Do you have examples of which buildings in Mt. Adams you're talking about? Or addresses even so I can just look at them on Google Maps? I'm curious to see what they look like.

 

I generally agree that faux historic is a bad idea, but contemporary can be even worse sometimes.  I absolutely despise 978 Hatch St: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.109172,-84.495713,3a,75y,343.23h,86.58t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGlzottZRjajm5dpyzOA-7w!2e0

 

I'm not a big fan of anything happening in the 1200 block of Ida either: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.110622,-84.498976,3a,75y,296.07h,94.81t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1snTLHWvJYI80ILbzLsipXCA!2e0

 

At the same time, this faux historic building is beautiful and the centerpoint of the neighborhood: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.107726,-84.49771,3a,75y,335.55h,95.49t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sH-bGpBlgUG1y1PLlYbp5pg!2e0

 

 

I think the SCALE and MASSING are what matter most.  Even though Mt Adams has its fair share of cringe-worthy infill, the neighborhood still feels intimate and historic.  Corner buildings are BY FAR the most important buildings in maintaining that character.  So far, I'm elated with the way Trinity Flats and 14th and Vine turned out.  One Mercer...I'll repeat, scale and massing.  Beyond the corner buildings, I'm all for any development as long as they maintain veritcality in the neighborhood.

Why are bricks and double-hung windows automatically not modern though?  It's like the argument that streetcars are old technology while automobiles are modern, but there you're comparing 120 year old technology with 110 year old technology.  Big whoop. 

 

Even so, brick and more ancient materials like stone are still hallmarks of modernist designs.  Just because they can be made cheaper on an assembly line into thin veneers or other complex shapes doesn't make them inherently better or more true to some aesthetic ideal.  Glass and metal (whether steel, aluminum, or titanium) have been around for nearly a century now too.  If you want to really be cutting edge then you should probably be looking at carbon fiber construction, or maybe some sort of 3D printed structure.  Otherwise you're really just setting arbitrary boundaries for what's "modern enough to be ok" versus not.  If your goal is to always be on the cutting edge and to constantly reinvent the wheel, then you can never learn from and adapt what works best for the conditions at hand, and that just makes buildings more expensive and less durable. 

 

I guess the point is that architecture is not 100% pure art, it's a practical art that has to be grounded in a number of hard rules.  So for the most part just about everything that can be done has been done already somewhere else.  Ergo, every design is going to be derivative of something that came before it.  So if a contemporary glass and steel box is derivative of a 1950s glass and steel box, is that really any more legitimate than a contemporary brick row house derivative of an 1880s brick row house?  I would say no, not inherently.  The trick is in the execution.  Because the rules of historical architecture are much better known (if implicitly rather than explicitly), poor execution of modern examples are much easier to spot.  Since there basically are no rules for modern design styles, it's much easier to just say "oh that's how it's supposed to be!" 

^^Though I disagree with your assessment of the faux historic building in Mt. Adams you refer to as beautiful since I see that as one of the worst abominations in the entire city in terms of how it feels (though its ground level, I'll admit, does a good job of engaging the street which is obviously critical) I'll agree that when done super well it's not always bad. In fact that's most of what I do at my job and I really enjoy it. But that's mostly because I really appreciate the level of detail and craft that goes into our projects regardless of style. But that requires a lot of money in order to make work which is why, as a whole, faux historic buildings usually turn out poorly. Most people aren't willing to actually invest the capital necessary to make something new actually match the quality of old.

 

^My wording was poor before when I said "materials." That term was far too loose to actually get the meaning I meant across. I have no problems with the physical materials being, say brick, but would prefer they use them in a way that isn't trying to mimic the way they're used in old construction. A good example of using brick but in a modern way nearby to OTR is on Steger Student Life Center's columns. The brick only wraps two of the sides of the columns as to expose the actual structure, concrete, beneath. The bricks aren't structural masonry and are openly showing that they aren't. I like that. These rowhomes, with only very slight modifications, could still fit into their surroundings well but show through the way materials are used that they aren't the same as their context.

I'm definitely not an architect, but in general new construction made to look historic doesn't bother me at all, especially as urban infill. 

 

Are there any modern companies or craftsmen that can mimic the elaborate Italianate cornices of the olden days?  It seems like when they do build faux historic this part is usually left blank or there are just a few plain features added that seem to suggest a cornice. 

 

^Absolutely, but it's extremely expensive. Which is the problem. Because the end result is almost always what you describe. Either a blank spot or really awful, plain features trying to suggest a cornice. And at that point, why bother?

In Saving Private Ryan they blow up a cardboard French town with historically correct proportions.  With most new buildings built in a historic style, they get the proportions completely wrong.  Why can Hollywood set designers hit it spot-on but architects can't even come close? 

Personally, I really like the infill apartment building on Walnut and I believe Mercer?  Travis Estall had a photograph on instagram of it the other day but I am not entirely sure of the exact address (I would link but maybe Travis would want to)?

 

Anyways, I think it looks really nice and compliments the other buildings around it nicely.  Once the neighborhood continues to develop it will blend in seamlessly, in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

Here's the building at Mercer and Walnut:

 

 

While it doesn't try to emulate the surrounding buildings (which is good), I think the architecture is kind of "meh" and is pretty much the same as USquare/The Banks/The Gantry. I actually prefer the new building at Mercer and Vine, which I think succeeds by using so much glass and not having a "patchwork" effect that is common on so much of this CR-style architecture.

Those windows are so ugly... That's the kind of stuff I hate

In Saving Private Ryan they blow up a cardboard French town with historically correct proportions.  With most new buildings built in a historic style, they get the proportions completely wrong.  Why can Hollywood set designers hit it spot-on but architects can't even come close? 

 

Because recreating an old building or buildings when you have no worries about anything beyond a facade allows you to do whatever you want. If those same people were asked to design a functioning building everything would more than likely go to crap during the design and revision process.

In Saving Private Ryan they blow up a cardboard French town with historically correct proportions.  With most new buildings built in a historic style, they get the proportions completely wrong.  Why can Hollywood set designers hit it spot-on but architects can't even come close? 

 

Because recreating an old building or buildings when you have no worries about anything beyond a facade allows you to do whatever you want. If those same people were asked to design a functioning building everything would more than likely go to crap during the design and revision process.

 

Just copy what works.  There are innumerable things going on behind similar facades.  What's going on inside doesn't matter to the streetscape.  The streetscape is a shared concerned.  Average buildings located near outstanding buildings are elevated in value by their proximity.  Outstanding buildings surrounded by crap are brought down.  When something swings for the fences and misses and falls over (i.e. the Vontz Center) it just pisses people off and undermines the credibility of whoever is associated with it. 

Personally, I really like the infill apartment building on Walnut and I believe Mercer?  Travis Estall had a photograph on instagram of it the other day but I am not entirely sure of the exact address (I would link but maybe Travis would want to)?

 

Anyways, I think it looks really nice and compliments the other buildings around it nicely.  Once the neighborhood continues to develop it will blend in seamlessly, in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the building at Mercer and Walnut:

 

 

While it doesn't try to emulate the surrounding buildings (which is good), I think the architecture is kind of "meh" and is pretty much the same as USquare/The Banks/The Gantry. I actually prefer the new building at Mercer and Vine, which I think succeeds by using so much glass and not having a "patchwork" effect that is common on so much of this CR-style architecture.

 

I guess more than anything, I like the "rust color" of the building.  Maybe not so much the actual design, but I think the color is neat and overall scale is good.

I generally agree that faux historic is a bad idea, but contemporary can be even worse sometimes.  I absolutely despise 978 Hatch St: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.109172,-84.495713,3a,75y,343.23h,86.58t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGlzottZRjajm5dpyzOA-7w!2e0

 

This is one of my least favorite buildings in Mt Adams, as well.  There's a beautiful 1890-1900 era house in there somewhere, just waiting for someone to dismantle the hideous "renovation" that was performed decades ago.

While it doesn't try to emulate the surrounding buildings (which is good), I think the architecture is kind of "meh" and is pretty much the same as USquare/The Banks/The Gantry. I actually prefer the new building at Mercer and Vine, which I think succeeds by using so much glass and not having a "patchwork" effect that is common on so much of this CR-style architecture.

 

I'm not a fan either, but it is a step above those other buildings.  I think the biggest problem here is the awkward windows.

I generally agree that faux historic is a bad idea, but contemporary can be even worse sometimes.  I absolutely despise 978 Hatch St: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.109172,-84.495713,3a,75y,343.23h,86.58t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGlzottZRjajm5dpyzOA-7w!2e0

 

This is one of my least favorite buildings in Mt Adams, as well.  There's a beautiful 1890-1900 era house in there somewhere, just waiting for someone to dismantle the hideous "renovation" that was performed decades ago.

 

That's a project of David Niland.  It has some nice spaces inside near the back where the site drops off and the first floor ends up a whole story above grade.  Being a Niland project it's white white white and more white, which gets tiring after a while.  He said that leaving the old cornice on the front was "tongue-in-cheek gesture" to the original house.  To me it's a fuck-you to the original house and to the street.  Either embrace the original and work with it, or get rid of it altogether.  In this case it just doesn't work.  The overall materiality and detailing on the exterior is also not good, which is typical of his work.  Because of that Niland's houses need constant repainting, and they still end up streaky and grungy after a short time.  What's disappointing is that the overall design (ignoring the cornice) almost works with the appropriate verticality of the building and site.  You can see it on the side, in the original 2nd story window, and even in that chimney-like whoop-de-do on the far right, but the proportions of that boxout addition in the front are all wrong and ruin it. 

The announced budget of $8 million was absolutely insane.

 

The renovation of the church at 12th & Elm, to be a music venue/wedding venue is $4.5 million.  I've been told the interior is in pretty decent shape, unlike 15th & race which was bare walls.

New single family home construction now underway at 1428 Elm St.

 

Brick work began yesterday:

 

This building looks amazing in terms of its quality of the brick and its accuracy in design and scale.  Honestly, if you were just riding the streetcar up elm and glanced over you could think it was historic at first.  Also, I've been told a nearly identical building will be placed immediately to the south.  Two massive new single families. Very interesting. 

Excellent! I was hoping the vacant lot next door would be developed.

Next door is actually two vacant lots.  One 3CDC got control of and that will be the next building (immediately adjacent).  The third lot (adjacent to the next southern most building), is tied up in some bankruptcy court and so, while they are using it for staging, no one owns it yet.  Potentially, it could become a third home at some time in the future.

... Being a Niland project it's white white white and more white, which gets tiring after a while.  He said that leaving the old cornice on the front was "tongue-in-cheek gesture" to the original house.  To me it's a fuck-you to the original house and to the street.  Either embrace the original and work with it, or get rid of it altogether.  ...

 

Wait... was this done recently?  I always assumed that some idiot did this back in the 60s.  Totally agree with you about it being an F-U to the structure and the whole neighborhood.  (Sorry for being off topic in an OTR thread.)

^ I'm not sure when he did it, but it could very well have been in the 60s, though I'd guess more like the 70s or 80s. 

Construction kicks off for Taft's Ale House in OTR

 

Over-the-Rhine's rich brewing history marks another milestone Friday as construction begins on Taft's Ale House – transforming an abandoned, historic church building and recalling a famous family's past.

 

The new three-level brewpub will be housed in the old St. Paul's German Evangelical Protestant Church at 1429 Race St. and include a brewery, three bars and full-service restaurant seating 300.

 

An official groundbreaking is at 11 a.m. today. It's expected to open this fall.

 

Cont

 

July 9, 2014:

delete

I don't think this has been posted:

 

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/gentrification-cities-ranked-recession-post-boom

 

And the actual study:

 

http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/trends/2014/0714/01regeco.cfm

 

"Another interesting case is Cincinnati, which barely changed in income ranking from 2000 to 2007 but has increased at a pace similar to Denver or Washington during the 2007 to 2010 period."

^ That study is very interesting. Development in OTR probably couldn't explain Cincinnati's numbers, as it examined how the census tracts of the city compare with the census tracts of the metro. I doubt a shift in the couple tracts that make up OTR could have such a big effect. So what's going on here? I suspect the suburbs are getting poorer. But it seems like other city neighborhoods must be getting wealthier, too.

 

We selected a set of 59 large cities, all of which had a population above 250,000 in the year 2000 and the largest population of their respective metropolitan area (many metro areas include more than one city). Then we ranked the census tracts of each metropolitan area by the average income of residents in the tracts. The rankings are percentiles, running from 1 to 100. Finally, we took the mean of these rankings for the tracts that are located in the largest city of the metropolitan area (referred to as the principal city in the charts below). This mean gives a sense of where the tracts of the largest city as a whole fall in the income distribution of the metropolitan area.

Over-the-Rhine chocolate shop opens (Video)

 

Maverick Chocolate Co., a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, held its grand opening Tuesday morning.

Paul Picton, president of Maverick Chocolate, said as craft chocolate makers, the retailer is making a unique chocolate with every batch.

 

http://t.co/RVf0oMiwoa

 

Well this place is making me extremely hungry. A great addition to Findlay Market.

The building at 106 E 14th Street is currently being repaired. The roof has been partially dismantled and being rebuilt.

 

Here are some pictures I took yesterday

 

 

 

UrbanCincy reports that the 15th & Race project is "on hold" due to a need for additional funds. Has 3CDC said this publicly? The only quote from 3CDC appears at the end of the first paragraph, but it is unattributed so it's not clear who Urban Cincy heard this from.

 

Between two of Over-the-Rhine’s most treasured attractions is a Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) proposal currently on hold. As a result, the non-profit development corporation will either need to obtain a new funding source or the project will need to be “a little more within the scale of the existing market.”

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

UrbanCincy reports that the 15th & Race project is "on hold" due to a need for additional funds. Has 3CDC said this publicly? The only quote from 3CDC appears at the end of the first paragraph, but it is unattributed so it's not clear who Urban Cincy heard this from.

 

Between two of Over-the-Rhine’s most treasured attractions is a Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) proposal currently on hold. As a result, the non-profit development corporation will either need to obtain a new funding source or the project will need to be “a little more within the scale of the existing market.”

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

 

I Believe it was shelved due to the fact 3CDC did not receive New Market Tax Credits.

From a June 30th post, here is the Enquirer article:

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2014/06/28/cdc-downtown-redevelopment-federal-tax-credits/11617811/

^Thanks for the link to the Enquirer article. If UrbanCincy did pull that quote from there, they should a) cite the Enquirer and b) state that the quote is from Leeper.

Yes, they announced that several of the projects were put on hold when they failed to win historic tax credits. This includes 15th & Race as well as Mercer Commons Phase 3 (which was planned to be office space, but could be changed to residential).

^It was new markets credits, not historic, that 3CDC did not win.

A Large block of land was sold in OTR Centered around Liberty and Elm intersection. Looks like most of it is vacant parcels.

 

I have no idea what this means, if anything, long term. But it shows there is some movement up towards liberty and from what I can tell it is completely unrelated to 3CDC.

A Large block of land was sold in OTR Centered around Liberty and Elm intersection. Looks like most of it is vacant parcels.

 

I have no idea what this means, if anything, long term. But it shows there is some movement up towards liberty and from what I can tell it is completely unrelated to 3CDC.

 

Based on the company's past, may be a very bad thing: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/08/10/story1.html?page=all

A Large block of land was sold in OTR Centered around Liberty and Elm intersection. Looks like most of it is vacant parcels.

 

I have no idea what this means, if anything, long term. But it shows there is some movement up towards liberty and from what I can tell it is completely unrelated to 3CDC.

 

Based on the company's past, may be a very bad thing: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/08/10/story1.html?page=all

 

It looks like the buildings were sold away from the Smith Foundation to the new owners. Which would be a positive.

Actually, it was the Smith guy who just sold the properties. It was sold to 224 W Liberty Block, LLC who, according to the State of Ohio, is owned represented by: R. TONY MARTINA.

 

Here is Mr. Martina's description on the Cincinnati Bar website.

 

He works for Cuni Ferguson & LeVay Co. LPA

 

Anyone know any other information?

^ Martina is the agent (lawyer) for the LLC, not necessarily the owner.

^Good Call. Updated.

If you look at the auditor info for the parcels, the mailing address for tax purposes is often the mailing address of the owner (even if the owner is an LLC and has an agent listed as point of contact). If you look up the mailing address, you get the owner.

Address of owner according to CAGIS is 7398 Baywind Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45242.

 

Owners of that address: Stephen A & Joan M Tino. Technically the house is in Montgomery.

 

It seems Steve Tino used to own a company called Pipe Products, Inc which was sold eight years ago to another company (Ferguson Enterprises in West Chester). Not sure if he still works there or is retired after he sold the company.

I redact my previous post. Didn't notice the "to" line. Could be a very good thing!

 

EDIT: Or.. is this just some sort of clerical move. Looks like Smith Foundation Properties is located at (drum roll), 224 W Liberty St.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/preview?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&ie=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=us&cid=1560120525373740823&q=Smith+Foundation+Properties&ei=NwHhU-mkEdSxyATAnIDIDQ&ved=0CI4BEPwSMAs

Here is a photo of the garage on 14th that is being converted into apartments:

 

 

As you can see, they're adding a second story. I'm really glad that they preserved the facade of the existing garage. I can't wait to see what the second story looks like on the front...

I really hope it is modern. Modern rooftop additions on older buildings seem to spring up all the time in NYC (I've heard architects there refer to them as mullet houses) and they do a good job of combining an older building facade with a modern living situation. This garage could be an interesting foray into this type of redevelopment that I'd like to see a lot more of happening here.

They are actually adding two floors.  The building is being built as two attached town homes.  Each town home will have a 2 car (tandem) garage, with a two floor living space above. I know one is sold, the second may already be sold.

^ Ha, that's my friend's company.

^Chris Rehabbed my building on Republic Street. Excellent job!!

Civvik[/member] any insider information you can share with us?

Did anyone check out 3CDC's website recently?  They are showing a few new projects including the Globe Building by Findlay Market, Mercer 3 Townhomes, the new Drop Inn and City Gospel Mission Shelters, and also looks like financing is full goal for Cintrifuse.  Oh and it looks like they have full financing for the YMCA Rehab.  Still no recent news on 15th and Vine Project.

I know a lot of people decry it, but I'm pretty impressed to see cinderblock on the sides as opposed to a wood frame that would eventually have vinyl on top.  Cinderblock is more substantial if you are going to go the cheap route.

 

 

Here is a photo of the garage on 14th that is being converted into apartments:

 

 

As you can see, they're adding a second story. I'm really glad that they preserved the facade of the existing garage. I can't wait to see what the second story looks like on the front...

I've created a thread for apartment searching. You can find it at Cincinnati Area Apartment Search