6 new luxury condos planned out in latest hcb for sycamore st in otr. The renderings for whatever reason give me serious LA vibes for whatever reason...

6 new luxury condos planned out in latest hcb for sycamore st in otr. The renderings for whatever reason give me serious LA vibes for whatever reason...

 

Cool (I hope). Up on the hill area or lower down by Woodward H.S/Alumni Lofts/old SCPA?

 

Up on the hill. They look alright. Still clearly very preliminary. Filling in the hillsides though I feel will be a great way to help reconnect to all the hilltop neighborhoods around the basin.

Are those not the final design renderings? ^

The drawings said, "preliminary" on them so it seems like they'll likely change in some manner. I'd imagine those are the general look that they're going to go for however.

For those interested and because they posted upsidedown in the proposal document i stripped out the image and flipped it upright. The grade of the lot is probably causing the LA vibe i bet. Reminds me of my favorite mix of crazy heading towards the Ennis house. The architecture is all over the place but the fact that everyone has a lot with insane elevations makes it feel like a close intimate and cozy community. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ennis+House/@34.1155691,-118.2940014,3a,74.2y,22.97h,97.51t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sojAiTz6Zeyfk8Y12kjm-Cg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DojAiTz6Zeyfk8Y12kjm-Cg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D28.279724%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2c0a210b2a59d:0x5cc651305232e6ce!8m2!3d34.1161926!4d-118.2927896

Nice. Did OTRCC and all that jazz chime in yet on the lack of scale/color/shade/parking yet?

Not in OTR

Hasn't stopped them (and the individuals) from chiming in with "community"-based ideals in the past.

This is a reminder that if you want your voice heard at the Over the Rhine Community Council you are free to join. Elections for the Board of Trustees will be held in June but you must sign up to be a member by the May meeting to vote in them (meeting is tomorrow, OTR Rec Center 1715 Republic, 6pm.)

 

http://otrcommunitycouncil.org/2017-otrcc-board-of-trustees-nominations-are-in/

 

Some of these votes on various issues are decided by 10 to 20 votes so your input counts. Thanks.

This is a reminder that if you want your voice heard at the Over the Rhine Community Council you are free to join. Elections for the Board of Trustees will be held in June but you must sign up to be a member by the May meeting to vote in them (meeting is tomorrow, OTR Rec Center 1715 Republic, 6pm.)

 

http://otrcommunitycouncil.org/2017-otrcc-board-of-trustees-nominations-are-in/

 

Some of these votes on various issues are decided by 10 to 20 votes so your input counts. Thanks.

 

As a counter point I suggest no one bother getting involved in the train wreck that is the OTR Community Council.  If you truly want to make your voice heard just send letters in support/disapproval for things you're interested in.  Work with the police directly through public Safety Sector meetings.  Get involved with organizations that are doing actual good in the community and save yourself the headache.

Some test paint going up on the old Biscuit building, and the Shakespeare theater now has cladding. I feel like I remember a second skin in the renderings, or at least something covering the windows. So far the cladding looks a little rough, and could use some nicer detailing at the joints and edges, so hopefully more finish detail is coming.

Top floor of the Empower MediaMarketing building is up for lease:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/05/19/exclusive-empower-selects-cre-firm-to-fill-top.html

 

Here's the brochure from JLL, which says the space is over 12,000 sq ft, but can be divided in half if tenant only wants 6,000 sq ft:

http://www.jllproperty.us/assets/doc/flyer_empowerotr_9138495.pdf

I don't have access, anyone with access care to enlighten us?

 

EXCLUSIVE: 3CDC building $7 million mixed-use project near Taft’s Ale House

May 30, 2017, 11:43am EDT Updated May 30, 2017, 12:24pm EDT

Tom Demeropolis

Senior Staff Reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Rennen Flats, at the corner of 15th and Race streets, will incorporate a historic… more

 

Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. plans to start construction of its next phase of mixed-use development in Over-the-Rhine this July.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/05/30/exclusive-3cdc-building-7-million-mixed-use.html

 

They are building 18 condos and 5,000 sqft of commercial space in two mixed use projects along 15th Street between Race and Pleasant.

They need to start adding a fourth or fifth story to these things.  Come on. 

They need to start being better designed and detailed.

They need to start adding a fourth or fifth story to these things.  Come on. 

 

There was a fourth story but it got downsized when everyone protested the parking garage that would have come with it:

 

http://www.urbancincy.com/2014/07/delay-presents-opportunity-for-3cdc-to-reenvision-15th-and-race-development/

I just find it interesting that even though architecture changes throughout the decades, even though these buildings aren't in the same glory of old OTR in regards to sheer materiel and attention to detail, if these 3cdc buildings last for the next 100 years (what I imagine would be a constant upkeep due to cheaper materiel) these new collection of buildings will be considered just as historically impactful as the surrounding original buildings.

 

We'll probably be dead, but it'll be interesting how the infill of OTR will tell a new story to the future cincinnatians of our 21st century history. Just how 20th century OTR structures tell the story of it's past.

 

 

architecture is one of the most profound anthropologic tools we have. you can learn so much about times in which people live by the things they build.

Affordable housing open house at Peaslee this morning. Tour of 1300 block of Broadway.

This latest phase will only add 6 parking spaces. I'm glad to see 3CDC is willing to push these kinds of developments (18 condos, 5000 sq ft of commercial space) without adding in a lot of parking. It's right on the streetcar and just a block from the Washington Park garage. No need to have a lot of dedicated parking in every project.

It's still disappointing to me that when there was pushback about the garage 3CDC took that as, "density is upsetting people" instead of "they want less parking and more units."

 

I don't believe the actual unit count changed much, if at all, since the buildings are deeper than they would have been, but their height is much less meaningful now. 3 stories just isn't much. This new building should be 4 or 5 stories. Variety in height is an important element of the urban fabric of OTR and it would have helped a lot here since now there's a pretty strong horizontal line at the top of this block that shouldn't be emphasized.

 

Architecturally they're boring. On par for 3CDC. I'm more and more excited about the number of small time developers doing projects these days because all the best new architecture in OTR is being done by small outfits, not the big developers. That says something about priorities.

Main Street is about to add the following to empty storefronts: new concept from Cheapside Cafe folks (I heard ice cream); a new bakery; Collective Espresso moving onto Main St; Camino bike shop; Mini-Micro Cinema; whatever UrbanSites puts in old Mixx (Travis' high end restaurant?).

 

The storefronts won't remain empty long.

 

So many of these businesses are now open, but the progress on Main Street has been slower than I would have hoped. I heard that Cheapside Cafe isn't happening anymore, and the high end restaurant for the old Mixx space doesn't appear to be happening either. The new deli/bakery from the Collective Espresso people is still moving forward but I have no idea when it'll open.

http://www.terryboling.com/elm-st-home/

 

Very handsome single family home that's a combination of renovation and new construction coming to the building and vacant lot to the north of Artichoke by the same architect as Artichoke and the very attractive Stannary on the 1500 block of Race. Looks like a cool project that will fill a gap nicely.

^One existing multi-family building and a vacant lot combined into a single family house.  And the garage is accessed through the Findlay Mkt parking lot, which could someday be structured parking with no access?

^I'm excited to see what happens in Northern Liberties area and that all looks even a year from now.  They got a lot of those really cool single family homes close to the corners of McMicken and McMicken itself has some beautiful buildings and a very intact streetscape for the most part.  Is that considered Mohawk subneighborhood once you get to McMicken?

^One existing multi-family building and a vacant lot combined into a single family house.  And the garage is accessed through the Findlay Mkt parking lot, which could someday be structured parking with no access?

 

Hazen Alley is technically in between Findlay Market's parking lot and the lots on Elm Street.

Construction of the 15th & Vine office building is well underway:

 

Just a reminder- elections for the the next OTR Community Council Board of Trustees is tonight 6/26/2017 6 pm at the OTR Rec Center. Trustees are elected to two year terms. Must be a resident member of the OTRCC in order to vote. http://otrcommunitycouncil.org/otrcc-board-of-trustees-election-is-happening-at-the-june-meeting-6262017/

It appears the Kaufmann Building renovation may finally be moving forward. This tax abatement application will go before council tomorrow:

 

http://city-egov.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/Blob/48264.pdf?rpp=-10&m=1&w=doc_no%3D%27201701039%27

Several projects in OTR were awarded Ohio Historic Tax Credits in the latest round:

- 53 E. Clifton Avenue

- 1731 Elm Street

- 1815 Elm Street

- 1900-1904 Vine St

Two things

 

1) All of these projects are North of Liberty. I haven't been tracking them consciously, but I feel like OHTCs in OTR have never been exclusively North of Liberty

 

2) The 1900-1904 Vine St project will be transformative as a gateway... also home to what seems to be the longest stoplight in Cincinnati.

That intersection needs some major changes

Several projects in OTR were awarded Ohio Historic Tax Credits in the latest round:

- 53 E. Clifton Avenue

- 1731 Elm Street

- 1815 Elm Street

- 1900-1904 Vine St

These are all for low-income housing, with no commercial storefronts? 

That intersection needs some major changes

 

Agreed. Do you have any specific ideas? I've often thought about how to improve that intersection, but it's tricky since traffic feeds in from so many different points. Curious to hear if anybody has ideas of how to improve it. At the very least, I think we could get rid of the sharp right-hand turn from northbound Vine onto eastbound McMicken. McMicken eastbound can be accessed easily from Vine by using Elder St, so there'd be no loss in connectivity. And that would allow for a triangular space that could be designed as a "gateway" into the neighborhood. Additionally, I think the sidewalk on the southwest corner (Vine/Findlay) could be expanded, creating bumpouts on southbound Vine and westbound Findlay.

 

Any other ideas of how the intersection could be improved? I'm not sure if any of the light cycles could be removed/shortened.

 

Here's my idea of where the sidewalks could be expanded (highlighted in blue):

 

 

 

The light cycle was much shorter back when Vine was 1-way. 

They need to allow crossing of McMicken and Findlay while Vine Street has the green light, and allow crossing Vine while McMicken has the green light. I agree that anyone going north on Vine and trying to get to McMicken can just take Elder instead of turning directly there and they can eliminate that continuous turn lane.

 

There's actually only four streets with traffic incoming traffic at the intersection. I don't think it would be that difficult to improve the frequency of light changes and add crosswalks during green lights.

Several projects in OTR were awarded Ohio Historic Tax Credits in the latest round:

- 53 E. Clifton Avenue

- 1731 Elm Street

- 1815 Elm Street

- 1900-1904 Vine St

These are all for low-income housing, with no commercial storefronts?

 

Elm Street properties are part of the "Market Square" development. I don't think low income financing was a part of that. I assume the ground floor of both buildings would be commercial.

 

The Vine St properties and the E Clifton Ave property are all part of OTR Community Housing and they received low income tax credits, so at least a portion of these buildings will be affordable. I hope the Vine St properties have ground level commercial, though I don't know specifically if that is planned.

It's a tricky intersection and you can't really do much to it since Vine carries so much traffic up and down the hill. The bump-outs you suggested would be nice and I don't think eliminating that one turn would be a big problem for connectivity. The crosswalks should also be zebra striped and signed for better visibility...but that pretty much applies to every crosswalk in the city.

I go through this intersection every day, most days several times. Here are the problems I've noticed, in order of seemingly easiest to fix to more complicated:

 

 

[*]Southbound Vine has two right turn lanes, both onto Findlay, which has 3 lanes, one of which is permanent parking and one of which is often illegally parked in. Everyone tries to turn into the center lane, causing near wrecks on an almost daily basis. One right turn lane would probably suffice here.

 

[*]The walk signal is only given when the button is pressed, and when this happens it gives all red lights to all traffic. This takes a long time. The light should be set up so walk signals are automatically given when traffic is stopped. Turning vehicles would yield to pedestrians.

 

[*]Half the time, after the walk signal ends, the stoplight starts its cycle over again instead of starting where it had left off - I think this is what leads to this being referred to above as the "longest stoplight in Cincinnati." It gives a green to northbound Vine even if southbound Vine should have been next up. This seems to be intermittent, and I'm not sure why.

 

[*]Departing trucks from the fire station adjacent the intersection override the signals and give all red lights. That's fine, but similar to above, after this is over the stoplight doesn't always start where it left off. I was once at this stoplight when a truck left, and then someone hit the walk signal - it took ages for a green light to appear.

 

[*]Left turn arrows should be set up more traditionally, instead of northbound and southbound Vine moving separately.

 

It's really not that complicated of an intersection when you think about it, since Findlay is one-way away from it. I think it's been overthought.

I made two quick alternatives here.

 

Alternative 1 consists of adding bumpouts in existing road space that cars aren't using; eliminating 1 of the 2 left turn lanes from southbound Vine onto Findlay like Ram23[/member] mentioned; and eliminating the existing right turn lane from northbound McMicken to northbound Vine (all traffic would use the same lane). This would not really take away any roadway capacity but give a lot more space back to pedestrians and make street crossing distances shorter.

 

Alternative 2 would do all of those things, but also add a bumpout on the south side of Findlay. Currently this lane is a driving lane during peak hours and a parking lane off-peak. So by adding the bumpout you would lose the ability to use it as a driving lane and it would become a parking lane at all times. I don't think this would really affect travel times for anyone.

Several projects in OTR were awarded Ohio Historic Tax Credits in the latest round:

- 53 E. Clifton Avenue

- 1731 Elm Street

- 1815 Elm Street

- 1900-1904 Vine St

These are all for low-income housing, with no commercial storefronts?

 

Elm Street properties are part of the "Market Square" development. I don't think low income financing was a part of that. I assume the ground floor of both buildings would be commercial.

 

The Vine St properties and the E Clifton Ave property are all part of OTR Community Housing and they received low income tax credits, so at least a portion of these buildings will be affordable. I hope the Vine St properties have ground level commercial, though I don't know specifically if that is planned.

 

Model Group lands $1.1 million in tax credits for two OTR projects

 

The tax credits will help Model Group develop 1731 Elm St. and 1815 Elm St. into apartments with first-floor commercial space as part of the developer’s Market Square project around Findlay Market. [...]

 

The other three buildings, 53 E. Clifton Ave., 1900 Vine St. and 1902-04 Vine St. are part of a multi-building project called Morgan Apartments. Developed by Model Group and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, these buildings also received federal low-income housing tax credits. They are part of a larger $128 million effort to expand and improve affordable housing in Over-the-Rhine.

I made two quick alternatives here.

 

Alternative 1 consists of adding bumpouts in existing road space that cars aren't using; eliminating 1 of the 2 left turn lanes from southbound Vine onto Findlay like Ram23[/member] mentioned; and eliminating the existing right turn lane from northbound McMicken to northbound Vine (all traffic would use the same lane). This would not really take away any roadway capacity but give a lot more space back to pedestrians and make street crossing distances shorter.

 

Alternative 2 would do all of those things, but also add a bumpout on the south side of Findlay. Currently this lane is a driving lane during peak hours and a parking lane off-peak. So by adding the bumpout you would lose the ability to use it as a driving lane and it would become a parking lane at all times. I don't think this would really affect travel times for anyone.

 

Awesome! Alternative 2 looks great to me!

The relocated Hudepohl smoke stack would look great in that newly claimed triangle between Vine and McMicken. That would be a great entrance/waypoint for the brewery district as well.

Ha I think you're underestimating how big that smokestack is. I don't know if it would fit on that triangle

Ha I think you're underestimating how big that smokestack is. I don't know if it would fit on that triangle

 

Agreed... I think it would look out of scale there. But I do like the idea of some kind of "welcome to the neighborhood" feature at that spot.

Official 3CDC drone footage of Smitty's:

Photos of work-in-progress on the 11-unit Stafford project at 13th & Walnut:

Official 3CDC drone footage of Smitty's:

 

my drone shots are better!!1