Categories
Development News Politics

Accountability comes a knockin’

City Manager Milton Dohoney is at it again. The City has for too long let developers linger around and stall on potential development sites for a variety of reasons. Most of which aren’t good enough reasons for me. Our city has reached the point where we no longer have to bend over backwards for developers. Instead it is about time they (private developers) start living up to their respective end of the agreement.

Dohoney’s first bold maneuver was to call out Eagle Realty on their lackluster development progress on 5th & Race. The City had essentially given Eagle Realty the land for nothing and simply ask that they develop something on an already cleared plot of land, and arguably one of the most prime pieces of real estate in the CBD. Dohoney said enough was enough, and informed Eagle that the City was taking away their development rights to the site.

Now on a much less prominent property, but equally as disturbing, Dohoney has once again taken the bold action of demanding that a developer live up to their end of an agreement. At 33 W. Fourth Street (corner of 4th & Race), the City gave a lease to MMF Realty with the expectations that they would redevelop this site. Well 3.5 years have passed and virtually nothing has occurred at the site.

In the mean time the City has heard from several other developers who are interested in developing the site themselves. Sounds like a win, win to me. Take this property off of MMF Realty’s hands – who clearly doesn’t want to do anything – and sell it off to another developer who is willing to do the job. It’s great to have a City Manager like Milton Dohoney around who actually has the backbone to stand up for the City and say enough is enough.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business Development News Politics

Best Week Ever? No, but a really good one

This week has been pretty amazing for the City of Cincinnati and OTR:

1. Bootsy’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby is a go
2. Strickland adds more historic tax credits for OTR
3. Outside opens in the Gateway Quarter
4. The Music Now Festival hits the three year mark
5. Rookwood Pottery moves to OTR based on the future streetcar…without even full approval, the streetcar, is already causing economic development to occur.
6. The Banks broke ground
There was also a really good article in the Pulse of the City about the Brewery District

Rendering of Booty’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby – Image Provided

Categories
Development News Politics Transportation

Fight the hypocrisy

The local media outlets have never been shy of notifying the public on how long it has taken to get things going on The Banks, nor have they been hesitant to smear every person/agency related to the project – attributing said delay to them. At the same time the many local naysayers and/or skeptics have been openly critical of politicians, government, non-profits, and even those who support reinvestment in our region’s core. These same people and entities have not hesitated in questioning $25M in City money for a streetcar system in our region’s core.

I do not have a problem with people who wish to keep things in check and/or question authority, but what I do hope is that these same people place the same amount of scrutiny on other things. If we are going to question $25M of public dollars for streetcars, then I surely hope that we question the $2.5B that will be spent on roadway projects this year alone. These roadway projects are not subject to public vote and are simply funded with little public debate or dialog.

Additionally as we all know, The Banks has been 9 years in the making…and the local media has had no qualms with pitting Nky v. Cincinnati in the past, so I hope this same level of scrutiny is passed along to another comparable project in Nky – Newport Ovation.

I applaud local leaders for their dedicated work on The Banks and the Cincinnati Streetcar project. These types of projects are not easily done and often times take many years to accomplish. Keep up the good work.

Photo Credit: Cincinnati Enquirer/Gary Landers

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Development News

What a difference 5 years makes


There have been lots of changes to Cincinnati’s landscape over the past 5 years. UC’s world-renowned campus architecture, Daniel Libeskind’s Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, Julian Stanczak’s art installation, and Zaha Hadid’s ground-breaking Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art are just a few. At the same time Mayor Mallory has restored the Planning Department and said, “It is time that we put Cincinnati back on the map as a leader in the area of city planning.”

As a way to celebrate the Contemporary Arts Center’s 5-year anniversary (at their new building) they will be holding a discussion about the many recent changes to Cincinnati’s landscape. The discussion will be primarily focused on planning/architecture commentary, but will also go into sculpture art and other installations. The discussion will be moderated by Michaele Pride (Chair of UC School of Architecture at DAAP) and will consist of the following panel members:

Richard Rosenthal
CAC Trustee, Chair of the Urban Design Review Board, and community volunteer
Jim Fitzgerald
President, CAC Board of Trustees and Founder and Chairman of FRCH Design Worldwide
Jay Chatterjee
Former Dean and current professor of architecture and planning at UC College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning and CAC Trustee emeritus
Charles C. Graves, III
Director, Department of City Planning, Cincinnati
Ron Kull
GBBN, Fellow of the AIA, former Cincinnati City Architect, and former Architect for the University of Cincinnati

The discussion will be taking place Saturday, April 5th at 2pm. It is open to the public for the regular CAC admission price, and is free to members. Space is limited, so be sure to RSVP as quickly as you can. If you are interested in becoming a member to the CAC be sure to check out their website for membership options.

*Please RSVP with Andrea Blake: 513.345.8434 or ablake@cacmail.org

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business Development News

Louisiana lovin’

As some of you may know, I have been out of town (Atlanta) on business for the past couple of months. For the past two weeks I was shipped off to another area (Baton Rouge) to continue my work, and I thought I would relay my thoughts on Louisiana to the great readers of UrbanCincy.

I spent most of my time in Baton Rouge. I will say that the people are very laid back and easy to get along with, but with that said…Baton Rouge seemed to be lacking any coherent development pattern(s), disposable income, and most importantly it was muggy even in February. The place was alright. Downtown had a few museums, lots of government buildings and some new construction. Overall Baton Rouge was kind of dirty, a little sloppy and somewhat depressing.

I was also able to spend a weekend in New Orleans. I spent the majority of my time there in the French Quarter and loved every minute. There were some other nice areas that I saw (Magazine Street), but overall New Orleans seemed to have many of the same qualities as Baton Rouge but on a larger scale.

The Lower 9th Ward looks as if the hurricane had just recently hit, and the place is almost entirely vacant. The CBD was kind of creepy and not all that comfortable. If you would like to hear more rantings and most importantly see my pictures of the cities…check out my photo threads on UrbanOhio.

The Garden District (Baton Rouge)
Downtown Baton Rouge
New Orleans’ French Quarter