Category: News

Original stories from the UrbanCincy team.

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Arts & Entertainment News Transportation

Start Off National Bike Month With 2013 Bikes+Brews Ride

UrbanCincy is proud to bring back the popular Bikes+Brews ride to help kick off National Bike Month in Cincinnati on Saturday, May 4.

In addition to Bikes+Brews, Cincinnati’s celebration of Bike Month will include dozens of events over the course of the month. Some will focus on teaching people how to maintain and care for their bikes, others will introduce people to biking, and others will look to celebrate the form of transportation through fun activities and events that enhance the experience of existing bicyclists.

As is tradition with the Bikes+Brews ride, the ride will start at the OTR Biergarten and then continue on throughout the center city. This year’s ride will include five stops along a nine-mile route traversing Over-the-Rhine, Downtown, Covington, Newport, and Bellevue before returning to Findlay Market.

The route is fairly level, and should be doable for cyclists of all ages and abilities.

After taking off from the OTR Biergarten at 12pm, riders will head south to the Moerlein Lager House and then across the Roebling Suspension Bridge to Keystone Bar & Grill in Covington. Following that, the group will head east to The Elusive Cow Cafe in Bellevue, then double-back and head north across the Ohio River via the Purple People Bridge.

Once back in Ohio we will stop at Rock Bottom Brewery on Fountain Square, then head north to Mayberry Gastropub before concluding the ride back at Findlay Market at Market Wines.

Those interested in joining the group mid-ride are welcome to do so, and will be able to track the group’s progress by following #bikebrews or @UrbanCincy on Twitter.

Those who do not have their own bike can rent one from the Cincinnati Bike Center (near our first stop on the ride) for the day for $25.

The 2013 Bikes+Brews ride is free and open to anyone who would like to participate, and will take off from the OTR Biergarten around 12pm. The ride is expected to conclude back at Market Wines around 5pm.

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Business News Politics Transportation

Special Streetcar Meeting Called by Roxanne Qualls in Light of Funding Issues

On Tuesday, City Manager Milton Dohoney sent a memo to council members that said after a thorough review of the bid process, construction of the streetcar tracks, electrical equipment, and maintenance facility will cost $17 million more than the city had budgeted. This news raises the total cost of the project from $110 million to approximately $127 million.

As a result Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C), Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, has called a special meeting April 29 at 6pm. Dohoney will report on the costs of cancelling Cincinnati’s streetcar project, which broke ground in 2012.

Utility relocation work has been underway for more than a year, and fabrication of five streetcars began at CAF’s facility in Zaragoza, Spain in early 2013. The City of Cincinnati reports that $20.3 million has been spent on the streetcar project to date.

Ohio TRAC
Two failed ballot initiatives meant to kill the Cincinnati Streetcar, and the revocation of $51.8M from TRAC have delayed temporarily set back the project for years. Photograph by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy.

So far Cincinnati’s streetcar has been the recipient of three federal grants totaling $39.9 million dollars. If the project is cancelled, the city will likely have to reimburse the federal government for whatever grant funds have been spent. Additionally, it will either need to cancel its contract with CAF or sell the five streetcars to another city after they are completed in 2014.

Planning for the streetcar project began in late 2006. A study was completed in 2007 and funding was assembled in 2008. On the cusp of groundbreaking, COAST, the notorious local anti-tax group, mounted a petition drive that saw an anti-streetcar charter amendment placed on the November 2009 ballot. Issue 9 was defeated, but it succeeded in delaying the project by a year.

During that same election, John Kasich (R) was elected governor of Ohio. He immediately cancelled Ohio’s 3C Passenger Rail project, scuttled state funding for new express Metro routes funded under outgoing Governor Ted Strickland (D), and appointed Jerry Wray chair of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

In April 2011, the Transit Review Advisory Committee (TRAC), also chaired by Wray, cancelled $51.8 million in state for Cincinnati’s streetcar project and directed the funds to railroad overpass projects in rural Ohio.

Without its largest grant, a connection to the University of Cincinnati was removed from the project’s first phase.

Sensing weakness, COAST mounted another petition drive and again succeeded in placing an anti-streetcar charter amendment on the ballot. Issue 48 was defeated but succeeded in delaying the project for another full year.

In that same election, all incumbent Republicans, with the exception of Charlie Winburn, were swept from council and replaced by a 6-3 pro-streetcar majority. The project broke ground in February 2012 but the track, electrical, and car barn contract was delayed by litigation between the City and Duke Energy.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) ruled in the city’s favor in late 2012 and the project was put out to bid in February 2013.

Bids came in significantly higher than the city budgeted, and on April 29 council will hear the cost of cancelling the project verses continuing with the project as planned, presumably after voting to sell $17 million more in bonds.

After this rise in the project’s cost from $110 million to $127 million, annual debt service paid from the city’s capital fund will be approximately $4 million. Operations costs, paid from the operations general fund, will be about $3 million.

The $7 million annual cost to operate the streetcar system will consume less than 2% of the city’s annual $400 million budget.

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Development News Transportation

Metro Seeking Public Feedback on Proposed City-Wide Bus Enhancements

Following a year of ridership growth, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) will roll out a series of improvements to its Metro bus service this year. Agency officials say that the improvements will be rolled out in two phases.

The first round will go into effect this August and will include significant service enhancements at the new Glenway Crossing Transit Center on the west side.

A new Route 32 will provide all-day service between Price Hill and Downtown, a modified Route 64 will connect Westwood with retail on Ferguson Road and the transit center, and new connections will be offered to Route 38X to Uptown and Route 77X to Delhi. Additional service will also be added to Route 19 along Colerain Avenue and Route 33 along Glenway Avenue.

Metro Plus Bus
New Metro*Plus buses were revealed to the public this week, and will be in operation by August. Image provided.

New direct crosstown services, from the Glenway Crossing Transit Center, will take riders to Oakley via the new Mercy Health West Hospital on Route 41, and to the new Uptown Transit District and onto Hyde Park via Route 51.

The transit agency will also begin operating the new pre-bus rapid transit (BRT) service, called Metro*Plus, between Kenwood and the Uptown Transit District this August.

Officials envision Metro*Plus as offering faster service through fewer stops and enhanced visibility through uniquely designed buses and more robust bus stops. The service will initially connect Uptown with the Kenwood area via Montgomery Road, but will be judged for consideration along another six corridors throughout the region.

Attend our free event this Friday from 5pm to 7:30pm at the Niehoff Studio in Corryville on bus rapid transit and bikeway planning that will include an expert panel discussion and open house.

The improvements are a result of SORTA’s 2012 planning efforts, and will be reviewed to determine whether or not the changes should stay in effect.

“Last year, we listened to the community’s suggestions and, as a result, are proposing a number of service changes to better meet our customers’ needs and attract new riders,” Terry Garcia Crews, Metro CEO, stated in a prepared release. “We’re ready to go forward with improvements that will make Metro more efficient, more convenient, and easier to ride.”

Potential Cincinnati BRT Corridors

Officials say that the second round of enhancements will be rolled out this December and will include added service to Route 20 along Winton Road, Route 78 along Vine Street, Route 31 crosstown service, Route 43 along Reading Road, and faster service on Route 1 between the Museum Center and Eden Park.

It is also expected that the four transit boarding areas, that form the $6.9 million Uptown Transit District, will also be complete by the end of the year, and taking on the additional service to the region’s second largest employment center, and one of the city’s fastest growing population centers.

SORTA officials emphasize that the changes are all short-term in nature, and that they would like public feedback on the adjustments. Officials also state that the improvements are being made within Metro’s 2013 operating budget, and will not require fare increases.

Metro will host a public meeting on Wednesday, May 1 from 8am to 5:30pm at the Duke Energy Convention Center (South Meeting Room 232). Officials say that visitors can come anytime during those hours, and that presentations will be offered every hour on the hour.

Comments can also be submitted online, by email at routecomments@go-metro.com, fax at (513) 632-9202, or mail to 602 Main Street, Suite 1100, Cincinnati, OH 45202. The deadline for public comments is May 1, 2013.

Categories
News Transportation

Expert Panel to Discuss Bus Rapid Transit, Bikeway Planning in Cincinnati on 4/19

The Cincinnati region is rethinking the way it moves people and goods throughout the region with major investments and studies taking place on bus rapid transit, bikeways, and multi-modal corridors. The Cincinnati region will evolve, for better or worse, depending on how these investments are planned.

To help further this discussion, we are proud to announce a new partnership between the Niehoff Urban Studio and UrbanCincy that will focus on the work produced by students at the interdisciplinary design center.

The exhibits produced by the students will be judged by those in attendance at the planned semi-annual events, and followed by an expert panel discussion. The best student project will then be profiled on UrbanCincy.

Metropolis & Mobility: Bus Rapid Transit and Bikeways

The first event of the new partnership, Metropolis & Mobility: Bus Rapid Transit and Bikeways, will take place on Friday, April 19, and will include discussion about how multi-modal transportation concepts can be applied throughout Cincinnati.

The expert panel will include Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority CEO Terry Garcia-Crews, Cincinnati Bike Center manager Jared Arter, and Parsons Brinckerhoff transportation planner Tim Reynolds.

“Bus rapid transit is a new form of urban transport, already in place in many American cities that can be modeled for Cincinnati to put us one step closer to a much-needed rapid regional transit system,” explained Niehoff Urban Studio director Frank Russell.

Russell goes on to say that the discussion regarding bikeway planning will focus on three new proposals for the Mill Creek Greenway, Western Riverfront Trail, and the Wasson Way.

The event is free and open to the public, and will include an open house session from 5pm to 6pm where visitors can view the student exhibits and mingle with the panel, and the panel discussion itself from 6pm to 7:30pm.

There will be a cash bar and complimentary light snacks provided for those in attendance.

The Niehoff Urban Studio is located at 2728 Vine Street in Corryville. The event is easily accessible via Metro bus service, and $1 parking will be available at the 2704 parking structure accessible from Vine Street.

Categories
Business Development News

PHOTOS: $80M Mixed-Use Development Nears Completion in Clifton Heights

W. McMillan Street

Since 2000, the University of Cincinnati’s surroundings have changed dramatically – many homes and a few landmark buildings were demolished for construction of Stetson Square, McMillan Manor, University Park Apartments, and 65 West. U Square at the Loop, a 161-unit, $80 million midrise situated between McMillan and Calhoun Streets, has been under construction for more than a year and is scheduled for occupancy on August 1.

The development includes over a dozen street-level commercial spaces, an office building that has been rented by the University of Cincinnati, and a site fronting McMillan Street where a hotel is planned. Apartment prices range between $695 for studios to $2,350 for penthouses with balconies.

U Square at The Loop

Reserved parking spaces in the development’s two garages will cost $95/month. Unlike other new apartment complexes in the area, units at U Square at the Loop can be rented by non-students.

In the early 2000s the site where U Square at the Loop is being built was partially cleared for a very different development – a 360-unit condo midrise dubbed McMillan Park that had been in planning since 1999. The two phases of the development were planned above two underground parking garages totaling 900 spaces, and planned units ranged from $160,000 for a one bedroom to $800,000 for a penthouse.

That project was to be financed by the University of Cincinnati, the site assembled by the City of Cincinnati through eminent domain, and the project managed by the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC). Demolition of properties began in 2003, but litigation involving the owners of Acropolis Chili, Inn the Wood, and two fast food restaurants was not resolved until 2007, a year after the university withdrew its funding.

In 2008 Towne Properties became the project’s developer, and the long-vacant Hardee’s and Arby’s that had been the subject of eminent domain litigation were demolished that summer.

Renderings depicting a development similar to what is nearing completion in 2013 were published that fall, and the project was dubbed Uptown Commons in 2009. The project’s name changed again to U Square at the Loop in 2010 and construction began in 2012.