July 21, 200915 yr What's the area to the north of the construction going to be? Originally I thought that was also going to be covered by QCSII. Is it not?
July 21, 200915 yr Just checked. An 11 story parking garage...with a promenade? WHY? Call me a sucker for being so late on this, but Jesus Christ. Do we never build up to the street without a parking structure anymore? Other buildings seem to manage with their parking shuttles. They're consolidating into one building too. Why do we need even MORE parking?
July 21, 200915 yr ^Because Cincinnati is a decidedly auto-centric town. I don't like it either, but unless Cincy gets light rail in the near future, we're going to have to live with this sort of thing.
July 21, 200915 yr According to Rob Alpen, the tower crane will be raised six times over the next year.
July 22, 200915 yr According to Rob Alpen, the tower crane will be raised six times over the next year. That sounds about right!
July 22, 200915 yr So, who will be the new, large tenant being announced tomorrow (Thursday, July 23rd) at 1PM - according to article in the Cincinnati Business Courier? Any ideas?
July 23, 200915 yr 'Major' tenant for Great American Tower http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090722/BIZ/307220004/1055/NEWS/+Major++tenant+for+Great+American+Tower A new “major” tenant for Great American Tower at Queen City Square will be announced at 1 p.m. Thursday, Western & Southern Financial Group said late Wednesday. The tenant, which is said to have multiple locations, will be locating its offices in the Downtown tower by late 2011.
July 23, 200915 yr Any guess/speculation who it is? Wonder if the tenant is local or out of town? Guess we will know for sure tomorrow - unless someone has the scoop tonight. :-D
July 23, 200915 yr I wish I knew...these jerks didn't even bother to include me in their media release.
July 23, 200915 yr It's now taller than QCS phase 2. Fireproofing is on the steel girders through the lobby. From a distance it's really starting to take on an impressive presence.
July 23, 200915 yr Can't wait for QCS3. I wonder who the new tenant is. F500 company? Oh and why do they say the largest skyscraper? The P&G towers has it beat by a million square feet.
July 23, 200915 yr Still would love to have the webcam operational so I don't have to drive downtown a few times a week to see the progress. Anyone know status/timeline? Thanks.
July 23, 200915 yr Any guess/speculation who it is? Wonder if the tenant is local or out of town? Guess we will know for sure tomorrow - unless someone has the scoop tonight. :-D I am going to guess.... for no reason.... Ashland Oil.
July 23, 200915 yr It references that the tenant has multiple locations...this one being the biggest...I am guessing UBS. They were suppose to move one of their downtown offices to Kenwood, but pulled out because the building is stuck in bankruptcy...they stated they were looking for other space. Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 5:21pm EDT New tenant for Great American TowerBusiness Courier of Cincinnati Western & Southern Financial Group will announce a new major tenant for its Great American Tower at Queen City Square, Eagle Realty Group, a subsidiary of the insurer, said Wednesday. The announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m., according to a media advisory. The tenant, which has multiple locations, will be locating the largest of its offices in the downtown tower, which is under construction, by late 2011.
July 23, 200915 yr Just a downtown shuffle...To bad its not a new firm to the area...or from the burbs.
July 23, 200915 yr Just a downtown shuffle...To bad its not a new firm to the area...or from the burbs. Agreed. Too bad it's not from (God forbid) Northern Kentucky and/or related suburbs. We need more people downtown currently not working there.....maybe when (if?) the economy recovers.
July 23, 200915 yr it might be good if all the local offices move there, especially west chester. http://www.frostbrowntodd.com/contact/offices/
July 23, 200915 yr They need local offices in each of the cities, although I'm not for sure why they need one in West Chester.
July 23, 200915 yr There is enough separate activity in Butler County to support its own office. If you have to do work in Hamilton it is easier from West Chester than Downtown Cincy.
July 23, 200915 yr Any ideas what will be going on the lower floors? GAI has floors 8-27 & 39-41. Per the BC article, FBT will be moving into floors 30-33, leaving 7 floors and 175,000 SF available (28-29 and 34-38). Lobby, shops, mechanical, conference rooms on floors 1-7? http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/07/20/daily41.html Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 5:21pm EDT | Modified: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 2:00pm Frost Brown Todd moving office to Great American Tower Business Courier of Cincinnati Frost Brown Todd will join American Financial Group as a tenant in the Great American Tower at Queen City Square, being built downtown, the company announced at a news conference Thursday. The law firm’s Cincinnati office is currently located in PNC Center on East Fifth Street. In Great American Tower, it will occupy 100,000 square feet on floors 30 to 33, compared to the seven floors it leases in the PNC Center, where it has been for 30 years. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
July 23, 200915 yr Side note: GAI will have a non-company-ran cafeteria on the 17th floor. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
July 23, 200915 yr I hear the curtainwall work will begin once the steel reaches the 16th floor. By my count they should be there by mid-August. I think the steel work is at the 10th floor now! I love watching this building grow it's like watching a fetus grow inside the womb.
July 24, 200915 yr The view from 2nd St as you come off the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. This thing really is going to be a monster, what 35 floors to go? More pictures here.
July 24, 200915 yr The view from 2nd St as you come off the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. This thing really is going to be a monster, what 35 floors to go? I believe it's 31 more to go. Within the next week they will have 12 floors up, and 29 to go. I believe the total floors will be 41. Obviously not all of those will be occupied but anyway. Nice shot though. I like the other pic where the sun is hitting the core. It shows how high this sucker is begining to get. http://www.flickr.com/photos/5chw4r7z/3751082412/
July 24, 200915 yr The only cool thing about moving away from Cincy is that when you see these periodic updates, it just shows how fast this is rising. Pretty cool to see
July 24, 200915 yr Cool view of the skyline from there...man QCSII is going to be tall...looking over at how tall Carew tower is, I can see what this empty space will look like once the 600 footer gets built. Sweet!
July 25, 200915 yr I personally wouldn't want to live in a high-rise (I like having trees outside my windows), but plenty of people would. Plenty of 600+ foot residential buildings exist in other cities, although it would probably be a while before market conditions would support something like that in Cincinnati. Chicago's John Hancock Center has condominiums as high as the 94th floor. Wasn't there some talk a while back about converting the Carew Tower to residential use?
July 26, 200915 yr While maybe not 600 ft, there are several residential high rises in Cincinnati, with the Overlook at Eden Park being the latest to be completed just a year or so ago. Additionally, the Ascent, and the Southshore tower was recently completed. There is obviously a market for high rise living in Cincy.
July 26, 200915 yr While I like the city I do not prefer to live in one. Too crowded, I like grass, trees, and bushes. I am a country boy at heart!
July 27, 200915 yr ^Of QCSII? No... "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
July 28, 200915 yr Can somebody tell me what the heck is going on with the QCSII site? It looks like they're tearing down part of the form for the core or something tore a piece of it off? check the site cam to see what I'm talking about?
July 28, 200915 yr I saw this at lunch today. It looks as if some of the netting has come loose. Nothing more. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
July 28, 200915 yr Oh ok...well it scared me. LOL...Well I know they are suppose to have a thinner core at some point but I don't think they would tare down the form for that though? BTW it looks like more than netting came loose, more like some wood too. Besides I thought I saw someone taking it down yesterday? Maybe they had to fix something?
July 29, 200915 yr I did some digging for you guys when I interviewed Eagle Realty's Tom Stapleton this past week. I think you'll find the highlighted information particularly juicy... Great American Tower at Queen City Square reaches 80% occupancy http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0728greatamericantower.aspx The Great American Tower at Queen City Square is taking a page out of Carew Tower’s book as it too will become the city’s tallest building and be built during an economic downturn. Cincinnati’s long-time tallest, Carew Tower, was built at the beginning of the Great Depression. 81 years later the Great American Tower will surpass Carew Tower and become Cincinnati’s tallest once again during a troubling economic time. The majority of the tower will be occupied with Cincinnati-based Great American Insurance Group who will take up nearly 50 percent of the Class A office space. Joining them will be Cincinnati-based law firm Frost Brown Todd who will occupy 100,000 square feet on floors 30 to 33 of the building. The 660-foot building is now just over 80 percent occupied with the Frost Brown Todd announcement says project developer Eagle Realty who also cites that a University of Cincinnati Economics Center for Education & Research report projects the creation of 2,343 jobs during construction with an estimated 550 man (person) years of labor required. Senior vice president of Eagle Realty Tom Stapleton says that the project is currently on-schedule for occupancy in January 2011, and says that Eagle Realty is working very hard on filling the remaining 20 percent of the building. “We’re trying to set a new standard,” says Stapleton about the Queen City Square development that boasts some of the best office space in the Cincinnati region. David Ginsburg, president and CEO of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., says that the Frost Brown Todd announcement is important because it represents the retention of one of America’s premier law firms in downtown Cincinnati. Ginsburg also says that it sets the stage for expansion which will create even more high-value jobs within the center city. “The announcement is an expression of confidence in downtown,” says Ginsburg who believes this commitment in addition to those made by Great American Insurance Group and Western & Southern Financial Group will inspire other firms to join them in downtown Cincinnati. [glow=yellow,2,300]Stapleton also notes that the popular construction webcam will be operational again soon as it had to be taken down temporarily while work was being done on the nearby Chemed Building. He expects the work to complete within the next week or so and the webcam to be back up shortly after that.[/glow]
July 29, 200915 yr here's the CaseycCam report: steel framing (in part) is now one floor below the top of QCSI. It also looks like they are going to shrink the core, as previously reported. The western edge of the core roof looks to have been pulled in approximately 25%. They have brought their border fence in and seem to be pulling up the temporary floor. The next core "jack" will most likely leavethat section behind. Cement looks to have been poured up to the 4th floor.
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