Also there will be white panels that go up the middle of each side... hopefully that will lighten up the black some. Coupled with the reflective windows it could look cool. Interesting at least.

From the 3CDC September Project Update:

 

Re: Dunnhumby Centre

"Setting of the building façade panels has reached level nine, while exterior glazing for the façade and installation of wire mesh is still ongoing."

 

^^That sure makes it sound like those wire screens are permanent. It looks like they are only on the garage levels, stopping at level 3, but regardless look terrible.

There's something very ominous about this building.  I think once all of the glass is in place, it'll paint a different picture for us all.  Either way, we don't have anything downtown that looks like this so I guess that's a plus.

This morning they were installing some of the street-level glass along 5th. It goes completely floor to ceiling and the ceilings are very high.

 

Should have a pretty cool effect at street level.

So far I really like the building. I walked past it a couple of nights ago. Really excited to see the finished product though.

The garages on levels 2-4 are designed to become office in the future.  Starting in year 5 of the completed building, dunnhumby can buy floor 4 for office conversion for something like $180K from the City/3CDC.  there is some rule that they have to wait a few more years before they can buy back floor 3 and then floor 2.  It's possible in 10 years those 3 floors would be office.  They are entirely designed for the conversion to occur and Dunnhumby certainly plans to buy them if they are still growing as quickly as they currently are in 5 years.

 

 

Why would they design it to buy the garage floors rather than just add the capability to build higher? I assume cost but if they replace garage floors with office I'd assume there would be a concern about lack of parking, especially if they convert all three floors.  Seems interesting.

From the 3CDC September Project Update:

 

Re: Dunnhumby Centre

"Setting of the building façade panels has reached level nine, while exterior glazing for the façade and installation of wire mesh is still ongoing."

 

^^That sure makes it sound like those wire screens are permanent. It looks like they are only on the garage levels, stopping at level 3, but regardless look terrible.

 

I agree hoerstw, would really be a buzzkill if that were permanent. Really not what I thought it was. This building isn't what we expected.

From today:

I photoshopped the rest of the windows into the picture I took in August. I think whether or not this thing is horrid or kind of cool is going to depend on the reflections and light of day.

 

Reminds me of the "Court St. Centre" up on Central Parkway. 

Yikes, I dunno about that white streak!?!?  Maybe it looks better in person...

 

ETA:  Wait a minute -- is the white streak going up the side photoshopped or real???

Reminds me of the "Court St. Centre" up on Central Parkway.

 

That's just offensive. Court St Centre is a terribly bland building surrounded by a parking lot. This building has a lot of character. It's definitely a love it or hate it building, but comparing it to that abomination up the street is uncalled for.

Meh.

 

 

Jake isn't too far off.

The only similarities I see are horizontal lines and a glass curtain wall. The differences in styling and materials are what make Dunnhumby a fantastic and beautiful addition to the city and Court St Centre an abomination that needs to be hidden behind some infill.

Uh, Centre, Centre.  Hello!  Similarities abound! :P

 

Isn't the Court Street Centre actually an old building that has been updated?

I'm sure I could find a picture of a red brick McMansion with several gables that has similarities with Music Hall, but that doesn't mean it is relevant or a good architectural critique.

Court Street Centre, from another time. https://drc.libraries.uc.edu/handle/2374.UC/705576

^Yeah, it was originally the French Bauer dairy.  I'd forgotten Court Street Center was a rehab.

I'd like someone to go into detail on the "character" of the exterior of Dunhumby Centre. Cause I'm just not seeing it.

^Yeah, it was originally the French Bauer dairy.  I'd forgotten Court Street Center was a rehab.

 

This building was also owned by P&G in the 1940s.  I know this because my grandmother worked there during the war, then quit P&G to have kids a year before they started the employee stock purchase program.  Yes we are talking about the same P&G that has since split 7 times and currently trades at $80/share. 

 

 

Court Street Centre, from another time. https://drc.libraries.uc.edu/handle/2374.UC/705576

 

I knew I had seen old pics of it. Thanks.

I'm sure I could find a picture of a red brick McMansion with several gables that has similarities with Music Hall, but that doesn't mean it is relevant or a good architectural critique.

 

The former isn't architecture but a corporate mimic; the latter is.  In this case, the Court St. Centre would have to take place after the Dunnhumby in order to follow.  Both buildings, I'm sure, were "refreshing architecture" at the time (the former "boldly" sprucing up an older structure; the latter making an alleged bold statement with Menards paneling and leftover glass from their Ealing location).  Critically, the fictional red brick McMansion would be more equivalent to the old KFC on Liberty than the Court St. Centre.  Though your point about similar architectural features =/= adequate critique has merit.

I asked one of the construction crew about the screens and he understood that they were permanent until the garage spaces are converted to offices space

Yeah, I went to a presentation from the architects of this project last winter, and they said the screens were to be used in the parking garage section.  I thought this was pretty widely known/assumed.  I believe they are in place to ventilate the garage more cheaply than the system that would be required if it was fully enclosed in glass like the rest of the building.

It seems very likely that Dunnhumby will expand downward into the parking garage levels as soon as they are contractually allowed to do so. Which begs the question -- why bother building those three levels as parking now and converting to office space later? Why not just build out office space and lease out those floors until Dunnhumby needs them?

Dunnhumby probably wants their own building. All of the office space is theirs as currently designed, isn’t it? From the design of the interior space, they want it easy to move from floor to floor and they don’t want to have other office tenants able to get into their space. It’s much easier to just have one check-in/security/reception desk in the lobby than have different floors with different security access.  By making it parking with a chance to expand in the future, they get their own building and have the most flexible choices for expansion.

^Good question.  There are a lot of strange things about this project, I think.  The fact that we didn't even see a rendering for the project until it was literally coming out of the ground still baffles me.  I also lament the fact that we couldn't get any residential included in the project, and we are left with a squat, single user building on probably the most prime development site downtown.  I'm not crazy about the design, and I think the highly reflective glass looks cheap and gimmicky against the black paneling, but the design is honestly the least of the problems that I have with this project.

The fact that we didn't even see a rendering for the project until it was literally coming out of the ground still baffles me.

 

There's a rendering of the building? I don't remember a rendering ever being released.

The fact that we didn't even see a rendering for the project until it was literally coming out of the ground still baffles me.

 

There's a rendering of the building? I don't remember a rendering ever being released.

 

http://www.urbancincy.com/2013/08/dunnhumbyusa-constructs-transformative-building-at-fifth-and-race/

Thanks!

^Yeah, it's looking really good. It will be very nice to check it out and how it changes the feel of downtown once it is done!

Im not going to lie. I thought this building would be one of the ugliest structure in Cincinnati. I changed my mind after seeing it this morning while it was still dark.  It's going to look great at night just wait and see. Beats a parking lot

I really like the windows, but this building has a long way to go before it is done.

Dunnhumby Centre crane removal will force downtown detours

 

The cranes used to construct the new Dunnhumby Centre at the intersection of Race and Sixth streets will be coming down in the next few days, which means downtown Cincinnati drivers will have to alter their routes.

 

Race Street between Fifth and Sixth streets will close from 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3 until 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. Sixth Street between Race and Elm streets will also close from 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5 until 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7.

 

Cont

They are installing the window panels at the middle of the facade now and most of the glass in in place on the ground floor.  Not what I was expecting to see.

Parking at Dunnhumby Centre won't be cheap

Nov 14, 2014, 1:14pm EST Updated: Nov 14, 2014, 1:23pm EST

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. will open its parking garage at Dunnhumby Centre on Race Street on Nov. 24, and it won't be cheap to park there if you want to do so on a monthly basis.

 

Monthly parking at Dunnhumby will cost $180, which is considerably more than the average in the area of $145. The rate also considerably exceeds the average in the northwest quadrant of downtown – north of Sixth Street and west of Vine Street – which is $97.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/11/14/parking-at-dunnhumby-centre-wont-be-cheap.html

Here's a grainy photo the first floor space at the corner of Race and 5th. It's pretty massive. It'll take a pretty big tenant to fill all of this space, unless they subdivide it into smaller floorplans. I know a restaurant is planned for the corner of Race and 6th, but I haven't heard anything about what's going in here at the Race & 5th corner (shared by Saks, Hilton, and Macy's).

This building looks great, and it's totally unique to the area.

 

They took some of the barriers down when they opened the garage and you can finally check it out.  The first floor has wrap around floor to ceiling tall windows on each corner and you can see straight through to what's happening on the intersecting street.  They did a really good job concealing the fact that the building contains a massive parking garage.

 

Should be a rule that if you complain about all the new generic construction going up you're not allowed to complain about this building too.

Anybody know what if anything is going in the space of the recently demolished building on 6th accross from Dunnhumby next to Walgreens?

This building looks great, and it's totally unique to the area.

 

They took some of the barriers down when they opened the garage and you can finally check it out.  The first floor has wrap around floor to ceiling tall windows on each corner and you can see straight through to what's happening on the intersecting street.  They did a really good job concealing the fact that the building contains a massive parking garage.

 

Should be a rule that if you complain about all the new generic construction going up you're not allowed to complain about this building too.

 

Except 1967 was a long time ago and this is a weak imitation of that era. 

Probably because this has no relation to 60s architecture?

 

Late 60s were characterized by massive brutalist architecture. This building's concrete usage is purely structural and no more. Brutalism is characterized by completely deviating from the curtain wall systems of the modernist buildings that came before it. This building has a curtain wall. Brutalism meets the ground with large, solid surfaces. This building floats on a glass ground level. Brutalism turns the building's spaces inward and offer very little outward connection. This building is designed to open the building's wall up to the street through the glass slits. I could go on.

 

You can say what you want, but 60s this building is not.

Probably because this has no relation to 60s architecture?

 

Late 60s were characterized by massive brutalist architecture. This building's concrete usage is purely structural and no more. Brutalism is characterized by completely deviating from the curtain wall systems of the modernist buildings that came before it. This building has a curtain wall. Brutalism meets the ground with large, solid surfaces. This building floats on a glass ground level. Brutalism turns the building's spaces inward and offer very little outward connection. This building is designed to open the building's wall up to the street through the glass slits. I could go on.

 

You can say what you want, but 60s this building is not.

 

Only a handful of brutalist buildings were built in each city.  Many more look just like this Dunhumby building, but better.

 

I'm still in disbelief that this thing actually exists.  It's half of an idea executed cheaply and awkwardly.  How do you mess up a box?  They did it. 

This is what happens when either engineers are allowed to design things or architects who aren't that good get the "ok" on a design because they know someone.

I'd agree that Dunnyumby isn't technically brutalist (Crosley tower and the Wolfson addition to the DAAP building at UC are, and the EPA building) but the rough/harsh concrete panels and massive imposing nature of the building put it in a similar realm.

I like dunnhumby and I like the terrace plaza. I guess that puts me in a class all by myself.

I still think it's a fantastic building. Gorgeous articulation, imposing contrasts, wide open storefronts. It's the best building built in downtown Cincinnati in a long time. I love it.

What happens to this building if Kroger buys the company?

Is that really possible? Usually companies start these types of businesses and then spin them off, a la Cincinnati Bell and Convergys. Are you thinking Kroger would buy dunnhumby? or dunnhumbyUSA? Kroger isn't their only client, so I'd imagine they'd still house all the dunnhumby people in their own building.

What happens to this building if Kroger buys the company?

 

Could Kroger buy Dunnhumby?

 

A report last month that data analytics firm Dunnhumby Ltd. is on the selling block has analysts wondering if Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. might be a logical buyer.

Dunnhumby's U.S. unit is a 50-50 joint venture between Kroger and Dunnhumby Ltd., the data analytics company owned by British retailer Tesco

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2015/01/could-kroger-buy-dunnhumby.html?page=all