Posted January 29, 200421 yr This is crazy!!!!!!!!! :confused: Kroger garage condos debated -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTR leaders want more parking instead By Ken Alltucker The Cincinnati Enquirer When City Council agreed in November to spend $12 million to build a parking garage for the Kroger Co., city officials touted the deal as a way to keep Cincinnati's largest private employer and trigger Over-the-Rhine development. The neighborhood's carrot would come in the form of 25 to 30 condos along Vine Street in front of a 953-space garage at the northeast corner of Vine and Central Parkway.
January 30, 200421 yr Yeah, what better way to say "Welcome to Over-the-Rhine, our nation's best-preserved 19th century neighbrohood" than with a large concrete garage.
January 30, 200421 yr Alright, now I am starting to see the light. SHIT CAN'T GET DONE IN THIS TOWN! F*CK! Build the damn this, I am inpatient and am tired of the politics. JUST F*CKING BUILD IT! Oh and they better not be referring to Damon Lynch when they say, "Over-the-Rhine leaders "
February 2, 200421 yr They should definitely build the condos, even if they decide to use a lobby instead.
February 4, 200421 yr I just scanned in the garage photo from the downtowner, if anyone can host it, I can email it to you.
February 4, 200421 yr I just scanned in the garage photo from the downtowner' date=' if anyone can host it, I can email it to you.[/quote'] send it my way [email protected]
March 6, 200421 yr This was in today's Enquirer: City may wait to OK condo funding By Ken Alltucker The Cincinnati Enquirer Supporters of a $7.6 million condominium project, next to the city-financed $11.8 million Kroger Co. garage, say it's the type of new housing needed to revitalize Over-the-Rhine. But disagreements over the project's look and cost threaten to block approval of a city-negotiated plan to spend $2.5 million to build 25 condominiums. Council's Finance Committee is to debate the grant Monday.
March 9, 200421 yr iRhine.com has an article about the Kroger Garage and a picture of the garage that was chosen to be built. http://www.irhine.com/index.jsp?page=home_kroger020804 I for one hope that they do not use this design for the Kroger garage. The Vine Street and Central Parkway corner is a gateway for OTR. They need a building that is going to attract people there. The current proposal would look nice on Biscayne Bay in Miami, where the designers are from, but we need something that fits in with the historic urban fabric of OTR. I have pictures of the other two proposed garages, that are from local designers, but I'm stupid and have yet to figure out how to post pictures.
March 16, 200421 yr Condos subsidy close to final OK Committee approves, council set to vote By Ken Alltucker The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati City Council on Monday took a major step toward approving a plan to spend $2.5 million to build 25 condos at the doorstep of Over-the-Rhine. In a 2-1 vote, council's finance committee endorsed a modified deal that would split profits generated by the project between the city and the private interests that are paying for most of the development's $7.6 million cost.
March 19, 200421 yr They approved the plan on Wednesday: City votes $2.5M for condos Project near Kroger garage may boost redevelopment By Gregory Korte The Cincinnati Enquirer Ending a squabble over city subsidies for condos planned next to the city-financed Kroger garage, City Council Wednesday voted 7-1 to invest $2.5 million in the project, handing proponents of redevelopment in Over-the-Rhine a major victory. That vote could be a signal that the city's economic development apparatus is getting its act together, council members said.
March 30, 200421 yr well it appears the construction is now underway for the kroger garage/condos. the last time i was down there(last week)the fences around the perimiter were going up. it actually looks like this thing is finally goin to happen. anyway i just thought that i would post a couple of the other garage designs that were not choosen that i promised to show earlier. current site of where the garage will be located some of the propsed garage/mixed use structures this one was my favorite design and i really wish the city would have choosen this one. it seems to really fit the urban fabric of OTR, unlike the final design, but hay thats politics. and the final design to be built there
March 30, 200421 yr I really hope the red building material in that drawing is brick....If so, I don't think it will look too bad. I suppose it suits the transition from the boring-ass Kroger building across the streeet.
March 30, 200421 yr mohr37...the first 4 pics aren't showing up. I think it's because Yahoo doesn't allow external linking.
March 30, 200421 yr I really hope the red building material in that drawing is brick....If so' date=' I don't think it will look too bad. I suppose it suits the transition from the boring-ass Kroger building across the streeet.[/quote'] If we're lucky, they'll use that covering that resembles brick, but is really molded red plastic. I love that stuff. Or perhaps aluminum siding? Oh well, maybe it'll turn out better than the picture looks.
April 1, 200421 yr here are the 2 other alternative designs that were not chosen design 1 design 2 i really wished they would have used this one
April 19, 200421 yr Here is an interesting letter to the editor from the developers of the Kroger Garage.... Market-rate housing tough at 12th and Vine location Editor: Regarding the Courier's March 19 editorial, "City -- turn off subsidy faucet," we would like to address the premise that characterizes the condominium portion of the Gateway project in Over-the-Rhine as unworthy of public subsidy. In addition to 25 condominiums built along Vine Street at 12th Street, the project will include a 961-space parking garage for use by Kroger Co. and 1,700 square feet of retail.
September 28, 200420 yr An article from today's Post..... I snapped a few pics yesterday and will be posting them soon. Condos next step for project -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Greg Paeth Post staff reporter As carpenters hammer together framing for the concrete for the fourth floor of the parking garage being built for the Kroger Co., work has begun on the adjacent condominiums. It will be the site of the first new condominiums built in or near downtown in recent memory. "We've just started work on the condos and they should be done in late September of '05," said Rick Kimbler of R.M. Kimbler Interests.
September 29, 200420 yr I hope it looks better than that 6th & Race/Walgreens building. That is a mess. How about the red brick bottom with the tan brick top. Just a flat wall all the way across. Huge disappointment.
September 29, 200420 yr I didn't like 'em from the latest rendering I saw. They might be better when built as sometimes renderings can be deceiving. I look for a rendering . . . This is from February and the pics I saw recently (Downtowner or Business Courier) were a bit different but still boxy and modern. http://www.irhine.com/index.jsp?page=home_kroger020804
September 29, 200420 yr i doubt those color pencil "renderings" are doing the design fair justice ....the drawings look like crap in general
September 29, 200420 yr That is a piece of shit. Here is the reason. The economics are almost impossible downtown - so anything that is going to be built is going to be shit. Just look at everything that has been done in the last 15 years. JUNK
September 30, 200420 yr Personally, I dont think the drawings look that bad. They sure as hell look better then what's there now
September 30, 200420 yr ^ i certainly agree with you. arquitectonica is a big time design firm that doesnt mess around when it comes to their residential buildings, im just not impressed with the drawing...makes the building look bad.
September 30, 200420 yr That is the problem with Cincy - we will take anything if it isnt a parking lot. Problem is - 15 years from now we will regret it.
September 30, 200420 yr What exactly would you like to see going in down there? I see nothing but benefits of building condos that fit in relativly well with the surrounding area. It boosts population, increases reputation of people passing by, and could be the spark for an explosion of other development in OTR. Let's try to not be so pessimistic.
September 30, 200420 yr No, the problem with cincy is that people can be so damn negative about EVERYTHING. Everybody can tell that this is not a world class building...nor does it need to be. Let us also not forget that originally it was just going to be the parking garage and somebody from CINCINNATI said thats not good enough.
September 30, 200420 yr I feel bad for the developer. No one seems to like the building. From the article, it sounds like this building does not fit the neighborhood. If it is so bad, why did the design review commitee allow this building to get built? Another thing I really do not understand, since this is a trendy neighborhood, why do they only put 30 condos in a new construction project. It is not like it is a renovation. When building new in a hot area, build big. Why not put about 80 condos 12 floors tall over the garage.
September 30, 200420 yr Arquitectonica did those??? Folks, take a ride up I-71 and look at the gorgeous (at least from the northern facade) Miranova tower in Columbus. Arquitectonica could and has and SHOULD do better here! In all honesty, I think areas like Over-the-Rhine need some ultra-modern structures to mix things up. You have all these beautiful older buildings - don't do what those renderings show (similar heights, 'matching' brick and masonry tones) - go all out and make something that's well-designed but tells the area "things are happening". clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
September 30, 200420 yr Yup. Neyer used arquitectonica for the proposed Broadway Tower at St. Xavier Park, and if i understand correctly, Neyer is involved with this project too. I think we should all hold off judgment until the thing is actually finished simply because i dont think tectonica would produce something as bad as we all think this is. Nicer points of the building are that they have broken up the facades with color and material to compliment the scale of smaller buildings in the area...even the exposed garage portion has been treated this way. architectonica has detailed these design elements very well in other buildings they have done...details that would be impossible to pick up in the provided renderings.
September 30, 200420 yr I found a different rendering of the Kroger Garage at the Cincinnati.gov page. It looks a lot better than the one shown on the Over the Rhine website. This one doesn't look half bad. So which one is correct?
September 30, 200420 yr i'd like to see some height differentiation, but that rendering looks much, much better.
September 30, 200420 yr iRhine tends to not update things on the site. The Community Council one is even worse.
October 3, 200420 yr The rendering Ronnie posted is the one they had in the Downtowner a couple of weeks ago. It does look like an improvement. I'm puzzled by what that white circle in the black rectangle on the corner is supposed to be. Sculpture? Before I saw this larger version, from the Downtowner's small pic, I thought it might be a large clock.
February 11, 200520 yr Feb 5 2005: <img src="http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/downtown20.jpg"> <img src="http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/downtown21.jpg"> <img src="http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/downtown22.jpg">
February 11, 200520 yr yeah, i was just down there tonight across the street @ barrelhouse. this thing is atrocious. a disgusting monster if you will.
February 11, 200520 yr I have to say that is more purposeful than the fenced in ugly surface lot that used to be there. That part of OTR needs parking and alot of it! I hope the facade will be in brick.
February 11, 200520 yr I'm glad that they have finally started on the condos--just the foundations so far, but at least they are starting them. I was afraid they would claim cost overruns and drop the condos. It will look different when that portion of the building is up I think.
April 11, 200520 yr The parking structure is behind schedule. From the 4/11/05 Cincinnati Post: Garage for Kroger misses date By Kevin Osborne Post staff reporter The city of Cincinnati's deadline for finishing construction of a $12 million parking garage to keep the Kroger Co. downtown has passed, and the mammoth structure still isn't completed. Although the March 31 target was missed, Kroger won't impose provisions for penalties that would make the city provide interim parking or pay extra money to the company.
April 11, 200520 yr I wonder what the new delivery date is for the condos... If it's in the article, I missed it.
April 23, 200520 yr The red grates are mostly up on the sides of the parking structure. (see the rendering posted by Ronnie above). I'm having my doubts about how good it will look. Maybe when they get the glass around the stairwell it will look better.
April 25, 200520 yr Here are a couple of pics taken today showing the current state of the construction. The glass will be going into the stairwell soon (they have it waiting to be installed on each level) and they have now started building the condos portion.
May 27, 200520 yr Hey it's been a month since the last photos. I drove by there today and even more has been done, so I have a pic request if anyone is going to be around the area.
June 13, 200520 yr A pic from today (taken from the car while moving, so don't critique my photography)....
June 14, 200520 yr Are the condo's in front of the garage so the back of the units are right up against it? I like the glass part.
June 14, 200520 yr Yeah, the condos will back right up to the ramp. If you look at the facade in place on the condo side, you can also see the eventual height of the condos too.
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