Categories
Up To Speed

Mac’s Pizza Pub to provide free electric vehicle recharging station

Mac’s Pizza Pub to provide free electric vehicle recharging station.

Mac’s Pizza Pub in Clifton Heights will become the region’s first restaurant to offer customers a free charging station for their electric vehicles. The move comes as owner Mac Ryan attempts to make the popular uptown restaurant as environmentally friendly as possible. More from the Cincinnati Enquirer:

There’s a parking space next to the patio where you can pull in your electric car and plug in to his dedicated circuit while you go in an have a Macover or a pizza…Owner Mac Ryan uses a Chevrolet Volt for all the restaurant’s delivery and catering business. That’s one of several electric cars that have come to the market recently: the Nissan Leaf is another, and local company AMP has retrofitted jeeps into electric vehicles.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Development News

Weekend events to celebrate new riverfront park, progress in Over-the-Rhine

This weekend is poised to be a busy one with a variety of unique events taking place throughout the basin. We do not often plug events nowadays, but this is a weekend where you do not want to be absent from Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

GoOTR 5k + Summer Celebration
The next big event will take place Saturday morning in historic Over-the-Rhine. The sixth annual GoOTR 5k will begin at 10am, and will raise money for the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce. While online registration has closed, those interested can still register in person today from 5pm to 7pm, 11am to 7:30pm on Friday, or immediately prior to the race on Saturday starting at 8:30am.


Festival-goers enjoy the 2009 OTR Summer Celebration. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

The race is the first leg of the Cincinnati Triple Crown. The winner will receive a custom trophy from Rookwood Pottery and the rights to continue on their hunt for Triple Crown glory at the Hyde Park Blast and Downtown Dash.

The accompanying OTR Summer Celebration will take place immediately following the completion of the race along Vine Street between 12th and 13th streets. Officially starting at 4pm, the street fair will include local merchants and live music from Wussy, Josh Eagle and the Harvest City, Shiny and the Spoon, The Cincy Brass, Young Professionals Choral Collective, Pones Inc., and a special performance from the Blue Wisp’s Young Lions and their legendary jazz drummer Philip Paul.

Smale Riverfront Park Grand Opening
On Friday evening, city officials and community leaders will celebrate the grand opening of the first phase of the Smale Riverfront Park. The new park is the latest piece of Cincinnati’s central riverfront transformation. The completed first phase includes the area along Mehring Way between the Roebling Suspension Bridge and Great American Ball Park, and includes the Moerlein Lager House, an event lawn, multiple water features, monuments and the new Bike Mobility Visitors Center.

The bike center is seen another step forward for the city’s bike program after recently receiving an award from the League of American Bicyclists. The facility features bike rentals, shower stations, lockers and indoor bicycle parking, along with a knowledgeable staff at the center to perform bicycle repairs.

The grand opening celebration will begin at 6:15pm at the Schmidlapp Event Lawn, and will feature live music, free UDF ice cream, and a fireworks show at dusk. Those looking for a sneak peek of the new park can view the most recent construction progress video on YouTube.

Categories
Business Development News

Yard House to open first Ohio restaurant along Cincinnati’s central riverfront

The Banks development team announced today that Yard House, an upscale American fusion restaurant with 100-250 taps, will open its first location in Ohio on Cincinnati’s central riverfront.

The 10,000-square-foot restaurant will be the first stand-alone commercial tenant at The Banks, and will be located immediately in front of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at the corner of Walnut Street and Freedom Way. Project officials say that the new structure will have an urban, industrial design featuring an open floor plan, exposed pipes, warm moods and stainless steel accents.


The Banks development has exceeded expectations in its first phase of development, and may soon break ground on phase two. Photograph by Randy A. Simes for UrbanCincy.

“Yard House will be a great addition to The Banks,” stated Scott Stringer, executive vice president at Carter, in a prepared release. “We are committed to making sure The Banks becomes a destination with unique entertainment and eating options. Yard House helps us recognize that vision.”

The restaurant was originally started along Los Angeles’ famed Long Beach waterfront nearly 16 years ago and has since spread across the United States to 38 select cities. In addition to this being Yard House’s first location in Ohio, it will become only their second Midwestern location with the other being located in Chicago.

The location is one of two buildable sites in front of the NURFC intended for restaurants, and will be located across from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse which is currently under construction.

With phase one of development almost entirely occupied, speculation will now turn to when the second phase of construction will get underway. Cincinnati Mayor Mallory has already hinted that groundbreaking could take place this summer.

Categories
Up To Speed

Japanese restaurant coming to OTR this fall

Japanese restaurant coming to OTR this fall

Just one week after UrbanCincy announced that Hapa, an Asian-inspired restaurant, will open at 1331 Vine Street, it is now being reported that a Japanese restaurant will join it across the street. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

The concept is an izakaya, or what you might call a Japanese pub. That means lots of food that goes well with drinks, food that comes in small portions and can be ordered in various combinations…The restaurant will be larger than many of its Vine Street neighbors, and will encompass three components: a bar, a dining room, and an outside area, partly covered, partly an open garden.

Categories
Up To Speed

From ghost town to night-on-the-town

From ghost town to night-on-the-town

Nearly one month ago we asked whether Cincinnati is in the midst of a contemporary golden age. With all of the public and private investment taking place throughout the city, the answer seemed to be an easy yes. Now, Cincinnati’s mainstream media is echoing our thoughts. From WCPO:

On virtually any given evening, you can walk around downtown Cincinnati and run into people. In fact, you might find a large crowd either on Fountain Square, at The Banks or up in Over-the-Rhine. Anyone who knows Cincinnati knows this is a relatively new situation for this once ghost town. It used to be that when the work day ended, downtown Cincinnati’s sidewalks rolled up for the night. But now, the city comes alive.