April 9, 20196 yr Not sure how many people remember the Sasaki master planning done back in 2013 (http://www.sasaki.com/project/344/Cincinnati Uptown/MLK Corridor Vision/).
April 9, 20196 yr 46 minutes ago, taestell said: 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. It's right turn lanes that are more insidious. They do little to improve traffic flow (which left turn lanes do help with), and they really mess up the curb line, sidewalk alignments, and drainage patterns. They have little to no ROI, but they really eat up space. The way DOTE designs them also makes them nearly useless because they're so short. The Kennedy Connector is a prime example. That said, 4-lane surface streets are very dangerous because of left turning movements. If you have two people waiting to turn left, one facing each direction, they block each other's view of fast moving traffic coming up the right lane, leading to a lot of t-bone and offset head-on crashes. That's why the 4 to 3 conversions improve safety, but also why you see some weird left-of-median turn lanes, such as on Columbia Parkway in Columbia-Tusculum, or in Mt. Lookout Square. It's to ensure people turning left have a good view around other vehicles facing them.
April 9, 20196 yr I don't so much have a problem with the 4-to-3 conversions and agree that a 3 lane street w/ a center turn lane could be safer and move more cars than a 4 lane street w/o one. They did this on several sections of Wooster Pike a few years ago and it seems to have worked out great. The double left turn lanes from Central Parkway onto Walnut Street, however, are ridiculous.
May 9, 20196 yr Port approves financing package for major Uptown development The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority on Wednesday approved a financing package for the first phase of the $200 million Uptown Gateway development set to be built in the southeast corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Reading Road. Under the resolution, the Port will take ownership of 5.8 acres in Avondale where Terrex Development & Construction and Messer Construction plan to build a mixed use project with a 158-room hotel, two, 180,000 square foot office buildings and a 1,400-space parking garage. The financing package includes two key components... More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/05/09/port-approves-financing-package-for-major-uptown.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
May 21, 20196 yr Photos from April, 2019. Renovation near Children's: The Clown House: Closed Erkenbrecker:
July 14, 20195 yr Ecological corridor planned through Uptown innovation district Uptown Consortium Inc., the nonprofit community development group for the Avondale, Clifton, Corryville, CUF and Mount Auburn neighborhoods, is working on plans for an ecological corridor to run through the Uptown innovation district. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/07/12/exclusive-ecological-corridor-planned-through.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
July 15, 20195 yr What is promising with this corridor, more than introducing more park space to the city, is its potential the be the connection Wasson Way needs to get a more direct route downtown.
July 15, 20195 yr 3 minutes ago, Chas Wiederhold said: What is promising with this corridor, more than introducing more park space to the city, is its potential the be the connection Wasson Way needs to get a more direct route downtown. Considering the way it's designed right now, they're not even thinking about that. Also, look at NIOSH, they couldn't design a more 1970s suburban office park site plan if they tried.
July 15, 20195 yr Two things: If you look at the article, Wasson Way is clearly diagrammed out on one of the graphics and the corridor aligns with Wasson Way's future extension. NOISH is how it is because it is a federal agency. There are so many security elements involved. Hopefully it is architecturally ambitious like the EPA (which I love) and can appear like a sculpture in a park (At least from Whittier and south)
July 15, 20195 yr 7 minutes ago, Chas Wiederhold said: Two things: If you look at the article, Wasson Way is clearly diagrammed out on one of the graphics and the corridor aligns with Wasson Way's future extension. I don't have access to the Courier articles, but simply identifying "corridor goes here" without actually designing it as a bikeway is just as bad as ODOT's rapid transit "accommodation" in the I-75 rebuild. I see lots of zig-zags, no MLK crossing, and no connection to anything else. If it's left to be figured out later, then it's already over, because there will be critical roadblocks and any solutions will be totally botched. From what I can see, if they did design a bike path through this thing that's visible at a different scale, then I bet it's a windy, slow, frequently impeded kludge, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
July 15, 20195 yr I'm sure next they're going to propose pedestrian bridges to "connect" the 2 sides of the district they've bisected with the massive interstate that is MLK. Also, does anyone know what's going on with the SW quadrant of the intersection? I worked on a plan for that corner of the district awhile back for a developer, but someone else is developing it now supposedly. The site plan and building footprint still look very similar to what I worked on though...
July 15, 20195 yr 5 hours ago, Chas Wiederhold said: NOISH is how it is because it is a federal agency. There are so many security elements involved. Hopefully it is architecturally ambitious like the EPA (which I love) and can appear like a sculpture in a park (At least from Whittier and south) I thought the NIOSH project got put on hold due to the demands of the site plan?
July 16, 20195 yr 5 hours ago, Largue said: I'm sure next they're going to propose pedestrian bridges to "connect" the 2 sides of the district they've bisected with the massive interstate that is MLK. Cincinnati really learned nothing from the mistakes of the Skywalk era, did it?
August 12, 20195 yr Looks like the final development plan for the Uptown Innovation Corridor is going to the Planning Commission this week. https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/about-city-planning/city-planning-commission/aug-16-2019-packet/
August 12, 20195 yr Yeah I took a dive this morning. 1) Madisonville Phase II seems to have the green light. For now, it looks like they are just improving the sidewalk. 2) Wasson Way homes are going through, the billboard is staying though. Those homes would look 1000% more attractive if an ugly billboard wasn't right there in front of them. 3) Uptown Gateway looks like a decent proposal, but I wish the buildings were more than 6 floors. Also, the park is walled off from the street, so it will look 'pseudo private.' And there is no room given for the extension of Wasson Way past MLK. Edited August 12, 20195 yr by 10albersa
September 23, 20195 yr On 7/15/2019 at 3:43 PM, tonyt3524 said: I thought the NIOSH project got put on hold due to the demands of the site plan? The project is being put out to bid now for design/engineering. Not sure why you said it was “on hold”. I think these large projects just move slowly. https://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/New-Uptown-Corridor-tenants-NIOSH.aspx
September 24, 20195 yr 20 hours ago, jwulsin said: The project is being put out to bid now for design/engineering. Not sure why you said it was “on hold”. I think these large projects just move slowly. https://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/New-Uptown-Corridor-tenants-NIOSH.aspx I was going off of this article late last year. https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/09/07/latest-decision-on-how-to-redevelop-mlk-i-71-area.html Quote One of the administration’s main concerns about moving quickly on installing an interim development control district is the planned $110 million National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health campus to be located at the northwest corner of Reading Road and Martin Luther King Drive. John Juech, assistant city manager, said during the meeting that the proposed design for the facility is not in keeping with the neighborhood and the dense, urban, walkable design the city wants in Uptown.
September 24, 20195 yr 23 hours ago, jwulsin said: The project is being put out to bid now for design/engineering. Not sure why you said it was “on hold”. I think these large projects just move slowly. https://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/New-Uptown-Corridor-tenants-NIOSH.aspx It was put out for bid around a year ago and then cancelled due to a lack of funding. I can only assume funding has now been allocated or the project was redesigned to fit within a new budget.
October 16, 20195 yr https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/10/16/exclusive-uptown-consortium-jobsohio-want.html "Uptown Consortium Inc. is partnering with JobsOhio and its member institutions, seeking proposals from developers to develop, design and build a minimum 180,000-square-foot innovation center in the Uptown Innovation Corridor."
October 21, 20195 yr Avondale tries to control growth: 'They see Over-the-Rhine and they see it coming this way' Updated: 6:20 PM, Oct 18, 2019 By: Lisa Smith CINCINNATI — Yvonne Howard has called Avondale home for 11 years. She said there are two things that concern her and other Avondale residents: Quality housing for seniors and the possible gentrification of her neighborhood. "They look at Over-the-Rhine, and they see it coming this way," said Howard. MORE
October 21, 20195 yr ^the same people who complain about a "lack of investment" are the first ones to complain when "investment" appears.
October 21, 20195 yr 3 hours ago, The_Cincinnati_Kid said: Avondale tries to control growth: 'They see Over-the-Rhine and they see it coming this way' Updated: 6:20 PM, Oct 18, 2019 By: Lisa Smith CINCINNATI — Yvonne Howard has called Avondale home for 11 years. She said there are two things that concern her and other Avondale residents: Quality housing for seniors and the possible gentrification of her neighborhood. "They look at Over-the-Rhine, and they see it coming this way," said Howard. MORE The draft of the Quality of Life Plan they talk about is here. I agree with jmecklenborg, they're completely contradictory on the future of Avondale. I agree that the history of the neighborhood needs to be preserved, but I don't know how they plan to avoid any increase in land value if they want to address the blight, empty lots, and mobile phone stores with barred up windows along Reading.
October 21, 20195 yr 49 minutes ago, RealAdamP said: I don't know how they plan to avoid any increase in land value if they want to address the blight, empty lots, and mobile phone stores with barred up windows along Reading. Homeownership programs to get low-income people in houses (Habitat for Humanity, The Port's rehab program, etc) is vital to fixing this dilemma. If I lived in a neighborhood with cheap rentals, of course I wouldn't want too much investment because I'm guaranteed rent increases. Build a plan with that and incentives for minority-owned businesses. I think a better neighborhood comparison would be Evanston or Madisonville, which had white speculative investors holding onto rental properties for a while until the dam broke and now investment and values are skyrocketing there, kicking out long-term renters. The work being done in Bond Hill/Roselawn with minority businesses should also be the model for what's left of old Avondale, to at least give minorities a chance at making money when a neighborhood takes off.
October 21, 20195 yr ^These people don't understand that the only way these neighborhoods won't gentrify by 2030 is if Cincinnati enters into a Cleveland or Buffalo local recession. There is too much money coming from outside since people with tons of money in stocks are looking to diversify. Cincinnati is one of the last places with cheap houses, but not for much longer. By 2030 we will see what has happened recently in Evanston and Madisonville happen in Price Hill and Fairmount and by 2040 the city will be a wildly different place, with many of the price problems currently experienced on the coasts. In short, you're pretty dumb if you're under 50 and you're not actively trying to buy a house or if you already own one, buy rental properties.
October 25, 20195 yr This blog post from the Uptown Consortium has a bit of details about the planned NIOSH facility, that plans won't be completed until spring 2021 with the building being completed in 2023... so it's still a long ways off: http://www.uptowncincinnati.com/blog/2019/10/24/updates-on-nioshs-state-of-the-art-research-facility-in-the-uptown-innovation-corridor Quote According to Schnorr, there is a tentative timeline for the development—plans are expected to be completed in spring 2021 and NIOSH hopes to occupy the building in 2023.
October 28, 20195 yr Just now, seaswan said: which corner will this be on? Northeast corner. You could say that these renderings would be "shot" from the outbound on-ramp of 71 at MLK
October 28, 20195 yr What's disappointing is the fact that the entire north side of the development no longer looks to be flush with MLK like the initial renderings.
October 28, 20195 yr werent these all supposed to be very walkable? How does a massive gray wall=walkability?
October 28, 20195 yr 1 hour ago, seaswan said: werent these all supposed to be very walkable? How does a massive gray wall=walkability? Walkable = there is a sidewalk so you can walk if you want to but why would you because we have no idea how to make things actually good for pedestrians. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
October 28, 20195 yr This fairly large (40-50 units?) apartment complex on Forest Ave. was recently renovated and has been rented to yuppies: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1463253,-84.5008406,3a,75y,349.85h,95.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUqXwsApov9_-8zF6CnTD5w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
October 29, 20195 yr 19 hours ago, jmecklenborg said: This fairly large (40-50 units?) apartment complex on Forest Ave. was recently renovated and has been rented to yuppies: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1463253,-84.5008406,3a,75y,349.85h,95.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUqXwsApov9_-8zF6CnTD5w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 Are those apartments listed for rent currently? I don't see anything online. What size and price are they listed at? I'm not sure if your reference to "yuppies" is meant to be disparaging... but it's good to see investment in the portion of Avondale which hasn't seen much activity, despite its proximity to Children's. I think it's great to see apartment complexes like this get renovated because they support higher density and they're just a couple of blocks to Children's. It is great to give more employees at Children's housing options where they can walk to work. Avondale Town Center apartments are also available now, with 1-bedrooms around $700/month and 2-bedrooms around $900/month: https://www.apartments.com/residences-at-avondale-town-center-cincinnati-oh/g0nbgbx/
October 29, 20195 yr On 10/28/2019 at 12:12 PM, seaswan said: which corner will this be on? Rough sketch from the renderings. Yellow is the new road with blue being building outlines. On 10/28/2019 at 1:03 PM, seaswan said: werent these all supposed to be very walkable? How does a massive gray wall=walkability? From what I know, these buildings are made so that companies can put offices near UC for easy access to co-op students and new grads. They have shuttles going to the area, and allow parking permits. The newest master plan calls for mixed use buildings, U-square-esq, along the sides of MLK from campus to the freeway, however. Also, the plan is to keep the student housing near campus, by backing privately owned student housing e.g. Stratford Heights, Stetson Square.
October 31, 20195 yr The last of the apartment buildings on the south side of Erkenbrecher is coming down today. This will be the site of the Zoo's new parking garage.
October 31, 20195 yr My friend was the first to sell to them for this project, way back in 2004 or 2005. It has literally been a 15-year process to buy up that land.
October 31, 20195 yr 18 minutes ago, jwulsin said: The last of the apartment buildings on the south side of Erkenbrecher is coming down today. This will be the site of the Zoo's new parking garage. Congrats to the owners for holding out! Probably made double their neighbors.
November 19, 20195 yr Ronald McDonald House tops off $42 million expansion A construction crew hoisted the final steel beam into place Tuesday atop a six-story tower that is the centerpiece of a $42 million expansion project at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati. The tower, which will encompass 73,000 square feet and include a rooftop terrace, is part of a 99-room expansion at the Ronald McDonald House campus in Avondale. It will include a three-story parking garage. “We’re thrilled to have reached this point in construction because it means we are so much closer to being able to help more families,” said Jennifer Goodin, executive director of the local Ronald McDonald House. “It’s so exciting to watch our future being built before us.” More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/11/19/ronald-mcdonald-house-tops-off-42-million.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
November 26, 20195 yr On 10/28/2019 at 12:14 PM, tonyt3524 said: What's disappointing is the fact that the entire north side of the development no longer looks to be flush with MLK like the initial renderings. This article provides a bit of context/rationale for why the design was updated... seems like the developer wanted a perfectly flat central courtyard, which I think is misguided... a courtyard doesn't have to be perfectly flat to be nice and enjoyable: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/11/26/exclusive-get-a-look-at-updated-plans-for-200.html?iana=hpmvp_cinci_news_headline Quote The other big design change to the Uptown Gateway plan is originally the developers planned a stepped garage podium, which would have had the hotel on a higher level than the two office buildings. Instead, Uptown Gateway will have one, level podium above three levels of garage parking. “This makes it far more pedestrian friendly,” [Terrex principal] Horton said. “Everything will be kept at one level.” With the change, more of the garage will be visible than originally intended, but Horton said the team is working through the design to screen the garage. When the site was going to match the grade of Martin Luther King Drive, pedestrians would have always been walking up and down from one building to the next.
November 26, 20195 yr Get a look at updated plans for $200 million Uptown Gateway The developers working on the Uptown Gateway project in Avondale have updated their plans for the first two buildings in what is expected to be a more than $200 million development. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/11/26/exclusive-get-a-look-at-updated-plans-for-200.html?iana=hpmvp_cinci_news_headline "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 14, 20195 yr https://kulkarniproperties.com/properties/ Not sure if this is the newest rendering of “The Node” but looks that the office and hotel components have switched spots and the also gained a floor. On building Cincinnati’s Facebook page it states that the development has a mid rise Apartment building.
January 18, 20205 yr Came across this rendering (believe it’s old) of The Node section of uptown innovation corridor. I actually really like this layout and the taller building. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a6bef9e6f4ca33ee68ec2b6/t/5ca74b812c595500013b6873/1554467717684/MLKi.pdf
January 18, 20205 yr There's also this website that is specific to The Node: https://www.connectatthenode.com/
February 16, 20205 yr Taken 2/16. Ronald McDonald House on the left. New Children’s hospital emergency unit on the right.
February 17, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, tonyt3524 said: That's a depressing image. Yeah, you really hate to see a world class institution that saves children’s lives expand in our city...
February 17, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, Guy23 said: Yeah, you really hate to see a world class institution that saves children’s lives expand in our city... I was about to say heaven forbid, larger hospital to allow for better treatment of children across the globe, and a bigger Ronald Mcdonald house for families who cant afford to stay at hotels while their children are being treated in the hospital. I will take this type of development any day of the week.
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