Month: January 2011

Categories
Business Development News

Findlay Market experiences fifth straight year of growth

The Corporation of Findlay Market is reporting that the historic market in Over-the-Rhine saw the number of shopping visits increase in 2010.

The increase in shoppers marks the fifth consecutive year of growth for Findlay Market. More than 800,000 shoppers in 2010 represented a 5.6 percent increase from 2009. The Corporation says that this growth was complimented by four of the five busiest weeks in Findlay Market’s 156-year history.

Findlay Market first started collecting this data in 2006 by installing electronic pedestrian counters near the doors to the market house. Since that time, they state that there has been a 66 percent increase in the number of shoppers.  Recently added tenants have spoke to the central location and types of shoppers present at Findlay Market as being a major draw.

“We looked around town at other possible locations, but the reason Findlay stood out in our minds is because we know the crowds that go there are often for the fresh produce and farmers markets,” Dan Wells, Sushi Bears chef, explained to UrbanCincy last October shortly before they opened.

The growth in the number of shoppers coincides nicely with the recent news that the historic market house is now 100 percent leased after being only 47 percent full when the City of Cincinnati completed a $16 million renovation in 2004. Officials are now working with Findlay Market on how to expand retail space to surrounding buildings.

The first such example is Daisy Mae’s Market, which announced it had purchased a three-story building nearby to expand their storage and preparation areas for deliveries. Additionally, four other tenants have reportedly applied for new leases at Findlay Market with no room to accommodate them.

“We are very encouraged that more and more people are moving back into Downtown and Over-the-Rhine,” Findlay Market marketing director Cheryl Eagleson stated. “They want all the usual services within the urban core…and one of those is the availability of quality foods.”

Findlay Market (map) is open year-round from 9am to 6pm Tuesday through Friday, 8am to 6pm on Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday. Some tenants, including Pho Lang Thang, have experimented with later hours into the evening but have yet to set formal operation hours to those later times.

Findlay Market photography provided by UrbanCincy contributor 5chw4r7z.

Categories
Business Development News

New video takes critical look at Over-the-Rhine’s recent progress

A new video published on Vimeo entitled OTR: On the Rise looks at Cincinnati’s historic neighborhood and the progress it has made over recent years. The video, produced by Jeremy Heslup, also takes a critical look at the neighborhood and visually illustrates how much more work needs to be done.

Heslup interviews a prominent Over-the-Rhine street performer; a planning profession from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning; a musician from the Cincinnati Symphony; and a Cincinnati police officer who has been working in the neighborhood for years.

Those interviewed seem to concur that one of the largest hurdles facing the historic neighborhood is a perception that it is not a good place to be in Cincinnati. All of those interviewed were also inspired about the recent progress and seemed to be hopeful that Over-the-Rhine will soon get over the proverbial hump as more and more residents and businesses move into the neighborhood.

One of the most striking features, of the video, is the vacant buildings captured on film. With Over-the-Rhine being one of the nation’s largest and significant historic districts, it shows just how vulnerable the neighborhood is. One storm, one negligent property owner, one fire, or one crass developer could mean the end for hundreds of buildings in Over-the-Rhine.

Categories
Business Development News

$10.7M Parvis Lofts development leasing quickly in Over-the-Rhine

The Parvis Lofts development has been open for less than one month and already developers say that they have leased nearly 50 percent of the 32 rental units available. The residential units also include 15,000 square feet of commercial space to fill out the $10.7 million development in the heart of historic Over-the-Rhine.

“The renaissance of Over-the-Rhine continues. By building apartments, we are giving new choices for people who are interested in being a part of the revitalization of this neighborhood,” Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory stated in a prepared release.

The development is located in the 1400 block of Vine Street which previously consisted of deteriorating buildings. NorthPointe Group developers say they renovated the 10 buildings into rental units to fill a need that had yet to be satisfied by other recently completed projects in the Gateway Quarter of Over-the-Rhine.

The finished units include laundry facilities in each unit, Rookwood Tile fireplaces, a courtyard, secure parking, lobby, Cincinnati Bell fiber-optic service, and range in size from 475 square feet to 2,025 square feet. NorthPointe Group officials say that rents average $850 per month, but start as low as $575 and go as high as $1,850.

“Up until now there has only been for-sale product developed in the Q, and we have received numerous requests for rental options,” explained Parvis Lofts leasing agent J.T. Barse. “Like the Gateway Quarter as a whole, the project is aimed at attracting people that want to live in and embrace Cincinnati’s urban core.”

The project was funded through a variety of sources that include State and Federal historic tax credits, New Market tax credits and a load from Cincinnati Equity Fund.

To date, NorthPointe Group has developed two other projects with HGC Construction in Over-the-Rhine including Duncanson Lofts and Mottainai – both of which have sold out. The development team is now working on Saengerhalle Lofts on Race Street just a block away.

The Q, and OTR in general, has been attracting a lot of attention, and with a burgeoning social scene we are seeing more people that want to live here even if they don’t work downtown,” said Barse. “While that may be what is bringing them down to look, the high quality finishes and exterior common area is what makes them want to rent.”

Barse also notes that many of the renters come down without knowing there is a Kroger grocery store directly across the street, or about how close the units are located to Findlay Market.

Those interested in touring the remaining units can do so by contacting J.T. Barse at jbarse@northpointegroup.com or by calling (513) 835-2110. You can also stay up-to-date by following NorthPointe Group on Twitter @NPGRealEstate.

Parvis Lofts photography by UrbanCincy contributor Jake Mecklenborg.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Walnut Street Poetry Society to kick-off 2011 season at Mercantile Library

Like literature? Like poetry?

The Mercantile Library is hosting a one-hour poetry event this Wednesday, January 12 from 12pm to 1pm.  A Profusion of Poets is a kick-off for the 2011 season of the Walnut Street Poetry Society (WSPS), a local poetry group founded in 2004.

Participating poets include Bea Ostergart, a writer and UC English professor, and Richard Hague, a writer, editor and teacher at Purcell Marian High School, and several other local poets. The event will be moderated by Dr. Norman Finkelstein, poet and professor of English at Xavier University and Robert Murphy, poet and editor of Dos Madres Press.

The WSPS says that this year’s poetry series at the Mercantile Library focuses on poetry and inner life.

“Poems, as it were, are places made out of language where our inner life and the outer world meet.  In the coming months, we will read a wide variety of poets who invite us to participate in this inspiriting process.”

This event will take place at the 175-year-old institution at 414 Walnut Street in downtown Cincinnati, and is free and open to the public.  Mercantile Library members interested in joining the Walnut Street Poetry Society can do so for $30 annually.  All others interested can join for a $40 annual membership fee.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business News

Newly formed Creative Society seen as a forum for new ideas

Debbie Dent, owner and creative director of marketing firm Aim Straight Up and event space Venue 222, has a vision for creatives in Cincinnati. After her own company, Willow Group, folded in 2009, Dent bounced back a year later and opened Aim Straight Up after working with her husband Wade to convert their building on 14th Street in Over-the-Rhine into an event and meeting space.

As a sidearm of Aim Straight Up, Debbie decided to help establish a forum for the rapidly growing number of people in the Cincinnati area who are passionate about new ideas and want to contribute, even and especially those who are underutilized in the job market. Thus the Creative Society was born.

“With the economy in the crapper, people losing their jobs, closing or downsizing their businesses and getting paid less for the work we all do, we can become discouraged and stop thinking and acting creatively,” Dent explained. “We lose track of people we enjoyed being with, drop the groups we belonged to and activities that we participated in. And often we lose track of our creative selves.”

Dent noted that in the Cincinnati community there is a flux of passionate people with lots of new ideas to share. “The creative spirit is alive and growing rapidly in Cincinnati,” Debbie shared. “There is an infectious new energy all around. We are lucky, for a community of our size, that have all types of creative people and talent represented. We have a Creative Society.”

Debbie’s motive behind the Creative Society was a way to informally gather people who enjoy being creative and wish to be around and connect with others who value creativity. Currently the club has over 200 members on its Facebook page, with 110 of them scheduled to attend a lunch catered by nearby MOTR this coming Wednesday to make connections and share ideas about what the group can accomplish as a vibrant and passionate collective. The lunch will take place at Venue222 (map).

The goals will be determined by the group as a whole, but the assumption is that members of the group can meet anytime online and physically every other month at a different location to get to know each other, swap ideas, help make connections for each other and create. “Collectively we become a creative think tank that can help be an agent of positive change for Cincinnati,” said Dent.

This month’s lunch will include a creative exercise to “Express your vision for a Creative Cincinnati in 2011,” with plenty of art materials and canvass space for attendees to get out their ideas in an innovative manner.

It’s not just visual artists of graphic designers that have exclusive access to the Creative Society, though. According to Dent, anyone with passion and an idea is as good as a card carrying member.

“Everyone is creative. It’s through our creativity that we make a difference in our lives, the lives of others and our city. It’s in times like these that creative thinking and action is needed even more. “