Tag: urban design

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City, county leaders celebrate latest milestone in Cincinnati’s central riverfront transformation

The sixth major portion of Cincinnati’s central riverfront transformation is now finished as city and county leaders celebrate the completion of the new street grid and a 729-space parking garage. The garage will lift the next phase of private development out of the Ohio River’s 100-year flood plain, and the completion of Freedom Way will connect both ends of the massive development.

The new parking garage is part of the larger Central Riverfront Garage system that spans five city blocks and makes the area buildable for private development. To date, Carter and Dawson Company has teamed to build an $80 million development that houses 300 apartments and 90,000 square feet of retail space.

“My wife and I walk, bike or drive past The Banks construction on a daily basis,” explained downtown condo owner Bob Schwartz. “As big a project as it is daily progress is visible if you see it regularly and I’ve thought it’s had a reasonably good pace considering its scope.”


Developers hope to break ground next summer on $75 million worth of mixed-use development atop the recently completed portion of the Central Riverfront Garage.

Officials have stated that negotiations are ongoing to bring a hotel to the site, as well as office tenants that would finance a new tower. Aside from the obvious construction progress there are also several other notable features that are now coming online at The Banks.

The new Central Riverfront Garage system includes valet parking and accepts credit cards through an electronic payment system. The new garage system has also includes a theme-based navigation setup. For example, sports fans can can see whether they are parked in the Baseball Block (red) or Football Block (orange).

All of the exposed garages will eventually be topped with private investment in a manner the development is intimately familiar. By lifting the development out of an undesirable area by garages, the public sector is able to essentially construct building pads for which future development will occur. This approach is very similar to what Carter has used when building out Atlantic Station in Atlanta.


The Central Riverfront Garage includes a theme-based navigation system organized by colors and symbols to help visitors navigate the massive parking structure.

The development team expects to start work on the next $75 million phase of development next summer. That portion, which lies immediately west of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, is anticipated to include an additional 300 apartments and even more retail space. Prior to that developers may get started on two anchor restaurants to be built in front of the Freedom Center.

“Many students are excited for the completion of the development,” said Heights Community Council member and University of Cincinnati student Tim Oliver. “While construction timelines may be adhered to, the public wants what The Banks promises now.”

The vast 2,400-space garage system is controlled by Hamilton County and is intended to serve the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals professional sports franchises, while also creating additional parking for future office towers along 3rd Street. The latest phase of public investment was made largely possible by a $23 million grant from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.

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Business Development News

CPA honors Cincinnati’s best preservation projects in 2011

Cincinnati Preservation Association (CPA) held their 47th annual awards ceremony this past weekend at Hughes High School. More than 70 people attended the ceremony that honored the best preservation projects throughout the Cincinnati region.

Eight awards were given out, in total, in the categories of rehabilitation and sustainability. According to CPA, two of the awards focused specifically on the restoration of public buildings and spaces.

“Cincinnati’s historic public schools represent civic architecture at its best,” said Paul Muller, Executive Director, Cincinnati Preservation Association. “We are proud to honor Cincinnati Public Schools’ brilliant renovation of Hughes High School and the City’s ongoing stewardship of City Hall, as expressed by the restoration of the beautiful Council Chambers ceiling.”


Ten historic structures along Vine Street were renovated as part of the Parvis Lofts development in Over-the-Rhine.

Projects receiving the remaining awards were distributed across the city. A 1926 home in Hyde Park and an 1896 home in North Avondale won awards for their stately renovations. Meanwhile the renovation of an 1870s structure in Northside won CPA’s sustainability award for achieving LEED Gold certification.

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati also won an award for the renovation of its 77,000-square-foot headquarters in Walnut Hills. CPA officials say that United Way’s structure dates back to 1933 and serves as a monument for the neighborhood.

In Cincinnati’s largest historic district, Over-the-Rhine, two projects won awards for their preservation of 13 total structures. Saengerhalle renovated three deteriorating structures built in the late 1800s into 32,000 square feet of office and commercial space.

A block east of Saengerhalle, the Parvis Lofts project renovated ten vacant buildings into 32 apartments which are fully leased. The $10.7 million development also received awards from the Ohio Historical Society and the Associated Builders & Contractors.

“We were fortunate to have a great team that developed Parvis Lofts,” Rick Kimbler, NorthPointe Group partner, told UrbanCincy. “Collectively, we took ten buildings and melded them into one great complex that the community immediately embraced.”

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Business Development News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati submits $56.8M TIGER III application to fund modern streetcar extension

Local governments across the United States are in the process of competing for $527 million worth of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) III funds. The deadline for applications was October 31, and the City of Cincinnati once again has applied for funds.

Cincinnati’s TIGER III application requests $56.8 million for phase one of the Cincinnati Streetcar. City officials say that the money will go to immediately restore the project’s segments that were eliminated following Governor Kasish’s (R) controversial reallocation of $52 million in early 2011.

“These funds would be used to restore the critical Riverfront Loop and Uptown Connector components that were removed from the original phase one,” said Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) planner Melissa McVay.


Rendering of a modern streetcar heading north along Main Street towards Uptown [LEFT]. Rendering of a modern streetcar in front of Great American Ball Park along the riverfront [RIGHT].

The two segments city officials hope to restore are estimated to cost $56.8 million – exactly matching the City’s TIGER III request. Planners say that the dollar amounts include construction, utilities, two trains, project administration, contingency, and the remaining design elements.

The prospects for winning the TIGER III funding appear much brighter following the defeat of Issue 48. The Charter amendment would have banned the City from making any investments in rail transportation for the next decade, and many feared would have been the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Cincinnati Streetcar. Instead, Issue 48 was defeated and a super-majority of streetcar supporters was elected to City Council.

“Should the city win this federal grant, the Cincinnati Streetcar will not only benefit the thousands of residents, and tens of thousands of workers on its current route, but also connect the approximately 40,000 students at UC with the growing number of entertainment destinations along the riverfront,” explained Brad Thomas, Founder, CincyStreetcar Blog.

The City of Cincinnati was unsuccessful with two previous TIGER applications in 2009 and 2010. TIGER III grant winners are expected to be announced by the end of 2011.

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Business Development News

$400M Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati construction continuing at rapid pace

While city leaders would prefer to have the construction of the $400 million Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati further along, many are pleased with its current breakneck pace of work.

The development is beginning to fill up the notorious 22-acre Broadway Commons site that Jim Tarbell (D) had once envisioned to become the home of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds eventually landed on the riverfront at the Great American Ball Park, and Broadway Commons continued to sit underutilized as a crumbling surface parking lot.

Developers of the new casino have thus far exceeded minority inclusion goals, and appear to be satisfying the desires of the surrounding community. Some of those efforts include not building a hotel on-site for the time being, and facing restaurants out towards the street instead of inward towards the casino floor.

The City of Cincinnati has been working with Bridging Broadway to ensure that the development leverages the best possible outcome for historic Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton and central business district. Recent efforts by city leaders include the approval of $27 million for streetscape enhancements in the immediate vicinity of the new casino.

Published author and UrbanCincy photographer Jake Mecklenborg visited the site in recent weeks in order to provide readers with an exclusive look at the progress taking place to transform one of the urban core’s most beleaguered sites into a vibrant destination expected to attract six million visitors annually.

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News Opinion Politics Transportation

Visit from President Obama raises political stakes surrounding the Brent Spence Bridge project

The Brent Spence Replacement/Rehabilitation Project – the Cincinnati region’s largest public works project in a generation – has received more media attention in the past three months than in the nine years since project planning began in 2002. But unfortunately much of the recent conversation has been politicized, with dozens of leaders and media outlets errantly stating that the existing Brent Spence Bridge will be demolished after a new bridge is built.

At an April 20, 2009 press conference, OKI announced that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Ohio Department of Transportation had agreed on a plan that would see a new bridge built for I-75 immediately west of the Brent Spence Bridge and that the existing bridge would be rehabilitated and carry I-71. This plan was endorsed by politicians such as Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning, who remarked at the conference that “Conceptually, what they’ve pointed out to me is a very workable plan and it will be something that we all can be proud of.”

Although the local media did report on this “hybrid” plan, it was not covered repeatedly, and so failed to be absorbed by the public. When a great media wave did appear this past summer, outlets repeatedly reported that the Brent Spence Bridge would be “replaced”. Another media surge appeared in September, in anticipation of the September 22 visit by President Barack Obama. Again, it was repeatedly reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer and various television and radio stations that the Brent Spence Bridge will be replaced.

The incredible amount of confusion surrounding the project appears to have been caused by a mix of ghost writing by highway lobbyists, the unfamiliarity of the local media with how Interstate Highway projects are funded and the lingering power of postwar pro-highway propaganda.

On a half-dozen occasions this month, various Cincinnati Enquirer reporters wrote that the bridge would be replaced, in addition to letters to the editor that repeated this myth. On September 14, Enquirer reporter Amanda Van Benshoten reported that the Brent Spence Bridge would be replaced and that it “would remain open” – all in the same article.

Functionally Obsolete vs. Obsolete
The local media and politicians who have associated themselves with this project have made liberal use of the term Functionally Obsolete, engineering jargon that most often describes a bridge with no emergency shoulders, a low overhead clearance, narrow lanes, or ramps with tight curves. The power of this phrase was even invoked by President Obama in his September 22 speech:

“Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge. It’s located on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. It sees about 150,000 vehicles every single day. And it’s in such poor condition that it’s been labeled “functionally obsolete.” Think about that — functionally obsolete. That doesn’t sound good, does it?”

No, it doesn’t sound good, which is why some bureaucrat (or more likely an auto industry public relations wizard) concocted it decades ago. It insinuates structural deficiency – an official term that does denote structural problems — but which does not describe the current condition of the Brent Spence Bridge.

When it is rehabilitated after a new bridge is built, the Brent Spence will have its decks restriped with three wide lanes on each deck instead of its current four narrow lanes, and emergency breakdown lanes will be restored. Its approaches will be reconfigured and it is possible that after 2020 or so the Brent Spence will no longer be classified as Functionally Obsolete.


The Delta Queen passes under the existing Brent Spence Bridge.

The Brent Spence Bridge as Boogeyman
The Brent Spence Bridge (or more accurately, the configuration of its approaches) is the worst traffic bottleneck in the Cincinnati area, but a source of delays and a panorama of rust that would hardly pass notice in New York City or Boston. It nevertheless has been pitted as an enemy by local politicians, and the failure of the local media to do basic public document research, has allowed the bridge project to become whatever any elected official says it is.

Most believe that the Brent Spence Bridge Replacement/Rehabilitation Project, even after last month’s visit by President Obama, will not receive enough funding in the upcoming Transportation Bill to break ground until the next bill is negotiated sometime around 2017 or 2018. Look for local politicians – especially those with Tea Party affiliations – to blame this delay on government.

The project could in fact break ground in the short-term if Ohio and Kentucky cooperated to toll all area Ohio River bridges. Modest tolls could generate over $1 million per week and enable the neighboring states to sell bonds sufficient to fund this project.

But the fact that this is not happening perhaps best illustrates why Congress has hesitated to allocate money – there are no major structural problems with the Brent Spence Bridge, there are three other interstate highway bridges nearby if any problem should arise, and the project’s huge scale promises a very low rate of return on the investment.