On 7/28/2021 at 2:55 PM, Rabbit Hash said:

Hopefully they power wash the building.

 

If I’m not mistaken, they are going to apply a new tile to the outside. Below is a screen shot of a early post on the website of them testing different stone.

 

 

Edited August 9, 20213 yr by 646empire

A replica of the Wall Street Bull? In this economy!?

58 minutes ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

A replica of the Wall Street Bull? In this economy!?

Huh? Is there a proposal to add a sculpture of a bull?

1 hour ago, jwulsin said:

Huh? Is there a proposal to add a sculpture of a bull?

For the Jeff Ruby restaurant yes 

4 hours ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

For the Jeff Ruby restaurant yes 

haha love this. Not only will it add some glam and spark to the exterior of the foundry but it will be such a boost for foot traffic for fountain square.

 

 

A tower on top of the Found(ation)ry will make it glam and spark.

Progress photo, new glazing installed, looks like they arent refacing the vertical stone pilasters. Was hoping for more, but its coming up really flat for the redevelopment of this building. 

1 minute ago, savadams13 said:

Progress photo, new glazing installed, looks like they arent refacing the vertical stone pilasters. Was hoping for more, but its coming up really flat for the redevelopment of this building. 

I think they’re going to. 

Yeah the middle of each pilaster was removed down to the concrete and the whole piece at the top was removed so I assume something will be hung from there covering up the whole precast pilaster. Hopefully that's not just wishful thinking because I don't like the look of the wavy horizontals next to the old verticals. 

11 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

Yeah the middle of each pilaster was removed down to the concrete and the whole piece at the top was removed so I assume something will be hung from there covering up the whole precast pilaster. Hopefully that's not just wishful thinking because I don't like the look of the wavy horizontals next to the old verticals. 

Agree, but I have a gut feeling that some VE has happened on this project as of lately, and its not going to be as great as we all hoped it was going to be...

Looks like what it is...the base of a phantom skyscraper.

I've never heard of this company... but they're moving from Newport to The Foundry and will lease the entire 3rd and 4th floors:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2021/10/25/divisions-maintenance-foundry.html

 

Most interesting quote is in regards to a potential future tower over The Foundry, which must have been part of 3CDC's sales pitch, since the DMG CEO is stating that as part of what motivated them to select The Foundry:

Quote

DMG plans to lease about 83,000 square feet of space, taking the entire third and fourth floors of the Foundry. Mitchell said the sky is the limit for expansion, as the existing building was designed to accommodate a tower above it.

 

31 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

I've never heard of this company... but they're moving from Newport to The Foundry and will lease the entire 3rd and 4th floors:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2021/10/25/divisions-maintenance-foundry.html

 

Most interesting quote is in regards to a potential future tower over The Foundry, which must have been part of 3CDC's sales pitch, since the DMG CEO is stating that as part of what motivated them to select The Foundry:

 

This is exciting just for the sheer fact that it seems like the foundry will be a really bustling spot for day time activity due to the amount of jobs being landed at this location.

 

So far, I believe the French restaurant and Jeff Ruby have been announced for the ground floor commercial spaces. 
 

I really hope they add something unique in addition to help boost night time traffic. I’m really crossing my fingers for a legit comedy club spot downtown and this would be the perfect location if 3cdc could ever manage to sign one. 

 

Even something like a high class night club would be helpful to boost night time traffic. 

Edited October 25, 20213 yr by Troeros2

1 hour ago, jwulsin said:

I've never heard of this company... but they're moving from Newport to The Foundry and will lease the entire 3rd and 4th floors:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2021/10/25/divisions-maintenance-foundry.html

 

Most interesting quote is in regards to a potential future tower over The Foundry, which must have been part of 3CDC's sales pitch, since the DMG CEO is stating that as part of what motivated them to select The Foundry:

 

 

Very interesting! I just recently met someone  that works for DMG and they told me the company was super to work for and definitely growing. 

 

DMG is taking a big chunk of the office space at Foundry, I don’t think there is much left to lease when you add in Turner and Deloitte. Great job 3cdc!

6 minutes ago, 646empire said:

DMG is taking a big chunk of the office space at Foundry, I don’t think there is much left to lease when you add in Turner and Deloitte. Great job 3cdc!

 

Yep... not much office space left:

Quote

With the addition of DMG, the Foundry will have about 20,400 square feet of office space remaining on the second floor between Turner Construction and Deloitte. 3CDC started converting the former Macy’s department store to office space and street-level retail with no leases from office tenants.

 

The enquirer just published an article how the division group might want to build a 16 story tower above the foundry if growth demands it. Seems like a tower is closer to reality than it ever was before.

It was mentioned in the Downtown Residents Councils meeting minutes from a week ago and I meant to post it but I totally forgot about it!

There may be residential units included in the project according to the minutes, and the plans may have changed since then considering the demand seems to have grown since even earlier this month with the foundry now almost full. 

Quote

John and Rob gave the Board a heads-up about the former Macy’s site at 5th and Vine, and said that they would set up a virtual session with the New York-based developer as part of the November Board meeting. The plan is for apartments on floors 9-12, with parking below.

October 11th meeting

ilivedowntown.com

1 hour ago, Troeros2 said:

The enquirer just published an article how the division group might want to build a 16 story tower above the foundry if growth demands it. Seems like a tower is closer to reality than it ever was before.

do you have the link?

7 hours ago, stashua123 said:

There may be residential units included in the project according to the minutes, and the plans may have changed since then considering the demand seems to have grown since even earlier this month with the foundry now almost full. 

October 11th meeting

ilivedowntown.com

mhmm interesting! I’m glad we are getting a tower regardless. I’m having trouble finding the link but I do know I read it yesterday!

In the meantime.

 

“Employees will also have access to a new rooftop terrace. The official headquarters relocation date is tentatively set for Fall 2022.”

 

https://www.nkytribune.com/2021/10/division-maintenance-group-outgrows-newport-headquarters-moving-to-former-macys-in-cinci/

 

 

8 hours ago, stashua123 said:

do you have the link?

here it is:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cincinnati.com/amp/8540871002

 

so I’m guessing if the division did expanded maybe they would take 6-8 additional floors and the rest would be residential? 

Was looking at the old Helmut Jahn proposal for Fountain Square West and I came across a bit saying that 5/3 owns the air rights. Not sure how current that is, but regardless of who owns them, I hope they can do a little better than 16 floors. 

2 hours ago, zsnyder said:

Was looking at the old Helmut Jahn proposal for Fountain Square West and I came across a bit saying that 5/3 owns the air rights. Not sure how current that is, but regardless of who owns them, I hope they can do a little better than 16 floors. 

5/3 sold the air rights to 3CDC a couple years back. 

4 hours ago, Troeros2 said:

here it is:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cincinnati.com/amp/8540871002

 

so I’m guessing if the division did expanded maybe they would take 6-8 additional floors and the rest would be residential? 

IT seems an interesting project but I struggle to see how office/retail and apartments would work with this project on the footprint. Parking would be an issue and the parking garage underneath is not very big. 

5 minutes ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

Parking would be an issue and the parking garage underneath is not very big. 

 

The meeting notes of the Downtown Residents Council indicate that there would be additional parking

Quote

John and Rob gave the Board a heads-up about the former Macy’s site at 5th and Vine, and said that they would set up a virtual session with the New York-based developer as part of the November Board meeting. The plan is for apartments on floors 9-12, with parking below.

http://ilivedowntown.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/101121.pdf

7 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

 

The meeting notes of the Downtown Residents Council indicate that there would be additional parking

http://ilivedowntown.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/101121.pdf

I wonder who is the developer is? 
 

im also confused now by the Division commentary about building a potential tower for future growth if a residential tower is being planned? Unless they can phase 2 towers during different time periods? Built the residential tower portion first and using the remaining capacity of the base to build additional floors for office workers at a later date? 

2 hours ago, jwulsin said:

 

The meeting notes of the Downtown Residents Council indicate that there would be additional parking

http://ilivedowntown.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/101121.pdf

So is this tower a forgone conclusion at this point or is it still hypothetical?

I think the demand is there enough that a sizable addition to the skyline may happen. The base of the building is so large that they could perhaps have two different towers. But im thinking they didn't know in October 11th that the division group would be relocating. So maybe the plans changed?

 

A 16 addition above the 4 story base of foundry would make the building 20 floors. And would be the first noticeable addition to the skyline since pre covid 1010 on the rhine. Just one short of the Huntington center next door. QUITE sizable. And would fill in the skyline. 

 

Suddenly out of nowhere a tower above fountain place is looking the most likely since the early 90s. 

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

So is this tower a forgone conclusion at this point or is it still hypothetical?

the division sounds hypothetical…the residential tower seems like there is some sort of plan in place considering they are looking to present this tower to the downtown community in November. 
 

Wish we knew more information because this seems like a rather big deal that I haven’t seen being discussed by local media outlets or the business courier.

7 hours ago, zsnyder said:

Was looking at the old Helmut Jahn proposal for Fountain Square West and I came across a bit saying that 5/3 owns the air rights. Not sure how current that is, but regardless of who owns them, I hope they can do a little better than 16 floors. 

16 floors is still a nice tower on top of the four story podium. That is equivalent to the newer Enquirer building on Elm and Third. 

I'm not very excited about the Enquirer building, either. 


Not that height=better, but c'mon, it's the center of downtown.

I would much rather see a 35 story+ building in the spot where it is at and I wish that 3cdc and the city would realize that with the amount of demand they had filling up those 4 floors even before completion, a project of a mixed use with parking built up on the western side and a 35-40 story tower on top of the podium on the east side with the division group offices interconnected for 16 floors and then residential and commercial as needed above I believe would be a project that would be worthy of the plot of land there. 

Would be interesting to see a rendering of this proposed tower.

 

I wonder how this plan (if it is more office than apartment) would fit with the additional office building they are supposed to break ground on at the Banks? 

 

To the point mentioned above, ideally it would have been a great project if they could have built a 40+ story with a mix of retail, office on 20+ stories and combo hotel/apartment tower portion of it. But alas they only planned a max 20 story tower on top the pad. 

Is there any way to retrofit the building to support more than 20 floors?

I’m just curious why the division is talking about how they can potentially build a tower to expand their growth if need be, but meanwhile a residential tower is seemingly in the works and might already be quite far ahead in the development phase as the developer  are showing off a presentation next month….so is 3cdc not aware and just giving them false hope? Or is the tower able to be built in 2 phases with phase 1 being residential and phase 2 - with a new office tower above the residential tower? 
 

I’m so confused to be honest…

Edited October 28, 20213 yr by Troeros2

52 minutes ago, Troeros2 said:

I’m just curious why the division is talking about how they can potentially build a tower to expand their growth if need be, but meanwhile a residential tower is seemingly in the works and might already be quite far ahead in the development phase as the developer  are showing off a presentation next month….so is 3cdc not aware and just giving them false hope? Or is the tower able to be built in 2 phases with phase 1 being residential and phase 2 - with a new office tower above the residential tower? 
 

I’m so confused to be honest…

lol very confusing. I’m not sure I believe some of this chatter. And who is this developer? 3CDC owns ALL of it so no developer would be creating plans unless 3CDC sent out a request for proposals. If that happened I think 3CDC would have mentioned a possible residential piece by now. Steve Leeper mentioned in a interview if I’m not mistaken that they looked at residential use for fountain place but decided office/retail was best at that location. Also in my opinion with its current build out of Office and Retail I don’t think a residential component makes sense at this site I would prefer any tower be just office space.

Edited October 28, 20213 yr by 646empire

30 minutes ago, 646empire said:

lol very confusing. I’m not sure I believe some of this chatter. And who is this developer? 3CDC owns ALL of it so no developer would be creating plans unless 3CDC sent out a request for proposals. If that happened I think 3CDC would have mentioned a possible residential piece by now. Steve Leeper mentioned in a interview if I’m not mistaken that they looked at residential use for fountain place but decided office/retail was best at that location. Also in my opinion with its current build out of Office and Retail I don’t think a residential component makes sense at this site I would prefer any tower be just office space.

I mean the developer will present the plans next months via video conference…so it appears it’s more than just chatter at this point.

 

does anyone else on urban Ohio know more info? This is genuinely confusing developments…

Same as with the new office building at the banks (and every development in this city), I'll believe it's happening when construction starts. 

26 minutes ago, Cincy513 said:

Same as with the new office building at the banks (and every development in this city), I'll believe it's happening when construction starts. 

yeah I get that…but it’s less of an argument about whether construction will actually happen but how exactly is this happening? 
 

Im assuming this developer 3cdc needed to give this developer a green light to pursue development…meanwhile they also apperantly persuaded the division with the ability to build a tower…so why would 3cdc almost seemingly lie to the Division if there is a plan of some sort to build a residential tower?

 

 

2 hours ago, Troeros2 said:

Im assuming this developer 3cdc needed to give this developer a green light to pursue development…meanwhile they also apperantly persuaded the division with the ability to build a tower…so why would 3cdc almost seemingly lie to the Division if there is a plan of some sort to build a residential tower?

Well we know the Division possible expansion is true which was made public and will probably be in their lease. This residential tower is the part that may actually be fishy. Also keep in mind the article I posted that talks about the rooftop terrace thats going on   Fountain Place. So any tower office or residential is probably not at all imminent.

2 minutes ago, 646empire said:

Well we know the Division possible expansion is true which was made public and will probably be in their lease. This residential tower is the part that may actually be fishy. Also keep in mind the article I posted that talks about the rooftop terrace thats going on   Fountain Place. So any tower office or residential is probably not at all imminent.

curious why they would present their plans next months if that’s the case? Is the normal in the development phase to showcase a developers plans when nothing has been approved  or green lighted by 3cdc? 

Just walked past Fountain Place in route to my hotel and I must say the building looks much better in person than in the construction pictures. I still hope they redo the tile work but if they didn’t and just simply cleaned it the building would still look great regardless.

I doubt Divisions would choose to overbuild given the competitive leasing of existing Class A buildings.  The Macy's building is mothballed at the moment and  not a good candidate for residential conversion, not to mention the musical chairs that takes place often.  (EDIT:  I am not a developer: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/10/29/developer-plans-convert-old-macys-hq-into-338-unit-residential-bld/6194917001/)

 

Construction for the Foundry did not remove the elevator core for a future tower, so the ability to overbuild is still possible.  Deloitte's space essentially built around the core.  I'd guess a residential tower makes the most sense and has the greatest chance of moving forward.    

Edited October 29, 20213 yr by nicker66

41 minutes ago, nicker66 said:

I doubt Divisions would choose to overbuild given the competitive leasing of existing Class A buildings.  The Macy's building is mothballed at the moment and  not a good candidate for residential conversion, not to mention the musical chairs that takes place often.  (EDIT:  I am not a developer: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/10/29/developer-plans-convert-old-macys-hq-into-338-unit-residential-bld/6194917001/)

 

Construction for the Foundry did not remove the elevator core for a future tower, so the ability to overbuild is still possible.  Deloitte's space essentially built around the core.  I'd guess a residential tower makes the most sense and has the greatest chance of moving forward.    

but once that residential tower is built, is it still possible to build additional floors at a later date for an office tenant? 

The base of Macy's is already a huge parking garage so I don't understand that part.  I agree that Macy's doesn't make the most sense for a conversion but I would've said the same about the 580 building and those apartments turned out really nice on the inside. 

Generally speaking, I think we are going to see many buildings that "don't make the most sense for a residential conversion" converted to residential anyway, because of the combination of companies that are downsizing offices due to increased WFH and the continually increasing demand for downtown living. And while many companies are sticking with downtown offices, they are opting for more unique solutions like office space in historic buildings — I think 1980s-style corporate office towers are going to be in decline for all but the biggest of corporations that want to make a mark on the skyline.

It's a large base. They could probably put two slender towers on opposite sides. One facing Vine and one facing Race.

24 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

I agree that Macy's doesn't make the most sense for a conversion but I would've said the same about the 580 building and those apartments turned out really nice on the inside. 

 

Isn't the outside just a skin? The structure is fine for residential. They'll just strip the façade and it'll look completely different.

7 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

It's a large base. They could probably put two slender towers on opposite sides. One facing Vine and one facing Race.

if this residential tower rumor is true this is exactly what I’m thinking too