The former TJ Maxx building complex is on the market, being marketed as a potential conversion to residential with a rooftop garden.

 

This property now has an "Under Contract" sign on it.

Once again, it is time for DCI's annual Downtown Perceptions survey. If you recall, the survey results had been getting better year over year, but slipped a little bit last year. Please help out by taking the survey yourself as well as sharing it via social media:

 

http://www.dcisurvey.com/

The former TJ Maxx building complex is on the market, being marketed as a potential conversion to residential with a rooftop garden.

 

This property now has an "Under Contract" sign on it.

 

New landowner could chart future of Fourth St.

 

The set of buildings along Fourth Street Downtown that once housed the Gidding-Jenny department store and T.J.Maxx could soon have a new owner.

 

And that new owner may have an opportunity to add life on a Cincinnati street that has seen substantial changes since the 1800s.

 

Jerry Carroll, a Northern Kentucky-based real estate developer and developer of the Kentucky Speedway, has a contract to buy three buildings at 8-18 W. Fourth St. from Greater Cincinnati businessman Les Sandler.

 

The due diligence period may not be complete until October and from there, Sandler said, it will be up to the buyer to determine how to move forward.

 

The contract price was not disclosed. The asking price of the buildings was $3 million.

 

Cont

So.. the little Rothchild Law building and surrounding lots on the corner of Race and Central Parkway.  Tear that down and put a mid rise with 100-200 apartment units there.  One block form Washington Park and a streetcar stop.  Heck, with a VIEW of Washington Park!  So close to Vine Street bars and restaurants.  In what UNIVERSE is that not filled up from Day 1 and make a boatload of cash.  What are these Cincy developers waiting on?  Are these people still waiting to see how the Internet is going to turn out before they sign that contract with AOL? Jeesh. 

So.. the little Rothchild Law building and surrounding lots on the corner of Race and Central Parkway.  Tear that down and put a mid rise with 100-200 apartment units there.  One block form Washington Park and a streetcar stop.  Heck, with a VIEW of Washington Park!  So close to Vine Street bars and restaurants.  In what UNIVERSE is that not filled up from Day 1 and make a boatload of cash.  What are these Cincy developers waiting on?  Are these people still waiting to see how the Internet is going to turn out before they sign that contract with AOL? Jeesh.

 

on top of that, that part of CP is honestly the nicest. The wide median with mature trees is very appealing visually. Further east the median gets laughably small and useless.

EXCLUSIVE: New York investor to pour millions into downtown tower

Aug 19, 2015, 2:53pm EDT

 

 

A New York City-based real estate private equity firm plans to invest millions of dollars in 250 East Fifth Street, the downtown office tower formerly known as Chiquita Center.

 

HighBrook Investors acquired the ground leasehold interest in 250 East Fifth Street, the nearly 537,200-square-foot class A office building. The real estate, the building itself and the land underneath, is owned by the Joseph family’s Columbia Development Corp.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/19/exclusive-new-york-investor-to-pour-millions-into.html

^Could the Joseph family be loosening their grip on CBD?  Aren't they the owners of the worst surface lots?

The family will continue to own the building and the land. Highbrook is taking over the lease which was in foreclosure.

 

I think this is a good move that will give the building the refresh it needs.

Everything but the House picks site for downtown Cincinnati HQ

Oct 14, 2015, 3:42pm EDT Updated Oct 14, 2015, 3:46pm EDT

Tom Demeropolis Senior Staff Reporter Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Everything but the House, an estate sale and auction startup, found its new home in downtown Cincinnati.

 

The fast-growing company finalized a lease for about 12,500 square feet of space at Fourth & Walnut Centre, located at 105 E. Fourth St. Everything But the House will take the entire ninth floor of the building, with some options to expand.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/10/14/everything-but-the-house-picks-site-for-downtown.html

EXCLUSIVE: Growing construction company moving headquarters to downtown Cincinnati

Oct 21, 2015, 6:41am EDT

Tom Demeropolis Senior Staff Reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

One of Greater Cincinnati’s largest, and growing, construction companies is moving its headquarters to downtown Cincinnati.

 

Oswald Co., a design-build and construction management firm currently based in Sycamore Township, will move to 308 E. Eighth St. this fall.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2015/10/exclusive-growing-construction-company-moving.html

Great news on both fronts.

 

That is 62 nice paying careers moving to downtown, with an additonal 40 from EBTH by end of 2018.

 

Some good quotes from Oswald Co. CEO:

 

"“The more I thought about it and looked at what’s going on in Over-the-Rhine and other areas of the city and how involved we are with different organizations downtown, it made a lot of sense,” Oswald told me."

 

and

 

"The move will help the firm attract and retain talent, Oswald said.

 

“There is a whole new demand for talent, and those employees want to live, work and play where the action is,” he said.

 

Oswald also mentioned the new office will be about a block and a half from the streetcar route."

 

and

 

"“There’s an energy that is unlike what the city has ever seen,” Oswald told me."

 

On Central Ave, between 7th and 8th, the city replaced the parallel parking on the west side of the street with diagonal parking spots, creating more spaces and reducing traffic from 3 lanes to 2. On the east side of the street, they still have parallel parking. The parking meters were replaced with a kiosk which serves the whole block. This is a cost-effective way to slow traffic down while improving accessibility to the office/businesses on the street. Would like to see this done on more streets throughout the CBD (especially 2nd and 3rd Streets). Here's the <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1027279,-84.5199772,3a,75y,355.24h,85.51t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM3IFl_4ECggFLmNEjMJVBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656">streetview of Central when they still had parallel parking on both sides with 3 lanes of traffic</a>.

 

Why isn't <a href="https://twitter.com/AuditorRhodes/status/651119983305486336">Dusty Rhodes freaking about about losing 1/3 of the lanes</a>?!?!?

 

Here's the new configuration:

 

 

 

That's better than what it was before, but Central Avenue really needs to be converted to two-way for its entire length. Too many weird transitions from one-way, to two-way, to one-way, to two-way...

If it's converted to two way that parking will be reverse angle, which is much better anyway. Everyone wins.

From the Sycamore Township: Kenwood Collection thread:

 

Merrill Lynch will move into about half of the sixth floor and the entire seventh floor of the eight-story Tower at Kenwood Collection. It will relocate about 125 employees from its offices in downtown Cincinnati, located in U.S. Bank Tower at 425 Walnut St., as well as from offices in Blue Ash, located in Pfeiffer Woods at 5151 Pfeiffer Road.

 

Even though Merrill Lynch is moving some of its operations out of Cincinnati, the firm will continue to have a presence downtown. The Merrill Lynch operations in Scripps Center at 312 Walnut St. recently expanded as a result of its continued focus on growing market share. It will continue to have operations in Scripps Center.

Developer to convert one of downtown Cincinnati’s largest office buildings to hotel

An out-of-town developer purchased a downtown Cincinnati office complex with plans to convert some of the space into an upscale hotel.

 

NewcrestImage LLC, a Lewisville, Texas-based company, purchased the Fourth & Walnut Centre buildings at auction for $9.3 million. The three-building complex, located on the southeast corner of East Fourth and Walnut streets, includes a 19-floor tower, a four-floor office building and a six-floor office building. Fourth & Walnut Centre also includes two restaurants, a business center and a 38-space on-site parking structure.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/01/08/developer-to-convert-one-of-downtown-cincinnati-s.html?ana=e_cinci_bn_breakingnews&u=jwmf03J%2B9tCeITf%2B6kZ15A0e430e28&t=1452275285

Everything But The House recently announced plans to take over the entire 9th Floor of this building at 4th and Walnut. That corner is shaping up quite nicely with the Renaissance Hotel on the opposite corner.

I actually really like the idea of more hotel rooms.  I think the city can definitely add more.  I also like how they really liven up the street level.  With the attendants waiting outside, customers with luggage coming in, etc.  This all really adds to a ton of vibrancy and will also have a positive effect on bringing in larger events to the convention center, concerts, etc.  I would almost argue that hotels bring more life to a building than converting to apartments, but maybe I'm wrong there?

I also like how they're making the building a mix of both office and hotel. It's a huge building, so it definitely has capacity for multiple uses. And by having office workers using the building on a daily basis, the restaurant/bar will presumably try to appeal to more than just out-of-town visitors. Which is good news for everybody involved.

I actually really like the idea of more hotel rooms.  I think the city can definitely add more.  I also like how they really liven up the street level.  With the attendants waiting outside, customers with luggage coming in, etc.  This all really adds to a ton of vibrancy and will also have a positive effect on bringing in larger events to the convention center, concerts, etc.  I would almost argue that hotels bring more life to a building than converting to apartments, but maybe I'm wrong there?

 

I live in Cincy and every now and then I like to get a hotel Downtown and there's been quite a few times were either no rooms were available or the prices were astronomically high because of the limited availability. We def could use more hotel rooms.

Good news for 6th St: Neyer is renovating 128 and 130 E Sixth St: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/05/05/exclusive-tom-neyer-buys-2-downtown-cincinnati.html#i1

 

Those two building are both really beautiful, so it'll be great to get them fully occupied again. With the 580 Building nearing completion and the Terrace Plaza under new ownership, 6th St has the potential to become a really neat subdistrict of the CBD. 

Are these residential or office? Any details?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

MAY 05, 2016 10:32 AM EDT

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Neyer buys 2 downtown Cincinnati buildings for redevelopment

An affiliate of Neyer Holdings Corp. purchased the buildings at 128 and 130 E. Sixth St., known as the Reakirt and Brunswick buildings, respectively, from Kiji Steakhouse Inc. for $2 million.

An affiliate of Neyer Holdings Corp. purchased the buildings at 128 and 130 E. Sixth St.,… more

 

Tom Demeropolis

Senior Staff Reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

Tom Neyer Jr. purchased two more buildings in the heart of downtown Cincinnati with plans to renovate the properties.

 

An affiliate of Neyer Holdings Corp. purchased the buildings at 128 and 130 E. Sixth St., known as the Reakirt and Brunswick buildings, respectively, from Kiji Steakhouse Inc. for $2 million. Neyer, chairman and CEO of Neyer Holdings, said he is working on redevelopment plans for both buildings.

 

“We have a lot of ideas for these properties,” Neyer told me. “We chased them for over two years. They truly are at the center of everything great happening at the core of Cincinnati.”

 

The two buildings are the only properties between the southbound streetcar stop on Walnut Street and the northbound streetcar stop on Main Street that have not been redeveloped. The former 580 Building, now known as AT580, is undergoing a $50 million redevelopment into a mix of retail, office and residential space. Restaurateur David Falk moved his critically acclaimed Boca restaurant to the former home of the Maisonette at 114 E. Sixth St., part of a $12.6 million Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. project. Next door, 3CDC developed Igby’s, a $3.9 million entertainment venue from Four Entertainment Group.

 

EDITED: CAN'T POST FULL ARTICLES.

" An out-of-town developer purchased a downtown Cincinnati office building for nearly $3.3 million and plans to renovate the property. "

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/05/12/downtown-cincinnati-office-building-sold-to-become.html

^That's great news! Coincidentally, I walked into that building just this morning (trying to find the Hoxworth office to donate blood, but they've moved south to the Fourth & Walnut building). It's eerie to walk around there because the building is, I think, almost entirely vacant but still accessible. Feels like a ghost town. The building has some unsympathetic treatments (drop ceilings, worn carpet) that appear to have been added in the '80s... but there is still a real sense of the history of the building and I bet the new owners will try to restore as much of the historic feeling as possible. The lobby and elevators off of Walnut have a cool vibe and style. I'm really looking forward to seeing it renovated.

Does anyone know what's going on behind Union Optical at the corner of Court and Vine? This building had some ugly addition to the rear of the building that is currently being demolished.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That addition has always looked bad but recently had begun to lean far more than usual and you could see the structural members failing in that the rear was bulging quite badly just above the ground. I'm sure it has just gotten to the point where they were either getting cited or chose to demolish since there was no saving it. Not that anyone should ever try to save such an ugly addition.

The former House of Adam at 622 Vine was purchased by a holding company with the address of Sieber Construction...looking on their website they only have done suburban residential/office projects. I wonder what plans they have for that property.

Does anyone know what's going on behind Union Optical at the corner of Court and Vine? This building had some ugly addition to the rear of the building that is currently being demolished.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The permit says it is an emergency demolition as the rear addition was in imminent danger of collapse.

 

 

Does anyone know what's going on behind Union Optical at the corner of Court and Vine? This building had some ugly addition to the rear of the building that is currently being demolished.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That addition needed to come down. It looked like an outbuilding at a farm: windowless, patchwork of corrugated metal. I took this picture yesterday (May 12) as I walked by there:

 

Here's the streetview: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1058108,-84.5141531,3a,75y,35.6h,81.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sx704wcTt7rI6R8GZOAtt8g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The rear addition looked like something from a shantytown.

It looks so much better already. I've had many situations where I walked by that with people not familiar with the area and several immediately went, "what the hell is that thing?" pointing towards it. Vacant buildings, empty lots, etc. are bad, but this was what really drew people's attentions as something truly negative. Thebillshark is right, it looked like it belonged in a shantytown.

That building has always stuck out to me as well because of the deplorable addition. The entire building, while not looking like it is beyond saving, has that look of needing some real structural vigilance. Wonder what it's history is.

I've always assumed that place is a front for something. 

I've never seen anyone in there as a customer or a shop clerk. The decor is from the 1960s, as if someone just left it there in the 60s and never returned.

The other half of the storefront (facing Court) is occupied by the delightful Le's Pho & Sandwiches. I highly recommend their banh mi and pho. The owners are some of the nicest restaurant owners I know in downtown.

Wow, good riddance to that addition!  It looks like there was even a small fire once in the rear first-floor window. 

 

https://goo.gl/maps/LtCYEBpbjQR2

:+1: also for Le's Pho

 

Noooo!!!!  I loved that little ramshackle mess. The random chimneys are a mess. I'm going to miss that relic from another era.

Looks like only the one chimney on the end is gone, but the big mass of 6 (?) flues a bit farther back is remaining. 

:+1: also for Le's Pho

 

 

best $4 sandwich in town

Now that Pogues Garage is on its way out, I nominate the parking garage across from the Cincinnati Bell building on 7th Street as the worst garage Downtown. It's completely ugly, showing its age, and has no first floor retail. Even worse, it obscures the beauty of Isaac M Wise Temple and Covenant First Presbyterian Church, dominating them size-wise and bringing it's blank walls right up against them.  I would hope such an abomination would never be built today. It might be difficult to raze however- probably depended on by a lot of Bell employees.

Now that Pogues Garage is on its way out, I nominate the parking garage across from the Cincinnati Bell building on 7th Street as the worst garage Downtown. It's completely ugly, showing its age, and has no first floor retail. Even worse, it obscures the beauty of Isaac M Wise Temple and Covenant First Presbyterian Church, dominating them size-wise and bringing it's blank walls right up against them.  I would hope such an abomination would never be built today. It might be difficult to raze however- probably depended on by a lot of Bell employees.

 

Agreed 100%. That garage is an abomination. The other one I would love to see redeveloped or redesigned is the P&G garage on 6th. It takes up a whole block, and there is no activation of the ground floor at all. When you view downtown from Mt. Adams, that garage really stands out in a bad way.

Or what about the one on 6th between Elm and Plum, across the Duke Energy Center? It proudly bears a plaque that says it was built by the City of Cincinnati in 1958. Never been in but it looks like the ceiling heights are maybe 7 feet.

There are a ton of bad garages all around Downtown, but the one I feel is most critical now that Pogue's is finally leaving is P&G's. As much as I really hate all of the ones around the convention center that side of Downtown as a whole isn't seeing much activity so it's not crucial at this point in time to redevelop them. P&G's garage spans an entire block between the tons of development happening just north of it and what's going on south of it. It could very easily be redeveloped into a larger garage with multiple towers on top if they so chose. Put a tower on each end of the lot with ground level retail, a line of 4-6 story "townhomes" spanning the gap between them, and a large garage behind that that serves P&G and the new structures. You've extended the 6th street area east another block, brought in hundreds of new housing units to a part of Downtown that's growing, you've added some nice density to the skyline, and offered a nice variety of product that's not really available much Downtown (the townhomes).

Good pivot on this subject thebillshark[/member] ! But doesn't this draw in the question of surface lots as well? What is your preference? Develop a surface lot or demo/redev the offending garages?

 

There are a ton of bad garages all around Downtown, but the one I feel is most critical now that Pogue's is finally leaving is P&G's. As much as I really hate all of the ones around the convention center that side of Downtown as a whole isn't seeing much activity so it's not crucial at this point in time to redevelop them. P&G's garage spans an entire block between the tons of development happening just north of it and what's going on south of it. It could very easily be redeveloped into a larger garage with multiple towers on top if they so chose. Put a tower on each end of the lot with ground level retail, a line of 4-6 story "townhomes" spanning the gap between them, and a large garage behind that that serves P&G and the new structures. You've extended the 6th street area east another block, brought in hundreds of new housing units to a part of Downtown that's growing, you've added some nice density to the skyline, and offered a nice variety of product that's not really available much Downtown (the townhomes).

 

Just to take an opposing view, I think the other end of DT needs what you are proposing more except with hotel. The P&G garage is not an eyesore or relic in the same way Pogue's, CinBell, and Federated garages are. Hotels would work great on these lots. Or, here's a crazy idea...convention expansion. Close 6th and expand north.

 

No matter the case, the Federated Garage (7th/8th, Plum/Elm) is a complete insult to that block and the neighborhood. Demo the entire thing. Use the space between Wise and Presbyterian as a pocket park. The south half of the block for new garage and residential tower. Maybe, just maybe this could start to build momentum for W 9th and W Court over there since momentum already exists at the opposite end of town on Main and Sycamore.

 

Below 6th near P&G is decidedly Financial District in nature and that garage definitely separates residential from it. The issue I have with that block is all of the surface lots that surround it that I'd rather see developed first. I'm curious to hear your more professional opinion.

That P&G garage really would be perfect for residential units to go on top.  So many people who work in the CBD would be all over living there.  Even though there has been some great progress in that area there are still too many open lots for my liking.  The St Xavier church lot will likely never become anything and god knows the giant Joseph owned lot won't have any activity for the foreseeable future. 

 

I actually just recently looked for a new apartment right at the corner of 9th and main.  While the apartment itself was nice there's just not much going on in that area.  Yeah you're not a far walk from Walnut St or OTR but that entire eats side of downtown is prime for redevelopment between Walnut and Broadway.

Looks like Key Bank is moving into Queen City Square (paywall of course)...

 

EXCLUSIVE: KeyBank moving downtown Cincinnati headquarters

Jun 3, 2016, 12:03pm EDT Updated Jun 3, 2016, 12:33pm EDT

Steve Watkins

Staff Reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

KeyBank signed a lease to move its Cincinnati headquarters into Great American Tower.

 

KeyBank has signed a long-term lease to relocate its downtown Cincinnati headquarters.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/06/03/exclusive-keybank-moving-downtown-cincinnati.html

Just noticed tonight one could combine the surface lot at the NW corner of 7th and Vine with the single story buildings that make up Jean Robert's table and the Garfield Mini-mart to come up with a pretty good site for a residential tower fronting Vine St.

 

It could form a nice symmetry with the Garfield Suites building, and would be across from a Fortune 500 headquarters (Macy's.)  Garfield Garage could handle the parking requirements. Other sites would fight to be the new home for Jean Robert's Table, and the Garfield mini mart could find a home somewhere (old McHahn's?)

 

Of course redeveloping the humongous surface lots directly across Vine St. would be pretty nice too!

 

EDIT: just remembered that Fins Feathers and BBQ and a barber shop is in that building too that would also need new homes. That block does have some character & vibrancy already, and there are certainly less active parts of downtown (especially surface lots) that could be developed first... However, the surface parking lots taking up both the NW and NE  corners of 7th and Vine are a huge issue.

 

 

It was ugly. Very, very ugly. It was a terrible building.

 

Dude! Where'd you find that pic? There are a dearth of pics of that building and this one captures what it was like better than perhaps any I've seen. The two story BK. Seems like the whole building was designed with the skywalk in mind.

 

EDIT: Not sure where the previous post was or how this ended up in this thread. ???