Cincinnati's Music Hall will close in May 2016 to undergo a $129 million renovation.
As the winter comes to an end, work has begun or will soon begin on a number of new developments around Over-the-Rhine. Today, we’re sharing 16 panoramas, taken over the past month, that show how the neighborhood is evolving. You can click on each of the images to view them full-screen and read the full description about each project.
3CDC will soon start work on the 15th and Vine development. The historic buildings will be saved and the parking lots will be filled with new construction.
This parking lot will be replaced by a new office building as part of Mercer Commons Phase IV.
The 15th & Race site is being developed by 3CDC. The first phase includes a new 3-story building featuring 17 condos and 2-3 commercial storefronts.
The 15th & Race site is being developed by 3CDC. The first phase includes a new 3-story building featuring 17 condos and 2-3 commercial storefronts.
This old firehouse will be rehabbed as part of the Elm Street Townhomes project.
The Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati will soon start a renovation of its buildings on the 1100 block of Vine Street, which will include the construction of a new building in the gap near the center of this photo.
Developers have proposed a nine-story building for this site on Central Parkway, replacing this now-vacant two-story office building once occupied by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. The new building would include 40,000 square feet of retail space (potentially a grocery store), 70,000 square feet of office space, and 235 parking spaces.
The former Drop Inn Center homeless shelter has now been demolished and will be replaced with a new theater for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. To the left is the Central Parkway YMCA, which is undergoing renovation. To the right is The Transept, a recently-opened bar and event space in a former church.
The corner of 12th and Elm was previously home to the Drop Inn Center. The non-historic building was demolished and will be replaced by a new theatre for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
The former Ophthalmic Hospital and Free Dispensary will soon be developed into a boutique hotel featuring 20 guest rooms and a bar and restaurant on the first floor.
Cincinnati’s Music Hall will close in May 2016 to undergo a $129 million renovation.
The skywalk linking Music Hall to the Town Center Garage is expected to be demolished during the renovation of Music Hall.
The former Queen City Radio building (left) is being redeveloped by Urban Expansion, and Grandin Properties plans to convert the historic Strietmann Biscuit Company building (center) to an 88,000 square foot office building.
It looks like some preliminary interior demolition work is going on inside the historic Wielert’s building, although no plans have officially been announced.
This corner could look very different in a few years if the proposed Liberty Street Road Diet and LibertyElm project (left) move forward.
Editor’s note: These photos were taken by Travis Estell for UrbanCincy between February 11 and March 8, 2016.
Last year over 100 people attended a series of workshops focused on rehabilitating distressed properties in Over-the-Rhine. The 3OTR Owner-Occupied Workshop series was hosted by the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, and each session featured realtors, rehabbers, architects and other experts telling their stories to people who were interested in rehabbing properties of their own.
Organizers say that the series was so impactful that its graduates even earned mention as qualified potential developers by 3CDC for city-owned properties north of Liberty Street.
Prospect Hill in Over-the-Rhine [Travis Estell]
“When we conducted our evaluations of the workshops last spring, participants spoke loudly that they benefited most from hearing from individuals who acquired and rehabbed properties,” said Thomas Hadley, an Over-the-Rhine Foundation board member. “This workshop offers hands-on insights into what it takes to do a project in OTR.”
Now, a year later, some of the graduates are returning to share their stories with a new crowd. The event, this time called Lessons Learned, will focus on four rehab projects that resulted from the last year’s series.
Planned discussion topics, organizers says, will include financing, structural changes, LEED projects and combining a multi-family into a single-family building. One of the sessions will even feature a project that involves rehabilitating a three-unit building with retail.
“Lessons Learned is a unique opportunity to find out how alumni from last year’s workshops used what they learned to acquire and rehab property,” Hadley explained.
The workshop will be held on Saturday, June 6 from 9am to 11am at Venue 222 on Fourteenth Street in Over-the-Rhine. Those interested in participating can register online for $10v.
Many of us were sad to see the demolition of the historic mansion that housed the Christy’s & Lenhardt’s restaurant in Clifton Heights. At the time, a new six-story, mixed-use development was envisioned for the site, which would have included 210 student apartments, street-level retail, and a 245-space parking structure. However, the Business Courier reports that the development has now been downsized by its developers, although the size of the parking structure has curiously been increased:
The developer is now looking to build a mixed-use building on the 1.65-acre site with about 190 apartment units, according to materials filed with the City Planning Commission. The building will have two levels of underground parking with 380 spaces. A row of six, three-story townhouses with separate entrances will face Lyon Street. Finally, a separated commercial space of up to 9,000 square feet will be at the corner Clifton and West McMillan streets. […]
At this point, the proposed schedule for the project includes zoning in the third and fourth quarters of 2014, permitting in the first quarter of 2015, construction starting in the second quarter of 2015, completion in July 2016 and occupancy in August 2016.
The first phase of Broadway Square in Pendleton is on schedule for completion later this fall. Recently, UrbanCincy had a chance to tour the construction of the project.
This is the first of three phases in the $26 million Broadway Square development. The buildings are being developed by Model Group, and the leasing of the retail and office space is being managed by Urban Fast Forward. Once completed, phase one will include 39 market rate apartments, 8,000 square feet of office and four retail spaces.
The development is located close to Horseshoe Casino and is adjacent to the recently renovated Spring Street Plaza & Playground and “multi-sensory and interactive” Spinnradl sculptures.
Construction along Broadway
Looking north from 12th and Broadway
Interior of a retail space
Kitchen in the apartments
Construction moving along E. 12th street
Second floor office space
View of the plaza from apartment
Downtown view
Upper floor kitchen
Top floor view
Looking down from two-level apartment
Unfininished office space
Ground level office space
Almost finished office space
Kitchen in 12th street apartment
EDITORIAL NOTE: All 17 photos were taken by John Yung for UrbanCincy in late July 2014.
Six months ago, we reported on 11 residential developments moving forward in the Central Business District, Over-the-Rhine, and Pendleton. At the time, these were expected to add about 1,500 new units of housing to the urban core. Although one of these projects has been downsized and another postponed, one new residential project was announced as well.
Most notably, the proposed tower at Fourth and Race was downsized from 300 to 200 units, and the grocery store that would have been located on the ground floor of the building has been dropped from the plan.
The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) is also shelving its plans for a new mixed-use project at 15th and Race, which would have added 57 residential units. However, 3CDC is also shelving its plan to build 53,000 square feet of office space as part of the third phase of Mercer Commons, and is considering building more residential at that location. The first two phases of Mercer Commons contain 126 apartments and 28 condos in addition to retail space.
Finally, the proposal to bring an AC Hotel to the former School for the Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA) in Pendleton has been scrapped. Developers are now moving forward with an alternate plan, which will convert the building into 155 market-rate apartments.
Mercer Commons Phase Two
Mercer Commons Phase Two
Schwartz Building
AT580
The Banks Phase Two
School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Broadway Square
Broadway Square
7th Street
Seven at Broadway
Seven at Broadway
The Banks and Dunnhumby Centre tower cranes
The other projects still moving forward include:
Phase two of The Banksbroke ground in April 2014. It will contain 305 new apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail space, in addition to a new office tower for General Electric.
AT580, formerly known as the 580 Building, is being converted from office space into 179 apartments. The existing retail spaces on the first and second floors will remain.
The Seven at Broadway project will feature 110 high-end apartments, built above an existing parking garage. The target demographic for these units will be empty-nesters and older professionals looking for downtown living, according to Rick Kimbler, partner at the NorthPointe Group.
Broadway Square, a $26 million development, is now under construction in Pendleton. Its first phase will feature 39 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail space, and developer Model Group will add at least another 39 apartments in the second phase of the project.
The Schwartz Building, formerly vacant office space, is being converted into 20 apartments. Developer Levine Properties cited the building’s location along the Cincinnati Streetcar route as a driving factor for the renovation.
The Ingalls Building will be redeveloped into 40 to 50 condos and ground-floor retail space by the Claremont Group.
Peak Property Group plans to purchase and renovate three buildings on Seventh Street into 75 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space.
