Category: Up To Speed

Links to keep you up to speed on what’s happening in Cincinnati and what we can learn from other cities.

Categories
Up To Speed

Rhinegeist Brewing to open in OTR’s Brewery District

Rhinegeist Brewing to open in OTR’s Brewery District.

Another brewing operation will join Christian Moerlein in Over-the-Rhine’s historic Brewery District. The new brewery, called Rhinegeist Brewing, will renovate and operate out of the second floor of the former Christian Moerlein bottling plant on Elm Street. More from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

A building that could never be recreated comes back to life. A diverse group of angel investors provides financing, drawn by the potential return and promise of adventure. And the revitalization of the urban core, where entrepreneurs are already bouncing off each other like pinballs, takes another step forward.

Bob Bonder, president of the Tazza Mia chain of coffee houses, and business partner Bryant Goulding are renovating the second floor of the Christian Moerlein bottling plant, work that will advance the revitalization of a growing Brewery District that made Cincinnati a Midwest Brewing hub at the turn of the 20th century. Bonder and Goulding plan to turn part of the 250,000-square-foot complex on Elm Street just north of Findlay Market into a craft brewery called Rhinegeist Brewing.

Categories
Up To Speed

MOTR ownership team to renovate Woodward Theater into 600-person music venue

MOTR ownership team to renovate Woodward Theater into 600-person music venue.

MOTR Pub has become an Over-the-Rhine destination with seven days a week of live music. The success at the small music venue has encouraged the owners to embark on a new venture, and they will acquire the vacant Woodward Theater building across the street and open a second venue. More from the Cincinnati Business Courier:

The new renovations will be extensive. McCabe plans to eliminate a staircase in the center, add a new staircase to one side, install bathrooms and bars, and build a stage that juts out into the crowd.

For bands, the Woodward would provide the bridge between smaller bars like MOTR and larger area venues such as the Taft Theatre and Bogart’s. It would also give Cincinnati a leg up in attracting musicians, McCabe said. When a band is making its way from Chicago to Nashville, it doesn’t make stops at Indianapolis, Columbus and then Cincinnati; it just picks one.

Categories
Up To Speed

Will $25M cash payout from Big East fast-track Nippert Stadium renovation?

Will $25M cash payout from Big East fast-track Nippert Stadium renovation?.

The University of Cincinnati has been trying mightily to get out of the collapsing Big East Conference, but its lack of options to-date might result in a big-time payout for its athletic program. With as much as $25 million in cash heading to Clifton, might this fast-track the $75 million renovation and expansion of Nippert Stadium? More from CBS Sports:

Big East leaders met Friday afternoon in Atlanta to discuss, among other things, the withdrawal of the Catholic 7. No deals regarding the new basketball-centric league or reported sale of the “Big East” name were finalized, but Blaudschun reports that the current “football faction” will have a cash fund of “close to $100 million for distribution.”

The $100 million total is a combination of nearly 70 million dollars the Big East has and will collect in exit fee money from schools that have left or have announced they are leaving and another total of approximately $30 million which will come to the Big East offices from the NCAA as “unit” shares for conference teams participation in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Categories
Up To Speed

Number of Vehicle Miles Traveled Continues Decline

 

There are a variety of roadway expansions being planned or under construction in Cincinnati including the widening of Interstate 75 and the Eastern Corridor road project. The FHWA recently released data showing that for the eighth year in a row the number of miles the nation traveled on roadways in 2012 was once again less than in the previous year. With clear trends showing the nation with an older population less willing to drive and a younger population that desire walkable neighborhoods with transportation options should transportation departments rethink their calculations for future road widening projects? More from State Smart Transportation Initiative:

A variety of factors have been cited for the decline, including retiring Baby Boomers; less enthusiasm for cars among Millennials; a move in many places toward more compact and mixed-use development; and demand-side policy efforts, including TDM, tolling and market-pricing of parking. In addition, some trends that fueled VMT growth in the last century have eased: The transition toward women working outside the home is essentially complete, car-ownership has gone from rare to common, and people’s time budgets for car travel may have reached their maximum.

The numbers suggest that, with a stable total VMT, we will still rely on highways for a long time. However, capacity projects that assume increasing VMT may be good places for cash-strapped DOTs to look for savings. And the per capita declines suggest that conventional trip generation assumptions, which drive Transportation Impact Analyses for mitigation and parking requirements, ought to be revisited. SSTI is working on a TIA project and will report out later this year. In the meantime, one source for improved trip generation estimation is Fehr & Peers Mixed Use Trip Generation Model 4.0.

Categories
Up To Speed

Has the United States given up on building subway systems?

Has the United States given up on building subway systems?.

Everyone knows that America’s roadways and bridges are crumbling, but the United States has also seemingly given up on its subway systems. Atlanta’s subway system was the last subway system started in the U.S., and its construction commenced in 1979. Since that time no other American city has been able to figure out the financing of a subway system with the disappearance of federal funding support. More from Governing:

The rapid pace of subway construction, especially in developing countries, has driven the number of systems in the world to more than 190, according to the Economist. One reason for the boom has to do with government stimulus programs that followed the financial crisis, allowing investment in subway construction to soar. One country that’s noticeably absent from the project lists that appear in trade publications is the U.S.

With transit funding still uncertain, given the lack of a stable, dependable funding stream from Congress, all but a handful of cities have decided to stay clear of such money-draining projects…Some might argue that we don’t need such large-scale transit systems, which are not only expensive to build but expensive to run. Indeed, debates over the pros and cons of a subway system have killed many plans while delaying some construction projects for decades, not just in the U.S. but in other countries as well. Still, we can’t ignore the fact that the U.S. is becoming an increasingly urbanized country, with more people working and living in cities every year.