Posted May 19, 200916 yr Historic Crosley Building may see new life http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0519crosleybldg.aspx If you have ever driven along Interstate 75 through Camp Washington, you have almost assuredly been greeted by one of the most visible pieces of Cincinnati history laying vacant and in disrepair. Originally built in 1929, the Crosley Building was the headquarters for the Powel Crosley Jr. empire, and produced the first mass-produced table-top radio, the first non-electric refrigerator, and the first mass-produced economy car. The majestic ten-story building, designed by famous Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford & Sons, has seen a variety of tenants since the Crosley Corporation sold the structure in the '70s. Given the building’s prominent location along I-75, its close proximity to rail, downtown, the airport and its inclusion in the recent GO Cincinnati economic development report, the building has been deemed a high priority redevelopment spot by the City of Cincinnati. The site sits on roughly one acre of land with nearly 300,000 square feet of space within the Crosley Building. Previously, the city had identified the site as a possible redevelopment for a research/technical facility that would continue the legacy of the Crosley family. The city is now looking at the site in a different light as they hope to engage the private market. “We would really have to sit down with the private market to figure out the redevelopment of the site,” says the Senior Development Officer with the Department of Community Development at the City of Cincinnati, Sam Stephens. Most recently the City of Cincinnati included the redevelopment of the Crosley Building in its stimulus request asking for $4.3 million. Additionally, there is a formal request sent to Congress for an earmark in the FY 2010 budget. Stephens says this is the first indication the city is interested in moving into the Camp Washington area for redevelopment purposes. There exists an unprecedented opportunity to apply for additional available money. In addition to the redevelopment of the location, a remediation process will most likely be needed to clean up the site from its environmental hazards. Stephens mentions that programs like the Clean Ohio Fund and the Job Ready Sites offer more public resources for the cleanup of sites like this than ever before. As the City progresses in its efforts to prep the site for redevelopment, it plans to continue to engage the Camp Washington Community Council who helped identify the building as a primary redevelopment site in the neighborhood. Stephens says that Camp Washington is currently in the process of finalizing an urban renewal plan for the neighborhood in which the redevelopment of the building plays a prominent role. The plan is scheduled for completion over the summer following additional community input. From there, the plan could go to the Planning Commission and then City Council. “It’s very early on this project and not all of the information is there, quite yet,” says Stephens. “We are doing what we can to maintain that building and its integrity for the city and the neighborhood of Camp Washington.”
June 30, 200915 yr Author The future of the Kahn's facility in Camp Washington http://www.soapboxmedia.com/devnews/0630kahnssite.aspx It was just two years ago when Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati were discussing how to deal with the county’s jail capacity and crime management needs. During this time, the county's need for a new jail facility came up time and time again and was the focus of the November 2007 referendum on a sales tax increase to pay for such a facility. The 15-year tax increase would have raised Hamilton County’s sales tax 0.5 percent to 7 percent for eight years which would then fall back 0.25 percent for the next seven years costing the average county resident an extra 10 cents more per day in sales taxes. The result would have been a host of new social programs geared towards keeping people out of jail long-term and a new 1,800 bed jail in Camp Washington. The new $198 million jail was to be built on the land of the former Kahn’s plant owned by the Sara Lee Corporation. The site operated as a meat-packing plant from 1883 (during the Porkopolis days of Cincinnati) until late 2006. The 15-acre site was donated to Hamilton County during the time when political leaders were searching for a jail. The donated land was estimated to save the county $7.5 million off the cost of a new jail, but still sits unused in the heart of Camp Washington and an area that was recommended for “green industrial” redevelopment in the Growth and Opportunities (GO) Study for Cincinnati. The GO Study identified a potential of up to 9,000 NRA of office, 485,000 gross square feet of freestanding industrial, 30,000 square feet of Flex/R&D Industrial, and 12,000 square feet of local-serving retail for the Queensgate/South Mill Creek economic opportunity area. The report goes on to stress the importance of “reclaiming older industrial buildings because of the unique market opportunity to catalyze the rehabilitation of the buildings in the Queensgate/South Mill Creek area.” The report then suggests that the end use could be boutique R&D space that is often found in these types of spaces. In February of this year, Schweitzer Enterprises offered Hamilton County $1 million for the Kahn’s facility that is valued at $7.5 million with the plans of demolishing about half of the buildings on the site and converting the rest into an indoor sorting facility that could process some 300,000 tons of construction material annually that would have otherwise been sent to a local landfill. The future of the site is still to be determined, but if community leaders are to follow the GO Study's advice, then something that preserves the structures on the site and capitalizes the location's unique structures in what could become one of the nation’s largest “green” industrial districts is still yet to be identified.
June 30, 200915 yr The Kahn's building is huge, and has lots of potential. The thing is literally a maze of additions and renovations spanning 100 years, though, and a lot of the space could prove tough to utilize. Glad to hear the estimates are so high in terms of re-usable space. I was never really a fan of tearing it down and building the jail there. It should be used for industrial purposes of some sort, in my opinion..
July 1, 200915 yr I remember meeting a guy on the bus who worked at Kahn's when they still slaugtered hogs. He was bragging about how many pigs he killed that day.
November 3, 200915 yr Author Camp Washington organizer sick of Crosley's 'inglorious decay' http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2009/10/camp-washington-organizer-sick-of.html By Kevin LeMaster | Building Cincinnati, October 29, 2009 Camp Washington community organizer Joe Gorman is sick of the condition of the Crosley Building, a prominent building located at 1331 Arlington Street, a key northern gateway into the neighborhood. Recently, Gorman fired off an e-mail to Todd Hosea, vice president of building owner Hosea Worldwide, Inc., calling the building a "wide open eyesore" and asking him if there was any chance of the company taking a more aggressive stance on getting the building closed up and the graffiti removed. Hosea has owned the 300,000-square-foot industrial building since 1998, but has been unable to maintain it. "It is very dispiriting to our efforts to improve Camp Washington when the Crosley sits above all else in all of its inglorious decay," Gorman said. "(I am) sick of seeing it in such graffiti-covered despair." To bolster his point, Gorman referred to a recent post by Gordon Bombay on his Queen City Discovery blog, where he and two other urban explorers were able to reach the top of the ten-story watchtower. According to Gorman, a door on the roof is hanging by its hinge, providing wide-open access to the roof. "I am surprised that metal parts from the machines on the roof haven't been thrown onto the street below," he said. Gorman also said that Keep Cincinnati Beautiful has offered Hosea paint to cover the graffiti, but has not received a reply. Hosea has attempted to sell the building over the past four years, and is exploring a Clean Ohio Assistance Fund grant from the Ohio Department of Development to perform a Phase II Environmental Assessment on the property to better market it to developers. The City has requested $4.3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding through the Community Development Block Grant for cleanup and rehabiliation costs, which is expected to create 300 jobs. In the meantime, Gorman wonders why the City isn't pursuing Hosea more aggressively, noting that the company also owns the blighted Lunkenheimer Building, located at the southern gateway into South Fairmount. "We have called the cops and asked the building inspectors to check on the building," he said. "Firemen have checked it out also. Why can't there be a City policy that forces owners of abandoned buildings to clean up or take down the remnants?"
November 3, 200915 yr Inglorious decay? I think it has an understated romantic beauty myself, but that could just be me... and those darned "urban explorers." It's like the Parthenon of Industry.
November 4, 200915 yr nice shot. seeing those stars reminded me that the moon has been gigantic the past two nights. Someone needs to snag a shot of DT with it in the bkgrd.
January 12, 201015 yr Author Hamilton County may give up on new jail By Jessica Brown, Cincinnati Enquirer | January 12, 2010 Hamilton County Commissioners are expected to make a decision today that will guide the future of the former Sara Lee site in Camp Washington - and whether the county should give up on plans to build a new jail in the coming years. The county's options: • Keep the 16-acre site on Spring Grove Avenue on the chance it could still build a jail there someday. Voters have twice defeated tax increases to pay for the jail. • Ready the land for sale. A developer is ready to go on plans for an office/warehouse building there. Read full article here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100112/NEWS0108/1130320/1055/NEWS/County+giving+up+on+new+jail?
January 13, 201015 yr Author Jail out, new plan in for Kahn's site By Jessica Brown, Cincinnati Enquirer | January 13, 2010 Hamilton County commissioners Wednesday moved forward with a plan that, if successful, will ultimately kill the idea of ever building a jail at the site of the former Kahn's plant in Camp Washington. The three-member commission unanimously voted to apply for a $3 million Clean Ohio grant to tear down the plant and clean up environmental contamination on the site. But once commissioners accept the grant money, they commit to using the site for manufacturing/warehouse space rather than a jail. Read full article here: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100113/NEWS0108/1140309/1055/NEWS/Jail+out++new+plan+in+for++Kahn+s+site+
August 24, 201014 yr Monday, August 23, 2010, 6:14pm EDT Former Hamilton County jail site to be reborn as industrial park http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2010/08/23/daily9.html Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Dan Monk Courier Senior Staff Reporter A Camp Washington-based development company has agreed to purchase the old Kahn's plant from Hamilton County to develop an industrial park that's expected to employ 200 people. [...] The purchase ends years of uncertainty for the Kahn's site, where a meat-processing plant employed 500 as recently as 2001. Sara Lee Corp. shuttered the plant in 2006, later donating it to county. It wanted to build a $200 million jail on the site, but voters rejected that idea in 2007.
August 24, 201014 yr My grandfather was a butcher there from the 1930s to the 1970s. I'm glad to see industrial use continue on the site. We need more of that.
August 24, 201014 yr Where is this located? On Spring Grove adjacent to Queensgate Yard in the middle of Camp Washington: Google Map
December 13, 201113 yr Primed for development 6:35 PM, Dec. 12, 2011 Written by Lisa Bernard-Kuhn CAMP WASHINGTON — A year from now, Matt Lafkas envisions his stretch of Spring Grove Avenue — dotted with empty buildings and long targeted for redevelopment — to be primed for a growing mass of new industry. On Tuesday morning, Lafkas and a host of local business leaders and elected officials will gather to celebrate the demolition of the former Kahn’s meat processing plant at 3241 Spring Grove Ave. The year-long process will help make way for Lafkas’ 17-acre industrial park that’s expected to help bolster the city’s menu for available, state-of-the art manufacturing space — which is now mostly outdated, empty and aging. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111213/BIZ01/312090174/Primed-development?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business
April 10, 201213 yr Would love to see this building converted a la American Can Lofts! “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
April 10, 201213 yr I think of the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit website when I see the Crosley Building.
April 11, 201213 yr ^^Unfortunately, Crosley is not as well integrated in a neighborhood like American Can. I still think it has a lot of potential, however, and would be thrilled to see it go residential.
April 11, 201213 yr ^^Unfortunately, Crosley is not as well integrated in a neighborhood like American Can. A buddy of mine said the exact same thing. But he was quoting the developer of the American Can, who has also done the Ford Factory on 71, who said he has 0 interest in the Crosley building because Camp Washington has no amenities and is a weaker neighborhood for residential development. - Also, Hosea (total jerk) owes $150,000 in delinquent property taxes on this building. the Lunkenheimer building is also falling a part and he owns both. Pretty much would be thrilled if he went broke/bankrupt and had to sell of his assets for pennies. They would certainly end up in the hands of better owners than he is.
April 11, 201213 yr I personally think the Brewery Art Colony in LA would be a pretty great precedent for what the Crosley Building could become. Maybe standard, market rate lofts won't work here, but I think artist lofts would actually be pretty successful in this location. Cheap, no amenities, live/work units would totally attract people, IMO. more on the Brewery Art Colony Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brewery_Art_Colony http://breweryartwalk.com/
April 11, 201213 yr ^ My masters of architecture thesis was on an alternative reuse of the Crosley Building. I focused on the overall lifespans of buildings and proposed a slow reoccupation of buildings like Crosley that are so far gone. I designed snapshots of what it could be in 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. The first five years proposed something along the lines of the art colony you linked to. If anyone is really bored, here's a link: http://zfein.com/architecture/thesis/index.html
April 22, 201213 yr Absolutely, this building should be saved, if for no other reason than as a monument/tribute to one of the greatest most industrious Cincinnatians ever.
November 15, 201212 yr This site has been completely cleared. Isn't there some sort of light industry planned for this area? “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
March 17, 201411 yr New developments eyed for former Kahn’s site Bowdeya Tweh Marketing efforts are ramping up for the Camp Washington site that once was home to Kahn’s meat plant that helped shape Cincinnati’s Porkopolis identity. Matthew Lafkas, managing partner of Vestige Redevelopment Group, a Walnut Hills-based real estate company, said the vacant 16.9-acre industrial property at 3241 Spring Grove Ave. is getting steady interest from potential users. Lafkas said fielding calls from prospects has been exciting after working on the demolition and redevelopment project just after the recession. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2014/03/14/kahns-market/6443515/
March 17, 201411 yr Looks like a great opportunity for a mixed-use light industrial/residential development. Though that may not be what anyone has in mind. The Spring Grove side probably wouldn't (have to) be too noisy.
May 3, 201411 yr Finally, some good news! The Crosley Building could be converted into 238 apartments. Historic Crosley building could be converted into apartments CAMP WASHINGTON, OH (FOX19) - The historic Crosley building in Camp Washington could be in for a facelift if a developer gets its way. It's a building you can't miss if you're driving along Interstate 75 near Spring Grove Avenue. Plans are in the works to convert the building into apartments. Source: http://www.fox19.com/story/25415761/historic-crosley-building-to-be-converted-into-apartments
May 3, 201411 yr Sweet! Same developers as the American Can building right? Makes sense for them to handle it.
May 3, 201411 yr This is awesome news. I've had a thing for that building (like so many others) since I moved to Cincinnati 7 years ago. And based on the quality of work done at the American Can Lofts it would appear it's in very good, capable hands.
May 3, 201411 yr Sorry isn't good enough, pal There's going to be foundations laid, if ya get what i mean..... Seriously, tho, With the Gantry, Kirby RD School & this place, the Northside & Camp Washington neighborhood business districts should do well. FWIW, Camp Washington Hardware is purchasing Northside's Ace Hardware & keeping the location going. If more retail & residential keep moving into the neighborhoods, they should do well, too.
May 4, 201411 yr Camp Washington has an easy route to awesomeness. And This is the biggest, most obvious trigger for that to start. It would easily be on my short list of neighborhoods in Cincy to purchase an investment property.
May 5, 201411 yr Sweet! Same developers as the American Can building right? Makes sense for them to handle it. Same developers as the old Woodward/SCPA apartments that should get under way soon (hotel deal is dead).
May 5, 201411 yr and same developer who is going to do some apartments in Walnut Hills at an old school.
May 5, 201411 yr Excellent news! There's a nice park on the other side of Colerain, and the American Sign Museum is on the other side of Monmouth. 238 apartments should provide excellent impetus for other businesses (and apartments) to co-locate in this sub-neighborhood of Camp Washington.
May 5, 201411 yr There are so many awesome old industrial buildings in the vicinity just begging for residential/mixed-use conversions. I would imagine that whenever this is finished that we might see some nice spinoff development in the area.
May 5, 201411 yr The old Kahn's facility is a big empty field waiting for development. Maybe we could get a walmart in there! :clap:
May 5, 201411 yr Very encouraging indeed, and with some other residential redevelopment nearby at least it won't be completely isolated. Ideally I'd love to see rail transit through that area, which would really help build up the neighborhoods. With Colerain Avenue being severed on both ends there's virtually no through automobile traffic and as a commercial corridor it's almost completely dead. That would be a perfect place for a sort of transit mall since Spring Grove Avenue and Central Parkway easily handle all the through car and truck traffic. With more residential development like Crosley it would be a good fit, and it's a good anchor for the end of Colerain Avenue.
October 21, 201410 yr Crosley Building rehab could yield 238 apartments Bowdeya Tweh, [email protected] 6:08 p.m. EDT October 20, 2014 Six months after supporting the project, Camp Washington residents remain excited about a proposal from an Indianapolis-based real estate developer to convert the Crosley Building to house 238 apartments. But they're still waiting for it to happen. Core Redevelopment, which is also planning large building conversions in Pendleton and Walnut Hills, wants to lead a more than $25 million renovation project to add market-rate apartments at the 1333 Arlington St. building. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2014/10/20/apartments-crosley-building-plan-examined/17620011/
October 21, 201410 yr Incredible news, that was a landmark building I was sure was going to be torn down.
October 21, 201410 yr 238 units is pretty sizable for an area pretty lacking in activity. I think this building being rehabbed is going to result in a really interesting change in the dynamic of Camp Washington. I'm excited to see what it leads to.
October 21, 201410 yr Hopefully they can secure funding for this. The Machine Flats down the street look really nice. I can't imagine anyone renting here without a secure parking lot, though. EDIT: I shouldn't say "anyone". But definitely not 200+ apartments at market rate. Perhaps placing parking on the lower level(s) of the building would work.
October 22, 201410 yr There's a pretty large vacant lot across from the building, between it and I-75 that could probably be used for parking. It has some topography change, so I'm not sure if it'd be able to fit 200 spots. There is also a creepy basement floor that doesn't have windows and would seemingly work well for parking.
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