Category: Development

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Business Development News Politics

What happened to the locavore movement?

The news is out that the Atlanta-based Carter/Dawson development team has selected Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC as the general contractor for the private development portions of The Banks. The Carter/Dawson team stated in a press release that Brasfield & Gorrie is “one of the largest privately-held contracting firms in the nation, and brings their extensive successful experience in building complex, mixed-use, vertically integrated developments in dense urban areas.”

This may be all well and good but the issue I have is that they’re based out of Birmingham. It’s not that there is anything wrong with Birmingham, or Atlanta for that matter, but there are huge sums of public money going into The Banks development. These tax dollars should be spent in the taxpayer’s best interest, and with unemployment hovering around 10 percent, we should be demanding that these contracts be awarded to local companies who will be employing Cincinnatians.

The Banks development plan – rendering provided.

It’s much like the rationale behind shopping local. When you award contracts to local companies they’ll hire people in the region, those people will take that money and upkeep their homes, go shopping, eat out, and support the local economy. When we give these contracts away to someone else there goes much of that money.

I can’t say for sure whether Brasfield & Gorrie is the best firm for the job, because they very well might be, but I do know that there are qualified companies here locally that would have loved the opportunity to not only get this contract, but also make a lasting impact on the city they call home. The one bright spot is that Brasfield & Gorrie has committed to achieving the development team’s goal of at least 30 percent SBE participation, and committed to utilizing a “significant amount of local talent to get the job done efficiently and effectively.”

Phase 1A of The Banks development – rendering provided.

Brasfield & Gorrie is expected to start assembling their team on site almost immediately and will begin construction on the overbuild of Phase 1A in December with a set completion date of Spring 2011. Once complete, The Banks will represent a total private investment around $600 million. Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ball Park, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Riverfront Transit Center are all complete and part of Cincinnati’s Riverfront Master Plan developed by Urban Design Associates. The Central Riverfront Park is under construction now and will compliment the entire development.

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Arts & Entertainment Development News Transportation

Memorial Day – 2012*

So, I’m sitting here at the Christian Moerlein Lager House enjoying a Helles and thinking about what lies ahead this summer… it’s going to be a busy one! Living in Cincinnati has never been better with all of the new things we have going on; I’m so glad I decided to stay after we turned down Issue Nine back in 2009. Back then, the downtown area was just starting to turn around compared to where we are today. I mean, Fountain Square had again taken its rightful place as the center of our community and things up in the Gateway Quarter were really starting to tick. There was some real promise, but many people had their doubts as well. Now though, there are very few doubters left, and almost all the concerns from back then have been alleviated.

I mean, the things that are going on these days in and around the center city are just amazing compared to where we have been for at least the past twenty years. I would call it a renaissance or even a rebirth, but it’s more like a brand Cincinnati is developing right before our very eyes. The Banks project is coming along nicely, even if we all know that it seems like it was talked about forever. We all knew that even when the project started it was going to take a while, but it’s so good to see people living and working there even now! Alongside it Riverfront Park has added a wonderful green space at the base of the freshly painted Roebling Suspension Bridge. I have to say it is so much nicer to sit here and watch people in the park than it would be to see another parking lot along the riverfront. Hard to believe we had to live through that for all those years!

Central Riverfront Park, Great American Tower at Queen City Square, Phase 1 of The Banks – Renderings Provided.

The city’s tallest building, The Tiara Tower, has been open for a little over a year and not only does it look great but it has a nice occupancy rate as well. It has brought a lot of jobs and driven interest in additional ambitious building projects around town. For example, over in Newport more development has taken hold as Ovation opened up recently. Really, when you stop and think about it, this area along the Ohio River is booming and both sides of the river have taken great pride in it all.

Speaking of pride, the Cincinnati Streetcar opened up early this year and the response has been amazing! People park down at The Banks, jump on the streetcar and find their way around town very easily. They are able to ride up to Findlay Market among other places, and next year they will be able to get all the way up to the University. New businesses and residences abound along the line and have really added a substantial amount of tax revenue to the city coffers that were not looking good even three years ago.

The Cincinnati Streetcar travels on Walnut Street past the Aronoff Center and the Backstage Entertainment District south towards The Banks.

What else is going on? Well, the World Choir Games will be here before we know it and we are expecting quite a crowd. It is the first time the games will be in the United States and estimates are that 250,000 people will be here in town in less than six weeks to take them in. It’s going to be quite an event and the hotels have been booked up for the last year. There is also a huge Pomegranates show this coming weekend. They haven’t been in town for a while because of their touring schedule, and we all miss them dearly. They really started cooking in 2009 back when we were all concerned with Issue 9. Additionally, the Major League All-Star Game will be here in 2015 and we are all looking forward to that gigantic event! People around the area are so glad that we have a city to show off and one that we can be proud of!

Cincinnati… we’ve had a lot of hurdles and obstacles to overcome, but things have been moving in the right direction for a while now and I don’t see how the momentum could be stopped!

*Denotes that this is a vision of where we are headed, and not truly a post from the future. As you can see, almost all of these projects are underway in 2009 and this post was meant to tie them all together & draw a picture of what it all will look like. As of now, the All-Star game & streetcar are the the biggest dreams, but hopefully that all begins to change tomorrow. NO ON NINE!

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Development News

The Banks & Queen City Square

Cincinnati’s new tallest building, the Great American Tower at Queen City Square, continues to climb upward as it now appears to be over the half-way mark in terms of total height. Meanwhile, The Banks is climbing above street level, the new street grid continues to develop, and the underground parking garages that will lift the development out of the flood plain are pretty much completed for phase 1 of the billion dollar mixed-use development. The first of the multi-floor residential buildings with street level commercial space should be rising within the coming weeks.

Here are a series of pictures taken over the last week or so of some of the progress being made on both developments happening Downtown. Aside from the few taken from the upper deck at Paul Brown Stadium, they are mainly a street view of where things stand these days.

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Development News Politics Transportation

The "Other" Portland

On a recent vacation, I had the opportunity to visit Portland. No not the west coast Portland that everyone is talking about in regards to Cincinnati’s Issue 9, but rather the east coast Portland. During a week spent mostly in mid-coast Maine, I took some time to drop in on Portland to see what that city had to offer. With a metro population of 230,000 it is rather small compared to what we are used to here in Cincinnati, but it is home to one quarter of all residents in Maine. I honestly was not expecting too much, but was rather surprised by what I found.

Being a coastal town, I did think that this would be a city center full of shops and dinners that catered to Maine tourists and took advantage of their geographic location. I had pictured lobster flavored beer and lighthouses on doormats. But, much to my surprise what I found instead was a city block after city block of eclectic shops and independent restaurants. As I spent my evening wandering around shops and stopping off for dinner and drinks, I thought “this is exactly what OTR could be given a chance” and an UrbanCincy post was born.

The biggest thing that jumped out was that Portland seemed to have was a unified vision of what they wanted in this area. It could have been tacky t-shirt shops and chain restaurants. They could have promoted tear-downs and rebuilds to bring a more modern feel to the town. Instead funky shops, boutiques, and art galleries lined the street and used old buildings that had clearly been in downtown Portland for quite a while. While I was there on a Wednesday night in what is the start of the off-season, there was a good amount of people out and about enjoying themselves.

If nothing else Portland, Maine has an identity, and that is something that our area desperately seems to be searching for. It is my opinion that with a streetcar, a successful Banks project, and continued development on the river in Northern Kentucky we will have one that is appealing to long time residents, local college students, and outsiders that may consider Cincinnati as a place to live. The photos above are a small sampling of the establishments around downtown Portland.

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Development News

New renderings of UC’s Jefferson Ave. Sports Complex

New renderings of the University of Cincinnati’s “Jefferson Avenue Sports Complex” have been released. This complex will feature a full-sized 100-yard field which the lacrosse team will use for home games, and a smaller 50-yard practice field. During the winter months, the large field will be covered by a “bubble”, providing an indoor practice space for football, lacrosse, track and field, and soccer. The indoor facility will maintain a temperature of 50-60 degrees, even in the harshest of Cincinnati’s winters.

In constructing the new complex, the University will be removing a maintenance facility and a parking lot, one of only two large lots remaining on campus. The new facility will be adjacent to the University’s existing Varsity Village complex, which includes Nippert Stadium, Fifth Third Arena at the Shoemaker Center, Gettler Stadium, Marge Schott Stadium, and Sheakley Lawn.

See more renderings at GoBearcats.com.

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