Finney Law Firm owner plans redevelopment of Main Street building into new downtown office

 

A Greater Cincinnati law firm will open a new office on Main Street in downtown Cincinnati next year.

 

Chris Finney, owner of Finney Law Firm, plans to redevelop the four-story building at 635 Main Street with office space on the first and second floors and residential space on the third and fourth.

 

Finney’s decade-old firm employs around 32 – five in leased office space in Mount Adams, fourteen in an Eastgate office and around a dozen more who work mostly from home. When the project is complete, the Mount Adams employees and some new employees will relocate downtown. 

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/08/11/finney-law-move-downtown-cincinnati-office.html

 

On 7/20/2023 at 8:10 PM, Ucgrad2015 said:

Their site has some updated photos of the renovation and the last photo is still showing the addition so hopefully it’s still going to happen. 
 

https://www.big.dev/project/830-main/

Just a follow up on this, Tony Birkla was just on 'Thats so Cincinnati.' He used the words "effectively done" and "just about complete" about the conversion itself (which honestly kind of surprised me based on walking by) and talked a bit about the restaurant in the bank building being a steakhouse. 

 

In the context of the parking lot, he talked about it as still aspirational and the intent but not there yet with current costs and rates for new construction vs. the viability of conversions. Conversation jumps around a lot, but gist was that Terraces is a bigger priority and there's some coming news for further 580 conversion of some sort. 

heres to hoping the new restaurant will activate the corner at 830 main

Edited August 14, 20231 yr by Brutus_buckeye

On 8/13/2023 at 11:26 AM, shawk said:

He used the words "effectively done" and "just about complete" about the conversion itself (which honestly kind of surprised me based on walking by)

From what I’ve seen it looks pretty much complete. Last time I walked by they were putting in light fixtures in the entry way. The restaurant there could be really something, giant tall windows on the north side, not sure if that’s the restaurant space tho. Also not sure downtown needs a steak house, it better be a great restaurant operator lined up.

On 8/12/2023 at 12:18 AM, ColDayMan said:

Finney Law Firm owner plans redevelopment of Main Street building into new downtown office

 

A Greater Cincinnati law firm will open a new office on Main Street in downtown Cincinnati next year.

 

Chris Finney, owner of Finney Law Firm, plans to redevelop the four-story building at 635 Main Street with office space on the first and second floors and residential space on the third and fourth.

 

Finney’s decade-old firm employs around 32 – five in leased office space in Mount Adams, fourteen in an Eastgate office and around a dozen more who work mostly from home. When the project is complete, the Mount Adams employees and some new employees will relocate downtown. 

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/08/11/finney-law-move-downtown-cincinnati-office.html

 

At least there will be a few more employees of his in the city paying taxes. He does an awful lot to drain the city coffers.

Downtown Cincinnati restaurant owners plead with Hamilton County not to move downtown jobs

By Chris Wetterich – Staff reporter and columnist, Cincinnati Business Courier

Aug 14, 2023

Updated Aug 14, 2023 5:42pm EDT

 

Downtown Cincinnati restaurants have published an open letter to Hamilton County asking it not to move its employees from downtown. The letter comes just months after the county released a request for proposals to explore other potential worksites.

 

“Downtown Cincinnati’s vibrancy and growth is critical to the entire region,” the letter from the Cincinnati chapter of the Ohio Restaurant Association’s local alliance states. “County and city government have always been vital stewards of downtown – the centerpiece of our region’s renaissance. You’ve always been the ones to set the example. Your investment allowed us to flourish and bring that success to the whole county.”

 

Evan Andrews, vice president of Montgomery Inn, who spoke on behalf of the local alliance, said local restaurants don’t want to lose any downtown jobs and are worried a move by the county would be a bad signal to businesses in Cincinnati’s urban core.

 

MORE

Convention Place demo.

Is it safe to visit The Enquirer's website?

I feel like they publish some type of article like that every 6-12 months. Regardless of the conclusion in the article itself people read the headline and assume its unsafe. 

4 hours ago, dnymck said:

Convention Place demo.

Good riddance. Hard to believe we ever allowed that trash to be constructed.

On 8/12/2023 at 12:18 AM, ColDayMan said:

Finney Law Firm owner plans redevelopment of Main Street building into new downtown office

 

A Greater Cincinnati law firm will open a new office on Main Street in downtown Cincinnati next year.

 

Chris Finney, owner of Finney Law Firm, plans to redevelop the four-story building at 635 Main Street with office space on the first and second floors and residential space on the third and fourth.

 

Finney’s decade-old firm employs around 32 – five in leased office space in Mount Adams, fourteen in an Eastgate office and around a dozen more who work mostly from home. When the project is complete, the Mount Adams employees and some new employees will relocate downtown. 

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/08/11/finney-law-move-downtown-cincinnati-office.html

 

 

Wasn't Mr. Finney one of the biggest opponents of the streetcar plan? And now he's buying and renovating a building directly on the streetcar route, exactly what the supporters said would happen after it was built. He's also been critical of tax abatements but is now asking City Council for one. I'm surprised the Business Courier didn't point this out.

 

2 hours ago, Mt. Healthy said:

 

Wasn't Mr. Finney one of the biggest opponents of the streetcar plan? And now he's buying and renovating a building directly on the streetcar route, exactly what the supporters said would happen after it was built. He's also been critical of tax abatements but is now asking City Council for one. I'm surprised the Business Courier didn't point this out.

 

We don't like to point out conservative suburban hypocrisy. Might hurt their fee-fees.

Cincinnati's sale of former Saks building to 3CDC clears first hurdle; Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney dissents

 

The Cincinnati Planning Commission approved the sale of the former Saks Fifth Avenue store to the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., but Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney questioned the plan and voted against it.

 

The 3-1 vote on Friday, Aug. 18, came a few weeks after 3CDC unveiled its $23 million strategy for redeveloping the 75,000-square-foot vacant former department store at 101 W. Fifth St., building first-floor retail space and landing new office tenants. The nonprofit developer plans 66,496 square feet of office space and 8,654 square feet of commercial space.

 

Under the plan, the city would sell the building to 3CDC for $1.

 

Kearney said she is concerned the city did not put the building up for bid, as well as attempt to attract minority and women-owned developers for the site.

 

“We’ve had all these talks about opening up the clubhouse,” Kearney said, referring to development in Cincinnati. “I just don’t see that happening. We are not giving other developers a shot. Some of them are smaller. I think this would have been a good chance to partner … to let them partner with 3CDC.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/08/18/3cdc-saks-redevelopment-approval-kearney-balks.html

 

Disappointed Kearney voted against this no-brainer. 

3 hours ago, Miami-Erie said:

Disappointed Kearney voted against this no-brainer. 

Yeah if inclusion is the issue, 3CDC has been the best property manager at finding minority-owned businesses for their storefronts.

Lytle park renovation work coming along, doubt it will open fall of 2023 but maybe I will be wrong and it will be on schedule 

Looks like the 550 building is getting an intense renovation. Hopefully it compliments the new park

23 minutes ago, küshner said:

Looks like the 550 building is getting an intense renovation. Hopefully it compliments the new park

Yes and the rents in that building are going to be thru the roof last I heard.

2 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Yes and the rents in that building are going to be thru the roof last I heard.

But the people who will be renting in there are all extremely wealthy and have 2 or 3 other homes and this is a place for them to stay during the 2 months they are in town.

2 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

But the people who will be renting in there are all extremely wealthy and have 2 or 3 other homes and this is a place for them to stay during the 2 months they are in town.

Not so sure about that. Yes on the very wealthy but I think this building is going to cater to the well off retired who want city living as they’re primary which has become more and more common.

1 hour ago, 646empire said:

Not so sure about that. Yes on the very wealthy but I think this building is going to cater to the well off retired who want city living as they’re primary which has become more and more common.

I ran into one of the higher ups with Eagle about a year ago and he was saying that it was pretty much going to serve those who want a second residence (or third residence) who have something connecting them to Cincinnati. More or less the jet set crowd that does not want to own the asset and when they are done with it, do not want to have to worry about dealing with it. 

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

I ran into one of the higher ups with Eagle about a year ago and he was saying that it was pretty much going to serve those who want a second residence (or third residence) who have something connecting them to Cincinnati. More or less the jet set crowd that does not want to own the asset and when they are done with it, do not want to have to worry about dealing with it. 

 

Interesting, When you look at the rent prices of these units (the highest ever downtown on average) and the VERY lux build out along with the fact that W&S wants their assets around the park to be activating to the area these units are not those that will be leased and sit empty most of the time. Also the make up of the building is not a ton of Studio/ 1-2 bedrooms like many new luxury buildings, This building will have a ton of 3 and 4 bedroom units designed for families (think GE Aerospace Exec with a family moving from Boston) and wealthy elderly with rents of 4 and 5,000 dollars. Cincinnati has plenty wealth but not NYC or  mega city money I think most of these apartments will be lived in regularly. 

Edited August 28, 20231 yr by 646empire

The 550 building has a dumbwaiter going to every single unit and connecting the kitchen at the neighboring hotel so it's basically a full service apartment building. This place is going to be high luxury so I agree it will likely be W&S, P&G, GE and other C level people who need a place in town but live elsewhere.

We don't currently have a tower crane downtown but we have had this crazy ass thing blocking Vine street for quite a few days, and parked on a pretty good slope no less. 

 

I hope they take down the PNC sign and clean the north facade of the tower while they're up there.

19 hours ago, Miami-Erie said:

I hope they take down the PNC sign and clean the north facade of the tower while they're up there.

I think I read a lot of the facade work is scheduled for the spring

On 9/2/2021 at 12:05 AM, Troeros2 said:

A second street corner market (same owner as the one at the banks) will open at the Dixie terminal on east 4th street.

 

Glad the franchise owner is doing well enough business to warrant a second location!

 

This location has permanently closed. Unlike its predecessor, the selection was light and the prices were high. 

On 5/22/2023 at 9:45 AM, Cygnus said:

Jersey Mike's will be taking over the former Key Bank space in Dixie Terminal. Opening sometime in late summer/early fall.

 

This location opened Wednesday, September 6th.

From the OHIO COUNCIL OF RETAIL MERCHANTS

 

Retailers and Restaurants Ask Hamilton County to Keep Employees Downtown

 

They say loss of 1,200 jobs would undercut downtown vitality, create empty parking lots, and plywood-covered buildings.

Shocked with the critical lack of weekday returning worker traffic to downtown Cincinnati, the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants (OCRM) joined with the Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) to plead with the Hamilton County leadership to retain their more than 1,200 employees in a Downtown business location.

Hamilton County is currently seeking proposals to move as many as 1,200 county employees to new office space. The OCRM and ORA are concerned that Hamilton County is leaning towards a location outside of downtown.

“We hear Hamilton County is favoring a building in Bond Hill, nearly seven miles from their current Downtown location,” said Evan Andrews, Montgomery Inn vice president and chair of the Cincinnati Restaurant Alliance.  “They are considering this, despite a recent University of Toronto School of Cities study that shows Cincinnati has seen only 57 per cent of its downtown workers returning to their downtown offices post-pandemic. This move would be ruinous to our downtown and a stab at the heart of Southwest Ohio’s economic and cultural vitality.”

“Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati have spent years building Downtown Cincinnati into the vibrant centerpiece of the County. County leadership in particular set the example by developing the Banks, the stadiums and the incredible Cincinnati skyline that now defines our city,” said Andrews.

“We are advocates for the health of downtown Cincinnati,” said Gordon Gough, President of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants. “Since there are nearly 100 retail stores and retail corporate centers located in Cincinnati’s downtown district, the loss of this many downtown-based employees could have a devastating “ripple effect” impact on downtown, the region and our members that have locations downtown and Over-the-Rhine. We sincerely believe that if Hamilton County leadership keeps its employees downtown it will set the example for other employers to step up and protect the heart of our region.”

Ever since the pandemic when employees had to work from home, both organizations and their members have been concerned about the health of Ohio downtowns. Some downtowns are recovering faster than others.

Data from a recent study by the University of Toronto School of Cities indicates that only 57 percent of downtown employees have returned to downtown post-COVID compared to 89 percent in Columbus.

“Hamilton County’s downtown Cincinnati nucleus appears to be very fragile.  If the County moves out, then other downtown businesses may do the same and trigger a total collapse of our downtown.  And if the downtown collapses, then the region collapses,” said Gough.  “All County taxpayers, including our members, deserve not only the best location in terms of delivering County services, but also the location that will best keep the county and region healthy and thriving.”

The Ohio Retail Merchants and the Ohio Restaurant Association’s Cincinnati Restaurant Alliance together have close to 200 member businesses in Downtown employing more than 5,000 downtown full-time and part-time workers. Annual payroll for those workers exceeds $100 million annually.

 

https://www.ocrm.net/retailers-and-restaurants-ask-hamilton-county-to-keep-employees-downtown/ 

8 minutes ago, seanian said:

From the OHIO COUNCIL OF RETAIL MERCHANTS

 

Retailers and Restaurants Ask Hamilton County to Keep Employees Downtown

 

 

 

 

Yeah this is a completely ridiculous situation.  I can't believe that the Board of Elections was allowed to move out of downtown, but this is next-level crazy. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Lazarus said:

 

 

Yeah this is a completely ridiculous situation.  I can't believe that the Board of Elections was allowed to move out of downtown, but this is next-level crazy. 

 

 

I do not care about the BOE. They do not have many employees and outside of a couple times a year, do not bring a lot of people down there. However, the county employees need to stay downtown. Especially near the Courthouse area because there is a lot of crossover there with the Courthouse and Admin building.

 

What i would love to see happen is they develop the lot across from Kroger into a new County admin building. Add a 8-10 story garage as part of it and then a 15 story office on the top of it. Sell the Alms and Deopke building to a developer to convert to apartments.  

Sell the old Admin building and develop that to apartments (with the new garage to accommodate parking for those apartments. Add street level retail off that building and it really would activate that part of Court Street at all hours.  

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

I do not care about the BOE. They do not have many employees and outside of a couple times a year, do not bring a lot of people down there. However, the county employees need to stay downtown. Especially near the Courthouse area because there is a lot of crossover there with the Courthouse and Admin building.

 

What i would love to see happen is they develop the lot across from Kroger into a new County admin building. Add a 8-10 story garage as part of it and then a 15 story office on the top of it. Sell the Alms and Deopke building to a developer to convert to apartments.  

Sell the old Admin building and develop that to apartments (with the new garage to accommodate parking for those apartments. Add street level retail off that building and it really would activate that part of Court Street at all hours.  

100% correct. I'm hoping someone at the city has taken it seriously and has just such a proposal ready to go.

3 hours ago, Lazarus said:

 

 

Yeah this is a completely ridiculous situation.  I can't believe that the Board of Elections was allowed to move out of downtown, but this is next-level crazy. 

 

 

Weird what the county is trying to do, something tells me there is a lot more to this story! Does someone want the building they are in?

58 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Weird what the county is trying to do, something tells me there is a lot more to this story! Does someone want the building they are in?

 

I don't think it's there's much more to it than money. Their current space isn't great inside and renovating would be expensive due to current construction costs. Meanwhile suburban Class A office space is dirt cheap. They're moving into a fully furnished, like-new Class A office building and it'll cost much less than updating their current space to a similar quality would. 

8 hours ago, Ram23 said:

 

I don't think it's there's much more to it than money. Their current space isn't great inside and renovating would be expensive due to current construction costs. Meanwhile suburban Class A office space is dirt cheap. They're moving into a fully furnished, like-new Class A office building and it'll cost much less than updating their current space to a similar quality would. 

The county isn’t doing a great job at explaining the why*.

Edited September 8, 20231 yr by 646empire

14 hours ago, TheCOV said:

100% correct. I'm hoping someone at the city has taken it seriously and has just such a proposal ready to go.

I do not know much about the Alms building and that would be feasible but I have spent a lot of time in the Portune building and that is laid out in a way that could be converted IMO. The downside is that there are a lot of support beams throughout but it should not be much different than the Resnaissance Apartments on 8th street. I really like the front atrium and stair case on the first 4 floors with the window there and think that provides some cool views, I think the biggest challenge will be electric and plumbing of course for a developer. 

 

However, the county could use the sale of such assets to help finance the construction of their new admin center. 

16 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

I do not care about the BOE. They do not have many employees and outside of a couple times a year, do not bring a lot of people down there. However, the county employees need to stay downtown. Especially near the Courthouse area because there is a lot of crossover there with the Courthouse and Admin building.

 

What i would love to see happen is they develop the lot across from Kroger into a new County admin building. Add a 8-10 story garage as part of it and then a 15 story office on the top of it. Sell the Alms and Deopke building to a developer to convert to apartments.  

Sell the old Admin building and develop that to apartments (with the new garage to accommodate parking for those apartments. Add street level retail off that building and it really would activate that part of Court Street at all hours.  

3CDC had some interest in redeveloping this lot pre-COVID. It would be great if it could be revisited in this lens.

 

It would also be great if they sold the Times-Star Building. It's begging to be a hotel conversion.

9 minutes ago, JYP said:

3CDC had some interest in redeveloping this lot pre-COVID. It would be great if it could be revisited in this lens.

 

It would also be great if they sold the Times-Star Building. It's begging to be a hotel conversion.

I would keep the Times Star Building as the Courthouse. That brings people downtown (maybe not the right people, but it brings people).

Alms and Doepke and the Admin building could together fetch $30 million from a developer. Could be a nice start to get financing to develop a new building on the court street lot. 

What if they built new offices on the surface lots closer to City Hall... and the county and city just merged together ala Louisville/Indy? A man can dream right? 

2 hours ago, ucgrady said:

What if they built new offices on the surface lots closer to City Hall... and the county and city just merged together ala Louisville/Indy? A man can dream right? 

I’m going to assume they will get developed in the next 10 years, especially with all that’s going on around TQL stadium. 

Hamilton County would be very wise to sell the Alms Doepke and Times-Star buildings to qualified developers for reuse.

Maybe a new county building could be built or an existing building could be renovated to accommodate those employees.

Has the Macy's conversion started? From the exterior it's hard to tell if anything is going on but it doesn't seem like it. Since this is the same developer (and presumably team) that no owns the Carew Tower I would like to see some more progress here so they can move over to the Carew sooner than later but it doesn't seem like that's happening any time soon. 

11 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

Has the Macy's conversion started? From the exterior it's hard to tell if anything is going on but it doesn't seem like it. Since this is the same developer (and presumably team) that no owns the Carew Tower I would like to see some more progress here so they can move over to the Carew sooner than later but it doesn't seem like that's happening any time soon. 

From what I understand the Carew Project may have skipped the line and could be happening first.

Wendel's is moving from Terrace Plaza to the former FCC team store location in Dixie Terminal (43 E. 4th St).

22 hours ago, 646empire said:

From what I understand the Carew Project may have skipped the line and could be happening first.

 

What is the Carew project going to entail, again? Is it just apartments or mixed space?

I haven't seen anything on Carew yet; contractor, architect, plans, renderings or anything really other than we know the new owner. 

8 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

I haven't seen anything on Carew yet; contractor, architect, plans, renderings or anything really other than we know the new owner. 

I've seen crews going in and out of the old Macy's and I can see lights on at night in the upper floors. Definitely looks like a lot of interior demo is happening now.

 

I've seen a few crews on suspended scaffolding at Carew. Looks mainly like exterior repair work.

25 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

I haven't seen anything on Carew yet; contractor, architect, plans, renderings or anything really other than we know the new owner. 

From this article -

 

143 million cost

385 apartments

Carew Tower's application for Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits shows potential apartment future

 

Quote

Rehabilitating and redeveloping the Carew Tower is estimated to be an over $143 million investment, according to the project’s historic tax credit application.

Redeveloping Carew Tower is “dependent on the receipt of the state historic tax credits” and would be “economically infeasible” without the tax credits, the application reads. It’s unclear if Victrix Investments will reapply for the tax credits in the program’s next round or how the project has been impacted. Dave did not respond to a request for comment.

The application states the goal is to convert floors four through 44 within the tower into residential units. A total of 385 apartments with contemporary finishes would be delivered, with floors 45 and 46 becoming amenity spaces. No work is proposed on the tower’s 47 or 48 floors, according to the application.

The first three floors of Carew Tower would remain commercial space. Three existing storefronts at Carew Tower on the east elevation and one on the north elevation would be removed and replaced with a new storefront that keeps with the historic configuration. The remaining storefronts at Carew Tower would be unchanged, according to the application.

Victrix would also leave the interior of the hotel, the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, untouched.

 

23 minutes ago, JYP said:

I've seen crews going in and out of the old Macy's and I can see lights on at night in the upper floors. Definitely looks like a lot of interior demo is happening now.

 

Yeah it seems like workers and slow demo has been happening off and on for a while now. Not sure if true construction is near. I’d assume we would see real plans/ layouts/ renderings by now if it was happening soon. I’ve also not heard of a contractor for the old Macys building have anyone else? it’s a pretty big building. On the flip side my info came from a city government contact who mentioned they are pushing for the Carew project to happen asap

19 minutes ago, stashua123 said:

From this article -

 

143 million cost

385 apartments

Carew Tower's application for Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits shows potential apartment future

Is the expectation that they're going to re-apply for the state historic tax credits? I think the next round of recipients will be announced in December.