While I understand the resident's concerns, maybe they should have waited until the new I-75/MLK/Central Parkway/Hopple intersection is completed, then cars would have not reason to use this cut through.  But now traffic is such a cluster, all through streets should serve as emergency relief.

 

Did you know that this intersection cannot be completed on the original timeline set by ODOT?  It is now in delay because Cinci State asked for the I-74 exit to Central Pkwy to remain open.  City pushed for this to support Cinci State.  ODOT has now added at least 3-4 more years to the project while City and Cinci State figure out a new connector road project.  This delay is preventing the new ramp from Hopple intersection to I-75 north from being installed.  Further, the protected bikeway on Central Pkwy cannot be extended all the way to Ludlow because of all these delays.

 

The residents were willing to wait until the original schedule, but the extra years ODOT now indicates was too much for residents to handle.  New traffic studies indicate Clifton Hills Ave was carrying several thousand cars per day.  Most of them during early morning rush and second big spike at evening rush.  It's a real mess.  Primary concerns are safety for all the kids walking from Ludlow to Cristo Del Ray school.  There are no sidewalks and way too many cars.

 

That's incredible. So are we going to be stuck with that temporary ramp from Central Parkway to I-74 for years while they figure out the permanent solution?

And what is the delay with the city tearing down the abandoned homes and apartments on MLK?

The Whitfield Gardens apartments behind Good Samaritan have been completely leveled. From what I understand, they're being replaced with a new apartment complex and a few townhomes along Whitfield Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

I meant to post news on that but I kept forgetting.  For an investor there's probably a much more efficient way to organize that space.  Nearby Lowell Ave. is one 8-family plex after another. 

Those parcels were all bought by Gaslight Gardens LLC earlier this year. Curious what their plans are for the site.

I used to rent the (now leveled) house in the first image... I'm pretty sure they bought a couple more homes on that lower part of Whitfield. Haven't seen any blueprints, but I've heard it's supposed to at least make an attempt to fit into the neighborhood.

The Gaslights gardens site will be two buildings, 2 stories tall with roughly 100 apartments total. Or so I'm told...

Is there any reason for someone who lives close to this demo to worry about lead in the dust?

The Gaslights gardens site will be two buildings, 2 stories tall with roughly 100 apartments total. Or so I'm told...

 

Call it Gaslight Gully or Gaslight Gulch. 

The Gaslights gardens site will be two buildings, 2 stories tall with roughly 100 apartments total. Or so I'm told...

 

Call it Gaslight Gully or Gaslight Gulch. 

 

 

2 stories tall?!

It's in a ravine.  Whitfield is just about the steepest hill in town.  It's where that girl was severely injured on the bike earlier this year. 

$17 million upscale apartment project coming to Clifton

Dec 17, 2014, 12:34pm EST Updated: Dec 17, 2014, 1:44pm EST

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Gaslight Property plans to build a new upscale apartment community in Clifton.

 

The new development, Gaslight Manor, will include 117 luxury apartments. Located at 3240-3250 Whitfield Ave., the apartments will include a mix of studios, one-bedroom with study, and one- and two-bedroom units. The total development is expected to be a more than $16.5 million investment.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/12/17/17-million-upscale-apartment-project-coming-to.html

No big loss of buildings: https://goo.gl/maps/jr8fp

 

I do, though, wish the stainless trend would cease. Not everything needs to be stainless, as most of it is of such low grade that it's hardly worth calling luxury. I'm more a fan of the IKEA kitchens, with unified appliances (e.g. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/appliances/). Bring back matte and smooth white and black!

^Agreed.  I also like stuff like this (though it certainly isn't luxury):

 

http://www.geappliances.com/products/artistry/

 

Those are nice. I have some super cheap "stainless steel" appliances in the place I live at now, in some cheap loft place. You can tell how cheap they are by how little anything sticks to the fridge. Magnets that were fine to use on my house in Cincinnati pretty much don't work at all at this place. It also feels like plastic.

The luxury market (real luxury, not developer-luxury) generally leads trends and they've begun moving away from stainless and granite for a few years now. Integrated appliances are way more common these days in luxury residential architecture. Granite countertops are almost unheard of these days in luxury developments. Marble and manufactured stone are currently all the rage. Which I'm fond of. Quartz is one of my favorite materials for countertops.

 

These "luxury" developments are starting to look cheap even when they're brand new because they're following the trends of a few years ago and therefore look dated the moment they're finished.

Those are nice. I have some super cheap "stainless steel" appliances in the place I live at now, in some cheap loft place. You can tell how cheap they are by how little anything sticks to the fridge. Magnets that were fine to use on my house in Cincinnati pretty much don't work at all at this place. It also feels like plastic.

 

Stainless alloys are usually non magnetic.  There are all kinds of alloying compounds that can be used to make them magnetic if desired

Ah - thanks for that!

If anyone noticed, that new Gaslight project says all kitchens will have quartz countertops.  That's a smart decision.

^Agreed.  I also like stuff like this (though it certainly isn't luxury):

 

http://www.geappliances.com/products/artistry/

 

 

I looked into buying those for a pair of rentals recently.  They look nice, and thats it.  They are very cheaply made, and are frill free offering virtually NO features.  I at least need the oven to be self cleaning.  Tenants leave some nasty crap behind in ovens that I'd rather just burn off over a few runs of the clean cycle.

It's in a ravine.  Whitfield is just about the steepest hill in town.  It's where that girl was severely injured on the bike earlier this year.

 

I watched that girl get hit. Absolutely horrific. Whitfield was a disaster last winter. Cops put up barriers but apparently they couldn't legally close the road despite the snow and ice, and of course everyone thought they knew better than the barriers. So much schadenfreude when you'd tell someone they wouldn't make it up the hill and they'd give you the bird and try it anyway just to spin out, slide back down, and crash into another car.

 

As for the initial renderings, I have to say that they don't look half-bad. Much improved over what was there, and all the schlock along Lowell.

The news just keeps pouring out of uptown...

 

Buildings that blight Clifton will be demolished sooner than expected

Feb 24, 2015, 2:45pm EST

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter and columnist- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

More than two dozen vacant buildings that line and blight Martin Luther King Jr. Drive West near Interstate 75 will be destroyed this year instead of in 2016, according to a memo from City Manager Harry Black.

 

The buildings, which have fallen prey to vandals, illegal dumping and graffiti, are part of the city's plan to revamp MLK Drive to make it safer and more friendly to pedestrians, including adding a shared-use pedestrian-bicycle path. Demolition is now slated for mid-summer of this year instead of the spring of 2016. The street improvement project also will be moved up to start later in 2015 instead of 2016.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/02/24/buildings-that-blight-clifton-will-be-demolished.html

So...the properties they bought up and left vacant fell into disrepair and somehow demolishing them and leaving the street even more empty of built structures is going to make it more pedestrian friendly for whom exactly? The people who no longer live there because they tore down all the buildings along MLK?

 

I'm not sure I get why this was necessary. Well, I GET how we wound up at this point (traffic engineers) but still, it's a road, not a highway. None of the curves needed to be fixed other than the hairpin before Central which is separate of this portion of the project.

 

Why is demolishing what little bit of life there was along MLK necessary?

So...the properties they bought up and left vacant fell into disrepair and somehow demolishing them and leaving the street even more empty of built structures is going to make it more pedestrian friendly for whom exactly? The people who no longer live there because they tore down all the buildings along MLK?

 

I'm not sure I get why this was necessary. Well, I GET how we wound up at this point (traffic engineers) but still, it's a road, not a highway. None of the curves needed to be fixed other than the hairpin before Central which is separate of this portion of the project.

 

Why is demolishing what little bit of life there was along MLK necessary?

 

MLK will be nothing more than a highway linking I-75 with I-71. Unfortunately, that is the only vision Uptown leaders have for the area.

This whole project just infuriates me.  Of course those buildings were blighted, because they were vacated and stripped in preparation for the street widening project.  This project adds a turn lane, except now there will be virtually nothing left to turn into anymore.  It's like the Kennedy Connector, which has a center turn lane for its entire length despite having no developable parcels along at least half of it, and access to others on different streets.  It's not going to be friendly to pedestrians because there's nothing left to walk to.  This is exactly the kind of backward-thinking automobiles-above-all-else mentality that destroys cities and tax base while adding more infrastructure to pay for and maintain to boot.  That's how governments go broke.  If they were planning to redevelop the whole north side of the street with new buildings at a higher density than the very affordable apartments that are being lost, then maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad, but instead we get more useless greenspace that does nothing but require mowing and litter cleanup. 

^You bring up a point I haven't heard mentioned in detail. Is there any plan for selling off parcels along MLK for future development? Or is it now just a part of the ROW and destined to be a grass lawn forever?

My guess is that they'll just remain city-owned vacant parcels.  That's already the case between Dixmyth and Clifton, and on the north side of Dixmyth as well.  Either way, who would want to build anything right next to this monstrosity?  That's part of the reason the apartments that were there were rather dowdy to begin with.  Who wants to live on a busy street full of roaring through traffic?  This is how we get buffer zones and berms and other "nature band-aids" to try to make the environment we've created a little less harsh.  The problem is it just makes distances even bigger and walking and biking and transit use that much more unpleasant, so it becomes self-reinforcing.  It also doesn't help that there's a creek back there, so these properties drop off precipitously towards the back, and that will only be exacerbated by the widening of MLK.  If that valley was filled in from Whitfield to the edge of the Clifton Colony apartments then you'd actually have a decently flat parcel between MLK and Lowell that could have something like Stetson Square on it, but instead it'll just be empty useless woods.  I have little doubt UC wants to see this whole corridor ripped stripped clean of anything that might turn off prospective students and their parents coming to visit for the first time. 

Back in the mid 2000's when I was a trustee in the CUF Communtiy Council I recall John Cranly bringing up a redevelopment proposal to us that his group had for that side of the street and he was taken aback at he negative reaction from those in the room when he wanted to push for eminent domain to get the "blighted properties" that were still occupied at the time removed so his deal could move forward. We were in the midst of similar development tactics on Stratford and in the business district and had little patience for someone else waving big plans and tearing down buildings on another side (though on the far edge) of the neighborhood. To be honest i dont even remember what the plan looked like but it was to be build across from the entrance from the Fourm Apts I believe. Outside folks never got that I lived there for what it is/was and not what it 'could be' once everything there was removed and replaced with 'new'. Despite the issues at the time we saw what Corryville was doing (and would soon become) and wanted no part of it. I think developers saw us as being against change but we saw what could happen once the wrecking ball started a rollin'.

So...the properties they bought up and left vacant fell into disrepair and somehow demolishing them and leaving the street even more empty of built structures is going to make it more pedestrian friendly for whom exactly? The people who no longer live there because they tore down all the buildings along MLK?

 

I'm not sure I get why this was necessary. Well, I GET how we wound up at this point (traffic engineers) but still, it's a road, not a highway. None of the curves needed to be fixed other than the hairpin before Central which is separate of this portion of the project.

 

Why is demolishing what little bit of life there was along MLK necessary?

 

My guess is that the City/UC did not like the look of the apartment buildings and going up MLK is kinda the front door to UC.

It just was not an appealing look. You might say it is better for "transit" everything else is smoke and mirrors.

Unfortunately the average prospective college student and their parents are a bunch of wusses and are intimidated by something as innocuous as a series of 6-family apartment buildings. 

I remember the first time my dad and I toured UC back in Spring 2006 and we drove around the area a bit and he looked at some of the more rundown areas closer to the highways and just went, "eh, it's part of being in a city. Not everything will look pretty" and just kept talking about how much he enjoyed UC. If a 50 year old man who has spent the entirety of his adult life in suburbia and doesn't like cities can get over it, others can too. It's unfortunate that's not the case.

Art schools were always in the roughest part of town from the 70s through the 90s.  That's how you knew that few lame-o people were going to school there. 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/02/nyregion/two-teen-agers-guilty-in-murder-of-pratt-student.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/19/nyregion/paroled-killer-is-arrested-in-murder-of-pratt-student.html

 

 

That is except Cranbrook, as Eminem so eloquently informed us back in 2002. 

 

 

So...the properties they bought up and left vacant fell into disrepair and somehow demolishing them and leaving the street even more empty of built structures is going to make it more pedestrian friendly for whom exactly? The people who no longer live there because they tore down all the buildings along MLK?

 

I'm not sure I get why this was necessary. Well, I GET how we wound up at this point (traffic engineers) but still, it's a road, not a highway. None of the curves needed to be fixed other than the hairpin before Central which is separate of this portion of the project.

 

Why is demolishing what little bit of life there was along MLK necessary?

 

MLK will be nothing more than a highway linking I-75 with I-71. Unfortunately, that is the only vision Uptown leaders have for the area.

 

All the more reason to seize this moment for Taft and McMillan to be converted to two way east of Vine. Choose your  battles right? Let MLK be fast moving and auto oriented. As it is Taft is like a motor speedway where it feels unsafe to be a pedestrian, but it is the one that could easily be a neighborhood street. Uptown needs to do this if you are ever going to sew the  neighborhoods of Corryville, Clifton Heights, Mt. Auburn, and Walnut Hills back together again.

So...the properties they bought up and left vacant fell into disrepair and somehow demolishing them and leaving the street even more empty of built structures is going to make it more pedestrian friendly for whom exactly? The people who no longer live there because they tore down all the buildings along MLK?

 

I'm not sure I get why this was necessary. Well, I GET how we wound up at this point (traffic engineers) but still, it's a road, not a highway. None of the curves needed to be fixed other than the hairpin before Central which is separate of this portion of the project.

 

Why is demolishing what little bit of life there was along MLK necessary?

 

MLK will be nothing more than a highway linking I-75 with I-71. Unfortunately, that is the only vision Uptown leaders have for the area.

 

All the more reason to seize this moment for Taft and McMillan to be converted to two way east of Vine. Choose your  battles right? Let MLK be fast moving and auto oriented. As it is Taft is like a motor speedway where it feels unsafe to be a pedestrian, but it is the one that could easily be a neighborhood street. Uptown needs to do this if you are ever going to sew the  neighborhoods of Corryville, Clifton Heights, Mt. Auburn, and Walnut Hills back together again.

 

I agree, once MLK is complete Taft and Mcmillan need to be converted to two way streets, preferably with bike lanes. As it stands now, biking from Walnut Hills to UC can be tricky at times due to the speed of traffic on Taft - I usually take a goofy route throough side streets to avoid having to bike on Taft. As for west of Vine, the density is great there and traffic is slow due to a combination of factors, so I think the one way streets are needed.

The Rec Center in Clifton just finished a huge renovation. I believe it opened yesterday.

 

Annual membership is $25.

The thing about the UC area is that there is generally steady traffic on the north/south streets but the east/west street traffic moves in waves.  So from a biking perspective you generally just want to get out of the way when a wave of 40 cars catches up with you on MLK, McMillan, and Calhoun.

The thing about the UC area is that there is generally steady traffic on the north/south streets but the east/west street traffic moves in waves.  So from a biking perspective you generally just want to get out of the way when a wave of 40 cars catches up with you on MLK, McMillan, and Calhoun.

 

The timing of stoplights has a lot to do with this, I think. Taft is the prime example; when the light from the 71 exit ramp turns green, everyone knows they have to drive like they’re at a drag strip in order to make the rest of the green lights all the way through to Auburn Ave. I would not want to be on a bike anywhere near Taft when that stop light turns green.

^This is so true. They've toyed with the light timing a handful of times, but it's still timed in such a manner that encourages driving way too fast for the area.

 

Utilizing the "lights timed for 30mph" method of light timing as used in Covington seems like it would help this. People wouldn't feel the need to drive fast to beat the lights and would learn over time that driving an appropriate speed is all that's necessary to move quickly through the area.

The thing about the UC area is that there is generally steady traffic on the north/south streets but the east/west street traffic moves in waves.  So from a biking perspective you generally just want to get out of the way when a wave of 40 cars catches up with you on MLK, McMillan, and Calhoun.

 

The timing of stoplights has a lot to do with this, I think. Taft is the prime example; when the light from the 71 exit ramp turns green, everyone knows they have to drive like theyre at a drag strip in order to make the rest of the green lights all the way through to Auburn Ave. I would not want to be on a bike anywhere near Taft when that stop light turns green.

 

Yeah but it's fun to burn it up on those small hills and power through the traffic when it inevitably has to slow down for someone turning or someone pulling out of a parking lot.  I like how drivers think that once they've passed you that they never have to think about you again, but sure enough 30 seconds later you come along and pass them and possibly leave them in the dust when a light changes. 

I never had a problem with Taft at that light. I would often circle back to Northside by climbing to Eden Park and Walnut Hills, and take Taft west via UC and McMillian/Clifton. The biggest issue was the long grade from Reading west, but the parking lane was sufficient and hardly anyone ever parked in it. Going by UC was an even bigger issue as it was just two lanes and congested.

Clifton Market a step closer to happening...

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2015/04/24/clifton-market-deal/26296615/

Charlie Winburn is joining the Democrats on council to support giving a $400,000 grant to Clifton Market to make it veto-proof. He will also support the budget the Democrats' proposed changes to the budget, which should make their budget veto-proof as well. This will likely close the gap in financing and pave the way for construction to start this year.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/06/10/clifton-market-grocery-store/71024924/

The people heading up Clifton Market do not have experience in this kind of venture.  They need a more business-savvy Board IMO

It's a lot of the same people who restarted the Esquire Theater, I believe. And honestly, they seem to have everything well organized and everything. I would be surprised if this venture wasn't wildly successful. Any grocery store would do well there if managed properly, but this one will have the financial backing of over 1000 residents who have a stake in the success of the business.

I think it's great that Clifton will be getting another grocery store, but I kind of feel like this will be a missed opportunity to create something more substantial on the site that makes better use of the whole parcel.  I would have loved to see something mixed use, with residential on top of retail- possibly even a grocery store.  With set-backs ala Michigan Square in Hyde Park, decent density could be reached without overwhelming the street, and there would be that many more residents to bolster the purchasing power in the business district.  At some point, Clifton has to think about actually growing instead of just maintaining the status quo or yearning for days past.

^I think a 4 story building would fit the block just fine. I would fully support a co-op grocery store on the first floor of a 4 story apartment/condo development.

I think 4 stories would be appropriate for these street elevation, but you could probably get to six with setbacks that wouldn't really be noticed from the street.  That could create some pretty cool balconies and living spaces that would demand top dollar.  Density + wealth in the heart of the business district- seems great to me.

If a subway station were built at this corner as was outlined in OKI's 1970 rapid transit network, then I think they'd have to allow a few tall residential buildings in order to possibly pay back into the transit system (i.e. a percentage of rental income would pay to staff the station instead of a neighborhood assessment).  Otherwise there is no point in promoting high-density hi-rise or even mid-rise development anywhere in a city that has huge swaths of vacant homes, lots, and apartment buildings. 

^I don't agree with that conclusion at all.  Density is often very spiky in cities, not uniform across the municipal boundaries.  You densify around demand drivers- whether that is a body of water (think the wall of skyscrapers along Chicago's lakeshore or just about all of South Florida), mountains, city views, parks, universities, employment centers, or neighborhood business districts.  The Ludlow business district is a desirable place to live because it has a well rounded group of merchants, restaurants, and attractions, is adjacent to a huge park, and is near many large employers.  This area absolutely should be more dense than say, Millvale, which is characterized by blight, open/abandoned land, and is out of the way of most employers and desirable parts of the city.  I don't think it's wise to think of development as a zero sum game.  The corner of Clifton Ave and Ludlow is not competing with vacant swaths of land in Price Hill or Avondale.  The people who would live in a mid rise in Clifton would never even look at living in one of those other neighborhoods, because they don't offer the same amenities that Clifton does.

Winburn has backed out of supporting a loan for Clifton Market, so it now only has the support of five council members, meaning it is no longer veto-proof. Cranley said he will veto.