Category: Development

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Business Development News

PHOTOS: Mercer Commons Beginning to Reshape Central Over-the-Rhine

Mercer Commons has long been considered a critically important site in Over-the-Rhine due to its size and central location.

In 2005, Cincinnati Public Schools purchased the land and existing buildings on the 2.2-acre site with the plan to rebuild the shuttered Washington Park Elementary School there.

As plans changed over the years, the school district decided to abandon the school plans for the site and instead sell it to the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) to pursue a $63 million mixed-use development.

Consisting of a new 340-space parking garage, 28 condos and 96 market-rate apartments, 17,600 square feet of commercial space, and 30 affordable apartments, Mercer Commons is not only adding new structures along Vine Street and Fourteenth Street, but is also renovating 19 historic structures as part of the overall development.

With work on phase one nearing completion, and ground recently being broken on phase two, Mercer Commons is now transforming a large central portion of Cincinnati’s largest historic district.

UrbanCincy staff writer and photographer Jake Mecklenborg visited the site last week to document its progress. What he found is that the finished development will have the appearance of having been renovated and constructed at various times, instead of all at once as it actually is.

“They are building modern-looking row homes on Mercer right next to all the renovations, and I noticed that it looks like they’ve paid some attention to the back alleys, since this is how residents will reach the parking garage,” Mecklenborg explained.

He went on to say that the development team appears to be reusing bricks in the alley serving the site, and that this will end up being the primary access point for residents living at Mercer Commons.

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Business Development News

PHOTOS: Grandin Properties Completes $1.6M Renovation of 135-Year-Old Hummel Building

The Hummel Building as seen from Washington Park. Photograph by Paige Malott for UrbanCincy.

Ninety years after the founding of the City of Cincinnati, in a day when Over-the-Rhine was home to over 40 breweries and Barney Kroger was still writing his business plan; three men sat in a saloon along Vine Street finalizing the design for Music Hall and a property adjacent: 1401 Elm Street.

The triage of architect Samuel Hannaford, Cincinnati political boss George Cox, and construction contractor George Hummel built 1401 as mixed-use development. In addition to multi-family homes, the property included the Hummel Family Market and the ever-popular Hummel Saloon.

Erected in 1878, the structure has withstood the test of time allowing for modern-day developers, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), Hudepohl Construction, and Grandin Properties to rehabilitate it 135 years later.

The $1.6 million project was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Chad Munitz, Executive Vice President of 3CDC, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C), Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney, Councilmember Laure Quinlivan (D), and Peg Wyant of Grandin Properties.

The Hummel Building, which is now home to a 1,900 square-foot restaurant space and four condominiums priced from $270,000 to $375,000, is also the first Over-the-Rhine project for Grandin Properties.

A company best known for their work in upscale suburban neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Grandin invested in 1401 Elm for both its historic significance and recent resurgence of the urban lifestyle.

“Cincinnati is reinventing itself as a hub of influence and innovation,” stated Grandin CEO, Peg Wyant at the ribbon cutting ceremony last week. “Grandin Properties is very pleased to be a part of it.”

Just around the corner from the Hummel Building, crews continued roadwork in preparation for the Cincinnati Streetcar.

“It is exciting to see this property link up with the streetcar,” noted City Manager Milton Dohoney. “Great things happen as we continue to invest in the city with the help of 3CDC.”

The Hummel Building is the second of seven projects to be completed during the fifth phase of 3DCDC’s redevelopment work in Over-the-Rhine. Other properties include Republic Street Lofts, Tea Company Townhomes, Westfalen II, B-Side Lofts, Mercer Commons, and Nicolay, as well as the Bakery Lofts which opened earlier this year. Hummel’s first floor restaurant is slated for a public debut on November 26, 2013.

The City of Cincinnati and 3CDC have financed more than $315 million in redeveloping Over-the-Rhine since 2009. The 110-square block neighborhood is home to the largest concentration of historic structures in the United States: 943 buildings. To date, 103 of those buildings have been restored or stabilized through the work of 3CDC.

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Development News Politics Transportation

Financing Falling Into Place for $108M MLK Interchange Project

Planning and financing is progressing for construction of a new interchange between E. Martin Luther King Drive and Interstate 71. The $108 million MLK Interchange will fill the most obvious gap in the area’s expressway system – zero access to Uptown from northbound I-71 and circuitous access from southbound I-71 via the William Howard Taft ramp.

The Taft and McMillan ramps will remain under the state’s current plans, but the new MLK Interchange will become the preferred point of access for the University of Cincinnati, Children’s Hospital, the Cincinnati Zoo, University of Cincinnati Medical Center and surrounding residential neighborhoods.

MLK Interchange Site
Martin Luther King Drive as it passes over I-71 presently. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

In addition to the MLK Interchange, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) broke ground on the reconstruction of I-75’s Hopple Street Interchange. This project will reconfigure W. Martin Luther King Drive west of McMicken Street to meet Hopple Street on a new bridge above Central Parkway.

Two years ago UrbanCincy reported on these two transformative projects, planned for each end of Martin Luther King Drive, which will dramatically change the way motorists access the region’s second largest employment center.

The MLK Interchange has been the subject of considerable attention during the first half of 2013 due to the controversy generated by COAST when it worked to block Cincinnati’s Parking Modernization & Lease deal. The deal, which is now proceeding after a lengthy legal battle, was originally envisioned as the source for the $20 million local contribution to the interchange project.

In addition to blocking the parking deal temporarily, the injunction prevented the City of Cincinnati from passing emergency ordinances. This detail jeopardized the streetcar project, as it was timed perfectly to coincide with council’s need to allocate additional funds after construction bids returned much higher than expected.

MLK Interchange Preferred Alternative
Financing is beginning to fall into place to fund the preferred alternative for the $108M MLK Interchange. Provided.

In April, an effort led by COAST and City Council member Chris Smitherman (I) gathered the necessary signatures to place the parking lease ordinance on the November 2013 ballot. However, on June 12, the parking lease injunction was overturned by Judge Penelope R. Cunningham, wife of anti-streetcar and anti-parking lease 700 WLW talk host Bill Cunningham.

With the ballot issue avoided, streetcar and MLK Interchange planning resumed.

On July 9, the Ohio Controlling Board approved $4.2 million for property acquisition near the planned MLK Interchange in anticipation of a July 2014 start date for the project. Then, on July 22, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) announced that a portion of his $3 billion lease of the Ohio Turnpike will fund the state’s contribution for the project.

The turnpike deal, which is similar in its strategy to Cincinnati’s parking lease, has hypocritically been spared the legal obstructionism of COAST or the criticism of talk radio hosts.

The City of Cincinnati is hosting a neighborhood meeting on July 24 at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Corryville at 3024 Vine Street between 5pm and 7pm. According the city, the meeting is “intended to guide the Uptown neighborhoods, institutions and city in visioning the future character and nature for the corridor.”

City officials say that formal presentations will be given on the half-hour, and that those who are unable to attend can still submit their comments or questions until Friday, August 2, 2013. Those wishing to submit their comments outside of the meeting can either email info@uptownconsortium.org or send in written correspondence to the Uptown Consortium at 629 Oak Street, Suite 306, Cincinnati, OH 45206.

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Development News

Demolition of Evanston’s Long-Troubled St. Leger Place Begins

IMG_0387The apartment building known as St. Leger was built in 1905 and is situated at the intersection of Gilbert Avenue and St. Leger Place. The building has long been known as a problem property in the city, but is now being redeveloped by The Model Group.

The existing building and its 81 units for low-income renters had been the location of many criminal problems including being the scene of the city’s first homicide this year.

The process started late last year when the building was purchased by The Model Group. The original plan was to partially renovate the building and tear the rest down, but over time the developers have decided to move forward with a full-scale demolition of the property in order to make way for new construction.

The demolition is one of a host of projects throughout Hamilton County that was partially funded from the Moving Ohio Forward program.

Last year the City of Cincinnati was awarded $5.8 million from the program, which was then matched by an additional $3.5 million from the city and $5.3 million from the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation. These funds will ultimately be put toward demolishing hundreds of buildings throughout the county.

“It wasn’t a positive space,” Thea Munchel, Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) real estate development officer told UrbanCincy, “The development that Model Group is proposing will transform Five-Points and rejuvenate Evanston.”

While the WHRF focuses primarily on Walnut Hills, its coverage area also includes this part of Evanston as well as some other neighborhoods adjacent to the historic neighborhood.

The new development’s name, St. Ambrose Apartments, was chosen to honor Evanston’s reputation in the educating community after the Patron Saint of Learning.

According to the developers, St. Ambrose Apartments will have 26 new townhouses and flats – a net reduction of 55 residential units – and will contain one-, two- and three-bedroom units priced at an affordable level for families. Developers also say that they will be working toward LEED certification for the proejct.

Work on the project began yesterday and the development is anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2014.

“Demolition of this longtime problem property is emblematic of the turnaround in Evanston that is happening right before our eyes,” said Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C), who launched her mayoral campaign just blocks away. “It illustrates the impact that one problem property can have on an entire neighborhood. This is a great day for Evanston.”

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Business Development News

Promise of Streetcar Driving Occupancy Rates at Hanke Exchange

The owners of The Hanke Exchange – a collection of five buildings in Over-the-Rhine between Reading Road and Michael Bany Way – have announced that Teach for America will open their Cincinnati office at the Jupiter Building at 1110 Main Street.

Teach for America, a non-profit focusing on urban education, will reportedly occupy 4,019 square feet of street-level space.

The property now has an 84% occupancy rate, which stood at a paltry 28% just three years ago, and the Stough Group, which owns the properties; believe they can reach 100% occupancy by the end of the year.

Hanke Building
The Hanke Building’s street level space was more recently used as a headquarters for the Barack Obama campaign. Photograph by Travis Estell for UrbanCincy.

“With regards to our tenants, we like to have a wide range of users, from creative or restaurant contacts to corporate and institutional users due to our access to parking,” explained Scott Stough, Director of Marketing, Stough Group.

The Hanke Exchange not only has direct access to the Parkhaus Garage, but also to a 32-space parking lot behind the 137-year-old Hanke Building on Sycamore Street.

Scott went on to say that the final tenant they are pursuing for the first floor space at the Hanke Building is a “progressive institutional tenant” that is extremely interested in the area and excited about being in such close proximity to the new streetcar.

If that lease works out, it would mark the sixth corporate or institutional tenant to lease space including US Bank, Grifol’s PlasmaCare, Human Capital Institute, and the Stough Development Corporation.

Later this month, the owners say they plan to update the wall painting on the side of 1116 Main Street to reflect the new Hanke Exchange branding. It is a move that the Stough Group hopes will boost visibility as the first phase of the Cincinnati Streetcar is built with a stop right across the street.

“I cannot speculate on property values, but I believe the streetcar is an important first step in developing public transportation for our city’s urban core,” Scott concluded.