EIFS, done correctly, will not discolor or "mold." DAAP was just constructed poorly.

EIFS, done correctly, still looks cheap and terrible.

Well, people will just want to sleep.  They probably won't give a second thought on the look of a hotel there.

Well, people will just want to sleep.  They probably won't give a second thought on the look of a hotel there.

Huh...so that's why the suburbs are filled with terrible architecture. I get it now. Unfortunately this is the city, where our neighbors have to walk by.  The materials matter when you're 5 feet away.

I just visited the UoC area for the first time in maybe five years, and Holy S#!t! does this project look awful. I can't honestly believe it was approved and built as-is. The parking garages along Calhoun and McMillan are abominations, and the design and detailing of the main buildings are worse than the Banks. I think that Cincinnati has the richest and best preserved architectural heritage of the 3Cs, so seeing new projects like these be of such poor quality in such great and historic urban neighborhoods is very disheartening.

It really is horrible. I was walking up Clifton Ave a few months ago on a morning stroll and found myself physically ill at the sight of it. Just terrible, terrible architecture.

It's actually worse than the empty lot that was there before.  Not only is it hideous, but it's meant empty storefronts elsewhere and along with the other new apartment complexes has dropped the rent throughout CUF meaning landlords are more disincentivized than ever to improve their properties.  Throughout CUF students are renting rooms in homes for $300/mo or less.  This is the exact same people were paying in the 90s.

Where are you getting your info? Nobody I know has seen lower rents in CUF at all. When your student body continues to grow and a larger and larger portion are choosing to live closer to campus rather than commuting there is an increase in demand. How many beds are there in U Square? 600? I was a freshman in 2007. There were just over 36,000 students. This year is around 44,000. Even if nothing else changed all this new construction doesn't even cover that increase.

 

How many stores have actually closed sine this opened? I can only think of a couple and all of the examples I can think of had much larger, overarching problems that seem to be a bigger part of their closing than mere competition.

 

Ugly they may be but worse than an empty lot? Come on.

jmicha if you actually tracked home and apartment values on the auditor's site, as I have, you will see that some homes in CUF sometimes doubled in value in the 1990s (as UC grew and transitioned away from being a commuter school), peaked around 2005, and now sell for about the same as they did in 2000.  This means the landlords are getting about the same rent as they were 15 years ago in dollars but effectively are bringing in less due to inflation. 

 

If all of these yuppie apartment complexes hadn't been built, some landlords would have been motivated to fully rehab their buildings and the increased UC student population would now be renting homes deeper into Corryville, Mt. Auburn, Avondale near the zoo, and streets along McMicken like Hastings and Tafel.   

 

 

There are a lot of "ifs" in there. I don't know if I agree with a lot of that.

 

Who says I don't track home and apartment values? A very large portion of my current and future investment plan is in real estate. Owning income properties has been a desirable investment for me for awhile and as such have obviously done my homework before making any decisions about where and what I want to buy.

 

I seriously doubt the "I want to walk to class, not drive or take the bus" portion of the body of students would be living as far away as Avondale, into the depths of Mt. Auburn, or down at the bottom of the hill. As it stands now once you get past about Warner the desirability drops significantly for students. Very few houses that far are student housing and it's because it is outside of the comfortable everyday/multiday distance to campus.

 

Can you cut the "yuppie," "hipster," "spoiled," etc. diatribe you bring into discussions? Your assumptions about people are tiresome. You sound like a bitter high schooler.

With increases in demand, the expected (and most often preferable) solution is to increase supply to meet that demand.  In 99% of the country zoning laws prevent those increases in supply, thus prices go up and new development is pushed outwards as sprawl.  It's one reason prices are so inflated in Hyde Park, Mt. Adams, and in an increasing amount in OTR.  More people what to live there than there are units available, so they bid up the prices, whether for houses, condos, or apartments.  The historic districts, which definitely serves an important purpose, are still another limiting factor on increasing density. 

 

What we see going on in Corryville and Clifton Heights is exactly what should be happening.  Yes the quality of the architecture and urbanism is a problem, as are the large parking facilities, but the important thing is that more units are being added to the housing pool.  Are they more expensive than what's there currently?  Of course, but new construction is always more expensive.  The problem is when everything is old, especially from the same time period, because it all goes down the toilet at the same time.  Having a variety of housing types and building ages is the most flexible and resilient over time. 

 

While I agree that the availability of more units has put a lid on rent increases (a good and expected thing) I do not agree that it has led to the decline of preexisting units.  Had no new apartments been built, then housing supply would be even more constrained so there'd be more pressure to further subdivide existing houses into crappy apartments, landlords would have even LESS incentive to keep them up because the students would rent them anyway due to a lack of choice, and those students would be paying out the nose for a cramped run-down apartment with four roommates.  With more competition in the marketplace, maybe some of those houses/apartments will be renovated because that's the only way they'll be able to differentiate themselves.  Maybe others can revert back to single-family, or owner-occupied.  Not that it's necessarily a good thing, but I know some people think it is. 

 

Yes these are more ifs/maybes, but I didn't see landlords renovating their apartments when they were in higher demand, because they could rent them anyway.  What they couldn't do, however, which you do see in even more desirable areas like the aforementioned Hyde Park, Mt. Adams, and OTR, is go super high-end.  Take a 4-unit building and make it a single super-condo that fetches way more than the apartment ever did.  That however leads to further decreasing density and can spiral out of control as the neighborhood moves more and more upmarket leading to fewer and fewer units at even higher prices.  Such a situation is the conclusion (though sadly common enough that it's not the absurd conclusion) of hyper-constrained supply even for wealthy people. 

 

In a more modest neighborhood like around UC that's not particularly desirable to more upmarket buyers or renters, with a captive and walking-oriented clientele, the market response to a non-market-based constraint on supply is to milk the available units for all they're worth.  High prices and low quality, gouging, monopoly practices.  Without the supply constraints, there's actual competition in the marketplace.  Lower prices and better quality ultimately.  We're maybe somewhere in between at the moment, with stable prices and mediocre quality.  But regardless of what you think of the architecture and urbanism of the new complexes, the units themselves are definitely a step up from what you'll get out of a 100 year old converted house. 

U-Square has brought energy to Clifton.  Uptown is a jobs hub, but it should be a more competitive destination of recreation.  Mixed-use projects fulfill that priority, so, conceptually, U-Square is doing it's job.  Real transit is coming to Clifton within a decade I would surmise, and of course that's the real key to Clifton becoming a privileged community.  In big cities that aren't named Paris, outside of the strict residential areas (that are overpriced) there are mediocre buildings all around.  The density, accessibility to leisure and culture, and general fabric is what makes one excuse the warts within a city labyrinth. Uptown has a lot of room to become more dense and dynamic, so we notice the new stuff, which is pretty cheap.

I suspect most people living in these complexes are underclassmen (freshman and sophomore undergrads) and international graduate students.

 

Since 2001, the on-campus housing has decreased* by 21 students (I didn't have accurate bed counts for Morgens or Scioto Halls before they were closed. It is likely that they were the same count as Sawyer Hall which is now demolished, but for which I had an accurate number. I instead chose to use the new Morgens count). What has the freshman class increased by since 2001? These additional buildings (UPA, U Square, etc) have kept the increasing class sizes from being displaced.

 

*****

Beds added

Turner Hall: Opened in 2002 with 419 beds

Schneider Hall: Opened in 2002 with 168 beds

Morgens Hall: Opened in 2013 with 456 beds

Stratford Heights: Opened in Fall 2005, official student housing in 2009: 152 beds

Campus Rec Center: Opened in 2005 with 224 beds

 

Beds Lost

Morgens Hall: Closed in 2008 with 456 beds

Scioto Hall: Closed in 2008 with 456 beds

Sawyer Hall: Closed in 2006 with 528 beds

U-Square has brought energy to Clifton.  Uptown is a jobs hub, but it should be a more competitive destination of recreation.  Mixed-use projects fulfill that priority, so, conceptually, U-Square is doing it's job.  Real transit is coming to Clifton within a decade I would surmise, and of course that's the real key to Clifton becoming a privileged community.  In big cities that aren't named Paris, outside of the strict residential areas (that are overpriced) there are mediocre buildings all around.  The density, accessibility to leisure and culture, and general fabric is what makes one excuse the warts within a city labyrinth. Uptown has a lot of room to become more dense and dynamic, so we notice the new stuff, which is pretty cheap.

 

U-Square is doing its job, yes, but that doesn't mean that it looks like a giant piece of shit in what was once a really classly designed neighborhood. Its so badly designed that it even ruins the framing of what could be a really powerful streetscape capped by Hughes High School. I see higher quality infill all the time too, is it as nice looking as the old stuff, not really, but Cincinnati can and it should do better!

How does it ruin the framing of Hughes? When you drive west down Calhoun, it's right there as the bookend to the street.  Other than the garages, I think U Square is decent.  I like the little plaza they have with the fountain and little grassy patch.  The materials aren't great, but Cincinnati isn't some tier 1 city that is experiencing a huge residential boom, so it's pointless to compare it to developments in DC or Chicago or somewhere that has a much more sophisticated real estate and development community.  Also, keep in mind that the market for the apartments are students.  We'd all love to see better quality materials, but would those have resulted in higher prices for the units?

How does it ruin the framing of Hughes? When you drive west down Calhoun, it's right there as the bookend to the street.  Other than the garages, I think U Square is decent.  I like the little plaza they have with the fountain and little grassy patch.  The materials aren't great, but Cincinnati isn't some tier 1 city that is experiencing a huge residential boom, so it's pointless to compare it to developments in DC or Chicago or somewhere that has a much more sophisticated real estate and development community.  Also, keep in mind that the market for the apartments are students.  We'd all love to see better quality materials, but would those have resulted in higher prices for the units?

 

I'm comparing it to these sorts of places because I want Cincinnati's development community to grow more sophisticated.  How can you not have some degree of sophistication when it surrounds you every day in the form of beautiful old victorians!  Its mind boggling!!

 

Also the city is on the path towards a greater acceptance of city living, its a new thing, but for Cincy its a surprisingly painful thing for them to embrace, of course all change = bad according to the old line of reasoning down there.  Also Columbus is doing way better infill, and they aren't a tier 1 city, though they are experiencing faster growth.  Columbus's current built environment is really shitty compared to Cincy so in a lot of cases the infill is actually improving upon what was there previously see: http://woodcompanies.com/sites/default/files/styles/main-image-location/public/main-images/location-images/Front.jpg?itok=RwE17ZFq

 

I've also seen better designed student buildings too its not even that hard to do better design than the slop that keeps being thrown up.  They aren't being creative and have been poisoned by too many years of exclusively working in the burbs and not getting out of the Cincinnati region to see what is cost effective and better done elsewhere.

 

 

As to how the framing was messed up, check out this shot:

 

https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/994174_10101115517795405_150606780_n.jpg?oh=e5953b5ef56e1b56df2c25f9106ef5a3&oe=54F43A99

 

 

You'll see that the development is uneven against the street, its juts in and out at awkward spots.  Where it could form a powerful streetwall (think of how findlay markets north entrance is framed by the old brick tenements as you head into it) is messed up by this sloppy design.  I'm not a trained architect and can't describe it in the best words, but I've seen it done right enough to know it stinks.

Pretty sure the development has a uniform setback from the street, so I actually don't know what you're talking about with the framing.  That photo is a diagonal perspective, not a straight on shot, which would actually show that Hughes is prominently featured as the backdrop to the (actually decent) street wall that the development creates.  Outside of downtown/maybe OTR, this is the only area in Cincinnati that actually has a true street wall/canyoning effect.  I'm not trying to argue that USquare should get a Pritzker Prize, I just don't think it's quite as bad as people are claiming.

 

Compare Mercer Commons to the Wood Companies project you're siting as improved infill.  That's a much more realistic comparison, and I think the difference in quality is far less pronounced between those two projects.  If you want to compare U Square to something in Columbus, how about the Campus Gateway? I think it's a better quality than U Square, but not by much.  This development replaced a string of fast food restaurants with drivethroughs.  Just as UC is transitioning from a commuter school to a real live-work-play campus, the neighborhood around it is also growing up.  I think expectations need to be set accordingly.

  This development replaced a string of fast food restaurants with drivethroughs.  Just as UC is transitioning from a commuter school to a real live-work-play campus, the neighborhood around it is also growing up.

 

The development also replaced a group of very nice Victorian second empire row houses.  How many times do I have to mention these!  Its like people are choosing to forget about them, or the whole damn thing is being whitewashed!  You know devleopments in other places actually work around buildings like that, its not a foreign concept unless your a Cincinnatian ;).  Also Inn the Wood was a nice little independent resturant  also in a nice (though not as nice as the townhouses) victorian building.  Not everything was hardees and arbys.

 

Here are pictures since you like many others are in denial about what was torn down:

 

http://cincinnatimonocle.blogspot.com/2012/01/photos-of-calhoun-st-and-mcmillan-st-in.html

 

Also Gateway is nicer, then why doesn't Cincinnati at least have something at the level of Gateway (though better is nicer)?  People in Cincinnati need to demand better, an embarrassment of riches and an embarrassment of ignorance about what those riches can bring.

 

Literally the only really well done thing there was the Church of Urban Outfitters, now if only the mentality that saved that church were applied to the rest of the neighborhood and much of the rest of the city.

 

Also Gateway is nicer, then why doesn't Cincinnati at least have something at the level of Gateway (though better is nicer)? 

 

Because UC is not OSU.  Different economies of scale, different demographics, different histories.

  This development replaced a string of fast food restaurants with drivethroughs.  Just as UC is transitioning from a commuter school to a real live-work-play campus, the neighborhood around it is also growing up.

 

The development also replaced a group of very nice Victorian second empire row houses.  How many times do I have to mention these!  Its like people are choosing to forget about them, or the whole damn thing is being whitewashed!  You know devleopments in other places actually work around buildings like that, its not a foreign concept unless your a Cincinnatian ;).  Also Inn the Wood was a nice little independent resturant  also in a nice (though not as nice as the townhouses) victorian building.  Not everything was hardees and arbys.

 

Here are pictures since you like many others are in denial about what was torn down:

 

http://cincinnatimonocle.blogspot.com/2012/01/photos-of-calhoun-st-and-mcmillan-st-in.html

 

Also Gateway is nicer, then why doesn't Cincinnati at least have something at the level of Gateway (though better is nicer)?  People in Cincinnati need to demand better, an embarrassment of riches and an embarrassment of ignorance about what those riches can bring.

 

Literally the only really well done thing there was the Church of Urban Outfitters, now if only the mentality that saved that church were applied to the rest of the neighborhood and much of the rest of the city.

 

 

Too many people here are too young to remember how the area used to be.  The social activity near UC was concentrated on Short Vine in the 80s and 90s.  In the early 2000s UC embarked on its grand plan to move everything to Calhoun/McMillan and drive Short Vine into bankruptcy, which it accomplished by about 2005.  It did this by building the UPA and stealing tenants from Short Vine.  It then coordinated with the city in a slimy eminent domain fight to tear down historic buildings and local businesses on Calhoun/McMillan to clear the site to build more UPA.  The funding scheme fell apart when UC went overboard with its starchitecture campaign and couldn't sell the bonds.  FFWD to 2011~ and the site is handed over to the super-rich Bortz family who get ridiculous tax exemptions and other stuff available to the super-rich and put up this crap.  In 2013 the yuppies show up and fill the Bortz money bin. 

 

So to review -- in the 90s Short Vine was healthy and McMillan/Calhoun was healthy.  Then UC got involved and we got crap on Calhoun/McMillan and Short Vine was ravaged. 

 

 

So to review -- in the 90s Short Vine was healthy and McMillan/Calhoun was healthy.  Then UC got involved and we got crap on Calhoun/McMillan and Short Vine was ravaged. 

 

The really sad thing here is that Calhoun/McMillan could have been enhanced, the non urban fast food stuff ripped out and the existing urban stuff could have been worked around.  They didn't, and that's what really sad about this whole thing.

It's really the worst-possible outcome.  Yet many seem eager to repeat the same mistake elsewhere in the area. 

It's really the worst-possible outcome.  Yet many seem eager to repeat the same mistake elsewhere in the area. 

 

Btw, I'm assuming you were the one who did that blog post am I right?.  If so, thank you very much for taking those pics back in 2003 as it at the very least shows people what really happened, whenever some developer or community leader associated with the project tries to paint it as just removing ugly fast food restaurants.

NOTE: This is cleaned up from the original version, I got a bit too hot headed about this topic and have cooled it down a bit :-)

 

Because UC is not OSU.  Different economies of scale, different demographics, different histories.

[/Quote]

 

Basically meaning that Cincinnati is mediocre and it should just take it.  Same argument is used against the streetcar and I don't buy it.  Cincinnati's history is one of architectural excellence and Columbus that of mediocrity, so I guess that's why the two cities should be flipped in contemporary times right?

 

Cincinnati could be a whole lot more than what it is, and its because of that very mentality that it is in many places literally crumbling before everyone's eyes. Look at how the real world outside of the 275 loop thinks about things.  When I talk to my Chicago friends about some of the absolutely boneheaded things that happen down in Cincinnati they always get this wide eyed puzzled look on their faces as any normal person would that didn't grow up in the area.

 

Its even sadder that I'm comparing a city positively that suffers from systemic corruption to Cincinnati, don't you find that really really odd?

 

I'm only here because I see signs that Cincinnati is changing for the better, and other people should start riding that wave if you want your city to be more than just an empty field or cluster of  ugly EIFS buildings where once grand Victorians once stood.

 

 

It's really the worst-possible outcome.  Yet many seem eager to repeat the same mistake elsewhere in the area. 

 

Btw, I'm assuming you were the one who did that blog post am I right?.  If so, thank you very much for taking those pics back in 2003 as it at the very least shows people what really happened, whenever some developer or community leader associated with the project tries to paint it as just removing ugly fast food restaurants.

 

Yeah I've actually got more photos than that that I discovered after doing that post.  The most ridiculous sacrifice of all was Inn The Wood, not because it was an outstanding building, but because it was on the corner and very easily could have been built around.  Then there was a strip of buildings facing Adriatico's that was very similar to the ones on the south side of Calhoun where Moe's records and the hookah places are.  That's now a parking lot.  Sure, there are plans to build a hotel there, but this whole project was an example of the city and university going overboard to boost the profits of a large private entity to the detriment of a smaller one.  Again, it's about government helping already rich people get richer to the detriment of small-time landlords.   

 

It's really the worst-possible outcome.  Yet many seem eager to repeat the same mistake elsewhere in the area. 

 

Btw, I'm assuming you were the one who did that blog post am I right?.  If so, thank you very much for taking those pics back in 2003 as it at the very least shows people what really happened, whenever some developer or community leader associated with the project tries to paint it as just removing ugly fast food restaurants.

 

Yeah I've actually got more photos than that that I discovered after doing that post.  The most ridiculous sacrifice of all was Inn The Wood, not because it was an outstanding building, but because it was on the corner and very easily could have been built around.  Then there was a strip of buildings facing Adriatico's that was very similar to the ones on the south side of Calhoun where Moe's records and the hookah places are.  That's now a parking lot.  Sure, there are plans to build a hotel there, but this whole project was an example of the city and university going overboard to boost the profits of a large private entity to the detriment of a smaller one.  Again, it's about government helping already rich people get richer to the detriment of small-time landlords.   

 

 

Inn the Wood was also a pretty nice reasonably priced locally run restaurant, which was good for students.  I remember going there and really enjoying it before they closed.  It was upsetting to see locally run stuff like that get pushed away due to this whole plan, and integration into the project was an option but people just put their blinders on to it.

 

I seem to remember those buildings behind all the hookah places being pretty ornate as well, lots of bay windows and what not, broke my heart when they tore those down as well.  The only building there I didn't care for was the old prime time place, though I have a weird feeling that it might have been a Victorian/Edwardian building that was reclad in the 60s or 70s or was it new construction?

At least one block of historic buildings was saved (the Urban Outfitters / Myra's / Mole's Records block). I'm worried that they will be in danger in a few years, with a chance of being redeveloped into more generic junk like the rest of Uptown.

If all of these yuppie apartment complexes hadn't been built, some landlords would have been motivated to fully rehab their buildings and the increased UC student population would now be renting homes deeper into Corryville, Mt. Auburn, Avondale near the zoo, and streets along McMicken like Hastings and Tafel. 

 

I think those neighborhoods (except maybe for Corryville) need stronger connections to campus & Clifton Heights for that to happen.

 

Take Mt Auburn and the streets around Auburn Ave. for example.  The area feels completely cut off from campus.  This is because McMillan and Taft are high traffic, high speed one way streets that have a moat effect.  Then the University Plaza lot forms another barrier separating it from Corryville.  And there is a steep up and down dip in elevation right around Vine St. to further the effect.  It may not take the Uptown Five https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70250228/The%20Uptown%20Five%2009302014.pdf to reconnect Mt Auburn; I think there's other things you could do (more pedestrian friendly two way streets, get University Plaza right) to reconnect it.  (I see lots of potential down Auburn Ave around Jackson Hill Park.  I really like the flatiron style currently abandoned building down by the Sycamore St. intersection.)  Strong connections are so important- I think it's telling that now demolished Glencoe-Auburn Place was known as the Glencoe "Hole"- limited access in and out, tucked away in the corner and forgotten.

 

To go completely off topic you have an analogous situation where Betts-Longworth and the lower West End is cut off from OTR by Central Parkway, the electric substation, and Channel 48 studio/parking garage superblock. Although that area is doing well and has more of a "quiet oasis" feel which I really, really like, it would probably have more buzz and be a candidate for more infill if it were better connected.

 

I ran across these fall 2005 photos on my photobucket account...here we see the burnt-out carcasses of Inn The Wood, Acropolis Chili, and various fast-food places.  By this time the nice brick row houses had already been demolished.

 

 

 

Yuppies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Prime Time:

Man, I'm still irked that Inn The Wood got torn down, what a great old building it was.  It's just a shame they couldn't have built around it.

^Eh, it looks nice enough from the front, but the side and back views look pretty crappy.  A tall cement block wall fronting the sidewalk is less than ideal.  I still think that U Square is a hands down improvement over what was on the site previously.  If the whole block was buildings that looked like Inn the Wood, that would be another story.  The anger/hostility that some posters here direct at U Square should really be directed at whoever allowed drive-through fast food restaurants to replace the historic buildings that were formerly there.  The current streetscape is undeniably better now than it's been in about two generations.

 

PS is anything ever going to be done with St. George? The plan to turn it into a hotel has been around for years, but nothing has come of it.  I would love to see its spires replaced, if nothing else.

^They did a lot of roof restoration work but then it seemed like all hype died. It's such a great building that needs to be reused in some manner.

I have another photo somewhere of the building closest to the Shell station.  It was the only building of that style in the city, maybe more of a St. Louis style apartment:

 

So what you're looking at here is now the space for the hotel and the east parking garage.

Here are some more pics from PointyCollars of the townhomes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I posted the pics above because while I think its not worth it to lament the loss of the fast food restaurants that used to occupy the block and maybe even parts of Inn the Wood, the old townhomes were pretty cool buildings that would have added a lot of character if they were preserved.

^I definitely think a combination of what was there and what's new would've been a better end product. Keeping the old buildings by Shell but building the western half of U Square would've resulted in a revitalized street without damaging the historic nature of the area and would still provide a nice streetfront along the entire stretch.

A combination of old and new would have definitely been better. I think a lot of people are critical of U Square and UPA because they are just plain old ugly. The streetscape is vibrant and that’s nice, but the buildings are as bland as you can get. Part of the problem is inherent in this “superblock” type development. It’s tough to not have either a bland, monotonous facade like UPA, or a goofy attempt at making one huge building look like several buildings ala The Banks or that thing on Ohio and McMillan.

 

These places are charging close to $3000 a month for four bedroom apartments, they can afford to step up the game a bit and focus on the design. Anything else and I just feel like the community is getting shortchanged while developers turn massive profits, all while collecting tax incentives.

 

A combination of old and new would have definitely been better. I think a lot of people are critical of U Square and UPA because they are just plain old ugly. The streetscape is vibrant and that’s nice, but the buildings are as bland as you can get. Part of the problem is inherent in this “superblock” type development. It’s tough to not have either a bland, monotonous facade like UPA, or a goofy attempt at making one huge building look like several buildings ala The Banks or that thing on Ohio and McMillan.

 

These places are charging close to $3000 a month for four bedroom apartments, they can afford to step up the game a bit and focus on the design. Anything else and I just feel like the community is getting shortchanged while developers turn massive profits, all while collecting tax incentives.

 

 

Correct the Bortz's made out huge on this because the site was already prepped and they got big tax breaks.  The previous developer probably lost a lot of money since the thing was held up in court for several years in the middle-2000s and if they sold the development rights 2009-2010 they did so for millions less than what they could have fetched in 2007.   

 

Also the earliest design wanted underground parking and I'm guessing that the clearing of the entire site was a way to mitigate underground garage costs.  They might have been planning a garage that continued under Hartshorn St. (now gone) and the interruption to that design caused by keeping Inn The Wood would have raised costs if not reduced the number of parking spaces to the point where they couldn't get financing to do what they wanted to do above ground.  For example the Inn The Wood/227 Tavern property might have kept 50 spots per garage deck from being built, in which case it would have forced the entire garage to go deeper in order to compensate for those spots.  Plus that corner property probably (approximately where Alterd State is) earns more per square foot than the Great Clips. 

 

 

 

 

 

^Eh, it looks nice enough from the front, but the side and back views look pretty crappy.  A tall cement block wall fronting the sidewalk is less than ideal.  I still think that U Square is a hands down improvement over what was on the site previously.  If the whole block was buildings that looked like Inn the Wood, that would be another story.  The anger/hostility that some posters here direct at U Square should really be directed at whoever allowed drive-through fast food restaurants to replace the historic buildings that were formerly there.  The current streetscape is undeniably better now than it's been in about two generations.

 

PS is anything ever going to be done with St. George? The plan to turn it into a hotel has been around for years, but nothing has come of it.  I would love to see its spires replaced, if nothing else.

 

Jake's photos are a bit too late, the anger and hostility is towards the rowhouses which were already torn down when he took those photos - look at what JYP posted via pointy collars to see what I mean.

$75M mixed-use project planned for Uptown

 

Developers are planning a $75 million mixed-use development at the intersection of the Clifton Heights, Mount Auburn and Corryville neighborhoods.

A partnership of M-G Securities, Nassau Investments and Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. plans to build a hotel, apartment and retail development at the northwest corner of West McMillan and Vine streets.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/04/14/75m-mixed-use-project-planned-for-uptown.html

Finally! That parcel has been sitting empty for far too many years. 

 

$75M mixed-use project planned for Uptown

 

Developers are planning a $75 million mixed-use development at the intersection of the Clifton Heights, Mount Auburn and Corryville neighborhoods.

A partnership of M-G Securities, Nassau Investments and Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. plans to build a hotel, apartment and retail development at the northwest corner of West McMillan and Vine streets.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/04/14/75m-mixed-use-project-planned-for-uptown.html

 

Is this the only intersection in the city where each corner can be identified by a unique pair of cross-streets (Taft/Calhoun/Vine/Jefferson)?

$75M mixed-use project planned for Uptown

 

Developers are planning a $75 million mixed-use development at the intersection of the Clifton Heights, Mount Auburn and Corryville neighborhoods.

A partnership of M-G Securities, Nassau Investments and Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. plans to build a hotel, apartment and retail development at the northwest corner of West McMillan and Vine streets.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/04/14/75m-mixed-use-project-planned-for-uptown.html

 

Is this the only intersection in the city where each corner can be identified by a unique pair of cross-streets (Taft/Calhoun/Vine/Jefferson)?

 

There are some other quirky ones in the city, like Harrison/Central/Colerain/Brighton Bridge (if you ignore that weird little Colerain stub) and nearby Dalton/Spring Grove/Bank/Western (if you ignore that weird Bank stub.)  There's also technically an intersection of 8th/9th/Mound/Winchell, but it's a weird ramp situation.  There's Riverside/Eastern/Delta/Kellogg/Walworth (depending on your definition of an "intersection.")  And finally West Fork/Virginia/Colerain/Beekman. 

 

There's also this strange thing in Lincoln Heights where Lockland becomes Mangham at Simmons, but then there's an I-75 exit ramp opposite to mess things up.  I have no idea why that little stretch of road is call Lockland.

 

Then there are a couple at borders.  Ross/Tennessee/Chalet/Fischer, Highland/Fairpark/64th/Beech, and Plainville/Camargo/Madison/East Fork.

 

The two situations that drive me absolutely mad are at borders where the two municipalities have different names for the same road and they both sign them.  The street bordering Cincinnati and Norwood between Ross and Dale is called both Section and Rhode Island.  These intersections have all four names listed: Rhode Island/Section/Berkley/Wayne & Rhode Island/Section/Worth/Northcutt.  Then Cincinnati and Anderson Twp cant agree on the spelling of Burney/Birney, with both spellings hanging at intersections, so there are Burney/Birney/Grant/Whitehall and Burney/Birney/Le Comte/Sherman.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Ross turns into Tennessee, then back into Ross. 

$14 million U Square hotel opens: PHOTOS

Sep 2, 2016, 2:29pm EDT

Tom Demeropolis

Senior Staff Reporter

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

The nearly $14 million Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Hotel at U Square @ the Loop opens Friday, Sept. 2.

 

The six-story hotel with 115 guest rooms is located at 2500 S. Market St. in the heart of the $80 million U Square development. To get a sneak peek at the hotel, click on the images below.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/09/02/14-million-u-square-hotel-opens.html

Target opening store near University of Cincinnati next summer

 

CINCINNATI -- Target is opening a store near the University of Cincinnati next year.

 

The retailer says the store at 235 Calhoun St. would be about 17,700 square feet. It's expected to have fresh groceries (including grab-and-go food), home merchandise (with a focus on dorm and apartment living, obviously), local sports teams' merchandise, a health and beauty section, men’s and women’s apparel and accessories and tech accessories, as well as order pick-up.

 

The retailer said the store would likely open in July 2017.

Whoa! That's great news and will be excellent to give Kroger competition.

 

I made a snarky tweet yesterday in response to the news that a Target was opening up next to OSU, and I guess the folks at U Square were listening and got their act together!

 

 

^in one day

Typically Target has a pretty limited selection of food, but it should be a welcome addition to students at UC and the surrounding community (especially CUF). This won't by any means be a full service grocery, but it's awesome to see this happening.

Also, here's a rendering.