I heard they are going to redo the square i.e. sidewalks, facades etc etc.  Can anyone confirm this?

There are signs up telling people to attend the Mt. Lookout neighborhood association meeting and the square renovation is listed as the main topic.

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=333.msg175714#msg175714

From Cincinnati.com, 5/16/07:

 

 

Mt. Lookout to debut plan for square revitalization

Contributed By Rachel Richardson | The Enquirer

 

After years of preparation, plans to revitalize Mt. Lookout Square are taking shape.

 

More than 100 residents and business owners flocked to the Christ the King Church May 2 for the first of two public meetings in which locals were invited to speak out on any public safety, parking, aesthetics and traffic concerns the plan would bring.

 

http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100042&sid=112746

 

It's my understanding that there have been some meetings recently discussing this.  The big hang up seems to be whether the loss of parking spaces will be worth it for the gain in the square becoming more pedestrian/user-friendly.

^They desperately need parking in Mt. Lookout.  Taking out parking from the square would just make it harder to visit what is currently there.

They don't need parking they need access, parking is only one form of access

They need both. Compared to Hyde Park, Oakley, and even Clifton the Mt. Lookout BD lacks decent pedestrian access and the minimal parking. Unfortunately, it is also far more hemmed in geographically than the first three sitting in the bowl.

Trendy Mt. Lookout Square may soon get facelift

http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0804mtlookoutsquare.aspx

 

The Mt. Lookout Community Development Corporation (MLCDC) is looking to transform the trendy Mt. Lookout Square on Cincinnati’s east side with more than $800,000 worth of renovation efforts.  The efforts are being driven by community activists who feel the neighborhood’s business district has become somewhat worn over the years and is in need of attention.

 

The group has developed a multi-phased approach to cleaning and rejuvenating Mt. Lookout Square that highlight three primary priorities: Square Appearance, Vehicle Flow and Parking.

 

The neighborhood priorities are detailed into the following high-level objectives:

• Enhance the appeal of the square to residents, visitors and businesses by addressing many of the dilapidated walkways, parking structures/enclosures, signage and lighting.
  
• Incorporate more green-space into the currently very “car centric” appearance of the square.
  
• Address many of the pedestrian and traffic safety concerns expressed by businesses and the community at large.
  
• Improve the aesthetics of business frontage and provide more business-friendly pedestrian access to window shopping and open air dining.
  
• Grow and sustain a diverse business environment.
  
• Improve the aesthetics and reliability of public utilities.
  
• Address constraints to hosting public Square festivities.
  
• Implement a comprehensive parking solution that will allow us to more effectively utilize the center island as green-space.

 

Parking remains one of the most difficult issues to address. Plans call for off-street parking that would replace the parking currently located in the middle of the square.  That space would then become an inviting public space with a fountain, seating areas and trees very similar to what is seen in Hyde Park Square.

 

Vivian Llambi & Associates, the same company that developed the plans for the Hyde Park Square renovation, is also the same firm that has developed the plans for the Mt. Lookout Square renovation project.  Vivian Llambi & Associates is also responsible for the work at Fountain Square, Government Square and the Aronoff Center for the Arts.

 

In addition to off-street parking and a restored public center piece, the renovation efforts also hope to include wider sidewalks to enable more sidewalk dining and street cafes, minimization of overhead power lines, new streetscaping and traffic calming measures like curb bump-outs.

 

Mt. Lookout Square has long been criticized for being difficult to navigate for motorists, somewhat dangerous for pedestrians and lacking necessary parking for the various merchants on and around the square.

Mt. Lookout Square transformation visually represented

http://www.urbancincy.com/2009/08/mt-lookout-square-transformation.html

 

In Soapbox this week I wrote about the plans for renovating Mt. Lookout Square. Below you can view the three-phased approach to implementing those changes. The work is still preliminary and is still trying to work itself out in terms of funding and overall scope. Click on any of the images to open up a larger version in a new window.

 

 

 

Looks good... I've always loved the Mount Lookout neighborhood, and if I end up at UC, it will probably be my first choice of neighborhoods to live in. Banishing parking from the square and adding some more green will be a huge improvement... That square is a bit of a no-mans-land right now.

 

A study in contrasts:

 

 

The blog Cincinnati Revisited has a cool set of drawings of what Mt. Lookout Square could look like if some serious attention was paid to the center esplanade.

 

see here:  http://acincinnatihistory.blogspot.com

They have definitely completed at least Phase I. Not sure if Phase II is complete or in the works yet.