John Hutton and Sandra Gross want to make sure that the investments they’ve made in Oakley don't go to waste.
Hutton and Gross, husband-and-wife owners of Brazee Street Studios and Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore and Decafé, have been working to attract businesses and families into what was once "a magnet area for drugs and sketchy dealings", Hutton said in a recent communication to Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
"We are deeply invested and proud of the area, and though stressed by all of the Madison Road construction, are excited about the recent development and continued upward arc of the neighborhood," he said.
Hutton and Gross formed Brazee Street studios in December 2009 as a resource center to teach the "warm glass" art form. The renovated warehouse, which is pursuing a LEED Silver rating, features 21,000 square feet of rentable artist space, a teaching studio, art gallery, and a 33.5 kilowatt Solyndra photovoltaic solar panel system.
They have even taken to renovating two apartment buildings – one on Brazee Street and one on Enyart Street – and have sent two long-time problem tenants packing.
But despite their best efforts, they still see a steady flow of derelict individuals crossing the Madison Road pedestrian bridge and walking along the railroad tracks, sometimes trespassing onto their property.
To clean up the area, Hutton suggested that the City and neighborhood work together to redevelop the abandoned, boarded up passenger rail station into a community center, museum, or other public use.
Built in 1871 to serve passengers on the Marietta & Cincinnati line, it was purchased by the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) line in 1880 and later became part of the Chessie system.
According to records, the station's last use appears have been in June 1950, when B&O rerouted the Cincinnatian service from Baltimore-Cincinnati to Detroit-Cincinnati, bypassing Oakley altogether.
To Hutton, the station's redevelopment would be an excellent investment for Oakley and the City of Cincinnati, building on a budding "arts district" that includes such businesses as Brazee Street Studios, Boca, and Voltage.
Otherwise, potential tenants, customers and residents may sour on the emerging neighborhood and Oakley could begin a steady rot.
"With modest city investment, the lot could be upgraded or converted into green serpace, the station could become an Oakley attraction, the tracks cleaned up to make them inviting for walkers, joggers, etc, and the neighborhood overall greatly improved," he said. "Our tax dollars surely are in favor!"
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Oakley business owners propose redevelopment of abandoned rail station
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12 comments:
I would love to have this little place. Love watching my little 'hood develop.
I would suggest that Mr Hutton and Ms Gross do some further research about the "abandoned" Oakley railroad station. First of all, the building itself is privately owned, but CSX Corp owned the land underneath it. The building owner was given a 99 year lease on the property when the building was purchased from CSX. Indiana & Ohio Railway now operates the tracks that run through Oakley, which was formerly known as the B&O Midland, but I do not know whether they were purchased or leased from CSX. Since the property is owned by the railroad, I don't believe that the City would be able to do much since all railroads (and their properties) in the US fall under Federal jusridiction. Also, the present station building was built in 1903, and it was last used for passenger traffic in 1971. The writer of this article needs to do better research in the future.
Just because the article doesn't clearly explain all that Anonymous seems to know about the station building doesn't mean that the City, the neighborhood, and the railroad can't all come to some sort of agreement about the future use of the station. The neighborhood's old heritage of the railroad and their up and coming heritage as an artists' conclave could mesh together very well, and provide a reason for the neighborhood to economically flourish. Best of luck to Mr. Hutton and Ms. Gross.
Catfandoo, you still seem to be missing the main piece of the puzzle, the owners of the station building itself, which as I stated, is not the railroad. Don't you think that it would be wise to ask them about what they intend to do with the building, after all, they do own it. There is still such a thing as private property you know. The City and neighborhood can agree on anything they want to, but the Railroad is bound by the terms of the 99 year lease to the owner of the station building. The best that anyone could possibly do, is to lease the building from the owner. Now this part is important, you need to remember, the railroad only owns the land underneath the station building, they do not own the building itself. BTW: the railroad, not the City, owns Tracee Dr. Also, the article is written in a way that would lead a person to believe that the station building has sat empty and unused since June, 1950, which is not true. It sat empty from 1971 to 1991, at which time it was purchased, and used as a recycling business until 2008.
Railroads all accross the country are looking for ways to 'vacate' unused RR lines.
If the RR is interested in Vacating the property the lease can likely be modified as well or terminated by mutual agreement.
There is a strong likelyhood that Federal dollars are available to "repurpose" the railroad line.
Looks like a very viable project to me and its good to see people are thinking "outside the box"! We need more people with vision.
The real key to redevelopment is to get the property owners on board or find a buyer to make an offer to purchase and develop. Redevelopment with tax dollars leads to long term support of tax dollars. When you look a opertunity for profit to suport the development generates tax revenue that funds streets,Police,Tranportation,etc.
Great! This is perfect timing.
OK, I'm going to go over this one last time. CSX Corp owns the right of way, and the Indiana & Ohio Railway holds a lease on the trackage rights. CSX sold the station building to a private citizen, and entered into a long term lease with the purchaser of the building. The owner of the station is still paying rent on the property to CSX, and the only way out of the lease is if the station building is moved or demolished. The owner has been having discussions with a potential tenant for the building. You might think that you can get local government to get something done, but all I can say is good luck with that.
Sounds like the owner of the building is you, buddy. Or a friend of yours.
Doug Master is the owner of the building and is in control of Tracey St. as well.
For years they have been towing people off of Tracey without any signage along the street at all. As a matter of fact, about 6 months ago the police came to the rescue of about 10 people who had unwittingly parked there. There were tow trucks blocking all exits from the streets as cars were towed down the block and returned for $100 cash a piece.
A real class act.
He was offering to lease the space (unrenovated) for $1200 a month as of last year.
He is the owner of Master Pieces antiques on Red Bank road if anyone wants to contact him directly
Anonymous #1...do you have access to any particular information about the station being used for passenger traffic after 1950? I seem to be finding a lot of conflicting information.
Thanks!
Kevin, I helped Doug Master clean out and fix up the station back in 1991 after he bought it form CSX. The was an abundance of paperwork that dated from the 1940s-1960s that had been left in the building after it was closed in 1971. A lot of this paperwork dealt with passenger traffic. The last stationmaster was a man by the name of Hannaford. As I posted before, there was a newspaper article about the station closure at that time , but I cannot remember the exact date. The Cincinnatian was just one train, there were many passenger trains out there at the time, so just because the Cincinnatian changed routes doesn't mean that it was the only train that stopped there. If I can help you with any other information about the station, or even the old freight house that used to sit on the Milacron side of the tracks, let me know.
To the other Anonymous poster who referenced Tracey Dr, There has always been a sign at the intersection of Tracey and Brazee that warned that Tracey Dr was private property, and that there was no parking there. The old sign may have faded because the railroad stopped maintenance on Tracey Dr in the early to mid eighties. The station is not that bad inside, and it doesn't matter what he wants to charge for rent, it's his building, so if you don't like it, that's your opinion, you're entitled to it, but it doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
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