The Inspirational Baptist Church is planning a 1,500-seat worship/community center on the site of the former Surf Cincinnati waterpark.

The project will be built on 14.23 acres off of Sebring Drive, which also borders I-275.

The church bought the property in January 2006.

In the future, the church hopes to purchase additional adjacent acreage for sports facilites, social services, youth programs and a restaurant. The church is also in preliminary talks with the Windham group for a 99-room hotel and conference facility.

Inspirational Baptist Church, which turns 50 this September, is currently located on seven acres at 9208 Daly Road. Their congregation has grown from 300 to 1,700 in the last five years.

Surf Cincinnati closed due to bankruptcy in 2002.


9208 Daly Road: Not large enough?

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking south)

RIP: 2106 Central Ave, West End
Commercial warehouse

DOB: Circa 1865
Died: June 2007
Cause of death: Collapsed roof, bulging walls and siding falling off. The building was condemned in 2006, and the owners claimed during a pre-prosecution hearing that they had hired an architect to help with the repair. When nothing was done, it went to criminal court. The city declared the structure a public nuisance and put the demolition out for bid. The owners plead no contest and were found guilty.

RIP: 106 Peete St, Over-the-Rhine
Single-family

DOB: Circa 1865
Died: June 2007
Cause of death: Demolished for redevelopment. It has been a couple of years since I have heard of plans for new housing on this stretch of Peete. I think a few of the properties have since been sold.

RIP: 722 Greenwood Ave, Avondale
Multi-family apartments

DOB: 1921
Died: July 2007
Cause of death: Roof failure and a collapsed chimney exacerbated by storm damage, as well as incomplete rehab work from 2005. Being open to the public, children were getting inside and playing in there. The building was condemned in April 2006 and declared a public nuisance in July 2006.

Habitat's "Avon" model

Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity and the University of Cincinnati will partner on a new home at 3570 Haven Street in Avondale.

The home will be built using Habitat's "Avon" model, which features 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths and a full basement.

A typical Habitat/UC project breaks ground in September.

Habitat is awaiting the building permits.

This is the fifth build involving UC faculty and students, whose volunteer effort is steered by the university's Center for Community Engagement.

The most recent project was dedicated on May 19, just down the street at 3556 Haven Street.

On that house, the Muianga family put in 500 hours in sweat equity and were able to purchase the $70,000 home with a 25-year, interest-free mortgage.

UC also partnered on two homes on Winkler Street between 2003 and 2005 and on another home on Haven Street between 2005 and 2006.

Habitat, in conjunction with local sponsors and homeowners, have built over 130 homes since 1986.

A homeowner family for this project has not yet been named.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking east)

Twenty-three photos have been added in the following galleries:

* Sharonville: 12 photos
* Silverton: 5 photos
* Reading: 3 photos
* Springdale: 1 photo
*Union Centre (West Chester): 1 photo
* West College Hill: 1 photo

Click the above photo to go directly to the Sharonville gallery. The gallery will open in a new browser window.

For the other galleries, look at the drop-down menu at the top of the right-hand column. The links have been conveniently moved there.

Over the weekend I spent several hours re-formatting this blog into a three-column format.

Blog information is in the left column, the main stuff is still in the middle and development news/blog archive is still on the right side.

The masthead has also been improved.

The best part is that the photo galleries are now on a drop-down menu at the top of the right column. No more being buried at the bottom of the page!

I would like your input on the new look. How does it perform on your monitor? I have tested it out on several computers and it's looking fine.

The Enquirer reports* that Cincinnati has received $3 million for remediation of the former Queen City Barrel property.

The Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds should become available in October, and demolition could begin later this year.

Fifteen projects received a total of $43 million.

The $25 million MetroWest project will consist of light industrial, flex and office space on 18 acres in Lower Price Hill.

Al Neyer Inc. and Resurgence Group LLC estimate that the project will create 400 jobs by the time it is built out in 7 to 10 years.

BC: City frees $413,000 for land at MetroWest site (6/28/07)
BC: Lower Price Hill: MetroWest update (4/2/07)

* I don't normally report what appears in the local papers, but, for the sake of continuity, I'll occasionally post if it's a story that this blog's been following.

Well, yes and no. It's not that Vladimir Putin.

But it's amazing the kind of funny things you can find when you're just poking around on your computer.

Some guy by the name of Vladimir Putin owns several properties in the East Westwood and Price Hill areas, most of them not spectacular. In fact, most are dumps.

Internet searches for this particular Vladimir Putin were unsuccessful. I'll leave it for you to figure out why.

I'm also fairly sure that the Russian president doesn't have a wife named Lily and he doesn't live on Suire Avenue in Price Hill.

A quick search showed that nobody named George Bush owns any property in Hamilton County.


Putin's most recent prize-winning acquisition: 2159 Baltimore Avenue, purchased for $3,500.

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Cincinnati.com and CincyTechUSA are sponsoring a "Best Blogs" contest.

There are two categories: Best overall community blog, and best blog by a Chamber member.

Click here to nominate a blog. You may vote for more than one. I have voted for a lot of local blogs, because I appreciate the work that goes into them and I feel that we should all support each other.

Here's the crappy part. The deadline is Friday, July 27. In other words, TODAY! I don't know if they're accepting entries throughout the day or if there's some sort of cutoff point. But, as of this writing (12:15 AM, Friday) the nomination page is still up.

Oh...the crappier part: Winners receive an iPhone but NO AT&T service. So you have to pay for that. What good's the phone without the service? Geez...at least pay for a year or something!

Cole Realty Associates soon will begin construction of a multi-tenant retail building in Mount Washington.

The building, at Beechmont and Roxbury avenues, will be 9,739 square feet and can be broken into as many as six tenant spaces.

Spaces of between 1,400 and 9,300 square feet are being marketed at $16 to $18 per square foot.

Parking will be in the rear of the building.

Sales for the project are being handled by Colliers Turley Martin Tucker.


Site plan

BC: Mount Washington: 2312-2316 Beechmont Ave (4/8/07)

Preliminary plans for a 160,000-square-foot megachurch were approved by the Anderson Township Board of Trustees.

Horizon Community Church is seeking to build the church and a 1,200-space surface parking lot on land from the former Indian Valley Golf Course.

The approval allows for a zoning change from "H" Riverfront to "A-A CUP" Planned Residence. "H" Riverfront zoning does not allow churches.

A more detailed development plan will be submitted later this year. The Anderson Township Zoning Commission will review those plans to make sure that they comply with the trustees' conditions of approval.

BC: Anderson Twp: Horizon Community Church elevation sketches (6/28/07)
BC: Anderson Twp: Horizon Community Church project update (6/6/07)
BC: Anderson Twp: Horizon Community Church project (5/8/07)

Rendering from MLS of Greater Cincinnati

Boulder Construction is building this new single-family house at 467 Missouri Avenue.

The 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home is on the market for $469,900 and is being sold through Re/Max Unlimited.

The house is expected to be completed this fall.

Boulder Construction plans to build an additional two houses at the site.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking west)

Rendering from Pinnacle website

Pinnacle Building Group is building a 6,500-square-foot house that is two to four times larger than those in the surrounding neighborhood.

The project will involve the teardown of a 1,500-square-foot ranch-style house at 7787 Kugler Mill Road.

Homes in the area were built between the late 1940s and the mid-1950s, are ranch-style, and are between 1,500 and 3,000 square feet.

In 2005, the county auditor valued the old house at $190,000.

Pinnacle purchased the house for $250,000 and is now selling the lot for $349,000.

Within the last few years, the teardown trend has been gaining strength in the northeastern suburbs of Blue Ash, Montgomery and Sycamore Township.

The new house will be in the Indian Hill school district.


Formerly 7787 Kugler Mill

Visit the Pinnacle Building Group website
WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking south)

Sketch from the MLS of Greater Cincinnati

College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation president Bob Ludwig reports that the Linden Park Commons project will break ground in 2008.

The two-phase project at Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road will start with the northeast block, the former home of Shuller's Wigwam.

Pre-sales of condominiums for that phase began last October. Ludwig has said that groundbreaking would occur once 40 percent of the units were pre-sold or pre-leased.

Linden Park Commons will be a mixed-use development featuring retail, office space, 28 condos/townhomes and single-family homes.

The development also includes the site of a vacant Kroger and the Masonic Eastern Star Home.

The $25 million project is being developed by Neyer.

Building Cincinnati: College Hill: Linden Park Commons update (4/24/07)

Loveland City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on a controversial plan for empty-nester condominiums.

Hills Communities is proposing to build 70 patio homes, priced between $190,000 and $303,000, on 27 acres of land at the intersection of State Route 48 and Butterworth Road.

The proposal has not been well-received by residents, most of whom are from the adjacent Brandywine on the Little Miami subdivision. They fear increased traffic, problems with runoff, loss of wildlife and a decline in property values.

They are also concerned about the possible loss of an 11-acre tract of undeveloped land known as the Chrisman property, which was purchased by the city and was to become the city's first Warren County park. This land would be used for an entryway into the project and was included in the density calculations, which many residents who attended the public hearings found to be dishonest.

After several public meetings, Hills Communities dropped the number of homes from their original proposal of 92 and has proposed conserving 59 percent of the site as open space. They've also agreed to heavy buffering.

On June 22, the Loveland Planning and Zoning Commission approved of the concept plan by a 3-2 vote.

8:30 PM. Loveland City Council. Loveland Middle School, 8015 Lebanon Road.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW

517 Oak Avenue

A two-story frame house, built in 1875, is available to anyone willing to buy it and move it off of its lot.

The City of Wyoming is accepting sealed proposals until August 31 for the home, which is at 517 Oak Avenue.

The recommended proposal is expected to be submitted to city council for its September 17 meeting.

The City purchased the property from Marcella Boland in August 2006 for $80,000.

The lot, which is between Sturkey's and the Safety Services Building, is likely to be used to expand the surrounding surface parking lots.

City Council authorized the demolition of the house on June 18 but, following the advice of local preservation experts, created a six-month window to get the property sold and moved.

The city will consider donating it to a historic preservation organization if that organization can finance the move.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking west)

I have added 37 new photos to my Norwood gallery, bringing the number of Norwood photos to 51.

I've also added a few shots of two suburban spots:

* North College Hill - 5 photos
* Monfort Heights - 3 photos

Click on the photo above to go directly to the Norwood gallery. The link will open in a new browser window.

For the other galleries, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

A planning document to guide the future growth of Clough Pike has been approved by the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.

Recommendations from the Clough Pike Business District Redevelopment Plan include enhancement and preservation of existing commercial businesses, redevelopment between Royal Green Drive and Hunley Road, streetscaping, fewer curb cuts, and a landscaped median.

In November 2005, Anderson Township Trustee Al Peter said that the goal of the plan was to give an "upscale" and pedestrian-friendly feel to the business district, which runs from Bartles Road to Berkshire Lane*.

The study was developed by students from UC's School of Planning between January and March 2006.

Anderson Township staff took the study to business district stakeholders in the summer of 2006 and incorporated recommendations of existing township plans, adding specific development guidelines.

The Anderson Township Zoning Commission saw the plan in February 2007. Public hearings continued throughout March, which refined the plan according to residents' and business owners' concerns and desires.

On May 31, 2007, the Anderson Township Trustees passed a resolution to approve the plan.



(PDF, 5.47 MB)
WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking west)


* Forest Hills Journal: Township hires UC for Clough Pike Planning (11/2/05)

Jackie Danicki is a professional, a blogger, and a professional blogger. She's a blogging consultant and founder of the London-based non-profit Engagement Alliance.

She's also a British import who offers a fresh take on life in Cincinnati.

It's usually a good read. I've added her to my blogroll.

There's going to be construction on the Brent Spence Bridge again this weekend, with the same lane closures.

If you're within the sphere of influence of local TV, radio, and newspapers, then you should know about this already.

If you get stuck in traffic, save the excuses. It's your own damn fault.

Well, the Enquirer scooped me yesterday on the American Can developers' desire to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

What I had prepared is at the very end of this post.

So to make up for that I have put together a collection of American Can photographs. Click to enlarge. The photo will open in a new browser window.

This series of photos and captions was part of a report prepared by the Department of Community Development and Planning's Historic Conservation Office. I do not know who actually took the photographs.






American Can project seeks Local Historic Landmark designation

In an effort to obtain state tax credits, the developers of Northside's American Can Factory Square project are hoping to have the site declared a Local Historic Landmark by the City.

To receive the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit, a building must be certified as a local landmark by its local government or must be on the National Register of Historic Places.

Developers Bloomfield, Schon & Partners are hoping for the local designation because a decision on their inclusion on the National Register isn't likely until December, or later*, and the state tax credit is a significant portion of their funding plan.

The tax credit is equal to 25 percent of the developer's rehabilitation expenditures. Only 100 tax credit certificates can be issued over any one year period**.

The American Can building, built in 1921, is a nearly unaltered building in the Commercial Style and was home to one of the nation's largest can manufacturers, employing as many as 1,000 people by the early 1950s.

The City's website as Local Historic Landmarks. The property also abuts the .

The City Planning Commission and the Historic Conservation Board have endorsed the Local Landmark designation.

A public hearing on the designation will be held in front of the City's Economic Development Committee on July 31.

Upon completion, the former factory will contain 93 market-rate apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. There will also be a new 20,000 square foot office building, 13,000 square feet of retail on the adjacent Myron Johnson property, and 30 townhomes along Langland Street.

Building Cincinnati: Northside: American Can Factory Square (5/16/07)
Building Cincinnati: Northside: American Can Factory Square (3/17/07)

* The National Park Service deemed the project eligible in 2006 and the City's Historic Conservation Board recommended it to the Ohio Historic Preservation Site Advisory Board in June. They will then make a recommendation to the Keeper of the National Register, who isn't likely to make the decision until December.

** These are generally considered on a first-come, first-served basis and not released all at once on a certain date.

Lot 4 (full map below): Click to enlarge

City Council may be asked to approve a modification to the Banks' subdivision plat at its August 1 meeting*.

The modification of Lot 4 (see map) will allow the county control of the lot below a contour elevation of 510 feet** while preserving the City's air rights above that point.

This will allow for county construction of the parking garages necessary to lift the development out of the Ohio River flood plain.

The 2.58 acres, surrounded by Main, Second and Walnut streets as well as Freedom Way, will likely be the starting point of Phase I.

Phase I will include 300 apartments, 100 condos, 70,000 square feet of retail and 200,000+ square feet of office space.

According to the non-binding deal announced by the Banks Working Group on June 14, ground is expected to be broken next April.


Banks subdivision plat: Click to enlarge

* The agenda was unavailable as of this posting.
** In other words, 510 feet above sea level.

AN EDITORIAL

Last weekend's traffic snarl on the Brent Spence Bridge had nothing to do with the City of Cincinnati, though people like Michelle McGuffin of Elizabethtown, Kentucky seem to think so.

Scheduled maintenance to remove crumbling concrete on the bridge shut down two lanes on southbound I-75 and I-71, including lanes on both approaches to the bridge. Traffic was brought to a near stop, backing up as far as the Mitchell Avenue exit and causing waits of several hours.

The project was completed in time for Monday's rush hour.

Many people were caught off-guard by the construction, which was moved to the weekend to lessen its traffic impact.

So why did so many get stuck? Local media was saturated with information on the closure, including the very same paper that published Ms. McGuffin's letter.

And for those from out of town, where was ARTIMIS? Did their signs display information on the backup and suggest alternate routes? I never travel the interstates within the metro, so I don't know firsthand, but I have heard that north of I-275 they certainly did*.

How many people chose to ignore that advice, causing problems to be worse than they had to be?

The sad fact is that these poor souls sitting in traffic had plenty of time to study the City's skyline, and were therefore left with the (mistaken) impression that this was all Cincinnati's fault.

Perhaps Ms. McGuffin should stop writing letters to the editor and should concentrate her anger on ODOT, which could have probably done a better job of diverting traffic away from the trouble spot.

Better yet, she should fire off some letters to her own elected officials in Frankfort, who have been dragging their feet on this bridge problem for far too long, making these types of piecemeal repairs necessary.

Unfortunately, ignorance is the basis for the vast majority of the negative impressions of this City both locally and regionally. As supporters of this City, we can't just sit back and let this kind of thinking go on by.

Oh, well. At least she liked the Zoo.

* To be fair, if your point of entry to southbound I-75 had been Mitchell Avenue or Hopple Street, you were probably screwed.

At their June 27 meeting, City Council unanimously approved rezoning for Vandercar's mixed use project called The Yards.

The zoning change, to PD Planned Development District (PD 48), means that the City has accepted the concept plan for development of the site, which straddles the neighborhoods of Riverside and Sedamsville.

Vandercar will now need to submit a more thorough final development plan to the City Planning Commission. The City Planning Commission disapproved of the concept plan in March, citing its failure to conform to the existing Land Use Plan and its lack of a fiscal impact analysis.

If ultimately approved, the rezoning will allow Vandercar to channel TIF money into infrastructure improvements to the site. These improvements include raising the site out of the 100-year flood plain, building a retaining wall along River Road, installing sewers and improving the River Road/Fairbanks Avenue intersection.

The $60 million-$80 million project for the old Conrail transfer station on Cincinnati's western riverfront will contain around 1 million square feet of big-box, retail, office and hotel space.

Only one retailer, Lowe's, has signed a letter of intent for a store on the site. Vandercar is still trying to land a second big-box tenant.

A previous estimate for completion -- if the final development plan was approved by this summer -- was around the third quarter of 2009.

A more detailed description of the project can be seen here:
Building Cincinnati: Riverside/Sedamsville: The Yards (5/15/07)

RIP: 3018 Ahrens Street, Corryville
Single-family

DOB: 1895
Died: June 2007
Cause of death: Failing foundation caused structure to bow, endangering neighboring home. Condemned in 2006. Purchased (for some reason) earlier this year but no repairs were done.

RIP: 4031 Cherry Street, Northside
Single-family

DOB: 1885
Died: June 2007
Cause of death: Bad roof, no windows, missing siding. Condemned since at least 2004. Declared a public nuisance in September 2006. The homeowner was put in a nursing home and was unable to pay for repairs or for demolition.

RIP: 2208 Champlain Street, Westwood
Single-family

DOB: 1935
Died: July 2007
Cause of death: Abandoned. Condemned by the City in 2005.

I've recently added development news from Cinplify. Cinplify is a local news aggregator for local news and blog posts that lets readers vote on which stories are important to them. The widget I installed shows the five most recent stories posted to the Construction/Developments section. Clicking on one of those stories takes you through Cinplify--all you need to do then is click on the headline to go to the original story. (You may even want to poke around Cinplify for a while.)

I'm also looking into taking this blog to three columns instead of two. The two columns require a lot of scrolling, and I don't like my photo links being buried at the bottom of the page. I'd also like to fill the whole page and get rid of all of that dead space along the sides of the blog. Most peoples' monitors can handle the wider pages -- only 7% of my last 500 visitors were using 800 x 600 resolution.

Oh...and I added a Technorati thing, if you're into that.

5chw4r7z has posted on his blog a few details regarding the condos planned for the Hudepohl property on West Sixth Street in Queensgate.

This is the closest thing to details on what the condo units themselves might look like. And apparently the smokestack will be saved, which is awesome.

Be sure to check out the photos too.

Building Cincinnati: Hudepohl Property may still be developed (6/15/07)
Building Cincinnati: Queensgate: 801 W Sixth St (2/13/07)

Site plan from Kaylor website: Click to enlarge

Kaylor Custom Homes is currently selling homes lots in its Paddison Trail development.

Four homes are being offered from $299,900 to $399,900. Two appear to be completed and ready for occupancy.

Lots in the Anderson Township subdivision start at $300,000.

Paddison Trail is off of Paddison Road, near Anderson Center...Anderson Towne Center...Anderson Towne Place...the old Beechmont Mall.


4 Paddison Trails


2 Paddison Trails

Visit the Kaylor Custom Homes website
WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW