August 26, 200816 yr ^Great news. The fact that so much work is going into the design is a sign they really care about how this site will turn out. Kudos for the preparation.
August 29, 200816 yr I guess Monzel feels in the dark too. I pulled this from his monthly newsletter. Somehow I'm on his mailing list. Monthly updates won't fly on this forum, only daily reports. ;-) Five Months After Ground Breaking, Banks Project Still Sitting Idle Five months have passed since the ground breaking ceremony for the Banks Project but if you took a look at the site you would be hard pressed to find any progress. Because of this uncertainty, Councilman Chris Monzel introduced a measure to require the City Manager to give monthly status reports about the project. More specifically Monzel wants to know if there have been any changes, in the timeline, management, financing and feasibility. Monzel said that because of this project’s magnitude, the taxpayers have a right to know and should get regular updates.
August 30, 200816 yr If Monzel were to subscribe to this threads feed then he would get all the information he needs to know. But I struggle believing the notion that he doesn't have the information he needs as a member of Council. Sounds like postering/pandering to his voters.
August 30, 200816 yr Hell, with "Jack" and "So goes it" ... we'll need hourly. ;) i assume you mean me, though i have no idea why you would lump me in with a comment about being impatient. i haven't put anything on this thread that would indicate that i need continual noticeable progress. i know how these things go, in fact, last summer i was working for the company in charge of project management for the garages and updated the timelines when needed. so it goes...
August 30, 200816 yr Hell, with "Jack" and "So goes it" ... we'll need hourly. ;) i assume you mean me, though i have no idea why you would lump me in with a comment about being impatient. i haven't put anything on this thread that would indicate that i need continual noticeable progress. i know how these things go, in fact, last summer i was working for the company in charge of project management for the garages and updated the timelines when needed. so it goes... It's a joke, homeslice.
September 2, 200816 yr Fire up troops! Observations from my office window.....Hot on the heels of the "beehive of activity" represented by two surveyors and a white van from last Friday, we now have new construction equipment arriving at the banks site. Looks to be the beginnings of a crane...large excavator etc. stay tuned.
September 2, 200816 yr Does anyone know if there will be a iive webcam for the park construction? There already is one. The address is in this thread somewhere.
September 2, 200816 yr The sign of construction equipment (which I can see on the webcam) is greeeaaat news, indeed! No longer will I "complain" about the lack of "Hourly news," "Cincinnatus." I had asked at this site if there were going to be a live webcam for the PARK development...I obviously already knew about the webcam for the first phase of the banks. On we go!!
September 2, 200816 yr I sure am gonna miss seeing that mudpit! :P Just jokin cant wait till they start that ESPN Zone!
September 3, 200816 yr ^Great shots. That top view is really going to change here soon. Good that the downtown is expanding too.
September 3, 200816 yr Fire up troops! Observations from my office window.....Hot on the heels of the "beehive of activity" represented by two surveyors and a white van from last Friday, we now have new construction equipment arriving at the banks site. Cool!
September 4, 200816 yr The Banks is a planned 15-acre mixed-use development between the Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ballpark, situated between Second Street and the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio. First proposed in 1999, a host of problems besieged the project for years, including disputes between the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, financing issues, threats from Congress, lawsuits, and developer drop-outs. Ground was finally broken on April 2, 2008 and construction is just now beginning on Phase One of the infill development. Check out the new Banks landing page that contains an exhaustive history of the development, along with renderings of the past and present. Photographs will be added throughout the construction process. -- As a side note, check out the new UrbanUp Blog. It now features commenting abilities, where unregistered users can add in comments on entries. I will be updating this regularly -- not just with site updates. Enjoy!
September 10, 200816 yr I saw it with my own eyes this morning!! :-o Check out the Cam http://207.250.90.73/view/index.shtml New Work On The Banks Starts Today Small businesses sought for Banks Project Workers will begin installing the support structures for phase one of the Banks on Wednesday. Those structures are huge steel-reinforced concrete columns that will be at least 75 feet deep. The columns go all the way to the bedrock, according to a release from The Banks Development Team. A 130-foot tall crane will be used in the process. About 12 columns will be built each day, with more than 2,000 needed for the first phase of The Banks. Crews broke ground on The Banks on April 2nd. For the past few months, workers have been clearing the site of the old Cinergy Field foundation. The Banks Development Team says work is on schedule, with most of the first phase to be completed by spring 2010. The first phase includes apartment, restaurants, retail, office space, parking garages and a possible hotel and/or grocery store. http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f729a5ff-08bb-4d54-9c02-c953d68d04b8
September 10, 200816 yr About 12 columns will be built each day, with more than 2,000 needed for the first phase of The Banks. Is this right? That would be half a year of hole drilling. Will they be able to to do other work while doing this part of the job?
September 11, 200816 yr Those structures are huge steel-reinforced concrete columns that will be at least 75 feet deep. The columns go all the way to the bedrock, ^ Hey, if they can do 12 of THOSE structures per day, I'll be pretty impressed.
September 11, 200816 yr Moonloop...yes, the park will be built at the same time. But the pole drilling is correct. It takes forever and I would hate to work around there because that stuff gets annoying and loud..aaalllllll day long.
September 11, 200816 yr They have to keep the whole thing from sliding into the river, which everything in the basin wants to do and quickly.
September 11, 200816 yr I understand ESPN Zone is rare. Only 9 in the country right? not only would that be insanely cool for Cincy to get it, I also don't see how they could ever pass up building it here. Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it be the only one in existance built between two stadiums? that would most likely create a media hot spot in itsself. It'll be a major anchor for other places, but my prediction is it would anchor more sports oriented places. Makes since right? it's going to be awesome either way.
September 12, 200816 yr Have any tenants actually been announced? It seems pretty far in advance. I think an ESPNZone would be really cool and hope that it happens but is that a strong possibility or just speculation?
September 13, 200816 yr It has not been officially announced, but the way things typically progress in these types of announcements this would seem to be a first announced tenant. They (the developers, city officials, etc) have repeatedly mentioned an ESPN Zone for The Banks. Either everyone is smitten by the opportunity of having such a place that they can't stop mentioning it, or there have been preliminary discussions that lead them to believe it's going to happen.
September 13, 200816 yr If only ESPN actually found it worthwhile to cover our pro teams. To be fair, if our teams played better, they'd get more coverage. The only teams that get consistant coverage even when they're terrible are from cities like NY and Chicago, which are several times larger and thus make up a greater percentage of viewership. So either we need to get bigger, our teams need to get better, or both.
September 18, 200816 yr looks like a good thing aig didnt sign onto this whole ordeal now, doesnt it? ha
September 18, 200816 yr seems like work has come to a standstill...again. then again i only drive by in the morning and in the evening but the crane doesnt seem to have moved in a while.
September 18, 200816 yr It's moving along. But it would be awesome to have about 3 cranes working at once. 12 poles drilled for each. Weeeeee!
September 18, 200816 yr Yeah, it seems like the crane hasn't moved in a week and I'm a regular watcher of that live feed.
September 18, 200816 yr I bet they just drilled into a gigantic cement slab from the old stadium that the bulldozers missed. Yikes! that could suck.
September 18, 200816 yr Dave Prather (Banks) said that my suggestion of having a live webcam at the Banks park project was a good one and that he would look into the possibility.
September 18, 200816 yr It's like watching paint dry. And what is the cardboard doing on the left side of the webcam?
September 19, 200816 yr I noticed that on the way home....they must just move it around every couple of days. Im on to them!
September 20, 200816 yr http://www.newgeography.com/content/00262-atlantas-atlantic-station-the-suburbs-come-city I don't particularly agree that Atlantic Station represents a good way to do this, but it does describe what we are about to get at the Banks.
September 20, 200816 yr ^ That article was written by Wendell Cox, one of the nations most vocal and prolific pro-sprawl, anti-transit commentators. So please read his articles with a huge grain of salt. If I had to guess, he's simply having a little fun with urbanists, by trying to minimize and devalue such an amazing project as Atlantic Station. He knows that some urbanists care about urban design, while other urbanists are more interested in specific liberal social goals. He's simply trying to exploit a philisophical rift and pit the latter group against the former. But, whether you like all of the details or not, Atlantic Station is one of the biggest and most financially successful New Urbanist developments. We can only hope the Banks will be such a success. The fact that it could happen in Atlanta serves as notice that quality redevelopment can - and should - happen in any American city. The Banks will indeed be similar to Atlantic Station. It will have underground parking, chain store retail, and expensive living units (and for the record, I fail to see how any of those things are cotnrary to urbanism, so I find Cox's argument impossibly weak) But the Banks will also have a fully urban layout, and hopefully it will be as wildly popular as Atlantic Station.
September 21, 200816 yr Well the big difference between Atlantic Station and Cincinnati's riverfront is that one is in an afterthought location and one is in truly the most valuable location in the Midwest outside Chicago. Atlantic Station faces the very real possibility of burning out in 10 years whereas anything built here on the riverfront is "forever". This thread is so old that it bears repeating that whatever is built here right now sort of doesn't matter since it will evolve to a great extent over time. It won't, however, ever have a post office, church, grade school, VFW hall, Kiwanis club, packs of kids playing stickball in the street, or anything of that kind that's part of any real neighborhood around the city, so I get a little scraped when they throw the term "neighborhood" around so recklessly.
September 21, 200816 yr I would love to see something like Xintiandi down on the river. Akin to nestling a little bit of hyde park square but made cooler with the addition of the park that has yet to be built.
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