Having worked in this building, I always though it had potential to be re-purposed for residential. The top floor is two stories and has great views of OTR.

Fantastic.  The news about this and the old SCPA have really helped take the sting out of residential being eliminated from the plans for the new dunnhumby building at 5th and Race.  It's good to note that in that article there was a quote from the developer saying that supply and demand was way out of whack with downtown residential, with there being way too much demand and not enough supply.  Hopefully more developers start to notice!

This is great news could really help continue all the momentum in that area.

Yeah, the top floor(s) are where the money is going to be made for this developer.  Nowhere else in the city will you get 2-floor units with no pillars at the 14th floor, with large balconies and underground parking.  If they divide the upper floor (which is 30+ feet high) into 4 or 6 units they will get several million for each unit.  The balconies are so big you could plant trees or do other big-time gardening, if that's your thing.  Also, I would bet they could put skylights in those upper units to make up for the shortage of south-facing windows. 

 

There is also probably some potential to knock out the floors and make the units on lower units 2-floor units with an open area near the window wall, ala the American Can Building. 

Yeah, the top floor(s) are where the money is going to be made for this developer.  Nowhere else in the city will you get 2-floor units with no pillars at the 14th floor, with large balconies and underground parking.  If they divide the upper floor (which is 30+ feet high) into 4 or 6 units they will get several million for each unit.  The balconies are so big you could plant trees or do other big-time gardening, if that's your thing.  Also, I would bet they could put skylights in those upper units to make up for the shortage of south-facing windows. 

 

There is also probably some potential to knock out the floors and make the units on lower units 2-floor units with an open area near the window wall, ala the American Can Building.

 

Sounds pretty nice. However, I don't think they  are planning condos. But those units could certainly demand some pretty high rents.

I'm aware that the banks don't make it easy to make a combined apartment/condo building.  Perhaps because I'm not in the highest tax bracket I don't understand who would rent such a space for 2-3 years since you'd want to get nice furniture for it and it would be pretty wasteful to throw leather couches out on the sidewalk when you move out. 

Sorry, but where are there balconies? I dont see any on this building, probably because it was built for office.

 

Yeah, the top floor(s) are where the money is going to be made for this developer.  Nowhere else in the city will you get 2-floor units with no pillars at the 14th floor, with large balconies and underground parking.  If they divide the upper floor (which is 30+ feet high) into 4 or 6 units they will get several million for each unit.  The balconies are so big you could plant trees or do other big-time gardening, if that's your thing.  Also, I would bet they could put skylights in those upper units to make up for the shortage of south-facing windows. 

 

There is also probably some potential to knock out the floors and make the units on lower units 2-floor units with an open area near the window wall, ala the American Can Building.

Balconies can be installed during a residential conversion. Plus the top two floors have several opening on the south facade that can easily be opened up for balconies.

 

See here

>Sorry, but where are there balconies?

 

The balconies are south-facing on the 14th floor.  They are each about 200 feet long and about 20 feet deep.  You can't see them from the ground, they are on the roof of the main part of the building. 

 

My guess is the hallway connecting each of the units will be along the south side of the building, so no new windows will be punched in the brick facade, unless some are made for the end units.  If the hallway is 10 feet wide, the units on floors 2-13 can be 60 feet deep. So if they are 25x60 there will be 16~ units per floor.  My guess is the lower floors will remain office and the upper floors will become apartments, corresponding with the division of the two elevator banks.  If my memory is correct the higher elevator bank is floors 8-14, so there will be right around 100 units total, depending on what happens on floors 14/15.  So if the hallway is on the south side of the building, the two end units on each floor will get 10 more feet of depth and the potential for a window or two being cut in the end or south walls, so these units of course could demand a higher price. 

 

Anyone with commercial banking expertise can help out here...so if there are 100 units renting between $1,000 and $2,000 per month, then the total monthly income from a fully occupied apartment section of the building will be between $100,000 and $200,000.  Minus insurance and staff I'm not sure how much this developer will be able to borrow for this project. 

 

Well this needs to get off the ground with Mercer Commons underway and the Banks phase 2 and Fountain Place ready to happen.  That's over 500 announced apartment units, and while Mercer and The Banks are different products, Fountain Place is in a better location downtown.  580's only advantage is underground parking.

I would argue that Fountain Place's location is only marginally better and that the underground parking is a massive advantage. I am curious about the cost comparison between new construction on top of an existing building (that was built to support the further expansion) and converting offices into apartments.

Converting the offices at 580 will be vastly cheaper than constructing a brand-new building. That said, a new tower at Fountain Square West above Macy's will cost less than if it were a brand-new building on a vacant site, as the excavation and foundation work (huge $$$) are already complete. I'd speculate that these two projects are a big reason Dunnhumby decided not to include a residential component at 5th and Race.

Converting the offices at 580 will be vastly cheaper than constructing a brand-new building. That said, a new tower at Fountain Square West above Macy's will cost less than if it were a brand-new building on a vacant site, as the excavation and foundation work (huge $$$) are already complete. I'd speculate that these two projects are a big reason Dunnhumby decided not to include a residential component at 5th and Race.

 

New information states there was not "enough" room at the Dunnhumby site anymore. As they needed more space.

 

That argument makes no sense.  Not "enough" room?  How is there not enough room above the 4-story structure they want to build?  I understand they need more space than originally thought, but it looks like their new plans expand horizontally, not vertically.  Dumb. 

 

They dropped the residential component because they didn't want to be involved with residential, didn't think the residential tower would be financed, didn't want to compete with the other residential conversions happening downtown, or some similar reason. The "We needed more space" line is pure marketing, trying to put a positive spin on it.

They dropped the residential component because they didn't want to be involved with residential, didn't think the residential tower would be financed, didn't want to compete with the other residential conversions happening downtown, or some similar reason. The "We needed more space" line is pure marketing, trying to put a positive spin on it.

 

And you know this... how?

 

If dunnhumby didn't want to be involved with residential, then why did residential even come up in the first place when the initial discussions about the building came up?  It seems to me like the "oh hey we're expanding faster than we thought and actually need to take up the whole site" explanation makes considerably more sense.

According to DCI, CBD, OTR and Pendelton have a population of over 13,000, a few more major projects and some north of Liberty revitalization and we could be over 20,000 in five or so years

It just seems fairly obvious that "we need more space" is spin to draw attention away from the fact that they're dropping the residential component. (And it worked, judging from the Business Courier's headline: "DunnhumbyUSA needs more room, residential out at new HQ".)  I'm not saying I have any insight into the exact reason why the residential component was dropped, but mostly likely 3CDC was pushing for it hard and Dunnhumby just didn't want any part of it.  Do you honestly believe that Dunnhumby just realized how fast they were expanding?

 

Agreed, the whole thing sounded like PR speak.

Do you honestly believe that Dunnhumby just realized how fast they were expanding?

 

Just now? No.  They probably had this realization a few months ago and worked on the timing of the messaging with 3CDC.  However, I am pretty sure that their rate of growth has indeed taken them by surprise, because I work for Kroger and for my job I work with dunnhumby fairly extensively.  They are ahead of their business plans for expanding their operations.  Basically, the more they do for clients like Kroger, other stores, and CPGs (consumer product groups), the more people recognize how valuable their services are, which expands further demands for their services, which ups the value of their services... they are in an extremely virtuous circle for their business right now.

 

Again, I'm positing that your stance - a stance in which dunnhumby agrees to a residential component they don't actually want only to turn it down nine months later - doesn't actually make a lot of sense. dunnhumby is a rapidly growing company and a key component of Cincinnati continuing to build its rep as a hub for marketing, branding, and consumer products.  3CDC would have turned backflips to get them to create a new HQ downtown that would insure that those new jobs are downtown Cincy jobs without even needing to bring residential into the mix, and it's unlikely that 3CDC would have risked scotching the deal by doing a hard sell on an unwanted residential component.

My bet is what sounded good to dunnhumby at first became a drag over time (could be many reasons, maybe the speed at which things were coming together for the residential component creating uncertainty and slowing the whole project down). Since they felt it was a bit of a hassle, they just said, no thanks.

 

The need for room doesn't make sense, since they could have just built taller.

The need for room doesn't make sense, since they could have just built taller.

 

I took that to mean room in the future. So if they continue to expand after they occupy the building and ramp up to their current estimate, they could tack on floors at a later date.

Per the Enquirer, the 580 Building will house 176 apartments when the conversion is complete, and a construction loan is already in place. The speed of this has been pretty impressive.

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130205/BIZ/302060041

^ wow, that did move quick. I wonder if it will have an effect on the potential apartments above Macy's.

^Obviously none of us know the inner workings of either of these projects or when they were first envisioned, but this renovation was announced a bit before the announcement of the Macy's apartments, leading me to believe those seeking apartments above Macy's were aware of this building's possible renovation when they decided to announce their interest in those 220 (or whatever the number was) newly constructed units on Fountain Square.

UrbanOhio.com: It's like getting your news two months early.

Not sure what the right thread is for this but does anyone know what the outcome of the Terrace Plaza auction was a couple weeks ago...

Not sure what the right thread is for this but does anyone know what the outcome of the Terrace Plaza auction was a couple weeks ago...

Last I heard, the owner wants way more for the TP than anyone is willing to sink into it, given the inevitably high restoration costs

 

 

Great news about the 580 building.  I would bet we can expect to see some action on the former Bartini site now that the building has been officially sold.  That's a pretty high profile space in what is arguably the best corner in Downtown, so I expect that we will hear something soon about it.

 

 

Glad to hear that this is official.  So, will the whole building be residential?  Or will there still be some floors that are office space?

Articles have indicated some of it will remain office space.

AT580 lands upscale steakhouse as anchor tenant: EXCLUSIVE

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

J. Hamman Prime signed a lease for 9,100 square feet at the newly named AT580 in downtown Cincinnati. The restaurant is targeting a late fall opening.

 

At first glance it may look like the building landed a different steakhouse to anchor the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets, but Mo’s A Place for Steaks recently rebranded its locations to the J. Hamman Prime name.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/08/13/at580-lands-upscale-steakhouse-as.html

It's crazy to me how fast this building is getting renovated. I realize it hasn't been empty very long, but it still blows my mind.

It's crazy to me how fast this building is getting renovated. I realize it hasn't been empty very long, but it still blows my mind.

 

I think something has slowed them down, not sure what but t have definitely slowed them down. They are turning a small space into a leasing office on the sign it said opening July 17th, then it never opened and work continued on the space well past that date. Then it appears work was finished and the "opening on July 17th" was removed from part of the sign and it still isn't open.

 

New downtown Cincinnati steakhouse sets opening date

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

J. Hamman Prime, the new steakhouse coming to downtown Cincinnati, is scheduled to open Nov. 22.

 

The restaurant is the first new retail tenant to open in the newly named AT580 at the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets since it was sold earlier this year.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/10/21/new-downtown-cincinnati-steakhouse.html

Major demolition work starts on AT580

 

Signs of significant renovation at the former 580 Building will finally be visible this week as major interior demolition begins on the project that will create 180 apartments in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.

 

Tony Birkla, partner with Anderson Birkla Investment Partners LLC, said interior demolition of AT580, located at 580 Walnut St., is a pretty big job. Demolition will take place on floors seven through 14 and the entire annex building.

 

Details of the building’s conversion from office space with some retail to a mixed-use development with upscale apartments, class A office space and retail were revealed in June 2013.

 

Cont

 

See how workers are gutting the 580 Building to make way for luxury apartments: PHOTOS

Tom Demeropolis Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Demolition crews are hard at work ripping out the old office fixtures in the former 580 Building, making way for 180 apartments and amenity space for residents.

 

Last week I wrote that signs of work in the building would be visible.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/03/17/check-out-the-demolition-taking-place-in-at580.html

New restaurant for the 580: http://nextstl.com/2014/04/pi-announces-expansion-cincinnati/

That looks really cool, I especially like the perferated wall of Pete Rose. I also love that they flat out say they followed the streetcar debate from afar and chose this location because of the streetcar, good news all around.

Construction elevator going up on Main St.

Construction elevator going up on Main St.

 

Is that what those black crane-looking things were on Main St.? I saw them stacked on the street or truck and was wondering what they were...

They've been working fast at opening up that lower brick portion. The side facing 6th now has a bunch of holes in it similar to those in the picture along Walnut. It'll look so much better when finished and reclad.

 

New gourmet concept coming to AT580 building

Andy Brownfield Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

AT580’s newest tenant is a gourmet concept that caters to the appetites of Cincinnati’s corporate citizens.

 

Gourmet Management founder Matt Russo hopes to open Gourmet to Go on the second level of the skywalk in AT580 sometime this fall.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/09/11/new-gourmet-concept-coming-to-at580-building.html

Pi Pizzeria opens Downtown Monday

 

Pi Pizzeria will open its Downtown Cincinnati restaurant, located at Sixth and Main streets in the AT580 building, at 11 a.m. Monday.

 

 

The small St. Louis-based chain serves both deep dish and thin crust pizzas. Cornmeal is a big part of the crusts' signature flavor, said corporate chef Cary McDowell: The deep dish crust has cornmeal blended in, while thin crusts are dusted with it.

 

"That makes it light and almost flaky," McDowell said, noting that the deep dish crusts are "much less heavy" than Chicago-style crust.

 

Toppings such as meatballs and sausage are made in small batches, on site; sauce is made in small batches every day.

 

Cont

Leasing heats up for new AT580 Downtown apartments

Bowdeya Tweh, [email protected] 2:39 p.m. EST November 12, 2014

 

 

Nearly one in five units have been pre-leased at the AT580 Downtown Cincinnati apartments now under construction.

 

Construction work is expected to be complete on the first set of AT580 units in March as crews finalize the conversion of the former 580 Building at Sixth and Walnut streets, said Don Brunner, president of Indianapolis-based Denizen Management, which is handling residential leasing at the property.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2014/11/11/march-completion-eyed-project/18872659/

Nov 23 2014...they're opening up new windows on the south side of the building:

 

Anybody tried the Pi place?

Anybody tried the Pi place?

 

A few of us went on Friday and it was very good!

I have a friend who works there and says its been really busy.

Pi is awesome. Their owner is an unabashed streetcar supporter, telling anyone who will listen that the streetcar is the reason he located the restaurant there. They have a local flair with dishes made with Rhinegeist beer etc. The space is very cool. And the pizza with the cornmeal crust is the bomb. I love it.

I've really enjoyed everything I've eaten at Pi -- the food's delicious.  It's so nice that the once solid brick wall at that corner of the 580 Building is now glass, allowing for an enjoyable open view while dining

Thanks for the reviews. Hope I get to check it out soon!

Pi is awesome. Their owner is an unabashed streetcar supporter, telling anyone who will listen that the streetcar is the reason he located the restaurant there. They have a local flair with dishes made with Rhinegeist beer etc. The space is very cool. And the pizza with the cornmeal crust is the bomb. I love it.

 

I would recommend the thin crust over the deep dish pizza.