Category: Development

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Business Development News

City’s latest CED designation supplies Northside with creative new growth tools

This post originally ran on CincyVoices, and was written by guest contributor James Heller-Jackson.

With its eclectic mix of locally-owned businesses, the Northside neighborhood is already known as a prime Cincinnati food, retail and arts destination in the region. Empty storefronts that would also make great restaurants have remained largely empty because of the lack of liquor license availablity- until now. On February 29, the Cincinnati City Council voted to give Northside “Community Entertainment District” status after a unanimous vote the day before by City Council’s Livability Committee. The neighborhood joins Price Hill and Pleasant Ridge with CEDs. Once the designation is in place it allows new restaurants to open with a liquor license, thus reducing startup costs by an estimated $30,000.

This is a huge win for Northside. For the last couple of years, Northside’s business district, while hanging in there in the midst of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression, has had to turn away small businesses wanting to open in the neighborhood, merely because of the lack of liquor licenses available and the premium $30,000-plus cost of the very few licenses that were available on the open market.

The new designation changes that game. The Northside Community Entertainment District designation gives creative tools to the Northside neighborhood to enable new growth. Rather than a business having to reach out to a broker to maybe, just maybe, find a license at a relatively huge cost, a process that often takes years, they can now call the State of Ohio directly. In Northside’s new Community Entertainment District, up to 15 additional liquor licenses are immediately available to food establishments, all at a dramatically reduced cost of $1,500, and all directly available from the State with no outside brokers involved. These licenses are not transferable. If the business with the new license were to move out of the Northside district, they would forfeit that license. These licenses are not available to a business that only wants to open a bar; these are licenses that are available only to food establishments. This is helpful for Northside and small businesses.

The original 2005 Community Entertainment District legislation was not initially geared towards anything but for-profit developers to obtain. Last year, the not-for-profit Pleasant Ridge Development Corporation could not the CED’s original application fee of $15,000. Many thanks go to Cincinnati City Councilmember Laure Quinlivan, who worked hard to change the Cincinnati municipal code to make the fee downwardly flexible, thus opening the possibility of designation to not-for-profits. This change to the fee structure allowed Pleasant Ridge to apply for the status without outside funding, making Pleasant Ridge the first Cincinnati neighborhood to apply for and win the designation.

Already, Pleasant Ridge has new businesses that wouldn’t be there if not for that designation. As well, the neighborhood of Price Hill recently won CED status, and several new businesses have either already opened or they are about to open. So far, the two neighborhoods that have won the designations have benefited immensely. Over-the-Rhine, Madisonville and Westwood have also applied for Community Entertainment District status but have not yet received it.

Northside Entertainment District Map

Northside’s new Community Entertainment District covers not just the traditional business district, it also targets a wide area south of Blue Rock Street.

The Northside Business Association (NBA) first started working with Laure Quinlivan’s city council office early last year after hearing of the possibility of Northside applying for and winning this important designation; the designation would not have been possible without Laure and her staff’s efforts. Also, Berding Surveying needs to be thanked, as they donated their services to the effort to produce the required survey and map. Once Northside’s required application package was completed, as a matter of transparency, the plan was presented at open Northside Community Council and Northside Business Association public meetings for comment. Community support was widespread, and the package was sent along to the city council’s Livability Committee for consideration.

NBA president Isaac Heintz has this to say about the designation: “The Northside Business Association pursued the entertainment district designation to provide Northside with another tool to help retain existing businesses and to attract new ones. The designation of the entertainment district can only help to continue the positive trajectory of the neighborhood and the growth of the Northside community.”


Northside’s “South Block”, along Spring Grove Avenue, is ripe for redevelopment. The Landman Building, right, was recently stabilized and environmentally remediated and is ready for build-out. The building just to the left is now a LEED Silver building with several newly-occupied residential and business condos.

The new district covers much of the existing Northside business district along Hamilton Avenue from the Ludlow Viaduct in the south to just below the Northside Library in the north. In the southern end of the district, Blue Rock Street and Spring Grove Avenue are both included, roughly from Colerain Avenue on the west side, to Crawford Avenue on the east.

There are currently a lot of existing empty storefronts and industrial spaces in the new entertainment district’s map. Residents and small business owners in the area would love to see that change. Imagine once-forlorn Northside blocks now teeming with urban life. By enabling these new licenses, the hope is to see more development in the district. This new development will include not only the new food establishments benefiting from the designation, but additional retail, arts, office and residential spaces, all serving to increase the vibrancy, diversity and uniqueness of all that is Northside.

James Heller-Jackson is a Northside resident and a member of the board for both the Northside Business Association and Northside Community Council. Pictures provided by the Northside Business Association.

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Business Development News Politics Transportation

Parking mandates stymy development in Cincinnati’s urban neighborhoods

Downtown Cincinnati is home to five Fortune 500 companies, three professional sports teams, local businesses, and according to the 2010 U.S. Census, about 5,300 residents. But the area is also home to more than 35,000 off-street parking spaces.

These spaces once held historic buildings but have been demolished to provide automobile parking over the years. As downtown continues its resurgance, it would be prudent for city leaders to review its outdated parking policies.

In the middle part of the 20th century, many cities, including Cincinnati, developed zoning codes with regulations dictating how many parking spaces are required for different uses. The regulations often accounted for “peak demand,” which is the amount of parking planners believed would be needed at times where demand for parking would be the greatest. For example, accounting for Black Friday-type events where parking lots are only maxed out once or twice a year.


Hundreds of brand new parking spaces in downtown Cincinnati’s Central Riverfront Garage sit unused. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

In his article, The Trouble with Minimum Parking Requirements, UCLA professor Dr. Donald Shoup writes, “Minimum parking requirements are intended to satisfy the expected peak demand for parking at every land use–at home, work, school, banks, restaurants, shopping centers, movie theaters, and hundreds of other land uses from airports to zoos. Because the peak parking demands at different land uses occur at different times of the day or week, and may last for only a short time, several off-street parking spaces must be available for every motor vehicle.”

The demolition of buildings that are mostly historic is also a concern as downtowns struggle to build parking infrastructure that is required by code. Those demolitions, oddly enough, systematically demolish the very things that distinguished them from the suburbs and made the area an appealing destination.

In Nashville, TN, city leaders first removed parking requirements for older buildings, and then moved to remove parking requirements for all buildings in their city center.

“Requiring parking for historic structures that have never had parking is incentivizing their demolition. This puts the property owner in a really difficult position; he must either find parking for the building, demolish it or let it languish in perpetuity.” Nashville city planner, Joni Priest, told UrbanCincy. “If a property owner wants to rehab an historic building – a building that marks the character of a neighborhood and contributes to the fabric of the city – all incentives, including the elimination of parking requirements, should be considered.”

Parking mandates also increase the upfront cost to developers looking to invest in urban neighborhoods. Additional land, often still occupied by historic buildings, must be purchased in order to provide the required parking spaces at approximately $10,000 to $25,000 per space, depending on land and architectural fees. Those costs are then passed on to the consumer, making urban living or starting a small business more expensive.


Contemporary parking mandates can make it nearly impossible for developers and city planners to build neighborhoods like Over-the-Rhine any more. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

Parking requirements also have impacts that are not quite as obvious. Increased parking capacity, in theory, increases the amount of cars in the given area and puts an added burden on downtown streets. Even though the traditional grid pattern is ideal for dispersal of traffic in urban settings, downtowns are ideally designed to accommodate people. Cities that add parking, or widen streets for automobiles, do so at the expense of pedestrians.

Even as city leaders work to implement a plan to increase downtown vibrancy through additional residential space and increased foot traffic, concern for parking punctures the debate on how to further support the urban core.

The urban parking analysis UrbanCincy conducted in 2010 identified many of these problems, but no significant action has been taken to-date aside from the reduction of parking needed to be provided along the Cincinnati Streetcar route.

City leaders need to seriously reexamine their policies on the matter, and they could get started by discussing the following three potential solutions:

  1. Eliminate Parking Mandates – As city leaders were able to do in Nashville, we believe Cincinnati leaders could do the same and remove the minimum parking requirements forced upon investors in the city’s urban core.
  2. Cap and Trade System – First proposed by UrbanCincy in 2010, this innovative system has been implemented in several European cities such as Amsterdam, Hamburg and Zurich. Regulations are designed to limit the total number of parking spaces in an urban area, and provide incentive bonuses while limiting parking. Parking spaces are created on a case-by-case basis and often involve repurposing on-street parking spaces for other uses such as community gardens or parks.
  3. Set Parking Maximums – Instead of dictating a minimum, parking requirements are capped by use or developed density. This strategy has been employed in New York City where development of parking has been limited in an attempt to reduce the impact of automobile traffic on the already densely developed island of Manhattan. Parking maximums seem to work with the availability of alternatives to driving. Therefore; if Cincinnati were to pursue this route, it should be in conjunction with the implementation of more efficient alternatives from Metro including expanding streetcar routes, light rail and bus rapid transit alternatives.

While the need for reform appears evident, a contextualized solution should be pursued by Cincinnati city officials that specifically tailors the policy to localized needs. What may be most important is offering flexibility to small businesses and investors who are looking to invest in Cincinnati’s urban core.

“Removing the parking requirements from downtown zoning allows flexibility for site-specific and program-specific solutions,” said Priest. “Flexibility is key in urban environments. As downtown becomes more comfortable for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, new development will have the flexibility to build less parking.”

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Business Development News Opinion

Downtown Cincinnati poised for surge of residential conversions

Developers are in the process of transforming the 85-year-old Federal Reserve Tower at Fourth and Race into 88 apartments after serving as an office structure for its entire life. The process is one being undertaken in old cities all across the United States – transforming old office buildings into unique residences.

In addition to the Federal Reserve Tower, the 86-year-old Enquirer Building on Vine Street has also had an apartment conversion planned. In the wake of the opening of the Great American Tower at Queen City Square, there appears to be many more candidates ripe for such conversion.


The Federal Reserve Tower [LEFT] is currently being transformed into 88 apartments, while the Enquirer Building [RIGHT] awaits new financing. Photographs by Thadd Fiala for UrbanCincy.

“Residential is a great use for older buildings as opposed to office uses,” said David Ginsburg, President and CEO of Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI). “Older buildings provide a sense of place, history and elegance, and they lend themselves to mixed uses with retail on the first floor.”

In addition to the romantic appeal, Ginsburg also says that the economics make a lot of sense with apartment occupancy rates consistently above 90 percent, and some cases of waiting lists throughout the Central Business District, Over-the-Rhine and at The Banks.

Additional housing downtown, community leaders say, is important because those residents are customers for the restaurants and retail stores outside of normal office hours. Ginsburg adds that those city dwellers also provide a level of density that helps promote the perception and reality of a safe urban core.

According to DCI officials, developers have expressed interest in converting additional historic office towers into residences, but declined to comment as to which structures or which developers are expressing interest.


The historic Tri-State Building [LEFT] and Bartlett Building [RIGHT] sit underutilized and offer large amounts of potential residential space in the heart of the CBD. Photographs by Thadd Fiala for UrbanCincy.

In October 2010, UrbanCincy identified two historic office towers, in addition to the Enquirer Building and Federal Reserve Tower, which appear to be perfect candidates to be transformed into residential apartments.

1. Tri-State Building (Fifth & Walnut); 109 years old
2. Bartlett Building (Fourth & Walnut); 111 years old

Ginsburg concluded by stating that living downtown is the sustainable choice for the more than 12,000 current residents, and any future people considering the area for their next home.

“Given the high cost of gasoline, the density of downtown is helpful,” Ginsburg concluded. “Trips are shorter and walking and bicycling become more prevalent. As public transportation evolves, there will be less need for cars, especially multi-car households, which will help the economy and the ecology.”

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Business Development News

Smale Riverfront Park to feature 1,000-foot boat dock

Smale Riverfront Park project manager Dave Prather has delivered yet another video update in what has become a fairly popular video series. This update goes inside the Moerlein Lager House which has now been opened for roughly two weeks, and highlights the progress of work on the water’s edge.

Prather says that the grand opening for the Smale Riverfront Park will take place on May 18, 2012, and at that time will have virtually all construction work on the massive project’s first phase complete. He says that solar panels on the Schmidlapp Event Lawn’s stage will be installed next week, and that the first event will be held there on St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

The 11:43 video also showed where historical markers and the location of home plate existed at Riverfront Stadium will be installed in the coming months.

Visual progress is evident on the park’s second geothermal well which will produce 400 gallons of 57-degree water per minute. Progress is also noticeable on the foundation for the labyrinth and Black Brigade Monument.

Prather also said that the most complicated piece of construction left is the work on the Main Street Fountain, and that there are approximately 30 to 40 construction workers on site each day taking advantage of the favorable weather conditions lately.

Perhaps the two most exiting pieces of information from the video came at the end when Prather described the 1,000-foot boat dock that will eventually be in place and the approximately 300 trees that will be planted within the next month-and-a-half.

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Arts & Entertainment Business Development News

Silver Ladle offers fresh fast casual with local twist

Silver Ladle exterior

Sixth Street’s Restaurant Row will soon have another eatery open to hungry downtowners. On March 17 the Silver Ladle will open its doors to the public, offering a variety of healthy, fast-casual food with friendly service and a fair price.

The Ladle serves up burgers, sandwiches, chili, soups and salads oriented for a variety of palates. Gluten-free, heart-healthy and veggie options are detailed on the menu.

The space itself, located next to Mr. Sushi in the 580 Building, is clean and bright without feeling sanitized or fluorescent. Modern light fixtures and blond laminate tabletops make for a pleasant experience. The kitchen is open-air and it is easy to see the crew prepping meals.


Exterior of Silver Ladle photograph by Jenny Kessler for UrbanCincy.

UrbanCincy took the opportunity to sample two offerings on the menu: Italian Wedding Soup and the Stuffed Mushroom Burger. The soup was full of mini meatballs and noodles, satisfyingly salty and pretty delicious. For those who might be trying to relive Stuffed on Vine’s glorious filled burgers, steel yourselves for a letdown. The burger is good, but not the same.

The burger is a step up from fast food restaurants but still prepared in a similar manner. The ‘stuffing’ is a welcome layer of bacon and chive cheese spread between two patties, which adds a much appreciated flavor and fat to the sandwich. The honey Kaiser roll the burger is served on is positively fantastic- buttered and griddled, it contains the fillings nicely. There are a variety of burgers to choose from if mushrooms aren’t your thing, and there are other sandwiches including a delicious looking muffuletta. Be aware, it costs extra to add sides to your meal, but the fries are worth it.


Silver Ladle Burger photograph by Jenny Kessler for UrbanCincy.

The most interesting portion of the menu is the chili – no surprise, coming from the Lambrindes lineage of Cincinnati chili parlors. Pick between several bases – burrito, fries, greens, spaghetti and coney- pick your chili – beef or chicken, both spiced Cincinnati style. Top it off with cheddar cheese, onions, jalapeños, black bean soup or sour cream. Vegetarians could forgo the meat and top with black beans instead. We’ll let the experts review the coneys, but others eating said the taste was very similar to Skyline.

One of the owners, Tim Lambrindes, is ecstatic to have his first restaurant open in downtown Cincinnati. “I’m from the Bridgetown area originally, and when we wanted to open this restaurant, we looked in West Chester and other suburban areas,” he explained.

“I worked with CJ Judge when trying to decide on a location, and he said, you gotta check out the downtown market. Being from Western Hills, I didn’t know a lot about downtown. All of my thoughts were completely false – as soon as I came down and started studying the people coming in during the day – and even at night, in this area – I loved it.”

The biggest draw for Lambrindes with the downtown location was the built-in clientele. “My customers don’t have to commute by car to my restaurant,” he said. “So many people live and work down here, that even at night, they can just walk up and here we are.”

If you are looking for a meal downtown that won’t bust your wallet or your waistline, check this out. The Silver Ladle is open from 10am to 9:30 pm every day, and will open to the public on March 17.

Silver Ladle (Opening in March) on Urbanspoon