After the long delayed project that has kept the city in county bunting heads for almost a decade ... we are finally seeing approval, financing details and have a ground-breaking set for early next year! I will try to keep this thread updated and the renderings coming as they become finalized.

Council voted 9-0 Monday to approve the agreements with the developer


Banks approved; 'An incredible thing'
BY JESSICA BROWN | JLBROWN@ENQUIRER.COM


Cincinnati and Hamilton County governments have approved the Banks agreements, paving the way for the project to begin.

The voting —which took several minutes due to the multiple pieces of legislation —were greeted by a hearty round of applause. The votes were unanimous. Commissioner Pat DeWine was unable to participate because of a potential conflict of interest involving his law firm.

Elected officials termed it a historic occasion. Each took several moments to thank the Banks Working Group, the city-county body charged with jump-starting the project-- for getting things done. They also thanked each other for their roles, and the community for their patience.

“We’ve stared problems speed bumps and all manner of difficulty in the face and we’ve decided that in spite of it all we’ll find a way around it and we’re going to move on and we’re going to do it together,” said Commission President Todd Portune at the ceremony at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

“That’s an incredible thing for a community to realize.”

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory echoed those remarks, calling the Banks “the biggest development deal in the history of Cincinnati."

He said it shows a new era is dawning in city-county cooperation.

“Cooperation has never been the issue. But we’ve built a relationship. This is how we’re going to develop things in the future.”

The Banks is a proposed 18-acre neighborhood district on the Cincinnati riverfront between the Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ball Park. Developers hope to break ground early next year.


(Updated since the renderings were released: The height of the buildings have been increased to 24 story cap and residential and commercial space to be doubled. Like I said, I will update renderings as they become available)

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=AB&Dato=20070514&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=705140802&Ref=PH&Item=1&MaxH=320&MaxW=375&Border=1

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http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=AB&Dato=20070514&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=705140802&Ref=PH&Item=4&MaxH=320&MaxW=375&Border=1

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=AB&Dato=20070514&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=705140802&Ref=PH&Item=5&MaxH=320&MaxW=375&Border=1

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=AB&Dato=20070514&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=705140802&Ref=PH&Item=6&MaxH=320&MaxW=375&Border=1

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http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j231/jmecklenborg/carew-1-1.jpg

Complete story from the very beginning: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=newsbanks


What is the Banks?

Location: Downtown, an 18 acre site that sits between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark. "It would be a 24-hour destination spot with housing, restaurants, shops, offices and a riverfront park."

Green-space: A 40 acre park-space that will include fountains, carousel, bike pathways, statues and a connection to the Ohio River.

Total Size: 2.8 million square feet of space. (residential, retail, commercial, and entertainment.)

Move In: Expect People living there by late 2009 or early 2010. I'm going with the latter.

Cost: Over $1 billion.

How many people will live at the Banks? Roughly "3,000".



First Phase:

"Among the details of the proposed development discussed so far: A new employee readiness committee and local inclusion consultant will help make sure the project meets its goal of at least 22 percent of labor hours worked by minorities and women; widened sidewalks along Freedom Way, for cafes and kiosks; and workers will be paid a prevailing wage.

The first phase would consist of 300 rental units and 70,000 square feet of retail space. Next would be 120 for-sale condos and 300 square feet of office space. The rest, Germano said, would be affected by what the market demands: “The worst thing to do would be to build it and have it be vacant.”

The apartments likely will be among the most expensive in the city, renting at $1,000 for a smaller unit of about 700 square feet, and up to about $1,600 a month. “It’s going to take those kinds of rents to be successful,” said Tim Riordan, a member of The Banks Working Group."

First Phase Financing:

"Of the up to $200 million in public money, $106 million will be used for street improvements, utilities and to build parking garages. The garages will be a platform for the rest of the project and will raise it out of the level of the flood plain. The rest ($80 plus million) will be used for the riverfront park.

Of the $106 million, $27 million will come from as yet unspecified grants, according to county officials; $10 million will come from the developers, $26 million will come from the city, $21 million will come from the county. The remaining $22 million will come from tax increment financing, according to Eric Stuckey, an assistant county administrator.

The city has already set aside $17.5 million in its existing budget to put toward its $26 million chunk of the project. Any cost overruns or funding gaps would be shouldered jointly by the city and county."

The Banks is a done deal

10 YEARS IN THE MAKING
BY JESSICA BROWN | JLBROWN@ENQUIRER.COM
E-mail | Print | digg us! | del.icio.us! | Click-2-Listen
With glowing remarks, handshakes all around and even a little humor, Hamilton County and Cincinnati's elected leaders Thursday approved the Banks project.

"This marks moving from a vision and dream to a reality," Councilwoman Laketa Cole said. "We can finally say we did it."

The culmination of a decade's worth of work on the long-stalled project came about 2 p.m. Thursday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. In a series of "yes" votes, in front of a crowd of more than 150, Cincinnati City Council and the Hamilton County Commission approved what is intended to set the riverfront development in motion.



The Banks is envisioned as an 18-acre neighborhood on the Cincinnati riverfront between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park. It is to include apartments, condominiums, shops, restaurants, office buildings and a 40-acre park.

Thursday's vote came, not coincidentally, less than a week before Election Day. The timing was not lost on anyone at the table. Many thought that it was critical to get the deal sealed before Tuesday because all nine City Council seats are up for grabs.

Atlanta developers Carter Real Estate and the Harold Dawson Co. expect to break ground early next year and have people living and working at The Banks by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Officials expect The Banks to be a signature project that will spur new economic development by bringing jobs, residents and visitors to the riverfront.

Thursday's separate votes were unanimous among the nine City Council members and two county commissioners. The third county commissioner, Pat DeWine, did not participate in the vote because of a potential conflict of interest involving his law firm. Mayor Mark Mallory, under the city's charter, also does not vote on council ordinances. Both men said they support the project.

Councilwoman Cole said she still has concerns about certain parts of the project such as the construction of decks over Fort Washington Way, which is not yet funded, and making sure minorities continue to have fair representation in the project and financing. But she expects those concerns to be worked out.

No one at the table Thursday underplayed the importance of approving the project, or its significance to the region, in their view.

"We're about to sign off on one of the biggest development deals in the history of Cincinnati," Mallory said.

The elected officials called the vote a historic moment and a launching point for the turnaround of the region. They said it marks a new era in city-county cooperation.

"We've stared problems, speed bumps and all manner of difficulty in the face, and we've decided that in spite of it all, we'll find a way around it, and we're going to move on and we're going to do it together," Commission President Todd Portune said. "That's an incredible thing for a community to realize."

Each person took several moments to thank the Banks Working Group - the city-county body charged with jump-starting the project - for getting things done. They also thanked each other for their roles and the community for its patience.

The event was punctuated by some moments that drew chuckles from the audience. Cole instructed council to "Get 'er done."

Chris Bortz practically shouted his "Yes" during the last string of votes by council.

When Portune's turn to vote came, he pretended for a moment that he was having second thoughts.

Councilman John Cranley said he's "looking forward to having my beer at ESPN Zone," referring to a sports bar he hopes will locate at The Banks.

The votes took several minutes because of the many pieces of legislation needed to launch the project.

To the natives here ... this picture means a thousand words! ;)

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Dato=20071102&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=711020412&Ref=AR&Q=80&MaxW=450&MaxH=475&Site=AB&Q=80&Border=0&Title=0

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071102/NEWS01/711020412/-1/newsbanks

I hope this helps downtown Cincinnati. :cheer:

Now we just need high speed rail between Indy and Cincy (and Chicago) to connect two great downtowns and cities.

This is great for Cincinnati and I can't wait to see the final project (even if it's still 5 or 6 years away).

glad you created this thread, cincinnatus. this is LONG overdue. cincinnati's been neglected for far too long on skyscrapercity.

I am excited about the streetcars! I hope more midwestern cities follow.
Cincinnati had an extremely complex street car system, thats great! I can't wait to see the river project finished. I was in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, and I was wondering what they were going to do with the land on the river front. I'v been waiting for a Cincinnati development thread FOREVER. :cheer:

glad you created this thread, cincinnatus. this is LONG overdue. cincinnati's been neglected for far too long on skyscrapercity.

I can't take credit for this ... thank the mods, but you can blame UrbanOhio.com for the Cincinnati and Cleveland neglecting ... ;)

awesome...and FINALLY!

That development is hot. :okay:

Thats really cool! :)
The buildings are very new.

Miller-Valentine Group has decided to add 2 more floors, making 'One River Plaza' 15 stories...

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3314.0;attach=3679;image

Condo tower rises to meet demand for unique views
BY LAURA BAVERMAN | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER
November 9, 2007

DOWNTOWN - Downtown condo project One River Plaza still has nine units left to sell before it can begin construction, but recent activity is giving the developers confidence.

Responding to potential buyers' requests for more uniquely positioned corner penthouse units, Miller-Valentine Group and the Gregory family cut the size of the top two floors and added two more floors on top of them, making the building 15 stories high. That kept the 12 penthouse units, but gave the three units on each of the top four floors both riverbend and city views.

The change added $3 million to the $140 million project cost, but those changes helped the developers sell $5 million in volume over the past three weeks, inching closer to the 33-unit required sales marker.

"People who want to pay that premium wanted corner units," said Doug Hine, president of Miller-Valentine's urban lifestyles division. His team also added a swimming pool between the two buildings to meet potential buyers' demands.

The project, announced just over a year ago, includes two condo towers totaling 150 units, two restaurants, a private club and guest suites for residents. They range in price from $400,000 to several million dollars, with prices expected to creep up once all pre-construction units are sold.

Hine declined to share specific price increases, but said that some units at Miller-Valentine's nearby Park Place at Lytle project, completed in 2005, sold for 40 percent more than the original asking price.

Nick Lingenfelter, assistant vice president of commercial real estate at LaSalle Bank, doesn't expect that to happen at One River Plaza. At least not now.

"I don't think in this market you're going to see an immediate jump," Lingenfelter said. "There are definitely buyers out there, but they still have to worry about selling their homes."

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/11/12/story11.html

Are they building both towers at the same time or in phases?

Are they building both towers at the same time or in phases?

My guess would be one at a time?

Great news about the Banks and the streetcar. I'm glad to hear Cincinnati is finally gearing up for rail service. It's long overdue. Here's hoping it's the start of something great for Cincy. I remember reading about a DMU commuter rail service between downtown and Milford. What's the latest word on that?

Hey, what ever happened to that 700 footer proposed a while back? :?
Is it still going up?

Hey, what ever happened to that 700 footer proposed a while back? :?
Is it still going up?

What 700 footer?

A couple of years ago it was proposed. It was away from the CBD, close to the water as you entered the city from Kentucky. It had an awesome crown.

Oh, you're talking about Queen City Square, Phase I&II. Phase I is done. Someone from the "inside" says for us to expect to hear something in Nov-Dec. Check out www.UrbanOhio.com for more details.

Also, that's way over near 3rd & Broadway.

SCPA photo update, 11/10/07
Building Cincinnati, 11/12/07

Earth is being moved and some rather deep holes are being excavated for the new School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Over-the-Rhine.

The $72 million, five-floor building will occupy the block bounded by Race, Elm and Twelfth streets and Central Parkway.

The new school will combine Cincinnati Public Schools' SCPA program for grades 4 through 12 with Schiel Primary's K-3 program. It will serve 1,350 students and be the first public K-12 arts school in the United States.

http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2007/11/scpa-photo-update-111007.html

http://schiel.cps-k12.org/images/NewscpaBuilding.jpg

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2568.0;attach=3735;image

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2568.0;attach=3734;image

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Ikea on track for '08 opening (http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/BIZ01/311270051)
BY MIKE BOYER | MBOYER@ENQUIRER.COM
E-mail | Print | digg us! | del.icio.us!

WEST CHESTER TWP. – Ikea-fanatics take note. Construction of the iconic home furnishing retailers’ first Ohio store here is about two-thirds complete, paving the way for its planned spring opening.

An opening date for Ikea’s 34th U.S. store hasn’t been set. But spokesman Joseph Roth said today construction of the 344,000-square-foot blue-and-yellow store off Muhlhauser and Allen roads should be finished in January.

That will allow Ikea employees to begin a two-to-three month “build-out” period to install storage racks, finish the store’s 50 different room settings and stock the 10,000 different items – from meatballs to sofas – that each Ikea store carries.



• More West Chester news. Join the discussion.

Located on 56 acres overlooking Interstate 75, the store is one of only two Ikeas to open in the United States in 2008. It is expected to draw shoppers from several states looking for the privately held Swedish company’s mix of value and sleek styling.

Lonnie Rodgers II, store manager, said all 50 department managers have been hired, and hiring of the first of about 350 hourly employees is underway. A particular focus is on food service workers for the store’s 300-seat restaurant, employee cafeteria, quick-serve Bistro and Swedish foodmarket.

Food is an important part of the Ikea experience because Roth said the typical shopper spends three hours perusing the store’s second-floor showroom and first-floor Marketplace, featuring accessories, cookware and lighting.

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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2297/1793643438_d5c7f04996.jpg?v=0

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=AB&Date=20071127&Category=BIZ01&ArtNo=311270051&Ref=V1&MaxW=315&border=1

... this is still in the works, so don't hold your breath!

Developer adds hotels, office, cost to Millworks center
Proposal also asks $25M more in tax increment financing (http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/11/19/story5.html)
BY LAURA BAVERMAN | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER
November 16, 2007

OAKLEY - Plans for Oakley's Millworks Town Center have changed yet again, this time driving the project's density from 1.5 million to 2 million square feet and its cost from $225 million to $300 million.

Vision Land Development submitted a new development agreement Nov. 5 to the city of Cincinnati for the 75-acre industrial parcel near Marburg Avenue and adjacent to the Center of Cincinnati retail complex. The new plan ups the amount of office and retail space and adds two hotels to the previous plan approved in November 2006.

The project now includes 715,000 square feet of office space; 463,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space (including a National Amusements theater), two 80,000-square-foot hotels, 275 apartments, 70 townhouses and 200 stacked condominiums.

"We feel that the market will support those additional areas of programming," said Kent Arnold, Vision's president, who first proposed the Millworks plan in 2003. It also allows the developer to ask for more public financing because of the project's expected impact on property and income taxes. It now requests $55 million in tax increment financing, up from $30 million a year ago.

Part of that funding would go toward the construction of the Kennedy Connector, a new roadway that would connect the intersections of Kennedy and Duck Creek roads and Ibsen Road and Ridge Road and build ramps to Interstate 71 south and the Norwood Lateral. The development agreement calls the Kennedy Connector vital to Millworks' success, so much so that a phrase in the document calls the entire agreement null and void if the developer and city do not come to an agreement regarding the construction of that road by Dec. 30, 2008.

"I know we can't do Millworks without it," said Jeff McElvray, an economic development officer with the city of Cincinnati. He expects the second agreement to come quickly behind this one.

"It's an aggressive plan, and it's years in the making and years in the building, but we think it's a good one," McElvray added.

The Oakley Community Council also is supportive of the amended plans because the developer still promises a lifestyle center despite the higher density.

"We're very excited that the development might actually get on the fast track," said council President Dave Schaff. "But I always question things when you lose that many partners."

Schaff is referring to deals that fell through over the years with Texas-based Trademark Property Co., Bear Creek Capital and Duke Realty. But he believes Vision's capital partner is still involved. Sources say that's Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Investment Management. Vision Land Development would not comment on its capital partner.

CECO Environmental is also hopeful that the project will finally begin. Early in November, it filed an amendment to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing where it agreed to purchase a $4.3 million facility in Springdale as long as the sale of its Kirk & Blum factory in Oakley happens within 90 days. The development agreement, once signed, requires Vision to close on all six Oakley properties within 30 days and to begin demolition within six months. It also requires construction of public infrastructure to begin within a year and a half and to be completed within five years.

Arnold's not afraid of that timeline, claiming the project would be built all at the same time by a number of partners. Once he begins demolition, he expects to announce several local residential development partners and one large national office development partner. The capital partner would assist with the retail development.

"We feel like we are closer than we've ever been to closing a deal and starting," Arnold said.

By that, he means people can live, work and play at Millworks beginning in 2009.


http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/images/model.jpg

http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/images/model_cimema.jpg

http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/images/model_2parkBuildings.jpg

http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/images/model_alleyShot.jpg

http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/images/04_projectSiteAccess.jpg

http://www.cincinnatimillworks.com/

^Great, another shopping towne surrounded by massive surface lots. Way to go "new urbanism." When is Ohio going to stop building these God-forsaken consumerist nightmares? It seems two or three of these open every year in this state.

^ This isn't an Ohio thing, nor is it a midwestern thing.

Oh, you're talking about Queen City Square, Phase I&II. Phase I is done. Someone from the "inside" says for us to expect to hear something in Nov-Dec. Check out www.UrbanOhio.com for more details.

Also, that's way over near 3rd & Broadway.

Thanks, man! :yes: I hope it rises... :yes:
Nice site, btw. :)

... IT IS FINALLY HERE! ... HALLELUJAH! ...


City's tallest tower to be built
Queen City Square to get started in spring


BY KEITH T. REED | KREED@ENQUIRER.COM

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5778/32947965queencityqb2.jpg


Western & Southern Financial Group met with city officials Tuesday to propose a timeline for building its long-planned Queen City Square office tower, a project that would become the tallest building in downtown Cincinnati. The building would open in 2011.

Executives from the company and its project manager, Turner Construction, met with city officials Tuesday at City Hall to lay out details.

The project is slated to stand 40 stories, bringing a massive 800,000 square feet of office space, 21,000 square feet of ground-level retail and 1,300 parking spaces on nine levels, city officials said. Because of its distinctive arching roof, Queen City Square would be taller than the 574-foot Carew Tower even though it would have fewer floors.


Western & Southern executives declined to comment, but company chairman John F. Barrett has sent invitations to local developers and dignitaries for “a major announcement” Thursday afternoon.

Left unanswered are how much Queen City Square will cost and key details about its financing.

Demolition on an existing 1,500-space parking garage at the site – roughly bordered by Third Street to the south, Fourth to the north, Broadway to the east and Sycamore to the west – is planned to start in mid-2008.

With about 33 months from start to finish, demolition to completion, construction of the building would likely overlap the building of at least the initial phases of The Banks, the planned mixed-use project slated for the riverfront between Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium.

“We are excited that Western & Southern is taking this opportunity to invest in the city,” Holly Childs, the city’s economic development director, said. “Their commitment to Queen City Square is a catalytic development for the Banks project and the future of the central business district.”

The developers of that project are actively looking for an architect for its first residential and retail phase, and groundbreaking for infrastructure improvements at that site is are slated to start in the first quarter of 2008.

The Banks also is scheduled to include two office towers holding a total of 200,000 to 1 million square feet of space.

Western & Southern was among the Fourth Street property owners that raised concerns this fall about an increase in the size of The Banks project and a 30-story height limit. They worried that The Banks would compete with downtown by siphoning off tenants and parking spaces. In response, the Banks Working Group – the city-county group that drafted an agreement with that project’s developers – lowered the maximum recommended building height to 24 stories.

Left unanswered are how much Queen City Square will cost and key details about its financing. Childs said Western & Southern has not asked the city for any financial assistance with the project, but the city has not ruled out that possibility.

Another key piece of the financing puzzle might lie in whether the developer has a primary tenant lined up. Real estate lenders and investors view tenants in office projects as collateral and often require signed leases or letters of intent before approving funding for major projects.

Earlier this year, Barrett said Western & Southern was “out there aggressively trying to pre-lease that tower,” referring to the project.

The company initially floated the idea of Queen City Square roughly 20 years ago, then revived it in 2002.

The new building would be adjacent to the 303 Broadway building, at the northwest corner of Third and Broadway. The building – the first new office tower built in downtown in 14 years – opened in 2005 and is almost full





Cincinnati Enquirer 12/19/2007
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/BIZ01/312190003

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9126/42494457queencitysquarekx9.jpg

wtg cinci :banana:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contacts:
Catherine A. Huggins, APR Anne N. Watson
Assistant Vice President of Corporate Communications Vice President – Investor Relations
Western & Southern Financial Group American Financial Group, Inc.
(513) 629-1156 (513) 579-6652
www.westernsouthern.com www.GreatAmericanInsurance.com
www.afginc.com

American Financial Group, Inc. to Anchor
Western & Southern Financial Group’s Queen City Square Tower
-- Cincinnati’s Future Skyline Redefined by Prominent Skyscraper --

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/3989/qcsdx2.png


CINCINNATI – Dec. 20, 2007 – American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE/NASDAQ: AFG) and
Western & Southern Financial Group announced today that AFG has signed a long-term
lease in a major new office tower to be developed and managed by Eagle Realty Group, a
real estate investment and property management subsidiary of Western & Southern
Financial Group.
The architecturally distinctive building to be known as the “Great American Insurance
Building at Queen City Square” will redefine Cincinnati’s skyline with its 40 stories and
prominent tiara. Totaling 825,000 square feet, the building also will provide a spacious
promenade from its main entrance at Fourth & Sycamore to the office building lobby. AFG
will be the anchor tenant and will occupy 22 floors, approximately 530,000 square feet
representing about two-thirds of the building. Construction is anticipated to begin in mid-
2008, with completion in 2011.
According to AFG’s Co-Chief Executive Officers Craig Lindner and Carl Lindner III,
the decision to become the primary tenant of this new development was driven by a common
goal to move many of AFG’s insurance operations into one downtown location.
“We are excited about moving into this premier office tower. It will offer us the unique
opportunity to consolidate many operations of our subsidiaries, Great American Insurance
Company and Great American Financial Resources, into one location. It also will allow us
room for future growth and expansion. AFG has a long-standing commitment to downtown
Cincinnati, and we are pleased to participate in this enhancement to the Cincinnati business
community.”
John F. Barrett, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western &
Southern Financial Group, described the day’s announcement as a major milestone for
Cincinnati’s Central Business District.
“This world-class, signature office building will complete our Queen City Square
master-planned development. It is the fruition of a long-term vision for Western & Southern
and adds to the vitality of Cincinnati. AFG becoming the premier anchor tenant for Queen
AFG to Anchor Western & Southern’s Queen City Square Tower/Page 2


City Square reinforces this building as a preeminent corporate business address in the
Midwest. It also further strengthens our community and our ability to retain and attract
quality companies like AFG to downtown Cincinnati,” said Mr. Barrett.
City of Cincinnati City Manager, Milton Dohoney, Jr., sees Queen City Square as a
welcomed addition to the city’s skyline. “This is an exciting investment in downtown and
builds on the positive growth and dynamic corporate environment in Cincinnati. We will work
with Western & Southern on the next steps”, said Mr. Dohoney.
The first phase of Queen City Square – the 303 Broadway building at Queen City
Square – was developed in a unique public-private partnership between Western &
Southern, the City of Cincinnati and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.
The lease between AFG and Western & Southern, and the development of the new building,
are conditioned on entering into a similar public-private partnership with the City and the
Port.
AFG expects to begin moving its insurance operations into the new building during
2011. The company has approximately 6,500 employees nationwide, with about 40 percent
located in downtown Cincinnati.

About American Financial Group, Inc.
American Financial Group is an insurance holding company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio with
assets in excess of $25 billion. Through the operations of the Great American Insurance
Group, AFG is engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized
commercial products for businesses, and in the sale of traditional fixed, indexed and variable
annuities and a variety of supplemental insurance products. Great American Insurance
Group’s roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American
Insurance Company. AFG’s common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock
Exchange (“NYSE”) and NASDAQ under the symbol (“AFG”).

About Western & Southern Financial Group
Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern) is a Cincinnati-based diversified
family of financial services companies with assets owned and under management in excess
of $47 billion. A Fortune 500 company, Western & Southern has received A. M. Best’s
highest rating of A++ Superior for financial strength, is one of the 10 highest rated life
insurance groups in the world based on Standard and Poor’s ratings, and is consistently
recognized by Moody’s and Fitch for financial strength and sound management. Its heritage
dates back to 1888 with the founding of Western & Southern Life Insurance Company.

About Eagle Realty Group
Eagle Realty Group offers a comprehensive range of services covering three core real estate
areas. Investment Management offers asset management and investment advisory services.
The company’s expertise in real estate development and management are documented by
an array of successful ventures ranging from hotels to shopping centers to low-income
housing to senior housing and office buildings. In addition, Eagle Realty Group’s Multi-
Family Property Management Division serves apartment communities and Eagle’s
Commercial Property Management Division provides property management services. The
organization oversees investment portfolios consisting of over 32 million square feet of all
types of real estate located across the United States and valued in excess of $2.7 billion.

Ratings refer to the financial strength of the insurance company and not to the safety, stability or performance of any investment product.

... Is it me, or does the tiara look a little shorter in the model? ...

Diana inspired building's 'tiara'
BY JANELLE GELFAND | JGELFAND@ENQUIRER.COM

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Dato=20071224&Kategori=ENT07&Lopenr=71224011&Ref=AR&Q=80&MaxW=450&MaxH=475&Site=AB&Q=80&Border=0&Title=0

The “tiara” at the top of the planned Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square was inspired by a photograph of Princess Diana.

Design architect Gyo Obata, a founder and principal of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc., was flipping through books in a bookstore when he was struck by the picture of Princess Diana wearing a crown.

“Gyo thought, oh my God, that’s perfect. Here we have the crown of the building, and the nickname for the city is Queen City,” says Joe Robertson, project manager with HOK. “When Gyo first came up with the concept of the design, we were trying to develop something that would be unique and capture your attention. That’s when he came up with the idea of the top of the building.”



Obata’s design for the 40-story office tower, which, at 660 feet, will be Cincinnati’s tallest structure, is generating interest, praise and some criticism among Cincinnati’s architectural community. At 86 feet higher than Carew Tower and massive in form, the building will be a prominent feature on the cityscape.

The tiara helped to satisfy a mandate from client Western & Southern that the tower be instantly recognizable “sort of like the Empire State Building,” Robertson says. “Which was an interesting challenge put to us. It has a classic look. It’s a stable, substantial building. It’s a very strong, important structure.”

To give the façade a “glassy look,” the building will be constructed of glass and aluminum, offering expansive views up and down the Ohio River for the office workers inside.

Some architects and historians are already worried that the importance of Carew Tower will be diminished. Beth Sullebarger, a consulting architectural historian based in Glendale, says the Carew Tower is downtown’s most significant architectural achievement.

“I’m a little sad about the prospect of it being eclipsed,” she says.

But Sue Ann Painter, executive director of the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati and author of “Architecture in Cincinnati” (Ohio University Press, 2006), feels otherwise. And she believes its “arched headdress” recalls the iconic Chrysler Building in New York.

“Queen City Square is a somewhat conservative but handsome design that pays tribute to the city’s penchant for interesting crowns, such as those we see in the Duke Energy, old Times-Star building, and the 1980’s P&G building,” she says.

Architecturally, the design is similar to buildings of the 1980s in cities such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco, says Jay Chatterjee, professor of architecture and former dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP), and a member of the Urban Design Review Board.

He would have preferred more risk-taking.

“It certainly doesn’t break any new ground or expressions of architecture today,” he says. It’s very surprising, considering what we have done at the university and Zaha Hadid’s (Contemporary Arts Center), downtown. These are amazing buildings which really stirred the imagination of architectural work all over the world. The Western & Southern building will not.”

David Niland, retired professor of architecture at UC who has served on the Urban Design Review Board, agrees. He praised Daniel Libeskind’s “Ascent” in Covington as “the most responsive building to the nature and spirit of our time,” but says that Western & Southern’s new building looks backward.

“It should be at the same significance that the Carew Tower was in its time. It was pretty much cutting edge,” he says. “Cincinnati is a conservative city. I think thats a synonym for never tapping into what is current.”

John Rademacher, president of the Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects, says local architects are encouraged and optimistic by the news.
“I just think it’s an exciting time in the city of Cincinnati and for local architects. This is our turn to create our architectural legacy for the city. The way my generation will be remembered is how we treat the Banks, the central business district and Over-the-Rhine. The city needs all of them to survive. Now the Banks is happening, and it’s nice to see the development on Third Street.”

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/ENT07/71224011/1025/LIFE

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5778/32947965queencityqb2.jpg
^^it's gonna' be a beautiful skyline, cinci!

... about damn time ...

Banks to start April 2
BY KEITH T. REED | KREED@ENQUIRER.COM

The developers of The Banks will announce this afternoon that they have secured all $74 million needed to finance the first phase of construction, clearing the way for an April 2 groundbreaking on the project.

"This is great news. It means The Banks project will definitely advance," said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. "I'm excited that Carter/Dawson (the developers) will be doing the project and I'm looking forward to a great development.''

The financing comes on the last day of a month-long extension of a deadline for the developers, Carter & Associates Commercial Services LLC and the Harold A. Dawson Co., and could signal the end of a decade-long wait for activity at the barren riverfront site between Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium.

It also means Carter and Dawson made good on their promise to weather a tough economy marked by difficult borrowing requirements for developers, to complete the deal. The developers’ agreement with the city and Hamilton County called for them to have commitments for all the money needed to build phase 1A of the project, to include 300 apartments and 70,000 square feet of retail atop a garage at the corner of Second and Main streets, by the end of January.

That deadline passed with Carter and Dawson still between $12 million and $14 million short. The city and county agreed to give them an extension. Today’s announcement should also include details on the sources of funding, which have not yet been disclosed.

If the April construction date holds, the vacant land at that spot will begin a long transformation into a mini-neighborhood along the Ohio River, featuring apartments, parking, retail and office space.

Wow what an awesome tower! I miss Cincinnati whenever I come on here! ROFL

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e33/UncleRando/Misc/thebanks_small.jpg

... Is it me, or does the tiara look a little shorter in the model? ...

Diana inspired building's 'tiara'
BY JANELLE GELFAND | JGELFAND@ENQUIRER.COM

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Dato=20071224&Kategori=ENT07&Lopenr=71224011&Ref=AR&Q=80&MaxW=450&MaxH=475&Site=AB&Q=80&Border=0&Title=0

The “tiara” at the top of the planned Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square was inspired by a photograph of Princess Diana.

Design architect Gyo Obata, a founder and principal of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc., was flipping through books in a bookstore when he was struck by the picture of Princess Diana wearing a crown.

“Gyo thought, oh my God, that’s perfect. Here we have the crown of the building, and the nickname for the city is Queen City,” says Joe Robertson, project manager with HOK. “When Gyo first came up with the concept of the design, we were trying to develop something that would be unique and capture your attention. That’s when he came up with the idea of the top of the building.”



Obata’s design for the 40-story office tower, which, at 660 feet, will be Cincinnati’s tallest structure, is generating interest, praise and some criticism among Cincinnati’s architectural community. At 86 feet higher than Carew Tower and massive in form, the building will be a prominent feature on the cityscape.

The tiara helped to satisfy a mandate from client Western & Southern that the tower be instantly recognizable “sort of like the Empire State Building,” Robertson says. “Which was an interesting challenge put to us. It has a classic look. It’s a stable, substantial building. It’s a very strong, important structure.”

To give the façade a “glassy look,” the building will be constructed of glass and aluminum, offering expansive views up and down the Ohio River for the office workers inside.

Some architects and historians are already worried that the importance of Carew Tower will be diminished. Beth Sullebarger, a consulting architectural historian based in Glendale, says the Carew Tower is downtown’s most significant architectural achievement.

“I’m a little sad about the prospect of it being eclipsed,” she says.

But Sue Ann Painter, executive director of the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati and author of “Architecture in Cincinnati” (Ohio University Press, 2006), feels otherwise. And she believes its “arched headdress” recalls the iconic Chrysler Building in New York.

“Queen City Square is a somewhat conservative but handsome design that pays tribute to the city’s penchant for interesting crowns, such as those we see in the Duke Energy, old Times-Star building, and the 1980’s P&G building,” she says.

Architecturally, the design is similar to buildings of the 1980s in cities such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco, says Jay Chatterjee, professor of architecture and former dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP), and a member of the Urban Design Review Board.

He would have preferred more risk-taking.

“It certainly doesn’t break any new ground or expressions of architecture today,” he says. It’s very surprising, considering what we have done at the university and Zaha Hadid’s (Contemporary Arts Center), downtown. These are amazing buildings which really stirred the imagination of architectural work all over the world. The Western & Southern building will not.”

David Niland, retired professor of architecture at UC who has served on the Urban Design Review Board, agrees. He praised Daniel Libeskind’s “Ascent” in Covington as “the most responsive building to the nature and spirit of our time,” but says that Western & Southern’s new building looks backward.

“It should be at the same significance that the Carew Tower was in its time. It was pretty much cutting edge,” he says. “Cincinnati is a conservative city. I think thats a synonym for never tapping into what is current.”

John Rademacher, president of the Cincinnati chapter of the American Institute of Architects, says local architects are encouraged and optimistic by the news.
“I just think it’s an exciting time in the city of Cincinnati and for local architects. This is our turn to create our architectural legacy for the city. The way my generation will be remembered is how we treat the Banks, the central business district and Over-the-Rhine. The city needs all of them to survive. Now the Banks is happening, and it’s nice to see the development on Third Street.”

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/ENT07/71224011/1025/LIFE

I didn't realize it was 'Diana-inspired'.

Pardon me while I hurl.

That kind of seals the structure's fate doesn't it?

That kind of seals the structure's fate doesn't it?

Yes, all 20 acres of it, including a 40 acre park.

For those of you that are interested or haven't followed this:

Question: What is The Banks?

Answer: The Banks is a proposed 18-acre neighborhood district on Cincinnati's riverfront between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park. Currently that land is occupied by parking lots, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and not much else. Developers hope to build up to 1,800 apartments and condominiums, up to 400,000 square feet of retail space, up to 1 million square feet of office space and up to 400,000 square feet of hotel space. The exact amount of each type of space has not been determined. The maximum square footage is 2.8 million. The development will also include an expansive riverfront park.

Isn't that area where people first settled in Cincinnati?

Is there a list of retailers that have committed to the project yet?

Isn't that area where people first settled in Cincinnati?

Yes, the downtown area was one of the first areas to be settled.


Is there a list of retailers that have committed to the project yet?


I'll keep you guys posted. I plan on attending the groundbreaking festivities on Wednesday! I'm pumped! I'll be sure to take plenty of photos too.

The Enquirer posted an article in the past where ESPN wanted to put an ESPN Zone in ... I'd love to see something like this, as well as a Target.

To be honest though, I'm most interested in the entertainment, bars/clubs, 40 acre park system, and marina. It's going to be fantastic. It's almost like we're building a second downtown onto our existing one really. That's a lot of space and acreage. We'd really like to buy a condo in that area, but I don't see it happening ... that's the most valuable piece of property in the entire region, it won't be cheap.

Adding 2,000+ downtown residents is also going to be an awesome guarantee of CBD growth as well.

This, plus Covington and Newport are creating a very dynamic riverfront! Newport is already in the process of completing a condo tower and will soon be starting on their 2nd one.

Great for Cincy! It's nice to hear the enthusiasm again for downtown Cincinnati. It'll be fun to get over there to check it out as it moves along. I've been following this for at least 12 years - I've got clippings from 1996 when I first started reading about it.

Great for Cincy! It's nice to hear the enthusiasm again for downtown Cincinnati. It'll be fun to get over there to check it out as it moves along. I've been following this for at least 12 years - I've got clippings from 1996 when I first started reading about it.

lol ... I know!

It's funny though ... my wife and I were standing in Baltimore's new first-class harbor and we were commenting on how beautiful it was to an older lady that resides in one of the condos on the Harbor. We were talking about how we're trying to do the same thing in Cincinnati ... blah, blah, blah ... and how it seems like we're hitting hurdle after hurdle, and she said, "Oh, this didn't happen overnight. This is 30 years in the making."

... so, we felt a lot better about things! ;)

A beautiful day to signify a new beginning for Cincinnati!

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Good night from Cincinnati!

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8550/dsc04194gd4.jpg

Work is moving right along! This live video feed is kind of neat!

http://207.250.90.73/mjpg/video.mjpg

... now at 41 stories, instead of 40 ...



HOK-Designed Office Tower In Downtown Cincinnati Will Be Iconic Landmark In The ‘Queen City’

41-story Great American Building at Queen City Square will be city’s tallest tower, crowned by a distinctive tiara.

Cincinnati (Vocus/PRWeb) April 17, 2008-- The crown jewel of Cincinnati’s skyline – the Great American Building at Queen City Square – is moving toward reality following approval by the city’s Urban Design Review Board.

This world-class, signature office building will complete our one-million-square-foot Queen City Square master-planned development

Designed by HOK, the 41-story, 800,000 square-foot office tower awaits final approval from the City Council before taking shape as the city’s tallest and most iconic structure.

HOK Founding Partner Gyo Obata designed the building and its unique tiara top to serve as a distinctive landmark for Cincinnati, the “Queen City.”

“This building will redefine the Cincinnati skyline and serve as an instantly recognizable beacon to the city,” Obata said. “There isn’t another building in the world that resembles this.”

The façade of the building will include a contemporary look, constructed with glass and aluminum. The building will include numerous environmentally sustainable features and is expected to be the “greenest” office tower in downtown Cincinnati.

A 25,000-square-foot promenade, lobby and retail areas will welcome occupants and visitors inside the building, creating a spacious internal streetscape adjacent to a 1,700-space parking structure. The tower is sited on the southern portion of the site to provide unobstructed views in all four directions, including of the city, the riverfront and the HOK-designed Great American Ballpark.

The building will be developed and managed by Eagle Realty Group, a real estate investment and management subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group.

“This world-class, signature office building will complete our one-million-square-foot Queen City Square master-planned development,” said John F. Barrett, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western & Southern Financial Group. “It is the fruition of a long-term vision for Western & Southern and adds to the vitality of Cincinnati.”

American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG), the anchor tenant, will occupy 22 floors, or about two-thirds of the building. AFG will consolidate many operations of its subsidiaries, Great American Insurance Company and Great American Financial Resources, into a single location, while allowing for future growth and expansion.

Accent lighting at the upper levels of the building will illuminate the distinctive tiara, and additional lighting also will illuminate the building’s architectural massing at the corner and center of each façade. Great American's logo, a red eagle with blue script, will be illuminated in an area beneath the tiara.

The first phase of Queen City Square – the 303 Broadway building – was completed in 2006. This HOK-designed office building includes eight floors of office space atop a 665-space parking facility.

Construction of the Great American Building at Queen City Square is anticipated to begin in mid-2008, with completion expected in 2011.

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/HOK/Queen_City_Square/prweb867734.htm


http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5585/queencitysquaregj8.jpg

WOW...congrats Cincy. It is finally going to happen. Coupled with teh Banks, there are going to be some significant changes to one of the country's best river fronts.

I recently visited Cincy for the first time in a year or so, and here is a writeup of some of my impressions, along with some photos I took.

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2008/05/cincinnati-midwest-conundrum.html

I recently visited Cincy for the first time in a year or so, and here is a writeup of some of my impressions, along with some photos I took.

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2008/05/cincinnati-midwest-conundrum.html

A few errors, but otherwise a pretty nice wright-up!

While we're noting "errors", its "write" up. :)

Here is a pic I took of the Carew Tower last August on a 100 deg day....I think it will always be a landmark in Cincinnati even if taller towers go up. It's a classic....amazed at open rooftop deck...and great views! Impressed Australian....
http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8564/dsc08540largenm0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
By redbaron_012 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/redbaron_012)

While we're noting "errors", its "write" up. :)

Well, the errors were misstatements of facts and stats.


Shoot me a PM to discuss this more.

New riverfront park model shown

http://cmsimg.enquirer.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Dato=20080522&Kategori=NEWS0108&Lopenr=305220067&Ref=AR&Q=80&MaxW=450&MaxH=475&Site=AB&Q=80&Border=0&Title=0

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM
E-mail | Print | digg us! | del.icio.us! | Click-2-Listen
There will be balconies overlooking the Ohio River, sculptures tucked into groves of trees and pools of water into which you can dip your toes.

Details of Cincinnati’s newest park, part of the long-awaited Banks project, became clearer Thursday at the unveiling of the designers’ model amid champagne-sipping members of the Women’s Committee of Cincinnati Riverfront Park.

The group has raised nearly $500,000 as an endowment for maintaining the park, said Debbie Oliver, co-chairwoman.



Designer Alistair MacIntosh, of Sasaki Associates, the Watertown, Mass., firm planning the park, explained that the first phase will be at the eastern foot of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge. That’s where people will be able to walk along terraced stairs and waterfalls.

The park will grow along both sides of the bridge, but will start to the east, between Main and Walnut streets. Workers are getting the site ready now before a Sept. 29 groundbreaking.

The womens group continues to raise money, in part with a Penny Pond fountain that will be moved around the city so people can pitch in even a few cents. The group copied the penny-pitching idea from Central Park in New York City, Oliver said.

“All the pennies,” she said, “add up to changing our landscape.”

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080522/NEWS0108/305220067/

Shouldn't we build something over the 4 block over Interstate 71 stretching from Elm Street to Main Street or just leave it like it is?

Shouldn't we build something over the 4 block over Interstate 71 stretching from Elm Street to Main Street or just leave it like it is?

A FWW cap is the idea. When construction would start, I don't know.

Check out the link with the slideshow below ... pretty awesome stuff.

"Cincinnati Riverfront Park" - $80 Million - will connect the existing park, creating almost 4 miles of continual park space along river.


http://www.crpark.org/slide_show/index.html


(I'd seriously like to hear comments on what you guys think about this plan, what would you change or improve upon?)

I think it is looking nice - although it is a little difficult to get a good feel for how everything fits together in the somewhat small space. The slide show shows each of the individual elements - but the plan showing where everything fits was a little small and lacking in details. I think having the bike trail go through the park will be good and hopefully will help bring people to the park (although there might be a concern that the northern route for the bike path swings right in front of the main pedestrian stairway access to the park. Seems like that could cause some conflicts.) Benches and trees will help make it a nice place to just go and sit. I like the "swinging benches" down by the river. That seems like it will be nice. I think a big part of how successful it will be will depend on what gets built at the Banks and how easy it is for people to get to the banks from the heart of downtown and then, how easy the flow is to walk from the stores, restaurants, etc in the Banks and go walk around in the park.

There were a couple of things that I noticed with the slide presentation that seemed a little strange or a little "over done". One example of "over done" is that I think it is too much hype to say on slide 5: "Cincinnati Riverfront Park will serve as the new "Great Room" to the City and the Midwest". I think it will make a nice "Great Room" for Cincinnati - but to call it the "Great Room" to the Midwest is going a little far in my opinion. I don't think many people in Kansas City, Milwaukee, Chicago, or even nearby Indianapolis for that matter will consider this their "great room". Its just a nice riverfront park in Cincinnati. I don't think over-hyping a new plan is a good idea. It often just leads to over expectations. The slide show also lost credibility on the slide that presented information about the cost per acre of the park, comparing it to other riverfront parks in the Midwest. They simple made an incorrect statement by first saying that Capital costs per acre for Cincinnati's park are equal to or less than comparable parks - and then showing the list which shows Cincy's park costing $2.5 million per acre followed by three (Louisville, Friendship, Tall Stacks) that are less. Someone should have proof read the slide show.

I hope it turns out nice. My guess from watching other parks be developed is that - as time goes by - things will change and the final product won't be exactly like this initial idea. I just know that - whatever gets built - it will be nice to visit and see some good looking trees and grass down by the River. The asphalt and dirt that have been there for decades need to be gone soon. (Although, as I was writing that - it did make me think of one other concern: When the types of high water and/or floods that typically hit riverfront cities like Cincinnati come through, how do you think the grass will hold up? I guess I can see that keeping nice, green grass growing most of the time could be a little difficult with waters rising and falling. I know the upper part of the park is raised - but the lower part is going to have to deal with high water everyonce in a while - maybe once or twice a year. I hope the grass will be okay.)

^ I wouldn't call 40 acres a small space, but a good and thorough response. I think the bold or over hyping is something that we haven't seen here in a while. It's actually quite refreshing. Good points all together.

Yeah, it is a nice sized space. I guess what I was thinking was that - it seemed like there were a lot of different things proposed to fit in the area - and I was kind of wondering how well it would all fit. Still 40 acres is plenty large. I think it will be a good size to keep it feeling busy enough. If it were much larger - there could be large areas that might not stay real busy. Another thing I like after having looked at the plans a little longer is the "steps" or seating areas going right down into the river. That will be a great place to just hang out. It looks like an exciting place. It'll be great to see it happen and especially as it gets completed with the commercial and residential development of the Banks next door. I can't wait to get over to visit it and see it being built and then to enjoy it when it is done.

Great news on the waterfront park development and the 41 story tower. :)

Great news on the waterfront park development and the 41 story tower. :)

What about the $1 billion-dollar mixed use development between the parks? :guns1: Out of the "big 3" this is my fav.

... also, the streetcar is getting very close! ... probably the best out of the 4, really.

^ Tell me about the streetcar. And how close to becoming a reality ?

Thanks.

Hello ?

Hello ?

Here you go ... all 150 pages!

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,9.4470.html

Thanks for that! However, I got the impression that streetcars are very much up in the air from what I read.

Thanks for that! However, I got the impression that streetcars are very much up in the air from what I read.

No, not at all. The city approved the plan, has financing lined up for part of the project and is seeking out financing for the rest of the project. It's going to happen.

Good news then.

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3170.0;attach=4964;image

Demolition started yesterday to make way for Queen City Square:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3170.0;attach=5053;image

the city needs to pay attention to the bank area,river side-line is totaly forgotten,there is no decent "touch" of horticulture

what is going on with plan about financing urgent changes and reconstructins of two bridges I-75 hghw and it's naighbour bridge with RR and hgwy transit ?
first two top bridges on the picture

http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/ln95.jpg

the city needs to pay attention to the bank area,river side-line is totaly forgotten,there is no decent "touch" of horticulture


Read up-thread ...

http://207.250.90.73/mjpg/video.mjpg

I don't understand what you're asking in the rest of your response?

Read up-thread ...

http://207.250.90.73/mjpg/video.mjpg

I don't understand what you're asking in the rest of your response?

do you know what is horticulture ?

do you know what is horticulture ?

And do you know what the Cincinnati Riverfront Park is?

And do you know what the Cincinnati Riverfront Park is?

^^ park ,that makes sense ,indeed

I was refering to muddy riverside :)

^^ park ,that makes sense ,indeed

I was refering to muddy riverside :)

Yeah, that's what we call "construction."

Yeah, that's what we call "construction."


nope,riverside is muddy since I know this city

nope,riverside is muddy since I know this city

You obviously don't know what this is:

http://www.crpark.org/slide_show/index.html

You can stop trolling now ...

quick question for you folks. i'm coming to town in a few weeks to catch some Reds v. Brewers games. I'm staying at the Marriott in Covington, but heard that the Roebling Suspension Bridge is closed right now...is that true? Can you still walk over it?

quick question for you folks. i'm coming to town in a few weeks to catch some Reds v. Brewers games. I'm staying at the Marriott in Covington, but heard that the Roebling Suspension Bridge is closed right now...is that true? Can you still walk over it?

No, it's open.

The Banks (http://urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=333)

The Banks is a planned 15-acre mixed-use development between the Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ballpark, situated between Second Street and the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio. First proposed in 1999, a host of problems besieged the project for years, including disputes between the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, financing issues, threats from Congress, lawsuits, and developer drop-outs.

Ground was finally broken on April 2, 2008 and construction is just now beginning on Phase One of the infill development.

Check out the new Banks (http://urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=333) landing page that contains an exhaustive history of the development, along with renderings of the past and present. Photographs will be added throughout the construction process.

--

As a side note, check out the new UrbanUp Blog (http://urbanup.net/index.php#19). It now features commenting abilities, where unregistered users can add in comments on entries (I am working on the registration form tonight). I will be updating this regularly -- not just with site updates. Enjoy!

You obviously don't know what this is:

http://www.crpark.org/slide_show/index.html

You can stop trolling now ...

I am not trolling

why are you still writing about the same place,it is beautiful,BUT I am writting about muddy and bushy riverside/line,take a look from Covington,maybe you will finally figure it out

You have no idea what you are talking about, again. Have you not walked along the riverfront in Cincinnati? Or are you referring to the massive dirt lot that will be Phase One of the Banks?

I am not trolling

Sure you are ... you aren't offering any thing constructive to what's not already being done. Your mood and intentions are obvious, now f*cking move on.

You have no idea what you are talking about, again. Have you not walked along the riverfront in Cincinnati? Or are you referring to the massive dirt lot that will be Phase One of the Banks?


I do not,I allready wrote it

Sure you are ... you aren't offering any thing constructive to what's not already being done. Your mood and intentions are obvious, now f*cking move on.

I wrote in previous post,take a look from covington side

I can't even understand half of your posts. Judging from your posting history, neither do many others. Just place this user on ignore, it's simple, easy and keeps down the drama.

^^ "drama" :gaah::lol:

I can't even understand half of your posts. Judging from your posting history, neither do many others. Just place this user on ignore, it's simple, easy and keeps down the drama.

Oooh! I forgot about that feature! Done!

Gateway Quarter (http://urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=320)

The Gateway Quarter is a mixed-use development project bounded by Central Parkway, 13th, Vine and Race streets in Over-the-Rhine. It is being developed by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, or 3CDC, along with The Model Group, Urban Sites, B2B Equities and Northpointe Group. The four-phase project is slated to have 400 residential units completed by 2010, with each new year coinciding with each new phase of the project.

You can read more about UrbanUp's latest addition here (http://urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=320). Enjoy!

Hoff Quad ground broken (http://www.xavier.edu/today/09-29-2008.cfm)
Xavier Today, September 29, 2008

The University officially kicked off the construction of the James E. Hoff, S.J., Academic Quad on Friday, Sept. 26, with a groundbreaking ceremony on the site's northwest corner. University President Michael J. Graham, S.J., blessed the site and then ceremoniously broke ground along with Board of Trustee Chairman Joseph Pichler, Capital Campaign Chairman Robert Kohlhepp, Academic Vice President and Provost Roger Fortin, Associate Provost for Student Life and Leadership Kathleen Simons, Information Resources Technician Annie Jackson, Williams College of Business Assistant Karen Menkhaus, Associate Professor of Education Leslie Prosak-Beres and Student Government Association President Craig Scanlon.

Video (http://www.xavier.edu/insidexavier/media/campus_groundbreaking/) | Photographs (http://www.xavier.edu/insidexavier/photo_gallery/campus_groundbreaking/) (includes renderings) | Fr. Graham's remarks (http://www.xavier.edu/campusuite/modules/news.cfm?action=modify&grp_id=1&news_id=6034&month=9)

Cincinnati, Ohio (http://urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8)
...as viewed from The View in Covington, Kentucky.

1
http://www.urbanup.net/content/20081013/photos/full_1_2695.jpg

2
http://www.urbanup.net/content/20081013/photos/full_1_5141.jpg

3
http://www.urbanup.net/content/20081013/photos/full_1_2365.jpg

Covington is a cool little town I stayed there a few years back for a wedding at the Hotel near 75 with the turning restuarant at the top of it... I remember they had a sweet basketball court out back that gave you a nice view.... Whatever Cathedral the wedding was at in Covington was beautiful

^ The Radisson and the Cathedral Basilica.

Although not used to its greatest extent, Cincinnati's Riverfront Transit Center (http://www.urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=341) is an intermodal transit center along 2nd Street in downtown south of Fort Washington Way. It is adjacent to The Banks (http://www.urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=333), a massive mixed-use development now under construction.

http://www.urbanup.net/content/20080922/photos/full_1_5241.jpg

First proposed in 1998 prior to Cinergy Field being demolished, the Riverfront Transit Center was designed to be a staging area for hundreds of buses coming to Reds and Bengals games, facilitate traffic to and from downtown Cincinnati. It was also proposed that the development be accommodating to light rail and commuter trains (http://www.urbanup.net/index.php?transportID=10), as well as a proposed Chicago-to-Cincinnati high-speed rail line (http://www.urbanup.net/index.php?transportID=11). Both of the plans were coming to fruition as a result of the city's attempts to comply with the 1991 $155 billion federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, that mandated cities reduce air pollution caused by automobile congestion or risk losing transportation funding.

Although both rail plans eventually fizzled out, the center is still being used as a staging area for hundreds of buses coming to Reds and Bengals games. Be sure to check out my latest addition to UrbanUp, Cincinnati's Riverfront Transit Center (http://www.urbanup.net/index.php?cityID=8&ID=341)!

Any new news on the streetcar ?

Thanks for specifyin what I was talking about Cincinnatus. Can anyone tell me if the old spaghetti factory is still in business in Cincy?

what's going on with the Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square? no pics? this is a new tallest for you guys, right? one would think that this thread would've gotten more posts than this.....

Have you guys ever seen this article? I ran up on it a while ago.
Here it is:

Cincinnati’s tallest skyscraper taking root in finely tuned productionA towering task
Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Laura Baverman Staff Reporter
Might as well call Bob Grace a conductor.

Assigned to bring Cincin*nati’s tallest skyscraper out of the ground, he orchestrates hundreds of contractors, an intense time schedule, tight staging area and the technically challenging assemblage of the building’s crown jewel – the tiara that pays homage to the city’s legacy. The Turner Construction executive oversees development of the Great American Tower at Queen City Square.

“(It) will change the skyline of Cincinnati,” Grace said.

Twenty-five years since Western & Southern Financial Group awarded Turner and HOK the landmark project, construction has begun. By 2011, the 800,000-square-foot office tower will soar 660 feet, 86 feet above the peak of downtown’s Carew Tower. The road there depends on careful planning by Grace and his team of 15 construction managers.

Address: 301 E. Fourth
There is no clear definition of a skyscraper. Some say it’s any building exceeding 500 feet in height. Others define a skyscraper by its impact on a city’s skyline.

Tower construction in the U.S. began soon after the first elevators were installed in 1857. But the first modern skyscrapers came when engineers began using iron and steel to construct buildings.

Turner Construction has built 11 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings and will finish work on the $4.1 billion Burj Dubai in 2009. Its height, likely to top 2,600 feet, is a secret. Saudi Arabia is already out to top it, proposing a building called Mile High Tower to double Burj Dubai’s size.

The last skyscraper built in Cincinnati was 312 Elm St., home of the Cincinnati Enquirer, completed in 1992.

Turner personnel
Turner has brought one of the company’s most experienced high-rise contractors to assist the process. Jasper Defazio, a 33-year Turner veteran, has led the construction of buildings in Dubai, Taiwan and New York City. Grace has some experience with high-rise construction, too. He helped build downtown’s 26-story U.S. Bank Tower as a co-op student at the University of Cincinnati.

Subcontractors
The largest subcontracts, for steel, curtainwall and concrete, have been awarded to Owen Steel in Columbia, S.C., Antamex in Toronto and Baker Concrete Construction in Monroe. No local companies could handle the enormous steel or curtainwall requirement, Grace said.

“You can’t afford to have a problem, so you don’t take a whole lot of chances,” Grace said. He expects to award more than $200 million in core and shell work to up to 30 prime subcontractors and 150 second-tier companies. During the peak of construction in March 2010, 750 people will work on site. The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority requires Turner to pay prevailing wage and meet small- and minority- business requirements.


Tons of structural steel 6,000
Tons of reinforcing steel 5,000
Cubic yards of concrete 62,000
Sq. ft. of curtainwall 320,000

Joe Hummel, executive director of Allied Construction Industries, expects the project to add to the local labor force. “The good news is it’s a major construction project that will employ thousands of people. The bad news is it’s a major project that we don’t have experience in building,” he said.

Preconstruction is the most difficult task. Turner must factor price escalation, subcontractor participation, cost management, scheduling and green-building standards. In addition, international building codes changed in 2007, so all initial design plans had to be altered.

Model
Turner and HOK looked to the ABN AMRO Plaza in Chicago as a benchmark for the construction and design of the tiara. It has a significant architectural piece on top and a shell of curtainwall.

The tiara alone will cost $3M to $5M.

Grace calls the tiara the most technically challenging aspect of the building’s construction. Spanning 130 feet by 130 feet and 250 tons, the tiara will be installed with electrical wiring mounted on it. Shipped from its manufacturer in Columbia, Mo., it will be partially assembled on the roof of the building’s adjacent parking garage, 11 stories off the ground. A crane will lift it in chunks, and contractors will piece it together over three months in the summer and fall of 2010.

The tiara will weigh 250 tons.

Crane schemes
Four cranes will be used and will be tied to the structure every 50 feet to 75 feet. The largest, to hoist the tiara into place, will be on the north side.

As many as four temporary elevators will be installed in September 2009 to get workers to workstations high in the building. Even with the elevators, it might take 60 minutes to get some workers to their stations.

Turner considered two structural methods. The first – a steel frame with concrete encasement. The second – the method eventually selected – a stiff concrete core with elevators in the shaft. Here, the center of the building takes most of the structural load, eliminating the need for interior columns above the eighth level. Steelwork, which will follow about six floors behind the concrete, supports the floors. At street level, the building will look similar to 303 Broadway with granite and punch windows, aluminum framing and glass. The curtainwall enclosure begins at the fifth floor and continues to the top. When concrete work reaches the 16th floor, curtainwall contractors will begin.

Leed
The tower is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Green efforts include the installation of efficient heating and cooling systems, the use of coated, insulated glass to avoid heat transfer, a fresh air monitoring system on each floor, use of materials with low volatile organic compounds and recycled content and water conservation techniques.

After demolishing the parking garage on the site, O’Rourke Wrecking Co. has recycled the debris into material that can be used in the building’s construction.


Staging area
The building is similar in size to Paul Brown Stadium. While the stadium is six stories high and wide, this building is 41 stories with 26,000-square-foot floor plates. It’s easier to move horizontally than vertically, Grace said. The city has closed the sidewalk and curb lane on Fourth and Sycamore streets, giving Turner 25 feet for trucks to make deliveries to the site. Materials cannot be stored on the site, so careful scheduling is required.

Turner will spend $35,000 on temporary docks to facilitate the process.

Materials costs
Turner locked prices in early by ordering materials when it began a University of Kentucky project. But some material costs already had risen as much as 40 percent from September 2007 to May 2008. Western & Southern chose to overspend on three areas: 28 elevators with fast call times, curtainwall cladding and the tiara.


Land investment $22 million
Construction costs $260 million
Design costs $9 million
Financing costs $18.5 million
Soft costs $13 million

Financing
The building and land will be owned by the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, which has the ability to issue the necessary lease bonds. A contract with Western & Southern will allow the firm to master-lease it, said Susan Thomas, the Port’s director of public finance. Western & Southern bears the burden of cost overruns.

The building’s construction is financed through:


City grant $3.8 million
Port-issued lease bonds $220 million
Tax increment financing $54 million
Western & Southern* $39.8 million


*half is land value

Time schedule
Workers will be on site from 5 a.m. to dusk. There is no accelerated construction built into the budget. Priority will be placed on the concrete and steel work.

“Until you get the structural trades up, there isn’t any place for anyone to do their work. They create new space,” Grace said.

Weather is the biggest challenge to staying on schedule. Turner plans for 20 to 30 days of high winds, freezing rain or sleet that could prevent steel erection from happening. Concrete can be poured in the rain or snow. A temporary roof might be installed above the 20th floor so tenant work can begin on the lower levels.

September to January 2008: Excavation, digging of a 50- to 65-foot hole.

January 2009: Mat footing concrete pour – a 24-hour continuous concrete pour will happen in January. Up to 30 trucks will line up to pour the foundation, six feet of concrete to form the base of the building.

2009: Vertical construction.

Mid-2010: Steel tops out.

December 2010: Shell complete.

Early 2011: Begin moving tenants into building.

End of 2012: 100 percent occupancy.


8,600 people will work in the building. Those workers will generate $55 million in taxes to the city over a 10-year period. Their salaries will pump $1.4 million annually to Cincinnati Public Schools.




lbaverman@bizjournals.com | (513) 337-9431

http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/211567-300-0-2.jpg
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/211566-300-0-2.jpg
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/211565-300-0-2.jpg

:)

I was checking out UrbanOhio, lol yes an Australian checks in on this stuff. I was reading, Cincinnati currently has 8 cranes in the CBD. That is great! How many are up for the Banks project?

I was checking out UrbanOhio, lol yes an Australian checks in on this stuff. I was reading, Cincinnati currently has 8 cranes in the CBD. That is great! How many are up for the Banks project?

About 4 or 5.

The Banks Update:

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn191/CWMccann18/Personal/BanksConstruction.jpg

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn191/CWMccann18/Personal/BanksConstruction002.jpg

This is so exciting!

The park starts construction this year as well correct?

This is so exciting!

The park starts construction this year as well correct?

Yes, groundbreaking was this past September.

Just get the streetcar going and Cincy's got the total package.

Just get the streetcar going and Cincy's got the total package.

Seriously. Connecting all of this with rail ... and you cannot go wrong.

I can't believe that they finally started The Banks project. I look forward to seeing how this shapes out.

I so wish Indy didn't ignore its River.

This thread seems dead, but I will give it a shot anyway. Do any of you Cincinnati folks know where I can find a good picture of the skyline from I-75/71 in Kentucky. I was in Cincy over the weekend and love how the skyline smacks you in the face with the Cincy/NKY skylines blending together and the highrises on the hills overlooking the city in the background.

Ive been trying to find one on the internet since Ive been home, but cant find one to do it justice. Seems they are either aerials or from a different angle all together. I would prefer a daytime shot if you guys know of any.

Is Queen City Square, Phase II U/C?

Yes check out this thread for the latest construction updates:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3170.1860

^^

Thanks

Thought I would post this in all three forums (Cincy, Louisville, Lexington) since this affects all of them and would draw from all three. Seems to me to be one of the first things officially placed in the triangle with the purpose of drawing from the triangle and it looks closer and closer to happening all the time:

SMI willing to move one of its races to Kentucky (http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/9535254/SMI-willing-to-move-one-of-its-races-to-Kentucky)

Im goin to a Reds game this weekend with a friend.... andy recomendations on whre to eat after the game?? somewhere within walking distance of the Great american Ball Park

Nothin huh?? I went down there and there wasnt much within a few blocks of the stadium..... The place we went to wasnt that great. and expensive wish i could remember the name of the place..... I just remember it was right across from the stadium about a block up... There was some construction goin on across the street looked like the were adding onto/renovating something

Nothin huh?? I went down there and there wasnt much within a few blocks of the stadium..... The place we went to wasnt that great. and expensive wish i could remember the name of the place..... I just remember it was right across from the stadium about a block up... There was some construction goin on across the street looked like the were adding onto/renovating something


Possibly the worst forum/subforum you could've gone to -to get advice for this. Have you really never heard of UrbanOhio.com?

Drove up to Cincy from Lexington yesterday to visit some friends. It's been about a year since I made the trip and when I made the turn toward the bridge I was really excited to see the new tower going up (Is it called Queen City Tower? I cant remember) It's going to look amazing!

Is there 2 skyscrapers being constructed over by Great American Ball PArk?

No. Just Queen City Square (the new tallest) and The Banks (collection of midrises).

So is the banks the development thats going on just west of the stadium? like pretty much right across the street from G.A.B.?

^^ Yes

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x320/kehughes1/Cincinnati%20-%20May%202010/IndianaTrip051010043.jpg
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Thanks for sharing. Nice to see the 'tiara' going up on Queen City Square.

Cincinnati's crowning achievement
Great American Tower will trigger cascade of Downtown relocations, office revamps

After two decades of planning and 25 months of construction, the $322 million Great American Tower at Queen City Square is about to get its crowning glory.

Contractors, developers and city leaders are to gather Tuesday to celebrate the placement of the final piece of the "grand tiara" atop the 41-story building that now towers over the region.

"That's really when we will have finished changing the city's skyline," says Bob Grace, a project executive with Turner Construction.

When the building at Third and Sycamore streets opens in January, it will be the tallest skyscraper downtown at 665 feet.

In the short run, the project has injected an enormous shot of pride and energy for locals - a symbol that big things can be done even in the midst of a recession.

"It's a dramatic sign of progress, and it's the first thing we talk about when we visit with anyone from another city," says David Ginsburg, president of the non-profit business group Downtown Cincinnati Inc. "It's just such a great story that against the backdrop of a tough economy we're building our tallest tower and retaining great downtown firms."

In the long run, the question is whether the plethora of new office space will hasten or hinder efforts to retain local growing firms and pull in the Fortune 500 companies that deal makers are working to lure.

"The Cincinnati office market is a mixed bag right now," says Bob Ryan, senior vice president with Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate services firm. "With the Great American Tower coming on line, that will add 800,000 square feet of space to the marketplace and empty out some Class A and B buildings downtown. If history is any judge, it will take a long time - maybe seven to eight years - to backfill the space that's being left behind."

Relocation cycle
American Financial Group's move into the new tower in less than six months will set off the largest relocation of downtown office workers in decades. The shift will leave behind roughly 400,000 square feet of office space in three buildings: the Chiquita Center on Fifth Street, the 580 Building on Walnut and 525 Vine St.

"These landlords are going to have to get aggressive or they'll be left sitting with a vacant hot potato," says Shawn Gilreath, a principal with real estate services firm Cresa Partners. "The harder thing to track, though, is the tire kicking that's going on. Are there aggressive deals being done out there? Well, the answer is not yet."

Compounding deal makers' efforts to lure out-of-town firms has been the shrinking size of Delta Air Lines' hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, says Cassidy Turley's Ryan.

Delta has cut its flights to 60 destinations served - down from nearly 130 during the height of the hub in 2004-05.

On a recent trip to Chicago to meet with a firm considering relocating, Ryan says, Cincinnati missed the final cut because of Delta's thinning presence here.

"I couldn't even begin to sell our attributes, such as the world-class Children's Hospital, cost of living, etc.," Ryan says. "Here is a tenant from out of town with hundreds of jobs, and they wouldn't even look at us anymore. This is a big, long-term problem for our community."

Officials at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber say stakeholders are working hard to address the issue.

"While we have certainly experienced reductions, we still have superior air service and non-stop flights to 50 business destinations in the U.S.," says Doug Moormann, president of economic development of the Chamber. "We will continue to do everything we can to secure the service we have and attract new service."

In the meantime, Moormann says, officials are focusing on the strengths of the local economy as a source for growth.

"One of the things that we think will help fill some of that space in the long term are new and growing consumer-marketing businesses," Moormann says.

Future growth
The targets are firms that specialize in consumer intelligence, marketing and packaging, he says. Other groups are exploring "rent-a-desk" environments that could house small firms willing to share resources and space in large office buildings.

"People are exploring new, innovative ideas, and, hopefully, some of those will bear fruit and bring new tenants downtown," Moormann says.

Developers behind the incoming tower say the greater risk for downtown would have been to maintain the status quo.

"Companies that might consider relocating or expanding downtown can't do it unless there is the space available. This creates that opportunity," says Marion San Marco, president of Eagle Realty, the real estate subsidiary of downtown-based Western & Southern Group.

The more upgrades done to existing space, the more attractive it will be to prospective users, he adds.

"If that space isn't vacated, it's very difficult to improve the quality and character," he says. "The more we improve our office stock, the more opportunities we'll have to attract and retain the best and brightest workers."

Planning the new space
About 2,500 American Financial Group workers will relocate into the new tower starting in January.

"This is for many of us a once-in-a-career type of thing," says Keith Jensen, chief financial officer of Great American Insurance Co. and executive vice president of American Financial Group. "There are a lot of moving parts."

The company has tapped downtown-based KZF Design to build out its space, , floors 8 through 27 and the top three levels, 39 through 41. The top floor, Jensen says, will house the firm's board room, a balcony overlooking Great American Ball Park and an area for corporate client gatherings.

Among the best perks, he says, is the building's open floor plan.

"Instead of being spread out in different buildings, we're in a position to have our people access resources they need much easier," Jensen says. " Craig Lindner has said repeatedly that there are soft benefits we will realize in our business that we can't even estimate as a result of this."

For the most part, peak work on the tower has begun to slow, Turner's Grace says.

More than 1 million man-hours have gone into construction with more than 100 contractors working on site at a time.

"All of the people who have worked on this project have really felt like they've had a hand in changing the city and making history," Grace says. "That's one of the best parts of what we do. It's very visual, and we'll look back one day with a lot of pride and say, 'I was a part of that.' "

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20100712/EDIT03/7110371/Cincinnati-s-crowning-achievement

Great Cincy pics! What is that multi-colored building?

^^ I think its a parking garage with ground floor retail - immediately north of Fountain Square. It has a Cadillac Ranch, a Rock Bottom Brewery and several other restaurants in it. Love the colors -- instead of what would have been a typically ugly, flat wall of "parking garage gray".

^^ Yeah, that's a parking garage above a Cadillac Ranch, GNC, Arby's and the other side is what faces Fountain Square.

The area is incorporated into the Backstage District and ventilation was a must, so they held a contest for designers/artist to come up with an idea to make the structure attractive and yet allow it to function. I've taken a few out-of-towners down 6th St. and I usually always get a positive response.

Personally, I love the design because 99% of the time you'll always be looking at the garage at an angle, therefore the beams mask the cars.

Cincinnati has seen so much development in the last 5 years, it really is impressive.

It's not just Downtown either. It's hard to imagine we're living in a recession ... cranes are everywhere, retail is opening up, and construction blockades seem to be on every block.

Just within the last few weeks, we've found out that The Banks has 4 intent to sign tenants and the apartment aspect has 300-400 interested occupiers. To connect all of this, we have even secured financing for the Streetcar in the last batch of federal transportation grants!

OTR isn't slowing down either. I live in the area and even I cannot keep up with what's going on in the Gateway Quarter.

^^ Are businesses in Cincinnati growing? They must be doing well to drive all this growth.

Can Cincinnati casino revitalize downtown?

The grounds are being cleared, and a glittering casino will soon take shape. Now, all bets are on the developers: Can they deliver a casino that revitalizes downtown and kicks up development, helping boost neighborhoods, restaurants, hotels, shops and bars?

Rock Gaming officials say that bet is as good today as it was last year when they sold voters on a casino at Broadway Commons. In the 12 months since, they've hired contractors and architects and partnered with Harrah's Entertainment to bring worldwide gambling cache to town.

If all goes as planned, they say, the casino will open in 2012, pumping $1.9 billion into the local economy in the next seven years

Locals hope an urban resurgence follows, but history shows that it's not a sure thing.

An Enquirer analysis finds that in the decade since major cities outside Nevada and New Jersey began building casinos, none has yet achieved the full goal of generating impressive tax revenue and several thousand jobs while spurring neighboring economic growth.

"No one development can do it all. It has to be part of a bigger effort," says Todd George, general manager of St. Louis' Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels. "A casino can help, but it has to be in partnership with other efforts."

Visits to downtown casinos in Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Detroit find that all are works in progress: Up and running, but working hard to attract enough customers to pay off hefty debts while the local economy muddles along.

These cities have learned that gambling revenues miss projections. Developers overreach and overbuild. Governments meddle. Geography cuts off access. Markets have stronger-than-expected competition. And of course, the deteriorating economy and real estate market have not helped.

"It's all in the execution," says Lia Nower, director of Rutgers University's Center for Gambling Studies. Typically, she says, cities haven't put enough planning into what happens around their casinos.

A different approach

Detroit entrepreneur Dan Gilbert became involved in the bid to build casinos in Ohio in early 2009. As CEO of Rock Ventures, the parent company of Rock Gaming, Gilbert believed that if casino gambling was legalized it should be in major cities.

That sentiment became a key part of Gilbert's successful campaign last fall for casinos in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo. A year later, he's still touting not just jobs and tax revenue, but urban revitalization.

"Our goal is nothing short of creating a model for gaming in downtown urban cores that achieves such a high level of success for the entire community that other cities and states that authorize gaming look to Cincinnati (and Cleveland) as the 'gold standard' in how to build and operate an urban-based casino," he said in an e-mail last week.

Gilbert has demonstrated a soft spot for urban centers by locating his company's offices and more than 1,700 jobs in downtown Detroit, winning civic and corporate praise there.

He says the right casino design will achieve his vision in Cincinnati as well. His casino, he says, will not be the traditional elaborate complex with multiple hotels and restaurants designed to keep customers inside, close to the gambling floor.

Instead, Gilbert has vowed not to build a hotel as part of his development for at least five years. During that time, he says he will work with existing hotels to send overnight customers to their rooms instead.

Early casino drawings also show restaurants and retail shops that are accessible from the street, so customers won't have go through the casino to shop or eat. The idea, Gilbert says, is a casino that invites the surrounding community in and encourages casino patrons to wander out and about.

David Ginsburg, president of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., says the business community is encouraged by what it sees so far: a developer with a large project that will inject new vibrancy into the area, encourage 6 million annual visitors to explore other parts of downtown and a partner who is willing to work with area businesses. Coupled with development of The Banks riverfront residential/retail district and the coming streetcar, the casino will give a lift to the city, Ginsburg says.

"Rock Gaming has been very open and engaged," he adds. "They're going to be a good neighbor, and we have no reason to believe that will change."

Stephen Samuels is president of Bridging Broadway, a local group with a city contract to assess the casino's impact on surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. He wants to see the city maximize the boost it gets from the casino. His group last month toured the area with 60 neighbors and other stakeholders to start a list of potential area improvements.

"We're less about the casino site and more about the area around it that's impacted," Samuels says. "The idea is that we're ready when the doors open and the casino is not just an island."

David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, says Gilbert must be careful, though. He says casinos are often self-contained for a very good reason: They make more money that way. An open design with no hotel runs the risk of letting critical extra revenue escape.

"History shows casinos that are insular are more successful," Schwartz says. Gilbert's design "might not be the best idea from the point of view of the casino."

Some casino operators are skeptical, too, about depending on outsiders for hotel rooms. Giving away a free hotel stay is a key perk for a casino's best customers. That's harder if you don't own the hotel.

Gregg Solomon, chief executive officer of MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit, says Gilbert will have to pay for rooms from hoteliers that need to turn a profit - when he could run his own hotel at cost or even a loss.

"Those guys (outside hotel owners) have got to make money on their hotel - I don't," Solomon says.

Tales of three cities

Experts say Cincinnati's casino must ensure its own success before its owners can worry about their contribution to downtown. And visits to casinos in Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Detroit show that missteps in casino projects can blunt their community benefits - especially in the beginning.

In Pittsburgh, construction crews walked off the job building Rivers Casino in 2008 when the developer ran out of money and later filed bankruptcy. The subsequent owner and operator badly missed first-year revenue projections and had to restructure debt. The casino has generated tax revenue and jobs, but its geographic isolation - immediately surrounded by highway ramps and riverfront - has contained its potential rub-off benefit to smaller businesses.

In St. Louis, the parent company of Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels is suing and being sued by the city. Pinnacle Entertainment opened the downtown Lumiere and another new casino in that market, but lost the license to a gambling riverboat in the city waterways. City officials have courted a replacement development to take the gambling license now up for grabs. But Pinnacle says the city has enough casinos and another would risk saturating the market.

Also, while Lumiere appears to have helped business in a nearby entertainment district, an interstate highway that cuts it off from the rest of downtown is muting its benefit to the rest of the city.

Detroit's three downtown casinos have been up and running for a decade, but in locations so isolated that little outside development has been sparked. MGM Grand Detroit is surrounded on three sides by highways and on-ramps, opposite a utility company. And MotorCity Casino is adrift in the middle of a former industrial area.

Only Greektown Casino-Hotel has a few blocks of restaurants and bars surrounding it. But even it has faced troubles: Greektown was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2008, emerging only this year with new owners.

Budding optimism

Industry worries aside, the Cincinnati casino's looming construction is attracting excitement and investment.

Keith Klump, general manager of Joe's Diner on Sycamore Street in Over-the-Rhine, says the pending casino development prompted him to reopen the restaurant this summer. The retro eatery isn't the only previously fallow retail space that's reopened in the past several months. There's also Neon's Unplugged, Jack Potts and MOTR bars in Over-the-Rhine. "We've already seen a lot of bars reopening in anticipation of the casino," Klump says. "It's good for us because more people say, 'Let's go to Main Street' rather than any one place. The more people coming to this area, the more customers we'll see."

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory says the city is eager to see its casino become a success, but he's not counting on it to single-handedly remake downtown. He says the revival began before and continues with the overhaul of Fountain Square, The Banks project and plans for the streetcar. "We've already seen a resurgence downtown. There's a lot going on, and a casino will just add to it," Mallory says.

Dan Lincoln, president of the Greater Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, says adding a casino will provide the region with a "tie-breaker" over similar regions attracting convention business. He says a casino is at the top of convention planners' lists of requested amenities about a region.

"A vast majority of our planners ask, 'Is there a casino?' It's an added attraction," he says.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20101112/BIZ01/11140302/

Hotel nearing completion in Corryville

A newly built $24 million Hampton Inn and Suites hotel in Corryville is expected to open by early January.

On Tuesday, local business and community leaders gathered for a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the 132-room hotel and a more than 200-space public parking garage, which was developed by Burgess Doan Co.

Financing partners included non-profit developer Uptown Consortium along with special tax increment financing from the city of Cincinnati valued at roughly $6.1 million.

“If you want to build a hotel, particularly in a city neighborhood, you have to have vision, you have to have persistence, you have to have tenacity,” said Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney. “You can look around and remember when this was just dirt and look how far it has come in a very rapid fashion.”

Planners consider the hotel project critical to jump-starting new development along Short Vine, where planners and community members envision a reinvigorated entertainment district.

South of the new hotel, Covington-based Anchor Properties is working on plans to replace an existing 15,000-square-foot Walgreen’s store with one of the same size and nearly double the size of the existing Kroger to 65,000 square feet. Kroger officials have said they are hopeful the project could get under way next year.

Meanwhile, the Uptown Consortium is working with a private developer on a more than $10 million plan in the 2600 block of Short Vine that calls for an expanded Bogart’s, renovation of eight buildings into 35,000 square feet of refreshed storefronts and 50 apartments.

In recent months, the consortium signed on Brandt Retail Group to help craft a tenant strategy for Short Vine’s empty storefronts and help attract unique local retailers to the corridor. Officials have said one key property being targeted for redevelopment is the former Benchmark clothing store at 2910 Vine St.

“We have a lot of great things planned and we really hope this project will be the first step in what we see as the revitalization of Short Vine,” said Beth Robinson, CEO of the Uptown Consortium.

A grand opening for the new Hampton Inn and Suites is slated for Jan. 6.
Finishing touches are under way on the hotel, which will include a 2,500 square foot meeting facility, a fitness center and a business center. Longer term plans call for additional retail storefronts and a restaurant at the southeast corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Short Vine.

“We’re very hopeful, but everything is still really slow right now in the market and it’s going to be at least next summer before we can really get something going,” said Burgess Doan, president of lead development firm and a majority owner in the project. “It’s been a long journey, but I’m confident we have the right partners to see this through.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101116/BIZ01/311160033/Hotel-nearing-completion-in-Corrvyille

this is nice thread, I'm glad to see Cincinnati booming again , But I wish they can bury the utility lines , and repave the streets.

No strings for Banks loan

DOWNTOWN – Developers of The Banks likely will get a $2.75 million loan from the city of Cincinnati to lure the first retail tenant to the riverfront development – without having to accelerate the construction schedule.

In a special meeting Monday, the Cincinnati City Council’s finance committee approved the loan, which is to be paid back over five years and comes with a 4 percent interest rate. Hamilton County Commissioners approved a loan for the same amount more than a week ago.

Developers Atlanta-based Carter and The Dawson Co. say the loan is needed to help pay for improvements of the first retail spaces at the residential, commercial and office project.

The full City Council still must approve the committee’s recommendation. That’s expected to happen on Wednesday.

Members of council called the special meeting after developers said that the council’s unanimous vote last week to approve the loan with contingencies likely would jeopardize pending lease agreements.

Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz called last Wednesday’s vote “a serious mistake,” adding that she believes council was distracted by budget discussions and did not pay “enough attention” to the details of the loan agreement.

“There was a lot of hoopla over what we did” last week, Ghiz said. She was joined by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and council members Laure Quinlivan, Wendell Young, Cecil Thomas and Charlie Winburn in supporting the new loan agreement on Monday.

“I don’t want to be the council of the past that has sent everything over to the other side of the river because we argue over every single detail,” Ghiz said.

Young also called last week’s vote a mistake.

“Above all else, people want to see The Banks proceed,” he said.

Voting against the loan Monday were councilmen Chris Bortz and Jeff Berding.

They have argued that taxpayers should get more than a 4 percent return for the loan, and have said the request to speed up future construction phases is fair.

The Banks project shouldn’t be viewed as a “sacred cow,” said Bortz, who has called the loan risky because the city would be third in line to recoup its investment should the development deal crumble.

“We need to be looking out for the taxpayers and not sending the message to developers, ‘Come on in and ask for anything you want,’.” he said. “Our message should be, ‘Everything you ask for will come with scrutiny.’.”

If council approves the loan Wednesday, developers will immediately begin the work of signing on the first tenants, said Lauren Griffin, a spokeswoman for Carter.

The identities of the first tenant – and perhaps three or four more restaurant and bar tenants – may be announced in the next month, she added.

Sources close to the project have said that Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill will be the first tenant.

If those deals land, Griffin said more than 50 percent of the 70,000 square feet of retail space in The Banks’ first phase will be leased.

A grand opening for the project’s first phase, which includes 300 apartments and is estimated at $80 million, is slated for next spring.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101206/BIZ01/312060052/No-strings-for-Banks-loan

So has construction of the new casino started? or are they still in the land clearing stage? Our new facility in toledo is starting to rise from the ground. Concrete and steel skeletons are now visable

Metropole Renovation Still In Limbo
Delays Hamper Planned Renovation

CINCINNATI -- The renovation of the Metropole building was supposed to be well under way, but remaking it into a world-class hotel and arts venue might not start for many more months.

The Metropole was supposed to be empty three months ago, but the old downtown landmark, the last remaining spot undeveloped on the Walnut Street block, is still populated.

"Approximately 50 people are still in the building," Josh Spring with the Homeless Coalition said.

The work to convert the property into an upscale, 160-room boutique hotel was originally slated for last November.

"I don't believe that we will see a mass exodus of tenants in the very near future," Spring said.

Spring said the delay is a direct result of the actions of the Metropole Tenant Association to resist the planned redevelopment by the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and Louisville's 21C hotel.

The organizations are not commenting about the number of holdouts or the significance of a three-month setback beyond a brief statement Wednesday saying, "We are on schedule for spring."

A projected opening of mid-2012 is in a state of constant re-adjusting. All parties are in a holding pattern because of a federal lawsuit filed to try to stop the $48 million project and retain the place for low-income people, even though an estimated 75 percent of the tenants have been relocated.

"We hope that this is precedent-setting. It is not often that a group of tenants for a building that's been low-income for 30 years would sue some of the most powerful companies in their city," Spring said.

Relocating tenants is taking longer than envisioned, but 3CDC's vision devised 15 months ago has not changed.

"The fact remains that they're not going to be at 6th and Walnut anymore," Steve Leeper with the 3CDC said in November 2009.

3CDC bought the Metropole for more than $6 million two years ago.

http://www.wlwt.com/news/26719020/detail.html

Riverfront Park will take us to the river
45-acre site has first event set for May

This May, the first features of Cincinnati Riverfront Park are expected to be unveiled, kicking off a rolling opening of waterfront attractions that will continue through 2017.

Located just south of The Banks riverfront development, the 45-acre park will become Cincinnati's front yard and "reshape the dynamics of the whole riverfront experience," said Willie Carden, director of Cincinnati's park system.

"If you look at what's happening here in relationship with The Banks, this is an incredible project," he said.

With an estimated price tag of roughly $120 million, the park's first phase is being paid for with $30 million of local, state, and federal dollars. But critical to the park's construction - and future phases - are private fundraising-efforts, Carden said.

All told, up to $40 million must be raised privately if Cincinnati's newest waterfront parkland is to live up to the grand plans leaders envision for the park's completion in 2017. Roughly $8 million has been raised, with contributions coming from a range of Cincinnati's leading corporations and philanthropists.

On May 26, the park's first event is scheduled at the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Stage and Event Lawn - a nearly half-acre lawn under construction off Joe Nuxhall Way. The lawn is being funded by a $1 million donation from Fifth Third Bank.

Another May event - the Hat's Off luncheon for the Women's Committee for Cincinnati Riverfront - further underscores the role of private donations for the park. The committee has raised more than $800,000 for the park programming since 2007. The group has committed to continuing its efforts for future phases as well.

The private dollars and partnerships are vital, Carden said, especially in light of Cincinnati's budget constraints, which led to a nearly 34 percent cut in the department's $4 million budget this year.

"With the type of commitment we're getting from groups like the Women's Committee, you can't help but be successful," Carden said. "There will be a challenge for us, though, because with our recent budget cuts we don't have all the money to open all the different elements (of the park) when we would like to."

For now, Carden said, his department's staff continues to review which elements might have to be put on hold or pushed back.

Microbrewery an anchor

The Moerlein Lager House, which is being built just south of The Banks on Joe Nuxhall Way, is a key to the park's design and operation.

The two-story restaurant and microbrewery, which represents a $4 million investment by Moerlein Brewing Co., is scheduled to open by early November.Once it's up and running, the lager house will be the single largest source of funds for the park's operations, which are expected to run between $600,000 and $700,000 a year.

Moerlein has a 40-year lease for the lager house, with an annual rent of roughly $225,000, plus a payment of 1.85 percent of its sales to the city. Those dollars will be added to other revenue from events hosted at the park and a maintenance agreement the parks department has with the developers of The Banks.

"As we begin to bring this park online, we've designed it so it could generate its own revenue," Carden said. "These items are huge factors for us considering our budget restraints."

Work has been completed on the Lager House's lower, underground service level where the microbrewery's beer will ferment.

By March, Cincinnatians will be able to see the facility rising from its perch just above the recently relocated Mehring Way. West Chester-based Schumacher-Dugan is the lead contractor.

"It's not going to be like anything anyone has ever seen before," said Greg Hardman, chief executive officer of Moerlein Brewing. "We're striving to live up to the expectations of the world-class park that we're building here."

Fountain up next

Next after the opening of the Event Lawn will be the unveiling of a fountain along Walnut Street and a bike and visitor's center. Downtown-based Monarch Construction is building the fountain and the bike center.

Meanwhile, an agreement for the prospective operator of the bike center is being drafted, said Dave Prather, the city's lead project manager overseeing the park.

"We have quite a few plates spinning, but they're all going in the right direction," he said.

Due to the recent budget cuts, however, the park's fountain might not be turned on right away, Carden said.

"Once you turn it on, there will be water costs and utility costs that will cut into the budget," he said.

Officials may also have to delay the unveiling of a Black Brigade Monument, a tree grove just south of Mehring Way, and a labyrinth.

All were initially planned to be open in November.

"Even with these challenges, we're excited and we have plenty of reason to be positive," Carden said.

"We're still going to provide downtown and the people coming to The Banks a front lawn like no other in Cincinnati."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20110206/BIZ01/102070327/

any casino construction photos?

3 local firms eye space at The Banks

The chefs behind upscale local restaurants Boca and Hugo and the region's largest bar operator say they could be among the next tenants to occupy space at the Banks.

No leases have been signed. But all three companies have toured the property and are considering opening in any of five remaining retail spaces in the project's first phase.

"We're actively pursuing the Banks," says Sean Daly, who owns and operates the Southern fine dining eatery Hugo in Oakley. "The Banks has large, interesting space. With the revival downtown, it seems like the right place at the right time."

It's a risky bet to be among the first in an emerging entertainment district, the trio says. Banks leasing agent Mark Fallon has said any tenant operating at the Banks would likely sign a long-term lease of 10 years or more.

The financial package offered by Banks developers Carter/Dawson has to make sense for that kind of commitment, says Bob Deck, an owner of Four Entertainment Group, which operates eight venues around town.

"We'd like to be down there, but we're still a small company. It's hard for us to spread too fast," he says.

Four local sites are in the running for Boca owner David Falk's next restaurant. He's scouted Over-the-Rhine, the former Maisonette restaurant at Sixth and Walnut streets downtown and space in the Kenwood area, along with The Banks.

"It would be unwise for us not to look at any kind of emerging area in the city," says Falk, whose Boca Restaurant Group also runs nada downtown.

Seeking the right mix

Crucial to the success of the Banks will be a mix of high-profile, first-to-market national operators and strong, well-established local ones, Fallon says. He's already attracted the national Toby Keith's I Love this Bar & Grill to the Banks largest retail space on Second Street. An up-and-coming New Orleans restaurant operator will open three of its concepts - 4/7 Diner, the Wine Loft and La Crepe Nanou - on Freedom Way. And Johnny Rocket's has committed to opening its newest format restaurant.

The local operators have been a bigger challenge. So far, only the Holy Grail Tavern & Grille, with existing venues in Corryville and Delhi Township, has signed a lease. It will be the first tenant to open later in March.

Fallon says that 70,000 square feet of space is spoken for, but he can't share specifics on un-signed leases. Missing in the mix announced so far is a great Italian restaurant, another live music venue and a local coffee shop, he says. He's also toured the property with numerous Asian restaurateurs. He calls himself 'the United Nations of leasing.'

The key is bringing in the highest volume operators who can be open for lunch, dinner and beyond.

"We have a families-first plan," Fallon says. The Banks' 24-hour police station will help undedrscore that.

Four spaces still available for Falk, Daly, 4EG or another operator are located in the block bordered by Walnut and Main streets to the west and east and Second Street and Freedom Way to the north and south. Another overlooks the new Riverfront Park on Walnut Street. They range in size from 2,300 square feet to 11,200 total square feet (a two-story spot).

Two parcels of land are also available for restaurant development across from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, though Fallon expects to sell those to individual operators who want to build their own structures.

Independents interested

Daly says he expects his second restaurant to be much larger than Hugo, which opened and has stayed profitable since 2006. He's not ready to share the concept for the restaurant until a lease is in writing. Deck's group, meanwhile, could operate in any size space. Its existing venues range in size from the 900-square-foot Lackman pub in Over-the-Rhine to the 12,000-square-foot Mount Adams Pavilion.

"We would definitely put our company's stamp on it as far as being independent and unique," Deck says of any future Banks concept.

Falk declined to share any specific concepts he's considering for his next eatery. He also won't share a timeline for the signing of a lease.

"We're very patient. Not too many restaurant groups have failed due to being patient," Falk says. Financing a deal is not a concern, he says. More than 30 investors are involved in his two existing restaurants, which he says are both far exceeding revenue goals.

Restaurant broker Judie Guttadauro says she's toured The Banks' spaces with several interested parties too.

"What is really exciting is the fact that we have a community entertainment district, which provides liquor licenses for all of the tenants," she says.

No Inn at The Banks

What won't be opening in the Banks is another concept by Montgomery Inn, says Evan Andrews, the company's president.

The Gregory family was one of the first to be contacted by Banks developers when they began work on the project. Andrews said the opportunities presented were attractive but the family worried about stealing business from its Montgomery Inn Boathouse just up the river.

"When you have 20,000 square feet of extremely successful space a mile up, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Andrews says.

The Bistro Group of Mariemont, which operates 31 regional TGI Friday's restaurants and 5 local McAlister's Delis, hasn't been approached to tour space at The Banks, says Jeff Ritson, the company's president.

But the company did "We are very open to listening to any new opportunity," says Ritson.

Banks tenants will be helped by the availability of up to $5.5 million in city and county funds approved late last year for tenant improvements associated with signed leases.

Banks spokeswoman Libby Korosec declined to share how much of that pot is still available for the newest tenants.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20110304&Kategori=BIZ01&Lopenr=103050337&Ref=AR

Luxury apartments open in East Price Hill

By Kurt Backscheider • kbackscheider@communitypress.com

Another new development project is helping change the face of East Price Hill.

The Flats, an historic apartment building featuring five newly remodeled luxury apartment units, opened earlier this month in the neighborhood’s Incline District.

The property, at 3026 Price Ave., sits on the corner of Price and Hawthorne avenues.

East Price Hill resident Bill Burwinkel and his business partner Tom Koopman are the men behind the restoration project, which took about 10 months to complete.

“This project is all about taking advantage of the exciting things taking place in East Price Hill and the Incline District,” Burwinkel said.

“There has been some redevelopment taking place in the neighborhood, starting about two and a half years ago with the Corner BLOC Coffee shop.”

He said ground has since been broken on the Incline Square project featuring a mix of housing, offices and restaurants near the Queen’s Tower, and just a few blocks from there Price Hill Will is renovating The Elberon building.

“There is no reason this area shouldn’t take off,” Burwinkel said.

He said the five units in The Flats, one of which has already been rented, have all been completely restored. Each unit features a spacious living area, two bedrooms, one full bathroom, a covered balcony, a kitchen with granite bar, an office nook, hardwood and ceramic floors, recessed lighting and off-street parking.

“They’re beautiful,” he said.

The building itself is a 100-year-old structure that has always been home to apartments and one retail space. Burwinkel said he’s heard stories from people in the neighborhood who remember an old German butcher shop being located in the building’s first-floor retail space.

“The building is certainly a part of the fabric of the neighborhood,” he said.

“When we were touring it we learned that at one point in time it was home to some of the wealthier people in Price Hill.”

He said there has been a great amount of interest from prospective residents for the other four units. More than 100 people attended the open house for The Flats on March 8.

The units are available for rent for $895 per month.

Burwinkel said there’s a possibility an art gallery may move into the building’s retail space. He also owns a building on the corner across from the BLOC coffee shop, and he said he’s having discussions with restaurateurs interested in occupying that space.

“Exciting things are happening in this neighborhood,” Burwinkel said.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/wordonthewestside/2011/03/17/luxury-apartments-open-in-east-price-hill/

New downtown Cincinnati hotel to open March 30


The Residence Inn at the Phelps, the newest hotel in downtown Cincinnati, is scheduled to open March 30.

The new hotel, which features 134 one- and two-bedroom residential-style suites, will be the first Marriott branded hotel to open downtown. Each suite features separate living and working spaces, a fully equipped kitchen, flat-screen HD TVs and a work desk.

The hotel’s amenities include complimentary breakfast buffet, a fitness center and The Market, which provides guests access to a food and beverage pantry 24 hours a day. Construction on the former Phelps apartments started in 2010.

The new hotel was developed by Eagle Realty Group, a unit of Western & Southern Financial Group. Winegardner & Hammons will manage the hotel.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2011/03/28/new-downtown-cincinnati-hotel-to-open.html

Sounds like the streetcar is imperiled now, at least according to urbancincy.

21c Museum Hotels begin work on Metropole

Work is officially under way to transform the former Metropole Hotel apartment building on Walnut Street downtown into a 90-room boutique hotel operated by 21c Museum Hotels.

Dubbed The 21c Cincinnati, the hotel is slated to open in late 2012 and will include a contemporary art museum and restaurant modeled after the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville. Cincinnati-based Messer Construction is managing the 18-month project, officials said Wednesday.

In November 2009, non-profit developer Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. purchased the Metropole and announced plans to renovate it from low-income housing into a hotel. Over the last two years the developer has worked to relocate more than 200 residents into new housing. To oversee the relocations, 3CDC tapped Brickstone Property Management.

3CDC said it paid for all costs associated with each tenant move, including security and utility deposits. For those who want to move on their own, 3CDC has provided $400 to tenants living in efficiencies and $600 for those living in one-bedroom apartments to help offset incidental costs, the developer has said.

All 213 residents were offered Section 8 housing vouchers by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, though more than 75 percent of those who moved chose to relocate into subsidized housing complexes in Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills, Downtown, Corryville and other Cincinnati neighborhoods, 3CDC has said.

At least two former Metropole residents were denied a voucher because they were ineligible. That can occur when a resident’s income increases, if they owe CMHA money or if they have been convicted of certain crimes, CMHA officials have said.

All told, the project is a $50 million investment, that be funded through traditional construction loan; state and federal historic and new markets tax credits; a $2.5 million grant and property tax increment program from the City of Cincinnati; a $6 million loan from the Cincinnati New Markets Fund; and a loan from the Build Cincinnati Development Fund.

Deborah Berke, who also designed 21c in Louisville, is serving as design architect over the project. Berke is collaborating with executive architect Alan Weiskopf of Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel, a firm recognized for their significant experience in historic preservation projects. 21c officials said the Metropole, recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be restored to follow federal standards for historic rehabilitation.

Hotel features are expected to include:

- 8,000 square feet of exhibition, meeting and event space presenting rotating curated exhibitions, public art installations and cultural programs. Exhibition space is open to the public free of charge.

- Proof restaurant and bar featuring modern cuisine inspired by the culinary heritage of the region and showcasing its sustainable farmers and producers.

- A rooftop bar and spa with views of downtown Cincinnati and the surrounding area.

Founded in 2007, 21c Museum Hotels plans to develop 15 properties across the U.S. over the next five to ten years.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/developingnow/2011/05/11/21c-museum-hotels-begin-metropole-work/

Union Terminal begins first phase of restoration project

Cincinnati Union Terminal said it is beginning the first phase of an estimated $120 million restoration of the historic former train station in the West End.

HGC Construction will serve as general contractor for the project, which is expected to cost $9 million, including previously completed roof and air conditioning work.

The first phase includes the restoration and repair of the Cincinnati Dining Room and other historic dining rooms that are currently not open to the public. It includes repairs to roofing, steel columns, flashing, masonry, windows and lintels, building systems and the restoration of murals.

“The Cincinnati Dining Room, with its incredible ceiling mural of the city layout, circa 1930, has been a favorite of the community,” said Douglass McDonald, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center, which is housed in Union Terminal. “This project will restore the space and will also make additional historic-period dining rooms usable for community programs and events.”

The first phase will be financed by funds from the state of Ohio, the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission, the city of Cincinnati, the National Park Service and tax levy dollars, the Museum Center said in a news release. It is still trying to arrange financing for the remainder of the project, which would repair and restore the entire 500,000-square-foot building, which opened in 1933.

The Cincinnati Museum Center includes the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, the Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/06/01/daily50.html

Next OTR project on horizon
3CDC says historic building must come down

OVER-THE-RHINE – The conflict has played out countless times in other venues, as developers and preservationists square off over tearing down historic buildings.

But this time, the purple stucco structure would be the first historic building demolished in Over-the-Rhine by Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC). The nonprofit developer has spent the past five years investing more than $160 million in the neglected neighborhood, home to one of the largest collections of 19th Century Italianate architecture in the country.

“Outside of the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, this is the largest historic preservation effort going on in the country right now,” says Chad Munitz, executive vice president with 3CDC. “Our first goal is to save every historic building that we can and to figure out how to reuse it.”

Since beginning its work, 3CDC has helped transform entire city blocks of decaying historic shells into new urban residences and storefronts. It’s purchased more than 300 vacant buildings and restored 74 historic structures. New and old residents are moving in to more than 250 new and rehabbed condos and apartments. More than 85,000 square feet of retail and office space has opened up for business.

But now, the 131-year-old purple building simply has to go, 3CDC says. The space at 1314 Vine St. is needed this fall to make way for the long-awaited Mercer Commons, a development of more than 150 new apartments, 30 condominiums, a 350-space parking garage and retail and office space. Nineteen historic buildings also will be restored on the three-acre site.

Preservationists say 3CDC has done good work – up to the point where the purple building comes down.

“3CDC is doing preservation work on a scale that is almost unprecedented in this country, and we applaud that effort,” says Paul Muller, executive director of the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

He agrees that the purple building doesn’t look like much now.

“But underneath (its façade) there is a gem – a piece of Cincinnati history that could be the jewel of their development,” he says.

Many success stories

South of Liberty Street, 3CDC’s efforts to breathe new life into Over-the-Rhine’s aging relics are hard to miss.

At the corner of Race and 15th streets, a more than 100-year-old former church – St. Paulus Kirche – is getting a new roof and interior makeover to repair years of water damage and neglect.

Along the 1400 block of Vine Street, 10 historic buildings have been restored into 32 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space – a development that recently opened as Parvis Lofts.

And across the street, a 3CDC sign is draped on the front of a vacant 108-year-old building formerly home to the Cincinnati Color Co. that the developer is considering renovating into office space.

The projects are just a sliver of the effort under way to restore the neighborhood’s fragile building stock, considered among the most endangered historic places in the U.S., according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Statewide, 3CDC is among the largest recipients of historic tax credits, landing $10 million for Over-the-Rhine projects and $5 million for work downtown.

“We’re lucky the German immigrants who came here in the 1850s and 1890s built such solid buildings,” Munitz says. “It’s allowed this neighborhood to last as long as it has, even if the buildings haven’t seen the tender love and care they needed for decades upon decades.”

Today, remade buildings have names like Saengerhalle, Duncanson Lofts and Duveneck Flats – nods to the neighborhood’s 19th century artists and cultural venues.

But in order to accommodate a 350-car garage, which 3CDC says is needed to support incoming residents and businesses, 1314 Vine has to come down, Munitz says.

Plans show the garage’s main entrance and much of the structure in the spot where the purple building sits today.

Munitz says the parking is not only for Mercer residents and workers, but for future plans that include more building restorations.

“This has been on the drawing board for a long time,” he says. “We’ve been looking at this site, trying to figure out how to do this without tearing down anything or as little as we can and still make it fit.

“We could not find a way to keep the fabric of Vine Street and get the parking in here with the building there.”

Muller doesn’t accept that.

“Every new development in Over-the-Rhine has to deal with the need for parking for the buildings,” Muller says. “Even if they just kept the first 30 feet of the building, it would link the development in with the rest of the fabric of Over-the-Rhine.”

1314 Vine built in 1880

Built in 1880, 1314 Vine is a “classic Italianate” building with a cast-iron storefront that’s been masked by its stucco façade, Muller says. The top of the building includes a distinctive, decorative cornice.

The architectural style was inspired by the great Italian villas built during the Renaissance and which came into vogue in the U.S. in the 1840s, about the time when Cincinnati was the nation’s boomtown. It’s noted for its flat or low-pitched roofs, stone pediments atop the windows, and eaves that extend from the building. Wrought iron railings are another typical feature.

The building at 1314 Vine once housed Cincinnati’s Socialist Party, a bowling alley and saloon and was owned by the C.H. Loehmann family, who ran a New York-based discount clothing store.

In 2005, Cincinnati Public Schools purchased the property from Western & Southern Financial Group to make way for a new school. That plan called for clearing all 20 buildings on the Mercer site to make way for the new school. CPS canceled the plan after the number of schoolchildren declined, and 3CDC acquired the site.

“Alone, this building may not be that grand, but it is significant because it’s part of the whole of the historic district,” says Ken Jones, president of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation. “When you consider we’ve lost 50 percent of our historic buildings in the district, it means every building becomes extremely important.”

'We can find a solution'

When Over-the-Rhine was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, it was listed as having 943 buildings that contributed to its historic appeal. Currently, 337 buildings in the neighborhood are vacant, with orders for 89 of those to be condemned, according to city of Cincinnati records.

“We should be trying to save as many buildings as we can,” Jones says. “(1314 Vine) is structurally sound. We just want to see an emphasis on making use of it, but we haven’t seen that.”

He says that 3CDC has not provided “any evidence” to prove that working 1314 Vine into its plans isn’t viable.

The foundation has sent a letter to 3CDC expressing its concerns and asking the group to reconsider.

“We haven’t received a response,” Jones says. “I want to give them a lot credit because they have done a great job, but as far as being transparent about their process – I don’t see that. They tend to keep things close to the vest.”

Munitz says 3CDC has discussed the Mercer project on several occasions with preservationist groups, including the Over-the-Rhine Foundation.

“We have been exhaustive in looking at this entire site,” Munitz says.

If the building comes down, it would be “unfortunate and a missed opportunity,” says Muller of the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

“I think they’ve looked at the re-use possibilities seriously, but I think there’s another level they could take it to,” he said. “I hope that they put their creativity and talent in overdrive and find a way to make that building a shining treasure for this new development.”

Danny Klingler, a preservation advocate in Over-the-Rhine, agrees.

As director of OTR A.D.O.P.T (Advancing Derelict and Obsolete Properties Through Transfer) Klingler also recently met with 3CDC about 1314 Vine. His non-profit connects deteriorating buildings in Over-the-Rhine with new owners.

“3CDC has been very preservation-conscious, and I understand their perspective and respect that financially they have to make the numbers pencil out for this to work,” he says. “It is possible for every building in Over-the-Rhine to be left standing. But it’s money and coming together around the same table that gets this done. I don’t care if we have to raise the money ourselves, we can find a solution to save the building.”

'Our actions speak for us'

Before 3CDC can move forward with Mercer, the plans – like all other projects taken on in Over-the-Rhine – will have to be approved by the city’s Historic Preservation Board to ensure the renovations meet historic standards.

According to the city, permission to demolish historic buildings can granted by the board only if one of these applies:

- A city order to do so has been handed down because the building is not safe.

- The owner can demonstrate that the building can’t be used for a reasonable economic return, including selling it.

- The owner can demonstrate that denying the demolition application would deny the owner the use of its property in a manner that fits within the organization’s purpose, and would amount to taking the owner’s property without just compensation.

For now, 3CDC is finalizing renderings for Mercer and doesn’t expect to go in front of the board for at least a few months, Munitz says.

Klingler says he hopes preservationists have an opportunity to address 3CDC on the project before then.

“I trust there will still be an opportunity for dialogue before plans are finalized,” he says. “If there isn’t, I envision a lot of people will show up (at the hearing) pleading for this building to be saved. That might create divisiveness, which no one wants.”

For 3CDC and the work it’s taking on, debate comes with the territory, Munitz says.

“Every once and a while, we attract controversy, but our actions speak for us,” he says. “Our goal is to have the buildings in this neighborhood – because of the upgrades that have been made and the care we’ve taken – last for another 150 years. We want Over-the-Rhine to be what it was 100 years ago – a great mixed-income, diverse neighborhood.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110612/BIZ01/306120003/Next-OTR-project-horizon

Impact Cincinnati Archive

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Topic: Progress on the riverfront

http://www.wvxu.org/impact/impact_archiveview.asp?ID=6/16/2011

First Financial announces location for downtown headquarters

By Jay Hanselman
6/19/2011 8:16:02 AM

Earlier this year First Financial announced it would be locating its headquarters in downtown Cincinnati. The city offerd the company an incentive package to stay.

The location was to be announced at a later date. On Sunday, the company issued the following press release.

CINCINNATI – June 19, 2011 – First Financial officially announced the site of the company’s new corporate headquarters today. Located at 255 East Fifth Street, this prominent building is in the heart of the downtown central business district and is currently known as Chemed Center.

“This is an exciting day for all of us at First Financial. We’re proud to expand our presence in Cincinnati,” said Claude Davis, First Financial president and CEO. “As we continue to execute our strategic growth and expansion plans, the new corporate headquarters provides us with the opportunity to rename the building and establish the First Financial Center. We also look forward to opening our first downtown retail banking center.”

First Financial entered a long-term lease agreement and will be establishing approximately 150 jobs in the central business district. Downtown clients, residents and visitors will enjoy a full complement of personal banking, business banking and wealth management solutions at a new banking center on the first floor of the building. The company will also add the First Financial name to the Cincinnati skyline with branded signage at the top of the building.

Renovation of the space will start in the coming weeks and associates will begin moving to the new facility in late 2011. The company’s headquarters will encompass four floors of the First Financial Center. In addition to First Financial executives and key corporate support departments, the company’s Cincinnati-based commercial and wealth management sales teams will be housed there.

“We’ve experienced exciting growth over the past couple of years, but one key component of our success remains the same. We’re a client and community focused bank, “said Davis. “First Financial is committed to Greater Cincinnati and we look forward to being part of the community for years to come.”

First Financial, the second largest bank holding company headquartered in the Greater Cincinnati area, moved its corporate headquarters to temporary space in downtown Cincinnati in late 2009. The company had been evaluating long-term corporate facility opportunities in Cincinnati and other major markets across the bank’s footprint.

http://www.wvxu.org/news/wvxunews_article.asp?ID=8931

Amid sniping, council approves $80M Clifton Heights complex

Developers plan to break ground this fall on an $80 million-plus Clifton Heights complex of apartments, retail space and offices after City Council on Monday approved up to $25 million to help pay for it.

The project, called U Square @ The Loop, will repopulate the vacant land between McMillan and Calhoun streets near the University of Cincinnati. The city plans to sell bonds to come up with the money, which will be repaid from payments people make to park in the two new garages that will be part of the project and with revenue from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, revenue generated by development in an area, often used to underwrite future projects.

The city will own the garages and a plaza, but developers Towne Properties, Al. Neyer Inc. and the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. will manage them. A piece of the property will be saved for a hotel.

The proposals to commit city money to the project passed easily – seven in favor, with Councilman Cecil Thomas abstaining because he wanted more information. Councilman Chris Bortz left the council chambers during the more than hour-long discussion and didn’t return until after the vote. His family owns Towne Properties, where he works as a lawyer.

Bortz doesn’t think he has a conflict, saying neither he nor his father owns any of U Square, the company set up by the three development entities to do the project. City Solicitor John Curp issued an opinion, council members said, that says Bortz’s relationship to the company only speaks to his possible ethical issues and does not put the collective council in any kind of legal jeopardy should the vote be challenged.

As for whether or not the city or council might be sued over it, Curp said that happens all the time. Lawyer Tim Mara already has written a letter saying Bortz’s absence from votes isn’t enough, that Bortz should leave council.

As the council discussion turned away from project specifics and toward Bortz’s involvement, Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz cautioned her colleagues about discussing their colleague in public.

“Knock it off,” she said.

Ghiz called out Thomas, who owed back property taxes until hours before council was to vote on setting next year’s tax rate, and Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, who built a new LEED-registered house in Mount Lookout then proposed, unsuccessfully, that tax breaks for LEED construction be reviewed for possible increases.

Neither Thomas nor Quinlivan responded in council. Thomas said earlier this month he failed to pay his property taxes because “times were tough.”

Quinlivan said after Monday’s meeting she did build a LEED house and learned from her builders that they think the city’s LEED certification process is too easy and that it rewards renovators less than those who put up new construction.

So she said she was only suggesting the administration look into possible changes. Her proposal failed 5-4.

“I just thought it should be looked at,” she said, “that’s all.”

The U Square project will get a final vote of the full council Wednesday, the council’s last meeting before summer recess.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110627/NEWS0108/106280308/

Video brought you by Cincinnati Parks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNl2KkVdj_s

Short Vine's newest plan: Apartments, retail

A 100-year-old school building would be demolished and a new city block with more than 100 apartments would be built in its place under the latest plan to resuscitate Short Vine Street in Corryville and upgrade the area around the University of Cincinnati.

Developers are planning a $20 million project that includes tearing down the former Schiel School, which Cincinnati Public Schools officials closed in 2010. In its place would be 102 apartments designed for graduate students, medical students and workers at nearby hospitals. On the ground floor, three or four stores are planned, including a Fifth Third bank branch as the anchor.

The development would take up a full city block on Short Vine, a street considered a key to rejuvenating Corryville and other neighborhoods around UC known as Uptown.

Developers Uptown Rental Properties and North American Properties, which have worked together on other projects in the neighborhood, are teaming up on the project.

It still needs final approval from city agencies, and there's a public hearing Wednesday on the proposed demolition and other exceptions to zoning rules the developers want.

If approved, work would start this fall on a five-story building with 50 two-bedroom apartments and 52 one-bedroom spaces. The plan is to finish the work by summer 2013.

"The overwhelming desire of the neighborhood is for people to live on Short Vine," said Dan Schimberg, president of Uptown Rental Properties. "This represents an opportunity for another several hundred people to live there."

The Corryville Community Council has voted to approve the plan, the demolition and the zoning exceptions, including a drive-through for the bank.

"It's either a vacant building or doing something that will jump-start our businesses," said Mike Ealy, community council president.

The developers considered re-using the old school, pitching it to the University and nearby hospitals, but none could find a way to use it, Schimberg said.

They also studied rehabbing the school into residential units and took bids on a complete renovation that would keep the old school intact. But that would have resulted in a $7 million loss on the investment, according to a planning document filed with the city of Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Preservation Association will not formally oppose the demolition, but would have preferred to find a way to keep the school.

"It's such a tragedy to lose these great historic buildings," said Paul Muller, the association's executive director. "They were built to express our attitude toward education and the civic realm."

The building's 1930 addition was designed by the renowned Cincinnati firm of Samuel Hannaford and Sons, the Cincinnati Preservation Association says. In 1943, it was named after Louis M. Schiel, a former principal.

Until 2010, it was a magnet school for the arts for children in kindergarten through third grade. That year it was merged with the School for the Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine.

The property was bought by Fifth Third Bank in 2007 for $1.8 million and leased back to the school until the merger. The Cincinnati-based bank sought development proposals and awarded the rights to the Uptown/North American team.

The two development firms have worked together on other Uptown projects, most recently 65 West, a 129-unit apartment community at Ohio and McMillan designed for UC undergrads.

The five blocks of Short Vine consist of a broad street surrounded by the university, student housing and big employers such as University Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the U.S. EPA. It has been targeted as a district for redevelopment by the Uptown Consortium, the community redevelopment group formed by the big employers in the neighborhood.

Multimillion-dollar projects are either completed or planned at both ends of the street. At the north end, a $24 million Hampton Inn and Suites hotel opened earlier this year. At the south end, Covington-based developer Anchor Properties is planning to replace a Walgreens store with a new one and tear down a Kroger store and replace it with one twice the size.

Schimberg's firm is redeveloping the former site of Benchmark Outfitters, which has been torn down, into apartments to be called Vine Street Flats.


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110901/BIZ01/109010311/Short-Vine-s-newest-plan-Apartments-retail?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business

Is the streetcar being held up again ?

Is the streetcar being held up again ?

It seems like it always is! lol

Nati, C-bus, Toledo, Detroit all need to take a lesson from Cleveland... BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THE RTA!!! street cars work too as long as its strategically planned out it will work!
(I know detroit is doing the Woodward line but for a city like that they need to branch it out)

Casino site may get upgrade

DOWNTOWN – City officials are mulling $27 million worth of street and other public improvements near the site of the future Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati.

City officials are working to upgrade the area around the two-story, 350,000-square-foot casino complex at Broadway Commons in time for its spring 2013 opening.

The projects will mostly be covered by increasing property taxes paid by the casino and include: straightening and widening Reading Road; eliminating Broadway Street between Central Parkway and Court Street while shifting the intersection of Eggleston Avenue and Central eastward; moving overhead utilities underground along Reading Road and Gilbert; upgrades to street lighting, landscaping and sidewalks near the casino.

City budget director Lea Eriksen outlined the potential upgrades on Tuesday during a meeting of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee at City Hall. She said city officials will finalize a list of recommended improvements for the council to vote in the next two weeks.

“These improvements are going to support the casino,” Eriksen told council.

The list of improvements includes $15.9 million worth proposals near the project considered high-priority; another $3.7 million worth of improvements considered optional; and $7.4 million worth of improvements away from the casino site within surrounding neighborhoods.

Among the optional improvements are transforming a parking lot into a plaza area and landscaping to obscure the view of the jail. Neighborhood improvements include: converting 12th and 13th Streets into two-way streets and upgrading their lighting, sidewalks and landscaping; and upgrading nearby parks, such as at 12th and Broadway as well as the East 12th Pocket Park.

Located in a special tax district, additional property taxes from the improved value on the 20-acre site will be funneled to make public improvements within the surrounding area

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110906/BIZ01/309060083/Casino-site-may-get-upgrade?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business

Chadoh, while we've certainly had a disagreement or two, thanks for keeping the Ohio pipeline going. :okay:

Nati, C-bus, Toledo, Detroit all need to take a lesson from Cleveland... BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THE RTA!!! street cars work too as long as its strategically planned out it will work!
(I know detroit is doing the Woodward line but for a city like that they need to branch it out)

I agree. If Cleveland can do it, I think other cities in the region can too. The Cincinnati Streetcar has just been unfairly assaulted in the media and by many politicians in the state.

Hell, back in the day (like a nearly a century ago), Cincinnati started digging tunnels for a subway system! That would have really been something, but the project was killed by a lot of political and economic factors. It sounds like history is repeating itself. I really like the Cincinnati proposal, and if it were successfully launched, I could see it as a model for other cities in the state.

Chadoh, while we've certainly had a disagreement or two, thanks for keeping the Ohio pipeline going. :okay:

Not a problem.

Moerlein Lager House to open Feb. 6

The Cincinnati Park Board and Moerlein Lager House announced that the restaurant and brewery in Smale Riverfront Park, adjacent to The Banks, will open its doors on Monday, Feb. 6.

Planners had originally said they were hoping for a fall opening. The reason for the setback wasn’t immediately clear Friday. Record rainfall earlier this year delayed some construction, but in June, planners said that work was still on track.

The $4 million, two-story restaurant will feature a 6,500-square-foot microbrewery, two outdoor beer gardens, a hops garden and room for more than 1,100 diners and drinkers.

The lager house is a joint venture between Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., which is focusing on the beer and microbrewery, and the Cunningham Restaurant Group, which will oversee the restaurant side of the operation. Based in Avon, Ind. the Cunningham Group operates Stone Creek Dining Co. restaurants in Montgomery and West Chester Township.

Prior to the public opening, the lager house will host a gala to benefit Cincinnati Parks’ “Explore Nature” program. That will take place on Saturday, Feb. 4.

When the lager house opens, hours will be 11 a.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday, with extended closings as late as 2:30 a.m. for special events.

More details about the gala and the lager house will be released in the coming weeks.

Info: http://moerleinlagerhouse.com/

Lisa Bernard-Kuhn contributed to this story.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/newintown/2011/09/16/moerlein-lager-house-to-open-feb-6/

Improvements planned for neighborhoods surrounding casino site

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The City of Cincinnati's Budget Director presented plans to city council for infrastructure improvements surrounding the casino site downtown during Tuesday's Budget and Finance Committee Meeting.

The plans include nearly $16 million of necessary infrastructure improvements, $3.6 million in optional projects and $7.4 million in neighborhood projects.

The budget director says the goal is to have TIFF money generated by the casino pay for the majority of the improvements.

"We have to envision what this area will look like so we can put the resources there," shared Stephen Samuel. "What's important is making sure it's not an island over there and that it's still connected to the neighborhood."

Samuel is the president of the non-profit Bridging Broadway which is working with the city to come up with development plans around the destination.

"There's going to be an immense amount of intensity that occurs in this area which means immense opportunity and it also carries with it plenty of challenges," Samuel explained.

Right now city plans include street and sidewalk expansions, beautification projects, and utility improvements.

"From a business side it's terrific," Pendleton businessman Jim Verdin said.

Verdin's company owns a number of buildings in the area.

"Everybody's in the planning stages right now," Verdin shared. "There are probably 15 to 25 people that are actively talking with architects, designers, looking at opportunities, trying to arrange for financing or investors."

"The changes to housing, buildings, new development opportunities, management of the area, that's going to take some time," Samuel said.

While the excitement for development is growing, so is the concern for what it may bring.

"This is a large development that's going in to the city's largest historic district," said Margo Warminski with the Cincinnati Preservation Association. "While it could possibly help the neighborhood, there's lots of potential for harm."

At the Preservation Association, their hope is that people will use preservation as a development tool rather than letting progress harm the area's rich history.

"The neighborhoods have expressed a lot of concern about increased crime, also litter, parking issues, and possible threats to historic buildings for being demolished for parking or the like," Warminski explained.

Samuel, however, is confident that progress will preserve Pendleton.

"I am pretty confident that a lot of these buildings that have been neglected in Pendleton for so long will be improved," Samuel said. "The quality of life should improve, but you have to plan. You have to plan and be prepared."

The city's budget director says her department hopes to present a finalized project plan and timeline for completion to council within the next two weeks for approval.

The goal is to make sure all improvements are made alongside casino construction so they are completed by the site's grand opening.

Copyright 2011 FOX19. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.fox19.com/story/15405277/improvements-planned-for-neighborhoods-surrounding-casino-site

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Developers roll the dice on casino-area sites

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2011/11/04/developers-roll-the-dice-on.html?ana=e_ph&page=all

Getting down to cases on the streetcar. I think the vote is this coming Tuesday.

I was in town over the weekend, and I have to say that while there are many run down and burned out areas of Cincinnati, the city overall has a ton of potential for growth and redevelopment. I loved the narrow streets, they were very pedestrian friendly.

I was in town over the weekend, and I have to say that while there are many run down and burned out areas of Cincinnati, the city overall has a ton of potential for growth and redevelopment. I loved the narrow streets, they were very pedestrian friendly.

'Many run down and burned out areas' ? I must have taken the chamber of commerce tour when I was there. I even went through OTR and didn't see much of anything like that

When we went through OTR I was in the passenger seat so I had plenty of time to look out the windows, I saw probably 1/2 dozen buildings without any windows, and countless others with boards covering up the holes where windows should be.
These are just a few examples of what I saw:
http://g.co/maps/8ak4v
http://g.co/maps/xqg6z
http://g.co/maps/dvsq5

There seemed to be literally hundreds of beautiful old buildings just in need of a little TLC.

I've seen MUCH worse than that in various Midwest cities.

When we went through OTR I was in the passenger seat so I had plenty of time to look out the windows, I saw probably 1/2 dozen buildings without any windows, and countless others with boards covering up the holes where windows should be.
These are just a few examples of what I saw:
http://g.co/maps/8ak4v
http://g.co/maps/xqg6z
http://g.co/maps/dvsq5

There seemed to be literally hundreds of beautiful old buildings just in need of a little TLC.

I walk past ALL three of these spots twice a day on my way to work. (Seriously...I live on W Hollister and work on 4th and Main. It's a 45 min walk.) I can assure you that NONE of those areas would be considered "bombed-out." There are tons of people still living there and the streets are filled with kids in the early evening. The second building you showed has scaffolding on it right now. There are also new windows put in every week on buildings all over that area. Over-the-Rhine (the area you're calling out) has seen MUCH worse days and when you're on foot there now you can feel the energy as it's roaring back to life.

Congratulations on the Streetcar vote! It sounds like it was a close one, but now construction should be starting early next year.

I've spend a great deal of time in Cincy and I can honestly say, It's really not that bad. I've seen FAR worse. I've also lived in Cleveland and been to Detroit several times. Cincy has some rough areas yeah, but it's not the war zone people make it out to be. I'd LOVE to own a house in OTE or Mt. Adams!

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20111116/BIZ01/111170312/

The Banks growing bigger faster
After years of delays, development now well ahead of schedule

DOWNTOWN - Developers are preparing to break ground in coming months on hundreds of new riverfront homes and storefronts that will further shape The Banks as the region's newest and largest waterfront neighborhood.

New timetables shared exclusively with The Enquirer show plans for doubling the size of residential and retail development already open for occupancy between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park.

The plans put The Banks a year ahead of schedule with more than $75 million in new private investment.

"To see what has gone on there in the midst of a deep, deep recession, and to be where we are now, we are very happy," Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney says.

By next summer, developers could be working on new storefronts, restaurants and 300 apartments, bringing to more than 600 the number of new residences for urban dwellers.

Led by Atlanta-based developers Carter and The Dawson Co., the new structures would be built on top of the recently completed public parking garage that's bound by Second, Race and Vine streets and the newly built Freedom Way.

Developers expect to craft a final agreement with Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials between now and next spring over specifics of the project. The process is meant to ensure that developers hit interim deadlines that stretch through 2019.

By then, plans call for The Banks to be home to 1.9 million square feet of new development, including more than 1,000 residential units, a hotel, a new office tower and at least 400,000 square feet of retail space - almost twice the size of sprawling Kenwood Towne Centre.

Finalizing the new plan is just one of several major milestones that developers face in coming months as they also address a few retail agreements that have begun to unravel.

Dohoney says landing the right mix of retail tenants and resident units is critical for the next leg of work.

"You certainly want to have elements in this next phase that are complementary of the first phase, but you don't want an exact replica," Dohoney says.

"You also don't want too much of any one thing. We're hopeful that we can develop and draw a good mix of tenants and residential base here so that The Banks will be another showpiece for Cincinnati."

$23M federal grant was spark that garage, project needed

For nearly a decade, The Banks was the brunt of jokes about development entangled in so many delays and indecision that it would never get off the ground. And when ground finally was broken four years ago, few anticipated that the project would get this far this quickly.

The accelerated schedule for The Banks' next phase is possible largely because of a $23 million federal stimulus grant that helped pay for the new 729-space public parking garage off Second Street.

The funds helped make up a substantial gap that had to be financed by the city and county before developers could begin their work. Today, the garage acts as the foundation that supports the apartments and retail sites and brings them out of the 100-year-flood plain.

"Getting those funds is such a positive, because it really moves the project forward and spurs further economic development at The Banks well ahead of schedule," says Tom Gabelman, a partner at the Cincinnati law office of Vorys who has been contracted by the city and county to help craft and enforce agreements for The Banks.

Developers had until May 2013 to begin another phase of work. Waiting until then likely would put the opening of any additional apartments and retail well into 2014 or beyond, Gabelman says.

But the stimulus dollars aren't the only reason The Banks is ahead of schedule.

By far, the 300-unit apartment community in the project's first phase - Current at The Banks - is among the biggest surprise victories achieved for developers so far.

In less than seven months of opening, Current is 98 percent leased, a year ahead of expectations. Fewer than 10 units are available for rent, which run from $950 for a studio unit to nearly $3,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.

It proves that "there is tremendous demand for Downtown living," says Dave Lockard, vice president for the Cincinnati office CB Richard Ellis, a real estate services firm.

Just how fast the new apartments might fill up depends on how quickly developers can deliver them, Lockard says.

Like The Banks' first phase, developers considered - and then rejected - the idea of building condos for buyers instead of apartments for renters.

"We study it all the time, but a lot needs to happen before the multi-family (for-sale) market comes back," says Trent Germano, Carter vice chair.

Germano says he still expects The Banks to have a "strong homeownership focus" as more phases are developed.

"But we can't force the markets to do what they're not ready to do," he says.

Dohoney says the decision for rental units was and continues to be the right choice for now.

"We were faced with a choice. Do we sit idle and wait for the economy to come back, or do we work within the market limitation and stimulate activity?" Dohoney says. "In the public's eye, we took a decade to plan The Banks. I think the public would have abandoned us if we would have said, 'Let's wait.' We just didn't have that luxury."

Landing the right mix of retail tenants crucial to Banks success

While the next phase will mostly be residential, planners also are considering retailers that offer "soft goods," which could include clothing stores.

"Soft goods require soft-good anchors, and we have some things that could be interesting and different," Germano says. "We're looking at those and all of our various options."

He declined to elaborate.

Agreements already in place call for at least 400,000 square feet of development, of which at least 100,000 should be non-residential.

The commercial and retail portion, however, is negotiable as long as it's made up in additional future phases, lawyer Gabelman says.

"Overall, this is a market-driven development, and there is some flexibility in the agreement that would allow for some adjustments in the mix," he says.

So far, developers have seen their share of success and continued challenges with landing the right mix at The Banks.

The $80 million first phase has delivered 300 apartments and more than 77,000 square feet of retail space off Second Street between Walnut Street and Joe Nuxhall Way.

But while the apartments are mostly leased, retail leasing and openings have been slow to land.

Until recently, developers were facing a Dec. 5 deadline to break ground on two retail sites in front of the Freedom Center - or risk losing development rights for the project.

But last week, Germano's team landed a crucial extension from the city and county that gives it another year to lure tenants and begin work.

The sites likely will house two restaurants and are considered key to The Banks because they are the only retail sites that will connect the project's east and west sides.

"We really don't want to rush to build on those sites," Germano says. "We want to wait for the right tenants, and we think we have one of them now."

Hamilton County administrator Christian Sigman says he had no problem granting the extension.

"They're making steady progress to fill the retail space," he says. "I would hope they wouldn't take a full year to accomplish that."

Dohoney agrees.

"You really want to make sure you get rock-solid tenants there, because these sites are going to be magnets in their own right," he says. "When you look at the big picture, if we do well with what lands there, it should enhance traffic going into the Freedom Center - which was one of the things that was supposed to be accomplished when The Banks was being conceived years ago."

Some bumps in retailer lineup don't worry developers, tenants

Between now and early next year, Germano hopes to sign leases for up to four more tenants, including one for a site in front of the Freedom Center.

Of the eight named tenants at The Banks, only two have opened so far: Holy Grail Bar & Grill and Johnny Rockets.

Next month, Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill is expected to open, and by spring Minneapolis-based restaurant Crave and Nashville-based music venue Tin Roof are slated to open.

"Sure, we would have liked to have been five months ahead of where we are in retail leasing by now," Germano says. "But if we think about the overall economy - and where we've come from - we're still on the front of the curve of seeing improvement. As retailers look to expand, we're high on the list."

Meanwhile, three other tenants remain in limbo.

Huey's 24/7 Diner, The Wine Loft and La Crepe Nanou were initially announced to have opening dates this year, but owner New Orleans-based Doyle Restaurant Group fell into financing issues over the cost to build out its space at The Banks, Germano says.

The group is facing problems elsewhere, as well.

Doyle closed a Wine Loft in Tennessee this month, and earlier this year two restaurants planned in Phoenix, Ariz., went "belly-up," The Tennessean reported.

Germano has said he's not concerned.

"We're still working with the Doyle Group, but we're not worried because we know we have back-up demand," he says.

For Jim Moehring, a co-owner of Holy Grail, the pace of additional retail leasing was a top concern when his restaurant opened this March as the first retailer at The Banks.

Since then, business has done so well that the restaurant is expanding to add an outdoor bar and outdoor seating.

While Moehring would like to see more tenants open soon, he says he's not concerned about issues like those with the Doyle Group.

"I think we'll quickly move past that," he says. "The coolest thing is that it's really starting to become a neighborhood down here now that most people have moved into the apartments. The more retailers that open, the more we'll move in that direction."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111127/BIZ01/111270319/The-Banks-growing-bigger-faster?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Commission approves 3CDC's Mercer Commons

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. has cleared the final hurdle for its $54 million Mercer Commons development in Over-the-Rhine.

The Cincinnati Planning Commission Friday morning approved the design of a new building on Vine Street that is part of the project. That vote paves the way for construction to begin in the first quarter of 2012, said Adam Gelter, 3CDC 3CDC

Latest from The Business Journals

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Follow this company ’s vice president of development. The project is located between East 13th and 14th streets and bordered by Vine and Walnut streets. It will have 134 rental units, including some affordable housing units, as well as 28 condominiums, 18,000 square feet of commercial space and a 340-space garage.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2011/12/02/commission-approves-3cdcs-mercer.html?page=all

Federal Reserve remake on track

DOWNTOWN — The historic Federal Reserve building downtown - which is undergoing a $19 million renovation into apartments - is on pace to open by next summer.

Located at 105 W. Fourth St., the 15-story former office tower will include 88 one- and two-bedroom loft-style apartments ranging from 700 square feet to 2,100 square feet.

To be named The Reserve at 4th and Race, the project is a joint-venture by Edgewood-based Ashley Commercial Group and Arcadia Communities.

The tower was built in 1927 to house the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and later the Federal Reserve Bank. Following the bank’s move to a building at Fourth and Main streets in the 1960s, the building housed other large tenants including Huntington Bank and Ohio National Financial Services. The Federal Reserve Piano Lounge operated on its ground level for many years, but moved to Newport on the Levee in 2007. The bar has since closed.

“Our team is working very hard to preserve the historic character and charm of the building, while giving it a modern touch,” said. Bill Kreutzjans, managing partner of Ashley. “This will truly redefine apartment living in teh downtown area.”

The incoming apartments will boast luxury finishes, including hardwood floors, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Residents will also have access to maid services, dry cleaning, a roof-top terrace, parking garage, wifi, and laundry services.

The project landed a $750,000 Clean Ohio grant last year to help pay for some of the property’s cleanup. Developers said plans also include up to 59,000 square feet of newly renovated commercial space for lease. The building is currently home to Stockyard Banks.

Reservations for apartments are now being accepted. Rental rates were not available Tuesday. For more details call 513-621-4700 or visit www.thereservecincinnati.com.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111206/BIZ/312070051

City, county leaders celebrate latest milestone in Cincinnati’s central riverfront transformation

http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/12/city-county-leaders-celebrate-latest-milestone-in-cincinnatis-central-riverfront-transformation/

Primed for development

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.

Lafkas, who heads the Walnut Hills-based Vestige Redevelopment Group, says he’s in talks with at least six light industrial companies interested in taking space at the property once it’s cleared and ready for new investment. He expects the site to be home to more than 250 light industrial and manufacturing jobs in the coming years.

“We’re talking to a lot of different businesses. Some are interested in the entire site and others are interested in parts of the site,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for the region, and our goal is to get as many jobs to the site as possible.”

At its peak in the 1980s, the Kahn’s site employed more than 800 workers. The company sold the property to Sara Lee Food & Beverage Co., which donated the site to Hamilton County in 2006 after it streamlined its operations.

Hamilton County commissioners and Camp Washington leaders pinned the land as the perfect spot for a new, 1,800-bed jail, but voters twice rejected that plan.

To avoid annual security and maintenance costs of up to $400,000 a year, the county agreed to sell the property to Lafkas last August for $600,000.

Vestige has landed a $3 million Clean Ohio grant to help clean up asbestos on the property and tear down the old 800,000-square-foot plant, which includes seven buildings. The grant also required a $400,000 match from the city of Cincinnati and a $500,000 match from the county. As part of the deal to buy the property, Vestige agreed to pay the county’s portion.

All told, Vestige will invest up to $1.5 million more in improvements to the property to help it lure prospective firms.

The project will help fill a massive void along Spring Grove Avenue, which has up to 50 acres of vacant factories, warehouses and lots.

“We think this plan is really going spur some activity and improvements along Spring Grove, in terms of attracting new companies to Camp Washington,” said Joe Gorman, a community organizer for Camp Washington Community Board, Inc., a neighborhood development firm. “A lot of companies that are considering the site are in older, outdated buildings and are looking for a new facility that’s greener and more energy efficient.”

As companies sign on for space at the park, their new facilities will be built to suit their needs, Lafkas said.

By the first quarter of 2013, Lafkas expects the demolition to be finished and the site ready for new construction. In the coming months, he hopes to begin signing the first tenants.

For Lafkas, the property’s remake hits particularly close to home. His family has an ownership stake Micro Metal Finishing, a Spring Grove Avenue firm that’s considering relocating to the industrial park. The metal finishing firm has about 65 employees and is considering building a 70,000-square-foot facility at the park. It would add another 25 employees if it can make the move.

Also, for four decades Lafkas’ grandfather Harry Lafkas worked across the street from the Kahn’s plant at Cincinnati Steel Casting.

“We’ve had a connection to Camp Washington for more than 40 years and it’s exciting that I’m the third generation to continue that,” he said. “If my grandfather could see us now, I think he’d be very happy.”

All told, Vestige will invest up to $1.5 million more in improvements to the property to help it lure prospective firms.

The project will help fill a massive void along Spring Grove Avenue, which has up to 50 acres of vacant factories, warehouses and lots.

“We think this plan is really going spur some activity and improvements along Spring Grove, in terms of attracting new companies to Camp Washington,” said Joe Gorman, a community organizer for Camp Washington Community Board, Inc., a neighborhood development firm. “A lot of companies that are considering the site are in older, outdated buildings and are looking for a new facility that’s greener and more energy efficient.”

As companies sign on for space at the park, their new facilities will be built to suit their needs, Lafkas said.

By the first quarter of 2013, Lafkas expects the demolition to be finished and the site ready for new construction. In the coming months, he hopes to begin signing the first tenants.

For Lafkas, the property’s remake hits particularly close to home. His family has an ownership stake Micro Metal Finishing, a Spring Grove Avenue firm that’s considering relocating to the industrial park. The metal finishing firm has about 65 employees and is considering building a 70,000-square-foot facility at the park. It would add another 25 employees if it can make the move.

Also, for four decades Lafkas’ grandfather Harry Lafkas worked across the street from the Kahn’s plant at Cincinnati Steel Casting.

“We’ve had a connection to Camp Washington for more than 40 years and it’s exciting that I’m the third generation to continue that,” he said. “If my grandfather could see us now, I think he’d be very happy.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111213/BIZ01/312090174/Primed-development?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Business

Restaurants would be a great fit for the space in between Paul Brown and Great American Ballpark. There is essentially nothing downtown anymore. Rockbottom Brewery, Willy's across the River, but these are blocks from the stadium. Hooter's is across the river as well. Something needs to be done with this land.

Tenants making moves in former Terrace Plaza hotel space

Some new leasing activity is taking place in the ground floor of downtown Cincinnati’s former Terrace Plaza hotel, which closed in 2008.

Batsakes Hat Shop, the Cincinnati landmark at the corner of Sixth and Vine streets, is expanding into the space formerly occupied by Cashland. Gus Miller, owner of Batsakes, said he doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon.

“I’m only 78 years old. I’ve been doing this for 60 years; I started when I was 17. I’ll go for more business and make downtown look better,” Miller said.

He’s planning to start renovating the additional 590 square feet of space in the next couple of weeks.

Miller may hire one or two additional employees for the store, which makes, sells and cleans hats. The expansion will allow Miller to keep all of his inventory on one floor, instead of having to go into the basement.

“I’m in good health and still working. If you stay busy, you stay healthy,” he said.

In addition to the Batsakes expansion, Karla Ellsworth, who leases the building for building owner World Properties Inc., said H&D Beauty Supply has signed a lease for more than 2,300 square feet of space. The store would be moving across the street from its current location next to the CVS Pharmacy on Sixth Street.

Ellsworth said she’s working to lease up the remaining 8,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

As for the rest of the building, Ellsworth said early talks of renovation plans have started, but she declined to comment further.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/01/05/tenants-making-moves-in-former-terrace.html

Casino closer to plaza construction

DOWNTOWN — Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati is closer to starting construction of a 1.5 acre outdoor plaza.

Developer Rock Gaming plans to transform a triangle-shaped property, now a parking lot, into a park-like area in front of the casino complex that’s set to open in the spring of 2013.

With two key approvals by the city and one from Hamilton County, casino officials are set to assume ownership of the land this month and begin work on it this spring.

Steve Rosenthal, a principal of Rock Gaming, said the property will improve the casino’s connection to its surrounding neighborhood and enhance pedestrian traffic.

“(Rock) anticipates transforming the Broadway-parking lot space into an urban plaza that could be used to host outdoor events and serve as a landmark gathering place,” he said.

City and county officials previously approved land deals to sell it to the casino.

The county agreed to sell the three-sided, nearly 1-acre parking lot bordered by Broadway Street, Eggleston Avenue and Reading Road. In exchange for giving up the 160 parking spaces, the county wins daytime use of 300 spaces in the casino’s 2,500-spot parking garage.

The city sold a half-acre, 450-foot stretch of Broadway between Reading Road and Court Street. In exchange, the city gets 1.4 acres of land along the edge of the casino property to allow widening and straightening Reading Road.

On Wednesday, the city approved vacating the portion of Broadway that cuts between the casino property and the triangular parking lot — agreeing to decommission it as a roadway.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120111/BIZ/301110140/Casino-closer-plaza-construction?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

City planners approve casino district plan

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/developingnow/2012/01/20/city-planners-approve-casino-district-plan/

http://www.wtol.com/story/16620987/ohio-casino-collapse-workers-condition-serious

Ohio casino collapse worker's condition serious