Tag: historic preservation

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Business Development News

PHOTOS: Thousands of New Residential Units to Transform Downtown

Three buildings on 7th Street will be redeveloped by Peak Property Group.

Downtown Cincinnati is experiencing a new wave of development, with new office space at the Dunnhumby Centre, two new hotels in the historic Enquirer Building, the new Mabley Place in the former Tower Place Mall, and several other projects. But at UrbanCincy, we are most excited about the large number of new residences.

With more residents, the urban core will be able to support more essential neighborhood businesses—such as grocery stores, dry cleaners, and affordable restaurants—that are necessary for the long-term stability of the Central Business District and Over-the-Rhine neighborhoods.

Editor’s Note: Check out our updated photos of these construction projects, taken in July 2014.

If all of the announced projects go according to plan, around 1,500 new units of housing will be added over the next two to three years, and each individual project will offer something unique. There will be a mix of apartments and condos; one-bedroom and two-bedroom units; affordable and luxury price points; historic renovations and new construction.

Most recently, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) announced a new development at 15th and Race that will include 57 new residential units and retail space; the exact mix of condos and apartments has not yet been announced. 3CDC is also proceeding with the three-phase Mercer Commons development, which will include a grand total of 126 apartments and 28 condos.

Other projects moving forward include:

  • The new tower at Fourth and Race will contain 300 luxury apartments and a 15,000 square foot grocery store. Developer Flaherty & Collins will begin demolition of the site’s existing parking garage, often called Pogue’s Garage, in the first half of 2014.
  • Phase two of The Banks is expected to finally break ground in 2013 2014, adding 305 new apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail space.
  • Developers of the Fountain Place retail building want to add 180 to 225 residential units above the existing Macy’s department store.
  • 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.
  • A new tower above the Seventh and Broadway Garage will feature 110 high-end apartments. 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.
  • Three buildings on Seventh Street, which have been purchased by Peak Property Group, will be converted into 75 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space.
  • Broadway Square, a $26 million development in Pendleton, will feature 39 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail space in first phase. Developer Model Group will add at least another 39 apartments in the second phase of the project.
  • The Ingalls Building will be redeveloped into 40 to 50 condos and ground-floor retail space by the Claremont Group.
  • The Schwartz Building, formerly vacant office space, will be converted into 20 apartments. Developer Levine Properties cited the building’s location along the Cincinnati Streetcar route as a driving factor for the renovation.

All photographs by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

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Business Development News

University of Cincinnati to Demolish Former Sears Department Store Building This Summer

The University of Cincinnati (UC) has informed UrbanCincy that it will demolish its Campus Services Building at Reading Road and Lincoln Avenue. If finances are available, officials say that demolition will begin this summer.

Readers first brought the potential demolition of the 84-year-old structure to UrbanCincy’s attention in December. According to UC’s director of project management, Dale Beeler, the building has deteriorated significantly due to a lack of upkeep, and says that it is currently “crumbing around us.”

The conditions are so bad, in fact, that water has gotten into the wall system and fractured brick can occasionally be seen falling off the structure.

Campus Services Building
The former Sears Department Store in Avondale will soon meet the wrecking ball as the site is prepped for new development. Photograph by Jacob Fessler for UrbanCincy.

Originally a Sears Department store, the university had been using the structure for some information technology services, storage of excess furniture, some administrative functions and some other various non-student-related activities.

The path, to close and demolition of the facility, was cleared approximately three years ago when the University of Cincinnati purchased and renovated the Fishwick Warehouse, visible off I-75, in order to consolidate these kinds of services.

Located in Bond Hill, the newer, two-story warehouse is located on 10 total acres of property and allows the university to consolidate a variety of non-student functions and store other items outside.

Meanwhile, officials within the University of Cincinnati Office of Planning+Design+Construction estimate that the demolition of the Campus Services Building will cost around $1.5 million and will be put out to bid in the coming months.

With the decision already made to tear down the historic structure, the question then becomes what will happen with the soon-to-be prominent site adjacent to the $108 million MLK Interchange project.

“There is no real direction as to whether the university will try to sell it or hold it as a land bank,” Beeler explained. “But there are probably some hospitals on the hill here that are more interested in that property than we are. We think it will be a more appealing site once that building is gone.”

Officials believe that the improved access to the site, offered through the MLK Interchange project, will only improve the value of the land, thus making it even more appealing to another user.

Rumors in the local real estate community suggest that there is interest in the site becoming a medical research campus.

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Arts & Entertainment Business Development News

New Artist Live/Work Homes Coming to Covington’s Lee-Holman Historic District

The Center for Great Neighborhoods (CGN) will celebrate the completion of Covington’s first of five affordable artist live/work spaces later this month. The artist residence project Shot Gun Row is named for the project’s five shotgun-style houses being rehabbed and developed by the Covington-based nonprofit organization.

Shot Gun Row is made up of five row houses on Orchard Street in Covington’s Lee-Holman Historic District. The houses were originally part of seven homes built in the late 1800s. After World War II, shotgun homes were seen as functionally obsolete and abandoned in favor of the modern ranch home, but Kentucky historic guidelines prohibit Orchard Street’s five remaining houses from being torn down.

The Center for Great Neighborhoods, which has completed over 25 historic renovations in the city nestled along the Ohio and Licking Rivers, said they looked at the houses as a unique opportunity to re-purpose the existing houses and help revitalize Covington’s west side.

In 2012 CGN was awarded a $168,000 grant for the project from the Kresge Foundation. Construction on the first house began last summer; the other four homes will be completed by summer 2014. The total project cost is around $600,000 for all five houses. According to Sarah Allan with CGN, most of the live/work spaces available to artists are only available for rent.

“We wanted to provide something [artists] could build equity in that was either the same as or cheaper than their rent,” Allan said. “Part of it is we want to lower people’s overall overhead. If they can live and work in the same space for cheaper, then it might help them to further their art.”

Shot Gun Row’s artist selection policy broadly defines an artist as “an individual who has seriously committed themselves to professional production of their respective art form (i.e. exhibitions, performances, screenings, grants, publications, reviews, commissions, peer recognition),” and earn at least 20% of their income from art.

This flexible definition allows applicants to include tattoo artists, graphic and interior designers, chefs, musicians and set designers in addition to traditional fine artists like sculptors, painters and photographers. It also helps that Shot Gun Row’s developers are able to customize the home’s layout depending on the artist’s needs.

“We recognize that artists want to have some creative say in their living space so we want to provide that flexibility,” Allan explained.

Shot Gun Row’s model home at 323 Orchard Street is laid out so that the studio is located in the front of the house so that it is accessible to the street for art openings and meetings, and also receives northern light which is attractive to many artists. In other homes, an artist could work with the contractor to develop the floor plan as an open studio or place the kitchen in the front of the house, depending on the homeowner’s needs.

While the development will offer affordable, flexible housing for artists, CGN also wants the project to encourage artists to get involved with their community. As part of Shot Gun Row’s artist selection policy, artists are required to contribute something back to the community within a year of purchasing the home, and will work with CGN staff to determine a specific project, whether it be a public sculpture, theater camp, or something else. A sculptor, for instance, might create a piece for Shot Gun Row’s public sculpture garden.

In addition, artists are expected to participate in SpringBoard, ArtWorks’ business development program for creative entrepreneurs, unless they have run a profitable arts-related business for more than three years.

“We’re looking at this not just as a housing projection but an economic development project,” Allan told UrbanCincy.

The market price for a home on Shot Gun Row is $90,000, though Allan said that some homeowners may receive a subsidy depending on income. The City of Covington also offers down payment assistance for anyone purchasing a home in Covington.

In addition to the Kresge Foundation grant, the project received funding through a combination of  U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Community Development Block Grants, and private contributions.

All photographs by Chris Kromer for UrbanCincy.

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Business Development News

$7.8M Renovation of Historic Pabst Bedding Warehouse to Start This March

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) plans to begin a $7.8 million renovation project at the northwest corner of Twelfth and Walnut Streets this March.

The project received a critical boost in late December when the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA) awarded a $778,000 Historic Preservation Tax Credit to 3CDC.

Officials with ODSA say that the project received the tax credits because it was financed, showed a good return on investment, represents a building of significance to the neighborhood, and is ready to move forward immediately.

“The project was funded because it scored well within our criteria,” explained Stephanie Gostomski, Public Information Officer with ODSA. “Also, this is one of the newer structures that contributes to the significance of the Over-the-Rhine Historic District and will retain its warehouse and industrial character upon conclusion of the project.”

Due to the building’s relatively good condition, 3CDC officials say that they expect construction work to take several months and hope to move into what will become the development corporation’s new headquarters this summer. Once complete, 3CDC will occupy 12,000 square feet of the building’s office space, while another tenant will use the remaining 6,000 square feet of office space.

As 3CDC’s success in Over-the-Rhine has mounted, its staff has grown along with it – now with 50 full-time employees and 43 seasonal workers. But 3CDC officials say they are not the only ones placing a premium on office space in the city’s largest historic district.

“There is a lot of demand for larger floor plates with more square footage, and there are plenty of smaller office users,” explained Anastasia Mileham, Vice President of Communications at 3CDC. To that end, Mileham says that the final product will include open floor plans and will reopen the large windows on the building’s north façade.

As part of the move 3CDC will be vacating their existing office space on Race Street near Washington Park. Due to the strong demand for office space, Mileham did not express concern over filling that space and informed UrbanCincy that they are currently finalizing a lease for a new tenant.

In addition to the 18,000 square feet of office space, the prominent warehouse building will also include 9,000 square feet of street-level retail space

The building is one of the largest single structures in Over-the-Rhine south of Liberty Street and was originally a warehouse for Pabst Bedding. The structure then had been used by Society National Bank and later Fifth Third Bank before it was abandoned in the early 2000s.

According to Hamilton County property records, the Art Academy of Cincinnati then purchased the building in 2007 for $450,000 when it relocated its school to Over-the-Rhine, but never utilized the space. The 84-year-old structure was finally sold to 3CDC in September 2013 for $550,000.

The renovation of the Pabst Bedding Warehouse building joins an increasing amount of historic building renovation work along Walnut Street including a frenzy of work for Mercer Commons just to the north, and the renovation of a storefront diagonally across the street to make way for a new beer café called HalfCut.

“The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit strengthens local communities by restoring a piece of its history,” David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, stated in a prepared release. “These projects help enrich cities across Ohio, preserving the character and charm of buildings that may have otherwise been demolished.”

Photographs by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

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Month in Review

Month in Review – November 2013

There was a bounty of news in Cincinnati last month as elections ushered in a new mayor and city council, major projects were either scuttled or advanced, and new political movements fighting those new politicians took root. In case you missed it, here’s a look back at our five most popular stories in November.

    1. Get Over It, Then Get Ready
      In this guest editorial, longtime political activist Don Mooney weighs in with his thoughts and advice for dejected liberals in Cincinnati following the recent election.
    2. Those “streetcar” rails going down on Elm Street are actually light rail tracks
      We’ve all heard complaints that the streetcar doesn’t go far enough, and that light rail should be pursued instead. In this guest editorial, John Schneider explains how those rails on Elm Street will serve as the backbone for a regional light rail system.
    3. Project Executive Estimates Cost to Cancel Streetcar Would Far Exceed $100M
      John Deatrick gave a presentation to Cincinnati City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee to outline the anticipated costs, time frame risks associated with canceling or temporarily stopping work on the $133M project.
    4. University of Cincinnati Moves Forward With Two Demolition Projects
      The storied Wilson Auditorium on UC’s main campus along Clifton Avenue came down, and another iconic structure in Uptown may also soon meet the wrecking ball.
    5. Cincinnati’s New-Found Buzz Helping Attract Retailers to Region
      Since taking office eight years ago, Mark Mallory had been on an aggressive campaign to change Cincinnati’s national image. Part of the intent was to attract new commercial investment, which seems to have payed off.