Last July the City of Cincinnati opened its first new police station in more than 20 years. Aside from updating and expanding the previous offerings inside a 107-year-old building, the new facility also aimed to create a new community gathering place for the city’s most populous neighborhood, while also achieving net-zero energy consumption.
The 36,000-square-foot facility was built for Cincinnati Police Department’s District 3, which serves 14 west side neighborhoods and some 95,000 residents. The $16 million landmark includes 40 geothermal wells, a 330-kilowatt solar panel system, and high-tech energy zones inside the building for system optimization.
Such investments have resulted in a LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, the organization’s highest rating, and an energy usage coming in 20% lower than what was originally estimated for the environmentally sound building.
While the District 3 Headquarters is one of America’s most sustainable police stations, it is part of a growing trend where environmentally and economically conscience cities are looking to both reducing their carbon footprint, while also aiding their budgets through lower utility costs.
Stormwater Management System
Cincinnati Police District 3 HQ
Neighborhood Landmark Poles
Main Entryway
Cincinnati Police District 3 HQ
Main Entryway
Cincinnati Police District 3 HQ
Bicycle Parking Outside Main Entryway
Main Entryway
Stormwater Management System
Cincinnati Police District 3 HQ
Cincinnati Police District 3 HQ
Glass Artwork
EDITORIAL NOTE: All 13 photographs were taken by Eric Anspach on March 17, 2016.
After being approved this past October, Covington’s new parking plan for MainStrasse Village will go into effect later this month.
Historically it has been free to park in the area, but the parking plan, which includes new metered street parking, a pay lot, and parking permits, will change that. According to the City of Covington, pay stations will be installed along Main and W. Sixth Street on March 26, signs will go up a few days later, and the pay stations will be live on March 30.
MainStrasse Parking Plan [City of Covington]
The project is intended to increase parking turnover and create designated parking for residents, so that it is easier for both visitors and residents to find a spot to park in the popular business district.
MainStrasse has seen a surge of new business activity of late. The last year alone saw the opening of Son & Soil, Bean Haus, Frida 602, and Mac’s Pizza Pub. Three more – Commonwealth Bistro, Craft & Vines, and Lisse Steakhouse – are slated to open soon.
Since being announced last fall, the plan has proven to be controversial. Business owners, residents and area patrons have all spoken out both in favor and against the idea.
One of the common concerns is how the new parking fees will affect new and existing businesses. The worry is that the plan will hurt MainStrasse’s ability to compete with other nearby entertainment and restaurant districts including Over-the-Rhine, Downtown, and The Banks, even though those districts also include payment-based parking setups.
The enforcement hours in MainStrasse will be limited, relative to street parking in Newport or downtown Cincinnati, particularly in the evenings, which are prime business hours for restaurants and bars that make up the district.
MainStrasse Parking Hours [City of Covington]
With street parking free after 5pm, and lots capped at $2 after one hour, businesses may actually still struggle with limited parking turnover during their busy hours at night.
At $0.35 per half hour on the street, and $1 per half hour (with a maximum charge of $2) in lots, the cost of parking in MainStrasse will be somewhat lower than what is charged in Over-the-Rhine, downtown Cincinnati, or Newport, although slightly more expensive than parking in Cincinnati’s other neighborhood business districts.
In addition to visitor-oriented changes, the plan includes modifications to improve parking availability for nearby residents – for a fee.
Sections of Philadelphia Street, Bakewell Street, Johnson Street, W. Sixth Street, and part of the Fifth Street lot will become resident-only parking. Passes to park in these spaces will cost $25 to $30 annually, and each property will be allowed to purchase two passes. Going against national trends to get rid of one-way streets, Bakewell Street, between W. Sixth Street and W. Ninth Street, will become one-way to allow for even more residential parking spaces.
The move will place MainStrasse alongside Pendleton, Newport, and Clifton as areas that also have resident-restricted parking, but it will be the only area charging a fee for the residential permits.
While efforts continue to take place to establish something similar in Over-the-Rhine, such efforts have been stymied due to an impasse between Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley’s (D) administration and neighborhood residents and business owners. Under those previously proposed plans, Over-the-Rhine parking permits would have cost $108 per year or $18 per year for low-income households.
Information obtained by UrbanCincy through a public records request shows that Columbia REI, LLC has enlisted the legal assistance of Francis Barrett and Timothy Burke to get Historic Conservation Board approval for the demolition of the historic Dennison Hotel.
Built in 1890, the Dennison Hotel is located within the Main Street Historic District and has sat vacant for several years. In the past, the eight-story brick structure had served as a single-occupancy room hotel in what was at that time a seedy part of the central business district.
Over the past several months historic preservationists have been organizing themselves in an effort to track the status of this historic structure as rumors have swirled that the owners were interested in demolition.
Dennison Hotel [Travis Estell]
The timing becomes all the more urgent with, according to documents filed with City Hall, the owners losing hundreds of thousands of dollars on the property each year, and with the Cincinnati Streetcar, which runs right in front of the property, poised to begin operation in the coming months.
In its application to City Hall, Columbia REI, LLC, which purchased the land from Columbia Oldsmobile Company in January, says that the real estate transaction is part of a larger effort to assemble and “protect” adjoining real estate that is being prepared for a “major redevelopment” that would be in line with the numerous other large-scale development projects taking place nearby.
As part of the demolition request, the owners were required to provide renovation cost estimates, along with the potential economic feasibility of legally permissible or likely uses. The report, completed by Beck Consulting in late February, provides evidence as to why a residential, office or hotel conversion would be challenging, but does not account or consider the possibility of any historic tax credits from the State of Ohio, or other incentives from the City of Cincinnati.
According to Beck Consulting’s report, supplemented by renovation cost estimates from HGC Construction, it would cost approximately $10.5 million to renovate the historic structure into a 60-room hotel with a street-level lobby and restaurant space, $7.9 million to turn it into a 52-unit apartment building, $8.7 million for a 35-unit condominium building, or $5 million to turn it into a 39,000-square-foot office building.
Over recent years, the State of Ohio has awarded tens of millions of dollars in tax credits to historic preservation projects such as this. Given the large-scale and potential economic impact of renovating the Dennison Hotel, it would seem likely that it would be well-positioned for such financial benefits.
According to the meeting schedule for Cincinnati’s Historic Conservation Board, the application should come up for a hearing on Monday, April 18. All meetings take place at 3pm in the Public Hearing Room on the fifth floor of Two Centennial Plaza at 805 Central Avenue.
EDITORIAL NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Historic Conservation Board would hear this item at their April 4 meeting. Due to the application being submitted on February 23, this item will actually be on the Historic Conservation Board’s April 18 meeting agenda.
Cincinnati's Music Hall will close in May 2016 to undergo a $129 million renovation.
As the winter comes to an end, work has begun or will soon begin on a number of new developments around Over-the-Rhine. Today, we’re sharing 16 panoramas, taken over the past month, that show how the neighborhood is evolving. You can click on each of the images to view them full-screen and read the full description about each project.
3CDC will soon start work on the 15th and Vine development. The historic buildings will be saved and the parking lots will be filled with new construction.
This parking lot will be replaced by a new office building as part of Mercer Commons Phase IV.
The 15th & Race site is being developed by 3CDC. The first phase includes a new 3-story building featuring 17 condos and 2-3 commercial storefronts.
The 15th & Race site is being developed by 3CDC. The first phase includes a new 3-story building featuring 17 condos and 2-3 commercial storefronts.
This old firehouse will be rehabbed as part of the Elm Street Townhomes project.
The Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati will soon start a renovation of its buildings on the 1100 block of Vine Street, which will include the construction of a new building in the gap near the center of this photo.
Developers have proposed a nine-story building for this site on Central Parkway, replacing this now-vacant two-story office building once occupied by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. The new building would include 40,000 square feet of retail space (potentially a grocery store), 70,000 square feet of office space, and 235 parking spaces.
The former Drop Inn Center homeless shelter has now been demolished and will be replaced with a new theater for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. To the left is the Central Parkway YMCA, which is undergoing renovation. To the right is The Transept, a recently-opened bar and event space in a former church.
The corner of 12th and Elm was previously home to the Drop Inn Center. The non-historic building was demolished and will be replaced by a new theatre for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
The former Ophthalmic Hospital and Free Dispensary will soon be developed into a boutique hotel featuring 20 guest rooms and a bar and restaurant on the first floor.
Cincinnati’s Music Hall will close in May 2016 to undergo a $129 million renovation.
The skywalk linking Music Hall to the Town Center Garage is expected to be demolished during the renovation of Music Hall.
The former Queen City Radio building (left) is being redeveloped by Urban Expansion, and Grandin Properties plans to convert the historic Strietmann Biscuit Company building (center) to an 88,000 square foot office building.
It looks like some preliminary interior demolition work is going on inside the historic Wielert’s building, although no plans have officially been announced.
This corner could look very different in a few years if the proposed Liberty Street Road Diet and LibertyElm project (left) move forward.
Editor’s note: These photos were taken by Travis Estell for UrbanCincy between February 11 and March 8, 2016.
The Contemporary Arts Center undertook a $1.1 million lobby renovation last year. Since reopening, the dramatic lobby space, originally designed by internationally acclaimed Zaha Hadid, has added the wonderful Collective Espresso as a cafe operator, and now also includes a kinetic light display along its famed seven-story “Urban Carpet” wall.
The installation, entitled Cincinnati Swing, was designed by Erwin Redl and includes 160 pendulums distributed in a diamond grid pattern following the 4×4′ grid of the concrete panels. The installation is complemented nicely by Matt Kotlarczyk’s cloud-like chandeliers. In combination with one another, they provide a truly unique lighting scheme for the lobby space, which also features the CAC’s museum shop.
Open from 7am to 6pm during the week, and 9am to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday, the lobby of the CAC is free and open to the public. Of course, it does cost money to purchase food and drink from Collective Espresso, along with items from the museum store.
The CAC is easily accessible from virtually every Metro bus via the Government Square Transit Center a block away, and is also within several blocks of numerous Red Bike stations.
