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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Brewery Event to Tell Neighborhood Development Tale

Craft brewing has taken the nation by storm and as evidence from the Ohio Craft Brewers conference held here in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, the phenomenon shows no sign of slowing down. One factor that has eluded many speculators predictions of “Peak Craft Brew” is the fact that many craft breweries come in different shapes and sizes. Even locally, whereas Rhinegeist and Madtree push for more distribution, smaller scale breweries have opened with the focus on neighborhood Main Streets like Brink Brewing in College Hill.

This trend is the focus of the Congress for New Urbanism’s Midwest Chapters first regional event. Titled, ” The New Neighborhood Brewery,” the event will focus on neighborhood craft breweries and their impacts on building neighborhood revitalization efforts throughout the Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Dayton regions.

“We’ve seen the positive impacts craft brewery scene has had on local neighborhoods and we want to get to the heart of what is their formula for success,” said Jocelyn Gibson, the Event Organizing Committee Chair, “Our hope is that this event will spur more communities to consider craft breweries as a tool for neighborhood success”

The event will take place on Friday March 3, starting at 12:20 PM at the Woodward Theater in Over-the-Rhine. It will conclude with a panel discussion and happy hour within viewing of the annual Bockfest Parades march down Main Street. Tickets are $25 a person and can be purchased via CincyTicket.

The event will be feature speakers from the Over-the-Rhine Brewery District, local brewers, real estate experts and neighborhood advocates. It will also provide continuing education credits for the American Planning Association.

The Midwest chapter of the CNU is dedicated towards advancing the issues of revitalizing urban neighborhoods in cities and towns across the region. The organization has three central goals including reclaiming public space for people, reactivating and reconnecting vibrant neighborhoods and championing urban development that is enduring, adaptable and human scaled. The chapter committee is in the process of becoming a regional chapter of the organization spanning from western Pennsylvania to central Indiana and from Lake Erie to Lexington Kentucky.

Woodward Theater is located within a block of Cincy Red Bike, Metro bus routes #17,19,24 and 16. And is two blocks north of the Cincinnati Bell Connector Hanke Exchange Station at 12th and Main.

 

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Development News

New Development Adds Affordable Housing, Restaurant to Over-the-Rhine

Another development is coming to the Brewery District. The Historic Conservation Board approved a zoning variance that will bring fifty affordable housing units and a restaurant to several vacant buildings along the streetcar line.

Affordable housing in Over-the-Rhine (OTR) has received a lot of press recently. Freeport Row, the newly-christened Source 3 development at Liberty and Elm, was heavily criticized because it lacked any affordable housing. Most recent development has been market-rate or luxury apartments, despite the fact that OTR’s average median income was $14,517 in the 2010 census.

The fears aren’t unfounded; the neighborhood has lost affordable housing. Xavier Community Business Institute determined that OTR and Pendleton have lost 2,300 affordable housing units since 2002. This project — called Abington Flats — will help replenish that stock. Three different companies banded together to create Abington: 3CDC, Model Group, and Cornerstone Corporation Renter Equity. 3CDC is developing the commercial space, while the other two control the residential space. This project is part of a larger effort by the team to develop hundreds of affordable units in OTR.

Abington Flats consists of five buildings, the largest of which is 33 Green Street. Built in 1910, the four-story building features a commercial space on the ground floor with three floors of residential apartments above. Model Group Senior Project Manager Jennifer Walke said that all five buildings need “substantial rehab.” 33 Green Street will be 100 percent ADA accessible. The team is shooting for LEED Silver certification.

In an email to UrbanCincy, 3CDC Communications Manager Joe Rudemiller said that, depending on future tenants’ needs, there will be up to four retail or office space and up to two restaurants or bars.

Finding a restaurant or bar will be key to the project’s long-term financial viability. Tax credits fund a building’s development and construction; they don’t cover operating costs. Rent from below market-rate units might not cover its full cost. Rent paid by commercial tenants offsets this difference.

This is why investors rarely back affordable housing projects. It’s hard to profit. Plus, tenants with less financial security pose a greater risk to the owners. Cornerstone’s shared equity program strives to overcome this trend. Tenants can earn equity through timely rent payments and property maintenance. Build up enough equity and — after five years — it becomes cash. Abington Flats will use their system.

Total costs hover around $17 million — $13.8 million for the residential portion and $3 million for the commercial space. Several subsidies fueled the development, including Federal and State Historic Tax Credits and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

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Business Development News

Christmas Came Early for Southwest Ohio Developers, Historic Preservationists

The Ohio Development Services Agency provided developers and historic preservationists around the state with an early Christmas present when they announced 18 projects that would receive Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits.

In total, the tax credits are worth $22.8 million and are expected to spur $225.6 million in private investment.

“A community’s historic buildings make it unique,” said David Goodman, director of the ODSA. “Giving a building new life honors the history of the building, while creating construction jobs in the short-term and opportunity for economic activity in the future.”

In recent years southwest Ohio had fared extremely well in the competitive bid process for the funds, and this round proved to be much of the same. This group of winning applicants includes five from Cincinnati, one from Hamilton, and two from the Dayton area.

One of the Dayton projects was the winner of one of the state’s two prestigious $5 million awards. That money will go toward the $46 million United Brethren Building project in downtown Dayton, which will transform the long-vacant, 112-year-old building into 164 apartments.

While the Cincinnati-region had the most number of awarded projects, most of the tax credits were small in size. Four projects, three located in Over-the-Rhine and one in Hamilton, received amounts ranging from $150,000 to $250,000. While small in scope, the projects will save numerous historic structures from demolition, while also creating dozens of residential units and commercial space.

The long-debated Freeport Row project, located at Liberty and Elm Streets, received a sizable $1,358,772 tax credit to help restore five historic structures as part of the overall $25 million development. Once complete, the project is expected to yield 110 apartments, 17,000 square feet of retail, and a total of 100,000 square feet of new construction on the vacant lots surrounding the historic structures.

Just blocks north of Freeport Row, along the Cincinnati Bell Connector, is another project that took home the largest tax credit in Cincinnati. Market Square III was awarded with $1,690,000 in tax credits and push forward the latest phase of Model Group’s massive redevelopment efforts surrounding Findlay Market.

Market Square III will renovate eight historic structures, most of which are currently vacant, to include street-level commercial space with 38 apartments in the upper floors.

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News Opinion Politics Transportation

Downtown Signal Study Stuck in Political Traffic

Every weekday tens of thousands of commuters in downtown Cincinnati struggle in traffic to get onto the highway and back to their homes in other neighborhoods or the suburbs. However, City Hall is stalling on taking advantage of a unique opportunity to capitalize on funds to study and re-time the traffic signals to benefit all road users downtown.

The last time the traffic patterns of the city’s downtown Central Business District were studied was in the mid 1990’s. Back then the city had about 80,000 workers (a New York Times article puts the number at 82,000 in 1991) which is about 17,000 more than the most recent Downtown Cincinnati Inc. count of 65,000.

There are plenty of other things that have happened in downtown Cincinnati since the last traffic signal study, such as the reconfiguration and realignment of Fort Washington Way, the building of the Banks development, an increase of over 10,000 residents and of course the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar.

A traffic study and signal improvements would benefit all modes of transportation downtown

The funds for the study would come from the Cincinnati Streetcar Contingency Fund, basically funds left over from the construction and startup of the system. The study would not only allow the city’s Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) to conduct the study but also would fund much needed upgrades to signals across downtown.

This would allow for the city to implement a more robust and flexible traffic timing scheme beyond the archaic three phase programming of the current signal system which is only programmed for rush hour, non-rush hour and weekend traffic patterns.

In October, City Council voted to approve a motion to start the traffic study.  Since then, however, progress has been stalled for unknown reasons.  The study was discussed again in council chambers this week as Council members probed Metro and City Administration on streetcar operations.

Streetcar supporters are quick to blame the city leadership on stalling to create a narrative that the streetcar is a failure. And the response to that, to blame Transdev, the company that operates the streetcar, should not go unheeded. However; the city is stalling on a golden opportunity to modernize and coordinate downtown traffic for the 21st Century.

This is a project that would fit perfectly into the data driven decision-making vision this administration values. And maybe we will all benefit from time saved being stuck in traffic whether we are drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, bus commuters or even streetcar riders.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Development News

Popular Brewery Rhinegeist Prepares Restaurant Space

Rhinegeist, the popular brewery in Over-the-Rhine, recently received approval from the city’s Historic Conservation Board to make alterations to the space at the southwest corner of their building, at the intersection of Elm and Eton Place.  Specifically, they requested to make the following modifications:

– Install a new lift/elevator and stairwell entrance

– Install new two-over-two windows

– Repair and improve stairs at entrance

– Install new entrance door

Within their application, they include proposed drawings for the space.  The renderings are of a restaurant that includes a kitchen, bar, dining area, and a private event/dining space.  Rhinegeist declined to comment or provide any further details on the space, saying they are not yet ready to make a detailed announcement.

This development follows a flurry of investments that Rhinegeist has made since opening in June of 2013.  Rhinegeist then invested $10 million to expand operations.  This included the purchase of their building from Orton Development for $4.2 million in November of 2014, new brewing equipment in early 2015, and the 4,500 square foot deck that opened in 2016.  The new production equipment enabled them to triple production from 11,000 barrels in 2014, the first full year of operation, to 31,000 barrels in 2015.  Rhinegeist also built an almost 8,000 square foot private event space in 2015 that began holding weddings and other events in September of 2015.

Besides changes made inside the building, several assets have been added outside of Rhinegeist since their opening in 2013.  In 2014, Rhinegeist was the first business to pledge funding for streetcar operations at $5,000 per year.  The Brewery District stop for the Cincinnati Bell Connector, which began operations in September earlier this year, is located just outside of Rhinegeist’s entrance.  In addition to the streetcar stop, Cincy Red Bike also opened a station outside of Rhinegeist’s entrance in July of this year.  Additionally, ArtWorks completed a mural outside the brewery last month.