Urban developers reach out to young professionals

http://www.pulsedt.com/blogs/default.asp?Display=2580

 

Adam Hopkins takes pride in where he lives, and he lives in Over-the-Rhine.

 

Specifically, he lives in the Gateway Quarter redevelopment the effort by Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) and multiple housing developers to revitalize the transitional neighborhood, once plagued by violent crime.

 

"I like that I'm close to Downtown, and that I can walk everywhere," says Hopkins, a planner for Florence-based Sweco. "I've got a great community, and great neighbors, and modern furnishings."

 

Hopkins, 25, is exactly the kind of person developers are banking on to revitalize the center city young professionals (YPs). But how many of them are there in the city (no one seems to have exact numbers), how many of them want to live Downtown, in the pending Banks development, or in Gateway, and how many of them have the level of income necessary to live Downtown if they choose to? With the city and developers holding the YP up as the holy grail to save the city, are their numbers and impact overstated?

 

'Retaining young talent'

Bobby Maly, vice president of development for the Model Group, one of the primary developers in the Gateway Quarter, says his company, and all the developers in Gateway, were focused from the very beginning stages of the redevelopment of Over-the-Rhine on the YP demographic. "Everyone's talking about how important retaining young talent is," Maly says. "From the beginning, the YP demographic was, and is, huge. Our brand and our demographic is the YP. It's reflected in our designs, and the fact that it's an urban market."

 

Kathleen Norris, the head commercial agent for the Gateway Quarter, agrees. "The condos we've sold so far have been skewing heavily towards young professionals. It's been about 85 percent YPs so far," she says, adding that 3CDC's plan is to develop a total of 500 condos in OTR over five years. Seventy-five of the units have been sold so far, which means about 64 of the units sold have been to young professionals (professionals under the age of 35).

 

Cincinnati City Council member Chris Bortz, a longtime center-city development advocate, says, "There's a government push toward the beginning of a recognition that YPs drive your economy. These days, most cities are experiencing an influx of that demographic because people are choosing an urban lifestyle."

 

Ultimately, the Banks development will be geared toward YPs as well, though not to the extent that the Gateway Quarter is. Bortz says that while the residential component of the Banks will be largely for-sale properties many if not most of them above the price point of an average YP there will be a large rental component, geared toward YPs.

 

"Who wants to live between two stadiums?" Bortz asks, rhetorically. "A father with six kids? No. A younger person wants to live there, and so what product do we need to build there? Having an exclusively for-sale product would price most young professionals out of the market."

 

Norris agrees: "You'll see a stronger percentage of empty nesters on the Banks drawn by river views," she says.

 

"You'll have a higher price point on the Banks."

 

Ultimately, the Gateway Quarter represents 500 residential units geared toward YPs totaling more than $100 million in investment. The Banks, while geared less toward the YP demographic, still has components geared toward them, and the development's total economic impact may be in the billions of dollars, according to experts.

 

The elusive YP-to-dwellings ratio

So just how many YPs are there to fill the massive amounts of spaces and massive amounts of development money being built up for them?

 

The short answer: no one seems to know, exactly.

 

HYPE, which stands for Harnessing Young Professional Energy, is a Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce affiliate geared toward YP involvement in business and Downtown. It says it doesn't keep specific numbers on how many YPs there are in the area, though the chamber does know that there are about 100,000 throughout its region, which spans 15 counties, and it doesn't break the data down by county.

 

Downtown Cincinnati Incorporated (DCI) produced similar results. Bortz says, "It's a fluctuating number we don't know exactly how many. But we know that there's a huge pool of those (YP) dollars, and it's completely untapped."

 

Does it make sense to bank so much on a pool of money YP dollars without knowing how many of them will actually take advantage of the development, or how many of them there actually are in the region?

 

Bortz says yes. "Across the country, young professionals are moving back into cities. It's not just anecdotal. It's an actual demographic shift. No one can show me a negative.

 

"It makes sense to build an infill," Bortz says, adding, "The goal is to make sure we're investing in the infrastructure so we can attract the demographic that we know exists. Everything else will take care of itself. Younger people want hip urban living and we have to provide it. Retail will follow it."

 

And Norris adds, with respect to the Gateway Quarter, the YP demographic is just the beginning of what she believes will be a radical, neighborhood-wide demographic shift, with YPs being the anchor.

 

"We are seeing a strong re-urbanization movement," she says. "Not just in Cincinnati. It's happening in most cities of any size."

 

"We're targeting empty nesters and young professionals," Norris says, "but gradually it should capture families.

 

Once the school (for Creative and Performing Arts) is open it will appeal to young families. In five years, I think we'll have a broader base; it will be less of a niche market in five years."

 

Maly points to Mount Adams as a good example of what OTR may look like then a neighborhood with high property values, a mix of rental and for-sale housing, and appealing to both families and single YPs.

 

But, Maly says, "OTR is a lot bigger than Mount Adams, so it'll take OTR a longer time to fully mature. There's no doubt that as we grow, the neighborhood cycles. The first round will be the trendsetters."

 

The optimism and development go on

At the end of the day, the jury is still out on whether targeting the YP demographic as aggressively as is being done by development players in the city will be a successful strategy.

 

But it is clear that the YP set is the brass ring for developers.

 

Hopkins, for his part, is happy with his choice to live in the center city. "I wouldn't live anywhere else," he says simply.

 

Whether there are enough Adams out there remains to be seen, but all who are involved in pushing for YPs to move back to the center city are quick to add that it's not just about retaining current YPs to the region it's about attracting new talent from other cities.

 

"We need to get people moving back here," Bortz says. "Cincinnati is inexpensive by comparison (to other cities).

 

Urban living is more attractive than it's ever been, and for most of the '80s we ignored residential development in the center city. We need to catch up."

YP stand for Yuppie?

^ precisely.  I hate the term and have yet to hear it once out here, despite that 95% of the people living here would fit the bill in one form or another (young and/or professional).  Tell the media to drop it already.

I think yuppie has negative connotations, so they are trying to be more neutral by using YP as a shorthand term for the demographic they are writing about.

YP stand for Yuppie?

 

YP = Young Professional

 

^ precisely.  I hate the term and have yet to hear it once out here, despite that 95% of the people living here would fit the bill in one form or another (young and/or professional).  Tell the media to drop it already.

 

I'm not sure why so many people seem to get upset/annoyed by the term either.  Young Professionals are just that...young people who are professionals.  They are a specific demographic in our society.  YP is just the short-hand term for the full out Young Professional.  I'm not sure what the problem is...or how it is a gimmick.

Where in the Cincy metro area are young professionals getting (better paying) jobs?  Obviously the jobs are spread out, but is there a good concentration anywhere?  Downtown?  Westchester/Blue Ash?  NKY?  other?

 

I simply do not know the answer.

 

Everywhere. I am one of the described "YPs" that live in OTR, and I work at Xavier. Convenient access via the #4 METRO line, or a 5 minute drive or a 40-minute bike ride.

I would rather see more hipsters than YP's personally  :-D

 

 

 

 

 

The first yuppies where sort of hip when they were young.  Yuppie grew out of the urban counterculture/back to the city movement of the late 60s/early 70s.  I guess "early Mount Adams"?

 

 

Who says Yuppies aren't hip? Just because they're not part of 'alternative' culture?

 

I'd say the fact that they're interested in living in an urban environment makes them hipper than 99% of the young professionals living in the rest of the Cincy metro.

 

Of course I probably fit the YP stereotype so this could just be blantant denial on my part of how 'un-hip' I actually am...  :|

^ If you live in NOKY, then yes, you are un-hip.

SNAP!