After 25 years in Downtown Cincinnati, the owner of the Dennison Hotel is moving to Florida, and he's looking to sell.
The eight-story building at (BIRD'S EYE), which was built in 1890, is currently a 105-unit single-room occupancy hotel run by a Mr. Patel.
Though Patel had tried to sell the property himself, he is now ready to sell it through a realtor for $600,000.
The Hamilton County Auditor has assessed the building at just over $1 million.
Eric Lusain, who owns the neighboring building and several other along Main Street, says that residents of the hotel sometimes throw trash on the roof - including crack pipes and bags of human waste - that Patel sometimes cleans up.
"It's more than a blight to the block," Lusain says. "That block's gotta come back."
Lusain would like to track down a group of other developers to convert the building to condominiums, perhaps with one 5,000-square-foot unit for each of the seven residential floors.
He says that the lack of parking makes other uses, like apartments or offices, problematic.
"The Joseph family [of the Joseph Auto Group] owns the surrounding parking lots, and they're probably not going to give up any spaces," Lusain says.
A 10,000-square-foot first-floor retail space, which was once occupied by a printing company, could be restored, or could be used to accommodate 14 parking spaces - two per condominium.
Conservative estimates for the building's renovation are $3 million to $4 million.
Lusain hopes that developers will jump at the opportunity.
"My fear is that someone else will buy the building and run it the same," Lusain says.
City Drawings by James Keniston
58 minutes ago
5 comments:
Hmmmm. About a month ago I inquired through a realtor about this property - at the time listed for $750,000. I was told the owner wanted to reconsider his options and that they would be back in touch within a week. I never heard back from the realtor but did notice that the listing was suddenly for $1,100,000. Tends to put people off. Haven't seen it at this new price mentioned in the post.
I think that apartments would be a better fit, but obviously parking is the issue for that scenario...an issue that I think is very much worth looking into. Apartments Downtown currently see about a 94% occupancy rate, and I have personally seen rents rise at a number of places Downtown recently.
Here's where Brad comes in and says that with a streetcar running on Main, those apt. dwellers would need cars.
But, here's where I will say that if we had a good car-sharing program, 14 parking spaces would be more than enough spaces for 30+ units. Rando or BC, know if Cincy has a min. residential parking requirement?
From what I understand, there isn't a minimum parking requirement in the downtown development district.
However, selling the units would be difficult if there was no dedicated parking. That's where it becomes problematic.
I am a student at Antonelli College which is just across the street form this old building. I know for a fact that the college is looking to expand and soon. Someone should walk over there and talk to the dean about possibilities for the school. Parking would be no more of an issue there than it is in the main building. Sounds like a win win to me!
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