Rare chance to remake Over-the-Rhine

Developers and advocates: Work together or risk failure

By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn • [email protected] • January 23, 2009

 

 

OVER-THE-RHINE - Sometime next year, 1,350 of the region's most talented kids will enter a new $72 million performing arts school that promises to be the envy of the nation.

 

But whether the School for Creative & Performing Arts opens in a neighborhood known for crime and poverty or hope and stability depends on critical tests soon to come.

 

By all accounts, 2009 is a crucial year for Over-the-Rhine - home to some of the region's most touted cultural treasures as well as some of its poorest and most disconnected residents.

 

Planners say they must move quickly to leverage unprecedented gains made in the past four years. Where past redevelopments have started and stalled, current efforts are reshaping whole blocks through strategic focus and a careful choreography with wary longtime residents.

 

Since 2004, non-profit and corporate investors have spent $81 million buying and rehabbing more than 300 deteriorating buildings and vacant lots north of Central Parkway along Vine, Race, Walnut and Main streets.

 

Buildings that once were eroding and vacant have been transformed into trendy lofts, built atop chic new stores and revitalized businesses. Landmarks like Music Hall expect to benefit from new parking and improvements to nearby Washington Park. The sprawling performing arts school will polish the talents of America's future stars.

 

Even violent crime has fallen.

 

An Enquirer analysis of real estate records shows that Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) is now the neighborhood's sixth largest property owner, four years after it started leading the revitalization.

 

3CDC properties are taking shape next to lower-income rentals, charities, old and new stores, vacant buildings and more social service agencies than any place in the region.

 

And therein lies the old conflict that's still to be worked out.

 

As developers create a place that draws money and prestige back to the city's core, longtime residents and low-income housing advocates are skeptical about the work and worried for their futures.

 

"I mean, really, how much of this is for us? How many of us can afford to buy anything at the shops on Vine Street?" says longtime Republic Street resident Georgia Keith, 62. "I'm working poor. How will I be received if I go into one of those establishments? Like a resident? Or like I don't belong?"

 

By spring, 3CDC expects to begin plans for more than 180 units of housing, more commercial space and significant neighborhood enhancements.

 

But any missteps now could result in disappointment.

 

"I see a lot of engagement between stakeholders, but engagement does not automatically mean consensus," says Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney. "When I talk to people, conceptually they want to see the redevelopment, but some are frustrated about a lack of clarity in terms of who is going to be able to be there when it's all done. Where does that lead us to? I have no idea, but I know it brings forward a lot of tension."

 

Rooms with a view

Walk through Over-the-Rhine's streets and look up.

 

The century-old Italianate relics built in downtown Cincinnati's shadows are undergoing a dramatic transformation, bringing market-rate housing and homeownership back to Over-the-Rhine.

 

It's a movement that officials hope will help stabilize the neighborhood and curb a decades-long decline that's led to a population of less than 5,000 people, nearly half of what it was in 1990.

 

Cliff Cavanaugh, 54, an administrative coordinator at St. Francis Seraph Ministries, is among the new homeowners.

 

Last year, he paid $99,000 for a fourth-floor flat on Vine Street.

 

The chic urban condo in the Gateway Quarter seems worlds away from his former suburban spread in Wyoming. "I can walk to do some shopping, walk to go eat, walk to go have a cocktail at night," Cavanaugh says. "I don't have to get in a car to go anywhere. I can't imagine a better place."

 

In the evenings, his ceiling-high windows are illuminated by the lights of the towering Cincinnati Art Academy.

 

It's just a block away on Jackson Street.

 

And before dawn, if he's listening at just the right time, he can hear chanting rising up from the nearby Al As-hab mosque.

 

Cavanaugh and partner Jim Creasey are so impressed with the Gateway Quarter that they're shelling out another $139,000 to buy a two-bedroom condo under construction on Republic Street.

 

"It's so refreshing here, because there isn't just one kind of person. It's a multitude," Cavanaugh says. "Diversity is more than just black and white and gays and straights. It's about people who don't have a lot of money, people who do and everyone else in between."

 

The neighborhood feel is among the early results of a concentrated effort that began less than four years ago when 3CDC quietly began land-banking properties in Over-the-Rhine.

 

Building by building, lot by lot, 3CDC has amassed nearly whole city blocks through careful negotiations with property owners that range from longtime, low-rentlandlords to Cincinnati Public Schools, according to property records. The non-profit, private developer has spent roughly $13 million in private funding to buy 152buildings and 165 vacant lots.

 

The large footprint reflects a significant shift in Over-the-Rhine ownership that followed changes in federal housing policy and the bankruptcy of Hart Realty Inc. in 2001. Headed by Tom Denhart, Hart Realty once was the largest Section 8 landlord in Over-the-Rhine with more 190 properties. The company's demise opened the door for new investors.

 

Bill Baum has been renovating buildings in Over-the-Rhine since 1985. His firm, Urban Sites, is one of four private development groups bringing 3CDC's plan to life.

 

"For us, this is a dream come true," Baum says. "Sometimes it felt like you were chopping away at a mountain, because past efforts were so scattered. It took 3CDC to make it a concentrated effort, and now we're making huge strides."

 

But 3CDC's work is far from over.

 

By spring, it expects to present a fourth massive phase - one that would extend the Gateway Quarter beyond the 1500 block of Vine.

 

"We want all of this moving simultaneously," timed to the opening of the performing arts school and symphony season in 2010, says Stephen Leeper, 3CDC's president and CEO. "It's exciting to think about what this neighborhood is going to look like a year from now."

 

Mixed-income, mixed visions

To finance the redevelopment, 3CDC has used a federal program that provides tax credits to corporate investors who buy into the vision of a "mixed-income, diverse" Over-the-Rhine.

 

Leaders at Over-the-Rhine Community Housing say they have that view in mind, too, but the visions don't necessarily align.

 

"Our experience of mixed-income so far, is that it has been generally focused on the market rate and the new people moving in. It doesn't necessarily value the current residents," says Mary Burke, executive director of the non-profit housing group that manages 250 lower-rent apartments and also has new developments under way.

 

"If you're not deliberate or intentional about including affordable housing, then we don't see that a mixed-income neighborhood will happen," Burke says.

 

She believes Cincinnati should require developers to include some units that are affordable to lower-income residents - especially in projects that receive city funding like 3CDC's Gateway Quarter.

 

Referred to as "inclusionary zoning," the mandate has been successful in San Diego, San Francisco and New York, she says.

 

"If there isn't the same amount of investment in the affordable as there is the market rate, or if there's not some sort of legislation to make it happen, then the affordable will get lost," she says.

 

Leeper doesn't think so.

 

"Right now there's a lot of affordable housing in the neighborhood, and before we start requesting legislation, we need to ask - what really is the right mix?" he says.

 

Unlike past efforts, 3CDC and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing have found ways to partner.

 

By February, Burke's group expects to wrap up the first phase of City Home, a $7 million development on Pleasant Street of 12 single-family town homes and renovated condominiums. Five of the homes will be for low-income residents. 3CDC is financing the deal through its New Market Tax Credit program.

 

Also, on Odeon Street, Community Housing is planning 25 units of housing for chronically homeless people. Called the Jimmy Heath House, the $3.5 million project will be the first of its kind in Cincinnati - created specifically for residents with drug or alcohol addictions. 3CDC owns the site, and last year Leeper went with Burke and others to tour similar facilities in Columbus.

 

While the concept can be controversial, Leeper believes that if correctly carried out, it can have a dramatic impact.

 

Burke says it's critical that the two groups find common ground, but admits doing so is not always easy.

 

"It can be a challenging relationship, because we walk a very fine line," Burke says. "We want to be part of the new development and stay true to our residents."

 

Says Leeper: "Every party is trying to do what they think is the right thing, so there's going to be inherent conflict. Right now there is clearly a movement to get this right. What right is, I'm not so sure. But I think everyone acknowledges that the way many things exist today is unacceptable."

 

Fears of displacement

Creating a mixed-income neighborhood has never been easy, city manager Dohoney says.

 

"Dispersing the density of a low-income population is not something you can easily do," he says. If "you wind up with a mixed-income environment ... it does mean that some people that are there now won't be there in the future."

 

Questions about displaced residents have been raised ever since 3CDC and other private developers began buying and then boarding up and securing buildings until they're ready for rehab.

 

"We've seen a significant loss of low-income housing in recent years, but unfortunately no one has been able to document it," Burke says.

 

A few blocks from the new condos and swank stores on Vine, Georgia Keith can see the signs from her doorway.

 

Across Republic Street, buildings are boarded up. Drilled onto their brick facades are metal plaques that read: "OTR Holdings Inc." That's the legal entity 3CDC created for its property acquisitions.

 

"Before 3CDC fenced up those yards, I would plant flowers and try to keep them up," Keith says. "We try to keep it clean around here. It's not where you live. It's how you live."

 

She appreciates the renewed interest in her neighborhood, but thinks more should be done to make sure poorer residents are included in the changes.

 

"For some people, all they know is being in Over-the-Rhine. Surviving here is their livelihood," she says. "We have to look out for them, just like we look out for our children, because they can't always do it themselves."

 

Leeper says the vast majority of buildings that 3CDC purchased have been vacant.

 

But he doesn't deny that in some instances tenants were forced to move first.

 

"We emptied out some buildings ... Guilty as charged," he says. "The building at the northeast corner of Race and 14th - two people were gunned down there two (Reds) Opening Days ago. The buildings in the 1300 block of Race - those were prime examples of where we bought property to eliminate the problems. Something had to change."

 

He says the end result warranted the moves. "All of these things, this investment, has helped preserve a stock of buildings that otherwise would be lost."

 

Karyl Cunningham, executive director of the Emanuel Community Center on Race Street, says concerns about displaced people are misdirected.

 

"Many of these buildings were falling apart," she says. "They were nasty and filthy and in some there were prostitution and drug deals going on. We should be getting on the slumlords that are still here who go to bed at night thinking that what they are doing is OK."

 

Divide on social services

Everyone agrees it will take more than dressed-up buildings and middle-class mortgages to transform Over-the-Rhine.

 

"I think most of what 3CDC is doing is good, but development dollars alone will not solve the problems," says Mike Morgan, executive director of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, a non-profit that advocates for historic building preservation and engages in other community projects.

 

"There are more homeless that funnel through Over-the-Rhine than the neighborhood's population," Morgan says. "Essentially, we get more people imported here because of a broken social-service system than we do for our business policy. It's a model that creates instability."

 

For better or worse, social services are big business in Over-the-Rhine. At least 23 agencies feed, clothe, house or detoxify thousands of people each day with services that accounted for 3,400 neighborhood jobs in 2007.

 

Advocates say the agencies are a closely knit network located exactly where people need help the most.

 

But critics argue the concentration of soup kitchens, homeless shelters and drug rehab programs perpetuates poverty, lowers property values and fuels crime.

 

The conflicting views have sidelined collaboration in Over-the-Rhine for decades, and continue to complicate efforts under way now.

 

"There is clearly a population that has incredible needs and is not being properly served, which creates a challenging atmosphere, but by pointing the finger at them, we're blaming the victim," Leeper says. "The fact is, all parties are losing right now, and now the community is investing ($72) million in a new K-12 school that's going to be impacted by this."

 

City Council is expected in coming months to consider nearly 30 zoning code amendments that will determine how certain social services operate and where new or expanding services can locate.

 

Among other measures, the changes would require agencies such as homeless shelters to be at least 1,000 feet from other social service agencies and at least 500 feet from single-family homes. The proposal also calls for certain agencies to create "good-neighbor" agreements with security plans and regular litter control policies.

 

The measures were crafted following several meetings last summer attended by people with various and opposing neighborhood interests. For hours, they debated the potential impacts that social services have on their neighborhoods and argued the fine points of definitions for operations like soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

 

Pat Clifford, executive director of The Drop Inn Center, the region's largest homeless shelter, on 12th Street, says all sides have to be willing to give up something. "These are not easy meetings where everyone is always patting themselves on the back. This is tough work and we have to negotiate the differences out. I don't think that means the dialogue has to be either we win or they win.

 

"We've tried to change that dialogue, although sometimes it feels like when you start a seed growing where some collaboration or cooperation might occur, you have someone looking to stomp that seed out."

 

Arts school a focal point

If all goes as planned, officials say opening day for the performing arts school will be celebrated amid considerable improvements to the neighborhood.

 

The first public school of its kind in the nation, the 250,000-square-foot facility will draw 1,350 students in kindergarten through high school. Construction should be done by early next year with doors ready to open by the 2010-11 school year.

 

Leeper says the school and surrounding neighborhoods ultimately will benefit from development that results from people working together - even if their visions are different.

 

"Hopefully, we've been able to improve safety in the neighborhood," he says. "I just hope for the folks who look at what we have done, they think about what it was like before."

 

Dohoney says unlikely alliances may be messy, but necessary, to accomplish a neighborhood's turnaround.

 

"It's not intended to be a laboratory experiment, but it is a modern day example of how to bring a lot of interested parties to a common issue and have them work together," he says. "It's not always smooth, but hopefully it's a fruitful experience."

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090123/BIZ01/901250301

"I mean, really, how much of this is for us? How many of us can afford to buy anything at the shops on Vine Street?" says longtime Republic Street resident Georgia Keith, 62. "I'm working poor. How will I be received if I go into one of those establishments? Like a resident? Or like I don't belong?"

 

She believes Cincinnati should require developers to include some units that are affordable to lower-income residents - especially in projects that receive city funding like 3CDC's Gateway Quarter.

 

--

 

Bad idea. The free market should prevail as much as possible in this instance. In order for investors to recoup their initial investment, the units need to sell for a premium in order for 3CDC to generate a profit and continue work. If history tells us anything, Urban Sites has had bad experienced with the 'mixed income' bit -- it's Walnut Street sites are prime examples. Very nice units constructed only a few years ago have degraded to drug havens, and most of the original residents have either moved out, replaced with lower-quality tenants.

 

As for the first comment I quoted, the free market works in a way that if you can no longer afford to live in one particular location, then it may be time to pack it up and move as bad as that prospect may be. OTR has approached the point that if we don't conduct significant investment in the buildings, they will either collapse or be demolished. Thirty years of neglected maintenance on most of the historic structures, along with thirty years of misinvestment, a flagging population, and no economic gain should tell us that the mantra is keeping status quo isn't going to cut it.

All Hail 3CDC!

Including some designated low income units spread throughout market rate units has been successful other places and I definitely don't think it is out of the question for some redevelopment in this area. We've said for years that OTR has room for everyone, I think that redevelopment efforts need to embrace certain social efforts within the area, though there are too many now. I think a great example of this is Venice on Vine, is that embraced by "the Q"? I'm not sure if it is or not, but it should be. Urban living doesn't have to be dangerous, but it should invite different social and economic groups to the party.

"What we do with Washington Park will let us know who the park is for," says longtime resident Bonnie Neumeier, who's also co-founder of the region's largest homeless shelter, the Drop Inn Center across from the park on 12th Street.

 

"There is a history of broken promises here, and residents are skeptical," Neumeier says. "Neighborhood people deserve to see something for them."

 

Go to hell, lady. Nobody in life "deserves" anything. Who is the park for? The park is for human beings. Not your proto-human homeless that you have such little expectation of normal human behavior that you shepherd them like pets, defending their "right" to piss on the sidewalk.

 

What do we have in life, if not our own sense of order and value? We have nothing. We have this woman, defending the behavior of her animals and this insane concept that everyone has a right to everything.

 

If real people -those who participate in this tenuous exchange of give-and-take that we call civilization- want to take back a park, or a building, or a block, or a city, that they had previously forgotten, nothing will ultimately stop them. Becuase Bonnie Neumeier seems to have forgotten that she and her homeless pets were just borrowing a place that "someone" had forgotten about. And that "someone" wants it back. That "someone" is civilization.

 

the map of who owns what in OTR shows the proposed streetcar route...but it looks wrong to me, unless it has changed.  It shows the streetcar going up vine to mcmicken.  This can't be right.....unless the route I am familiar with has changed. 

the map of who owns what in OTR shows the proposed streetcar route...but it looks wrong to me, unless it has changed. It shows the streetcar going up vine to mcmicken. This can't be right.....unless the route I am familiar with has changed.

 

I told them about it, they are correcting it

Here's the map...

the map of who owns what in OTR shows the proposed streetcar route...but it looks wrong to me, unless it has changed.  It shows the streetcar going up vine to mcmicken.  This can't be right.....unless the route I am familiar with has changed. 

 

It may be what certain organizations want, though.

It doesn't matter what they want... I may want a comprehensive streetcar system throughout the city, but I wouldn't expect the Enquirer to publish my map as fact.

um. so the City owns Grammer's parking lot?

um. so the City owns Grammer's parking lot?

 

I'm assuming the City owns a bunch of parcels along Liberty for right-of-way purposes...probably only a portion of the Grammer's parking lot.

What's the deal with coffee emporium moving it's roasting/warehouse to 12th and Vine?...what building exactly are they moving to?

Wow, if all the beige parcels were actually vacant it would look just like that aerial of Charlotte in the other thread! LOL

What's the deal with coffee emporium moving it's roasting/warehouse to 12th and Vine?...what building exactly are they moving to?

 

I wasn't aware they were moving it. I know that the Emery once held a boutique grocery store when it opened, and they may be clearing it out to reopen a store in the Emery adjacent to the Emporium (which now has expanded hours).

The Emery is on Walnut isn't it?

What's the deal with coffee emporium moving it's roasting/warehouse to 12th and Vine?...what building exactly are they moving to?

 

It's my understanding that they purchased the old Noel's Plumbing location (12th & Walnut, NE corner)...not anything at 12th & Vine.

Do you know of the plan's for Noel's Plumbing?  Hopefully a demo project so something more fitting of the area can be constructed

This is why I asked....but the Noel's building makes far more sense

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/01/26/story17.html

The owners of Coffee Emporium, the roaster and seller that buys its beans straight from the source, are ramping up capacity with plans to expand their operations by as much as five-fold.

 

The long-term goal is to grow the number of coffeehouses that Coffee Emporium now supplies and open more of its own locations. It now sells to 12 shops and operates three locations, in Hyde Park, at Xavier University and downtown on Central Parkway, where its roasting now takes place.

 

Tony and Eileen Tausch have signed a lease on a building at 12th and Vine streets to expand their 1,000-square-foot roasting and warehouse operations to 5,000 square feet. But not overnight. With the economy as tight as it is, they plan to approach the expansion methodically, with the roasting operations relocating perhaps by the summer.

 

“We’d rather do it right than do it wrong,” Tony Tausch said. “The nice thing about it is people are loathe to give up their coffee. We’re in a nice thing, where we’re not selling yachts or cars.”

 

 

um. so the City owns Grammer's parking lot?

 

The city owns the majority of parcels that consist of the south side of the actual Liberty Street, that were purchased when Liberty was widened.  That is why there is no building street edge on the south side.

Let's just hope the NAACP doesn't do something negative to this development which would make them look like complete morons.  What have they done for Cincy other than complain?

I'm not sure if this has been posted. The Enquirer has an interactive feature along with those articles.

 

Interactive usually means a pdf file to Enquirer. Along with the map, this has videos that interviews various stakeholders.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090123/FLASH/301230111/1055/NEWS

So what's the deal with all the city owned property near Findlay market? Obviously some of it is the market and associated parking itself, but that doesn't explain all the "green" labels over there. What do they own, and what do they plan to do with it?

 

For a potential investor's perspective, few things would scare me more than vacant buildings owned by the government. It creates the reasonable fear that 1) the buildings/land might remain vacant indefinitely or 2) future administrations will return it to destructive social services or public housing uses.

So what's the deal with all the city owned property near Findlay market? Obviously some of it is the market and associated parking itself, but that doesn't explain all the "green" labels over there. What do they own, and what do they plan to do with it?

 

For a potential investor's perspective, few things would scare me more than vacant buildings owned by the government. It creates the reasonable fear that 1) the buildings/land might remain vacant indefinitely or 2) future administrations will return it to destructive social services or public housing uses.

 

I believe the city purchased it some time ago as part of a beautification of the market type of project.  Notice when you go to the market that many of the buildings are painted brightly, that was part of the city's initiative to make the market feel safer and encourage development there.  For the most part properties surrounding the market that are not city owned have been purchased from the city or simulatneously since this initiative. 

 

Rumor has it that Model Group has a right to develop a few buildings around there, but they told the city that it would not be for a few years (they are swamped with their 3CDC/ Gateway Quarter work), and the city obliged/ is holding onto the property in the mean time.

So what's the deal with all the city owned property near Findlay market? Obviously some of it is the market and associated parking itself, but that doesn't explain all the "green" labels over there. What do they own, and what do they plan to do with it?

 

For a potential investor's perspective, few things would scare me more than vacant buildings owned by the government. It creates the reasonable fear that 1) the buildings/land might remain vacant indefinitely or 2) future administrations will return it to destructive social services or public housing uses.

 

A good chunk of the property is Findlay Park, as well as the OTR Rec Center.

 

Most of the rest it is controlled by the Corporation for Findlay Market.  While owned by the city, the Market has actively redeveloped almost all of their property to some degree (ie storefronts whiteboxed while the upper levels are unrenovated) or it is dedicated surface parking.  The Market has a vested interest in redeveloping those properties and seeing them occupied with business and residents.

 

Generally the concerns you raised, while valid, aren't  an issue for these properties.

 

Any word on how much the Gateway Quarter condos are selling for in relation to their list prices? Have the developers been willing to give at all on the prices?

 

I'm looking into a few places and wondering if its realistic to give a low ball offer and have them bend at all.

 

Anyone with experience out there?

I think if you want to low ball you'll probably need to go with the orginal gateway condos at central and vine or on centenial row on race street.  That being said, im sure they'll incentivize with no condo fees for a time period and other things like that. 

Any word on how much the Gateway Quarter condos are selling for in relation to their list prices? Have the developers been willing to give at all on the prices?

 

I'm looking into a few places and wondering if its realistic to give a low ball offer and have them bend at all.

 

Anyone with experience out there?

 

It seems like the prices have gone up a lot. I remember hearing of units going for 90k-160k. Maybe the smaller units sold first or something - I don't know. I think they originally sold so cheaply because the development was gov't subsidized. The units I saw definitely looked like they were worth more than what they were selling for. RE agent also said (during a tour) that some woman bought a unit and resold it for tens of thousands more only a few months after she bought it. This was over a year ago though.

Main Street projects under way

By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn • [email protected] • January 30, 2009

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090130/BIZ01/301300023

 

Work is under way on three Main Street buildings that Over-the-Rhine-based developer Urban Sites plans to transform into market rate apartments and street-level storefronts.

 

In late December, Urban Sites purchased seven buildings from Mercy Housing Partners for roughly $355,000, according to Hamilton County Auditor records.

 

The developer said renovations are under way now at 1307, 1329 and 1415 Main St. for 14 apartments and three retail spaces.

 

“We’re moving very aggressively to find stakeholder tenants who are really willing to take over what we think are eclectic, urban retail spaces,” said Greg Olson. chief operating officer at Urban Sites.

 

The apartments, he said, are expected to be ready over the next two months and will rent from $425 to $900 a month.

 

The firm is working on a plan for the remaining buildings, which are at 1207 and 1209 Clay St., 1301 Main St. and 104 W. Clifton Ave.

 

Olson said they were in “very bad shape” and cosmetic repairs alone would not be enough to restore them.

 

Urban Sites is among four private development firms working with Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. to redevelop properties in Over-the-Rhine’s Gateway Quarter.

 

The firm, which has been redeveloping property in Over-the-Rhine since 1985, has developed more than 50 condos in the Quarter.

 

By 2010 the developer expects to add an additional to 45 renovated residential rental units in the neighborhood, Olson said.

 

“We’re having a lot of success,” he said. “This area is a low-hanging fruit, and we see this as an opportunity to contribute to the arts district and bring back a retail and dining district – something that’s not bar or entertainment centered, but living centered.”

 

 

How big is this gateway anyway?

I dunno!    This might be stretching it!  MOD's, feel free to move.  Either way, I love these type of articles.

Private firm renovates 3 sites in Over-the-Rhine

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090131/BIZ01/901310336/1055/NEWS

 

Work is under way on three Main Street buildings that Over-the-Rhine-based developer Urban Sites plans to transform into market-rate apartments and street-level storefronts.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090201/NEWS01/902010360/1168/NEWS0101

 

Leave it to Bronson to write a generally positive piece on the Brewery District with nary a mention of the streetcar and the impact of what the proposed line would have on the area.

^

Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Here's the map...

That's an impressive map.  Way to go 3CDC.

I can't wait for development to creep further north. One of the biggest aesthetic issues in OTR is the amount of fly-posting on abandoned buildings. I remember vividly, driving around and seeing advertisements illegally posted up on buildings for rap albums that came out 2 years earlier. It's almost a sure sign that the structure used for posting is abandoned.

This sucks!

 

Sidewalk Closed After Bricks Fall From OTR Building

Part Of Front Of Abandoned Home Collapses

http://www.wlwt.com/news/18688705/detail.html

POSTED: 8:08 am EST February 11, 2009

UPDATED: 9:39 am EST February 11, 2009

 

CINCINNATI -- Police closed an Over-the-Rhine sidewalk after part of the house behind it fell down Wednesday.

 

Part of the front of the three-story abandoned home at 414 Liberty St. fell onto the sidewalk at about 8 a.m., leaving a pile of bricks about 1 to 2 feet high.

 

The part that collapsed was on the third floor, between and above the front windows.

 

It appeared that part of the wall behind the brick was leaning inward.

 

City workers will assess the building's stability and decide on a course of action.

Streetview

Damn ... we cannot get this area rehabbed soon enough.

It's actually in the West End, god forbid the the news team actually looks at a map.

^ HEY!  That doesn't mean it should be left to rot and fall.

^

I didn't mean that at all, just venting at the stupidity of our local press.

A few months ago they reported an incident at the corner of Clifton & Vine as being in Clifton. 

name recognition for the ignorants who like to associate negative stories with certain neighborhoods

Gateway Quarter Bucks Economic Trend

http://www.wlwt.com/video/18739916/index.html

 

Watch the video at the link above...

Gateway Quarter Bucks Economic Trend

http://www.wlwt.com/video/18739916/index.html

 

Watch the video at the link above...

 

Very encouraging!  Good stories like this are needed to help change people's perception of the area.

 

Geez, looking at this map, I can't help but think of how (relatively) easy it'd be to continue the 3CDC development a couple blocks north and west to Findlay Market and really make a powerful chunk of real estate potential.  I'm glad Urban Sites is taking some initiative and building on Main St, but I really with a couple of other developers would takes some risks.

 

Does anyone know if there's a strict zoning code in place for OTR?  I'd hate to see the area take off and have some suburban developer muck it up with home builder quality junk.

 

and I have to restate that the streetcar is placed EXACTLY where it needs to be. 

OTR has not only the zoning code, but historic district guidelines for construction.  Any new construction or renovation has to be approved by the Historic Conservation Board.

 

The Brewery District has a ton of potential, as you noticed.  The challenges are a little different due to the size of the buildings, but there is a lot of effort focused there currently.  There are a number of possible projects in the works that hopefully will be able to come to fruition, but the streetcar will guarantee that.  I think 3CDC has its hands full at the moment with all of the property they control south of Liberty.

 

That's all fantastic news.  It's all coming together, and the Streetcar really is the missing link.  I'll continue my thought on the Streetcar thread, so as not to hijack this one.

I walked by the Davis Furniture Building in the 1100 block of Main today, and noticed that they were starting gutting of the building! The lights were on inside, and some equipment was being stored for the gut (and hopefully restoration). A covered shelter was installed on the sidewalk, and tubing -- used by interior demolition crews to haul junk out into a waste bin, was lying ready for use.