Premium Members are allowed to harass each other, though, so pony up.

I want to learn more about Dirty Sandpit.  Did you register on the forums just to follow QCSII, every step and substep of the way?  I'm a bit mesmerized.

 

I forget exactly how I found this board, but it was while doing some research on QCSII. I've been waiting countless years for Cincinnati to get a new skyscraper, especially one taller than Carew. This is an awesome time in the city and to be able to share with others on this board makes it even better.

 

I remember watching the 1990 World Series on television and there was a blimp shot of Scripps Center and the announcers talked about it being Cincinnati's newest skyscraper. Looking forward to when the Reds host the 2013(?) All-Star game and both Great American Tower and The Banks can be featured.

 

Also looking forward to The Banks thread returning!

 

 

I want to learn more about Dirty Sandpit.  Did you register on the forums just to follow QCSII, every step and substep of the way?  I'm a bit mesmerized.

 

Did you have to post this in a thread? Or could you have PM'd me to ask this...as far as Urban Ohio goes this and the banks thread is my only concern.  I follow many other forums as they discuss constructing towers.  As Cygnus stated this is an exciting thing for Cincinnati, and I'm excited to watch it going up everyday and "every step" is exciting to me.  I use to work in construction when I was a teen and I loved every minute of it, until I went to college... but if I want I can post every second of the day if need be...none of this concerns you however.

I just went by there a few minutes ago. If I had a decent camera on my phone I would've taken a few pics.

Last night:

 

 

A few more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taestell/sets/72157622367162055/

It's officially at impressive status in my book now.

^^looking at that picture, i have to ask...did the people in the buildings directly north of QCS used to have a nice view of the river and the stadium?  And now are they basically going to be looking into the tower? because that would sort of suck.

 

The tower is really impressive though.  I like seeing the construction of it through the PG towers as i come down 71 in the morning.  It's pretty cool.

 

Edit: nevermind, i think the angle of the picture threw me off...looks like there really aren't any tall buildings due north of QCS.

Right across 4th St is a church, then the Taft Theater, across 5th is the P&G gardens. But if it is messing up views, thats how it goes, someone will just have to build a tower in front of them, or someone else.

It's officially at impressive status in my book now.

^^looking at that picture, i have to ask...did the people in the buildings directly north of QCS used to have a nice view of the river and the stadium? And now are they basically going to be looking into the tower? because that would sort of suck.

 

The tower is really impressive though. I like seeing the construction of it through the PG towers as i come down 71 in the morning. It's pretty cool.

 

Edit: nevermind, i think the angle of the picture threw me off...looks like there really aren't any tall buildings due north of QCS.

 

We are in Atrium II on 28-30 (top 3 floors).  That building will absolutely block the views, at least for those on the east side.  Me not so much....I face directly south on 28 (I can see the pitcher's mound at GABP while at my desk).  QCS II only blocks sort of the left corner of my view.  But we also have those outdoor terraces, and that will dominate that view, although you still have Mt. Adams and Northeast to turn to....

It's amazing how fast they assemble those steel beams.

I want to learn more about Dirty Sandpit.  Did you register on the forums just to follow QCSII, every step and substep of the way?  I'm a bit mesmerized.

 

Did you have to post this in a thread? Or could you have PM'd me to ask this...as far as Urban Ohio goes this and the banks thread is my only concern.  I follow many other forums as they discuss constructing towers.  As Cygnus stated this is an exciting thing for Cincinnati, and I'm excited to watch it going up everyday and "every step" is exciting to me.  I use to work in construction when I was a teen and I loved every minute of it, until I went to college... but if I want I can post every second of the day if need be...none of this concerns you however.

 

You needn't be offended.  I'm genuinely curious, since I saw you begin posting about the project.  Or was.  Makes sense though that you have posted in other forums about different construction projects.

 

My curiosity doesn't seem to be very welcome though. 

I want to learn more about Dirty Sandpit.  Did you register on the forums just to follow QCSII, every step and substep of the way?  I'm a bit mesmerized.

 

Did you have to post this in a thread? Or could you have PM'd me to ask this...as far as Urban Ohio goes this and the banks thread is my only concern.  I follow many other forums as they discuss constructing towers.  As Cygnus stated this is an exciting thing for Cincinnati, and I'm excited to watch it going up everyday and "every step" is exciting to me.  I use to work in construction when I was a teen and I loved every minute of it, until I went to college... but if I want I can post every second of the day if need be...none of this concerns you however.

 

You needn't be offended.  I'm genuinely curious, since I saw you begin posting about the project.  Or was.  Makes sense though that you have posted in other forums about different construction projects.

 

My curiosity doesn't seem to be very welcome though. 

I was heading downtown yesterday and man I could see QCSII from a distance now with great ease.  I'm excited to see the progress as this thing is taking off rather quickly.  I couldn't take any shots because I was just driving by, but man this is great!

Yea it's very strange driving down sycamore and seeing this building now.  It's cool how just one building can change everything.  I just wish downtown would get highrises faster than 1 every 18 years lol.  I know in the 80's, we were booming.

^Absolutely.  For an example of what happened when most older structures were replaced with newer high rises, look at Columbus.

During the 80's, there was a lot of high-rise construction everywhere. Not sure why, but do keep in mind a lot of quality low-rises and mid-rises fell down for the corporate towers that replaced them.

 

I think it had to do with the whole "greed is good" mentality of the time.  Excess wealth and abundance seemed to epitomize the time, and skyscrapers are just that kind of display of excess at a city level.

 

It's actually a good thing Cincinnati hasn't built a tower in so long. It focused more on maintaining existing buildings first.

 

You're absolutely right.  Cincinnati could have done a lot more preserving its historic building stock, but I am not unhappy about Cincinnati not going crazy with the high-rise building trend that took place.  There are only a handful of cities in the United States that can reasonably justify high-rise construction, and Cincinnati is not one of them.

During the 80's, there was a lot of high-rise construction everywhere. Not sure why, but do keep in mind a lot of quality low-rises and mid-rises fell down for the corporate towers that replaced them.

 

I think it had to do with the whole "greed is good" mentality of the time. Excess wealth and abundance seemed to epitomize the time, and skyscrapers are just that kind of display of excess at a city level.

 

It's actually a good thing Cincinnati hasn't built a tower in so long. It focused more on maintaining existing buildings first.

 

You're absolutely right. Cincinnati could have done a lot more preserving its historic building stock, but I am not unhappy about Cincinnati not going crazy with the high-rise building trend that took place. There are only a handful of cities in the United States that can reasonably justify high-rise construction, and Cincinnati is not one of them.

I am not sure what you mean that Cincinnati cannot reasonably justify high rise construction...now or later?

There is a complicated explanation for all the highrise building in the 80s. It isn't coming to me at the moment, but it had to with the tax structure and other incentives floating around at the time and the structure of the financing market coming out of the early 80s recession.

^Well look at it this way, maybe it'll happen again to some degree.  QCS is a good example of being able to build in the time of economic crisis.  It's very cheap for companies to have their headquarters in Cincy anyway.  I'm not saying we'll start seeing more towers like QCS, but maybe a midrise boom or something.  More people are moving into cities now than before.  QCS could be a catalyst because it looks good to young professionals.

There is a complicated explanation for all the highrise building in the 80s. It isn't coming to me at the moment, but it had to with the tax structure and other incentives floating around at the time and the structure of the financing market coming out of the early 80s recession.

 

In Cincinnati it was honestly just a big dose of modernization of older office building stock, mixed with the real estate boom of the early 80's.

I am not sure what you mean that Cincinnati cannot reasonably justify high rise construction...now or later?

 

To justify high rise construction land values need to be at a premium, and when you look around 95% of American cities you'll notice downtowns that are littered with surface lots (least productive use of developed land).  Many of these will sit right next to a 30 or 40 story building which should make one scratch their head and ask why that happens.

 

In places where land values are legitimately high enough to support high rise construction you won't see this wasted land and building climb higher out of necessity.

I was heading downtown yesterday and man I could see QCSII from a distance now with great ease. I'm excited to see the progress as this thing is taking off rather quickly. I couldn't take any shots because I was just driving by, but man this is great!

 

It's visible while driving south on Central Parkway (between Ravine and Liberty).

OK, What's up with the QCSII cam?

 

http://www.queencitysquare.com//url]

 

 

Seems "stuck" on September 28th  :?

 

Really enjoyed the "night shots" of the construction site.

 

 

I am not sure what you mean that Cincinnati cannot reasonably justify high rise construction...now or later?

 

To justify high rise construction land values need to be at a premium, and when you look around 95% of American cities you'll notice downtowns that are littered with surface lots (least productive use of developed land). Many of these will sit right next to a 30 or 40 story building which should make one scratch their head and ask why that happens.

 

In places where land values are legitimately high enough to support high rise construction you won't see this wasted land and building climb higher out of necessity.

It's a lot more complicated than that.

^Yeah I understand it's much more complicated than that, but if you look at it from a simple land value and demand perspective it works.  The reason I bring it up is that many cities not only exist, but manage to thrive without the proliferation of high rise construction even with much greater land demand than cities like Cincinnati.

Some pics from today...not a whole lot in terms of curtainwall...but i guess it's a little bit taller...I think they're working on the 22nd floor.  Apparently the garage is going up another 7 stories.  They were raising the middle crane today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is 48 stories instead of 41 floors. Would they start to count up on 3rd street or 4th street?

By my count it looks like the highest point of steel work is now on floor 25.  Still hard for me to picture another ~15 stories plus the tiara.  Good height!

Sorry but I need to get a clear picture.  I remember people saying the number of stories changed as the design changed.  What's the final number?  48 floors?, 41? 37? 980? lol.

Sorry but I need to get a clear picture.  I remember people saying the number of stories changed as the design changed.  What's the final number?  48 floors?, 41? 37? 980? lol.

 

41 is the official number given at the website.

Great American Tower webcam still "stuck" on September 28th - any updates/status?

They've started installing curtain wall on the NE corner of the building now. Another 2 truck loads of the stuff was being dropped off at noon today.

They've started installing curtain wall on the NE corner of the building now. Another 2 truck loads of the stuff was being dropped off at noon today.

 

Is that on the back side because we can't see it if that's on the back the darn cam is down. Only cam is up is the Sitesight cam. And there's no new curtainwall on that side, but I'm glad to hear they have more coming in. Seemed like for a while they just put up that one section and said ok that's it. lol

Great American Tower webcam still "stuck" on September 28th - any updates/status?

 

Not since you asked yesterday.

Sorry but I need to get a clear picture. I remember people saying the number of stories changed as the design changed. What's the final number? 48 floors?, 41? 37? 980? lol.

 

41 is the official number given at the website. I read in the Enquirer that the total height was 665 instead of 660...anyone know if this is true?

41 is the official number given at the website. I read in the Enquirer that the total height was 665 instead of 660...anyone know if this is true?

 

How old is that document?  Everywhere I read it's 660ft? I’m sure there's some discrepancy sense (5) ft is hardly anything regarding height at this level.

41 is the official floor count as GAI already has a stacking plan in place.

So the whole 7 story garage that's exposed on 3rd street is not counted? Are they counting from the bottom to 660 feet from 3rd street or 4th street?

The Tower is facing 3rd street. The 11 story garage (4 underground) is facing 4th street.  See the Site Plan pdf for entrances/exits.

 

The 660 feet is measured from the base of the Tower at 3rd street.

Queen City Square Tweet: Queen City Square Goes Higher And Higher - October 5, 2009 - Photo Courtesy of MTM Cincinnati - http://ow.ly/sVD7

Rob Alpern says: "we are in the process of moving the camera to a different

location, so it's going to be out of commission for a few weeks.  So

many things have gone silky smooth with our project.  Unfortunately, the

web camera has not proven to be one of them!"

 

 

Thanks so much for the courteous & friendly update on the webcam issue.

A non-defensive response is always appreciated.

Rob Alpern says: "we are in the process of moving the camera to a different

location, so it's going to be out of commission for a few weeks.  So

many things have gone silky smooth with our project.  Unfortunately, the

web camera has not proven to be one of them!"

 

I wonder where to? I happen to like the current location as it has a unique perspective on this site.  It's the only cam that has eyes (so to speak) on the garage.  The other cam only focuses on the front which is fine, but we need the location to remain at the back.

How about atop the main crane?

Interesting... Window Washing an incomplete building... in the rain.  :wtf:

Interesting... Window Washing an incomplete building... in the rain.  :wtf:

 

In their defense, those windows looked like S555 on sunday! lol but yeah quite funny!

He missed a spot.

I wonder why they are window washing...

Can't imagine this would be the case but there may be an insulator or some other coating that has to be applied on site or removed on site.

I wonder why they are window washing...

 

I'm sure there was some VIP that needed to see the curtain wall in person to approve it.  Not that they couldn't look at the completed QCSI next door or anything!