What beautiful old houses / apartments were torn down for that ugly thing and when?

One side of the church was an old strip mall whereas most the other side of it was a vacant lot (save for one multifamily) since the early Teens.

What beautiful old houses / apartments were torn down for that ugly thing and when?

 

Ugly? Why on rainy days you can check out the view of water draining off that huge lower roof all day long, and from most any window!

Panel slaps restrictions on Uptown development

 

 

The area surrounding the Martin Luther King Drive/Interstate 71 interchange that opened last year has drawn significant interest from developers.

...

New restrictions on Uptown development approved by the Cincinnati Planning Commission on Friday would not apply to New Friendship Baptist Church's proposed "Dream Campus," seen in this rendering.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/09/21/panel-slaps-restrictions-on-uptown-development.html

Dragonfly Foundation buys historic Uptown building

 

 

Dragonfly Foundation, a nonprofit that helps patients with pediatric cancer and their families, has purchased a historic building in Uptown for its long-term home.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/09/28/exclusive-dragonfly-foundation-buys-historic.html

Former P&G executive shares $26M plan to draw manufacturing to Uptown

 

 

Rich Kiley, a former Procter & Gamble Co. executive who also served as founding CEO of CincyTech, has secured a commitment from the Uptown Consortium for the acreage needed to construct a massive building that would be a hub for manufacturing, product innovation and job training.

 

It would cost $21 million to acquire land and erect the three-story building, which would encompass 100,000 square feet, Kiley told me.

 

Another $5 million would be needed for planning, start up and program costs, said Kiley, who is president of the new nonprofit initiative CoMade. 

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/10/23/exclusive-former-p-g-executive-shares-26m-plan-to.html

Uptown Consortium signs agreement with minority developer for mixed-use project

 

 

Uptown Consortium Inc. has signed a letter of intent with a minority-owned development team to develop the southwest quadrant of Martin Luther King Drive and Reading Road.

 

Queen City Hills LLC, an ownership group that includes Ed and Carole Rigaud, David and Patricia Foxx, and Albert and Liza Smitherman, has nine months to submit a development plan and enter a purchase agreement for more than 3 acres of property in the Uptown Innovation Corridor. 

 

Beth Robinson, CEO of Uptown Consortium, said selecting a minority-owned development team is a key component of the organization’s economic inclusion model. The Consortium is a nonprofit community development group for the Avondale, Clifton, Corryville, CUF and Mount Auburn neighborhoods.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/10/24/uptown-consortium-signs-agreement-with-minority.html

On 8/24/2018 at 12:37 PM, taestell said:

For all of the criticism that 3CDC gets, they seem to genuinely understand the importance of walkability, mixed-use development, and historic preservation, and do a pretty good job of implementing those ideas, in a way that none of the other institutions in Greater Cincinnati do.

 

The best decision the elites who put 3CDC together made was hiring someone from outside the region to head it.   Stephen Leeper is from Pittsburgh.

$2.4M bequest: Children's to name part of new building for executive, wife

 

 

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital plans to name the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in the Critical Care Building now under construction in honor of the late Mary and Joseph Stern Jr., who recently left $2.4 million to the medical center.

 

Mary Stern died in June at age 97. Joseph Stern, who had been president and chairman of U.S. Shoe Corp. as well as a trustee of Cincinnati Children’s, died in 2010 at age 91. At the time he died, the Hematology and Oncology Research Center at the hospital was named for the couple.

 

The Bone Marrow Transplant Unit designated in their honor is one of the first areas to be named as part of the hospital’s campaign to raise $60 million from philanthropy for the capital project. The Critical Care Building would encompass 606,000 square feet and cost up to $650 million. 

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/10/31/2-4m-bequest-childrens-to-name-part-of-new.html

Affordable housing project receives $87M

By Erin Caproni  – Digital Producer, Cincinnati Business Courier

 

A planned project that will rehabilitate more than 400 affordable housing units has received a financial boost.

KeyBank Real Estate Capital and KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) have provided $87 million in financing to Related Companies to acquire and renovate two developments.more

^That article talks about the Alms Hill Apartments, a large 200-unit building which is in Walnut Hills (not Avondale) and has been neglected by previous owners. I'm glad to see it's getting much needed maintenance/upgrades. 

Also some cool old apartment buildings in Avondale will get some love, too. Between this and the big investment from The Community Builders, Avondale has seen a lot of its cool old apartment buildings renovated and retained as affordable housing. Great to hear. I'm also glad the Alms will see some upgrades. It could desperately use them.

City set to approve incentives for major Uptown development

 

 

A City Council committee approved a complex property sale and development agreement for a major $246 million development in the southeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Reading Road. It is expected to receive approval by the full council on Wednesday.

 

Phase 1a of the project to be developed by Terrex LLC will cost $185 million and consist of a hotel, two office buildings and a large, public parking garage. The 150-room hotel will be a Homewood Suites by Hilton. One office building will be the University of Cincinnati Digital Futures building. The other will be a speculative office building. Those are expected to create or retain 1,080 permanent, full-time jobs with a $48.6 million payroll. The garage will be a 1,300-1,500-space underground structure.

 

Messer Construction will build the project, while the hotel will be developed and operated by a partnership of Brandicorp and Lexington Management Co.

 

"Due to a financing gap, the project would be infeasible without city assistance,” according to a memo from the city manager’s office on the deal, something confirmed by the city’s economic development director, Phil Denning, to council.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/03/12/city-set-to-approve-incentives-for-major-uptown.html

First phase of mixed-use development at MLK interchange lands key approval

 

 

The first phase of what is planned to eventually be a $500 million development received a key approval Friday.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/03/15/first-phase-of-mixed-use-development-at-mlk.html

April 8, 10:30 am - Terrex Development & Construction with Messer Construction and Uptown Consortium Inc. are breaking ground at the Uptown Gateway development across the street from the 1819 Innovation Hub.

Beth Robinson tweeted this morning about how the Innovation Corridor is emphasizing "walkability" in its design... I honestly don't even know what she's referring to since the intersection of MLK/Reading is so pedestrian-hostile areas. I haven't seen any evidence of the Uptown Consortium pushing for walkable designs. 

She obviously means walking from the garage to the office... 

3 hours ago, tonyt3524 said:

April 8, 10:30 am - Terrex Development & Construction with Messer Construction and Uptown Consortium Inc. are breaking ground at the Uptown Gateway development across the street from the 1819 Innovation Hub.

Are there any updated renderings of the project?

This is all that I've seen..

 

https://jll.app.box.com/s/ds9l4tyzgrwagrvwzsq1u7a053uyxnhx

I’m excited for this project. If this corridor is built out as planned, it will be pretty remarkable. There’s only so much uptown consortium or anyone else can do to make this area more walkable given the width of MLK. Given the new interchange, I can’t see a median, bike lanes, or corner bump outs happening, but building up along he corridor will at least help the built environment match the intensity/scale of the street. The contemporary, glassy designs of the buildings, and the plazas and sculptures proposed should really refresh this corridor. It’s giving me DC vibes. 

It will definitely be nice to see from the interstate.

The ingredients for walkability aren’t big single use buildings serviced by big parking garages taking up entire blocks that are next to wide roads with high speeds. It’s diversity of built form, many uses, serviced by transit in human scale. 

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by atlas

1 hour ago, atlas said:

The ingredients for walkability aren’t big single use buildings serviced by big parking garages taking up entire blocks that are next to wide roads with high speeds. It’s diversity of built form, many uses, serviced by transit in human scale. 

 

If this is the only way to achieve walkability, large portions of Manhattan, and basically all American CBDs are unwalkable. This situation you describe might be optimal conditions for fostering a walkable environment at a neighborhood scale, but I don’t agree that large scale, single use buildings always lead to unwalkable environments. The biggest impediment to walkability in this area is definitely the width and speed of MLK. But the walkability of the area today is also severely hampered by large surface parking and vacant lots— there is really nothing to walk to. Adding office and hotel uses to previously vacant sites will absolutely increase he walkability of this portion of MLK, and it’s unreasonable to expect a site like this to be designed with small footprint buildings. That simply doesn’t accommodate the needs of modern office users, and honestly would look out of context in this wide corridor. 

 

I’d also push back a bit on the notion that only areas built at a fine grain scale, along narrow, quiet roads are walkable. Large portions of Los Angeles are built at a scale that isn’t exactly hospitable to pedestrians. This doesn’t stop lots of people from biking and walking around these parts of the city. It’s not ideal and might not be pleasant, but people can and do walk when there is residential density adjacent to or mixed with a variety of commercial uses. MLK’s current conditions are what they are. Realistically, those conditions are unlikely to change anytime soon. That doesn’t mean the city should just give up on it. This area has massive potential for vibrancy. 

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by edale

This Uptown project is expected to transform a neighborhood

 

When Shree Kulkarni first started buying a mixture of single-family homes, duplexes, apartment buildings and vacant residential land in Avondale and Walnut Hills in 2013, he was banking on the land’s potential.

 

The Node will start with 130,000 square feet of research/office space, a 160-room class A hotel, 180 multifamily residential units and up to 10,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/04/05/this-uptown-project-is-expected-to-transform-a.html?iana=hpmvp_cinci_news_headline

On 3/29/2019 at 11:37 PM, edale said:

If this is the only way to achieve walkability, large portions of Manhattan, and basically all American CBDs are unwalkable.

 

This is a true statement though. Midtown Manhattan is a very uncomfortable and dangerous place to be a pedestrian. Other parts of Manhattan, that have narrower streets and a finer grained urbanity are very pleasant places to walk. The same is true in Philadelphia, where Market Street, JFK Blvd, Ben Franklin Parkway, etc. are perilous to cross and uncomfortable to walk along. It's the more fine-grained rowhouse neighborhoods that are pleasant for pedestrians. And of course the same is true of Cincinnati, where most of the CBD is not a comfortable place to walk but OTR is much more pleasant. Sure, the CBDs of many American cities are walkable in the sense that things are close together and there are sidewalks, but they aren't pleasant or safe places to walk. 

55 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/04/05/this-uptown-project-is-expected-to-transform-a.html?iana=hpmvp_cinci_news_headline

 

Key statistic: "Even though OKI Regional Council of Governments’ new Job Hubs Map shows nearly 44,000 workers in the Uptown hub, only 438 live and work in the area."

 

Making Uptown a place where people want to live is the biggest challenge. I don't doubt they'll fill office/hotel/restaurant space. But it'll take major changes to become an attractive area to live. 

Just now, jwulsin said:

Making Uptown a place where people want to live is the biggest challenge. I don't doubt they'll fill office/hotel/restaurant space. But it'll take major changes to become an attractive area to live. 

 

Avondale proper will gentrify by 2030.  There are too many flippable homes and vacant lots for it not to.  What's wild is that you almost never see vacant lots on MLS in Avondale...because they're all being bought up. 

 

Also, Kulkarni is a BIG Cranley donor.  Cranley threw a bunch of city money at the MLK interchange.  So now Kulkarni goes from merely being rich to being richer. 

5 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

 

Key statistic: "Even though OKI Regional Council of Governments’ new Job Hubs Map shows nearly 44,000 workers in the Uptown hub, only 438 live and work in the area."

 

Making Uptown a place where people want to live is the biggest challenge. I don't doubt they'll fill office/hotel/restaurant space. But it'll take major changes to become an attractive area to live. 

Does it give any time line for construction to start? Or is it just going to be something that we get excited for a wonder what happened to it 5 years down the line.

2 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Does it give any time line for construction to start? Or is it just going to be something that we get excited for a wonder what happened to it 5 years down the line.

They are aiming to begin construction later this year on the first phase (of 4). Not sure about timing of subsequent phases, but I'm sure it's dependent on how successful the initial phase is. 

I want this to succeed, but reading this stuff I kind of get an emperor is wearing no clothes feeling? “We’re going to innovate here. The innovation corridor and innovation district will spawn many innovations. The people will live-work-play and innovate.” Willy Wonka at least had a chocolate factory to inspire him

22 minutes ago, thebillshark said:

I want this to succeed, but reading this stuff I kind of get an emperor is wearing no clothes feeling? “We’re going to innovate here. The innovation corridor and innovation district will spawn many innovations. The people will live-work-play and innovate.” Willy Wonka at least had a chocolate factory to inspire him

 

Every city is building an "innovation center" or "innovation corridor" right now. 

 

If you say it enough, it must be true!

Speaking of innovation, I haven't heard anything more about this project.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/10/23/exclusive-former-p-g-executive-shares-26m-plan-to.html

 

so burned out on innovation

13 hours ago, thebillshark said:

I want this to succeed, but reading this stuff I kind of get an emperor is wearing no clothes feeling? “We’re going to innovate here. The innovation corridor and innovation district will spawn many innovations. The people will live-work-play and innovate.” Willy Wonka at least had a chocolate factory to inspire him

 

As a consultant in the tech industry, I have visited many corporate headquarters located on "Innovation Drive" and similarly named streets in cities all across America. The vast majority were boring, lifeless office buildings in areas with nothing to walk to, with the exception of the Sheraton and a Seasons 52 that are technically within walking distance, but the roads are so pedestrian-hostile that everyone gets in their rental car and drives to the parking lot across the street anyway. I predict this part of Uptown is going to end up the same way.

On 3/29/2019 at 10:34 PM, atlas said:

The ingredients for walkability aren’t big single use buildings serviced by big parking garages taking up entire blocks that are next to wide roads with high speeds. It’s diversity of built form, many uses, serviced by transit in human scale. 

 

Agreed, but...

 

What about pedestrian bridges?

 

It seems like there are many ways to calm traffic and get MLK to be at least somewhat pedestrian, but given the big fight that's been going on over Liberty St. I doubt the Cranley administration is going to be too keen on truly making the area more walkable.

 

I have my reservations about pedestrian bridges, or at least I did until I went to Las Vegas.

The environment is a lot different, they can do things like have outdoor, uncovered escalators.

But the pedestrian bridges did a decent job of making a completely pedestrian-hostile corridor with buildings well beyond human scale somewhat navigable.

 

The alternative I see would be suburban-style pedestrian tunnels, the ones like they use to keep kids riding bikes off of busier streets in a subdivision.

I haven't had a chance to read the plan so maybe one or both of these elements are included.

 

My hope for this part of uptown is that it develops like the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Yes, office park, but also yes very walkable and bike friendly despite the buildings being spread out. Now if only you didnt have to go through the dead zone of parking between 76 and 95 to get to it.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Qum2Ym1XT9v

Edited April 8, 20196 yr by Chas Wiederhold

4 hours ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

My hope for this part of uptown is that it develops like the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Yes, office park, but also yes very walkable and bike friendly despite the buildings being spread out. Now if only you didnt have to go through the dead zone of parking between 76 and 95 to get to it.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Qum2Ym1XT9v

 

Navy Yard is a great example for the Uptown "Innovation" corridor to follow. Yeah, it's more mixed-use low density, but there's an emphases on scale, greenery, walkability, bikability. It mimics a college campus, which is appropriate  for this area. 

The whole issue here is that the tenants want visibility from the interstate.  So we're going to see the volume of the buildings pulled away from Reading and toward the edge of the highway just like at Rookwood.  In fact we could see multi-deck garages along Reading and the buildings crammed up along I-71, their logos twinkling in the night. 

I'm sure they will.  This project is fifth and final phase of the "Suburban Office Park Heritage Trail" along the I-71 corridor.  They're hoping to bring in tourists from not only the Midwest, but from across the globe!

Navy Yard looks about as walkable as Oakley Station.  It's very spread out with many parking lots and low-density uses.  Just because there's an internal connected street grid, sidewalks, trees, and brick crosswalks, that doesn't automatically make it walkable.  It's just a better form of suburban development.  Could it mature into an actual urban neighborhood someday?  Perhaps.  I've made the comparison before that Oakley Station and The Banks have the same street cross-section, and it looks like Navy Yard is similar.  So the bones are decent, but there's little meat.  The tough part is poor connectivity with the surrounding neighborhood.  As for MLK/Reading, I have little hope because those bones are already so screwed up.  Take UC and Children's hospitals, and mix it with Rookwood and Kenwood, and I think that's what this is going to become.  

8 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

The whole issue here is that the tenants want visibility from the interstate.  So we're going to see the volume of the buildings pulled away from Reading and toward the edge of the highway just like at Rookwood.  In fact we could see multi-deck garages along Reading and the buildings crammed up along I-71, their logos twinkling in the night. 

That is true of office tenants... and so there's potential to actually harness that for the benefit of the whole project. If properly designed and laid out, they could use the high visibility sites (closer to the highway, close to MLK/Reading intersection) for taller office buildings, creating a "buffer" for quieter residential that will feel "protected" from the fast traffic. The new, interior streets could be much more "pedestrian scale". I'm not at all confident that's how it will play out, but the potential is there if properly planned and designed, since that area is so large. 

15 hours ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

My hope for this part of uptown is that it develops like the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Yes, office park, but also yes very walkable and bike friendly despite the buildings being spread out. Now if only you didnt have to go through the dead zone of parking between 76 and 95 to get to it.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Qum2Ym1XT9v

 

It looks like Navy Yard is doing a lot better job when it comes to human scale streets on a grid. One traffic lane in each direction, bike lanes, parking, and streetscaped sidewalks. The various Uptown renderings I’ve seen don’t seem to have new coherent streets but seem to be more driveways to parking facilities.

 

The Navy Yard example did seem to have a lot of “parking crater” type parking lots though, so the Uptown corridor has a chance to be better in that respect. 

 

What is to differentiate this “Innovation Corridor” from the new Summit Park office park in Blue Ash? It could be integrated with great public transportation acces, there’s been talk of that but nothing in reality yet- at least no public discussion with SORTA. Likewise bike infrastructure to UC and surrounding institutions and neighborhoods has been left out. Maybe the office tenants will have some special relationship with the university I suppose. 

 

They should have pushed back on the design of the NIOSH campus if at all possible. If the large setback regulations are for security concerns, the concerns are probably way overblown- this facility is not really different from any other generic office building.

 

Maybe being a little overly critical here, because they are throwing around the “Walkable” buzzword a lot...

 

Edited April 9, 20196 yr by thebillshark

4 minutes ago, thebillshark said:

 

It looks like Navy Yard is doing a lot better job when it comes to human scale streets on a grid. One traffic lane in each direction, bike lanes, parking, and streetscaped sidewalks. The various Uptown renderings I’ve seen don’t seem to have new coherent streets but seem to be more driveways to parking facilities.

 

The Navy Yard example did seem to have a lot of “parking crater” type parking lots though, so the Uptown corridor has a chance to be better in that respect. 

 

What is to differentiate this “Innovation Corridor” from the new Summit Park office park in Blue Ash? It could be integrated with great public transportation acces, there’s been talk of that but nothing in reality yet- at least no public discussion with SORTA. Likewise bike infrastructure to UC and surrounding institutions and neighborhoods has been left out. Maybe the office tenants will have some special relationship with the university I suppose. 

 

They should have pushed back on the design of the NIOSH campus if at all possible. If the large setback regulations are for security concerns, the concerns are probably way overblown- this facility is not really different from any other generic office building.

 

Maybe being a little overly critical here, because they are throwing around the “Walkable” buzzword a lot...

 

 

Navy Yard isn't even close to being built out yet though. There are plans to add a ton of housing down there. One limiting aspect is that due to the proximity to the airport the buildings can't be that tall. The bike lanes, streetscaping, etc. help make it feel a lot more pleasant than it looks in the aerial. 

 

1 hour ago, thebillshark said:

It could be integrated with great public transportation access

 

I imagine that will come if we get BRT on Reading Rd, there should be nice stations and bus lanes going in that area.  Problem is, I see some major pushback coming from DOTE with I-71 being so close.  Have to make sure there's enough left turn lanes for cars.

 

Edited April 9, 20196 yr by 10albersa

1 hour ago, 10albersa said:

 

 

I imagine that will come if we get BRT on Reading Rd, there should be nice stations and bus lanes going in that area.  Problem is, I see some major pushback coming from DOTE with I-71 being so close.  Have to make sure there's enough left turn lanes for cars.

 

 

BRT on MLK as part of a Western Hills Plaza to Madisonville BRT won't happen because they don't want to sacrifice precious lanes on MLK, either. 

 

 

1 hour ago, 10albersa said:

 

 

I imagine that will come if we get BRT on Reading Rd, there should be nice stations and bus lanes going in that area.  Problem is, I see some major pushback coming from DOTE with I-71 being so close.  Have to make sure there's enough left turn lanes for cars.

 

 

Imagine how much a bus-only underpass in that area would cost.  A dip from about Lincoln Ave. to the Autozone with an underground stop with elevators gets us well over $50 million. 

2 hours ago, 10albersa said:

Have to make sure there's enough left turn lanes for cars.

 

DOTE is addicted to left turn lanes. We should not be building double left turn lanes anywhere in the city, and on most city streets we should not be building left turn lanes at all. On a street with two thru lanes, people can turn left from the left lane and cars can pass in the right lane. But DOTE doesn't want there to be any congestion ever so that's unacceptable to them.

I honestly think a road with a single travel lane in each direction and a shared left turn lane is more efficient/safer than a four lane road with two travel lanes in each direction. Unexpected stops is where most accidents seem to happen. People aren't paying attention and rear-end the car trying to turn. 

 

When there is no center turn lane, cars are sometimes stuck for an extended period of time as they wait for the person in front of them to turn. Happens all the time to me when I'm traveling south on Vine Street between St. Bernard and OTR in the evening. Parking is only restricted southbound in the morning commute. And even when it is restricted, there are often a few stray cars sitting in that lane, making it largely unusable.

14 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

I honestly think a road with a single travel lane in each direction and a shared left turn lane is more efficient/safer than a four lane road with two travel lanes in each direction. Unexpected stops is where most accidents seem to happen. People aren't paying attention and rear-end the car trying to turn. 

 

 

And the evidence would say you are correct. 

 

https://ggwash.org/view/69795/you-may-have-heard-of-road-diets-why-fewer-lanes-are-faster-and-safer