Month: December 2012

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Business Development News

Ohio awards nearly $9M in historic tax credits to seven Cincinnati-area projects

Seven Cincinnati-area developments have been awarded nearly $9 million in tax credits from the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA) through the state’s historic preservation program.

Six of the seven area projects are located within the City of Cincinnati, and one is located in downtown Hamilton. The Cincinnati-area projects took home nearly 25 percent of the total $35.9 million distributed in the program’s ninth round of funding, and will create more than 130 new housing units and tens of thousands of square feet of commercial space once completed.

“The Historic Preservation Tax Credit puts empty buildings back into the economic cycle, creating jobs through construction activities and reoccupation of the buildings,” Christiane Schmenk, director of the ODSA, stated in a prepared release. “This program saves some of the state’s most significant historic structures.”


Eden Park’s 118-year-old pump station may soon see new life as a micro-brewery thanks to a $1 million tax credit from the State of Ohio. Rendering provided.

According to state officials, projects receiving funding must complete the rehabilitation work in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation before the credits are issued to the building owner or long-term tenant.

More than $3.3 million in funding will flow into Over-the-Rhine for Losantiville Apartments, Abington Flats, and Pendleton Apartments through the program, and the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) was awarded $1.8 million for its $9 million redevelopment of three historic buildings at Third Street and Main Street in the central business district.

“Without it [Ohio Historic Tax Credit] we would be unable to preserve the historic character of as many buildings as we have,” Anastasia Mileham, 3CDC’s vice president of communications, told UrbanCincy. “The cost to restore and develop them costs more than the what you can sell the condos for and lease the commercial space for. Historic tax credits help fill that gap and make the math work.”

In Mt. Adams, the Cincinnati Beer Company was awarded $1 million for its $5.2 million project that will transform Eden Park’s 118-year-old pump station into a brewery and tap room. Nearby, the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and The Model Group were awarded $1.8 million to renovate three historic structures into 30 market-rate housing units and approximately 7,000 square feet of street-level commercial space.

Elsewhere, the City of Hamilton will see more than $800,000 go towards the renovation of the 126-year-old Hamilton Journal-News Building, which will become the home of Butler Tech’s School for the Arts and Hamilton City Schools’ Adult Basic & Literacy Education (ABLE) program.

According to ODSA, this round of funding will assist in the rehabilitation of 45 historic buildings throughout the state, and leverage more than $252 million in private investments.

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Business Development News

Why more and more companies are setting up shop in Over-the-Rhine

Color Building photograph by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

It’s not even close to being one of the biggest corporate relocations in town, but for Over-the-Rhine it could be a game-changer.

Core Resources Inc., a fast-growing Anderson Township construction management and development company, is pulling up its suburban stakes and moving 31 employees to the Color Building at 14th and Vine streets. It’s goodbye to four-minute commutes, hello inner city.

Core joins many other, generally smaller, businesses that are migrating back to Over-the-Rhine. Two law firms, Keating Muething & Klekamp and Barron Peck Bennie & Schlemmer, have opened satellite offices this year. Other recent arrivals include Four Entertainment Group, the operator of Keystone Bar & Grill and other urban eateries, which just moved from Mount Adams; Northpointe Group, a real estate development company; and the Brandery and other startup-related ventures.

“There’s a demand that didn’t exist before,” said Bobby Maly, chief operating officer of Model Group, a residential developer that considered moving its headquarters to the Color Building from Walnut Hills. “I think you’re going to see an increase in commercial activity over the next five to 10 years.”

If other businesses follow Core’s lead, it could mean that Over-the-Rhine’s decade or so revitalization is entering a whole new phase.

Nobody seems to keep count, but Core looks to be the largest for-profit business to move into Over-the-Rhine within recent memory. Many businesses are attracted by nearby clients, including Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), but for decades almost any movement by private business was in the other direction – out.

Barron Peck moved into a rented storefront on Vine Street in September, just a few doors down from Core’s soon-to-be new headquarters.

“We just wanted to be closer to all the action,” said lawyer Jonathan Bennie, whose main office is in Oakley. “We’ve managed to develop a lot of new relationships that hopefully will last a long time. It’s been a worthwhile investment so far, and we suspect it’s just going to get better.”

Businesses are definitely part of OTR’s master plan, and there are many buildings suitable for larger commercial users, said 3CDC spokeswoman Anastasia Mileham.

“We don’t necessarily have any in the pipeline at the moment, but it makes sense. It’s certainly going in that direction,” she said. “The plan is that it will be a true mixed-use neighborhood.”

‘Certainly gratifying’
Scott Stiles, the city of Cincinnati’s assistant city manager, said Core’s CEO Paul Kitzmiller approached him months ago, and he assured Kitzmiller the city would work with him.

“It’s important that a company like his is willing to look at Over-the-Rhine. Hopefully that validates some of the investment we’ve made down there. It’s certainly gratifying,” Stiles said.

Core is getting a tax break from the city – an investment reimbursement based on 55 percent of the earnings taxes paid by its employees for five years. It’s worth an estimated $114,000, still to be approved by City Council.

Not that Core Resources is venturing into unknown territory. It has worked on many downtown restaurant projects, and for the past year it’s been renovating the Color Building for 3CDC, now its landlord.

“The more we got involved with the project and got to know this building, we saw how special it was,” said Kitzmiller, who is co-owner of Core with his brother Dave Kitzmiller, its chief operating and financial officer.

“A company like ours coming to Over-the-Rhine validates what 3CDC has been trying to do – that it’s OK to be in Over-the-Rhine,” Paul Kitzmiller said. “We also felt the move would enhance our relationship with 3CDC.”

This story was originally published in the December 7, 2012 print edition of the Cincinnati Business Courier, and was written by Jon Newberry. UrbanCincy readers are able to access this story in its entirety through our exclusive partnership with the Business Courier. Those interested in accessing all of the Business Courier‘s premium content can do so by subscribing through UrbanCincy‘s discounted rate.

Categories
Business Development News Politics

Cincinnati spreads neighborhood investment in 2013 budget

Last week Cincinnati City Council approved its yearly budget for the coming fiscal year. The approved budget lays out several city priorities for funding redevelopment efforts in many of the city’s 52 neighborhoods.

“This budget prioritizes our neighborhoods and will improve our economic competitiveness, make the city safer and healthier, protect our citizens who are most in need, and support our world class parks and arts,” Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C) stated in a prepared release.

City officials say the increased funding will go towards two programs that are designed to maximize impacts on neighborhoods throughout the city.


Cincinnati’s new budget directs funding towards the city’s 52 neighborhoods and invests in walkable neighborhood districts like Calhoun/McMillan in Clifton Heights (above). Photograph by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

The first program creates a new fund called Focus 52, which will create a pool of $54 million designed to focus on neighborhood projects by utilizing strategies developed from the city’s successes in the urban core.

“This budget will take the lessons we’ve learned from our success in downtown and Over-the-Rhine redevelopment and give our neighborhoods the support to take that momentum into their communities,” Qualls continued.

The second program endorses 13 neighborhood enhancement projects in neighborhoods such as Avondale, Walnut Hills, Mt. Adams and Price Hill. The annual funding for these projects comes from the Neighborhood Business District Improvement Program (NBDIP), which was created in partnership between the City’s Economic Development Division and the Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United.

“Thriving neighborhood business districts will not only provide a high quality of life for current residents – they’re also key to attracting new residents,” said Odis Jones, Cincinnati’s Economic Development Director. “The NBDIP process reaffirms our commitment to strategically investing in neighborhoods to grow the city and the local economy.”

This commitment to city neighborhoods was recently outlined in the city’s recently adopted comprehensive plan, Plan Cincinnati. Several of the goals outlined in the new plan focus heavily on the continued development of the city’s traditional walkable neighborhood centers. The plan outlines over 40 different centers outside of downtown and calls for the assessment of neighborhood needs and the rehabilitation of neighborhood centers by utilizing tools such as the city’s new form-based code.

Working to begin the implementation of this new plan Vice Mayor Qualls has directed staff to identify sources of capital funding to begin accomplishing some of the plans goals.

“Plan Cincinnati includes strategies that for the first time put the focus on economic development in the city’s neighborhoods,” Qualls stated. “This budget will ensure that spending supports those strategies and translates into results in our neighborhoods.”

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Up To Speed

Report: retailers ‘vastly overestimate’ the role of free parking

Report: retailers ‘vastly overestimate’ the role of free parking.

We hear time and time again that urban retail centers need free and plentiful parking, and without it the customers will not come. New research, however, shows that the actual evidence for such claims is scant at best, and that retailers “vastly overestimate” the role free parking plays in their success. More from The Atlantic:

The review was conducted earlier this year by the cross-party policy group London Councils. The group performed a thorough meta-analysis of the existing academic and public agency research on the role of parking in urban commerce. It also sent parking questionnaires to all 33 London boroughs (comprising the city center, as well as inner and outer areas) and conducted market research with shoppers at three commercial centers in the outer regions. The findings can be reduced down to four main reasons retailers don’t need free parking to thrive.

1) Free, plentiful parking often hurts more than it helps, 2) shopkeepers overestimate how many customers arrive by car, 3) they also overestimate how much car customers spend, and 4) a mix of retailers is more important than parking supply.

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Up To Speed

Will Cincinnati hit another home run with Tower Place redevelopment?

Will Cincinnati hit another home run with Tower Place redevelopment?.

Cincinnati’s efforts to transform its center city are being noticed nationally, and the recent sale of Tower Place Mall is just the latest action made by the City that is turning heads elsewhere. The question now is will Cincinnati hit another home run with Tower Place Mall as it has with Fountain Square, Washington Park, The Banks, Smale Riverfront Park, and Fort Washington Way? More from Bloomberg Businessweek:

The city has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into a major transformation that’s still under way. It began in 2006 with the reopening of downtown’s central Fountain Square after a $49 million renovation. Developers have spent more than $600 million on new apartments, restaurants and a park in the half-mile space between the Bengals and Reds stadiums. A $322 million, 41-story office tower that’s now the city’s tallest opened last year. And on Monday, a 156-room boutique hotel had its grand opening following a $51 million renovation.

Also in the works is a streetcar connecting several popular downtown-area spots slated to open in 2015 and a $400 million downtown casino set to open in the spring. In the nearby Over-the-Rhine historic district, dozens of shabby but beautiful buildings have been transformed into bars and restaurants popular among yuppies and hipsters, and a once crime-prone park underwent a $48 million overhaul to become one of the city’s favorite spots for concerts, outdoor movie viewings and flea markets.

As those projects thrive, popular retailers like Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret and Chic-fil-a fled from Tower Place mall, which sits in the heart of it all. Just a handful of businesses still operate at Tower Place, and foot traffic is low even during the holidays.