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Over-the-Rhine Revisited: Designing Infill for Historic Districts

On Thursday, September 4th, the Mercantile Library will be hosting an informative session regarding Over-the-Rhine and the challenges facing new development in the historic neighborhood. Over-the-Rhine Revisited: Designing Infill for Historic Districts will be held at 5:30pm at the Mercantile Library (GoogleMap).

The session is a continuation of discussion that started at the January 2008 charrette and is being hosted by AIA Cincinnati, Architecture Foundation of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Preservation Association, Mercantile Library, and the Over-the-Rhine Foundation.

Light refreshments will be served , but reservations are required. The session costs $8 for members and $10 for non-members. You can make reservations by either calling 513.621.0717 or by emailing mercantileinfo@mercantilelibrary.com.



Images from Architecture Foundation of Cincinnati – http://www.architecturecincy.org/Programs/charrette.html

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$3.5 BILLION

That is roughly the valuation of current and proposed construction projects in Cincinnati’s urban core (Downtown, OTR, parts of Nky’s riverfront, Mt. Adams, parts of Uptown). The area is roughly 6 square miles that includes hilly terrain, a mighty river and is the heart of a 2+ million person metropolitan area. That averages out to roughly $574-million worth of investment per square mile.

Projects highlighting this list are The Banks, Cincinnati Riverfront Park, Queen City Square, SouthShore, Ovation, and the Cincinnati Streetcar. In addition to those big projects, the list is filled out by a potpourri of rehab and infill projects that would tickle the fancy of any urbanite.

While you simply can not project development valuations as a signal of a city’s success or failure, it is hard not to be impressed by the shear amount of activity going on now and in the coming months/years. It is not often that a Midwestern city sees this kind of activity, and it isn’t something Cincinnati has seen happen in many decades.

+++ SEE FULL LIST HERE +++
*Note that this list does not include projects going on in the East End, West End, Dayton, or Bellevue.

+++ SEE RENDERINGS FOR MANY OF THE PROJECTS HERE +++

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Support the Know

There is a fun opportunity coming up that will help a local non-profit arts organization. Kona Bistro, in Oakley, will be hosting the Know Theatre of Cincinnati on August 27th as part of a weekly fundraiser (see Community Nights) that starts at 6pm and lasts until 9pm.

The Know Theatre of Cincinnati describes itself as, “Just left of off Broadway” in terms of their productions. The theatre is also one of three theatres (Ensemble Theatre & New Stage Collective) along a 3-block stretch in Over-the-Rhine. A stretch of theatres that I consider to be Cincinnati’s off Broadway district.

The Know needs support though, and what better way than by going to the very cool Kona Bistro (GoogleMap) and enjoying some great food, drinks, and conversation? There will also be a raffle where you could win free tickets, subscriptions, and more for the Know Theatre’s 2008-2009 season.

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Gotta love the ‘Tazz’

The former Lange Jewelers location has opened up an opportunity for a new business. Tazza Mia is where “Fresher Coffee Meets Better Food.” Their second location (GoogleMap) opened last week (7/31) and owner Bob Bonder described the spot as a great location, a location so great that it was the lure in bringing his local business to Downtown.

Tazza Mia boasts their fresh coffee, and when they say fresh…they mean fresh. They get the raw coffee (aka green coffee…because it arrives in a green color) shipped to their West Chester store direct. Once it arrives they roast it on site and Mr. Bonder delivers the roasted coffee down to the Downtown store every 2-3 days. So while most places brag about their coffee being only 2-3 weeks old, Tazza Mia is talking 2-3 DAYS.

The store has a great atmosphere, with great presence at street level (on Vine), interior access from Tower Place, and a really cool lofted second level that I had no idea was there. The second level offers a great place for casual meetings, reading, relaxing, etc. When you go you absolutely need to try their Pot Roast Panini or their Belgian Waffles (straight from Taste of Belgium at Findlay Market). Once you try their super fresh coffee and fantastic food at their great/new location, you’ll be saying to yourself…”I love the Tazz.”

Store Hours:

M-F — 6am – 6:30pm

Sat — 8am – 5pm

Sun — 9am – 2pm




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Point A to Point B – How UrbanCincy readers get to work

Not a big surprise here from July’s poll. The majority of UrbanCincy readers commute to work by car (47% of 327 total respondents). A strong response came from those who walk and/or bike to work, as well as those riding the bus for their means of transportation. Combined those two categories made up for roughly 32% of the total responses.

That actually is a better breakdown than I expected, and to top it all off there were 14% of you who selected the ‘insert rail here’ option. So if you really break it down as car vs. alternative transportation then there was actually a pretty decent response. The comparison would then be 47% (156 total votes) to 46% (155 total votes).

How did you vote, why did you vote the way you did? Most importantly what do you see as an important tool to help tip the scales even further and get people out of their cars? I think the streetcar is an important first step that will further reduce the need for an automobile in the urban core. For commuting purposes light rail needs to be considered again, and soon.