There is a lot of space just west of this building. Don't see why they can't create something similar to TUC incorporating new and old. I can understand Alumni's likely need for a lot more space. And with Pinto's vision to get to 60,000 I can understand why. 

Edited May 2, 20223 yr by tonyt3524

21 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

 

I believe the YMCA is currently just being stripped of asbestos, lead paint, etc without an end use and buildout planned. But I could be wrong.

Last month a new RFP was put out through the state portal for exterior restoration of the building. The RFP states that all interior remediation has been completed but now they are putting $900K into slate roof, building envelope and masonry repair along with window replacement. Between the two scopes, the intention seems to be to deliver the building as a 'white box' for future use, whether that is incorporated into the alumni center or whether it's used as something else entirely, getting it waterproofed and repaired now will help either way.

Some info on the Old Chem project: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/06/02/skanska-lands-old-chem-project.html

 

Quote

The Old Chemistry Building restoration includes a 63,000-square-foot renovation and a 144,000-square-foot addition to the 105-year-old building. The project is expected to start in May 2023 and be completed by spring 2025.

...

The renovation portion of the project will include new faculty and departmental offices, open/flexible engineering research labs, general purpose classrooms, biology and chemistry teaching labs, and new student and faculty collaboration spaces. The addition will include open-bay chemistry research labs with chemical storage, and facility service spaces.

 

A portion of the Old Chem building added in the 1930s will be demolished to make room for the addition.

 

Construction update on the New Memorial Hall building. It's really starting to feel/look like a cheap duplicate of the new business school...

I think that this building is perfectly fine, but I also think it's odd that a University known for having campus buildings designed by Gehry, Eisenman, Graves, Gwathmey, Tschumi, Morphosis et al gives such a prominent and public facing building to a firm called LMN out of Seattle who I had never heard of before. If this building was inside the campus, like Linder Business school is, I don't think anyone would care but this is a very visible location on the 'front' doorstep of the university.

 

The exterior materials will obviously be crucial but I think the interior has the potential to be really cool assuming the grand stair hasn't been value engineered out.

 

1 hour ago, savadams13 said:

Construction update on the New Memorial Hall building. It's really starting to feel/look like a cheap duplicate of the new business school...

At this stage of construction, what are you seeing that looks “cheap”? (I don’t know enough about this kind of construction to know what to look for.)

Discussions about removing Charles McMicken's name from the campus have been moved to a new thread. Please do not discuss that topic any further in this thread.

University of Cincinnati details $6M renovation of Fifth Third Arena ahead of Big 12 Conference debut

 

University of Cincinnati is looking for a firm to help design a multimillion-dollar renovation at Fifth Third Arena as preps for its upgrade to the Big 12 Conference in 2023.

 

UC sent out a request for qualifications Monday for architects/engineers to renovate and expand its existing locker room and related facilities for the women’s and men’s basketball programs.

 

Construction cost is expected to be $4 million, with a total project cost of $6 million to complete. The expenditure was approved by UC’s board of trustees in June. The project will include approximately 10,000 square feet of existing interior space.

 

In the document, UC said renovations will upgrade “team hype rooms,” new state-of-the-art locker rooms, plunge pools and athlete lounges including multi-purpose rooms, team dining and related functions.

 

Cont

UC picks Gensler, MSA Sport to design $70 million practice facility

 

The University of Cincinnati has selected a global design firm and downtown-based architecture firm to design a $70 million indoor practice facility and athlete performance center.

 

UC selected Gensler, the largest architecture firm in the U.S., as the signature architect/design lead and MSA Sport as architect of record for the UC Athletics Indoor Practice Facility and Performance Center Project. The team of Gensler and MSA Sport was interviewed for the project in May and officially started working on the facility in June.

 

Bill Baker, MSA Sport principal and lead architect, said the firms have started the programming process, determining the exact kind and amount of space needed.

 

“Because we are a firm with a lot of Cincinnati Bearcats alumni, and the largest sports architecture firm headquartered in Ohio, the fact we get to work on such a high-profile project for our hometown university means a lot to the firm,” Baker told me.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/07/21/uc-picks-global-design-firms.html

 

Unrelated to UC but... Is the size of college football programs not somewhat... disturbing to some people? Colleges feel like football/entertainment conglomerates that get their talent for free and teach classes on the side for passive income. Regardless I'm excited to see the renderings lol

20 minutes ago, küshner said:

Unrelated to UC but... Is the size of college football programs not somewhat... disturbing to some people? Colleges feel like football/entertainment conglomerates that get their talent for free and teach classes on the side for passive income. Regardless I'm excited to see the renderings lol

I feel this way about sports in general. The amount of money our governments pour into sports is absurd and has a negative ROI overall. It's a huge problem. A bit of a tangent, but the violent tribalism of sports fandoms is concerning in general. People incite anger, riots, etc. in the name of sports and I can't think of a single other hobby that works people en masse up like sports. Yelling at your TV or having your entire day or week ruined by the outcome of a game, or getting into fights, both verbal and physical, happens all the time. It's idiotic.

 

I know a lot of schools have all of their sports expenditures budgeted separately (entirely? not sure there, maybe someone can fill us all in) which is good. As long as it doesn't take a single cent away from education, it's fine in my mind. Up until what I mention above.

Edited July 21, 20222 yr by jmicha

43 minutes ago, jmicha said:

I feel this way about sports in general. The amount of money our governments pour into sports is absurd and has a negative ROI overall. It's a huge problem. A bit of a tangent, but the violent tribalism of sports fandoms is concerning in general. People incite anger, riots, etc. in the name of sports and I can't think of a single other hobby that works people en masse up like sports. Yelling at your TV or having your entire day or week ruined by the outcome of a game, or getting into fights, both verbal and physical, happens all the time. It's idiotic.

 

I know a lot of schools have all of their sports expenditures budgeted separately (entirely? not sure there, maybe someone can fill us all in) which is good. As long as it doesn't take a single cent away from education, it's fine in my mind. Up until what I mention above.

 

Rather have people get riled up over a sports team, than riled up by an ex-president and storming the capitol...

59 minutes ago, küshner said:

Colleges feel like football/entertainment conglomerates that get their talent for free and teach classes on the side for passive income.

 

I enjoyed this Laure Quinlivan-produced video on how UC continues to increase spending on executive salaries, marketing, and athletics, while also increasing tuition and student enrollment, but is still making cuts to academic programs and rarely giving anything more than COLA raises to professors:

 

 

https://local12.com/news/local/university-of-cincinnati-dorm-housing-issues-incoming-freshman-largest-class-history-unprecedented-demand-uc-campus-student-body-local-12-wkrc-tristate-ohio-kentucky-indiana-news
 

States about 600-700 students are still awaiting housing. UC should prolly start looking into building another resident tower on campus especially with the school going to the Big 12 it will only elevate the amount of applications the school gets.
 

Added a photo of two spots that they could maybe fit another tower, although with  Uc building a new athletics center I’m not sure what’s going to happen with the area around Daniels Hall.

With as few young people as there are today (and COVID lingering) for UC to see record enrollment goes to show how important people feel going to school in the city is today.

18 hours ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

two spots that they could maybe fit another tower

 

what about the Future Former Crosley Tower site?
You could see Sanders Hall from 71 back in the day...your easternmost site would do the same if tall enough.

a dorm could be built across Clifton Ave where DAAP has built a large building. sort of on campus

Isn't The District at Clifton Heights currently building a tower for student housing? I know it's basically "off campus" however should help ease the pent up demand.

 

3 hours ago, jvarney1 said:

Isn't The District at Clifton Heights currently building a tower for student housing? I know it's basically "off campus" however should help ease the pent up demand.

 

They are building a tower that could be used for student housing if needed but I don’t think that’s necessarily what the tower is supposed to be for. I think overall the university would like to have all freshmen on campus (when I went to UC if you lived more than 50 miles from campus then you had to live on campus for the freshmen year). I’m assuming with all of the off campus apartments UC has a deal to where they can lease some of these apartments to new students. 
 

I know one of the people who run the student housing at UC and she stated that they will lease out the units until they either have transfers or people drop out then they can move them to the dorms. IMO I’d be mad if I had to live in a dorm but bc some other freshmen who applied for housing late got a whole apartment. 

On 7/22/2022 at 10:10 PM, Ucgrad2015 said:

https://local12.com/news/local/university-of-cincinnati-dorm-housing-issues-incoming-freshman-largest-class-history-unprecedented-demand-uc-campus-student-body-local-12-wkrc-tristate-ohio-kentucky-indiana-news
 

States about 600-700 students are still awaiting housing. UC should prolly start looking into building another resident tower on campus especially with the school going to the Big 12 it will only elevate the amount of applications the school gets.
 

Added a photo of two spots that they could maybe fit another tower, although with  Uc building a new athletics center I’m not sure what’s going to happen with the area around Daniels Hall.

I dont think they need to build a dorm. I thought part of the problem is the either Siddall or Calhoun (I forget which one) is undergoing renovations and is closed for the year. That takes a few hundred beds out of the mix just by that alone. I think they redid Calhoun last year so this year they were supposed to start on Siddall from what I remembered reading a while back. 

once both of those are back in full circulation, the housing problem dissipates. 

On 7/22/2022 at 10:10 PM, Ucgrad2015 said:

States about 600-700 students are still awaiting housing. UC should prolly start looking into building another resident tower on campus especially with the school going to the Big 12 it will only elevate the amount of applications the school gets.

Well guess what? Yesterday UC posted an RFQ for the vacant site bound by Vine/Calhoun/McMillan/Scioto to add a 700 bed residential building. They would add an additional 100-125 beds across Scioto on that portion of the block behind Urban Outfitters. 

42 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

Well guess what? Yesterday UC posted an RFQ for the vacant site bound by Vine/Calhoun/McMillan/Scioto to add a 700 bed residential building. They would add an additional 100-125 beds across Scioto on that portion of the block behind Urban Outfitters. 

About time!!!! Stunning that site has sat there for so long. I’m assuming the university will ask for some great architecture as well, the site may be the most prominent in all of Corryville/Clifton in my opinion.

I haven't done the math but with 700 beds on a site that is ~90,000sf it should be a relatively tall building and it should be tall to capitalize on the views to the south. Also with the Mad Frog site getting purchased by Uptown, this intersection could feel much different in a few years. 

I wonder if this will be traditional dorms or something more along the lines of University Park Apartments/Stratford Heights.

John Schneider has proposed a streetcar tunnel from Main and Walnut to Jefferson, via the Christ Hospital parking lot. This would be an extremely high impact project, as it would connect our two largest job centers by a direct route, and allow for further expansion. In 2015, the Business Courier ran a profile on the plan: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2015/07/24/john-schneider-has-a-big-idea-and-it-s-worth.html

 

John has clarified to me the tunnel would "daylight on Jefferson a little north of Corry Street":

 

 

I'm glad UC is going to finally do something with the land in this area, but I hope the planners are aware of the tunnel plan, and keep our options open. Some big towers here would be perfect - amazing views and potentially near a major transit stop. 

34 minutes ago, taestell said:

I wonder if this will be traditional dorms or something more along the lines of University Park Apartments/Stratford Heights.

University park is mentioned in the RFQ so I assume it would be a similar relationship of University teaming up with CHCURC (who owns the land) to develop and UC would operate them like they do with University park. It's state funding so I don't think it would be like Stratford which I think is operated by Towne properties.

 

3 hours ago, ucgrady said:

I haven't done the math but with 700 beds on a site that is ~90,000sf 

quick google geometry tells me the eastern site is somewhere in the 70 thousands.

Edited August 19, 20222 yr by zsnyder

3 hours ago, ucgrady said:

Well guess what? Yesterday UC posted an RFQ for the vacant site bound by Vine/Calhoun/McMillan/Scioto to add a 700 bed residential building. They would add an additional 100-125 beds across Scioto on that portion of the block behind Urban Outfitters.

Just to clarify, you're talking about two separate buildings, on both sides of Scioto, right? 

 

 

I’m assuming these two sites.

25 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

Just to clarify, you're talking about two separate buildings, on both sides of Scioto, right? 

 

 

Yes it reads as two separate buildings. The larger building East of Scioto with 700 beds would be dorm style "junior suites" while the smaller building West of Scioto would be 100ish apartment style units. 

If anyone can convince that Shell to close or be moved, it would do wonders for the east end of this walkable district.

Or if they have to keep the Shell station, at least make it walkable like this:

 

Been a while since I've had a Hounddog's pizza.

That  location has the advantage of feeding off two sides streets.
Making that work on both Calhoun and Mcmillan would be an interesting challenge.

A moderately tall structure would have a great line of sight on TQL.

3 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Or if they have to keep the Shell station, at least make it walkable like this:

 

Awwww. I use to live right behind that station when i was in grad school! Memories :)

This brings back memories of my excitement in 2016.
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wlwt.com/amp/article/long-vacant-corner-near-uc-to-get-75m-makeover/3564441

Has there been any talk about UC providing housing options for grad students and/or faculty? I’d like to see a broader diversity of ages living around the campus. 

I mean I know college students can be little tornados but The Deacon is a new building wondering again is this another sign UC is growing a little too fast with all these housing issues?

UC students face unfinished, uncleaned apartments at The Deacon days before class begins

 

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/clifton/uc-students-face-unfinished-uncleaned-apartments-at-the-deacon-days-before-class-begins

Edited August 24, 20222 yr by 646empire

24 minutes ago, 646empire said:

I mean I know college students can be little tornados but The Deacon is a new building wondering again is this another sign UC is growing a little too fast with all these housing issues?

UC students face unfinished, uncleaned apartments at The Deacon days before class begins

 

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/clifton/uc-students-face-unfinished-uncleaned-apartments-at-the-deacon-days-before-class-begins

The Deacon, was a prime example of bad "VE" they built that cheap and fast, and they are paying the price since its not holding up to college kids first time away from home. 

18 minutes ago, savadams13 said:

The Deacon, was a prime example of bad "VE" they built that cheap and fast, and they are paying the price since its not holding up to college kids first time away from home. 

Any hope the next phases will be of better quality?

Yikes. It opened in 2019 and has only had 3 years of tenants. Not a good sign for either the quality of construction or property management. 

6 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Any hope the next phases will be of better quality?

Yeah hoping the developer and management team are learning from there mistakes. Let alone UC, hopefully is putting a foot to throats in order for better quality standards and practices. 

This is hardly a new phenomenon. I lived in UPA for the 2008-2009 school year (that was a mistake, for a variety of reasons) and when we moved in the carpet hadn't been replaced yet and REALLY needed to be, they hadn't finished painting the unit and there were scuffs and marks everywhere, they had to replace a vanity in one of the bathrooms still, there was glue or epoxy all over the bar counter which we had them document so they wouldn't blame it on us when we moved out, etc. On top of those items, the apartment was also absolutely filthy. Orange grout, clogged drains, cobwebs in nearly every corner, greasy windows, mirrors, etc. We spent a solid weekend with the four of us just cleaning and coordinating with the building to fix the problems.

 

Unfortunately, young college students destroy things. I'd honestly say going anything above bottom of the barrel in quality is a poor choice when building student housing. They WILL find a way to ruin it, then you're just replacing expensive items more often. Give them cheap, easy to replace stuff that won't hurt as much financially to replace because it's unfortunately inevitable. That said, these things should absolutely be resolved by the start of someone's lease unless you're prepared as a property manager to give them discounted rented.

 

While I'm an architect, I work for an in-house design team for a large property management company. Turning units is a critical part of the puzzle that needs to operate like a well-oiled machine. That initial impression will stick with tenants and they will move out at the end of their lease regardless of whether or not you right those wrongs. I know with college students there's a bit of a built-in churn schedule, but minimizing churn is one of the best ways to increase your profit. Seems pretty logical to me to want these issues resolved before someone moves in, but alas, it's unfortunately a piece of the equation that is consistently missed in many large buildings.

There's a reason my dorm room was essentially a cinderblock box. Minimal built-ins of the highest quality laminated hardwoods. No amenities whatsoever.

Why UC's Sheakley Athletic Center renovation now will cost $100 million

 

The University of Cincinnati’s indoor practice facility project to replace its football practice bubble site has jumped in cost.

 

UC now estimates the total project to renovate the Sheakley Athletic Center will cost $100 million, with construction costs making up $70 million. Those are the numbers it used on a request for qualifications filed with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to hire a commissioning agent to oversee design and installation of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing systems in the building, according to the request.

 

The total project cost is 43% higher than the $70 million UC had previously estimated earlier this year. The cost increase is due to “scope creep and inflation,” UC senior project manager Dale Magoteaux told me.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/08/30/uc-athletic-facility-now-costs-100-million.html

 

I visited the deacon the semester it opened and, in my eyes, been ready for occupancy. They had students already moved in and the exit signs were just pieces of paper taped onto the walls. I filed a complaint with the city about it, to which they replied "They're working on it". 

 

I'm glad to hear that they're looking to build more traditional, higher density dorms in that RFQ. That will help them immensely compared to building more and more "apartment style" dorms.

I know this is nothing new but it always blows my mind when universities spend $100 renovating athletic facilities that aren't even that old.

2 hours ago, taestell said:

I know this is nothing new but it always blows my mind when universities spend $100 renovating athletic facilities that aren't even that old.

But this isn't a renovation, this is a new build. The Sheakley athletic center will replace the bubble and existing bleachers/turf area. I am not surprised by the cost increases, we are seeing it on all projects we are working on anywhere from 20-30% increase in both labor and materials. 

UC debuts $45.6M home for its historic College of Law. Take a look inside

By Liz Engel  –  Staff reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Sep 14, 2022

 

Verna Williams said her first day inside the new home of the University of Cincinnati College of Law was so exciting, it took her nearly the entire day to truly settle in.

 

Driving in and seeing the big windows, knowing the $45.6 million, 18-month project was finally complete, was beyond “gratifying and thrilling.”

 

The building’s debut serves as a feather in the cap of her tenure at UC, opened ahead of her departure as dean. The larger, and brighter space, is outfitted with state-of-the-art technology and sets the standard for the college for decades to come, she said.

 

MORE

UC Health wraps $15M facelift as part of $221M campus revamp

By Liz Engel  –  Staff reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

Sep 20, 2022

 

A $15 million effort to renovate the main entrance and lobby at UC Medical Center is now complete, and officials said the long-awaited project — part of a more than $220 million campus overhaul — will significantly improve accessibility for patients, visitors and staff.

 

Rick Hinds, UC Health interim president and CEO, called it “a tremendous milestone” in the history of hospital. He and several other health system officials gathered Monday for a brief unveiling ceremony for the project. UC Medical Center, formerly known as University Hospital, opened in 1823.

 

The renovation was announced in 2019 as part of a $221 million investment by UC Health into its 14-acre Clifton campus in Uptown — the expansion and renovation effort stands as the largest capital project in the system’s history.

 

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