owns the other properties. If Steiner wanted to use those properties as part of the project, they should be able to.

 

I think those properties on the west side of Burnet are crucial to a) close the gap between Children's to the south and b) build up *both* sides of Burnet for a successful retail district. 

 

Maybe there's already a separate plan for those properties, which would explain why they weren't included in Steiner's PDA.

I don't really get the strategy here.  Burnett is not a through street, and so has a poor traffic count and visibility in the short stretch between Erkenbrecher and Forest.  And I don't understand why there wouldn't be an emphasis on getting all of the empty lots lining MLK filled with something -- anything -- as well as replacing the hideous Talbert House building which does as much to hurt the stretch as do the empty parking lots. 

 

In my periodic sketches of imaginary transit line routings, I come back to the idea of a Reading Rd. line that forks at the Losantiville Triangle up Burnett Ave. to Children's, then rejoins the Reading Rd. line at Forest.  The long-contemplated I-71 light rail line could do the same thing, with a branch forking from MLK at Burnett and at Reading, then join at that same point, and continue multilined through Avondale.  So this would give Avondale residents a lot of frequency and the option to travel through two different areas. 

Being adjacent to Children's, Burnet makes perfect sense to build up as a mixed retail/residential corridor. It doesn't have to be a huge district. Even just a couple of restaurants/bars plus some new apartments would be great for the neighborhood. Any new housing stock will be, I suspect, quite popular for anybody who would like to be able to walk to the hospitals (UC or Children's). Burnet is only 40' wide and is NOT a primary thru-corridor, which makes it more attractive for pedestrians. Metro Plus runs along Burnet, so it still has decent transit accessibility but not the fast traffic that Reading (60' wide) has.

 

As new institutions move to the area (especially NIOSH), I suspect they will be located near MLK/Reading since that's the only area with enough empty space. And when that happens, I hope they also build to "face" the street.

 

 

That development is as close as reasonably possible to the most dense employment center outside of downtown.  If only 100 out of 6,000+Children's employees choose to live in the new development, that is a slam dunk.  I bet that is closer to Children's than where some of the employees have to park!

That development is as close as reasonably possible to the most dense employment center outside of downtown.  If only 100 out of 6,000+Children's employees choose to live in the new development, that is a slam dunk.  I bet that is closer to Children's than where some of the employees have to park!

 

Yeah - my wife walks over half a mile from where she parks to get to the lab at Children's.

I used to live in a house that was torn down for the VA/Zoo parking lots along Vine.  Few hospital workers seem to live in the houses on Louis and Scheil or Erkenbrecker, which makes no sense.  The paradox of "medical professionals" is that they make so much money that they often live in distant suburbs or even the country and for whatever reason tolerate huge commutes to their odd-hour jobs.  There is obviously enough income being paid to the tens of thousands of hospital workers for them to completely repopulate Mt. Auburn, Corryville, and Avondale. 

^They want to put their kids in good school districts. That is the #1 reason.

^They want to put their kids in good school districts. That is the #1 reason.

To be honest, tho, that's about a mile or two from Walnut Hills High School, North Avondale Montessori or Fairview-Clifton German Language School.

 

If you are ever at Liberty and Reading between the hours of 4 and 6 pm, the endless stream of pill hill workers driving to their homes in another state is staggering. Sadly, I don't see that changing.

Don't you have to test into those schools, though? A good public school is guaranteed if you just live in Mason, Deerfield Township, West Chester, etc.

You watch, they'll move the hospitals out to the 'burbs right as the 'burbs start to melt down.

^^ North Avondale and Clifton-Fairview are just lottery based now. They used to be first come first served, but that was unfair somehow, so the selection is now random. I think the testing requirements to get in were dropped years ago in a lawsuit but I could be mistaken. If I remember correctly, the test was somehow unfair, too. But yeah, school districts are the primary reason young professionals move out of the city. I've seen it happen a few times with friends. The fact that selection is random and you have to be lucky is what would scare me. If/when I have kids, I don't know if I'd be comfortable buying a house in CPS's district knowing where my kids go to school is left to chance and luck.

Most of the people working at hospitals are frighteningly unintelligent when diverted a step or two away from their area of expertise.  That obviously includes superstitions surrounding suburban residences and "good" schools. 

^There's demand for mid-range housing options ($200-300k, 2 or 3 br)... but not much supply. Around Avondale, the housing stock is in rough shape and not much is "move in ready". In Clifton gaslight area you have nicer, bigger houses (typically $300k+) that work for the higher paid employees. There are lots of people who would love to be walking distance (or a short drive) from the hospitals.

^There's demand for mid-range housing options ($200-300k, 2 or 3 br)... but not much supply. Around Avondale, the housing stock is in rough shape and not much is "move in ready". In Clifton gaslight area you have nicer, bigger houses (typically $300k+) that work for the higher paid employees. There are lots of people who would love to be walking distance (or a short drive) from the hospitals.

 

 

I am continually amazed at how low the great homes in Clifton and North Avondale sell for.  There are tons of spectacular homes in the $400-500k range that would be $2 million+ in other cities.  There are always decent homes selling on Howell, Terrace, Bishop, etc., in the $250k range.  Totally affordable for any professionally employed couple and much more interesting houses and neighborhoods than any suburb. 

 

Most of the people working at hospitals are frighteningly unintelligent when diverted a step or two away from their area of expertise.  That obviously includes superstitions surrounding suburban residences and "good" schools. 

 

That's what happens when employers fetishize specialists and tell generalists that they have to go work at the video game store, coffee shop or become forced to start their own company -- society winds up with all the smart people doing those jobs. The main difference between doctors and a lot of other people at these specialized places is that doctors have to be excellent at math.

^There's demand for mid-range housing options ($200-300k, 2 or 3 br)... but not much supply. Around Avondale, the housing stock is in rough shape and not much is "move in ready". In Clifton gaslight area you have nicer, bigger houses (typically $300k+) that work for the higher paid employees. There are lots of people who would love to be walking distance (or a short drive) from the hospitals.

 

 

I am continually amazed at how low the great homes in Clifton and North Avondale sell for.  There are tons of spectacular homes in the $400-500k range that would be $2 million+ in other cities.  There are always decent homes selling on Howell, Terrace, Bishop, etc., in the $250k range.  Totally affordable for any professionally employed couple and much more interesting houses and neighborhoods than any suburb. 

 

 

East Walnut Hills is similar, and it's a neighborhood favored by doctors too.  The problem is crime on the one hand, but also that these houses cost a lot just to operate and maintain, let alone to fix up if need be.  There's a lot of yard to tend, monstrous heating and cooling bills, and with the threat of break-ins on top of not having the cachet of Hyde Park or really anything worthwhile nearby to walk to makes for lower value.  I think also these big houses have a problem of scale.  The rooms are all very large, so you get a lot of square footage but not very good "stats" like number of bedrooms etc. 

 

I've worked on a few houses in East Walnut Hills and there's usually a big formal foyer and grand stair, a huge living room, plus a parlor, large dining room, and a butler's pantry, leaving a relatively rinky dink kitchen with no eating space or family room.  The bedrooms are big, but the closets aren't, and since a lot of these houses are from the 1890s or early 1900s, rather than the 1910s or 1920s, the bathrooms are either quite primitive (oh look, an indoor outhouse) or have a bad case of sea-foam green mid-century remodel garishness. 

Most of the people working at hospitals are frighteningly unintelligent when diverted a step or two away from their area of expertise.  That obviously includes superstitions surrounding suburban residences and "good" schools. 

 

That's what happens when employers fetishize specialists and tell generalists that they have to go work at the video game store, coffee shop or become forced to start their own company -- society winds up with all the smart people doing those jobs. The main difference between doctors and a lot of other people at these specialized places is that doctors have to be excellent at math.

 

If you ever listen to the Dave Ramsey show, you will hear at least one call from a total blockhead making well in excess of $100k in any of the medical realms -- doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, etc.  Sometimes you hear from a pretty dumb lawyer as well.  At some point I realized that medical school and law school must not really be that tough to get through. 

 

 

East Walnut Hills is similar, and it's a neighborhood favored by doctors too.  The problem is crime on the one hand, but also that these houses cost a lot just to operate and maintain, let alone to fix up if need be.  There's a lot of yard to tend, monstrous heating and cooling bills, and with the threat of break-ins on top of not having the cachet of Hyde Park or really anything worthwhile nearby to walk to makes for lower value.  I think also these big houses have a problem of scale.  The rooms are all very large, so you get a lot of square footage but not very good "stats" like number of bedrooms etc. 

 

I've worked on a few houses in East Walnut Hills and there's usually a big formal foyer and grand stair, a huge living room, plus a parlor, large dining room, and a butler's pantry, leaving a relatively rinky dink kitchen with no eating space or family room.  The bedrooms are big, but the closets aren't, and since a lot of these houses are from the 1890s or early 1900s, rather than the 1910s or 1920s, the bathrooms are either quite primitive (oh look, an indoor outhouse) or have a bad case of sea-foam green mid-century remodel garishness. 

 

If you have the luxury of time and can keep looking at houses until a good one appears, AND you know what to look for, you can eventually find a house where somebody has made all of the expensive mechanical repairs that don't increase the value of the house but not the cosmetic ones.  I looked at a FSBO this year where the guy had done seemingly every expensive but unnecessary repair imaginable (i.e. had the gas line rebuilt from the sidewalk into the house, had 220 run to the second floor for a dryer, etc.) but hadn't bothered with the most basic stuff like, um, painting the interior or exterior.   

I almost feel you have to be a certain age or have lived in enough buildings to know what little things really annoy you. I moved to a small ranch house Monday from my 2 story old duplex that I had been living in for 5 years. It got really, really bothersome not having my bedroom and the bathroom on the same floor. I've always been a little forgetful, so forgetting items upstairs got extremely annoying. That forgetfulness made having to park 100 yards away from the door very lame. Also having to eat every meal on TV trays in the living room was awful since there was no eat-in kitchen or dining room. So sometimes when you look at these old houses with these giant bedrooms that are all upstairs and the bathroom downstairs right next to the kitchen you end up bolting. For some reason I usually wound up with a tiny living room and monstrous bedroom during my 13 years of renting. I even had one rental where the only bathroom was upstairs.

$220k buys you a 1-bedroom condo in OTR or this 5-bedroom house 5 miles north:

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1500549/874-E-Mitchell-Ave-Avondale-OH-45229

 

$365k gets you this very nice home nearby:

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1502987/4208-Red-Bud-Pl-Avondale-OH-45229

 

 

There are some great homes at great prices in North Avondale.

 

Through my home search, I want to stay in the city of Cincinnati, but where I live now in Columbia Tusculum / Mt. Lookout is too far out of my range.

 

There are also some great homes in College Hill in nice, walkable neighborhoods, and also in Pleasant Ridge.  I also was looking in Westwood as there are nice homes there as well, but I am not as certain as to the stability of Westwood.  Maybe I should put this in off topic or somewhere else, but for people who look, where would you recommend a neighborhood in the range up to 150k for a single male young professional first home within Cincinnati?

Definitely off-topic, but we just bought our first home in Fairview and love it. The quality of the housing stock is pretty great if you don't mind the 19th-century sized lots. I don't really understand why Fairview/CUF is always off people's radar for buying a house - maybe people assume the college parties are a nuisance? But given the fact that you can buy an Italianate for well under $200k and be quite close to downtown more than makes up for the odd house party.

 

It's a 17 minute walk to Findlay (5 mins on bike), a 15 minute walk to Nippert for FCC games, 10 minutes to cheap Indian/Asian food on McMillan, and 5 minutes to the park with the best view of the city.

I would definitely hesitate to buy a house in Westwood unless you get something that needs zero work for under $50k.  That way you could simply walk away from the house in 10 years if the place gets worse, which it might. 

 

Oudd, I have owned a house in CUF for several years on the edge of the student area, and aside from having a beer bottle thrown on my roof once, it has been uneventful. I think that when and if OTR is built-out and most of the West End is redeveloped, houses on Klotter, Emming, Parker, Sauer, etc., will get very expensive.  There might even be some people who renovate student houses on Wheeler and all of those similar streets. 

Agreed, we bought the house because it was right for us and not as an investment. But if OTR does get saturated prices in the area may rise, especially as development moves closer to Brighton/Mohawk, which is literally just down the hill from CUF. I keep waiting for that historic McMicken business district to pick up...hell, there are nice corner business buildings all along Warner that are vacant or misused.

 

It always amazes me when I walk down Klotter (either branch), one of the best streets in the entire city, that it's still about 1/3 taken up by cheap junky student rental properties.

A couple houses on Klotter sold for incredibly low prices during the recession.  One on the south side of the 200 block (no view of downtown due to trees) sold for $50k.  It is a very small house likely with just one bathroom and both bedrooms in a cape-cod type attic.  But still...$50k for a house that didn't need any work.  It sold in 2014 for $95k or something like that. 

 

As I've mentioned in other threads...a huge percentage of Cincinnati housing has just one bathroom, bedrooms in attics, etc.  They are small houses with layouts that people raised in newer suburban housing probably won't like but people managed to raise families with tons of kids in them 50+ years ago.  A ton of Oakley is like that, but most of those homes have been renovated and sell for over $200k.  A lot of Avondale is like that but obviously hardly any of it has been renovated in the southern half near the zoo and hospitals.  There are hardly any houses that meet yuppie expectations on Vine between the zoo and St. Bernard, on Earnshaw, or on any number of other side streets. 

 

 

I would definitely hesitate to buy a house in Westwood unless you get something that needs zero work for under $50k.  That way you could simply walk away from the house in 10 years if the place gets worse, which it might. 

 

Westwood is a geographically huge neighborhood. You certainly need to choose the less risky areas.  The Town Hall area is a solid investment. In fact, it may already be too late for those ground floor/rock bottom prices, although there could be an outlier or two. There are lots of us, who have beenmaking huge investments here the last few years, and the city has some big plans as well.

Thanks for the info.

 

By townhall area, would you describe this area as what you are talking about (west of Harrison, North of Montana, South of Mozart / Harrison, East of Cheviot)

 

 

A couple houses on Klotter sold for incredibly low prices during the recession.  One on the south side of the 200 block (no view of downtown due to trees) sold for $50k.  It is a very small house likely with just one bathroom and both bedrooms in a cape-cod type attic.  But still...$50k for a house that didn't need any work.  It sold in 2014 for $95k or something like that. 

 

As I've mentioned in other threads...a huge percentage of Cincinnati housing has just one bathroom, bedrooms in attics, etc.  They are small houses with layouts that people raised in newer suburban housing probably won't like but people managed to raise families with tons of kids in them 50+ years ago.  A ton of Oakley is like that, but most of those homes have been renovated and sell for over $200k.  A lot of Avondale is like that but obviously hardly any of it has been renovated in the southern half near the zoo and hospitals.  There are hardly any houses that meet yuppie expectations on Vine between the zoo and St. Bernard, on Earnshaw, or on any number of other side streets. 

 

 

 

One of the big benefits of the first ring of neighborhoods on the hills outside of OTR is that they have so many detached single family homes and duplexes. Those are things you can obviously find all over Cincinnati, but not really in OTR (at least not for under $500,000 or so), and the ones in Mt. Auburn and CUF are within walking distance of OTR's amenities. So if you want access to Findlay Market, Rhinegeist, the Streetcar, etc. but don't want a condo they are excellent choices. I think they could surge in popularity even before the West End because they can fill a difference demand.

 

It's kind of interesting how a lot of first-ring suburbs still function well with an unplanned mix of single-families and multi-families on the same street. You see it all over in Norwood, Bond Hill, Price Hill, Avondale, etc.  You might have a street with 25 houses on each side, but 10-20 multifamilies mixed in randomly.  We moved to a 1960s suburb in the 80s and even there there were 1960s-era 2-families mixed in on some of the streets and larger multi-families on some street corners.  Nobody thought anything of it at the time, but by the 1970s that never really happened again. 

 

Obviously single-family homes are selling at a ridiculous premium in the basin, but you do gain a pretty significant increase in quality of life with a small back yard, a useable basement, etc.  The big problem I've noticed in OTR is that the sound of air conditioners of multi-families tend to ruin the ambience of the single-family courtyards that they back up to.  That won't be so much of a problem in the West End, where there is a bit more space, and isn't a problem at all from what I know of Mt. Auburn and CUF.  And what's cool is that there is typically some overgrowth in those neighborhoods between back yards, so even though the yards are often very small, there is a lot of privacy. 

 

The 1970s seems to be when they really tightened up the zoning and gave us the terribly micro-managed situation we have today.  That period marked the end of cheap apartment construction too, which may have been the intention in the first place.  Still, the plethora of apartments from that era and the art deco 4-plexes from a bit earlier is one of the reasons Cincinnati has such affordable housing for the most part.  It won't stay that way though if single-family houses are fetishized to the detriment of all else. 

A couple houses on Klotter sold for incredibly low prices during the recession.  One on the south side of the 200 block (no view of downtown due to trees) sold for $50k.  It is a very small house likely with just one bathroom and both bedrooms in a cape-cod type attic.  But still...$50k for a house that didn't need any work.  It sold in 2014 for $95k or something like that. 

 

As I've mentioned in other threads...a huge percentage of Cincinnati housing has just one bathroom, bedrooms in attics, etc.  They are small houses with layouts that people raised in newer suburban housing probably won't like but people managed to raise families with tons of kids in them 50+ years ago.  A ton of Oakley is like that, but most of those homes have been renovated and sell for over $200k.  A lot of Avondale is like that but obviously hardly any of it has been renovated in the southern half near the zoo and hospitals.  There are hardly any houses that meet yuppie expectations on Vine between the zoo and St. Bernard, on Earnshaw, or on any number of other side streets. 

 

 

 

One of the big benefits of the first ring of neighborhoods on the hills outside of OTR is that they have so many detached single family homes and duplexes. Those are things you can obviously find all over Cincinnati, but not really in OTR (at least not for under $500,000 or so), and the ones in Mt. Auburn and CUF are within walking distance of OTR's amenities. So if you want access to Findlay Market, Rhinegeist, the Streetcar, etc. but don't want a condo they are excellent choices. I think they could surge in popularity even before the West End because they can fill a difference demand.

 

 

I think CUF and Mt. Auburn probably are great opportunities for housing near the basin, but I also think that the argument about walking distance to OTR amenities is belied by the actual experience.  I can't see people walking up the hill on Vine to, say, Warner (especially after a night of drinking).  Walk down and then Uber home?  Sure.  But I can say, walking home to Mulberry on many occasions, that (1) I don't see a ton of other people walking to and from OTR, and (2) it's even rarer to see people walking up Sycamore or Vine past Mulberry.  Those are some big hills. 

 

Of course, if/when the streetcar heads up the hill (and assuming there are stops somewhere along the way), all bets are off.  But till then, the hills out of the basin are going to be a significant hurdle to making the hillside neighborhoods immediately north of OTR a walkable alternative, IMO. 

It's kind of interesting how a lot of first-ring suburbs still function well with an unplanned mix of single-families and multi-families on the same street. You see it all over in Norwood, Bond Hill, Price Hill, Avondale, etc.  You might have a street with 25 houses on each side, but 10-20 multifamilies mixed in randomly.  We moved to a 1960s suburb in the 80s and even there there were 1960s-era 2-families mixed in on some of the streets and larger multi-families on some street corners.  Nobody thought anything of it at the time, but by the 1970s that never really happened again. 

 

 

 

It's happening again in Grandview Heights/5XNW. But the apartments are much newer than most of the houses.

It's kind of interesting how a lot of first-ring suburbs still function well with an unplanned mix of single-families and multi-families on the same street. You see it all over in Norwood, Bond Hill, Price Hill, Avondale, etc.  You might have a street with 25 houses on each side, but 10-20 multifamilies mixed in randomly.  We moved to a 1960s suburb in the 80s and even there there were 1960s-era 2-families mixed in on some of the streets and larger multi-families on some street corners.  Nobody thought anything of it at the time, but by the 1970s that never really happened again. 

 

 

 

It's happening again in Grandview Heights/5XNW. But the apartments are much newer than most of the houses.

 

This is a big reason why I think Clifton is one of the most successful neighborhoods in the city. Lots of housing options allows for lots of income diversity all living side by side, and having big apartment blocks scattered among the huge mansions not only helps break up the lots and allow all these different people to live in close proximity, but it also helps bump up the population density enough to make Ludlow Avenue as effective of an NBD as it is. If Clifton were all grand mansions with no apartments or duplex homes, I can't imagine it being as effective or as walkable of a neighborhood as it is, even with UC being so close.

I think CUF and Mt. Auburn probably are great opportunities for housing near the basin, but I also think that the argument about walking distance to OTR amenities is belied by the actual experience.  I can't see people walking up the hill on Vine to, say, Warner (especially after a night of drinking).  Walk down and then Uber home?  Sure.  But I can say, walking home to Mulberry on many occasions, that (1) I don't see a ton of other people walking to and from OTR, and (2) it's even rarer to see people walking up Sycamore or Vine past Mulberry.  Those are some big hills. 

 

Of course, if/when the streetcar heads up the hill (and assuming there are stops somewhere along the way), all bets are off.  But till then, the hills out of the basin are going to be a significant hurdle to making the hillside neighborhoods immediately north of OTR a walkable alternative, IMO.

 

I haven't walked up the hill after a night of drinking, but I have biked from CUF for drinks via Ravine and the Central Parkway bike lane, and coming home there were a few other people doing the same. It's about 10 minutes from Washington Park up to the top of Fairview, and it's a great way to burn off the beer calories :)

 

And when we do our Saturday/Sunday walk down Ravine/McMicken to Findlay there are always a few other people making a similar trek. It's definitely not bustling like lower OTR, but that's partially due to the big abandoned stretches that currently lie between CUF and OTR.

 

Also, CUF has its own walkable amenities (albeit a bit college-y). OTR is just a nice secondary option. Can't speak to Mt. Auburn's state as a walkable neighborhood in its own right.

Thanks for the info.

 

By townhall area, would you describe this area as what you are talking about (west of Harrison, North of Montana, South of Mozart / Harrison, East of Cheviot)

 

Essentially yes... Maybe bigger. There are a few good spines, and pockets all around.

 

 

I think CUF and Mt. Auburn probably are great opportunities for housing near the basin, but I also think that the argument about walking distance to OTR amenities is belied by the actual experience.  I can't see people walking up the hill on Vine to, say, Warner (especially after a night of drinking).  Walk down and then Uber home?  Sure.  But I can say, walking home to Mulberry on many occasions, that (1) I don't see a ton of other people walking to and from OTR, and (2) it's even rarer to see people walking up Sycamore or Vine past Mulberry.  Those are some big hills. 

 

Of course, if/when the streetcar heads up the hill (and assuming there are stops somewhere along the way), all bets are off.  But till then, the hills out of the basin are going to be a significant hurdle to making the hillside neighborhoods immediately north of OTR a walkable alternative, IMO.

 

This is the same phenomena that Cincinnati experiences for the first 90 years of existence, and made the basin so dense: it really isn't feasible to live on the hills and walk into downtown / otr. I remember reading once that the Bellevue incline turned a ~40 minute walk (I assume up Vine, because the Ohio Ave steps are much shorter) into a 2 minute ride. Transit really allowed people to move up and out, and allowed the city to expand its boundaries.

This is pretty far off topic from Avondale. Let's stay on topic

Massive Uptown project expected to set tone for redevelopment

 

 

Terrex and Messer Construction Co. are working on a huge development at the new interchange of Martin Luther King Drive and I-71.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/01/13/massive-uptown-project-expected-to-set-tone-for.html

MLK interchange shifts path of opportunity

 

 

The Martin Luther King Drive interchange just north of downtown, which I’ve gotten to watch being built in semi-real time, will open in May.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/01/13/mlk-interchange-shifts-path-of-opportunity.html

Great news for the city and also of note looks like they will be able to incorporate a nice design because of NMTC awarded to Uptown Consortium.  Underground parking, too.  Traffic is about to get heavier in Uptown, though.  Exciting news for the city of Cincinnati on a big project slated to break ground in the spring sounds like.

There are a lot of properties that make that nice rendering and future phase a pipe dream.  But it is good to know that this expensive interchange has sparked some development.

Not clear what you are saying?

 

That this rendering won't come to fruition?

There are a lot of properties that make that nice rendering and future phase a pipe dream.  But it is good to know that this expensive interchange has sparked some development.

 

Is it the right kind of redevelopment though?

^Seems like a good start for 6 of the consortium's 40 acres, could bring lots of jobs to Uptown targeted towards companies needing to be close to the hospitals.  I think future sites will need to incorporate more residential for sure, but this site has a 200 room hotel proposed on it so at least it isn't straight office use.

Not clear what you are saying?

 

That this rendering won't come to fruition?

 

If you look closely, 2 of the 5 buildings on the aerial rendering closest to MLK are rendered in more detail. The remaining three buildings would look to be eye candy only (with little possibility of actually happening unless the owners can acquire numerous individual properties, especially the more expensive ones along Reading Road)

OK, I hear you.  Yes, according to the site plan map on the article, the three buildings along MLK in the rendering are what will be the "first phase" (2 office buildings and hotel).

 

They also have the property just to the south next to the highway.  the building sandwhiched between 71, Lincoln, and Winslow extension in the rendering is a future phase office building (which is to be bought by the company).

 

They don't have any of the property on that south corner of Reading and Lincoln, currently looks like a gas station or drive through / small auto dealership...  I don't think Uptown Consortium even owns that property...

Is there a site plan?

Cincinnati Children's new patient tower will take over the block

 

Check out this article from The Cincinnati Enquirer:

 

Cincinnati Children's expansion would reshape Avondale

 

http://cin.ci/2m8ssCn