Tag: developments

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Development News Politics Transportation

Additional $2.3B made available to high-speed rail projects, national safety committee envisioned

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is taking the next step in developing a national high-speed passenger rail system. The FRA has begun accepting applications for the next round of grants that will be used to develop high-speed intercity passenger rail corridors like Ohio’s 3C Corridor.

The High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program includes $2.1 billion in grants available in this round of applications.  This round of funding compliments the $8 billion invested in high-speed rail last January that awarded $400 million to Ohio’s 3C “Quick Start” Plan. In addition to the $2.1 billion, another $245 million has also been made available for individual construction projects within a corridor. Applications will be accepted through Friday, August 6, 2010 and recipients will be announced by September 30, 2010.

“We are excited to move the President’s vision on high-speed rail forward and are working quickly to get money in the hands of states,” FRA Administrator Joseph C. Szabo stated in a prepared release sent to UrbanCincy. “These new funds will allow the states to further advance their high-speed rail plans and represent a commitment to developing a world-class transportation network.”

The news comes on the heels of the creation of a new Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety that is being tasked with drafting national safety measures for rail transit. The new committee will reportedly assist the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) with developing the national safety standards.

The U.S. DOT states that this is the first time any Administration has sent a bill to Congress that is specifically about transit. As safety oversight is currently regulated, the FTA is prohibited from implementing national safety standards or performing oversight of the State Safety Organizations. The hope is that with the passage of this bill the FTA will be able to better implement new transit safety requirements and regulations that enhance rail safety.

“While public transit is one of the safest ways to get around, we still experience preventable accidents, including fatal accidents, far too frequently,” FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff said. “This advisory committee of industry experts will lay the foundation for the implementation of national safety standards once Congress passes President Obama’s safety legislation.”

The 20 individuals chosen to serve on TRACS were chosen from 79 applicants from around the country. The final committee includes two members from the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland), and according to the U.S. DOT, individuals from state and local transit agencies, state safety oversight organizations, transit employee unions, industry associations, and other stakeholders.

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Business Development News Politics

City Council poised to approve lease agreement for $4M Moerlein Lager House

Sources inform UrbanCincy that City Council is poised to approve a lease agreement with MLH Cincinnati USA, LLC to construct and operate the new $4 million Moerlein Lager House located within the Cincinnati Riverfront Park which is currently under construction. The ordinance will go before City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee on Monday, June 28th at 1pm, and then move on to a full council vote on Wednesday, June 30th where it is expected to pass with an overwhelming majority.

The new Moerlein Lager House is the first tenant signed for the new Cincinnati Riverfront Park which will eventually support several restaurant/bar uses. Once complete, the new microbrewery restaurant will brew 5,000 barrels of beer annually, offer brewery tours, and seat 500 inside with another 600 outside in two biergarten areas and a second-level terrace that will boast dramatic views of the new park, Ohio River, and Roebling Suspension Brige.

Christian Moerlein CEO Greg Hardman says that the two biergarten areas have the ability to be connected around the building during special events thus creating one enormous biergarten area.

Details on the lease agreement expected to be approved by the Budget & Finance Committee will be released on Monday, but it is understood that a variety of rent payments will be paid by Christian Moerlein to the Cincinnati Park Board over the course of the lease.

The 15,000 square-foot development is expected to be complete by spring 2012 which is one-year after the projected completion for the first phase of the Cincinnati Riverfront Park.

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Development News

Cincinnati to break ground on long-awaited firefighter’s memorial

Officials will break ground on the Greater Cincinnati Firefighter’s Memorial in downtown Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 29 at 10am. The new memorial will be located along Central Avenue in between 5th and 6th streets on the western edge of downtown.

The Memorial has been in the planning stages and will become a reality thanks to in-kind work from Turner Construction, Baker Concrete Construction, GBBN Architects, and donations from hundreds of individuals from throughout the Cincinnati region.

According to officials, the Greater Cincinnati Firefighter’s Memorial will honor fallen firefighters from 194 fire agencies within the 12-county Cincinnati metropolitan region. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the site of the memorial (map) where a 33,500 square-foot green space will be constructed and include landscaped areas, gardens, a statue and walkways with pavers etched with names of donors to the Memorial.

Donations to the Greater Cincinnati Firefighter’s Memorial can be made online, or by contacting Gretchen Hooker at gretchen.hooker@cincinnati-oh.gov or (513) 357-2621.

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Business Development News

Monarch Construction awarded first work bid for CRP by Army Corps

Cincinnati-based Monarch Construction Company has been awarded the first work bid by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Cincinnati Riverfront Park. The $8.5 million contract will cover the construction of the Walnut Street Fountain & Grand Staircase which will begin within the coming weeks.

Monarch was selected by the Corps for meeting their qualifications for quality, cost and time to perform the work that will include a concrete structure with sandstone cladding and granite paving; bathrooms; an elevator; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; landscaping; waterproofing; interactive fountains; and associated equipment, fixtures, and furnishings.

Phase 1 of the 45-acre, $120 million Cincinnati Riverfront Park is currently on schedule for a spring 2011 opening. In addition to the Walnut Street Fountain & Grand Staircase, the first phase of the project will also include an event lawn, donor wall, promenade and the highly anticipated Bike & Mobility Center and Moerlein Lager House. This additional work is currently out for bid and is expected to be awarded in summer 2010.

In total, the Cincinnati Riverfront Park is projected to cost $2.5 million per acre which is on par, or less than, other comparable waterfront parks throughout the country. Park planners put the cost slightly higher than Cincinnati’s International Friendship Park and Yeatman’s Cove, but less than those found in Louisville, Charleston, Indianapolis and Chicago.

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Business Development News

Xavier University’s campus transforming for the 21st Century

Williams College of Business

Xavier University is in the midst of a building boom. New buildings are rising that will continue the transformation the university’s main campus. Work has been ongoing for some time and most is expected to be complete for the next academic year.

At the corner of Ledgewood and Dana, there is a new 88,000 square-foot building being erected for the Williams College of Business. Xavier will take possession of the building from the construction crews this month. It will be ready for students by August, the beginning of the next academic year.

Nearby the 84,000 square-foot Conaton Learning Commons is rising, and is a multi-use facility uniquely suited to the modern student’s need of a flexible space packed with technology. It too will be ready when the students come this August.

Further down Ledgewood Avenue, which is sporting a new median and roundabout, a new 240,000 square-foot dormitory and dining complex is currently under construction as part of the Hoff Academic Quad. These buildings, which currently have two huge cranes towering above them, still require about a year before completion but will eventually house and feed hundreds of Xavier students.