^ somehow, I bet it ends up being the taxpayers. Vandercar is a joke. Filed for Personal bankruptcy a few months ago and the City is still supporting him.

I live in the area and this store has the lights on inside 24/7. Who pays that bill????

 

My guess is the real estate company that's been trying desperately for years to unload that empty box.

 

I seem to recall a few years ago when Wal-Mart left a second empty box in Columbia Township reading somewhere about a proposal to ensure that the original tenant would be on the hook for the costs of redeveloping an abandoned store.  (Maybe it was NYT?)  I think both of Wal-Mart's sh**boxes in Columbia Township are currently empty, despite the attempts to turn one into a flea market. 

 

A flea market?!

Where is the older Wal-Mart?

Where is the older Wal-Mart?

 

On Ridge north of Highland, on the west side of Ridge just south of the train tracks.  There was a cheapo Big Lots-style home improvement store there that never seemed to have a  ton of traffic.  Come to think of it, maybe that's still open - been awhile since I paid attention.  There's a new McDonald's in front of it, along with Aldi.

 

Wal-Mart then moved to Kennedy at Highland, and now to Red Bank.  I've heard that Red Bank store is little improvement.

Walmart was never on ridge. Sams club was.

To get the various buildings right at Ridge and Highland. The building behind the new McD's was first Kroger's attempt at a warehouse club store, it later became a Sam's Club, then sell off home goods store that is now in Tri-County I think. Across the street from that was a KMart. Walmart was around the corner on Highland next to Home Depot.

Home Emporium. Im not sure why they never got anything into the old Kmart building. It's been vacant 15 years it seems. That stretch has been suffering. I was shocked when the KFC closed. There was a bank in the old Kmart parking lot as well  and it closed only being there less than a year.

Walmart was never on ridge. Sams club was.

 

I stand corrected.  The point remains, however.

>Where is the older Wal-Mart?

 

Around the country, it's amazing how much of a wayfinding landmark "the old Wal-Mart" has become. 

Kroger is little better in that respect.  Cincinnati is littered with abandoned and repurposed Kroger stores.  Some from the last few decades are obvious due to the standardized designs, but some of the older ones are much harder to spot as they're quite small and nondescript.  Has anyone ever tried to document those?  I remember it coming up for discussion a while back, but it could've been at City-Data. 

 

Let's hope these Oakley developments don't end up going that way.  Still, if it does happen, one saving grace is that these big box buildings are real easy to tear down, and with their sites already graded mostly flat, any sort of future redevelopment/densification will be much easier. 

Walmart was never on ridge. Sams club was.

 

I stand corrected.  The point remains, however.

 

Sam's was on Ridge and became a Home Emporium.  It is now empty, though the outlots have both an Aldi and a McDonald's (which was newly-built last fall replacing the one across the street).

 

There was a Wal-Mart around the corner on Highland (you would go right into the parking lot if you get off at the Ridge/Kennedy exit going south on 71).  It is now gone; I think it closed when the Wal-Mart in Fairfax opened.  There is a Home Depot in the same shopping center, which remains open and (near as I can tell) plenty busy.  I think that abandoned Wal-Mart is where the flea market (?) is.

So the super '90s teal, pink and purple McDonalds has been torn down and replaced with one of the new coffee'd-out ones. Guess it was about that time.

BizCourier online reported today that Council just approved an amendment to the Oakley Station plan. Changing the residential development from 250 to 307 units.

Kroger is little better in that respect.  Cincinnati is littered with abandoned and repurposed Kroger stores.  Some from the last few decades are obvious due to the standardized designs, but some of the older ones are much harder to spot as they're quite small and nondescript.  Has anyone ever tried to document those?  I remember it coming up for discussion a while back, but it could've been at City-Data. 

 

Let's hope these Oakley developments don't end up going that way.  Still, if it does happen, one saving grace is that these big box buildings are real easy to tear down, and with their sites already graded mostly flat, any sort of future redevelopment/densification will be much easier. 

 

I would love for someone to create an "abandoned big box stores" Google Map for Cincinnati if it doesn't already exist.

One for Columbus would look like a frosted doughnut with sprinkles.

Is Oakley Station is that in the Cincinnati city limits or Columbia Twp?

It's all within the city limits. 

The city should just annex Columbia twp. Then maybe the Kennedy Connector will be done.

 

Edit. It looks like it starts this spring.

 

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/C2/20111202/NEWS/312020002/Kennedy-Connector-project-moves-forward

I'm still curious as to why the ACoE built the floodwall for a roadway that will punch right through it for the connector.

^ I'm sure they'll figure it out.

So they really are starting construction? Traffic on Ridge is a mess all the time. Maybe this will help alleviate some of it.

 

The stretch of Ridge just north of Highland is depressing. They never built Ridge Pointe on the site of the old KMart and now the Home Emporium is gone. It makes the area look worse than it actually is.

 

Anyways I am excited they are remodeling the Target down by Oakley Station. I got worried that when they opened the one in Blue Ash that it would be left to become decrepit and run down. Maybe Target doesn't subscribe to the Walmart model?

Hyde Park and points east will keep that Target going.

I think Kennedy Connector is supposedly on track to start "this summer"  Nothing seems to have started yet though. 

I went to that Target quite often when I lived in both Corryville and Oakley, so add Uptown to the list that finds that Target useful.

Anyways I am excited they are remodeling the Target down by Oakley Station. I got worried that when they opened the one in Blue Ash that it would be left to become decrepit and run down. Maybe Target doesn't subscribe to the Walmart model?

 

I've seen very few abandoned Target big boxes, and have seen several older Targets renovated.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20120309/NEWS/303090176/City-wants-seize-half-house

Tree clearing for Kennedy connector started today! Article said somewhere around 220 trees will be cleared.

Construction starts (finally) on Oakley Station project

Theater, apartments coming to former Milacron site

Business Courier by Jon Newberry, Staff Reporter

Date: Friday, April 6, 2012, 6:00am EDT - Last Modified: Thursday, April 5, 2012, 5:00pm EDT

 

After a decade of false starts, a $120 million project to redevelop the former Cincinnati Milacron complex in Oakley is finally under way.

 

The old Milacron and Kirk & Blum    Kirk & Blum Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company manufacturing plants totaling 1.7 million square feet have been reduced to piles of rubble, and construction on the 74-acre Oakley Station mixed-use project is scheduled to begin this month.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/

^ Still no where near thrilled about this project. So suburban, so car centric. 

 

But I am happy that they upped the apartments from 250 to 302 to increase the density. 

I noticed a couple of days ago that a row of temporary electrical drops and meters were being constructed on the grounds of the former Precision Automated company (or whatever it was) on Ibsen, where the Kennedy Connector is planned.  One assumes this is for construction trailers for the road building.

^ Still no where near thrilled about this project. So suburban, so car centric. 

 

But I am happy that they upped the apartments from 250 to 302 to increase the density.

 

They upped the number of apartments to increase the profit, it had absolutely nothing to do with the density. Anyone who thinks this is an urban styled development has apparently never lived in an urban environment in their life. I have not, but at least I know the difference.

^Increasing the density is what increased the profit.

I noticed a couple of days ago that a row of temporary electrical drops and meters were being constructed on the grounds of the former Precision Automated company (or whatever it was) on Ibsen, where the Kennedy Connector is planned.  One assumes this is for construction trailers for the road building.

 

Construction begins Monday on the Kennedy Connector.

Is the point of the Kennedy connector to reduce traffic congestion on Ridge?

I think the point is mostly to provide access to the new Oakley Station development. Although capacity will be increased and it will probably reduce congestion on Ridge (for now), it does nothing to address the confusing tangle of highway on- and off-ramps in the area.

It took me two months to get used to navigating the area.

I think it will make a bigger difference than some might think. A lot of PRidge/KHeights/Silverton folk will likely shift over Kennedy instead of crowding on Ridge. In addition to bad luck and weakening demographics, the Ridge/Highland traffic has long limited the ability of that area to redevelop.

I noticed a couple of days ago that a row of temporary electrical drops and meters were being constructed on the grounds of the former Precision Automated company (or whatever it was) on Ibsen, where the Kennedy Connector is planned.  One assumes this is for construction trailers for the road building.

 

Construction begins Monday on the Kennedy Connector.

 

Are there any documents available online?  Drawings, schedules, etc.?

 

It looks like all of Ibsen is closed to through traffic.  I also noticed a bunch of tree removals on the north side of Duck Creek Rd. and behind the houses on Madison between Ibsen and the Duck Creek floodwall.

Are there any documents available online?  Drawings, schedules, etc.?

 

Let me Google that for me...

 

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/transeng/downloads/transeng_eps37192.pdf

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120521/NEWS/305210018/Work-Kennedy-Connector-starts-today

...and goes right through that new Army Corps of Engineers floodwall... good planning, ACoE.

...and goes right through that new Army Corps of Engineers floodwall... good planning, ACoE.

 

Seriously.  Did they not know about the Kennedy Connector, or did they just say, "Screw it, it's not our problem"?

...and goes right through that new Army Corps of Engineers floodwall... good planning, ACoE.

 

Seriously.  Did they not know about the Kennedy Connector, or did they just say, "Screw it, it's not our problem"?

 

My guess would be the latter. 

...and goes right through that new Army Corps of Engineers floodwall... good planning, ACoE.

 

Seriously.  Did they not know about the Kennedy Connector, or did they just say, "Screw it, it's not our problem"?

 

My guess would be the latter.

 

Coulda had something to do with Jeanne Schmidt.  She trumpeted the news of that project a few years back.  Best as I can tell it protects ILSCO (a campaign contributor of hers) and little else.  If I remember correctly, the contractor that did the work was from Kentucky, so it wasn't a "Jobs For Jeanne's District" thing, either.

 

Inconsequential is that in the seven years I've lived nearby, the creek was never once out of its channel, even through hurricane remnants and rains that flooded my basement.  And that the same amount of money that was spent on the wall probably could have moved ILSCO to a new facility on higher ground.

 

So the good news is that the Kennedy Connector probably won't affect the wall since it seems largely superfluous anyway.

^ Well I have lived in Silverton for decades and it does flood during heavy rainfall.

That flood control came after a couple folks died in Fairfax after a flash flood that traced back to that area.

^alright, well that I didn't know.  I humbly retract my cynicism.

 

Still curious to see how they'll resolve the floodwall issue. 

They'll probably just make it a drop in gate like they have in the floodwalls along the Ohio.  Although, this area is more of a "flash flood" risk so they'd have to be on top of their game to get it up in time, unlike the Ohio where a flood is forecast a few days in advance, they'd have only hours here.

New Web Site for Development

 

http://www.oakley-station.com/asp/index.asp

^ Thanks for this update, bearcat21.  Even though locale UO posters have already expressed disappointment and concern over this new development, it certainly helps to view such a graphic and panoramic representation of how it eventually might look.  Meanwhile, all that earth-moving machinery up behind Target just keeps on churning away...

Looks like a nice place to park your car.