Site plan

Circle Development, with the aid of Architects Plus, submitted a final development plan for the Madison Circle project (PD-45) to the City Planning Commission at their April 6 meeting, but the deal could stall without financing for public roads.

The developer is seeking TIF money from the City to finance new public roads on the site. Madison Circle Drive would extend southward from Madison Rd to a roundabout, which would then lead to a right-turn only outlet onto Red Bank. Red Dog Place would extend from the roundabout to connect with the Ohio Medical Instrument building on the southern end of Charlemar Dr. Charlemar, a residential street, would be closed off into a cul-de-sac.

The City is currently doing a funding review to see if the money might be available.

The new development plan has two fewer office buildings than the conceptual plan. Details on the office buildings sketchy, though they will likely be two to three stories each with footprints around 12,000 square feet.


Sample office building

Up to three restaurant and/or retail uses have also been proposed but no tenants have been announced. Under the guidelines of the development plan, the restaurants will be the types which offer table service (think TGI Friday's). One of the retail uses mentioned is a full-service pharmacy.


Sample restaurant

Two office buildings remain on the site. One 4,859 square-foot building along Madison has been renovated and has one tenant, and the 13,480 square-foot office building nearby is the new home of the American Heart Association.

The senior living facility will be developed and operated by CareSpring Health Care Management. The IndianSpring Health Care Facility, which will be located along Madison Rd, will be a three-story, 133,851 square-foot building. Its top two floors will consist of a 140-bed nursing facility. The lower level will be the home of support operations as well as services available to the community at large.


Rendering of the IndianSpring Health Care Facility

On the western part of the site, the Barrington of Oakley (not in Oakley) will be 130,000 square feet on four levels, containing 100 assisted living apartments, a dining room, and exercise/rec areas.


Rendering of the Barrington of Oakley

The upscale Red Dog Pet Resort, at 28,125 square feet, will be developed on the southwest part of the site.

The total number of square feet has been raised from 426,000 to 492,000. There will be 924 parking spaces, all on surface lots. Forty-nine precent of the 30-acre site will be open space or landscaped area.

The senior living projects, the pet spa and Madison Circle Dr are part of Phase I, to be started when money for the road comes through.

Phase II, tentatively scheduled for late this year, would consist of one restaurant and the Red Dog Place road project.

Phase III would consist of the office buildings and one restaurant/retail. This is scheduled for Summer 2008.

Buildout would occur in late 2009/early 2010 with the completion of the final restaurant/retail.

Circle Development projects that the project will draw 250 residents and 500 daily employees, as well as daily retail and restaurant patrons, the the former site of the Oakley Drive-In.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Urban Ohio: Madison Circle

(NOTE: This is the first post regarding this project on the blog. The Urban Ohio link above will take you to the Urban Ohio discussion forums for background on this project. The link will open a new browser window.)

The East Walnut Hills gallery has been updated with 40 new photos, bringing the total in the gallery to 52.

I must warn you that I was very impressed with how the majority of these turned out, because I haven't seen them in over a year.

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

For the other galleries that I've uploaded so far, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Last Tuesday's Enquirer had an article about guided tours through Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum.

On weekends, from May through October, the Heritage Foundation will conduct tours through the 733-acre National Historic Landmark.

The cost is $5.

Anyone interested in Cincinnati history should definitely do this.

In 2004 I spent several days there taking photographs with my old dinosaur camera. Once you get over the fact that it's a cemetery, it becomes a beautiful sculpture park. And since its an arboretum, there are many non-native species of trees--including 22 "Ohio Champion" trees--meaning they're the largest of their kind in the entire state.

If you don't want to pay the $5, go by yourself for free. Maps are available on their website or inside the office just inside the front gate.

www.springgrove.org

3CDC may no longer be involved in the Kaufmann Building rehab project.

In October 2006, the City passed an ordinance allowing them to enter into a contract with Over-the-Rhine Development, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 3CDC. The City would provide a $450,000 grant from capital improvement project funds to 3CDC. 3CDC would supervise the general contractor work of Otis Taylor (O.W. Taylor, LLC), who was looking to buy the building at 1721-1727 Vine St from Abandoned Buildings Corporation. The money would be spent to stabilize the structure and to study the feasibility of its future use.

Within the past couple of months, the Kaufmann Building has come up again in the Economic Development Committee and in City council. On April 11, 2007, council voted 6-3 to repeal the prior ordinance involving 3CDC. (Ghiz, Monzel and Berding voted against it.)

The old ordinance will be replaced by a new agreement to be made directly with Taylor. 3CDC is no longer mentioned in any of the documents. The $450,000 will come from the same project account in the form of a forgivable loan.

The Kaufmann Building is a four-story apartment building built in 1876 by the Kaufmann Brewery as an investment. Designed by architect George W. Rapp and built in the Renaissance Revival style, it's one of the Findlay Market area's dominant landmarks.

The building has suffered two major fires, has been condemned and has been declared a public nuisance. It has been vacant for many years. Demolition remains a strong possibilty if the numbers for saving it don't work, even though it is in a historic district.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking west)
Urban Ohio: Save the Kaufmann Brewery!!

(NOTE: This is the first post regarding this project on the blog. The Urban Ohio link above will take you to the Urban Ohio discussion forums for background on this project. The link will open a new browser window.)

Here are a few tidbits via the College Hill Forum:

Sales for Phase One, which covers the former Shuller's Wigwam property, have begun.

The sale of land agreement for the former Kroger property is in the works and should come through within the next few months.

On the southwest corner of the intersection, land is now under CHCURC control which will become the site of a metal gateway sculpture. This should be installed by the end of the year.

A similar sculpture will go on the south side of the business district at Hamilton and Llanfair avenues. This sculpture will be installed after the City completes its new fire station on the site.

Linden Park Commons will be a mixed-use development featuring retail, office and 28 condos/townhomes. The $25 million development is being done by Neyer.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking north)
Urban Ohio: Linden Park Commons

(NOTE: This is the first post regarding this project on the blog. The Urban Ohio link above will take you to the Urban Ohio discussion forums for background on this project. The link will open a new browser window.)

A photo gallery for the area around Lytle Park has been added at the bottom of the page. It currently contains 10 photos.

Click the photo above to go directly to that gallery. It will open up a new browser window.

Also, I have added 10 photos to the Downtown gallery.

Here are a couple of shots of land cleared for the Palisades of Mount Adams project. Not much happening except for some dirt being moved and a retaining wall.

The project, which is on Oregon Street, will consist of 10 condo units. John Senhauser is the designer.

Palisades of Mount Adams website

(Photo from www.laurelcourt.com)

Laurel Court, on the corner of Belmont and Oakwood avenues in College Hill, is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Larry and Judy Moyer, the current owners, are opening up the property for all kinds of events, including teas, ice cream socials and concerts. They even rent out the property for events like weddings and reunions.

So what exactly IS Laurel Court? From the Laurel Court website:

Laurel Court was built for Peter G. Thomson, founder of The Champion Coated Paper Company. Started in 1902 and completed in 1907, it is one of America’s best surviving examples of the opulent homes built during the “gilded age”. Upon its completion, Laurel Court was described as "the most sumptuous and palatial in this part of the country….finished with all good taste can command." Laurel Court, located in the Cincinnati community of College Hill, was built on an estate of approximately 23 acres, on the highest point in Hamilton County (greater Cincinnati).

Laurel Court is a beaux-arts structure designed by architect James Gamble Rogers. Modeled in the style of the Petite Trianon in Versailles France, Laurel Court stands today as one of the finest residences in America, and one of many notable works of James Gamble Rogers. Its stately chiseled granite exterior, and elegant interior finishes, display the skills of the artisans who created this distinguished residence.

Today, the main house, cottages, and carriage house rest on 7.5 acres of land, enhanced by a French garden, Japanese garden, a classical wisteria-covered pergola, and many statues and fountains. Laurel Court was listed on the National Historic Register in 1979.

Check out the Laurel Court website. There's all sorts of historical stuff, including an interior photo tour from 1907, as well as a thorough listing of events.

Jana at the Cincinnati, As I See It photo blog has added me to her blogroll, and I've added that one to mine.

She's apparently an amatuer photographer who usually posts one photo of a time. The subject matter varies.

Her work can also be seen in the group.

The photo gallery for the Columbia Tusculum neighborhood has been updated with 25 new photos. (Though, to be honest, these "new" photos are actually older than the ones that were already there.)

There are now 40 photos in that gallery.

Click on the photo above to go directly to that gallery, or scroll to the bottom of this page to see my other galleries. Links will open in a new browser window.

Photos of the Ascent condo project, taken 3/21/07. Photos start with the north face of the tower and proceed counterclockwise.

I recently ran across a link that I thought might be of interest to those of us who are interested in the history of our built environment.

The College Hill Historical Society has put together a clickable map with each building of interest numbered. Laid upon a Google Maps interface, each click of a building brings up a box showing the address, a photo, and the building's history.

Right now the site is in its infancy, but I'd expect a lot more there rather quickly.

The Cincinnati Preservation Association and the Betts House Research Center have teamed up for an exhibit of local endangered buildings, according to this Enquirer article.

The article doesn't bother to mention when the exhibit starts, or when it concludes. There also isn't any info on the Betts House website.

The Betts House Research Center is located at 416 Clark St in the West End. They're open Thursday and Sunday from 11 AM-3 PM, or by appointment.

Last Thursday was my best day as far as reader activity on this site goes. I managed a whopping 57 unique visitors. (I know...big deal, right?)

Most of this traffic can be attributed to this post in the Cincinnati Beacon. I know this for a fact because my stat package shows me what links people go through to arrive at my site.

I've added the Cincinnati Beacon to my "Links/Blogroll" section, and I thank them for including me in theirs.

And for those of you who just found out about the site, I do welcome comments.

The College Hill gallery has been updated with 12 new photos, bringing the total in the gallery to 34.

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

For the other galleries that I've uploaded so far, scroll to the bottom of this page.

I've updated my Clifton Heights gallery by adding 22 photos to it. Most of these were taken on what must have been an unseasonably warm day, February 15, 2006.

These 22 photos bring the total in the gallery to 38.

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

I've added a link for CincinnatiRoads.com to my Links/Blogroll section.

CincinnatiRoads.com is map-based interface that shows videos of street segments within the city from the driver's point of view. You can clearly see the structures that line each street, and the stop lights and other wasted time are edited out.

So far they have clips of:
1) The CBD, between Central and Broadway
2) Over-the-Rhine, areas south of Liberty St (minus Pendleton)
3) Most of Mt. Adams
4) The Ohio River bridges between the Brent Spence and the Taylor Southgate

The plan is to continue adding street by street. It's an ambitious project, but definitely a cool one.

City council has passed unanimously an ordinance authorizing the City to enter into preliminary legislation with ODOT for improvements to Colerain Ave north of the Colerain-West Fork-Virginia intersection in Northside.

This legislation will allow ODOT to program the project and to review environmental documents and plans.

The project, tentatively scheduled for 2012, would include widening Colerain Ave to standard lane widths, adding street lighting, and removing on-street parking between Virgina Ave and Leeper St.

As envisioned, the project cost would be $4.5 million. $3.6 million in federal funds has already been approved by OKI. The local share of $900,000 is expected to come from the state SCIP/LTIP grant program.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW (looking west)

The gallery for Clifton has been updated at the bottom of the page. I have added 33 photos, which means it now contains 47 photos.

Most of the photos I have added are along Ludlow Ave and nearby residential areas.

You can click the photo above to access the gallery directly. It will open in a new browser window.

I have also added two small galleries, which I hope to fill up in the future. The City West gallery has 7 photos and the Carthage gallery has two. I would post my dozens of old Carthage photos from my previous camera, but you probably wouldn't enjoy those unless your favorite color happens to be brown.

An update from Price Hill Will, a few weeks old:

The developer, City Lights, is currently exploring the development potential of the "Incline District".

Queen's Tower is now officially open as condos. About a quarter of the units are sold. (An auditor search shows 29 units being sold to owners for between $350K-$450K.)

The parking lot across the street is still supposed to become a 4-story commercial development with underground parking. City Lights is still pursuing tenants for the retail space.

City Lights has also purchased property along Maryland Ave for townhomes, with a possible civic space thrown into that area as well. The original plan was for 14 townhomes there.

Not mentioned is the proposed 10-story tower that was to be built west of the Queen's Tower.

There is still no timetable for the mixed-use development or the townhomes, but the project is still very much alive. City Lights as been working with the City and the East Price Hill Improvement Association closely.

Here's a link to a Cincinnati Business Courier article about the development from October 2005:
Cincinnati Business Courier: Jewel of the skyline to have new polish (10/24/05)

In the Covington Arts District. Taken March 21, 2007.

Some notes on a few buildings....

218 W Fourteenth St is supposed to be razed soon by the City. This two-family from the Civil War era has been falling apart for years and has been deemed hazardous. It was also a well-documented drug and prostitution hangout.


1925 Vine St, which I mentioned in my March 3 Urban Ohio post, is going into pre-prosecution hearings soon. At that point more will be known about demolition or rehab plans.

1621 Pleasant St has been declared a public nuisance. The windows are busted out, the mortar is cracking and the siding is in terrible shape. The building looks abandoned. Any work (demo or rehab) would have to go before the Historic Conservation Board, because this building is in a historic district.


1534 Republic St has gone into pre-prosecution. It's had the same owner for many years and has always been in poor condition. It's a burned-out shell.
(No photo, but, heading southbound, it's two houses down the east side of Republic St from Liberty St.)

1618 Pleasant St is heading to pre-prosecution after being condemned in February. There is a new owner, but no plans have been made regarding the building's status. This is shoddy infill housing from the 1920s, purchased last December for $1,600. It needs a ton of work. I usually grieve when a building is torn down in OTR. This one would be an exception.

Cole Realty Associates can now proceed with a multi-tenant retail center on the northeast corner of Beechmont Ave and Roxbury St.

On February 14, City Council voted unanimously to approve the extension of the Mount Washington Urban Design Boundary and to rezone, from Residential Multi-Family (RM-1.2) to Commercial Commmunity-Pedestrian (CC-P) the vacant residential properties at 2312-2316 Beechmont Ave.

This change fits with the recently drafted Comprehensive Plan for the neighborhood, which addressed the lack of modern commercial space in the business district and cited such for the business district's inability to attract new retailers.

Because it is in an Urban Design District, any commercial redevelopment of this property would be subject to public hearing in front of a hearing examiner from the Office of Administrative Hearings.

No specific plans for the site are available at this time. All that is known is that it will be as walkable as other parts of the business district.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Urban Ohio: LAST UPDATE (1/29/07)
(NOTE: This is the first post on this blog regarding this project. The link above will take you to the Urban Ohio forums, where previous information has been posted. You do not need to register to read the forums, only to respond. These links will open a new browser window.)

The gallery for the West End has been added at the bottom of the page. It currently contains 22 photos.

You can click the photo above to access the gallery directly. It will open in a new browser window.

This collection of West End photos does not include photos of City West. Those will come out in a seperate gallery in the near future.

The kickoff meeting for the Clifton Gaslight Main Street Program will be held Wednesday, April 11, from 7PM-9PM at the E.T. Carson Lodge (218 Ludlow).

The results of last September's Downtown Assessment Resource Team (DART) study on the Ludlow Avenue business district will be presented.

There will also be a presentation from Heritage Ohio on the health of the business district and any issues it might face.

Admission is free. It is recommended (but not mandatory) that you fill in a sign-up sheet and mail it in prior to the meeting. That sign-up sheet can be found on the Clifton Town Meeting website. Or you can e-mail to sign up.

Clifton was accepted as the first Main Street neighborhood in Cincinnati. The Main Street Program, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is an approach to preserving and enhancing neighborhood business districts, by a partnership of the business owners, property owners, and other interested people in the neighborhood.

I have added a link for the Cincinnati Downtown Parents blog in my "Links/Blogroll" section. They were kind enough to link to me.

With the number of people living downtown increasing along with the number of affordable housing options, there's a real opportunity for growth in the number of families choosing the urban lifestyle. As things stand right now, there's a need for mutual support among the pioneers. Hopefully their blog can grow and help fill that niche.

The gallery for the East Row Historic District has been added at the bottom of the page. There are currently 23 photos in the gallery.

Click the photo above to go directly to that gallery. It will open up a new browser window.

The East Row Historic District is in Newport, Kentucky, and includes the neighborhoods of Gateway and Mansion Hill.

Here are some exterior photos from 3/21/07 of a couple of projects in Bellevue.

WatersEdge


It looks like the building is entered through a public restroom.



Harbor Greene
Streetlamps in the parking lot, just like in Victorian times.

The City and the developer, MetroWest I, LLC (Neyer), are close to formalizing a development agreement and will now add the plans for the development of MetroWest into the existing planning document for Lower Price Hill.

At the March 28 City Council meeting, an ordinance allowing for the City to enter into a contract for sale with MetroWest I passed unanimously.

Having a formalized development plan in place would improve the chances of receiving a Clean Ohio Fund grant, which would provide $3,000,000 for remediation of the Queen City Barrel site and its surrounding blocks.

The deadline for submission of the Clean Ohio Fund application is today.

City Council also passed an ordinance altering the official planning document of the Lower Price Hill community, with Monzel and Cole voting against it.

Because of the deadline for the Clean Ohio Fund grant, on January 3, the City of Cincinnati's SPUR team requested that the Lower Price Hill Industrial Area Urban Renewal Plan (2003) be amended to include particulars of the proposed development.

City staff and the developer presented the proposed plan amendment to the Lower Price Hill Community Council (LPHCC) on February 5. A proposal of the amendment was sent to the LPHCC on February 13 for comment. On February 28, Robert Rainey, president of the LPHCC, alerted Adrienne Cowden of the Department of Community Development and Planning (DCDP) that the LPHCC would not support the amended Plan until it addressed the dangerous conditions at Bodycote Metal Treating, 724 Evans St. This property is across from the Oyler Community Learning Center and outside of the redevelopment area.

Despite this--and not wanting to miss out on the grant money--the City Planning Commission approved the amendment at their March 2 meeting. The status of the Bodycote property and the possibility of CPS buying the property were discussed but left for a later date.

The Economic Development Committee approved the Plan amendment on March 27.

City Council authorized the grant application at its March 28 meeting.

If the grant is not received, the sale and redevelopment agreement will be terminated and the deal is dead. If the grant comes through, MetroWest I, LLC, will commence environmental remediation of the site, which could take at least two years.

Meanwhile, the City is still assembling land within the project area. On March 14, City Council passed an ordinance allowing the Division of Facilities Management to reimburse the Department of Community Development and planning for land at the northwest corner of Hamilton and Llanfair, which will be the site of a new fire station. This funding will be used to consolidate more parcels, which may aid in getting the Clean Ohio application accepted.

The $25 million MetroWest project will consist of light industrial, flex and office space and will likely include existing businesses and buildings at 911 Evans St, 1910/1911 South St and 1908 W Eighth St. Four or more LEED certified buildings will likely be constructed. Buildings will be constructed along street frontages and parking will be screened and shared. (Look at the site plan below and tell me if that is what you see!)

The developer estimates that the redevelopment of the 18 acres could create a minimum of 400 jobs.

Buildout is expected in 7 to 10 years.

(Preliminary site plan. North is to the right side of the drawing.)

Some photos taken in mid-March of the McAlpin exteriors and a few other W Fourth St shots have been added to the downtown gallery. There are now 59 photos in that gallery.

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

To see these 19 new photos in thread form, go here (again, new browser window):
Urban Ohio: Cincinnati: Downtown, the McAlpin, etc.

The above link also includes one new photo of the Boal St townhomes being built in Prospect Hill. That one photo has been added to the Prospect Hill gallery.

The photo gallery for Ludlow, Kentucky has been added at the bottom of the page. It currently contains 15 photos.

Click the photo above to go directly to the gallery. A new browser window will open.