2 minutes ago, surpriseitsminh said:

 

Some of the renderings provided in the article

 

Looks fantastic! Especially that 5th and race shot. I’m very certain they will fill this building.

14 minutes ago, 646empire said:

- To provide more outdoor dining space, the plan is to take an entire lane on Vine Street and push out the sidewalk. Plans also call for expanding the sidewalks on Fifth and Race streets.

 

Good to see that a few small traffic calming projects are still moving forward despite our current auto/commuter-focused city administration.

 

Currently the 500 block of Vine Street (5th to 6th Street) is five lanes wide, which serves no real transportation purpose, given that the rest of Vine Street (from the Roebling Bridge to McMicken Street) is four lanes wide. Eliminate this one-block long "phantom lane" and give that space to ground floor restaurants for outdoor dining.

 

Hopefully the proposal to convert Vine Street to two-way in the CBD is still on the table and can be implemented at some point in the near future.

I just find this a disappointment for this building. I wish we could have had a tower of some sort on that spot.

Agreed, when the project was first announced it seemed very hyped up. This is still really nice but I do wish we could have gotten more 

Also, let's put Cincinnati's first pedestrian scramble crossing at 5th & Vine. This is long overdue!

3 minutes ago, seaswan said:

Agreed, when the project was first announced it seemed very hyped up. This is still really nice but I do wish we could have gotten more 

 

“While Fountain Place was built with the potential to do an overbuild at some point, Leeper said 3CDC may do a slight overbuild but not a tower. It’s not very practical to add an overbuild after they have tenants in the space, but if a potential tenant comes forward in the next 90 days that would want the additional space, it could be added.”

 

20 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

I just find this a disappointment for this building. I wish we could have had a tower of some sort on that spot.

Of course, that being said, I am not the one putting up my money to build it. 

Quote

Fountain Place was developed in 1994 by the Cincinnati Development Group, a partnership of Belvedere Corp., Towne Properties LLC, Duke Realty and Madison Marquette. 

 

The building, including the Lazarus dept store, actually opened in 1997.  

 

That timing was exactly 1 year too slow because McAlpin's closed in 1996.  That meant that the whole Tower Place scheme never actually existed as planned, even briefly.    

 

 

Looks like they are removing the parapet on the fountain square side that gives the impression of a faux fourth story so the building may seem a little shorter. But they are also upgrading the screen on that side.
 

would multiple screens and marquees on top of this building wrapping around the corner be gaudy or add excitement here? Would that give the project a little more wow factor? Would it be allowed per code? 

Edited September 28, 20204 yr by thebillshark

bye bye skywalk. 

Something like these screens on East Market in Philly would be awesome:

 

 

I feel like focusing on office space leasing is a bad move at this point. I think there are way to many companies at this point that will probably pivot to remote full time/a major blend of remote and office. 

 

Why not just focus on building apartments on the top floors and create life and revenue for these retail businesses 3cdc is trying to put on the ground floor?

25 minutes ago, troeros said:

I feel like focusing on office space leasing is a bad move at this point. I think there are way to many companies at this point that will probably pivot to remote full time/a major blend of remote and office. 

 

Why not just focus on building apartments on the top floors and create life and revenue for these retail businesses 3cdc is trying to put on the ground floor?

A couple points of opinion. From everything that I’m seeing and hearing recently, The “so many people are going to permanently work from home” prediction that many media outlets and others wrote about during the spring and summer is now falling apart. The thing is most companies have built impressive office spaces over the past several years not just to look fancy but to create an environment in which its employees can interact and collaborate while building relationships which produces more productivity and better results especially creatively. What they are finding out now is that cannot happen effectively via video chat.
 

2) I do think you may see some jobs that are phone based or Admin-Data that could stay remote.

44 minutes ago, troeros said:

I feel like focusing on office space leasing is a bad move at this point. I think there are way to many companies at this point that will probably pivot to remote full time/a major blend of remote and office. 

 

Why not just focus on building apartments on the top floors and create life and revenue for these retail businesses 3cdc is trying to put on the ground floor?

 

In regards to Fountain Place Im not sure this building as is would be the best candidate for residential conversion without going the expensive route and building a tower of some sort above. 

56 minutes ago, troeros said:

I feel like focusing on office space leasing is a bad move at this point. I think there are way to many companies at this point that will probably pivot to remote full time/a major blend of remote and office. 

 

Why not just focus on building apartments on the top floors and create life and revenue for these retail businesses 3cdc is trying to put on the ground floor?

I assure you 3CDC recognizes the value of adding residents, and I'm sure they considered this... but just look at the footprint of the building: it's ~400'x175'. That large footprint is ideal for office and not great for residential. I agree with @646empirethat it'd be cool to add a residential tower above. But the existing structure does not lend itself well to residential conversion. 

1 hour ago, 646empire said:

A couple points of opinion. From everything that I’m seeing and hearing recently, The “so many people are going to permanently work from home” prediction that many media outlets and others wrote about during the spring and summer is now falling apart. The thing is most companies have built impressive office spaces over the past several years not just to look fancy but to create an environment in which its employees can interact and collaborate while building relationships which produces more productivity and better results especially creatively. What they are finding out now is that cannot happen effectively via video chat.

 

Exactly. Additionally, so much Class B office space downtown has been converted to other uses, like residential or hotels, that we're probably getting to the point where we do need some new office space. This project and the new spec office tower at The Banks are signs that banks and real estate developers see a demand for more downtown office space once the pandemic is over.

15 hours ago, taestell said:

 

Exactly. Additionally, so much Class B office space downtown has been converted to other uses, like residential or hotels, that we're probably getting to the point where we do need some new office space. This project and the new spec office tower at The Banks are signs that banks and real estate developers see a demand for more downtown office space once the pandemic is over.

 

Business Courier recently reported that the equivalent of THREE Great American Towers has been converted from office to residential or hotel since 2012. 

Cincinnati City Council OKs $3 million for Fountain Place redevelopment

 

Cincinnati City Council approved $2.9 million on Wednesday to help the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. fund its redevelopment of the vacant Fountain Place building downtown.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/09/30/council-oks-millions-for-fountain-place-redevelopm.html

 

Fountain Place Skywalk is coming down this week, the whole Fountain Place building will be fenced off next week. 
 

https://local12.com/amp/news/local/skywalk-demolition-to-close-downtown-cincinnati-street

 

 

Looking west down 5th street from fountain square next summer will be very interesting with no skywalk and no Millennium Hotel Towers (Assuming the hotel will be mostly down by then, demolition contracts have been officially awarded).

Edited October 19, 20204 yr by 646empire

^ 5th street is closed as of this morning and they are already cutting it down. I wonder what they are going to patch the Netherland Plaza's hole with to make it look decent. 

3 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

^ 5th street is closed as of this morning and they are already cutting it down. I wonder what they are going to patch the Netherland Plaza's hole with to make it look decent. 

I would hope since they constructed the sky walk into Omni through a giant 2nd story window that they restore the original window frame opening as a window.

57 minutes ago, oakiehigh said:

I would hope since they constructed the sky walk into Omni through a giant 2nd story window that they restore the original window frame opening as a window.

 

Yeah you've got to hope that they saved the original window down in the basement somewhere.  Finding someone to make a convincing replica will cost some serious $$$. 

^If you look at streetview, you can tell that the ornamental frame around the window, as well as the top 1/3 or so, is still in place. It doesn't look like it will be hard to restore the window.

^ And the window itself looks like a bog-standard aluminum storefront/curtain wall, just with a gold/bronze paint finish. 

You guys are right.  But what's really weird is that the cool original vertical light fixtures are only on one side of the skywalk, not the other:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1010249,-84.5141163,3a,75y,145.23h,110.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shR_ivZbzWHv-7ztTNx-7CA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

2 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

You guys are right.  But what's really weird is that the cool original vertical light fixtures are only on one side of the skywalk, not the other:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1010249,-84.5141163,3a,75y,145.23h,110.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shR_ivZbzWHv-7ztTNx-7CA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Those lights were only ever in between the two awnings. The skywalk is where an original matching awning used to be placed, with the matching flagpoles above. You can see the original "bracket" points. And then there are no vertical lights "outside" of where the awnings were. 

 

 

Skywalk has been chopped up and they have continued demolishing the façade at Fountain Place. For now the hole in the Netherland is filled with a beige panel, hopefully the storefront is coming soon. 

3CDC has updated their site with new projects and updates including some interesting and dramatic photos of Fountain Place AKA The Foundry. A few of them looks to be sample pieces of the future facade. 

 

 

Edited November 24, 20204 yr by 646empire

Down to the bare bones. Would love to see and Apple store at the fountain square corner. 

It had been a while since I walked by Fountain Square, but the new 5/3 lobby is looking good. The glass has been installed on the Walnut street side as well and looking through you can tell how closing this all in will make a really nice lobby area compared to the small separate lobbies they used to have.

Progress pics from 3CDC:

 

 

The fourth floor parapet and old screen have been torn down and the new (bigger) screen is already beginning to go up, the building does feel shorter from the square but this new screen should be much much nicer.  

2 hours ago, ucgrady said:

The fourth floor parapet and old screen have been torn down and the new (bigger) screen is already beginning to go up, the building does feel shorter from the square but this new screen should be much much nicer.  

Yeah I read that the new jumbo screen will be more rectangular which I think is great. 

55 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Yeah I read that the new jumbo screen will be more rectangular which I think is great. 

Would have been cool if they would have done a wrap around screen like the one in Times Square. Heck even Columbus has one. 

5 hours ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Would have been cool if they would have done a wrap around screen like the one in Times Square. Heck even Columbus has one. 

 

Well "heck," it's even based in Columbus. 

7 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

 

Well "heck," it's even based in Columbus. 

Their HQ is essentially a Giant billboard visible most predominantly from far north on 315. 

Billboard update on my way back from Graeters today. 

On 1/7/2021 at 1:19 PM, ucgrady said:

It had been a while since I walked by Fountain Square, but the new 5/3 lobby is looking good. The glass has been installed on the Walnut street side as well and looking through you can tell how closing this all in will make a really nice lobby area compared to the small separate lobbies they used to have.

5/3 continues to ruin DuBois Tower. Their original sin with the signage along the top of the building is horrendous. It truncates the verticality of the structure by introducing such a heavy horizontal element. Now this monstrosity will do likewise to the base.

As a kid visiting FS in the mid-late 1970's, I was fascinated by how this building seemed to just appear out of the ground with no real foundation as I saw in other structures. It seemed to grow from the soil, and you could follow the lines of the glass and cladding upward. Looking up close to the building on the right day, those lines seemingly disappeared into the sky. 

On 1/29/2021 at 3:28 PM, TheCOV said:

Their original sin with the signage along the top of the building is horrendous. It truncates the verticality of the structure by introducing such a heavy horizontal element. Now this monstrosity will do likewise to the base.

 

I hear what you’re saying and agree that the signage at the top messes with the simple vertical lines of the original design, but I actually like the new base. You’re right that it isn’t consistent with the original design, but I think it improves the original design. I’m not a modernist purist though, and I can certainly see why others would feel otherwise. 

5/3 had the worst lobby of any Class A office building downtown.  The addition puts it on par or ahead of any other skyscraper built in the last 40 years.

On 2/5/2021 at 6:13 PM, nicker66 said:

5/3 had the worst lobby of any Class A office building downtown.  The addition puts it on par or ahead of any other skyscraper built in the last 40 years.

I've been occasionally jumping into the Sherwin Williams thread to see updates, and it's been interesting lately to see the negativity towards the lobby/ground floor rumors. It makes me feel more fortunate at Fountain Square, because say what you will about the design of 5/3, but they kept Graeters and Dunkin and moved Potbelly which will help to keep the square feeling inhabited, as opposed to typical modern stoic lobbies with no publicly accessible space at all in the name of security. 5/3 has as much right as anyone to up their security in their lobby and I'm just happy they kept all the retail spaces, including a 5/3 bank branch. 

 

I agree that the signage on the top is bad, and the new lighting didn't help. Chase Tower in Chicago, Aon (Standard Oil) in Chicago etc. have those strong vertical lines that extend to the roof and it looks great in comparison to 5/3's little hat. 

Saw all of the demo where Macy's used to be... What's going on with this? What's going in its place?

1 hour ago, Cincinnatus said:

Saw all of the demo where Macy's used to be... What's going on with this? What's going in its place?

https://www.3cdc.org/

On 2/17/2021 at 2:31 PM, Cincinnatus said:

Saw all of the demo where Macy's used to be... What's going on with this? What's going in its place?

https://www.3cdc.org/project/the-foundry/

The former Tiffany & Co space at Fountain Place/5th and Vine corner has been leased I’m told, I don’t know by who or the timing of a opening yet, but it’s still good news and hope it’s a tenant that is a real attraction.

Edited February 25, 20214 yr by 646empire

The work is pretty much wrapped up at Fifth Third and Fountain Square. The lobby looks great and the new plaza is nice though I do miss the "Song of the Vine / Queen of the West" poem carving. There are too many Fifth Third logos however, one at the Lobby, one on the stage, logos on the light poles, logos on the umbrellas and a huge logo above the video board (which btw was playing a 5/3 ad when I took the photo). I don't know it's just... we get it Fifth Third, you paid for this stuff. 

 

 

 

the sign above the video board reminds me of a 50s single A baseball scoreboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a

Looks like they added a 5/3rd more signs (I'm so sorry I'll leave now).

Needs 3D on top of old Macy’s:

 

https://www.tastyad.com/from-roaring-lion-to-giant-waves-ultrarealistic-3d-displays-bring-billboards-alive/