Miller-Valentine proposing 75 townhomes for Columbia Tusculum

BY KEVIN LEMASTER | SOAPBOX CINCINNATI

March 18, 2008

 

COLUMBIA TUSCULUM - Miller-Valentine Group has proposed a 75-unit residential development for the Columbia Tusculum neighborhood.

 

The Village at Walworth Avenue would extend Walworth to an area just behind The Precinct restaurant, creating a cul de sac lined with zero-lot line row houses.

 

According to Andrew Holzhauser, president of the Columbia Tusculum Community Development Corporation, preliminary estimates are that the townhomes would be priced between $400,000 and $600,000.

 

Aside from the necessary rezoning, Miller-Valentine needs to acquire 2.4 acres of wooded Cincinnati Park Board land on Walworth.  They would then add 2.5 acres of common park land within the development.

 

The response from both the Columbia Tusculum Community Council and the East End Area Council has been favorable so far, though some Walworth residents have expressed concerns about increased traffic.

 

Doug Hine, president of urban lifestyles for Miller-Valentine, says that these concerns will be addressed during the design phase, and estimates that the project is probably at least a year away from breaking ground.

 

To Hine, the project is designed to complement the adjacent Columbia Square mixed-use development.

 

"We're adding residential density," Hine says.  "We've created a community you can easily walk to."

 

Holzhauser says that between the Village at Walworth Avenue and Gary Osterfeld's nearby Cottage Hill residential project, the population of Columbia Tusculum could increase 15 to 20 percent.

 

"It will be a great destination for young families and obviously a huge boost to the city's tax base," he says.

 

Sources: Doug Hine, president of urban lifestyles, Miller-Valentine Group; Andrew Holzhauser, president, Columbia Tusculum Community Development Corporation.  Rendering Provided by Miller-Valentine Group.

With the housing crunch and the fears of a recession, could they have chosen a better time for this press release?

^Macro trends do not always apply at a micro level.  The East End and Columbia Tusculum communities have remained hot during this national slowdown.

That's great all this area of the city has all this new development, but I hope it doesn't follow the same trend that caused this current housing slump.  By that I mean, the over saturation of homes. 

^Obviously, but the market here didn't get hit as hard as others.  For example, The Gateway Quarter units are seeing the effects of the P&G acquisition of Gillete still.  Thank you Boston.

Doug Hine, president of urban lifestyles for Miller-Valentine, says that these concerns will be addressed during the design phase, and estimates that the project is probably at least a year away from breaking ground.

 

By then things should be in full swing again.

That part of Cincinnati is just going gang-busters. It is pretty amazing to consider how dramatic the changes have been. Unfortunately, it also reveals something about Cincy that the whitest part of town has gotten this private investment in ways that other parts haven't. I'm pumped about it and it is a great location irrespective of demographics, but I think they do play a part.

Unfortunately, it also reveals something about Cincy that the whitest part of town has gotten this private investment in ways that other parts haven't. I'm pumped about it and it is a great location irrespective of demographics, but I think they do play a part.

 

Agreed, but I think it's more about affluence than race.  If there was a "black neighborhood" where people were willing/able to buy $600,000 townhouses, there'd be more investment there.  Whether race and affluence are linked is a whole other debate, but I think these developers are looking at $$$, not the skin color of potential residents.

^exactly, private developers and private investors only see one color...Green. 

Still needs some work, land acq. etc...but they obviously saw Neyer drop the res. portion of CS and decided they could fill that gap...

run the streetcar out east along the oasis line

Just an FYI, as I haven't seen anyone talk about it...

 

This plan may seem rather innocuous...but for the current residents of Walworth Avenue it's a harrowing prospect.  Once you take  drive down our street, make it to the end and have to do a 4 point turn-around (remember the 3 point turn-around from driver's education?  this is tighter!) you can perhaps understand that we have some serious concerns!

 

None of us are against development.  But don't try to squeeze 50lbs of crap into a 20lb bag!  Especially when that 20lb bag is filled with gold...at least in our minds.  Our street, as it is now, emptying out onto a horrible intersection (blind to the right coming off of Riverside, vulnerable to the left coming down Delta, uncontrolled traffic coming at you west on Eastern) does not have one of the safest locations as it currently stands.  I beg anyone to drive down our street and picture a full-size Fire Truck trying to come down it!  And you know they want access to their backend of their truck, so they have to back a hook&ladder all the way back there?  Insane!  It's hairy in our current situation...downright dangerous even to think about not providing an alternative route should more residences be built.

 

You can't port all the new occupants down Walworth.  Does that solve anything? Does the city/neighborhood councils want to exacerbate an already bad situation? I would think No. What needs to be done is to build another thoroughfare for this development.  But, of course, the developer doesn't want to have to go through all that trouble to get the city/county/neighborhood council to sign off on it. They have to do it on the cheap and expedient.

 

Sorry, but while I'd be excited about the thought of this development if I was on the City Council, and perhaps the neighborhood council, I can't see how it can go forward without a serious redrawing of the plans to realistically address the existing neighborhood's concerns.

 

I can tell you one thing...the Walworth Avenue neighborhood won't allow this to go through in any way close to it's current form without a serious fight...and maybe even a lawsuit.

 

I'm just saying...

 

Looks pretty on paper though!

^Macro trends do not always apply at a micro level.  The East End and Columbia Tusculum communities have remained hot during this national slowdown.

 

Yes, witness Oakley and Hyde Park.

^^Thanks for the insight fordo, and welcome to the forum.

"If there was a "black neighborhood" where people were willing/able to buy $600,000 townhouses, there'd be more investment there."

 

Exactly where can you find this neighborhood in Cincinnati or outside of the ultra exclusive neighborhood that members of my family live in.  Read, members of my family who live in LA.  If we can just get a half decent wealthy ethnic enclave in the city that'd be great.

 

But as for this project I hope they add some Palladian elements into the mix.

^That is pretty much exactly what I was driving at.

"If there was a "black neighborhood" where people were willing/able to buy $600,000 townhouses, there'd be more investment there."

 

Exactly where can you find this neighborhood in Cincinnati or outside of the ultra exclusive neighborhood that members of my family live in.  Read, members of my family who live in LA.  If we can just get a half decent wealthy ethnic enclave in the city that'd be great.

 

If you read the rest of my post, I immediately followed with:

 

"Whether race and affluence are linked is a whole other debate, but I think these developers are looking at $$$, not the skin color of potential residents."

 

Which acknowledges the fact that we have some issues in this country with race and wealth, without delving deeply into it, as this isn't the purpose of this thread.  I just think it's important to draw the distinction that this development is happening because of affluence, not race, since race was brought into the discussion as a factor.  If there's a societal issue surrounding the link between those two in the region/country, it's not the developer's fault.  They've just got a business to run and are going where the money is.

I don't think its the developers fault and I'm not saying they should be building this elsewhere. I was just noting that the most substantial urban renaissance in the city is along the river on the East Side, which while it was long home to the poor that poor was nearly all white (Appalachian and others). Compare this to the problems OTR has had getting off the ground and if you visited these neighborhoods 10-15 years ago, I'm not sure you would have picked the East End as opposed to OTR for renaissance.

^ Oh, I figured that you weren't. But it was a statement that could be read a few different ways, which is the only reason I responded to it.

 

While I personally would prefer to be surrounded by the gorgeous italianate architecture in OTR, I think that the emergence of $500,000+ townhouses all over the East End has more to do the river views offered there than with the racial history of the two neighborhoods.  Just my opinion, though.

Also, C-T and the East End are less dense with fewer different owners to deal with and cheaper land for new builds.

While I personally would prefer to be surrounded by the gorgeous italianate architecture in OTR, I think that the emergence of $500,000+ townhouses all over the East End has more to do the river views offered there than with the racial history of the two neighborhoods.  Just my opinion, though.

 

River Views + Proximity to Hyde Park = $$$$

 

Do you really think anyone would spend $600,000 on a place in OTR?

Just an FYI, as I haven't seen anyone talk about it...

 

This plan may seem rather innocuous...but for the current residents of Walworth Avenue it's a harrowing prospect.  Once you take  drive down our street, make it to the end and have to do a 4 point turn-around (remember the 3 point turn-around from driver's education?  this is tighter!) you can perhaps understand that we have some serious concerns!

 

None of us are against development.  But don't try to squeeze 50lbs of crap into a 20lb bag!  Especially when that 20lb bag is filled with gold...at least in our minds.  Our street, as it is now, emptying out onto a horrible intersection (blind to the right coming off of Riverside, vulnerable to the left coming down Delta, uncontrolled traffic coming at you west on Eastern) does not have one of the safest locations as it currently stands.  I beg anyone to drive down our street and picture a full-size Fire Truck trying to come down it!  And you know they want access to their backend of their truck, so they have to back a hook&ladder all the way back there?  Insane!  It's hairy in our current situation...downright dangerous even to think about not providing an alternative route should more residences be built.

 

You can't port all the new occupants down Walworth.  Does that solve anything? Does the city/neighborhood councils want to exacerbate an already bad situation? I would think No. What needs to be done is to build another thoroughfare for this development.  But, of course, the developer doesn't want to have to go through all that trouble to get the city/county/neighborhood council to sign off on it. They have to do it on the cheap and expedient.

 

Sorry, but while I'd be excited about the thought of this development if I was on the City Council, and perhaps the neighborhood council, I can't see how it can go forward without a serious redrawing of the plans to realistically address the existing neighborhood's concerns.

 

I can tell you one thing...the Walworth Avenue neighborhood won't allow this to go through in any way close to it's current form without a serious fight...and maybe even a lawsuit.

 

I'm just saying...

 

Looks pretty on paper though!

 

I drive through columbia-tusculum on the way home, and actually looked at a house on walworth at one point. I totally agree that this project would have an extreme impact on the current residents of that road. Its already pretty insane (narrow, cars on the street, etc). Adding 75 more condos and probably double that number in terms of cars/traffic, good luck.

 

They'd have to re-work that entire intersection and redo (and widen) walworth to make this project successful.

76-unit Delta Flats to start soon, but some pan design

 

Construction should begin soon on Delta Flats, a 76-unit market-rate apartment development on the northwest corner of Columbia Parkway and Delta Avenue.

 

Towne Properties and Al. Neyer, Inc. are seeking a City grant and loan package of $1.3 million for the $8 million project, which they hope will attract young professionals and raise the viability of the nearby Columbia Square development.

 

The project, registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as LEED for Homes Multi-Family 1.0, is scheduled for completion next summer.

 

But some in Columbia Tusculum have reservations about the project's design.

 

Yea, those are terrible.  And they don't belong here.  Maybe above ground floor retail, but not like this. 

That spot would look better with something that addressed the corner rather than treating it like an ODOT erosion control project.

 

Maybe something with high roof pitches that reflected the Precinct turret...

Yea, those are terrible.  And they don't belong here.  Maybe above ground floor retail, but not like this. 

 

With the amount of high speed vehicular traffic this intersection sees ground floor retail simply isn't viable.  That being said, I don't know who would want to live at such a high traffic intersection. 

 

I don't think they look that bad.  They seem to respond fairly well to what I believe is the Junior League building across the street as well as the unfortunate office building at its caddy corner, but it is impossible to tell due to the intentionally blurry rendering.  I do agree that the corner treatment/ stair element is a huge missed opportunity. 

On you know, I was all backwards.  For some reason I was thinking this was NE side of the interseciton where the Junior League building is.  Dumb mistake.  I thought an office development was originally meant to be built here.  Guess that isn't economically viable anymore. 

I don't know what there is much to complain about. Mt. Lookout and Hyde Park have hardly any newly built apartment buildings and desperately need developments like this to occur. The architectural design appears to be ok - not great - and better than the eye sores they built down on The Banks. And honestly with the odd topography on that corner it is nice that the space can actually be potentially utilized.

 

 

I agree with most of the posts so far here.  On one hand, this development will really bring some presence to the NBD of Columbia Tusculum, and it's always good to see new construction housing in the city.  I don't think the architecture is terrible, except on the corner of Columbia Parkway and Linwood.  The topography presents some challenges on that corner, but the development desperately needs to formulate that corner if it wants to have a true visual impact on the neighborhood, and those passing through.  Even if the building didn't come all the way to the corner, a plaza at sidewalk level (or just higher) could also potentially work, ala the new plaza in Montgomery (Montgomery and Cooper) so long as it was activated with some programming.

I also don't think that the architecture is terrible, however it pains me to think that these may represent the standard of design for my era, and I am not okay with that.

It is not better than the Banks.

It IS The Banks...East...minus Crave and stuff.

This is a terrible design, but I suppose it is better than what is just up Delta:

http://goo.gl/maps/bMOe (long since completed, but with garages facing Delta)

 

While there can be no pedestrian activity along Columbia Parkway as it is a parkway, there can be activity at that corner, either with first floor offices or first floor retail. But as is the case caddy-corner in the Neyer three-story office building and the retail spaces behind it, they just aren't filling up. A decade ago, this would have been full and a hot-spot for development, but the economy has wrecked it.

 

If the building could be opened to Delta, that would be a huge improvement.

I think ground floor retail or offices is probably unrealistic considering the amount of undeveloped space in Columbia Square and also at the old Lincoln School a block up Delta.  I could see one retail or office space at the corner just because of its high visibility, but along the whole length of the building?  Probably not.  Pedestrian traffic is fragmented at that location because of all the turning movements onto and off of Columbia Parkway, unfortunately.  The pedestrian connection from this corner to the Precinct is cut off because of that, requiring a 3-step navigation of the intersection just to get from the one corner to the other.  Not that there would be a whole lot of demand for such a connection, but the Precinct corner is the most "activated" of the four as far as pedestrians are concerned.  Nevertheless, there's more pedestrian activity at this intersection than you might expect, so there's definitely an opportunity to make it better.  Some on-street parking on southbound Delta and a curb bump-out and more street parking on northbound Delta would do a lot to help calm what's already an excessively wide street.

 

As for the architecture, it's the same uninspired crap that's been spewed out on all similar projects for the past 15-20 years.  It screams "cheap materials" and "unresolved, poorly scaled details".  There's also this strange aversion to properly addressing street corners.  Instead of embracing the corner with a tower or turret, or even just a simple curved facade, the building retreats from it leaving completely unresolved space at what should be the most important part of the design. 

What is on that corner in the rendering, anyway?  Is that a communal outdoor area, a pool, or what?

And I still with they hadn't torn down the beautiful old building catty-corner to this development, which was replaced with that sadly empty office building.  Seemed pretty unnecessary at the time, and kind of tragic now, given how little demand there has been for the space.

As for the architecture, it's the same uninspired crap that's been spewed out on all similar projects for the past 15-20 years.  It screams "cheap materials" and "unresolved, poorly scaled details".  There's also this strange aversion to properly addressing street corners.  Instead of embracing the corner with a tower or turret, or even just a simple curved facade, the building retreats from it leaving completely unresolved space at what should be the most important part of the design. 

 

Thank you, and amen.  I couldn't agree more!

 

Admittedly, I do NOT like the design.  But I don't understand the community residents' complaints about how it doesn't fit into the neighborhood.

· Red brick.  Check.

· Boxxy.  Check.

· Short.  Check.

· Boring.  Check.

 

I guess we just have to accept that this is forever what Cincinnati is going to be happy building.  But for Pete's sake, this place looks like it would fit in better down in OTR.

>>I guess we just have to accept that this is forever what Cincinnati is going to be happy building.  But for Pete's sake, this place looks like it would fit in better down in OTR.

 

I disagree with that sentiment. A building like this does not belong in OTR or Columbia Tusculum. The biggest problem with its design is its relation to the street. This is just more of the same suburban crap built to look urban. Where is the street frontage entrances? Each floor level unit should be accessible to the street. There should be a prominent building entrance or retail at the corner, and there needs to be more glazing on the first floor etc.

Apartment design draws criticism

A prominent corner in Columbia Tusculum will soon be home to new apartments aimed at young professionals – but not all residents are happy with the design.

 

Al. Neyer Inc. and Towne Properties are working together on Delta Flats, a proposed 76-unit apartment development on the northwest corner of Delta Avenue and Columbia Parkway. The companies plan to start construction later this year.

 

More than a year ago, the Columbia Tusculum Community Council provided design suggestions so the apartment complex would fit in the neighborhood and look similar to the nearby Precinct restaurant, Junior League of Cincinnati and the Lincoln School Professional Building.

 

Cont

What is on that corner in the rendering, anyway?  Is that a communal outdoor area, a pool, or what?

 

Oh God.  Please tell me that it isn't a cul-de-sac, since it appears that there might be a roadway/garage entrances between the two buildings.

What is on that corner in the rendering, anyway?  Is that a communal outdoor area, a pool, or what?

 

Oh God.  Please tell me that it isn't a cul-de-sac, since it appears that there might be a roadway/garage entrances between the two buildings.

To me seemed like an upper plaza with steps that curve around it and go to the sidewalk below.

 

It IS The Banks...East...minus Crave and stuff.

 

Totally.

It literally is the Banks.

 

CR Architecture did this, the Banks, U Square, Adams Landing, etc.

This is the first time I have seen this rendering... At least the Banks had a lot less architecture around it to work off of. This doesn't match the location at all. I hope they didn't pay CR much money to put The Banks development in a new location.

 

Delta Ave. getting 76 new apartments

Written by Cindi Andrews

Jan 17, 2013

 

Construction is expected to start within six weeks for 76 apartments on Delta Avenue in Columbia Tusculum, a hot residential area adjacent to Mount Lookout.

 

Delta Flats, an apartment complex on 3.8 acres at the northwest corner of Delta Avenue and Columbia Parkway, will include a fitness center and pool, Towne Properties’ Arn Bortz told the Enquirer on Thursday.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130117/BIZ/301170147/Delta-Ave-getting-76-new-apartments

 

Developer sees hot demand for Cincinnati's newest luxury apartments: PHOTOS

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Delta Flats is the latest addition to Greater Cincinnati’s growing apartment scene.

 

I got a sneak peek inside the luxury apartment development. To view images of the project, click on the image to the right.

 

A model apartment at Delta Flats is expected to be ready in May, with units available for lease in June, said Adam Bortz, president of Towne Properties Asset Management Inc. The development’s outdoor amenities, including a saltwater pool and outdoor grilling and patio area, will be ready in July.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2014/04/developer-sees-hot-demand-for-cincinnatis-newest.html

8 single family homes are being proposed along Freemster St. just south of Columbia Parkway. City council may approve the agreement tomorrow:

 

http://city-egov.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/Blob/48269.pdf?rpp=-10&m=1&w=doc_no%3D%27201701048%27

$15M Columbia Tusculum apartment project lands key approval

 

 

Steiner + Associates’ plans for a $15 million apartment development within walking distance of Columbia Tusculum’s business district are one step closer to reality.

 

The Columbus-based developer requested a change of zoning for a more than 1.1-acre property on Hoge Street to planned development from residential mixed. Cincinnati Planning Commission unanimously approved the zoning change for the project, which would include a total of 69 apartments units built above a one-level parking garage.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/01/15m-columbia-tusculum-apartment-project-lands-key.html

Luxury housing development coming to Mount Lookout Square

 

A luxury housing development is coming to Mount Lookout Square.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/07/17/exclusive-luxury-housing-development-coming-to.html