One of the best parts of running the Flying Pig is running the 7th Street canyon.

14 minutes ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

One of the best parts of running the Flying Pig is running the 7th Street canyon.

Agreed. I love that part of the run.

 

7th Street is 4-lanes wide all the way until you hit Walnut where there's a bumpout next to the Aronoff, and then 1 more bumpout at Main. I'd like to see a bunch more bumpouts added at all the intersections, ideally at all/most corners. Remove the rush hour restrictions for onstreet parking, make the curb lanes permanent parking with bumpouts... and the sidewalks will be much more welcoming to pedestrians since you won't have cars whizzing by at 30+ mph just a foot from the curb. 

Unfortunately that won't be happening as long as this guy is in charge:

 

 

"accessible" = accessible to motor vehicles

49 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

Agreed. I love that part of the run.

 

7th Street is 4-lanes wide all the way until you hit Walnut where there's a bumpout next to the Aronoff, and then 1 more bumpout at Main. I'd like to see a bunch more bumpouts added at all the intersections, ideally at all/most corners. Remove the rush hour restrictions for onstreet parking, make the curb lanes permanent parking with bumpouts... and the sidewalks will be much more welcoming to pedestrians since you won't have cars whizzing by at 30+ mph just a foot from the curb. 

 

I walk 7th every day, morning and evening. This project has removed a lane for months now and there has been zero additional congestion. It is free flowing most of the time and the rush hour peak is business as usual. Could definitely use a road diet. 

There are a LOT of downtown streets that would benefit from a diet. But as @taestell points out, I wouldn't expect anything great to happen under Cranley's leadership. 

Edited April 3, 20196 yr by jwulsin

The urban core must pay so the suburbanites can play!

1 hour ago, taestell said:

Unfortunately that won't be happening as long as this guy is in charge:

 

 

"accessible" = accessible to motor vehicles

That is an absolutely embarrassing comment.  Go be the mayor of some podunk city in Iowa or a boring suburb with that attitude.  Can't wait until he's out of office. 

On the bright side, at least he is finally admitting that downtown is the economic engine that powers (subsidizes) the other neighborhoods. I don't think I've ever heard him say that out loud prior to this comment.

1 hour ago, Cincy513 said:

That is an absolutely embarrassing comment.  Go be the mayor of some podunk city in Iowa or a boring suburb with that attitude.  Can't wait until he's out of office. 

 

Easy now, I'm from Iowa! LOL, that said, it is pretty crazy how much more progressive Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are compared to Cincinnati.

 

In Cedar Rapids, they have recently converted all their downtown streets from 1-way to 2-way, installed a protected bike path along with other bike paths, and have used traffic calming like bumpouts throughout the downtown. Though it's a small city, still pretty impressive.

 

Before:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9768072,-91.664998,3a,75y,330.71h,90.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqcfD1iFUJeJ1PixiWq5WCQ!2e0!5s20170801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

 

After:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9767989,-91.665003,3a,75y,330.71h,90.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJTMtkjzP-Hon6J4RFDJGgQ!2e0!5s20170801T000000!7i13312!8i6656

Yeah, Iowa has always had a little progressive attitude going on.  That statement with the word "Kansas" instead would've been more accurate.

^I agree. The area of Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor, which is basically a metro area together of about 400,000 if that, is even in deep talks about adding dedicated busses between the two cities (about 25 miles apart) to help with commuters between the two areas, and I think they actually launched a pilot program. We could be doing so much more in Cincy but it's just.... a lot different.

13 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Yeah, Iowa has always had a little progressive attitude going on.  That statement with the word "Kansas" instead would've been more accurate.

Hey now, I went to school at Kansas State! There's definitely areas of good progressivism in Kansas. Lawrence and Greensburg are a couple examples. Also, their recently elected and openly gay Representative Sharice Davids. To me, more accurate examples of "podunk" cities are in West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, etc. Then again, somewhere like Florence, Alabama is even too good to deserve Cranley as mayor...

^ Arkansas just passed the "Idaho Stop" statewide. FWIW.

This looks like an okay deal for a downtown building until you realize:

 

1. it has no back or side windows

2. its front windows will one day face directly at another building, as they presumably once did.  

 

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1619946/212-Richmond-St-Cincinnati-OH-45202

Huh, I never even realized Richmond Street was a thing.  Down by the fire museum one older sign (on a beautiful old light pole) says Richmond Avenue.  It must've been something interesting back in the day, since the building in the real estate ad had a storefront.  There's not much left for the two blocks that are actually a street instead of an alley, but there's hints that other buildings put a good face towards it.  

On 4/30/2019 at 8:35 PM, jmecklenborg said:

This looks like an okay deal for a downtown building until you realize:

 

1. it has no back or side windows

2. its front windows will one day face directly at another building, as they presumably once did.  

 

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1619946/212-Richmond-St-Cincinnati-OH-45202

 

I still think it is a deal. These kind of buildings are everywhere in Philly and Boston and they are some of the most desirable in those cities. I bet Richmond Street was beautiful in its heyday and I'd love to see someone redevelop those blocks in a way that returns it to its former glory. When I think about what it could be I am reminded of some of my favorite streets in Philly:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Jkn2WuBpCqbBbXmt8

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Vs1GLjtbxrJRzJGF6

 

https://goo.gl/maps/yxZVVgbnrQVKwZeC6

13 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

 

I still think it is a deal. These kind of buildings are everywhere in Philly and Boston and they are some of the most desirable in those cities. I bet Richmond Street was beautiful in its heyday and I'd love to see someone redevelop those blocks in a way that returns it to its former glory. When I think about what it could be I am reminded of some of my favorite streets in Philly:

 

Well it would be a risky building to buy.  You could have windows poked in those brick walls, but at some point something is going to be built right next to it.  

 

I remember how independent downtown retail was in the 80s, before the collapse in the 1990s.  So many businesses were in windowless spaces like this, even stuff on upper floors.  If there was a window, a window AC unit blocked much of the light.  

 

 

17 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Well it would be a risky building to buy.  You could have windows poked in those brick walls, but at some point something is going to be built right next to it.  

 

 

 

That's not going to happen on a zero lot line unless you get a no-build easement.

1 hour ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Well it would be a risky building to buy.  You could have windows poked in those brick walls, but at some point something is going to be built right next to it.  

 

I remember how independent downtown retail was in the 80s, before the collapse in the 1990s.  So many businesses were in windowless spaces like this, even stuff on upper floors.  If there was a window, a window AC unit blocked much of the light.  

 

 

 

Why does the building need windows in the side? Almost every single building in downtown/OTR is windowless on the sides. They're all zero lot line and connected to the buildings next to them. Eventually there'll be a building right up against this one and it'll create a nice street wall. 

7 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

Well it would be a risky building to buy.

 

Yeah, in 5 years, there could be a 20+ story tower across the alley, and their dumpsters/loading dock could be 10 feet away from your front door.

 

It looks like Cappel's owns that building, as well as the three 1-story garages next to it. I wonder why they're only selling the one building.

I was inspired by a recent photo by @JYP and decided to get a panorama from the West Side showing all 4 tower cranes that are currently up Downtown. It's not super-easy to see, but here it is:

 

 

You can also view the full high-res image if you want to pixel peep.

I can only find 3 of the 4...

7 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

I can only find 3 of the 4...

 

One at 1010 Walnut, a short one at Fifth & Main, and two at Fourth & Race although it's sort of hard to tell that it's two separate cranes from this angle.

Oh I see the two at the same spot now. One crane is angled at the camera right above the other one and doesn't stand out.

Carew Tower refills former Boi Na Braza space

 

Months after Boi Na Braza closed its downtown Cincinnati restaurant, Carew Tower has a new tenant that will fill the space.

 

JP Morgan Chase & Co. has signed a long-term lease for 10,000 square feet of space in the iconic tower. Work is already underway transforming the former restaurant into a JP Morgan Chase branch.

 

Andrew Blight, vice president of corporate communications with JP Morgan Chase, said the nation’s largest bank is “excited” to open a location in Carew Tower.

 

Cont

Great marketing move and maximum exposure for Chase.

1.) Get to be on/near the "front door" (Fountain Square) and across the street from the corporate HQ for Fifth Third bank.

2.) Wonder what the going price is for Chase to get their logo on Carew tower? Every other bank in the City has a logo on taller downtown buildings? Hmm?

 

49 minutes ago, jvarney1 said:

 

2.) Wonder what the going price is for Chase to get their logo on Carew tower? Every other bank in the City has a logo on taller downtown buildings? Hmm?

 

 

Please no

Didn't one of the primary tenants of Carew Tower attempt to get a permit to put their name on the building years ago, only to be denied by the city?

29 minutes ago, thebillshark said:

 

Please no

It won't happen. Chase corporate offices are in Kenwood. This is just a commerical bank branch, upgrade from the fourth Street location.

54 minutes ago, Ram23 said:

Didn't one of the primary tenants of Carew Tower attempt to get a permit to put their name on the building years ago, only to be denied by the city?

 

Yeah, maybe 10 years ago.  

Panel declines to save Lytle Park trees

 

Cincinnati’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously Friday against saving four, mature trees in Lytle Park, turning back an appeal by some nearby residents who said the Historic Conservation Board failed to follow the city’s guidelines when it OK’d their removal in March.

 

Supporters of the London plane trees are expected to take the case to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.

 

Board members Jonathan Bennie, Michael Moran, Jessica Powell, Emily Supinger and Anne Sesler voted to uphold the Historic Conservation Board.

 

Western & Southern, located near the park, wants the trees gone as a part of a $2.9 million overhaul of the park, of which the company is expected to fund up to $1.8 million. The city’s parks department also backs the trees’ removal, although neighbors have produced emails they received through a public records request showing the department wanted to keep the trees until the insurance giant dangled its contribution to Lytle Park’s overhaul.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/06/14/panel-declines-to-save-lytle-park-trees.html

 

On 10/7/2016 at 9:18 AM, taestell said:

Enquirer's Bowdeya Tweh on Twitter says that Anderson Berkla has the Second National Bank building under contract. No word on what they intend to do with it. Fifth Third Cinfed recently moved out of the ground floor retail space of this building and into the nearby Schwartz Building.

 

On 10/7/2016 at 11:43 AM, brian korte said:

Here's the business courier with a rendering: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/07/anderson-birkla-to-redevelop-building-along.html

 

Hard to tell where the garage is. "Birkla said the plan is to build a six-story parking garage with about 200 spaces. "

 

It looks like this project is back from the dead...

 

Quote

 

Downtown office building to be converted to 60 apartments

 

Tony Birkla, partner with Indianapolis-based Anderson Birkla, had announced in October 2016 plans to purchase and convert the class B office building into apartments. Now, the project is headed to Cincinnati City Council for approval of a community reinvestment area tax exemption agreement that would authorize a 15-year tax exemption for 100% of the value of improvements made to the building at 830 Main St. 

 

Anderson Birkla plans to remodel the 13-story historical building into 60 residential units and 5,000 square feet of street-level commercial space. The total project cost is more than $7.3 million.

 

 

So it looks like the developer has put the addition on hold and is now talking about it as a "potential second phase." I hope it gets built eventually, I really liked the way it looked in the previous (circa 2016) rendering:

 

Kind of disappointing, but I suppose I cant complain about new apartments.  

Another downtown/Main St apartment building without dedicated parking...

Two of the boutique hotels under construction. For anyone who doesn’t know the locations of these, they are diagonally across from each other at 7th and Race.

Park board whacks three Lytle Park trees; judge halts cutting down the fourth

 

The Cincinnati Board of Park Commissioners cut down three mature trees in Lytle Park that have been the subject of a battle between some nearby residents and Western & Southern, but a Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas judge stopped the department from cutting down the fourth.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/07/18/park-board-whacks-three-lytle-park-trees-judge.html

On 7/4/2019 at 2:02 PM, Ucgrad2015 said:

Two of the boutique hotels under construction. For anyone who doesn’t know the locations of these, they are diagonally across from each other at 7th and Race.

I can't wait for the new overbuild construction to start on the "L" shaped facade building. I love the current trend of developing small, boutique hotels in abandoned historic buildings. While it's cool that Marriott and Hilton are doing these project types, there's an independent hotel group Aparium, that specializes in this hotel type and does it even better IMO.

Same here. I love the mix of old with modern design. This will really lovely up a pretty dead part of downtown. Hopefully we’ll start seeing new restaurants and bars open up around this site.

 

The roof is gone on the old McHahns project. I'm really interested in this addition and I think this corner will be great in a few years when both hotels are open. 

 

Does anyone (@jjakucyk ?) know if they are building the new addition on top of the existing portion with beefed up structure, or if everything except the facade will demolished and built new behind it? I'm not sure I've ever seen the plans for this one. 

^^^ I saw a tweet from Bill Rinehart that they had opened the roof and were lowering steel beams inside. Maybe they are just adding a light shaft to that area. I think he lives in the building behind this based on his downtown twitter pics.

That 3-story addition was built to accommodate a full tower, so it's not being gutted, but I think there's an additional stair going in. 

Very cool, I was afraid it would end up like a Chicago style facadectomy. Luminaut is doing some interesting projects and this building has a lot of detail and texture to work with and should turn out to be a stunner. 

You can see the current renderings at https://luminaut.com/creations/towneplace-suites/ 

I like how the modern addition complements the rest of the original building. Will be interesting to see how well it is executed, but at least in the rendering, I think it looks good.

https://luminaut.com/creations/towneplace-suites/

 

The new/updated business courier construction map shows the Garfield Suites Hotel apartment conversion as under construction, does anyone know if this is true??

50 minutes ago, 646empire said:

The new/updated business courier construction map shows the Garfield Suites Hotel apartment conversion as under construction, does anyone know if this is true??

I could be wrong but I think its said that for a while. 

On 8/24/2019 at 6:56 PM, 646empire said:

The new/updated business courier construction map shows the Garfield Suites Hotel apartment conversion as under construction, does anyone know if this is true??

No serious work has been going on in that building in a couple years.  

 

Does anyone know what's going on with the "Barrister House" building at 216-218 East 9th Street? I don't know if it's being used for anything right now but it certainly doesn't look occupied. It would be a really good looking building if they rehabbed it and gave it some fresh paint.

Wish I knew, there's been occasional work over the past couple years, but that might just have been stabilization.  Those look like mid 19th century industrial buildings (the closer one looks like it got some newer brick veneer at some point to dress it up, but I'm not positive about that).  Sycamore and Broadway were a very industrial part of downtown historically, kind of like River North in Chicago, but it's easy to miss. 

I seem to recall that that was painted around 1998.  Around roughly the same time that the Power Building was vacant and looking really rough.  It and the Krippendorf were two very large vacant buildings almost directly opposite one another.  The Krippendorf was yellow before it was renovated.