Lately I've noticed an increase in pedestrian traffic crossing 2nd and 3rd between the Banks and the rest of downtown in the mornings. Hopefully this development will increase that foot traffic even more and add one more nudge to get the caps over FWW done. 

309 Vine, PNC Tower, and 4th and Race alone will bring 820 new downtown residents within a block of one and another. 

 

Add any potential mixed use residential development at the convention parking lot site, and will probably reach over a 1,000-,1,100 residents in such a small radius. This movement is beyond amazing!

Edited September 5, 20195 yr by troeros

Moved posts about the 309 Vine/City Club Apartments into the appropriate thread.

Some interesting facts about Union Central Tower (aka PNC Tower) from Emporis:

• When completed this was the 5th-tallest building in the world, only behind buildings in New York City. 
• Originally colored brown; was painted white circa the 1940s.
• Tallest building in Cincinnati from 1913 to 1931; surpassed by the Carew Tower.
• The building appears on the skyline mural over the staircase at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, one block north.
• Connected by two skyways at the 1st and 5th floors over Ogden Place to the PNC Building (now City Club Apartments CBD) located just to the south.
• It was originally built as the headquarters of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, which was founded in Cincinnati in 1867.  The firm left the tower in 1964, relocating to a new corporate complex in the northern suburb of Forest Park.
• The Mitchell Building, one of Cincinnati's earliest high-rise buildings, and H.H. Richardson's Chamber of Commerce Building, formerly stood on this site.

^ good list.

I will add that it was designed by Ohioan and prominent American architect Cass Gilbert.

He is credited with designing the Woolworth building in NYC, US Supreme Court building in DC,  and a handful of buildings at Oberlin College.

He also helped the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis. Played a large role planning the in the Palace of Fine Arts, which was the only permanent building constructed for the fair. 

His body of work is incredible !

Also, an interesting skyscraper-geek factoid:  It may be the only American building that went from 500+ to 500- feet (currently 495 feet) without being demolished. 

 

So here's a hint City Club...BRING BACK THE TOP!

1 hour ago, ColDayMan said:

Also, an interesting skyscraper-geek factoid:  It may be the only American building that went from 500+ to 500- feet (currently 495 feet) without being demolished. 

 

So here's a hint City Club...BRING BACK THE TOP!

 

Eagle Scout project 

Quote

Some interesting facts about Union Central Tower (aka PNC Tower) from Emporis:

When completed this was the 5th-tallest building in the world, only behind buildings in New York City. 

Originally colored brown; was painted white circa the 1940s.

Tallest building in Cincinnati from 1913 to 1931; surpassed by the Carew Tower.

The building appears on the skyline mural over the staircase at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, one block north.

Connected by two skyways at the 1st and 5th floors over Ogden Place to the PNC Building (now City Club Apartments CBD) located just to the south.

It was originally built as the headquarters of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, which was founded in Cincinnati in 1867.  The firm left the tower in 1964, relocating to a new corporate complex in the northern suburb of Forest Park.

The Mitchell Building, one of Cincinnati's earliest high-rise buildings, and H.H. Richardson's Chamber of Commerce Building, formerly stood on this site.

 

I believe only the top was originally brown, not the entire building.

The top columns were intended to be pay respect to one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.  The  

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. 

Iconic downtown office tower lands $5 million tax credit 

By Tom Demeropolis  – Senior Staff Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Dec 19, 2019, 10:55am EST Updated 34 minutes ago

 

City Club Apartments, which has been planning a conversion of the Central Trust Tower in downtown Cincinnati into apartments, landed a $5 million tax credit to help the project come to fruition.

 

MORE

HGC Construction is preparing to hang swing stages on the Union Central (PNC) Tower to conduct a survey of the exterior facades.  Great time of year to be hanging 28 stories up in the wind and cold.

 

 

Looking up from the 18th floor roof of Union Central Tower at the cornice and window details.

Can't wait for this building to get the restoration it deserves.

As one of my all time favorite buildings, I'm pleased to know this will be preserved for the foreseeable future.

 

I wonder if the original "Union Central" letters will return. That'd be odd as the company is still in business.

Or perhaps simply do something like the convention center and place "Cincinnati "across the faces of the roof?

 

Would be cool to see them put "City Club" on the top in the same style as the Central Trust and original PNC Bank letters.

I believe PNC has 10 more years of signage rights.

12 hours ago, thesenator said:

I believe PNC has 10 more years of signage rights.

 

Anyway this can be verified? Would be a real tragedy.

On 1/16/2020 at 10:23 AM, richNcincy said:

 

Anyway this can be verified? Would be a real tragedy.

 

It is a done deal.  Not sure why it is a tragedy as it helps capitalize the revitalization of the building.

Photo from our exterior survey crew at Union Central Tower.  This photo was taken hanging 22 stories up just below the 23rd floor cornice.  The faces shown are approximately 6’ tall.

 

Edited February 2, 20205 yr by thesenator
Add photo

Impressive! The people who undertake this sort of restoration work are amazing to me. 

The fact that they went to the effort to include that level of details 22 stories up and completely out of the view of pedestrians speaks to how different things used to be. Snakes for hair.

Agree 100%.  Planned pool deck on 18th floor roof will give residents an opportunity to appreciate at least some of this craftsmanship.

4th Street is shut down in front of the Central Trust tower and scaffolding is being installed all around it. Really good to see this project moving forward, with all the uncertainty I had begun to worry that projects would go stagnant. 

3 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

4th Street is shut down in front of the Central Trust tower and scaffolding is being installed all around it. Really good to see this project moving forward, with all the uncertainty I had begun to worry that projects would go stagnant. 

 

I believe that is related to emergency repairs on the facade, not the renovation / conversion. Hopefully this project is still in the works.

That's interesting, thanks for the info.  I really like this building so I hope the conversion still comes to fruition, but saving the building from deterioration is better than nothing. 

On 12/7/2020 at 9:18 AM, wjh2 said:

 

I believe that is related to emergency repairs on the facade, not the renovation / conversion. Hopefully this project is still in the works.

For those of you who haven't been downtown in a while, all of 4th street is shut down in front of this building as they are doing the façade repairs. I really hope this project still happens. There is scaffold around the first floor and some meshed-off areas up high:

Everything that I have seen indicates that they're doing a temporary fix now and will permanently fix it in a few months when the residential conversion gets underway.

41 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

For those of you who haven't been downtown in a while, all of 4th street is shut down in front of this building as they are doing the façade repairs. I really hope this project still happens. There is scaffold around the first floor and some meshed-off areas up high:

Yeah I’ve heard this project is a definite go and will be kicking off soon.

Am I the only one that thought there were two ominous holes in the building when I first looked at that?

3 hours ago, 646empire said:

Yeah I’ve heard this project is a definite go and will be kicking off soon.

 

4 hours ago, ucgrady said:

For those of you who haven't been downtown in a while, all of 4th street is shut down in front of this building as they are doing the façade repairs. I really hope this project still happens. There is scaffold around the first floor and some meshed-off areas up high:

 

This project should be starting in the spring.  An exterior renovation will tuckpoint and replace damaged terra cotta stones.  Plans are for a pool and deck area on the 19th floor overlooking the Ohio River.

PNC tower had thier groundbreaking today.How many units is this supposed to be? 250-300 maybe.

 

https://www.facebook.com/CincinnatiPort/photos/a.104390170995750/766155928152501/?type=3&app=fbl

I couldn't find a recent article about the project but here's one from 2019:

 

Quote

Plans call for the 31-story, 340,000-square-foot building, which was also known as the Union Central Life building, to be converted to a residential and commercial complex with 30,000 square feet of retail space and 262 apartments.

 

282 units and a $150 mil cost.Looks like it will be done up to the nines.Carew Tower and the Terrance Hilton are up next.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/06/24/city-club-apartments-pnc-tower-project-underway.html

my favorite line from the article

 

"Ten percent of the apartments will be affordable, officials said."

3 hours ago, ucnum1 said:

282 units and a $150 mil cost.Looks like it will be done up to the nines.Carew Tower and the Terrance Hilton are up next.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/06/24/city-club-apartments-pnc-tower-project-underway.html

This is huge! Very good news!

This is great news, especially after the plans slowed down for a while and I feared it might get cancelled. The 19th floor outdoor pool deck is certain to become the coolest spot in town, that space is going to be amazing... I just hope I know the right people to get to visit.

The plans have essentially remained unchanged since 2019.  The developer kept shopping the project to different contractors.  I assume this backfired given the current escalation in construction costs, but at least they stuck with it.

Union Central Tower owner receives $1 million tax credit for redevelopment

By Abby Miller  –  Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Dec 9, 2022

 

One of Cincinnati’s most iconic and historic downtown buildings has received tax credits for its redevelopment as part of the second round of Ohio’s Transformational Mixed-Use Development Program.

 

City Club Apartments, a Detroit-based owner, developer and apartment manager, secured $1 million in tax credits for the redevelopment of Union Central Tower, into a mixed-use apartment/hotel community at 1 W. Fourth St.

 

Redevelopment work on Union Central Tower, also called PNC Tower, started in June. When combined with phase 1 at 309 Vine St., the redevelopment will be a total investment of nearly $150 million. When complete, Union Central Tower “will once again be a transformative hub of activity in Downtown Cincinnati,” according to the project description shared by Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.

 

MORE

Took some quick pics, can’t say enough how big a deal it is to get this huge building redeveloped and occupied.

 

Edited March 2, 20232 yr by 646empire

Yay!!!

This may be a dumb question, but is the PNC logo being removed as well?

16 minutes ago, küshner said:

This may be a dumb question, but is the PNC logo being removed as well?

That’s a great question, I would like to know too

Dunno, but if so, I would like for them to bring back their older red signage and it can say "City Club" or something.

 

8 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

 

 

My memory of the signage always defaults to "Central Trust"

Mine too but that's the first red sign photo I found on Google LOL!

1 hour ago, ColDayMan said:

Dunno, but if so, I would like for them to bring back their older red signage and it can say "City Club" or something.

 

PNC has signed long term signage rights so no change for many years.

City Club Apartments one step closer to creating a 'city within a city'

By Abby Miller – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Jul 31, 2023

 

Redevelopment of one of Cincinnati’s most iconic and historic buildings has taken a big leap forward.

 

Detroit-based City Club Apartments hosted a topping off ceremony for the Union Central Tower on July 28, marking a major milestone for the conversion project that will transform the Cincinnati staple into an amenity-rich apartment hotel community.

 

City Club Apartments, a private real estate owner, developer and operator, is billing the project as a “city within a city” when united with City Club Apartments’ existing CBD Apartments at West Third and Vine. The two are connected through a sky bridge, and residents will be able to use the resort-class amenities in both buildings. They will jointly be called the City Club Apartments Union Central once the project is complete.

 

MORE

 

 

Instead of the sign, can we at least restore the point? 

Some photos from the other day. Mind boggling the complexity of this adaptive reuse, hands down the most extensive (and expensive) private rehab of a historic building. So many interesting things going on like the first ever fire service access elevator in Ohio, a 3-story vault that the developers bored through only for it to flood, a whole terracotta workshop being setup to facilitate the façade repairs, and of course the 18th floor rooftop pool which had to be put on stilts so that it would site above an existing vaulted ceiling that had to be kept and restored to comply with SHPO regulations. Really excited to see this one wrap up. 

Custom mosaic from Italy in the lobby.

Dog park on the 4th floor rooftop.

18th story rooftop pool deck.

Pool deck looking back at the building. Note the preserved wooden windows and patched terracotta.

Existing ceiling the pool deck had to be built above.

Private apartment dubbed The Gold Room

Reading nook/den in one of the units.

Question: Are they opening the windows on the pyramid?  I've heard yes, I've heard no.