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San Francisco looking to create $1.6B mixed-use environment around AT&T Park

San Francisco looking to create $1.6M mixed-use environment around AT&T Park.

The San Francisco Giants are not only looking to remain on top of baseball following their World Series Championship, they are also looking to improve the environs surrounding one of the league’s most unique ballparks. Just as was the case in Cincinnati with the Reds, the Giants are leading the charge to redevelop a parking lot into a mixed-use attraction. More from the San Francisco Chronicle:

The plan to put the long-awaited $1.6 billion Mission Rock development on the cold, desolate parking lot across the channel from AT&T Park is nearly complete, and the prospective landlords couldn’t be happier.

The development, now scheduled to break ground in 2015, would put an entirely new neighborhood on the 16-acre waterfront site known as Seawall Lot 337, providing space for 2,000 residents, 7,000 workers and hordes of visitors to the area’s planned parks, restaurants, shops and attractions.

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Up To Speed

The sky-high cost of China’s sprawling cities

The sky-high cost of China’s sprawling cities.

The growth of China’s urbanized population is truly staggering. But what might be more unique than that is that Chinese cities have been able to learn from the successes and mistakes made in already developed cities in Europe and North America. The problem, however, is that is appears that almost all of the Chinese cities have ignored those lessons. More from the Financial Times:

Pictures of towering skylines in cities that few outsiders have heard of – from Anshan to Zhengzhou – seem to suggest that China’s urban future will not just be big. It will also be a model of sleek modern efficiency. The reality is, more often than not, disappointing. Many Chinese cities are drab facsimiles of each other, beset by clogged roads, dirty air, hastily built apartment blocks, monolithic government buildings and few green spaces.

The real concern is that when the sprawling cities fill up, they will offer a substandard quality of life that will make for a divided society and an economy that fails to deliver on its promise. China still has time to shift its policies to create happier, more productive cities. But the window is beginning to close.

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Business Development News

Proposed Clifton Heights Development Would Demolish Historic Christy’s & Lenhardt’s

On Tuesday, developers presented an initial concept to the CUF Neighborhood Association (CUFNA) for a proposed development at the southeast corner of W. Clifton Avenue and W. McMillan Avenue.

The development team of Gilbane and Optimus, is proposing a six-story, mixed-use development that would include 210 student apartments, street-level retail, and a 245-space parking structure. A total project cost has yet to be defined.

Clifton Heights Development_Concept Rendering
A concept rendering for what the proposed development would look like at W. Clifton and W. McMillan Avenues. Image provided.

Developers say that the two-story parking structure would be hidden by the larger apartment portion of the development, and mention that there would enough room for two retailers along both Clifton and McMillan Avenues.

“The building has an urban character that reflects and harmonizes with the new retail and residential complex across the street,” developers explained in a project report obtained by UrbanCincy. “A dramatic reduction of building scale happens as you turn the corner onto Lyon Street. The majority of this elevation is only two stories high and contains residentially scaled punched openings that are at the base of the Clifton elevation.”

Representatives from Gilbane and Optimus also say that the development will have “abundant” bicycle parking in addition to the spaces provided for automobiles.

Clifton Heights Development_Section Elevation
The concept section elevation shows how the proposed development would relate to its surroundings in Clifton Heights. Image provided.

Should everything go according to plan, the development team says that construction would start in May 2014 and open in August 2015.

The more than four-acre site currently has several houses on it along Lyon Street, the Clifton Natural Foods building, the historic mansion that is home to Christy’s & Lendhardt’s Fine German Dining, and a surface parking lot.

According to University of Cincinnati engineering student Ryan Lammi, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, the developer implied that the development could not go forward unless both buildings located along W. McMillan Avenue were demolished.

So even while the development presents a large investment in the growing neighborhood, not everyone was pleased with the initial concepts.

“The council was adamant about saving Christy’s and keeping a local retailer like Clifton Natural Foods, citing other projects that have brought national chains,” Lammi explained. “They were also pretty upset about demolishing the building at the corner because its [sic] the gateway to the last of the old building stock.”

Clifton Heights Development_First Floor Plan
The historically significant mansion that once housed Christian Moerlein’s daughter sits on the northeastern portion of the proposed development. Image provided.

Local historians point to the mansion housing Christy’s as a significant piece to the city’s beer brewing heritage. According to Steve Hampton, executive director of the OTR Brewery District, the mansion was built by Christian Moerlein as a wedding gift for his daughter in 1881.

Posing a potentially significant hurdle for the development would be the mansion’s pending historic designation.

“CUF has sent a request to the Urban Conservator requesting a designation hearing along with a formal designation application,” said Hampton, who went on to clarify that a hearing date has not been determined.

The process of attaining such designation, Hampton claims, would protect the property from demolition, under city law, until a final ruling is made.

The development team’s current schedule calls for initial site due diligence and inspection work to be completed by May of this year, followed by an eight-month period for the necessary project approvals.

As the project moves forward, Lammi says that students and neighborhood residents plan to be very involved, and intend to meet on Saturday, February 9 at 2pm to discuss the proposal at Rohs Street Café. He says that the meeting will be open to anyone interested in attending, and will offer a venue for people to voice their concerns and opinions on the development.

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Up To Speed

Washington D.C. plans $26B rail investment as Cincinnati moves on first

Washington D.C. plans $26B rail investment as Cincinnati moves on first.

As Cincinnati moves forward with construction of the region’s first rail transit, many residents are now looking forward to what might be next, and how to best connect the growing metropolitan area via rail. Meanwhile, in the nation’s capital, the Washington D.C. Metro has proposed $26 billion worth of upgrades to its already extensive system. More from the Washington Post:

Metro’s top managers are proposing a new rail tunnel under the center of the District, a second tunnel under the Potomac, and they estimate the transit agency will need $26 billion over the next three decades to pay for those and other improvements to an aging system that is falling behind the region’s needs.

The proposed new rail tunnels — one under 10th Street to Thomas Circle and another between Rosslyn and Georgetown and on to Thomas Circle — would be massive undertakings. The projects would require major financial commitments from local and federal governments and would take several years to plan and several more years to complete.

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Business Development News

PHOTOS: The fire that almost took down Cincinnati’s iconic Old St. George

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the fire that nearly destroyed one of Cincinnati’s great 19th century landmarks, and took down the Old St. George’s iconic twin steeples.

Designed by famed Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford, the western steeple at Old St. George caught fire and quickly spread to the adjacent steeple. The electrical fire on February 1, 2008 brought an ignominious end to the steeples that stood handsomely above Calhoun Street for 130 years.

Old St. George
A bizarre electrical fire claimed the iconic steeples of Old St. George on February 1, 2008. Photographs by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

Those who feared what remained of the church would be condemned awoke the next morning to news that the sanctuary and towers suffered no critical damage, but within days, crews removed what remained of the steeples and installed caps over the towers.

The church saw a variety of reuses throughout the 1990s following its closure as a place of worship in 1993 when it was merged with St. Monica’s just six blocks away. Since going into foreclosure in 2004, however, the building has sat vacant with the occasional redevelopment proposal, including one that would have demolished the structure for a new Walgreens.

In response to the proposed demolition, the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment (CHCURC) purchased Old St. George for $1.6 million. Since purchasing the building in 2005 very little has happened.

“Part of our mission is to preserve architecturally significant buildings in the neighborhood,” Matt Bourgeois, CHCURC Director, told the Business Courier in March 2012. “It’s one of the more prominent buildings you’re ever going to find.”

Current plans call for the historic church to undergo a $22 million renovation that would transform the space into an 80-room hotel and events center.