Also, the retail space at 1339 Walnut is already occupied (temporarily?)  by Bill Donabedian who co-founded the MidPoint Music Festival.

 

Hmm, I wonder if he's using it as office space for Bunbury / Buckle Up.

This screams OTR to me:

 

If I didn't have a washer and dryer in my unit I'd go to a place like that. When I lived in Savannah the laundromat I went to, Spin City on Victory if any of you are familiar with the area, was such a boring experience. You couldn't just leave and wander the park across the street as your stuff would likely not be where you left it when you returned. Not in that people would steal it but rather would see nobody was watching it and take over your machine since it was constantly crowded there. This was before I had a smartphone and I lived alone and didn't know anybody else in the city so it wasn't like I could go with someone or keep myself entertained. As such it was a 2 hour long process that made me want something else attached to the place like a bar or coffee shop. Anything really. I wonder if this is the type of place we'll see if they land a laundromat on Mercer and Walnut.

What about a rebirth of Sudsy Malones? :mrgreen: :drunk:

What about a rebirth of Sudsy Malones? :mrgreen: :drunk:

 

Ah, Sudsy Malone's.  Do your laundry, have a beer, watch a show, come home and realize that all of your newly washed clothes smell like an old ashtray

Don't most of 3CDC's new projects include in unit washer/dryer?

I could see a laudromat working if it also had a drop-off dry cleaners.  But all the new units have washer/dryer in the units and most of the older units have coin operated washer/dryer in the basement

In this day and age I guess you'd need to make it a cafe/bar/library/dry cleaners/whatever first, which just happens to also have some public laundry facilities, as opposed to the other way around.  Even with in-unit or common machines in apartment buildings, it's still handy to have some larger commercial machines available for big blankets, comforters, or curtains that won't fit in conventional washers and dryers. 

What about a rebirth of Sudsy Malones? :mrgreen: :drunk:

 

That place was awesome.  It was a comically small music venue, space for at the very most 100 people, including those who sat or stood on the washing machines.  More than once I saw some mom enter the front door and navigate the mosh pit with a laundry basket. 

There are also times when your laundry machine goes bad and you need a quick trip to a laundromat to get your clothes washed.

 

Considering the neighborhood, they should offer dry cleaning though, they might also tap a bit into the Clifton heights college student market for the laundromat - since City limits is more on the clifton side of things.

There are also times when your laundry machine goes bad and you need a quick trip to a laundromat to get your clothes washed.

 

Considering the neighborhood, they should offer dry cleaning though, they might also tap a bit into the Clifton heights college student market for the laundromat - since City limits is more on the clifton side of things.

 

Fun Fact: City Limits used to be a Wendy's.

 

What about a rebirth of Sudsy Malones? :mrgreen: :drunk:

 

That place was awesome.  It was a comically small music venue, space for at the very most 100 people, including those who sat or stood on the washing machines.  More than once I saw some mom enter the front door and navigate the mosh pit with a laundry basket. 

 

Awesome.  I miss that place.

I definitely took Sudsy's for granted. When I was a 15 or so, it seemed so normal. It totally wasn't!

The way that place was laid out was absolutely hilarious.  One time I saw a guy with a wireless thing for his guitar play his solo out on the sidewalk. 

Mercer Commons Phase 2, on Walnut between 13th and Mercer (July 3, 2014):

 

Mercer Commons Phase 2, on Walnut between Mercer and 14th (July 4, 2014):

I can't wait for some proper streetscaping, but that looks so much cleaner.

I am glad to see that the east side of Walnut is being streetscaped as well (across from Mercer Commons Phase 2), but what's the logic behind removing the existing street trees? Also, it's not clear whether the utilities are being buried (unless that's what the white line is indicating.)

 

Sad to see mature street trees come down.  I feel like it happens way too often.  Short Vine and Race St along the streetcar are other examples that come to mind from this year.  Hopefully, with new sidewalks and buried utilities the new street trees can grow tall and last a long time.

Travis: White is proposed excavation markings. A color code can be found: http://www.missutility.net/searchstatus/colorcodes.asp

 

So it looks like they will be tearing up the sidewalk closer to the street side. I am assuming that is for the burial of utilities, which could be marked after the sidewalk is gone.

It does suck since it seems these ones will just be replaced basically in the same spot. I get when it's situations like Short Vine when the street is changing completely and the new street trees are going to be, what, 10 feet further out? In this situation it seems it's just for a sake of ease in construction which makes it even more annoying to watch mature trees go.

Mercer Commons Phase II opens as plans for Phase III begin

Erin Caproni Digital Producer- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Mercer Commons Phase II, which includes 67 apartment units and 10,600 square feet of commercial space in six historic Over-the-Rhine buildings, made its debut on Tuesday. Now, the project’s partners are preparing for the next phase.

 

Phase II, in the 1300 block of Walnut Street, features affordable- and market-rate one- and two-bedroom units. About half of them will be reserved for residents who earn less than 60 percent of the local median income. McCormack Baron Salazar will own and manage the apartments at the site, while Cincinnati Center City Development will own and manage the commercial space.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2014/08/mercer-commons-phase-ii-opens-as-plans-for-phase.html

About half of them will be reserved for residents who earn less than 60 percent of the local median income.

 

Anyone know what the local median income is? Or what "local" means in this case? (Municipality? Census tract/block?)

Phase IIIa is going to begin shortly.  12 or so townhomes and 4 condos.  Townhomes will be 1800 sqft which is a good size.  Unlike the 900 square foot tiny little condos across the street on the south side of Mercer.  Phase IIIb is still planned to be office but is on hold.

I have no idea what the current plan is for the new townhomes, but in the initial sketchup renderings the Phase III townhomes seemed to have a lot more variation in design which is nice and also appeared taller and up to the sidewalk. Things that will improve that street more than the small ones across the street.

I think the south side was so short because the parking garage would have created a weird scenario where the rooftop patios would look right into the top level of the parking garage. No privacy. I guess they could have found a workaround, but it would have been awkward.

I actually don't necessarily mind the scale of the south side townhomes except for that location. The other buildings are all 3+ stories and having a building mass that's only 2 stories and adding a skinny (unusable) front yard just makes them feel so much smaller and out of scale than the historic and new buildings in that area.

 

Two story buildings can work just fine (hell, even one story buildings) if they're just a random building in the midst of a bunch of others of different scales such as the old post office The Eagle is in and the building Lavomatic occupied. But as a row of five buildings it just looks so small and out of scale.

What's with the backside of One Mercer? It looks hideous from Mercer Street. (The front and sides look pretty good though.)

 

That's just a spot for the future Artworks mural about Prohibition and George Remus. Or maybe a brief history of Strudel?

Or something completely different....

 

 

^Yes please! That almost looks like something from Jack Wood Gallery.  Actually, that could be a great way to advertise for them, assuming Mercer Street sees decent pedestrian traffic.

Glass Block?  Seriously?

 

 

What and where is that?

That's the interior of The Mercer which is the Kaze-owned restaurant going into the entirety of the ground floor space of One Mercer.

 

The interior design is really nice up until you get to the glass block. My initial reaction was, "are the f#$@!%^ serious?" It takes what appears to be a fairly classy design and makes it look cheap. Someone should probably tell Beck Architecture that glass block stopped being used in classy establishments forever ago.

This screams OTR to me:

 

 

A bit off topic but this is a Belgian place called Wasbar! I was just in Ghent the other weekend and passed this. It was completely full. Very cool place and think it would also be a perfect fit in OTR (based on the look/feel of the place) but would imagine it would have a hard time staying in business if a lot of apartments in the area have machines in them already. Here's their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WASBAR.BE

That's the interior of The Mercer which is the Kaze-owned restaurant going into the entirety of the ground floor space of One Mercer.

 

The interior design is really nice up until you get to the glass block. My initial reaction was, "are the f#$@!%^ serious?" It takes what appears to be a fairly classy design and makes it look cheap. Someone should probably tell Beck Architecture that glass block stopped being used in classy establishments forever ago.

 

I don't like the chairs at the table at all.  They don't look comfortable to sit in. 

This screams OTR to me:

 

 

A bit off topic but this is a Belgian place called Wasbar! I was just in Ghent the other weekend and passed this. It was completely full. Very cool place and think it would also be a perfect fit in OTR (based on the look/feel of the place) but would imagine it would have a hard time staying in business if a lot of apartments in the area have machines in them already. Here's their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WASBAR.BE

 

Sudsy Malones was a laundromat bar on Short Vine for over 20 years...CityBeat just did a story on it.  http://citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-5968-these_walls_have_heard_it_all_sudsy_malones.html

 

I actually remember that place (I graduated from UC in 2009). I wanted to say that a cafe/bar-laundromat would be a great addition to Short Vine as well like Sudsy's was, but when I think about it, I actually think that a place like that would lose out being there. As a UC student living in the dorms, I had little reason to visit there to ever wash clothes. Machines in the dorms were able to be paid for with my Bearcat Card (not sure if Sudsy's had introduced this - I know a few places off campus would allow you to pay for things with your card) and if I had a huge amount of clothing that needed washed, I'd just pile everything into my car and drive the 30 minutes home and have my parents wash them. I would imagine that putting something like this (either a place similar to Sudsy Malones or to a cafe/bar-laundromat) in OTR would do better since there is more of a mix of places that may/may not have machines in them. The place my partner and I just got in OTR doesn't have a washer/dryer in the unit so we'll have to either use the common ones or go to a place like this. It would be great if what would potentially be at Mercer wasn't just a laundromat and would be a cafe/bar as well so that we'd be able to leave the house and also get a coffee and some work done as this isn't too far of a walk from the place we got.

I mean...everything about this picture is awful.  Drop ceilings, glass block, cheap table and ugly chairs.  What is supposed to be the audience of this place?

 

If you turn the other direction there's some nice looking wood on the walls, nicer looking booths, and overall better finishes. That wall is what separates the kitchen from the main dining area so you're looking towards the very utilitarian portion of the restaurant. Go check it out in person. It appears they've taken down a lot of the stuff on the windows so I'll have to go by again and get a better look.

It doesn't seem like the best angle of the place (at least, I hope not) but it does remind me of a Ponderosa Steakhouse or a takeout Chinese place that has the pictures overhead as the menu.

 

The designer does most of the new/trendy bars and restaurants that open in Cincy, so I'm sure the overall place will look okay. That glass block though... that partition would have been better if it was just a solid wall, or a frosted or light diffusing glass if they wanted some light. They wouldn't have to sell that many $11 cocktails to pay the difference between a single pane of glass and some glass block.

It doesn't seem like the best angle of the place (at least, I hope not) but it does remind me of a Ponderosa Steakhouse or a takeout Chinese place that has the pictures overhead as the menu.

 

The designer does most of the new/trendy bars and restaurants that open in Cincy, so I'm sure the overall place will look okay. That glass block though... that partition would have been better if it was just a solid wall, or a frosted or light diffusing glass if they wanted some light. They wouldn't have to sell that many $11 cocktails to pay the difference between a single pane of glass and some glass block.

 

There is an overall glass block motif.  This is merely the most conspicuous and egregious use of the material.  There are two or three "strips" of the same sort of glass block near the door and there is another glass block partition. 

 

I'm surprised its by the guys who run Kaze, as Kaze probably has one of the coolest/hippest interior's in Cincinnati - it looks like something out of a much larger city.

Okay...taking another look at the whole space it's become pretty clear that their intent is to be tacky.  Literally everything is awful, from the cheap pendant lights to the plaid couches.  I'm not sure what the menu's going to be like, but I'm quite certain at this point that the designers were fully conscious of the fact that glass block is awful as they were choosing materials.

 

 

Okay...taking another look at the whole space it's become pretty clear that their intent is to be tacky.  Literally everything is awful, from the cheap pendant lights to the plaid couches.  I'm not sure what the menu's going to be like, but I'm quite certain at this point that the designers were fully conscious of the fact that glass block is awful as they were choosing materials.

 

 

 

While your point is noted, I believe the word you are looking for is "retro".  Most of those elements are time period specific, with a twist.

So is this like the Tin Roof business strategy for high-end dining?  Tin Roof is made out of plywood, this place is outfitted with materials and furniture that manufacturers were giving away?

I think it could work. You can only put so many A Tavolas in a city before that interior turns into a cliche.

Does anyone remember the old Roxx Electro Cafe on Calhoun? It was in an old Ben & Jerry's space. They still had most of the old Ben & Jerry's decor, but brought in some of their own furniture and made a few small changes here and there.

 

This kinda looks like they took over an old LaRosa's location that hadn't been updated since the 70's, and "spruced it up" a little.

The old rt 4 chi-chi' sis now a sports bar.  In between it was a Chinese restaurant.  So the sports bar still has pieces of the chi- chi's and the Chinese restaurant in it.  Especially the prominent Asian-style rock fountain near the entrance, then the Chinatown NYC bus stop on the front stoop.  Top that.

It looks like a Bonanza.

We're remodeling our home, and in the process I've been poring over photos of "designed" rooms.  It seems some professionals may be taking the un-matchy matchy schtick a little too far these days.  I've seen colors, patterns and fixtures that, in combination, have almost made bile rise up in my throat.  But I'm old, so maybe I just don't get it.

 

This space looks like a jumble of retro motifs:  1950s (reddish vinyl tufted banquettes and laminate tables); 1960s (lay-in ceiling tiles; the horizontal lines of the wall covering, suspended ceiling panels, and entrance door glass panels); and 1970s (glass block revival, disco ball-shaped pendants, plaid couches, rattan chairs).  The designer forgot to throw in some 1980s carpet-covered platforms!  It's strange, but at least it has warmth and coziness. 

 

Maybe the various nostalgic styles are hoping to attract multiple generations???