The Great American Tower at Queen City Square continues to rise. The tower will eventually become Cincinnati’s tallest skyscraper and be the new headquarters for Great American Insurance and the Frost Brown Todd law group. The tower is currently about 25 stories up from the ground and will continue to rise over the coming months.
This Week in Soapbox (TWIS) you can read about World Food Bar’s new Downtown eatery opening this November, the first public K-12 school in the state of Ohio to achieve LEED certification, Mt. Washington’s efforts to slow down traffic along Beechmont Avenue, new lending opportunities for green building strategies created by LISC, and the latest redevelopment plans for Covington’s Jacob Price housing project site.
If you’re interested in staying in touch with some of the latest development news in Cincinnati please check out this week’s stories and sign up for the weekly E-Zine sent out by Soapbox Cincinnati. Also be sure to become a fan of Soapbox on Facebook!
Also be sure to check out the fantastic feature article by Jeremy Mosher on what Cincinnati can learn from Portland’s transit network, and the piece by David Lyman on Cincinnati’s Twitter scene. Below watch this week’s feature video that takes you on a ride of Portland’s modern streetcar.
TWIS 10/13:
On Tuesday, September 1 I took a stroll through Over-the-Rhine. It started with a private tour of the soon-to-be Neon’s Unplugged off of Main Street. From there I hit up Coffee Emporium with one of Cincinnati’s best photographers and the authority on Cincinnati transit – Jake Mecklenborg.
While at Coffee Emporium we were joined by the likes of Mayor Mallory and much of the Taking the Stage cast. We would have grabbed some photographs, but we both seemed to think that would be creepy and decided to enjoy some coffee and conversation instead.
From there Jake and I walked the neighborhood capturing much of the new energy and activity taking place. In the collection of photos below you will see Gateway Quarter businesses, new Vine Street streetscaping, Trinity Flats infill project, City Home townhouses, and a bunch of other scenes from around the rapidly changing neighborhood. To view all of the photos with additional narration visit my photo thread on UrbanOhio here.
After that I hit up a cocktail hour of sorts at Soapbox’s new digs in the Gateway Building on Vine Street where we met with a lot of really great people with great ideas for Cincinnati. Following those good times I ended the day in OTR at Lavomatic for some drinks with a couple of UrbanCincy’s finest writers – David Ben and Jenny Kessler. Great day.
Representative Steve Driehaus (D-OH) has announced another large chunk of money for transportation projects in the Cincinnati region. Funding in the amount of $677,160 has been awarded to the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) for a new transit hub in Uptown Cincinnati.
SORTA operates the largest transit service in the region, Metro, and will be using the nearly $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for their planned Uptown Crossing Project that will construct a new transit hub with restrooms and facilities for bus drivers, shelters, and a pavilion located near the Cincinnati Zoo.
Representative Driehaus believes strongly in the transit investment saying that, “as we work to improve our transportation infrastructure, we need to modernize transit facilities and expand access for riders. This funding will help SORTA move forward on this critically important project.”
Image provided by Metro
New renderings of the University of Cincinnati’s “Jefferson Avenue Sports Complex” have been released. This complex will feature a full-sized 100-yard field which the lacrosse team will use for home games, and a smaller 50-yard practice field. During the winter months, the large field will be covered by a “bubble”, providing an indoor practice space for football, lacrosse, track and field, and soccer. The indoor facility will maintain a temperature of 50-60 degrees, even in the harshest of Cincinnati’s winters.
In constructing the new complex, the University will be removing a maintenance facility and a parking lot, one of only two large lots remaining on campus. The new facility will be adjacent to the University’s existing Varsity Village complex, which includes Nippert Stadium, Fifth Third Arena at the Shoemaker Center, Gettler Stadium, Marge Schott Stadium, and Sheakley Lawn.
See more renderings at GoBearcats.com.
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