Posted May 22, 200520 yr I'm going to start a thread on development in the area of "Mulberry Hill"...some other projects may be found in the OTR thread. For more info on Mulberry Hill, refer to this thread. 1761 Sycamore Totally rehabbed single-family 3 BR house from 1865 (in first picture, it's the shell on the left) 119 Mulberry St. This cute one from 1867 was almost completely rebuilt as a 2 BR single-family And, if you think it's not worth it to invest in this area, just take a look at these: 109 Dorsey St. Built in 2001 and on sale for a half million: 120 Dorsey St. Looks nothing like the former dump from 1880...it's going for $439,000: 521 Milton St. is selling for $389,000. EDIT: Selling for $369,000 (8/22/05). 531 Milton St. has been converted from a 2-family to a 13-room single-family, and is selling for $675,000. These things make me happy.
May 23, 200520 yr I dropped by the open house at 120 Dorsey today. They did a great job with the remodel, and there's a foundation already poured for a new house right next door. What a great street!
May 23, 200520 yr Keep them coming, I am always on the look for a good deal. If anyone knows of a house for sale in this area, please post.
May 23, 200520 yr From the May 20, 2005 print edition Prospect Hill has prospects as an upscale community Despite nearby poverty, area draws affluent buyers Lisa Biank Fasig Staff Reporter Nestled just blocks from the poverty and crime that many equate with Over-the-Rhine, home builders are discovering an urban oasis of private gardens, rooftop terraces and serious money. About 15 upscale homes have been recently built or are under construction on Prospect Hill, the small historic neighborhood that runs east of Sycamore between Liberty and Boal streets. At least 13 other homes were added in neighboring Mount Auburn, just up the hill. For some developers, the area is like a blossoming Mount Adams: a rare opportunity to build half-million-dollar houses with city views, just blocks from the central business district. "It has character," said Kathy Fisher, president of Breen Fisher LLC, which is building seven amenity-rich homes on Boal, starting at $500,000. "The fact that the whole area is on a hill makes it charming. All the houses are at different levels (and) it's so close to the entertainment district, sports, arts, whatever you want." The Prospect Hill area also benefits from an economic incentive: While houses here are affluently priced, the city offers tax breaks to those who buy downtown. Link unavailable.
May 25, 200520 yr 119 just sold but there are two condos on Mulberry (I want to say 29 Mulberry) that is priced great. Much more is coming available at the tour of Homes on the 5th lower on the Hill, Peete, Frintz etc. Also some great new homes, just like on Mulberry are at the top of Sycamore all priced in the low to mid 300's. If you are looking for a rehab then the OTR Foundation is finally selling their property on Sycamore and Liberty. And just in case you are looking to rent, 67 Mulberry will be available in Mid August. To see the complete list including pics, and price please see http://mulberryhill.org/properties_for_sale.htm The newest price change as of tonight: Active http://cincy.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Cincynky&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=zKZq0MyucZRGxj4X7Krg6SlHFwVHAAuRUwdx8057/1Y= 384,900 521 Milton St
May 26, 200520 yr Author Another structure lost: 1619 Hughes The City of Cincinnati has sought demolition on this property and applied for the proper permit. The building appears to be in pretty shabby shape, so hopefully something comes to both this lot and some of the other lots on this street.
May 27, 200520 yr Author The idea of this thread is to show off "before and after" rehabbed properties. I don't really want to get into listing every available property and crossing the line by turning this forum into a sales vehicle! ;) In other words, more of the "it's cool, someone stepped in there and rehabbed that abandoned building" and less of "such and such property was rehabbed several years ago and it's on sale by such-and-such" or posting every available structure. I hope that makes sense and I hope it doesn't sound like I'm being a horrible person. BTW, Michael, I went through your previous list and some of them should really be posted. You had mentioned the Exclesior Row/Sycamore Terrace homes as well as the Mulberry Views homes. You also mentioned 1404 Sycamore. Anyone who hasn't seen them can find them in this OTR thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2344.0 Some others that you mentioned: 37 Mulberry http://cincy.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Cincynky&PRGNAME=MLSPropertyDetail&ARGUMENTS=-N679599452,-N398045,-N,-A,-N0 $131,250 single-family 1639 Sycamore I can't find the listing on it or any info. I just think it looks great. This condo building is from 1900. Michael, You listed the following properties as being for sale and I couldn't find any of them anywhere. A couple of them appear to be empty lots. If you have links to them could you send them to me either here or on PM? Thanks.: * 1808 Walker * 1819 Walker * 1883 Walker * 545 Slack
May 30, 200520 yr I think you didn't see these because you must specify your criteria to include multi family as well as residential. All of these are great rehabs especially 545 Slack that was a multi family now a single family residence. Sorry about the inclusion of all the extra information but broker reciprocity says I have to but from now on I will give the MLS # to make it easier. 545 Slack 911169 1819 Walker 932523 1808 Walker 933742 and 1883 (land) may have sold but I will get back to you Couple more rehabs but I do not have a recent pic 103 and 109 Mulberry Pics coming soon
June 2, 200520 yr Author It appears that work is being done on: 207 Mulberry Building from 1895 being renovated. Permits applied for for interior renovation and 3-level deck. (in pics, 207 Mulberry is the one on the right) Before: (Somewhat) Current:
June 19, 200519 yr Author More.... * 524 Milton St., built in 1870, has had mostly external work done and is on sale for $259.9K. 524 Milton listing Before and after: * I found the listing for 1639 Sycamore St., referenced in a prior post. A condo goes for $183K. 1639 Sycamore listing
June 20, 200519 yr Where's the outrage over affordable housing being replaced by that which the average family can't afford? Where will the poor people go? Not everyone is a millionaire. If Cincinnati's comeback means the displacement of poor African American families with white yuppies, there could be racism afoot. I'm not sure if that's the kind of urban Ohio we should be building: one that strives to drive black people out of the cities with housing they can't afford. It seems like racism to me.
June 20, 200519 yr Isn't it racist to assume that only blacks are poor and only rich white people are moving into these rehabbed buildings? Socio-economic discrimination might be taking place here, but I wouldn't call it racism.
June 20, 200519 yr Almost all of these rehabs have been vacant for a long time.Well it might be driving a few poor people who happen to be black in these areas out but affluent blacks are moving in. I have may well to do black neighbors it has nothing to do with racism. They are as excited about the new developments as I am. playing the race card is so 90's
June 20, 200519 yr Mulberry Hill Tour for Life will be a self-guided tour of for sale and private homes, condominiums, and apartments in Mulberry Hill encompassing Prospect Hill, Liberty Hill and the hillsides of Mt. Auburn and Over the Rhine. October 9, 2005 12:00-5:00 Tickets will be made available at all Huff Office locations in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and online at Mulberryhill.org and Miraclesforlife.org. Tickets $15 individual and $25 for a couple. All proceeds benefiting the Miracles for Life Foundation. For sponsorship information please email Michael Redmond at [email protected]
June 20, 200519 yr i love the hills in that area and the views. and being a former philadelphian, I love the italianate rowhomes, but the feel walking around the area is not good. not yet. some blocks are nice but until there are amenities within safe walking distance I wouldnt consider these homes at any price. the differential in incomes in the neighborhood is too great
June 20, 200519 yr Author Where's the outrage over affordable housing being replaced by that which the average family can't afford? Where will the poor people go? Not everyone is a millionaire. If Cincinnati's comeback means the displacement of poor African American families with white yuppies, there could be racism afoot. I'm not sure if that's the kind of urban Ohio we should be building: one that strives to drive black people out of the cities with housing they can't afford. It seems like racism to me. I think Maximillian explained it pretty well. Is it gentrification?...no, no one has been living in these buildings for years...e.g., they have been condemned and could not legally be the home of anyone. No one is being moved out of this particular neighborhood. The remaining structures are being rehabbed and empty lots are being filled in. Locutus, you really should have asked for information on the area before coming to conclusions.
June 20, 200519 yr Author i love the hills in that area and the views. and being a former philadelphian, I love the italianate rowhomes, but the feel walking around the area is not good. not yet. some blocks are nice but until there are amenities within safe walking distance I wouldnt consider these homes at any price. the differential in incomes in the neighborhood is too great I always feel completely safe walking around the area, but I know what you mean. Other than a local bar, there's not too much to walk to until you walk a few blocks down on Main St. There aren't any grocery stores or anything, either.
June 21, 200519 yr ^There are plenty of carry-outs! Yeah, I don't think there have been too many poor folks living on Milton in quite a while now...
June 21, 200519 yr As others have stated there is no gentrification. OTR had at it's most like 45,000 residents. Now there are only like 6,500. (Not sure of the exact figures.) Clearly there is room to grow inward.
June 21, 200519 yr Isn't it racist to assume that only blacks are poor and only rich white people are moving into these rehabbed buildings? Socio-economic discrimination might be taking place here, but I wouldn't call it racism. That's exactly the assumption that was made on a recent thread. Someone was posting about how in a particular suburb of (I believe) Cleveland, most of the houses are expensive, and the average African American can't afford to buy a home there. Many folks here were howling "racism". But now the shoe is on the other foot. With gentrification, there will be good sized parts of cities (comparable to the above suburb being discussed in size), which will be off limits to the average black person because of its price. Is that not racism? Here in Columbus, most of the new residential units downtown start at $150,000 and go upwards from there. There's very little being built in the $50,000-$100,000 range, because even though a single yuppie might buy a unit at that price, so might a poor family. They try to avoid that range to keep out the poor, which in this case is mostly African Americans. Is that not racism? I think many urban dwellers out there pretend to be black-friendly, but personally would be quite happy if most of the urban blacks were priced out by gentrification and moved out to old, "main line" suburbs or left the metro entirely, which is what happened in San Fransisco. That's why they support gentrification in their own city, but if a suburb what's to restrict its own growth to high value developments, they shout "racism".
June 21, 200519 yr Who in the fuck are these "they's" and "them's"? Can you put a name or two to your accusations? Maybe (god forbid) a link or two? And Christ, man, I come here to talk about development, not to pick goddamn fights. Wouldn't this be more apt in City Discussions? If we've already covered this topic, and this is your grand coup-de-grace, isn't it possible for you to take the quotes you find "choice" from this thread, go back to where the topic was the actual topic, and revive it with your evidence? I really get tired of the same false fucking canards popping up in thread after thread after thread. Honestly, I am head-over-heels delighted and excited about the "Overlook at Eden Park", which is also appropriately in the "Projects & Construction" forum - I've emailed links to the thread to outside folks (including the realtor who is selling the project). If you pollute that thread with some argumentative horse shit too, I'm going to be very dissappointed and pissed off, because that's a great repository for the history of the project, and a great advertisement for this site. Please don't make everything about your stupid political nonsense.
June 21, 200519 yr I don't think it's fair to call this gentrification when people are refurbishing abandoned buildings or building on empty lots. No one calls the restoration of an old farmhouse or building a subdivision on farmland"gentrification" even though it's clear that wealthier people are moving into the area. It's very important to remember that Over-the-Rhine is a very underpopulated neighborhood. Anything that can be done to increase the population is a good thing. People who move to Over-the-Rhine because they want to is even better. The primary reason why people don't build affordable housing for inner-city poor people is because of building regulations and safety codes. Basically the attempt to end the tenement priced those people out of the city. Only in places where you have large immigrant populations (like New York, L.A., Chicago) do you still have areas that seem to recall the old 19th century tenements. Poor people in rural areas generally live in trailers and don't own the land they live on. They pay no taxes (but they also don't get any equity) and the cost of living is so low there that they are generally able to afford it. Besides food, clothing and cable, they don't really have that many expenses anyway. But Locustus raises a good question, where will these people live if the neighborhood that was created to contain them (through Section 8 housing as well as Public housing projects) disappears? Places like Chicago are essentially pricing the poor out by tearing down their old housing projects and rebuilding them with much nicer single family row houses. These people are being pushed out of Chicago and into South Side inner ring suburbs like Calumet City, Gary, and others, cities that are much less able to deal with the associated problems of the urban poor. I don't think most people really care.
June 21, 200519 yr This locust guy is probably the same guy who wears the "Yuppies Stay away!" sign at the OTR and downtown tours of living and maybe he lives in west chester and is afraid that the gentrification he thinks is occuring will push the poor his way. LOL anyway I took a walk down mulberry, peete and alot of mulberry Hill and have to say this area has the most potential of any place in cincinnati for redevelopment. There are many vacant lots and abandoned buildings that need a little love. The residents, poor and wealthy are as friendly as can be and are a joy to talk with. I will take my new camera next time! 8-)
June 21, 200519 yr There's very little being built in the $50,000-$100,000 range, because even though a single yuppie might buy a unit at that price, so might a poor family. They try to avoid that range to keep out the poor, which in this case is mostly African Americans. Is that not racism? I would call it market value. What for-profit developers would put their time in money in these projects if they did not think they could see a decent return on that investment? No one is trying to put 50K into a property they bought for 100K and then put it on the market for 70K
June 21, 200519 yr 110 Homes on Mulberry St during the 80's and now 55. We are trying to save a neighborhood, bring attention to it, restore it and make it a safe and viable place to live. I live on Mulberry, both of my neighbors are black and probably make more money than I do (at least that is what they tell me). Restoration, not gentrification is our goal so get behind our attempts to make this community great.
June 21, 200519 yr I would like to invite you all to the Tour for Life on October 9, I saw the information above but as the chairperson for the event along with my wife we hope all of you can come and see what is being done on our hillside. Please feel free to post any sugestions about anything you would like to see on the tour. As we grow closer I will post more information on this thread. Help support Mulberry Hill, Prospect Hill, and the hillsides of Mt. Auburn and Over the Rhine. All proceeds will be going to the Miracles for Life Foundation, hope to see all of you there.
June 24, 200519 yr Author Buildings being lost...: * Some cat named Otis Taylor (R/B Studios LLC) is going to tear down four buildings, including 1615 Hughes St. (1885)...: * ...and 1617 Hughes St. (1865). There are also two for E. Liberty St., which I will post over in the Over-the-Rhine thread.
June 24, 200519 yr There isn't much going to be left on Hughes unfortunatly. We are trying to organize an investment group to buy the street (only 8 buildings left by my count) and rehab it similar to the Peete St purchase. Speaking of that, German Towne Lofts is under construction now on the corner of Peete St., Frintz, and E. Clifton. Eight units are currently being sold in phase one. Jim Hohlbein is the developer and is really spear-heading the development of the lower streets of the hillside. Stop by, take a look at the bottom corner unit of E. Clifton and Frintz, it is being built as a model (it may already be sold) and will give you some sence of how the others will look.
June 24, 200519 yr Author ^ Interesting update on that development. Thanks! I hope the rest of Hughes can be saved. But if it has to be completely redeveloped, I would hope they would look at "Bracket Village" in OTR as an example of how to do it.
July 17, 200519 yr There is going to be a new single family home built on milton st on a vacant lot @ the corner of cumber $400K+ 3 story it is going to the Historic review board for final approval although there is opposition to the project. Probably the person across the street who will lose their view..The same guy who did the Boal st project is also doing this home.
July 22, 200519 yr I drove by these today, they are right where Auburn hits Dorchester south of Christ Hospital. A major rehab on the existing building, with sitework going on for what looks like new construction phase II The garages behind the existing building Another phase across the street
July 22, 200519 yr There is going to be a new single family home built on milton st on a vacant lot @ the corner of cumber $400K+ 3 story it is going to the Historic review board for final approval although there is opposition to the project. Probably the person across the street who will lose their view..The same guy who did the Boal st project is also doing this home. I think this is the house my girlfriend's brother & fiance are building. I'll get some pic as it goes up.
July 23, 200519 yr Author Hey, Cincinnati Kid...thanks for posting the pic of the Keys Hill project (and all of the other ones too). I'd been meaning to find better photos!
July 23, 200519 yr with sitework going on for what looks like new construction phase II Thats not new home construction. The old park was demolished and a new park will be built there.
July 24, 200519 yr My wife is the buyer agent on 124 Dorsey and it is being sold to a couple who are going to rehab it similar to the Breen Fisher house next door. New siding and new windows will be going into 124 within the month. Dorsey is turning out to be a great street. I was just in a meeting on Friday with all of the developers of Mulberry Hill including Kathy Fisher of Breen Fisher and everyone is in agreement to hold all of the new construction open for the October 9th tour. Aug. 5th is my next developer meeting and after that I will post the inventory list of what will be open (new construction) for the tour.
August 4, 200519 yr Author Buildings lost: * 1609 Sycamore St. has been condemned and vacant for quite some time, and it will be torn down. * 529 Carmalt St. (1890) is going to be torn down. Much of that side of Carmalt has been lost in recent years.
August 5, 200519 yr I am very sorry to hear about 1609 Sycamore. It is the one with balconies (the balconies were removed a few years ago by order from the blg dept.) behind the gas station at the bottom of Sycamore. I want to point fingers at the developer who owned it for most of the 1990's but I don't know the whole story, so I will refrain.
August 5, 200519 yr Author From its transfer history, the building's been kicked around back and forth between people and their LLCs every couple of years since the 1990s, and it's been transferred for almost no value. In other words, people were just sitting on this property and they waited too damn long. Had they kept the building up to even a minimum standard, we're at the point now where they could have actually stood to gain quite a bit if they wanted to rehab or even just to unload the building. Instead, greed or indifference has resulted in nothing more than another pointless demolition.
August 5, 200519 yr This building had a for sale sign in front of it and did not even have a number to call. I am going to be lazy and ask instead of looking it up, does anyone know who the last owner was or is.
August 5, 200519 yr Author The auditor has it as: James A. Hall 1919 Sutter Ave. #609 Cincinnati, OH 45225
August 5, 200519 yr The good news is the city is asking the community groups for letters of support for a 30 unit, market rate, single family new construction to go at the end of Hughes in the vacant land next to the civic garden. The garden will not be moved but the basketball courts (not much being played on those courts) would most likely be moved. Between what Vernon Rader is doing on North Main and Liberty and Jim Holhbein at the base of the hillside, this whole area is getting ready to explode. For all of us who have been looking for something positive to happen to Hughes and the corner of Peete, Main and E Micmicken, this could be exactly what we need.
August 5, 200519 yr I will look into Mr. Hall and see if he has any other holdings downtown and see what state they are in also.
August 5, 200519 yr Author Michael...that is extremely good news about Hughes. I hope it fits in with the urban fabric.
Create an account or sign in to comment