June 14, 200816 yr GE to finalists: Double that space Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Laura Baverman Staff Reporter http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/06/16/story1.html
June 15, 200816 yr They should use the land they already have. The parking lot is never full anymore since they used to have 18,000 working at the plant in the 80's. Tear out some of that parking and build there.
June 22, 200816 yr If GE were to vacate their current location it would present one of the largest potential infill projects I've ever seen. It would also clean up one of the biggest eyesores along I-75.
June 23, 200816 yr This is only offices, the plant isn't going anywhere . . . probably (hopefully) ever.
June 24, 200816 yr ^Yes...a $75M facility wouldn't come anywhere close to replacing what they have in Springdale now. I was just throwing a thought that popped into my head out there.
June 24, 200816 yr ISTR that the new facility consolidates current Springdale and West Chester facilities, nothing from the City of Cinti or the Evendale Plant.....suburb to suburb move. All the cities listed have current GE facilities, except Erlanger (?); so y'ins should be complaining that one of the sites under consideration is across the creek. GEAE's business if booming in SE Asia and the Middle East
August 5, 200816 yr GE nears decision on move http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/BIZ01/808050376/1076/BIZ
August 6, 200816 yr God, I hope Butler County / ODOT hits GE up for the massive improvements to UCB & I-75, should they pick the Queen City Sports Site. Words can not describe how much more of a nightmare UCB is going to be in 5 years.
August 6, 200816 yr That could Cincy's selling point in five years - - - great neighborhoods, manageable traffic (we have mass transit)
August 13, 200816 yr GE chooses West Chester http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/NEWS01/308120071/-1/rss GE Aviation has chosen West Chester for its $55 million consolidation project, beating out Springdale, Evendale and Erlanger, and bringing 1,100 high-paying engineering jobs (1,400 jobs total) to town. View full article by clicking the hyperlink above.
August 13, 200816 yr Just a bit of perspective...800,000 sf of office space would create another Queen City Square downtown. Thanks for choosing to go the route of a faceless suburban complex.
August 13, 200816 yr It would have been nice to see the city at least make a play for this. I would have loved to see another skyscraper downtown, even if meant giving them the land plus tax breaks. There is pleanty of vancant land downtown that would be much better suited for these jobs than west cheaster. If not in downtown it would have been cool to see them retrofit the Bicycle factory in Norwood.
August 13, 200816 yr I bet that 200k will allow GE to make record profits. This is absurd. Or it will allow them to hire two more engineers!
August 13, 200816 yr Great - just what WestChester needs - more cars for already overcrowded roads. Now I'll never get home before 7pm! (sarcasm)
August 13, 200816 yr Great - just what WestChester needs - more cars for already overcrowded roads. Now I'll never get home before 7pm! (sarcasm) You don't work DT, do you? I made the drive yesterday from DT to WC and with rush hour it was absolutely hell ... I would never accept that type of lifestyle. Imagine how much time is wasted on a single week, sitting in your car?
August 13, 200816 yr What a bunch of garbage. Does anybody know how many employees will remain at the site in Evendale? You can imagine the officials out in West Chester thumping their chests right about now...makes me want to throw up. GE probably decided to go out there because of that awesome downtown they have now.
August 13, 200816 yr Imagine how much time is wasted on a single week, sitting in your car? You don't have to imagine...the average American spends over 100 hours/year commuting (as of 2005). http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/commutetimes.htm
August 13, 200816 yr You don't work DT, do you? No, I work in Westchester, live 12 miles north of it. Getting to work takes about 20 minutes, even with the construction all the way down I-75 (accidents double my morning commute). But getting out of WC onto I-75 at the end of the workday is another story. Impossible to get onto I-75 north due to the traffice on UC blvd/Mulhouser road intersection and terrible traffic light placement. I have to take a back way to reach the interstate, so that adds another 5-10 minutes depending on when I leave. Up until mid February I used to commute down I-75 to the Galbraith rd area. That was a 35 minute drive in the am, sometimes longer in the pm.
August 13, 200816 yr Up until mid February I used to commute down I-75 to the Galbraith rd area. That was a 35 minute drive in the am, sometimes longer in the pm. Wow, so you're commute is worse than the average commute in Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles, and are just about equal to the commute times seen in suburban DC. (see link above for source)
August 13, 200816 yr ^ My current commute is about 20 minutes, nearly all of it thru a construction zone. I expect it to drop to closer to 15 minutes once I-75 widening is complete. The time of commute is only one factor. The pace is just as important to me. I hate not being able to drive at normal speeds. Thru Evendale/Lockland split, much of the commute was at a crawl. I would rather commute 30 minutes at 65mph than 20 minutes at 20mph. Just my personal preference on the concept of "moving".
August 13, 200816 yr ^^ from the link above... States with some of the lowest average commute times included South Dakota (15.2 minutes), North Dakota (15.4 minutes), Nebraska (16.5 minutes) and Montana (16.9 minutes). In contrast, workers in several cities are fortunate enough to experience relatively short commute times, including Corpus Christi, Texas (16.1 minutes), Wichita, Kan. (16.3 minutes), Tulsa, Okla. (17.1 minutes), and Omaha, Neb. (17.3 minutes). So my new commute is right in line with the shortest averages in the country!
August 13, 200816 yr Also, my previous job with the 35 minute commute was temporary - it was a contract job. Reducing my commute was a major objective when searching for the permanent job I now have.
August 13, 200816 yr Wednesday, August 13, 2008 GE Aviation ‘serious’ about West Chester, but no decision yet Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Laura Baverman Staff Reporter GE Aviation said Wednesday that it has not yet made a decision about where to relocate 1,400 of its workers, although it is strongly leaning toward a site in West Chester Township for the $55 million consolidation project. View full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/08/11/daily28.html
August 13, 200816 yr Why are you all criticizing WC for this?....Duke's the one who bought the QC sports complex and marketed it as an office complex..attracting GE to the site. GEAE most likely made the 3 municipalities aware of the site selection process and played it so that they all competed with each other for the best "package". FWIW these are supporting white collar jobs for the Evendale manufacturing facility. Bringing the fact that they should have looked at a downtown location is a strawman argument since they would NOT locate their support facilities further away from the Evendale facility (why they had Erlanger in the mix is beyond me....). IMHO the discussion should revolve around GEAE being committed to the AREA....They are doing gangbuster business now, due to the markets in far east and the middle east (yes, oil money IS flowing back to our economy)
August 13, 200816 yr Why are you all criticizing WC for this?....Duke's the one who bought the QC sports complex and marketed it as an office complex..attracting GE to the site. GE will receive a 100 percent property tax abatement for up to 15 years – or until the land lease ends with developer Duke Realty. This abatement will save the company about $200,000 per year, according to township estimates./quote]
August 13, 200816 yr We all know why KY was in the mix - - they give money away and it would be a great bargaining chip with Ohio. I agree this was never headed downtown, but it is unfortunate with the amount of under utilized land in that area that they would need to go to West Chester and make interaction with the plant that much harder for workers.
August 13, 200816 yr Why are you all criticizing WC for this?....Duke's the one who bought the QC sports complex and marketed it as an office complex..attracting GE to the site. GE will receive a 100 percent property tax abatement for up to 15 years – or until the land lease ends with developer Duke Realty. This abatement will save the company about $200,000 per year, according to township estimates./quote] However, the comments on here imply that WC actively went out and stole the office location from Springdale. Anyone know the details of Evendale's or S'dales competing offers? ISTR that the move was spurred by lack of space at the original site and a move to consolidate. GEAE may have 'special' office space reqt's that might require new construction(such as areas for CNC protypting or something like that)...I don't know
August 14, 200816 yr Interesting to see its tax avoidance for the corporation (property tax), but the people who work theire will still pay income tax via the JEDD. This is going to be visually impressive from the interstate, if the SF is as said.
August 14, 200816 yr Interesting to see its tax avoidance for the corporation (property tax), but the people who work theire will still pay income tax via the JEDD. This is going to be visually impressive from the interstate, if the SF is as said. Wouldn't this just be two 4 or 5 story office buildings??? With a total of four after 'phase 2'. Not sure how visually impressive that will be... Sounds like a cookie-cutter suburban office complex to me. I would much rather see a 10-15 story office building at the current GE assembly plant. *Especially since it's closer to my apartment!
August 14, 200816 yr it's a shame... Springdale has the office space but not the tax incentives of West Chester... that's a big blow to Springdale to potentially lose 1400 jobs to Butler county over taxes... same thing happened when Cincinnati Financial left Springdale for tax breaks in Fairfield... kinda sad...
August 14, 200816 yr ^I'm guessing you meant to say I-275, not I-675. Even so, I also don't see how it would be impressive even with that being the case. Most of the sprawling office parks north of I-275 are 3-4 stories in height...with the occasional spattering of a 5-6 story building. This will simply blend in with all the rest.
August 14, 200816 yr There was a link to a preliminary site plan yesterday on the Hamilton Journal News website - I don't see it now but essentially it was a couple of office buildings surrounding by a sea of parking.
August 14, 200816 yr Officials wait on word from GE Company to announce site decision soon. By Matt Cunningham and Josh Sweigart Staff Writers Thursday, August 14, 2008 West Chester Twp.'s approval of an incentive package aimed at bringing GE Aviation's engineering division to the township is great news for businesses, the township and the county as a whole, said area officials. View full article here: http://www.journal-news.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/08/14/pjw081408geinvest.html
August 14, 200816 yr "job creation capital of the state" This is primarily just a relocation of jobs from 5min. down the interstate. The same is true for many of the companies at Union Centre Boulevard. While they're creating some jobs they are also eliminating jobs elsewhere in the state. Thus resulting in a minimal overall gain (if any). Not sure that necessarily deserves the self-proclaimed title of "job creation capital of the state."
August 14, 200816 yr I vote for calling it instead the "15 year 100% tax abatement capital of the state"
August 14, 200816 yr The Enquirer article makes the Butler Cty folks out to be total assholes. I have few doubts that it is in fact the case.
August 14, 200816 yr I bet that 200k will allow GE to make record profits. This is absurd. Or it will allow them to hire two more engineers! Nah, this is 2008. They'll fire two senior engineers and hire 6 entry level engineers.
August 15, 200816 yr Instead of letting the over-anxious Enquirer get away with the first article, Springdale instead now has to suffer through 2 negative media cycles instead just the one that would have been over by now. This sucks. It's official: GE to consolidate in West Chester http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/08/11/daily50.html GE Aviation will consolidate its 1,400 office workers in a $55 million, 400,000-square-foot campus to be built in West Chester. Click the hyperlink above to view the full article.
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