So, as much as I think the materials at U Square are awful, I just stumbled on this streetview from before construction and I must say that it's a VAST improvement.  I can't speak for the row houses that were lost as I've only seen pictures.  They were beautiful, but the street level retail we have now just adds SO much more to this street.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.128264,-84.51573,3a,75y,247.5h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s9TJzHYDL6f1C8QebNCMV_w!2e0

Yeah, if you moved to the 'Nati after construction started you can't really "appreciate" the giant dead zone that was for years.

The half dozen giant apartment complexes that have opened in the past three years have eroded rents in the row homes and 2-families.  This is bad for the buy & hold investors who typically own a handful of homes scattered throughout CUF and Corryville, but great for those wishing to avoid the ridiculous rents being charged by McMillan Manor Campus Park, U Square, 65 West, Views on Vine, the other thing on Short Vine, and the big monster on Jefferson Ave. 

 

This Cincinnati apartment project is the best in the nation

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Right next to the University of Cincinnati’s main campus is the best student housing community in the nation, U Square @ the Loop.

 

The National Apartment Association announced the mixed-use project as one of the 2014 Paragon award winners. The annual awards program recognizes the multifamily housing industry’s top communities, executives, employees and affiliate programs.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/05/13/this-cincinnati-apartment-project-is-the-best-in.html

 

This Cincinnati apartment project is the best in the nation

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Right next to the University of Cincinnati’s main campus is the best student housing community in the nation, U Square @ the Loop.

 

The National Apartment Association announced the mixed-use project as one of the 2014 Paragon award winners. The annual awards program recognizes the multifamily housing industry’s top communities, executives, employees and affiliate programs.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/05/13/this-cincinnati-apartment-project-is-the-best-in.html

 

LMFAO!!!  I can't even.  It's a great addition to the neighborhood in massing, but the materials are horrible and those garages are disgustingly ugly.  All I can do is shake my head.  Apparently people like this crap and are willing to pay for it, so I can't really argue.  I could argue though, that on a global scale our local standards of aesthetics are plummeting out of relevancy.  The public toilets in Korea are of higher quality than this. 

 

This Cincinnati apartment project is the best in the nation

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Right next to the University of Cincinnati’s main campus is the best student housing community in the nation, U Square @ the Loop.

 

The National Apartment Association announced the mixed-use project as one of the 2014 Paragon award winners. The annual awards program recognizes the multifamily housing industry’s top communities, executives, employees and affiliate programs.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/05/13/this-cincinnati-apartment-project-is-the-best-in.html

 

LMFAO!!!  I can't even.  It's a great addition to the neighborhood in massing, but the materials are horrible and those garages are disgustingly ugly.  All I can do is shake my head.  Apparently people like this crap and are willing to pay for it, so I can't really argue.  I could argue though, that on a global scale our local standards of aesthetics are plummeting out of relevancy.  The public toilets in Korea are of higher quality than this.

 

So harsh. It's student housing, it's better than a empty parking lot

Cincinnati's vision in Uptown: More people, more retail, more new businesses

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

More people living in Uptown, key intersections anchored with mixed-use buildings, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes and a technology corridor along Reading Road.

 

That’s the vision Uptown Consortium CEO Beth Robinson presented for the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive corridor once the road’s interchange with Interstate 71 is finished. Robinson spoke to the Commercial Real Estate Women’s luncheon on Tuesday.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/05/13/cincinnatis-vision-in-uptown-more-people-more.html

 

This Cincinnati apartment project is the best in the nation

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Right next to the University of Cincinnati’s main campus is the best student housing community in the nation, U Square @ the Loop.

 

The National Apartment Association announced the mixed-use project as one of the 2014 Paragon award winners. The annual awards program recognizes the multifamily housing industry’s top communities, executives, employees and affiliate programs.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/05/13/this-cincinnati-apartment-project-is-the-best-in.html

 

LMFAO!!!  I can't even.  It's a great addition to the neighborhood in massing, but the materials are horrible and those garages are disgustingly ugly.  All I can do is shake my head.  Apparently people like this crap and are willing to pay for it, so I can't really argue.  I could argue though, that on a global scale our local standards of aesthetics are plummeting out of relevancy.  The public toilets in Korea are of higher quality than this.

 

So harsh. It's student housing, it's better than a empty parking lot

 

But c'mon, we all know it's shite

I think what the study is showing is how happy the students actually are with what the apartments provide.  They could care less how it looks on the outside.  The older we get, the more we criticize how architecture looks.  An 18-22 year old kid won't really give a crap.

LOL, I certainly didn't think about it as much at that age. I liked '70s architecture best then.

When I was in college I cared a lot about how the building I lived in looked. I guess I was weird.

I think what the study is showing is how happy the students actually are with what the apartments provide.  They could care less how it looks on the outside.  The older we get, the more we criticize how architecture looks.  An 18-22 year old kid won't really give a crap.

 

As a culture, we have given up on caring about architecture and only care about the economic development and "job creation." Those of us who actually appreciate nice architecture are in the minority, unfortunately.

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

At least the new development at Christy's will only have one small retail spot.

 

Some of the new places seem to be doing really well but as you said, there is a TON of redundancy in the sandwich/sub portion of the market. It's not at all surprising Firehouse Subs closed. If I had to guess Dibella's won't be too far behind. They were both large spaces (can't be cheap) that were literally never full. I ate at Dibella's once (more than enough) and, at 1 pm on a weekday, was one of 4 people in the place, my friend being another. So two groups of two at a time when there was a huge line at Currito, Chipotle, Keystone was packed, etc.

 

 

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Who is we? The owner of Christy's needed to sell. Guy was in hole and is 78 years old.

“We are trying to sell it,” Windholtz told me in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m for progress. I’m for making things work.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/02/08/christys-lenhardts-owner-ready-to.html?page=all

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Those are otherwise successful chains. Asking one demographic to keep that many of the same type of business alive is too much. Especially when they aren't even around four months out of the year.

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Who is we? The owner of Christy's needed to sell. Guy was in hole and is 78 years old.

“We are trying to sell it,” Windholtz told me in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m for progress. I’m for making things work.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/02/08/christys-lenhardts-owner-ready-to.html?page=all

 

Council never should have approved the demolition of that building.

...or the corner Clifton Natural Foods building, which is still standing for the moment, and which is the only example of its style I know if. 

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Who is we? The owner of Christy's needed to sell. Guy was in hole and is 78 years old.

“We are trying to sell it,” Windholtz told me in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m for progress. I’m for making things work.”it

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/02/08/christys-lenhardts-owner-ready-to.html?page=all

They are part time employees. I dont think the demo made it to their desk. Why didn't you buy the real estate?

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Who is we? The owner of Christy's needed to sell. Guy was in hole and is 78 years old.

“We are trying to sell it,” Windholtz told me in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m for progress. I’m for making things work.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/02/08/christys-lenhardts-owner-ready-to.html?page=all

 

Council never should have approved the demolition of that building.

 

 

Then why buy the real estate yourselves?

I think what the study is showing is how happy the students actually are with what the apartments provide.  They could care less how it looks on the outside.  The older we get, the more we criticize how architecture looks.  An 18-22 year old kid won't really give a crap.

 

I did give a crap at that age, I loved Cincinnati (coming down from South of Dayton) from when I was a kid for its unique architecture, and while in college I literally was seeing the city destroy that for really really piss poor designed student housing, it was heartbreaking.  I also thought that kind of mass destruction ended in the 1960s and was blown away that the city didn't have a Historical Society that was up in arms about it!

 

I understand why the housing is rated well though, most people going to school are suburbanites from SW Ohio with little appreciation of historic architecture - and frankly the new housing is better than a lot of the slumlords in terms of basic maintenance.

A few of the restaurants at USquare and University Park have closed -- Five Guys and Firehouse Subs most recently. I know that there is a high turnover rate in the restaurant business, but I would guess that many of the restaurants around there are just barely hanging on. Since I went to college there just five years ago, there has been an explosion of new restaurants at U Square, University Park, Short Vine, and beyond, and the bulk of them are sandwich or burrito places. How can they all survive? And yet we just demolished Christy's to make room for another development that will have even more retail space in that corridor.

 

Those are otherwise successful chains. Asking one demographic to keep that many of the same type of business alive is too much. Especially when they aren't even around four months out of the year.

 

I was thinking about why businesses have a harder time turning a profit serving UC students as compared to other schools with similar non-commuter populations. Then it hit me: co-op. If the students are off working, whether it's Downtown, the west side or NYC they're not on and around campus consuming. Now think about it if you are a businessperson that's not aware of UC culture and co-op and all your normal planning process for a new location say it's going to work. Then you open and there's only half as many butts in your seats as you would expect. Money down the drain.

 

Does anybody have comparisons for commercial rents at UC as compared to similar properties in say Columbus and other medium size cities with sizable urban campuses? I know I'd demand lower rent if half the students were absent at any given time.

It's not nearly half of students gone at any given time. And theoretically, the co-op should help businesses survive in the summer because there is an abnormally large number of students taking summer classes who co-op in the fall and spring. And they should have more disposable income from working to spend at those establishments.

 

Co-op students actually go to school for the same number of terms as a regular student, they just lose their summers off and take an extra year.

Does anybody know the plans for the empty block bounded by Scioto, Calhoun, Vine, and McMillan? I think it has been empty since the buildings were demolished ~2005, right around when demolition began for the U Square project. Was this block also demolished with the idea of a larger (or future) phase of U Square? With the new, very nicely constructed Metro stop on Vine St, that huge empty block just seems to be begging for redevelopment. It's such a high profile intersection. The whole block is owned by "Block 1 Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation".

I believe a hotel is planned

The hotel is planned for the surface lot across from Adriatico's. The most recent plans showed an office building on the block jwulsin is referring to.

Thanks jmicha - where did you see those "most recent plans"?

It is a future phase of U Square.

 

 

Here is an old rendering of what would go at Vine.

They really need to get rid of those continuous right hand turns.

Seriously. Those shouldn't be there or at any of the number of places they exist along MLK. Especially at MLK and Clifton. It makes being a pedestrian scary.

Agreed - almost got hit several times biking around town by drivers who didn't understand the concept of either a "STOP" or a "YIELD" sign.

Plus it encourages people to speed which results in situations like that one a couple years ago when that group of people was run over by a truck that lost control at MLK and Clifton and plowed through the ridiculously exposed island pedestrians are forced to stand on.

It is a future phase of U Square.

 

 

Here is an old rendering of what would go at Vine.

 

Is it just me, or does that rendering show new construction in the block between Scioto and Ohio? I really hope we have learned from our past mistakes and aren't planning to seize and demolish another block of historic buildings along Calhoun.

I've never seen anything hinting at that block changing. I think that render just took some liberties with drawing what's existing to make everything look cohesive and matchy matchy.

That new construction is the vacant lot on Scioto between Calhoun & McMillan.

Back when I was in college, the original plan for that site was some kind of entertainment district.  I don't have any renderings but I do remember discussion of it.  I didn't mind seeing Time Out or the McDonalds demoed, but as usual there were plenty of other buildings that NEVER should have been torn down, PARTICULARLY since financing wasn't set in stone for the new project.  That massive lot is a massive eyesore much worse than Timeout's 1970s facade ever was.

There is a gravel parking lot on the west side of Scioto between Calhoun and McMillan which is obviously ripe for yet another rich kid apartment building. 

There is a gravel parking lot on the west side of Scioto between Calhoun and McMillan which is obviously ripe for yet another rich kid apartment building. 

 

That lot should be developed. I was just worried that we'd lose the buildings where Mole's Records and Myra's are located. BTW, the Myra's building and the restaurant are both up for sale as the owner is looking to retire.

The community council should jump on that:

 

There is a gravel parking lot on the west side of Scioto between Calhoun and McMillan which is obviously ripe for yet another rich kid apartment building. 

 

That lot should be developed. I was just worried that we'd lose the buildings where Mole's Records and Myra's are located. BTW, the Myra's building and the restaurant are both up for sale as the owner is looking to retire.

There is a gravel parking lot on the west side of Scioto between Calhoun and McMillan which is obviously ripe for yet another rich kid apartment building.

 

That parcel is also owned by the same "Block 1" group, so presumably it would be included in the next phase of development.

It is a future phase of U Square.

 

 

Here is an old rendering of what would go at Vine.

 

This rendering would look great with a streetcar running down both those streets (Vine & Calhoun.)  In fact, this rendering would almost (maybe not quite) be the view from the "University Tower" in my design for the streetcar transit center right across the street!

 

They really need to get rid of those continuous right hand turns.

 

One of them gets eliminated in my transit center design.  I suppose we could eliminate the other one shown in the rendering for good measure. 

 

Man, the more I keep thinking about my "Uptown Five" plan the more I like it!  Can you imagine this kind of density anchoring the end of each line?  I'm becoming obsessed!

^-At least that CVS is 24-hours, came in handy when I lived near it  :evil:

I would love to see that office building (or something similar) get built. It would be a bold statement to come up the Vine Street hill and see that as you enter Uptown.  Sure as hell better than the CVS!

 

That whole area could be such a great entrance to Uptown. That grass hillside could be an office building (but hopefully with better site planning), the CVS block could all be redeveloped, and the University Plaza site could be something large scale. And that right hand turn onto northbound Jefferson could be reworked along with the one turning westward onto Calhoun. A nice, urban area with the great new transit centers as the centerpiece. It could be really active, especially when the streetcar comes through. But I fear that whole scenario won't happen and instead we'll get suburban style site planning ruining all potential for that site.

The derailing of this thread with comments on "the college experience" is over. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

U Square near UC may finally get a hotel

Bowdeya Tweh, [email protected] 12:14 a.m. EDT August 29, 2014

 

 

The U Square at the Loop development in Clifton Heights could be getting a hotel.

 

Oxford-based Hotel Development Services LLC is proposing to build a 115-unit Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott at the northeast corner of Market and McMillan streets, according to plans submitted to the city. The site, now owned by USquare LLC, for the proposed six-story building is now used for surface parking.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/business/2014/08/29/usquare-uptown-hotel/14758121/

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth... better than a parking lot though right?

Rural towns of Illinois often require at least 50% brick on the facade of many buildings my company develops...

Rural towns of Illinois often require at least 50% brick on the facade of many buildings my company develops...

 

Correct, this building would not be allowed in Novi Michigan for instance (don't feel bad if you haven't heard of it, its home to 56,000) because of a similar rule for EIFs on the frontage, yet here we are in Cincinnati..... accepting it?

EIFS should be illegal, it's going to be a problem in 15 - 20 years when these places look moldy like DAAP did.