oy vey!

Updated plans and leasing info came out today, along with some additional renderings of the easternmost building:

 

[snip from memo]

 

We are thrilled to announce the plans for Cincinnati’s exciting new project, Uptown Commons.  Uptown Commons is an urban, mixed-use development located along Calhoun Street on the south edge of UC’s campus in Clifton.  Uptown Commons brings together the energy and vitality of an integrated office, retail and residential neighborhood.  Towne Properties, Cincinnati’s most prominent and innovative developer of urban mixed-use projects, is bringing this landmark project to life.

 

Cincinnati Capital Properties has been engaged by Towne to assist in the leasing of the office component of Uptown Commons.  The signature office building for the development will be located on the most prominent corner in Clifton at Calhoun and Vine streets.  Proximate to the University and Uptown Hospitals, this office building will be the gateway into the Uptown Commons District.

 

We are currently pre-leasing the building which contains approximately 116,000 square feet on five floors.  The office tower is constructed atop a three-story parking garage and will feature impressive views, high ceilings, free parking, a distinctive design, and outdoor balconies.  Prominent signage opportunities are available for anchor tenants.  We anticipate a ground breaking in late 2009 with a project completion in the first half of 2011.

 

This exceptional project has been designed by Cole + Russell, and building plans and supporting information is attached for your reference.

 

We look forward to working with you and your clients on this exciting project.  Please call David Ottenjohn or Rusty Myers as 513-831-5533 with any questions you have regarding Upton Commons.

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13189999/Uptown-Commons-Marketing-Package

It seems that McMillian got the shaft: it features a large parking garage blank canvas :(

 

It is impressive, to at least to be able to say that something may now be built. I don't like all of the parking garages listed for construction, but it is a parking nightmare as-is. A streetcar would really help out :)

I'd like to know estimated construction dates for each building.  It would be nice if some new retail space was opening up on Calhoun right when the economy is picking back up and the final spaces under UPA are getting filled...

Here are the interesting images included in the document link posted above.  Enjoy!

 

1. Office Complex looking west

 

2. Office Complex from street-level looking west

 

3. Office Complex looking east

 

4. Overall view

 

5. Eastern portion site plan detail

Few thoughts...

 

1. [*]I like the office building for the eastern portion.

[*]I don't know what the heck the blank space is on the western side of the office building along Calhoun.

[*]If a new traffic signal is installed at Ohio Avenue, they should remove the traffic signal at Scioto Street.

[*]That park area on the eastern side of the office building (along Vine Street) is clearly preserving space for a future streetcar line that would cut right through there to access Calhoun.

Ideally I woule like to see a little more street level activity on the eastern portion of the building, but hopefully they can land some quality retail and restaurant tenents, and create a destination that will complement the existing area.  Are there any plans for residential in this development?

Are there any plans for residential in this development?

 

Yes - http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2567.msg349586.html#msg349586

Thoughts/opinions:

Not a bad building, my biggest complaint is it looks like it might compete with Old St. George's spires (when they get rebuilt), which I wouldn't complain about too much if it wasn't an AC dock competing with a neighborhood landmark.

 

I'm curious about the office/retail in the office building which if it goes retail I think would be a nice addition to the energy of the site.

 

The UC practice fields got included!

 

Also the bulk of the building seems like it could really effect the feel of the area. It was inevitable, but I for one have grown used to the open feel between Calhoun and McMillan. With bulk on both sides it will feel very different. That said the overall site plan looks like it mixes densities along the corridor so mayb it won't be that big of an effect.

Wow, that's just horrid.

 

This is an urban location.  30 acres of plazas and open space should not be required nor permitted.

Calhoun is a street.  McMillan is also a street, not a rear access road.  It should not be treated as such.  The existing slope makes cutting for below grade parking very feasible and much cheaper than most sites. Instead there's an ugly ass retaining wall on every side except for Calhoun.  Ground floor on McMillan could be lined with retail to strengthen that intersection w/ Vine.

 

This should not be accepted in 2009.

 

Edit:  Just saw the curb cut on Scioto, so it looks like it is structured parking, not just a surface lot.  That wall along McMillan is still terrible either way.  Looks like they're proposing the same thing behind the purple buildings to the west in the aerial.

 

If a city's planning department doesn't demand better then the citizens must themselves.  If the citizens don't, then everyone suffers.  This is like Columbia Square volume 2.

 

 

Yeah, agreed with CiNYC.  It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

^Although many people may not like it, it's a hell of a lot better than a blank field that is currently used for nothing more than overflow parking when there's a game at UC. Every day that I look out my window, I look at what could be a nice area, but all I see is s muddy field with one tree thrown in for good measure.

What more really can be done with the back of the building in regards to mcmillan street?  That slope in the hill is going to be replaced by a much needed parking garage and the main part of the building is facing the busier Calhoun street, makes sense to me.  At least they have a wall that is covering the garage so as not to make it exposed to everyone on vine and mcmillan.

 

I agree with the complaint about the lack of density, but as for the design of the main office building, I'm in favor of it because I think it will help give a new feel to the area that really needs it.  UPA is nice, but is mainly brick, blending nicely with the rest of the neighborhood.  This building seems to have a large glass component which you can't really find outside of the main UC campus and will help to update the area

Thoughts/opinions:

Not a bad building, my biggest complaint is it looks like it might compete with Old St. George's spires (when they get rebuilt), which I wouldn't complain about too much if it wasn't an AC dock competing with a neighborhood landmark.

 

I'm curious about the office/retail in the office building which if it goes retail I think would be a nice addition to the energy of the site.

 

The UC practice fields got included!

 

Also the bulk of the building seems like it could really effect the feel of the area. It was inevitable, but I for one have grown used to the open feel between Calhoun and McMillan. With bulk on both sides it will feel very different. That said the overall site plan looks like it mixes densities along the corridor so mayb it won't be that big of an effect.

 

I think some of these renderings are way, way out of scale - especially the water color.  I figure the 3 parking levels are below grade on the Calhoun side, meaning 5 stories of office (14'-0" ea. at the tallest) is 70 feet.  The steeples of St. George (before the fire) were something like 180 feet I think.  This new office should be about as tall as the apartments along Calhoun on the opposite side from what I can tell.

 

As for the open space here, remember it's adjacent to a very, very dense campus.  I think we will see the parking fully utilized as well as any plaza space with seating of any type. 

I love how it creates  consistent style across the campus, this looks alot like the new student life center/tuc/onestop on campus. its not nearly as spread out as some are saying if you look more closely at the picture and are familiar with the area its actually rather dense without being too downtown which would be unsustainably dense for clifton i think. Plus the whole old meets new thing with its placement in relation to existing structures looks good.

I think the plan is fine on the Calhoun side of the street.  It kinda sucks on the McMillan side, but I think that is more a product of the fact that McMillan gets very narrow and steep as it approaches Vine.  If the demand for retail space was greater in that area then they probably would utilize that part of McMillan better, but as it stands it just doesnt make sense to extend the retail portion of this project to the corner of McMillan and Vine.  That corner is too far away from campus, existing retail, and the densest student housing to hold good retail space.

This should not be accepted in 2009

...

If a city's planning department doesn't demand better then the citizens must themselves.  If the citizens don't, then everyone suffers.  This is like Columbia Square volume 2.

 

To each his own, I guess.

 

Personally, I think that they've handled the scale and overall feel of the development quite well. It's a narrow block, and it transitions from residential houses on one side, to huge university buildings on the other. Given the context, I think the landuse and scale is fantastic. They did a good job, in my opinion.

 

My only real complaint - like others have mentioned - are the blank garage walls on McMillan. However, if I had to choose between McMillan and Calhoon, I think they made the right choice again by directing the activity towards Calhoon.

 

Now if I had my druthers, I would prefer neo-traditional architecture to the contemporary stuff they are building. But that's not really a valid land use issue, it's just my taste. Aside from the blank garage walls, I can't think of any other issue that the planning department would have grounds to dissaprove of?

It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting the Columbia Square comparisons.  The buildings are built to the street here and not setback, the entrances front onto the street not the parking areas, and there is on-street parking and curb bump outs for pedestrians.  It may not be the best design, but where is the likeness to Columbia Square?

I was pondering the drafts as I drove on McMillan today between Vine and Scioto on my way to class. I think if they included 1 story street level retail (1 or 2 parcels) that would help to break up that wall just a little. My guess is that, with the drastic grade differences between Calhoun and McMillan at that area, it is very difficult to handle. The grade continues to drop on the McMillan side from Scioto down to Vine.

What about the timeline?  Will it break ground anytime soon?

It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting the Columbia Square comparisons. The buildings are built to the street here and not setback, the entrances front onto the street not the parking areas, and there is on-street parking and curb bump outs for pedestrians. It may not be the best design, but where is the likeness to Columbia Square?

 

Look at it.  Again.

The open plaza doesn't bother me.  I think it's a nice visual connection between University Park/Calhoun Street Marketplace, Calhoun Hall, and Uptown Commons.

 

What bothers me is the lack of ground-level retail on the McMicken side on Block 4.  It would be nice if they could build the Block 5 building first, and the determine whether or not there would be enough demand for retail on McMillan as part of Block 4.  I just don't see the other side of McMillan redeveloping at all if it's directly across from parking garages.

The location and steep grade between scioto and vine on mcmillan make it, to me, a very undesirable location for retail and they have made it so that it is an entrance/exit to the garage.  They can't simply just implement a store there to make it look nicer

It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting the Columbia Square comparisons.  The buildings are built to the street here and not setback, the entrances front onto the street not the parking areas, and there is on-street parking and curb bump outs for pedestrians.  It may not be the best design, but where is the likeness to Columbia Square?

 

Look at it.  Again.

 

Yes, I don't see how this (notice the rest of the buildings besides the office building)...

 

...resembles this in any way

 

Care to clarify this time?

The location and steep grade between scioto and vine on mcmillan make it, to me, a very undesirable location for retail and they have made it so that it is an entrance/exit to the garage. They can't simply just implement a store there to make it look nicer

 

That's why I'm only suggesting adding retail to McMillan on Block 4, which is the block between the "plaza" and the Shell station.

I can't wait until something is built there.  I'm sick of looking at that corner!

It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting the Columbia Square comparisons.  The buildings are built to the street here and not setback, the entrances front onto the street not the parking areas, and there is on-street parking and curb bump outs for pedestrians.  It may not be the best design, but where is the likeness to Columbia Square?

 

Look at it.  Again.

 

Yes, I don't see how this (notice the rest of the buildings besides the office building)...

 

...resembles this in any way

 

Care to clarify this time?

 

Contrived architecture is one thing they have in common.  As usual i will do my best to withhold judgement.  It is my assumption (and hope) that these images are so preliminary that the final product will only be a reflection of these schemes.  The composition of video board, and flared vertical wall, mass, and material is so confused on the northeast corner it makes me cringe.

 

The hand rendered image feels much better to me.  I appreciate the attempt to make a gateway of sorts with all that riff-raff thrown on the corner, but the execution is poor at best.

The location and steep grade between scioto and vine on mcmillan make it, to me, a very undesirable location for retail and they have made it so that it is an entrance/exit to the garage.  They can't simply just implement a store there to make it look nicer

 

 

 

That's why I'm only suggesting adding retail to McMillan on Block 4, which is the block between the "plaza" and the Shell station.

 

Yeah looking back at Block 4 that is a bit neglected, hadn't noticed that before.  I agree that maybe more could be done there, but not sure what of because the garage will be an absolute necessity and I also agree that Calhoun should get the majority of the street front activity.  I was just mostly confused as to what people expected to replace the garage component of the main office building on mcmillan between scioto and vine

It's horrendous, suburban-looking, and very Columbia Square-esque.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting the Columbia Square comparisons. The buildings are built to the street here and not setback, the entrances front onto the street not the parking areas, and there is on-street parking and curb bump outs for pedestrians. It may not be the best design, but where is the likeness to Columbia Square?

 

Look at it. Again.

 

Yes, I don't see how this (notice the rest of the buildings besides the office building)...

 

...resembles this in any way

 

Care to clarify this time?

 

I'm talking about THIS Columbia Square:

 

 

The office building occupies one of the 4 blocks of this development though.  Columbia Square's office building took up about half or 1/3 of the space...and the rest sucked.  In this project the rest is built to the street, the hotel looks to be brick or masonry of some sort and is a good density...the same goes for the apartments at the far end that take up the entirety of that block.

drove by columbia square tonight btw.  The Brueggers is being built, basically up to the street, blocking some of the surface lot.  I thought this would happen, and I think there is another outlot going up along the street as well.  So these two outlots give better street presence but it still could have been a lot better. 

 

As far as this building design, I suppose it is sort of similar to the Columbia Square office building.  I see the comparison.  But the two site plans dont compare much. 

The UC practice fields got included!

 

ew, and so did university plaza. 

What about the timeline?  Will it break ground anytime soon?

 

Supposedly late 2009 with a completion sometime in 2011.

 

ugh. color me disappointed. I wish they'd at least start moving dirt around and prepping now.

 

Yea I walked by the campus last night.  Hey at least they are doing something to that corner because it's always been this little ugly wooded area forever.

I guess McMillan Street will have a sea of parking facing it instead of building frontages.

 

Once again, developers here have NO CLUE how to provide adequate parking solutions that don't kill walkability elsewhere.

There was an Evans demolition crew rolling around on top of the mountain of rubble at Calhoun & Vine -- where the Uptown Commons office building will go.

 

Also, the Jerusalem Restaurant on McMillan was installing some new neon signage at the top of their building, above their existing sign.

^Yea I noticed it too.  There's a few tractors there.  Hopefully they get things rolling soon.

Oh that would be nice timing. Right for when I get back from co-op and move back into UPA.

Word on the street is that the Hard Ta Knock Shop at McMillan and Clifton will be closing.  This presents a great opportunity to do something neat with that corner retail space at a high traffic volume intersection.

Word on the street is that the Hard Ta Knock Shop at McMillan and Clifton will be closing. This presents a great opportunity to do something neat with that corner retail space at a high traffic volume intersection.

 

That seems like a pretty big space to try to fill at a time like this.  Hopefully it isn't vacant for long.

 

 

Hard Ta Knock always seemed shady.  I hardly ever saw anyone go in or out of there.  That place didn't belong there at all.  Let's see something cool go in there.  I'm totally stoked Five Guys is in Clifton now!

Hard Ta Knock always seemed shady.  I hardly ever saw anyone go in or out of there.  That place didn't belong there at all.  Let's see something cool go in there.  I'm totally stoked Five Guys is in Clifton now!

 

That sounds like a suspicious comment.  I don't understand what you'd find shady about the place.  It's not like it attracted a bad crowd in the neighborhood.  One of my good friend's uncles used to be a co-owner of the shop.  Any time I walked in there with him, they were very personable.

Didn't seem shady to me, but I never saw any customers there.  Makes sense that they'd be shutting down.

Not trying to be suspicious.  It's just that I've hardly ever seen anyone going in or out of there.  But they're probably nice people none the less.

I would agree that I never saw anyone go in there, and I think that space could be used for any number of better purposes.  The merchandise the place carried was only attractive to a small group of people, honestly.  There are lots of examples of places on the same block that have appeal to almost everyone. 

There was an Evans demolition crew rolling around on top of the mountain of rubble at Calhoun & Vine -- where the Uptown Commons office building will go.

 

They have removed a lot of the rubble and sprayed grass seed on the dirt areas.  Similar to what they did on the main block across from University Park Apts.

^ any idea when construction will start?  Is it still on schedule?

^ any idea when construction will start?  Is it still on schedule?

 

Construction won't be starting for a while... They have to secure a certain percentage of lease spaces before they can even consider getting a loan from a bank. The fact that they put grass down tells me that it's going to be a while.

It's a really hard site to plan. It's basically your nightmare scenario: "A" streets on your front and back, and not enough block depth to deal with it. This site was my sophomore studio project. Nobody could make the dual-frontage thing work with parking, even when you pushed the requirement way down. Parking is an urban designer's worst enemy.

 

Likewise for the building design. This is a great example of the "hidden cost" of automobiles. The developer has to pay for parking spaces, even when they are partially subsidised.

 

In a perfect world, transit in this part of town would already exist, and the city would have a maximum parking ratio and no minimum, allowing a much more context-sensitive building to happen.

 

For most people, even enthusiasts, there is a real psychological disconnect when they look at renderings like this and think "this is horrible," but then expect a certain level of mobility that cars provide.

 

 

Word on the street is that the Hard Ta Knock Shop at McMillan and Clifton will be closing. This presents a great opportunity to do something neat with that corner retail space at a high traffic volume intersection.

 

Hard Ta Knock has moved out of the space already.  I saw a poster on a telephone pole in Walnut Hills that said "Hard Ta Knock Shop is Moving to Hopple Street."