Cincinnati City Council has approved an ordinance creating a new $300,000 capital improvement program account for the Glencoe Hotel and Condominiums project in Mount Auburn.
Funds for the account will be taken from a surplus in the Neighborhood Market Rate Housing '07 account and can only be used for public improvements, which the City will initiate before January 2009.
Councilmembers Leslie Ghiz and Jeff Berding voted against the ordinance.
Dorian Development has proposed a $20 million rehabilitation of the six buildings in the long-vacant Glencoe-Auburn Row Houses and Glencoe Auburn Hotel complex.
The rehabiliated building shells would then be sold to individual developers, resulting in the construction of 54 condominium units and 14 rental units.
Last month, council approved a motion that would trigger the negotiation of a $5.1 million funding and development agreement between the City and Dorian that was conditional upon the passage of this ordinance.
City administration has been uneasy about financing the project because of insufficient documentation, and worries that City money could be wasted if private financing doesn't materialize before the first unit is produced.
They also worry because no specific homebuilders have been identified, and the entire project rests on Dorian's ability to sell the empty shells in a soft condo market.
Dorian Development plans to unveil the project during Mt. Auburn's Row House Revival, a home show projected for September 2009.
Completion of the Glencoe Hotel and Condominiums is projected for 2011.
Previous reading on BC:
Motion to jumpstart stalled Inwood Village project adopted, but questions remain (9/17/08)
ODOD changes status on Glencoe-Auburn (12/24/07)
Urban Ohio: Fantastic Glencoe-Auburn Place photos (11/21/07)
Inwood Village project seeking preservation tax credits (9/26/07)
Monday, October 6, 2008
City approves $300K for Glencoe-Auburn improvements
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6 comments:
This is an important site that needs a knowlegable developer. Unfortunately Vonderhaar is not that person. She has a record of getting city money repeatedly for the same eventual project that never seems to get completed. What will this $300k buy? Her salary for a year and some drawings?
This project has some serious problems to overcome. The complete lack of enclosed parking for each unit would be at the top of my list. Of slightly less importance is the marginal views. Add to that its location and even before the market tanked, this was a risky endeavor at best; now it seems to simply be a good way to waste tax dollars.
Does this Glencoe project really contain a hotel or is it just the name of an old building that used to be a hotel which is being converted to apts./condos?
Anonymous...This money is supposed to be used for City-owned common areas, not for the buildings themselves.
Anonymous 2...The old building was called the Glencoe-Auburn Hotel, though it's unlikely that it has ever been a hotel in the common sense of the word. It was likely more of a residential hotel than one for transient visitors.
The city would best use this money to raze this site. Have any of you accidentally stumbled into this area? I have--and developed an instant panic. It is far to embedded into an unsafe area with no visibility to protect anyone who might think of purchasing a unit there.
$300K wouldn't even make a dent in the removal of those buildings.
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