If you are looking for something to do this weekend, now that there isn’t a three-day light/live music/live dancing spectacular scheduled for Washington Park, you can head to the other side of Over-the-Rhine for this month’s Second Sunday on Main event.
Once again Main Street will be closed to vehicular traffic, between Thirteenth and Liberty Streets, from 1pm to 4pm.
As is par for the course, Main Street merchants will be offering in-store discounts and there will be more than 100 vendors setup outside on the street selling everything art, sweets, clothing, jewelry and a slew of other handmade and local stuff.
SSOM Hula Hoopers [Travis Estell]
SSOM Shoppers [Travis Estell]
Art on the Streets Sidewalk Painting at SSOM [Provided]
Organizers also say that Ragg Addict will be celebrating its one-year anniversary with a fashion show, giveaways and entertainment. Meanwhile, Park+Vine will be hosting a cloth diapering workshop and book signing, for 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, inside their store.
The theme for this month’s SSOM event is ‘Game On’ and is being sponsored by Cincinnati Sports League, which also sponsors the biergarten at Second Sunday on Main each month. In tune with the theme, there will be a game zone setup at Fourteenth and Main Streets that will feature cornhole, flick football, a soccer goal challenge and a football toss station.
On top of all that, there will be live music, cooking demonstrations, crosswalk painting from Art on the Streets, live screen printing of a limited-edition SSOM logo, and make-your-own postcard swap.
The first phase of Broadway Square in Pendleton is on schedule for completion later this fall. Recently, UrbanCincy had a chance to tour the construction of the project.
This is the first of three phases in the $26 million Broadway Square development. The buildings are being developed by Model Group, and the leasing of the retail and office space is being managed by Urban Fast Forward. Once completed, phase one will include 39 market rate apartments, 8,000 square feet of office and four retail spaces.
The development is located close to Horseshoe Casino and is adjacent to the recently renovated Spring Street Plaza & Playground and “multi-sensory and interactive” Spinnradl sculptures.
Construction along Broadway
Looking north from 12th and Broadway
Interior of a retail space
Kitchen in the apartments
Construction moving along E. 12th street
Second floor office space
View of the plaza from apartment
Downtown view
Upper floor kitchen
Top floor view
Looking down from two-level apartment
Unfininished office space
Ground level office space
Almost finished office space
Kitchen in 12th street apartment
EDITORIAL NOTE: All 17 photos were taken by John Yung for UrbanCincy in late July 2014.
The dog days of summer are upon us but that is no reason to not enjoy good food, drinks and company. It’s time again to have our monthly URBANexchange happy hour event! Join us at Taste of Belgium on Short Vine fine Belgian foods and craft beers this Thursday from 5:30pm to 8pm.
As always, the event will be a casual setting where you can meet others interested in what is happening in the city. We will gather in a section near the crepe bar so that each person can choose how much or little they buy in terms of food or drink. Although we do encourage our attendees to generously support our kind hosts at Taste of Belgium.
As always URBANexchange is free and open to the public.
Taste of Belgium is located on Vine Street in Corryville between the University of Cincinnati’s east and west campuses and is located just two blocks from a future uptown streetcar stop. If you choose to bike, free and ample bike parking is available outside the building. The venue is also served by SORTA’s Metro*Plus bus, as well as buses on the #19, #78 and #46 routes.
Ryan Meo and Patrick Hitches will open a coworking space in the Brighton District of Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood later this month. The two are taking a different approach and hoping MOVE Coworking will fare better than its predecessors.
Hitches and Meo describe the concept as an “active collaborative environment” that mixes the traditional shared working space with a fitness training facility. It will be the first of its kind in the region and stands in contrast to the three shuttered coworking spaces – Cincy Coworks, Working Side by Side and The Offices – that came before it.
“We believe living an active, healthy lifestyle helps to spark innovation, creativity and productivity,” Hitches explained. “We know from experience that the integration of hard work and play creates an element of true productivity, creativity and innovation in whatever your work or business may be.”
Lighting Inside MOVE Coworking [Provided]
Training Compound [Provided]
Conference Room [Provided]
Coworking Space [Provided]
Coworking Space [Provided]
The business partners say that they believe part of the problem with other coworking spaces is that they essentially recreate a quiet office environment that many independent workers are looking to escape – something new pay-per-minute cafes are also trying to combat. To that end, they say that MOVE Coworking will include communal tables, stand-up desks, hanging hammocks, lounge areas and eventually treadmill desks.
Meo and Hitches come from different non-traditional work backgrounds that they believe will contribute to the success of their new business venture. Hitches has worked as a fitness entrepreneur, splitting time between Washington D.C. and Cincinnati, and Meo has spent his professional career doing web development outsourcing. They also say that, in addition to their non-traditional work backgrounds, they were motivated to make this investment due to all of the positive changes taking place in the city.
“There’s no denying the momentum and excitement of the changing neighborhoods all across downtown Cincinnati,” Hitches said. “I look around at all the architecture that has for so long been underutilized and really can’t believe we’ve waited this long to utilize these unique buildings. To me this is a huge opportunity to snag up one of these spaces to create a vision while cultivating a community of people who are also passionate about the positive changes to the city.”
The two are particularly excited about the historic warehouse building they will be located in, and Hitches, who lives car-free, says that as an avid cyclist he is also thrilled about the new Central Parkway Cycle Track out front.
Coworking Space [Provided]
Central Parkway Cycle Track [5chw4r7z]
Coworking Space [Provided]
Training Compound [Provided]
MOVE Coworking will take up 5,000 square feet of space in the basement of the historic Mohawk Building. In order to get the space into the proper condition and fully outfitted, they say that they have invested somewhere around $100,000.
Those looking to use the coworking space or fitness component will have several options. Hitches says that every coworking package will include a membership to the gym space, but that people can also purchase fitness memberships independent of the coworking space. He also says that a yoga space will be added later this fall, and be inclusive in specific membership packages, while also being sold separately for those who just wish to access the yoga studio.
It will cost $20 for drop-in use of the coworking space, or $199 per month for a three days per week package and $270 per month for full-time 24-hour access. As of now, rates start at $70 per month for those who just wish to get a fitness membership.
“Instinctively I always wanted a place where I could go part-time to do some focused online work outside the gym or coffee shops where I would set up my laptop,” Hitches told UrbanCincy. “I now have a place in D.C. where I can utilize space that allows me to have a network of people outside the fitness professionals who I’m around daily in the training studio.”
With that in mind, Hitches and Meo are now hoping they can attract local entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and young professionals that are in search of an alternative workspace, where they can also surround themselves with other health-minded individuals.
MOVE Coworking will start giving private tours to potential members this week, and will have an official launch party on Wednesday, August 20.
While Cincinnati leaders would like to see their parking system generate more in revenue than it costs to operate and maintain it, that is not the reality. It is, however, the reality across the river in Covington.
A review of Covington’s recently approved 2014-2015 budget estimates the parking system will bring in approximately $1.6 million in revenue, while costing only $1.1 million for operations, maintenance and upgrades.
One of the largest chunks of Covington’s annual parking revenue, however, comes from lease payments which total about $491,000 – or nearly one-third of the city’s annual parking revenues.
Had Cincinnati followed through with its parking lease agreement, it too would have realized these benefits by offloading expenses and locking in fixed lease payments. Under Cincinnati’s parking lease, the city would have received anywhere from $3-4 million in annual payments from the concessionaire.
In order just to break even, the City of Cincinnati has and continues to defer needed maintenance and upgrades, while also depleting its parking fund.
Covington will also benefit from increased parking rates, which will net the city an additional $68,500 in the first year. Those changes include a 10-cent per hour increase for on-street parking meters, and a $2 per day increase at the RiverCenter Parking Garage.
In addition to on-street parking meters throughout downtown, Covington has 818 parking spaces in 16 surface lots and another 1,574 spaces in three different parking garages.
The dog days of summer are upon us but that is no reason to not enjoy good food, drinks and company. It’s time again to have our 
