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• Episode 1: Bus Rapid Transit
• ‘Transportation poverty’ predicted for Cincinnati’s aging Baby Boomer population

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Councilman Wendell Young (D) sponsored a motion last fall to convene the commission, a task force charged with preparing a set of policy recommendations for council to consider and enact. “I want to be sure that the first and the last impression of our city that visitors have, which is often a cab ride, be a first-rate experience. Our taxi industry needs reform, and this event helped spark an urgency and an energy to get the work done.”

The four new buildings will be built at Eden Avenue and E. Rochelle Street – one of two vacant pieces of land owned by developer Great Traditions Land & Development.

Village of Stetson Square phase two renderings provided by e3 design collective.

While the Village of Stetson Square has achieved great success with its existing 205 apartments, 53 townhomes, and 95,000 square feet of commercial space, the last two pieces of land have sat undeveloped since 2006.

At the time, the development team said the two sites would be developed at a later date based on market demand. With the housing market starting to settle, and the uptown housing market booming, it appears like it may finally be time to finish what was started almost a decade ago.

New renderings, provided exclusively to UrbanCincy, show that the new phase of construction about to being will take on a decidedly different urban form from the rest of the development which includes four- to five-story buildings alongside tightly built townhomes.

While apartments are at capacity throughout uptown, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the new residential offerings will be for-sale units priced in the $200,000s due to a desire by the Corryville community to boost home ownership rates in the historic neighborhood.

Four newly constructed buildings are planned to house 16 one-bedroom units with studies and two two-bedroom townhomes. Prices will range between $190,000 and the mid-$200,000s. It’s the first construction planned for the site at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Eden Avenue since the final rowhouse building was completed in summer 2009.

Work at the congested site will be performed by Messer Construction and is expected to be completed by summer 2015. The possibility of such a project was first reported on by the Business Courier last month.

The new tower will be located immediately next to, and integrated with a research tower Cincinnati Children’s completed in 2007. Officials declined to comment on future employment numbers at the new tower, but did state that the adjacent 11-story tower houses approximately 1,100 employees.

The $180 million Clinical Research Building will make Cincinnati Children’s Hospital the largest pediatric research center in the United States. Renderings provided.

In a memo obtained by UrbanCincy, Dr. Arnold Strauss, director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation, stated, “In the five years since Location S opened, our research enterprise has greatly flourished. The construction of this Clinical Sciences Building will provide that room to grow, but will also allow consolidation of research efforts now occurring at the Oak campus, back together with our Clinical & Translational Research Clinic.”

Dr. Strauss believes that the 425,000 square feet of new research space will improve efficiency and increase the scope of the hospital’s patient-oriented research, while also delving deeper into childhood disease issues.

The contemporary tower will include new laboratories, an outpatient clinic, imaging facility, office space, supporting infrastructure, and was designed by a team of architecture firms including GBBN Architects, HDR, Inc., and Geier Brown Renfrow Architects.

“This new space will enable us to attract and retain more of the world’s top-notch researchers, innovators and clinicians who want to be at the leading edge of discovery,” Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s, stated in a prepared release.

Hospital officials say that the project is being financed through a combination of operating cash and investments, future operating cash flows and private donations. The new building is one of six towers at least 100 feet in height UrbanCincy projects to be built over the remainder of the decade in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati is well known for being an old-growth city that acquired its urban form either during the 1800s or early 20th century. But the central business district that defines the city’s skyline, and thus the region’s national and international image, was largely built during that time frame.

While researching contemporary boom periods in Cincinnati, UrbanCincy dove a little deeper into the data and broke down the construction trends for buildings over 100 feet (8-10 floors) in height. While much growth occurred during the 1800s, only three structures over 100 feet were constructed during that century – Roebling Suspension Bridge, City Hall and the Shillito Building.

There was an initial surge in construction of buildings with this minimum height from 1900 to 1929 which included the construction of 35 such structures. There was then a lull from 1930 to 1959 as global wars took their toll on domestic building projects. Cincinnati then went on a three-decade surge of high-rise construction that included 61 new towers at least 100 feet in height.

Since 1990, the trend has been fairly steady with an average of eight new towers being constructed each decade. While analyzing contemporary patterns, it appeared as if Cincinnati was on a trend to exceed that average set by the past 30 years.

The region is barely into the next decade, but two towers of more than 100 feet have already been completed including the city’s new tallest tower. There are also plans on the books to construct another six towers (TBD Hotel at The Banks, Office Tower at The Banks, dunnhumbyUSA Tower, Christ Hospital Research Tower, Children’s Hospital Research Tower, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites) in the near future.

Additionally, there is a strong likelihood for more tower construction through other lingering development plans (SouthShore 2, Hotel at Horseshoe Casino, Ovation, One River Place).

Tower construction in this decade may indeed surpass recent averages, but the large share of new construction in Cincinnati is actually made up of low- to mid-rise structures. What do you think…has the trend towards skyscrapers begun to wear off in favor of more human-scale development?

CAF is a well-respected international manufacturer of streetcars and light rail vehicles, and competed against four other companies who responded to the City’s request for proposals sent out in September 2011. Project officials say that representatives from the City, Metro and other transportation experts based their design selections on a combination of technical specifications, power needs, physical dimension, cost and the ability to travel up the Vine Street hill.

Mayor Mallory touted a new regional rail transit vision for Cincinnati at his seventh State of the City Address.

As city spokesperson Meg Olberding explained, “We wanted to select a company that had both previous experience with streetcars and light rail vehicles as well as was the most cost competitive. We will be the first city in the country to have these streetcars.”

The streetcar team did reportedly consider the use of battery powered streetcars, to avoid any overhead wires, but in the end decided that the electric vehicles save on cost.

One of the most important aspects of the modern streetcar vehicles is their “low floor” feature along the entire length of the streetcar. The low floor is the section of the streetcar that is most level with the curb of the streetcar station, and thus provides significant benefits for handicap accessibility, bicyclists, and people with strollers. Whereas other streetcars have only a small section that is low floor, the CAF streetcars are 100 percent low floor, meaning even greater access for people with wheeled transportation.

Project officials say that the next steps are ensuring manufacturing of the vehicles is done in the United States, and meets ‘Buy America’ standards with at least 60 percent of the materials sourced from the U.S. as well. Officials believe that the first standard has already been met since the vehicles will be built at CAF USA’s Elmira, NY facility.

CAF USA’s modern streetcar design for Cincinnati will be the first of its kind in the United States.

Two basic paint schemes have been distributed for illustrative purposes, and city officials note that no final paint schemes have been determined.

While the mayor touted a vision for rail transit in Cincinnati during his seventh State of the City address, he also noted that the City has been actively pursuing funding for the next phase of the streetcar route to extend uptown. This includes a $1.2 million grant application under the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. Should the City receive those funds, officials say work will begin on studying the appropriate alternatives for an uptown circulator route to be built after the Uptown Connector route is constructed along Vine Street.

As for light rail and commuter rail, the Mayor’s plan is looking even further down the road.

“It’s a vision of the future,” Olberding stated. “Growing our transportation options [beyond the streetcar] is a regional conversation we are willing to have.”

As part of that challenge, Mayor Mallory identified a formula for success built on five elements – pride, commitment, investment, partnership and promotion.

“Every neighborhood should celebrate its own history,” Mayor Mallory urged during the roughly 47-minute address. “We need to do more to celebrate our history in order to create more pride in Cincinnati. Pride inspires people to commit to improving our city. Pride also gets people to invest in making this city a better place.”

Mallory then turned his attention towards the region’s urban core and defended why his administration focuses so much on time and energy there saying it is the economic engine for the entire region.

“There is no West Chester without downtown Cincinnati. There is no Mason without downtown,” Mallory exclaimed. “There is no sub without the urban…it all works together. A strong and healthy and vibrant downtown Cincinnati benefits the entire region.”

Mallory drove the point home by categorically identifying downtown Cincinnati as a success story which has landed several new headquarters recently, and has seen dunnhumbyUSA grow from a staff of three employees in 2003 to a projected staff of 1,000 employees in 2014.

The design of Cincinnati’s modern streetcar vehicles (coloring scheme not final).

The mayor continued by saying that the many companies and residents moving to the region’s urban core are doing so because of the investments being made by City Hall. One of the most high-profile of these investments is the Cincinnati Streetcar, which the mayor highlighted and identified a five-phase expansion plan in conjunction with two regional light rail lines.

The future phases of modern streetcar extensions include a route running from Over-the-Rhine to Uptown, a line running from Uptown to Walnut Hills, a center city loop serving Newport and Covington, and a line extending from Over-the-Rhine to Union Terminal. The two regional light rail lines would service the I-71 and I-75 corridors.

Mayor Mallory then took the opportunity to announce that Spanish-based Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) will manufacture Cincinnati’s five initial modern streetcar vehicles at their United States facility in Elmira, New York.

“Before we are even finished with the first phase, we have started work on the second phase,” Mallory revealed. “I have already asked for federal funds to study which route will be used to connect to our assets in the uptown area like UC, the hospitals, the zoo, and the EPA.”

The mayor shifted directions and emphasized the importance of public safety, using recent progress in Over-the-Rhine as success stories.

“It used to be that on Sunday mornings people would come to Over-the-Rhine to buy a week’s worth of drugs,” said Mallory using the Gateway Quarter as his example. “Now, on Sunday mornings, people come to Over-the-Rhine to eat check and waffles at Taste of Belgium.”

Mayor Mallory concluded the speech by highlighting the importance of becoming a more global city to the crowd of more than 350 people.

“In China, they are talking about our emergency preparedness. In Saudi Arabia, people are looking at Cincinnati for potential business investment. In Germany, people are talking about our cutting edge efforts in the area of sustainability. And right now, all over the world, people are talking about the World Choir Games.”

“We have created an international presence, and because of that buzz, we were able to attract the World Choir Games. Make no mistake, this is the greatest opportunity to showcase the city that we have ever had…and we earned it.”

Street musicians, stand-up comedy, and other unique activities will be featured in addition to bands such as The Minor Leagues, Skeetones, State Song, Mad Anthony, Eclipse, The Kickaways, Josh Eagle & The Harvest City, Evans Collective, The Yugos, Sassy Molasses, and The Ohms.

Shows will be held at Rohs Street Cafe, Baba Budan’s, Mac’s Pizza Pub, Christy’s Biergarten, and Roxx Electrocafe. One pass will give attendees access to all venues. A two-day pass is $10 in advance ($12 at the door), and one-day passes are also available for $5 in advance ($8 at the door).

A new addition to the festival is the Day Fest, starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, when all venues are open to people of all ages. All other shows, starting at 7 p.m. each night, are for ages 21+.

You can find a full schedule and purchase tickets online at The Heights Music Festival website.

“I read the feedback and knew it wasn’t a very high quality tilt-shift video.” Spitzig said. “I have studied a little bit more and practiced with new techniques.”

His follow-up video once again focuses on the University of Cincinnati’s internationally acclaimed campus, but this time he shifts the focus to new areas. Viewers now get perspectives of Calhoun Street, Campus Green, construction work for U Square at the Loop, UC Main Street, Nippert Stadium, McMicken Commons, Jefferson Street, the plaza outside of DAAP, and Varsity Village.

Spitzig says that he is working with a friend to find the best places to film around the city, but believes UC provides a perfect setting for filming videos of this nature due to its dynamic urban setting with easy access to buildings and high vantage points.

A Tiny Day at UC is a 2:51 video featuring music by Sigur Rós.