Does anyone know why these sidewalks had to be completely ripped up and replaced in the first place? It looked like there was an issue with water leakages, possibly into the transit center.  I would imagine that is the reason for the plain sidewalk as opposed to pavers, and probably explains the lack of trees, too.  Those sidewalks seemed to perpetually be in bad shape from the day they were built.

The city paid a lot back around 1998 to have the decorative features of FWW installed.  That included those pavers and trees.  There was a base expense for the project that the city and state paid, then city council voted something like $15 million to upgrade the landscaping, pavers, lighting, and install the textured concrete on the trench walls.  That texture you see was bolted onto plain concrete walls.   

Quote from: The_Cincinnati_Kid on March 26, 2014, 06:10:32 PM

 

I believe the Bengals (or the Brown family) bought the naming rights (not for a huge sum if memory serves) and named the stadium after Paul Brown.

 

Posted by: KyleCincy

« on: Today at 02:22:13 PM » Insert Quote

Bengals have control over naming rights, and selling naming right to whoever. At this point I guess they don't need the money.

 

 

 

The Bengals paid (or gave concessions) $5,000,000 back in the late 1990s for the County not to sell the naming rights. 

 

http://bengals.enquirer.com/2000/08/19/ben_bengals_lease_pretty.html

 

 

As of January, the Bengals want the naming rights and the County doesn't want to give them up.

 

http://archive.cincinnati.com/article/20140122/NEWS010801/301220058/Bengals-want-own-stadium-name

It doesn't look like trees will be planted. The new landscaped area is between the sidewalk and the barrier wall, and will probably be the same plantings that are along the bridges over FWW. The problem, as I understood it from the city, was that there was extensive leaking due to faulty construction, which affected the Transit Center. It also caused the pavers to deteriorate and deform as the sub base was eroding and sinking.

Looks like the Cincinnati area is in line for 1.000-2,000 new corporate GE jobs ... and The Banks is a possible landing spot, as is Oakley. What a grand slam this would be for The Banks, the rest of downtown and all of the city/region..

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/04/09/ge-project-bring-jobs/7518947/

Well, this could explain the delay in constructing phase II above the parking garage built with Recovery & Reinvestment Act funds. 

 

Also, are they hiring?

This would be fantastic news if they chose The Banks. It would be a huge injection of life into the riverfront and hopefully help push forward future phases. I'd assume, based on the square footage they're looking for, that if they chose the Banks the only option would be the office site in phase II, correct? Isn't the spot in phase 1 is only capable of holding about 250,000 square feet?

GE please pick the the Banks

Would be interesting where the jobs are moving from. Would be hard to think they are creating 2000 jobs from scratch without relocating from an existing site. They say it is not GEAE, interesting to hear what group it is. Also, it seems that they are set on Ohio vs other areas of the country (not sure if that is correct or not). I  would imagine it is the consumer Finance division. They have a large office in the Springboro/Dayton area I believe. I could see them moving those jobs down to Cincinnati if that was the case.

please, please, please choose The Banks.....and please, please, please don't choose Mason.

Looks like the Cincinnati area is in line for 1.000-2,000 new corporate GE jobs ... and The Banks is a possible landing spot, as is Oakley. What a grand slam this would be for The Banks, the rest of downtown and all of the city/region..

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/04/09/ge-project-bring-jobs/7518947/

 

Wow that is good news no matter where they go in the region.

Would be interesting where the jobs are moving from.

 

Hopefully not Cleveland (GE Lighting).

I love speculation.  Here we go:

 

1.  The Mason site is just a negotiation ploy.  Cheaper rent and free parking will make Cincinnati sweeten their incentive package.

2.  My guess would be Oakley, since it will offer free parking and a larger office building (400,000) than the Banks (280,000- 300,000).  My source on office building size are old Business Courier articles but I can't post the links.

3.  HOWEVER, an invitation to bid an office building at the Banks was just posted Tuesday night to a local plan room.  I have not seen any activity on a Banks office building "publicly" posted ever.  I have only see informal budget pricing requests.  Interesting timing...

Maybe related, maybe unrelated, but hasn't GE expressed interest in renovating the conference rooms at the Freedom Center recently?

 

The Banks would offer some great amenities to a GE office- a huge park for your front yard, walking distance to restaurants and a future hotel for out of town business travelers.  Plus, putting a GE logo on the Cincinnati skyline would impressive for business travelers coming in from the airport.

I love speculation.  Here we go:

 

1.  The Mason site is just a negotiation ploy.  Cheaper rent and free parking will make Cincinnati sweeten their incentive package.

2.  My guess would be Oakley, since it will offer free parking and a larger office building (400,000) than the Banks (280,000- 300,000).  My source on office building size are old Business Courier articles but I can't post the links.

3.  HOWEVER, an invitation to bid an office building at the Banks was just posted Tuesday night to a local plan room.  I have not seen any activity on a Banks office building "publicly" posted ever.  I have only see informal budget pricing requests.  Interesting timing...

 

Depending on the what business unit of GE it is I was leaning toward Oakley as a safe landing spot.

The more I read this it looks as if they aren't going to announce a location today, which I originally had thought. It looks as if they may announce the project but are still ways away from selecting an actual site...and other locations are still being considered.

Which location do you think Cranley prefers?  Oakley is already pretty well off but will this be a neighborhood vs. downtown thing again?  Do you think he would offer up incentives to build at the Banks?  Should be interested to see how this plays out!

^I think Cranley might tone down the anti downtown rhetoric a little with the Banks site because it's kind of downtown lite, and is so tied to the Reds.  I'm pretty sure the Castellini clan gave a lot of money to Cranley's campaign, and I think that could help assuage some of Cranley's opposition to new big projects in the core.  Just a guess, though.

 

I'm surprised they haven't mentioned the US Playing Card factory in Norwood as a potential site.  Right off 71, huge building, plenty of parking.  Between this and Catholic Health Partners, it should be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Here is some info on the business unit. Looks like it will be 1 of the 5 new global shared service centers. Finance and IT are mentioned in the article.

 

<update> and now the enquirer http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/04/09/ge-project-bring-jobs/7518947/

 

http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/GE+New+Shared+Services+Center+Bringing+1,400+Jobs+To+Greater+Cincinnati/9370087.html

I hope Cranley doesn't f this up like he does everything else.  If he can help brings this to the Banks, (or at least Oakley) it will be a major win for the City.  He needs to offer every incentive in the City's arsenal to brings this to the Banks.

Looks like it's Oakley or The Banks!

 

GE picks Cincinnati for 1,400 job center

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business

 

General Electric will bring 1,400 new jobs to Greater Cincinnati for a facility devoted to information technology, finance and other shared services, JobsOhio and the company announced today.

 

The multinational giant expects to break ground on a site to be located in Cincinnati this summer – either in Oakley or downtown at the Banks. The likely Oakley location is at the Oakley Station development.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-picks-cincinnati-for-1-400-job-center.html

Glad to hear Mason is out off the list of potential sites.

 

I'm obviously biased in wanting this for The Banks, but in all reality it really would be a better site for workers. Oakley Station is devoid of life and isn't a good example of recent strengths within our city for people who will be moving to Cincy for these 1,400 jobs. By placing them Downtown in the middle of everything it's a lot more likely they'll become integrated into the progress the city is seeing and this will help continue building a support network for said progress.

Here is some info on the business unit. Looks like it will be 1 of the 5 new global shared service centers. Finance and IT are mentioned in the article.

 

<update> and now the enquirer http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/04/09/ge-project-bring-jobs/7518947/

 

http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/GE+New+Shared+Services+Center+Bringing+1,400+Jobs+To+Greater+Cincinnati/9370087.html

 

That is a "Big" deal

How much square footage would you expect a company would need for 1,400 employees?

Now the interesting thing with The Banks and Oakley is that both are in the city, but the city/county also own a piece of the banks.

They are also a taxing authority so they have an advantage over Oakley. They can say come here for a large payroll tax cut that we

won't give you at Oakley, a bit of a conflict of interest.

How much square footage would you expect a company would need for 1,400 employees?

 

The article said 400,000 square feet.

The office tower for 180 Walnut is expected to have 233,500 square feet according to http://www.180walnut.com/facts.html.

 

Not sure if they can build it higher or occupy a second building in phase 2 or 3, but it seems to be pretty limiting to GE and I wouldn't be surprised if they choose Oakley. Though I think the little bit about GE supporting the Freedom Center's conference space conversion is an interesting detail. Hopefully they choose The Banks. Either way it is positive for the city.

^Where did you see the bit about the Freedom Center's conference space?

Maybe related, maybe unrelated, but hasn't GE expressed interest in renovating the conference rooms at the Freedom Center recently?

 

The Banks would offer some great amenities to a GE office- a huge park for your front yard, walking distance to restaurants and a future hotel for out of town business travelers.  Plus, putting a GE logo on the Cincinnati skyline would impressive for business travelers coming in from the airport.

 

This was in reference to the Freedom Center proposing to move offices out of the upper floors of their structure and convert them into rentable conference space. You can read about it here. GE has announced financial support of this conversion.

 

From the article posted:

 

The plan: Turn top-floor executive offices – which have sweeping views of the Ohio River – into conference space that can be rented out to generate ongoing revenue for the Freedom Center.

 

General Electric Aviation has offered to help pay for the conversion, which will cost $2.6 million. The project won't start until all the money has been raised.

Maybe they will completely re-work one of the phases at the banks to accommodate the larger office building... For example not doing the phase 2 apartments and put the office building there and move phase 2 apartments to the phase 1 office building or completely redo phase 3 and push it up in schedule.

There is no reason that there should be a size/space limit at the Banks.  There is a parking lot the size of small country West of the Freedom Center.  This is more than enough room for whatever size building GE wants.  If they have to rework the master plan for that area, then rework the master plan. 

Did they ever say how many square feet the phase 2 office building could end up being? It appears to be a larger building than the Phase 1 office building.

Looks like it's Oakley or The Banks!

 

GE picks Cincinnati for 1,400 job center

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter- Cincinnati Business

 

General Electric will bring 1,400 new jobs to Greater Cincinnati for a facility devoted to information technology, finance and other shared services, JobsOhio and the company announced today.

 

The multinational giant expects to break ground on a site to be located in Cincinnati this summer – either in Oakley or downtown at the Banks. The likely Oakley location is at the Oakley Station development.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-picks-cincinnati-for-1-400-job-center.html

 

I wonder how he knows it's down to those two, or if he just accidentally left off Mason?

 

I assume they would have to decide relatively quickly if they are going to break ground this summer.

GE to lease temporary space for hundreds of jobs in downtown Cincinnati

Tom Demeropolis - Cincinnati Business Courier

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-to-lease-temporary-space-for-hundreds-of-jobs.html

 

That is good news for downtown in and of itself since it'll fill some vacant office space for the next couple of years. Also makes it seem like The Banks would be GE's preferred long term location.

I really think this quote is promising for downtown from the above article:

 

 

 

 

"Allen and Roger Lobo, global project and quality leader at GE, said downtown Cincinnati has undergone a transformation in the past couple of years and will be able to attract a “great demographic.”

 

“It’s really about the demographic draw there,” Lobo said."

 

 

Source:  http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-to-lease-temporary-space-for-hundreds-of-jobs.html

Assuming an average salary of $50,000, Cincinnati will collect $1.47 million annually in earnings tax.  GE will use this to get a property tax abatement. 

GE to lease temporary space for hundreds of jobs in downtown Cincinnati

Tom Demeropolis - Cincinnati Business Courier

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-to-lease-temporary-space-for-hundreds-of-jobs.html

 

That is good news for downtown in and of itself since it'll fill some vacant office space for the next couple of years. Also makes it seem like The Banks would be GE's preferred long term location.

 

Playing devils advocate, it could also be a test run to see how they like working downtown, which could be good or bad.

Yes, a couple of those quotes in the business courier article are promising.... if they want to recruit people to work downtown at their temporary location, then it would only make sense to put the permanent building a few blocks away..

 

Also they said they want a high profile place in the city with ample parking... the banks provides all of these attributes.  thousands of parking spots directly beneath their building and within a very short distance to streetcar line.

 

It all just seems to fit together so well.  I will be satisfied with oakley, but downtown would be hitting the jackpot out of nowhere.

GE to lease temporary space for hundreds of jobs in downtown Cincinnati

Tom Demeropolis - Cincinnati Business Courier

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-to-lease-temporary-space-for-hundreds-of-jobs.html

 

That is good news for downtown in and of itself since it'll fill some vacant office space for the next couple of years. Also makes it seem like The Banks would be GE's preferred long term location.

 

Playing devils advocate, it could also be a test run to see how they like working downtown, which could be good or bad.

 

But they are expected to make an announcement in about 90 days according to the article. Definitely not enough time for a test run with feedback about employees' experiences.

Yes, a couple of those quotes in the business courier article are promising.... if they want to recruit people to work downtown at their temporary location, then it would only make sense to put the permanent building a few blocks away..

 

Also they said they want a high profile place in the city with ample parking... the banks provides all of these attributes.  thousands of parking spots directly beneath their building and within a very short distance to streetcar line.

 

It all just seems to fit together so well.  I will be satisfied with oakley, but downtown would be hitting the jackpot out of nowhere.

 

Also, why not have a temp location in the burbs before deciding on a perm location. Office space is cheaper out there anyway.  On top of that, placing the temp location downtown will get the workers accustomed to paying parking, etc. which would be a bit of a shock if it were moving from the burbs to city. My bet is that the perm location is the banks.

 

 

Looks like Kaisch may have sealed his re-election with this news.

GE to lease temporary space for hundreds of jobs in downtown Cincinnati

Tom Demeropolis - Cincinnati Business Courier

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/ge-to-lease-temporary-space-for-hundreds-of-jobs.html

 

That is good news for downtown in and of itself since it'll fill some vacant office space for the next couple of years. Also makes it seem like The Banks would be GE's preferred long term location.

 

Playing devils advocate, it could also be a test run to see how they like working downtown, which could be good or bad.

 

But they are expected to make an announcement in about 90 days according to the article. Definitely not enough time for a test run with feedback about employees' experiences.

 

Good point.

Depends when this interview was done, but he mentions sites throughout greater Cincinnati, which is different than downtown or Oakley.  The temp space downtown and "a high profile space" is very telling though IMO.

 

 

Meet Joe Allen, the man who will run GE's huge new Cincinnati operation

Rob Daumeyer Editor- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Joe Allen will run General Electric’s new U.S. Global Operations Center, based in Cincinnati.  Allen is already in town, having worked for the past six years in Evendale as chief financial officer for GE Aviation’s supply chain operations. I spoke to Allen by phone from Columbus, where he was at the Ohio Statehouse for the joint announcement with the state’s JobsOhio initiative.

 

Q: How many jobs are we talking about?

 

A: There will be 1,400 jobs that will be new to the state of Ohio. When it’s all said and done, we’ll have between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs here. We’ll start in Atrium II until we pick a permanent space.

 

Q: Where will this new facility go? What kind of space are you looking for?

 

A: We’re looking at a number of competitive packages from all around Greater Cincinnati. Hamilton County and the surrounding counties are all in play. We want to be in the kind of location that will help attract people to General Electric. We absolutely want it to be a high-profile space ... with ample parking. These are backbone jobs. And we need to be able to scale up in one location.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/04/10/meet-joe-allen-the-man-who-will-run-ges-huge-new.html

There's a FACEBOOK page for that!

 

https://www.facebook.com/BringGEtotheBanks

Hmmmm, the same corporation that doesn't pay taxes?  I hope they don't get Montgomery Inn type incentives just to move downtown!

I wish 309 Vine St. was a little bigger (it is 300,000 r.s.f.) to accommodate the use.  Large floor plates for efficient back office functions,  on site parking, a killer adaptive re-use, and a high profile site.

There's a FACEBOOK page for that!

 

https://www.facebook.com/BringGEtotheBanks

 

I have always wondered who does these pages (and so quickly too). Is it someone at Carter trying to promote their product or just someone who is a fan of the Banks?

 

 

I wonder if any of this had to do with the fact that Phase 2 of the Banks hasn't started construction yet?  Hmmmm..... :wtf:

Poured concrete on northern side of 2nd Street are complete in between Main and Walnut. I hope they plant some trees and flowers in the dirt area between the sidewalk and the wall.

 

What is up with the wood utility pole seen in this pic? Also one at the Main St. intersection. Unusual for downtown...

Looks like a temporary traffic signal setup, though they poured the new concrete around it so I dunno.