Citing poor pre-sales, Al Neyer, Inc. (Neyer) has backed out of the Linden Park mixed-use project in College Hill, a project they have been involved with since 2005.
Unable to secure financing commitments as required by their sale contract with the City of Cincinnati, they decided not to renew their option for the property on the , the former site of Shuller's Wigwam.
"The Linden Park developer, Al Neyer, Inc., was unable to secure the required number of condominium presales and commercial preleases to break ground within an anticipated timeframe," says Mike Cappel, president of the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC). "Unprecedented downturns in the housing market contributed to slow sales."
Pre-sales of the 19 units began began March 6, with 9 pre-sales needed for the project to break ground - none of which had sales pending according to a search of the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati.
The $9 million, three-story building also would have included 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
In a letter to director of the City's Department of Community Development Michael Cervay dated August 20, James Neyer, vice president of real estate development for Neyer, says that they chose not to renew their option not only because of the poor sales of condominiums, but also because no retail space had been leased, and that the sales team from Midland Retail had been unable to secure any letters of intent from prospective tenants.
"While we recognize the lack of acceptance of both the for-sale housing and retail as market driven, we do not feel that this type of product can be successful even in the future and encourage the community to consider alternate uses for the site," he says.
But at the March opening of the sales center, James Neyer said that "we believe we will hit our condominium pre-sales goal this year and begin construction as soon as we can".
So what changed in five months, especially considering that the housing slump began well before this year? And what happens now?
"Efforts are already underway and interesting options are being explored," Cappel says. "CHCURC is optimistic about new possibilities which may result in a development project even more beneficial to the College Hill community."
James Neyer says that his company would be happy to assist College Hill with knowledge and resources as they look at new redevelopment strategies for the corner.
"We continue our enthusiasm for the College Hill neighborhood and its dedicated community volunteers," he says.
Image credit: Al Neyer, Inc.
Previous reading on BC:
Linden Park reception to kick off sales center opening (3/6/08)
City to sell land, provide loan for Linden Park (2/1/08)
New rendering, townhome developer for Linden Park (9/24/07)
Community support of Linden Park decisive (9/6/07)
Linden Park meeting tonight (9/4/07)
The Boilover
Cincy could use this
4 hours ago
8 comments:
Just look at the "renderings" of the condos and it is no surprise that nobody is interested. I am beginning to see a patteren with Neyer...all that they build is unattractive, not interesting, and cheap looking.
Location is more germane than ever. College Hill is an outer suburb with boor connections to expressways, undistinguished schools, and a half-vacant main street. Because of that, it is possible to pick up a very nice house for much less than the cost of a poorly designed condominium where the streetcar is unlikely to arrive.
Look for a gas station or another strip center to complement the empty "shopping center" CHCURC did at Hamilton/Cedar/Llanfair that never took off. These are the same folks that dreamed up the hideous building at the SW corner of Hamilton and North Bend. The Kroger store and the vacant nursing home next to it are also in the CHCURC/City inventory of blighted property. Hamilton Avenue died the day Northgate Mall opened.
Retail ain't coming back, so scrape it off and re-think the plan, folks.
College Hill has been going the way of Madisonville for about the past 15 years, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. It used to be a strong working-class neighborhood with restaurants, a Graeter's, retail, etc. All that's long gone.
At least Neyer was smart enough NOT to build anything before any sales occurred.
I was in town earlier in the Summer & happened to drive to College Hill. Was I ever surprised to see the neighborhood turned into an absolute dump! A real hole!!(I attended high school in CH decades ago.) There isn't anywhere to shop for groceries, nor a pharmacy store. If I remember correctly, one has to drive further north on Hamilton for such basic services & probably get carjacked along the way.
I wouldn't squander my early retirement money on a condo unit in that neighborhood! Never in a zillion years. I was also told during my visit that College Hill is very dangerous. Friends ventured a guess that their serious crime surpassed that of Madisonville, Walnut Hills & Northside. I was pleasantly surprised to see Northside coming back & overcoming their crime issues.
Neyer made a wise decision in pulling out of the game. Such a concept in that neighborhood isn't going to fly. People with a few bucks aren't going to move into a neighborhood that's all but tanked.
as a past, and proud, member of college hill i can say only this:
build a park.
college hill doesn't need more retail space that will be vacant in a few years...they need to redevelop the 'avenue' to build a stronger community. they also need more patrol allocated to the area. i always felt that the 'leadership' of college were so focused on money that they lost site of community.
I live in College Hill and it is not nearly as bad as some of the people have portrayed here. True it is not the College Hill of when I was younger, but it is far from a crime ridden dump.
I am also not surprised that this failed. I don't really think that Neyer had its heart into the project and to say that a development of this nature will not ever work in the future is a little over the top.
I agree that a park would be good in that general area. There used to be ball fields down the street next to the library. Now they have built the new school where the ball fields were, but the old school still stands. What is going on there?
The main business drag is mostly empty and the largest space is taken up by a church. Unless you attend that church, there is not much of a reason to hit the main drag. The business district needs businesses that people have a connection to.
College Hill is a great community and has a lot of upsides including its close proximity to most of the city. As people begin to move closer to the city again, CH will become a vibrant neighborhood again, much like Northside. We just need businesses that people will use on a daily/regular basis (ie. a grocery, bike shop, hardware store, etc.) College Hill has a tendancy to focus on the past and I agree that the leadership is disconnected to the community. I tried to join the CHCURC when I moved back to CH a year ago, they were happy to take my money, but never contacted me after several attempts to get involved.
I agree that College Hill is not as bad at that last post says. If I didnt live in Hartwell, my second choice in the City would be College Hill. They have a strong Civic involvement and wonderful residents who are fighting the good fight of making it the best neighborhood possible in the City. They have also obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in City funds to pay for neighborhood improvements to the entire community and business district.
Dont always beleive what people tell you or you hear on the news...wanna know what is REALLY going on in College Hill? Go to the College Hill coffee shop, many a neighborhood meetings have taken place there. At least give credit to the residents who fight hard to keep the neighborhood moving in a positive direction!
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