14 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

The thing I hate about the historical classifications is that you cannot change the exterior of the building (at least it is extremely difficult). If they could do something to make the exterior look not so drab, I think the building has some potential. 

I would hazard a guess the exterior is tucked and refitted in it's original facade but new windows will be along every side of the building added which can be done even with historical status.Its potentiallt 120-150 new residents downtown in a building that has been used as a warehouse in the 1990s.You take the win and hope the end product  looks good IMHO.

^Downtowns were historically filled with warehouse buildings. I'm sure many people once thought the old Victorian warehouses of the late 1800s were eyesores at one point as well, but those that remain unaltered are often valued today. 

 

When the storefront level is activated and the building is cleaned-up, I think it will will turn out being a nice project.

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

but the building has no historical significance and it is an eyesore

To quote the Dude, that's just like your opinion man. It's really really hard to know what will be considered historically significant until it is, and by then we will wrecked the brutalist, midcentury, and international buildings all around town because no one like buildings from that era. With some modern glass infill of the garage doors along Race, and fixing up the scar in the south facing facade I actually thing it could be a pretty handsome building:

19 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

It was essentially an old warehouse, hence why you do not find much of that style in downtown. Just because there are few buildings of this style left, or even built in downtown, that does not mean it should qualify it as worth saving. And no, I dont have a say in what the board says about it, but yes, I can express my opinion that it is an ugly building and a bit of an eyesore, similar to the Denison Hotel (tearing down that building and putting a parking lot there was an improvement IMO). 

First of all the Denison site isn't a parking lot, it's a pointless fenced off grass area that no one can access.  Second of all in no way is a surface parking lot ever an improvement over a building. 

48 minutes ago, Cincy513 said:

First of all the Denison site isn't a parking lot, it's a pointless fenced off grass area that no one can access.  Second of all in no way is a surface parking lot ever an improvement over a building. 

Sure it is. A parking lot may not be the highest and best use of the land, but it helps eventually get there. A parking lot produces economic output whereas a condemned building presents itself as an health and safety hazard while generating no economic value and potentially bringing down the value of other properties in the neighborhood.  Better to clear the blight, make some minimal economic use of the property as a lot until it is time to redevelop it into something more purposeful.

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Sure it is. A parking lot may not be the highest and best use of the land, but it helps eventually get there. A parking lot produces economic output whereas a condemned building presents itself as an health and safety hazard while generating no economic value and potentially bringing down the value of other properties in the neighborhood.  Better to clear the blight, make some minimal economic use of the property as a lot until it is time to redevelop it into something more purposeful.

 

I don't know that you care, but there was a plan for redevelopment before the Joseph Auto Group forced 3CDC to sell to them. 3CDC was going to renovate the building.

42 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

 

I don't know that you care, but there was a plan for redevelopment before the Joseph Auto Group forced 3CDC to sell to them. 3CDC was going to renovate the building.

So no, I did not shed a tear when the Denison was torn down. Oftentimes I felt it blighted whenever I walked by. I wish there would have been plans for a bigger development queued up when it was torn down but I have not felt any sadness with it being gone. 

If 3CDC would have rehabbed it, I would have been fine with that too, but I was not going to lose any sleep over whatever happened to that property, either renovated or torn down. IMO, it was up to the owner to decide best what they wanted to do with the property. Since after all, they were the ones paying taxes on it. 

4 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

So no, I did not shed a tear when the Denison was torn down. Oftentimes I felt it blighted whenever I walked by. I wish there would have been plans for a bigger development queued up when it was torn down but I have not felt any sadness with it being gone. 

If 3CDC would have rehabbed it, I would have been fine with that too, but I was not going to lose any sleep over whatever happened to that property, either renovated or torn down. IMO, it was up to the owner to decide best what they wanted to do with the property. Since after all, they were the ones paying taxes on it. 

 

Historic districts exist and are legal. Whether you like it or not.

23 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

 

Historic districts exist and are legal. Whether you like it or not.

I do not disagree with that. They serve a purpose, but sometimes they are overused. In general, I prefer deferring to the property owner as to best use of the property (within certain restrictions). When it comes to places like the Dennison hotel, the neighbors should not get an absolute veto right over what the owner does with the building since they are not the ones who pay taxes on the property or contribute at all to its economic output. That is my opinion of course and I know in certain circles, like on this board that is probably a minority opinion, but that is my position.  (When I run for council, I will be asking for your donation and support:) )

On 8/15/2023 at 8:33 AM, dnymck said:

Convention Place demo.

What's replacing this?

2 hours ago, columbus17 said:

What's replacing this?

new hotel

2 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

new hotel

Nah this site is Convention Place Mall which was held up in a lawsuit between 3CDC and Kingsley Corp over air rights ownership.Kinglsey lost and 3CDC is tearing it down.No redevelopment plans have been announced but a $100 mil mixed used development was proposed before 3CDC bought the property.

Very very interesting tidbit in the downtown residential council November meeting minutes. Atrium I is being partially converted. 

 

http://www.ilivedowntown.com/
"Seth Harmon introduced speaker Doug Moormann from Development Strategies Group. Mr. 
Moormann provided an overview about improvements occurring at the Atrium 1 building on 4th
Street. Occupancy has been impacted by Covid currently making the Atrium half empty. There 
are plans to convert 200,000 square feet of space into 205 workforce affordable apartments. 
The renovation is expected to take 18-24 months and cost around $47M. Mr. Moormann 
addressed several questions from members regarding retail options and the influx of residential 
space in the city."

 

I would hope Atrium would stay office. there are many other buildings that would seem better to convert than Atrium. 

Renovation cost of ~$230k per apartment and $235 per square foot. 
 

I’m happy to see any office converted to residential in the CBD, but I agree with @Brutus_buckeyethat Atrium is not on the top of the list of office buildings I’d like to see converted, since it’s newer (built in 1980) and has large floor plates. Just as an example, an older building with smaller floor plates like 35 E Seventh seems like a better fit for converting to residential. 

2 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

Renovation cost of ~$230k per apartment and $235 per square foot. 
 

I’m happy to see any office converted to residential in the CBD, but I agree with @Brutus_buckeyethat Atrium is not on the top of the list of office buildings I’d like to see converted, since it’s newer (built in 1980) and has large floor plates. Just as an example, an older building with smaller floor plates like 35 E Seventh seems like a better fit for converting to residential. 

I wonder how serious this proposal actually is or if it is a trial balloon of some sort to get subsidies or something from it. Considering the conversion of Carew, Macy's Building, the Terrace Plaza and the 2nd National Bank building. THat is a lot of apartments coming on board in the CBD, plus you have to figure there are a number of other better office to residential conversions out there (I would tend to think 4th and Walnut ultimately ends up in that realm if hotel becomes too heavy of a lift) or even the 7th and Walnut tower. 

17 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

Renovation cost of ~$230k per apartment and $235 per square foot. 
 

I’m happy to see any office converted to residential in the CBD, but I agree with @Brutus_buckeyethat Atrium is not on the top of the list of office buildings I’d like to see converted, since it’s newer (built in 1980) and has large floor plates. Just as an example, an older building with smaller floor plates like 35 E Seventh seems like a better fit for converting to residential. 

 

 

I can't remember exactly how the floors in Atrium I are laid out, but I recall that at least some of them overlook an interior atrium, meaning the floor plates aren't as large as they appear, and that conceivably some of the apartments could be made to look into the atrium rather than outside. 

 

 

Cincinnati named a leader in office conversion projects, with 11 taking shape downtown

 

Cincinnati is poised to add hundreds of new apartments to its existing stock, but you may not see them rising from the ground up.

 

That’s because Cincinnati is a national leader in office building conversions, a recent report from CBRE found, with older Class B and below buildings taking on a second life with residential or different commercial uses.

 

CBRE’s report found Cincinnati had the second-highest percentage of its office inventory planned for conversion into other use among 40 markets CBRE tracks, clocking in at 7%. The report looked at office inventory planned for conversion in 2023.

Cincinnati was only bested by Cleveland, which has more than 10% of its total office stock flagged for conversion.

 

Across 11 projects, Cincinnati has 2.4 million square feet of office space slated for or currently transforming into new use. The bulk of those projects are for residential use, though CBRE has found 31.2% of conversions since 2016 have been office-to-hotel projects. Several office-to-hotel conversions are either planned or underway.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/12/08/office-to-residential-conversion-projects-downtown.html

 

3CDC unveils partners, timeline for redevelopment of former Cincinnati Saks Fifth Avenue store

 

Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) unveiled Wednesday, Dec. 13, its team for redeveloping the former Saks Fifth Avenue building, along with an anticipated completion date.

 

3CDC is projecting the cost of redeveloping the building will now total $35 million, Senior Development Officer Clare Healy shared at ULI Cincinnati’s Emerging Trends 2024 program. The redevelopment strategy was unveiled in August with an original cost of $23 million.

 

3CDC has assembled what Healy called a “great team” to quickly complete work on the former Saks store, with the nonprofit developer already seeing interest in the space.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/12/13/3cdc-partners-timeline-saks-redevelopment.html

 

The owners of the Atriums eye partial conversion to apartments

 

The owners of two of the largest office buildings in downtown Cincinnati are looking at potentially converting a portion of their property into residential units.

 

Frank Motter, chairman of Acabay, which owns the Atrium One and Two buildings, said his company is “exploring but not yet committed to a partial conversion” of about 200,0000 square feet of the 1.2 million feet of space to apartments.

 

“Whether through additional office leasing or apartment conversion, we will invest for success and are here for the long term,” Motter said in a statement provided to the Business Courier. “We believe in the future of Cincinnati.”

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/12/20/atrium-owners-eye-partial-conversion-to-apartments.html

 

On 12/13/2023 at 8:53 PM, ColDayMan said:

3CDC unveils partners, timeline for redevelopment of former Cincinnati Saks Fifth Avenue store

 

Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) unveiled Wednesday, Dec. 13, its team for redeveloping the former Saks Fifth Avenue building, along with an anticipated completion date.

 

3CDC is projecting the cost of redeveloping the building will now total $35 million, Senior Development Officer Clare Healy shared at ULI Cincinnati’s Emerging Trends 2024 program. The redevelopment strategy was unveiled in August with an original cost of $23 million.

 

3CDC has assembled what Healy called a “great team” to quickly complete work on the former Saks store, with the nonprofit developer already seeing interest in the space.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/12/13/3cdc-partners-timeline-saks-redevelopment.html

 

 

I wish they were doing something bigger here but at the same time this will feel like it really improves on this block judging by the improvements they will make. That also includes removing another skybridge.

32 minutes ago, IAGuy39 said:

 

I wish they were doing something bigger here but at the same time this will feel like it really improves on this block judging by the improvements they will make. That also includes removing another skybridge.

I agree. It's hard for me to imagine this block featuring outdoor dining, but would make for a great improvement if they can make it work.

2 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

The owners of the Atriums eye partial conversion to apartments

 

The owners of two of the largest office buildings in downtown Cincinnati are looking at potentially converting a portion of their property into residential units.

 

Frank Motter, chairman of Acabay, which owns the Atrium One and Two buildings, said his company is “exploring but not yet committed to a partial conversion” of about 200,0000 square feet of the 1.2 million feet of space to apartments.

 

“Whether through additional office leasing or apartment conversion, we will invest for success and are here for the long term,” Motter said in a statement provided to the Business Courier. “We believe in the future of Cincinnati.”

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/12/20/atrium-owners-eye-partial-conversion-to-apartments.html

 

Color me skeptical on this. I just do not think this is something that will happen. It may just be a way to get some grants or funding to study the concept and buy them time to figure out a viable repurposing option. 

THP Ltd. to move into Atrium Two in 2024

By Abby Miller – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Dec 28, 2023

 

One of Greater Cincinnati’s largest engineering firms is set to move into Atrium Two in 2024, taking over some of telecommunication giant Altafiber’s sublease space in the downtown building.

 

THP Ltd. is targeting a March 1 move in. It will occupy roughly half of the 11th floor of Atrium Two. The move follows Altafiber's planned renovation and consolidation of its downtown Cincinnati headquarters, shrinking its footprint from seven floors to two.

 

John Schenk, senior vice president at Colliers, represented THP in the sublease.

THP will occupy 18,400 square feet on the 11th floor, while Altafiber retains the rest. The telecommunications company is planning to remodel and use that space as overflow, with so many employees opting to come back into the new headquarters.

 

MORE

Cincinnati Planning Commission makes new changes to proposed ban on new downtown surface parking lots

 

The city will not require temporary parking lots built downtown to have electric vehicle charging stations and bicycle racks amid concerns the city would be sued over such requirements.

 

On Friday, Jan. 5, Cincinnati Planning Commission voted unanimously to ban permanent, new surface parking lots on 572 acres downtown. Temporary lots of two to seven years can be built downtown under the new rules, although the length depends on which part of downtown the lots would be located.

 

Commissioners did approve additional landscaping requirements for temporary lots, including one tree per four parking spaces and a 5-foot buffer along the street edge. At the Banks and in the eastern part of downtown, which have more surface lots overall, any new temporary lots would have to use heat reflective or permeable materials and break up parking lots into smaller areas with 15-foot planted landscape areas between them.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/01/05/planning-commission-downtown-parking-lot-ban.html

Developer unveils new details about former downtown Cincinnati Pogue's Department Store apartment conversion

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

Jan 8, 2024

 

A developer may build below-market-rate housing at a planned $38 million conversion of a former department store storage building.

 

Mark Hall, principal with ABC Realty Advisors LLC, which is planning to convert the former H&S Pogue’s Department store service building to 106 apartments, said he is considering applying for tax credits that would allow some of the apartments to be priced at 60% of the area median income. Hall said his company is excited about providing workforce housing and cleaning up the building’s facade.

 

“This is the one building (in the area) that kind of sticks out as having not been renovated,” Hall said. “We anticipate this to be a very practical building for residents to enjoy the downtown area. We think there’s a critical need for workforce housing.”

 

MORE

^Has the developer given any indication about their plans for the south elevation of that building and/or the surface parking lot to the south? Historically, there was a building that covered a portion of the southern facade, so the brick and window pattern are a bit odd on 310 Race (google streetview). I think the same owner also owns the parking lot at 300 Race. I'm curious if they plan on leaving that a surface lot, or if they might build something there that complements 310 Race. 

I believe I read keeping it parking.


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The unit count is a bit lower than I would have thought but 60% AMI would be quite an accomplishment

Article with W&S CEO about the area around Lytle Park and how he has big plans for that section of downtown. Doesn’t mention anything about a new high rise but they do have the option to purchase the Cincinnati Masonic temple. 
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/01/12/john-barrett-profile-western-southern-impact-city.html

2 hours ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Article with W&S CEO about the area around Lytle Park and how he has big plans for that section of downtown. Doesn’t mention anything about a new high rise but they do have the option to purchase the Cincinnati Masonic temple. 
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/01/12/john-barrett-profile-western-southern-impact-city.html

Unfortunately he does. Pretty much it is safe to assume the new tower is not going to happen anytime in the near future. 

 

 

"Western & Southern’s office space is full, Barrett said. It had looked several years ago at building another building between its headquarters and the Phelps. But now that likely won’t happen. “With the other downtown vacancies, that may not make sense,’” he said.

Regardless, Western & Southern will keep its headquarters downtown. Barrett said the firm bought 300 acres near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport 20 years ago, but it has decided it won’t move there."

21 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Unfortunately he does. Pretty much it is safe to assume the new tower is not going to happen anytime in the near future. 

 

 

"Western & Southern’s office space is full, Barrett said. It had looked several years ago at building another building between its headquarters and the Phelps. But now that likely won’t happen. “With the other downtown vacancies, that may not make sense,’” he said.

Regardless, Western & Southern will keep its headquarters downtown. Barrett said the firm bought 300 acres near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport 20 years ago, but it has decided it won’t move there."

Completely missed that section. Thanks! So the building they demolished was basically for nothing, I guess unless they decide to go to condo/apartment route and put a tower on that site which could make sense if 550 renovation does well. 

Edited January 12, 20241 yr by Ucgrad2015

19 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Completely missed that section. Thanks! So the building they demolished was basically for nothing, I guess unless they decide to go to condo/apartment route and put a tower on that site which could make sense if 550 renovation does well. 

I would honestly prefer a residential tower vs another office tower at this site. 

The rotating clock hasn't worked in 2+ years. 

19 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Completely missed that section. Thanks! So the building they demolished was basically for nothing, I guess unless they decide to go to condo/apartment route and put a tower on that site which could make sense if 550 renovation does well. 

I think they will hold it empty for office in the future. It may be 5-10 years out but you have to figure that there will eventually be demand for new office space of some sort as other buildings age, All cities will need to have such space available and continually need to build, in 5-10 years the upheaval in remote work vs office will have settled and people will have more stability as to their needs, W&S may continue their growth trajectory where they have not choice but to build.

So there are a number of reasons why they would keep that spot open for future office development even though it may not seem like it is on the horizon now. 

 

Also, I think they already have condos pegged for where the Broadway garage is currently located, so that area is probably going to be residential.

I have stayed a night at the Lytle Hotel, on the Columbia Parkway side, and I hope the garage site is not residential. The highway ramps were just too loud from inside of my room, and I imagine it would be even worse at Broadway and 3rd. We're in a housing shortage so it's extremely disappointing that they are not building more housing on 4th.

 

All that said, it's awful that one large corporation are assembling their own pocket community in downtown. This could become a big problem in the future.

1 hour ago, Dev said:

 

All that said, it's awful that one large corporation are assembling their own pocket community in downtown. This could become a big problem in the future.

I think you see that in a lot of cities though. For example, Seattle has Amazon with a large campus downtown. Charlotte has a couple of corporate pockets, Columbus has Nationwide controlling a good swath of downtown too. 

 

The good thing about W&S's area is that it is not all concentrated as office, but it is pretty diverse. you have office, hotel, garage, apartment, even creative space. If W&S were to ever pull out of the office side of downtown, you at least have the other businesses that still provide stability to the area.  

On 1/12/2024 at 3:07 PM, Brutus_buckeye said:

I think you see that in a lot of cities though. For example, Seattle has Amazon with a large campus downtown. Charlotte has a couple of corporate pockets, Columbus has Nationwide controlling a good swath of downtown too. 

 

The good thing about W&S's area is that it is not all concentrated as office, but it is pretty diverse. you have office, hotel, garage, apartment, even creative space. If W&S were to ever pull out of the office side of downtown, you at least have the other businesses that still provide stability to the area.  

Yes and the other part too is downtown is a huge area. There are so so many "need" areas in downtown that one corporation "controlling" a small area of it shouldn't be too big of a concern, IMO.

Just because you see that in other cities doesn't make that good. I would argue that's a good indicator of why that's bad as other, larger cities provide more examples of how this can get out of hand.

 

You may not see any negative consequence to their maneuvers but this is the kind of thing that suddenly becomes a serious issue. Maybe, and hopefully, it never hits but the hotel, the shrinking of the historic district, the redesign of the park, are all red flags.

The construction of Queen City Square was motivated/managed by Western-Southern Insurance.  The building wasn't purpose-built for a newcomer to Cincinnati or a single expanding office-user but rather It captured so many existing Class A tenants that it caused the rest of downtown to collapse.   It's been 10 years and nobody can claim that Downtown is better off than it was before that tower. 

9 hours ago, Lazarus said:

The construction of Queen City Square was motivated/managed by Western-Southern Insurance.  The building wasn't purpose-built for a newcomer to Cincinnati or a single expanding office-user but rather It captured so many existing Class A tenants that it caused the rest of downtown to collapse.   It's been 10 years and nobody can claim that Downtown is better off than it was before that tower. 

But most peer cities have newer projects coming online all the time. To have a healthy office market, you almost need to be building newer "class A" for those high end companies that "need" to be in the best and newest space in their markets. Yes it puts some exiting buildings into obsolescence that still have purpose but it also shows a healthy office market (even at 20% vacancy) because it shows demand for high end office space. 

It is akin to "build it and they will come" but where they come from  does not matter to the developer and the other office owners be dammed. 

You see this with retail all the time. Look at how many old Walgreens stores are something else now only to have a newer greater Walgreens built directly across the street from the older store  (which does not look much different than the new store).  

20 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

But most peer cities have newer projects coming online all the time. To have a healthy office market, you almost need to be building newer "class A" for those high end companies that "need" to be in the best and newest space in their markets. Yes it puts some exiting buildings into obsolescence that still have purpose but it also shows a healthy office market (even at 20% vacancy) because it shows demand for high end office space. 

It is akin to "build it and they will come" but where they come from  does not matter to the developer and the other office owners be dammed. 

You see this with retail all the time. Look at how many old Walgreens stores are something else now only to have a newer greater Walgreens built directly across the street from the older store  (which does not look much different than the new store).  

Even though Queen City Tower is more than 75% leased, it is far less than 50% “occupied”, even worse on Mondays and Fridays.  Many floors are ghost towns with very few people actually working there.  Who knows what will happen when leases roll over.

41 minutes ago, thesenator said:

Even though Queen City Tower is more than 75% leased, it is far less than 50% “occupied”, even worse on Mondays and Fridays.  Many floors are ghost towns with very few people actually working there.  Who knows what will happen when leases roll over.

Queen City Square has never been a particularly bustling office building but that has more to do with its tenants than anything else. None of QCS’s occupants really have large corporate work forces to begin with. The building is very healthy from what I understand. Also if for some reason a lot of space became available I wouldn’t be surprised to see Western Southern consolidate its HQ and move in rather than building a long rumored new HQ building.

 

As a side note I walked past Kroger HQ and it blows me away that they haven’t built a new HQ or made a significant investment in its office building similar to what 5/3rd has done. I really like what 5/3rd did I’ve been in there and it’s really nice. The Kroger building is really starting to look like a dump which is shocking for a giant Fortune 500, facilities are a big recruiting tool for talent. Once the Albertsons deal resolves it self look for some kind of announcement in the coming year or 2 I think.

Edited January 22, 20241 yr by 646empire

2 hours ago, 646empire said:

Queen City Square has never been a particularly bustling office building but that has more to do with its tenants than anything else. None of QCS’s occupants really have large corporate work forces to begin with. The building is very healthy from what I understand. Also if for some reason a lot of space became available I wouldn’t be surprised to see Western Southern consolidate its HQ and move in rather than building a long rumored new HQ building.

 

As a side note I walked past Kroger HQ and it blows me away that they haven’t built a new HQ or made a significant investment in its office building similar to what 5/3rd has done. I really like what 5/3rd did I’ve been in there and it’s really nice. The Kroger building is really starting to look like a dump which is shocking for a giant Fortune 500, facilities are a big recruiting tool for talent. Once the Albertsons deal resolves it self look for some kind of announcement in the coming year or 2 I think.

The issue with Kroger I think per a friend who works there is that everyone in the office portion of the company are much older and it’s been very hard for them to recruit young talent. He’s only 30 and he’s the youngest by far in his department.

 

I personally do not mind the building itself but I definitely think they need to redo the entrances to the building and have them integrate better with the street. Court Street has become much nicer since all the renovations but when you get to the Kroger part it’s cold and standoff ish. 

The heavy brown brick base of Kroger is horrendous and not even original to the building, but the 80s made a lot of bad decisions:

They absolutely could use a renovation like 5/3 had to make their space feel more open and light and more connected to Court Street. The tower itself is a basic international style skyscraper and while it needs an interior update it's perfectly fine. 

15 hours ago, thesenator said:

Even though Queen City Tower is more than 75% leased, it is far less than 50% “occupied”, even worse on Mondays and Fridays.  Many floors are ghost towns with very few people actually working there.  Who knows what will happen when leases roll over.

You could say that about every office building in the world right now. 

I think Cincinnati is very well positioned to weather the incoming storm that every city is facing with the expiration of office leases over the next few years. We are incredibly lucky that we have many historic office buildings that would make excellent conversions to apartments, condos, hotels, etc. If the 80's/90's/2000's era office buildings can periodically renovate and keep things fresh and modern, they can soak up the demand for the Class A/B office space and allow the other buildings to be converted to other uses. In the long run this is going to make Downtown much healthier and more resilient.

29 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

The heavy brown brick base of Kroger is horrendous and not even original to the building, but the 80s made a lot of bad decisions:

Exactly and I have to imagine 3CDC has had a conversation or 2 about it.

1 minute ago, taestell said:

I think Cincinnati is very well positioned to weather the incoming storm that every city is facing with the expiration of office leases over the next few years. We are incredibly lucky that we have many historic office buildings that would make excellent conversions to apartments, condos, hotels, etc. If the 80's/90's/2000's era office buildings can periodically renovate and keep things fresh and modern, they can soak up the demand for the Class A/B office space and allow the other buildings to be converted to other uses. In the long run this is going to make Downtown much healthier and more resilient.

Absolutely, especially with the Former Macys HQ and Carew now off the market. Cincinnati is actually pretty well positioned compared to many other markets who have built new speculative buildings.

The brick base from the 80s looks like a suburban Kroger from the 80s.