Tag: downtown

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News

Happy Hour Cincinnati: Via Vite

There are tons of great happy hours around town…many of which are largely unknown. For the first of what will become an ongoing series, I will highlight Via Vite’s great happy hour.

First of all, Via Vite’s happy hour is EVERY day and lasts from 3-6 (I was told 7pm by our waitress the other week). Unfortunately they don’t offer any draft selections, but they do serve Christian Moerlein’s OTR Ale. After you take the $1.50 off you’ll be enjoying some great OTR Ale for $2 on Via Vite’s rooftop terrace.

The rooftop terrace is what really makes Via Vite special. It sits directly on Fountain Square and makes for one of the best happy hour environments around. Plus the rooftop terrace consists of couches arranged in a way that is great for groups of up to around 6 people.

The food specials also make it a great spot to start off your evening downtown. The wood fired pizzas are great for sharing with a friend and are at a great happy price – $7. If you’re in the mood for a great happy hour today then be sure to check out Via Vite. The location is to die for and the food and drink live up to the high expectations.

View pictures from Via Vite’s rooftop terrace HERE!

Via Vite
520 Vine Street (GoogleMap)
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513.721.8483

Additional Via Vite Reading:
Via Vite – JasonTT.com
Via Vite – 5chw4r7z.com

Categories
Development News Politics

Accountability comes a knockin’

City Manager Milton Dohoney is at it again. The City has for too long let developers linger around and stall on potential development sites for a variety of reasons. Most of which aren’t good enough reasons for me. Our city has reached the point where we no longer have to bend over backwards for developers. Instead it is about time they (private developers) start living up to their respective end of the agreement.

Dohoney’s first bold maneuver was to call out Eagle Realty on their lackluster development progress on 5th & Race. The City had essentially given Eagle Realty the land for nothing and simply ask that they develop something on an already cleared plot of land, and arguably one of the most prime pieces of real estate in the CBD. Dohoney said enough was enough, and informed Eagle that the City was taking away their development rights to the site.

Now on a much less prominent property, but equally as disturbing, Dohoney has once again taken the bold action of demanding that a developer live up to their end of an agreement. At 33 W. Fourth Street (corner of 4th & Race), the City gave a lease to MMF Realty with the expectations that they would redevelop this site. Well 3.5 years have passed and virtually nothing has occurred at the site.

In the mean time the City has heard from several other developers who are interested in developing the site themselves. Sounds like a win, win to me. Take this property off of MMF Realty’s hands – who clearly doesn’t want to do anything – and sell it off to another developer who is willing to do the job. It’s great to have a City Manager like Milton Dohoney around who actually has the backbone to stand up for the City and say enough is enough.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Andy Brown Trio at the Blue Wisp

The Andy Brown Trio will be performing at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club this Thursday, April 10th at 8:30pm. The trio consists of Andy Brown (guitar), Rob Allgeyer (organ), and Ben Cliness (drums). Together the trio makes for some great listening.

Keep in mind this is a Thursday performance, so that means UrbanCincy night at the Blue Wisp. Be sure to go check out the club and the Andy Brown Trio…and most importantly mention UrbanCincy at the door and get $3 off the $10 cover charge.

318 East 8th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513.241.WISP (9477)

*Blue Wisp’s April schedule

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business Development News Politics

Best Week Ever? No, but a really good one

This week has been pretty amazing for the City of Cincinnati and OTR:

1. Bootsy’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby is a go
2. Strickland adds more historic tax credits for OTR
3. Outside opens in the Gateway Quarter
4. The Music Now Festival hits the three year mark
5. Rookwood Pottery moves to OTR based on the future streetcar…without even full approval, the streetcar, is already causing economic development to occur.
6. The Banks broke ground
There was also a really good article in the Pulse of the City about the Brewery District

Rendering of Booty’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby – Image Provided

Categories
Development News Politics Transportation

Fight the hypocrisy

The local media outlets have never been shy of notifying the public on how long it has taken to get things going on The Banks, nor have they been hesitant to smear every person/agency related to the project – attributing said delay to them. At the same time the many local naysayers and/or skeptics have been openly critical of politicians, government, non-profits, and even those who support reinvestment in our region’s core. These same people and entities have not hesitated in questioning $25M in City money for a streetcar system in our region’s core.

I do not have a problem with people who wish to keep things in check and/or question authority, but what I do hope is that these same people place the same amount of scrutiny on other things. If we are going to question $25M of public dollars for streetcars, then I surely hope that we question the $2.5B that will be spent on roadway projects this year alone. These roadway projects are not subject to public vote and are simply funded with little public debate or dialog.

Additionally as we all know, The Banks has been 9 years in the making…and the local media has had no qualms with pitting Nky v. Cincinnati in the past, so I hope this same level of scrutiny is passed along to another comparable project in Nky – Newport Ovation.

I applaud local leaders for their dedicated work on The Banks and the Cincinnati Streetcar project. These types of projects are not easily done and often times take many years to accomplish. Keep up the good work.

Photo Credit: Cincinnati Enquirer/Gary Landers