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Business Development News

PHOTOS: Grandin Properties Completes $1.6M Renovation of 135-Year-Old Hummel Building

The Hummel Building as seen from Washington Park. Photograph by Paige Malott for UrbanCincy.

Ninety years after the founding of the City of Cincinnati, in a day when Over-the-Rhine was home to over 40 breweries and Barney Kroger was still writing his business plan; three men sat in a saloon along Vine Street finalizing the design for Music Hall and a property adjacent: 1401 Elm Street.

The triage of architect Samuel Hannaford, Cincinnati political boss George Cox, and construction contractor George Hummel built 1401 as mixed-use development. In addition to multi-family homes, the property included the Hummel Family Market and the ever-popular Hummel Saloon.

Erected in 1878, the structure has withstood the test of time allowing for modern-day developers, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), Hudepohl Construction, and Grandin Properties to rehabilitate it 135 years later.

The $1.6 million project was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Chad Munitz, Executive Vice President of 3CDC, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (C), Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney, Councilmember Laure Quinlivan (D), and Peg Wyant of Grandin Properties.

The Hummel Building, which is now home to a 1,900 square-foot restaurant space and four condominiums priced from $270,000 to $375,000, is also the first Over-the-Rhine project for Grandin Properties.

A company best known for their work in upscale suburban neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Grandin invested in 1401 Elm for both its historic significance and recent resurgence of the urban lifestyle.

“Cincinnati is reinventing itself as a hub of influence and innovation,” stated Grandin CEO, Peg Wyant at the ribbon cutting ceremony last week. “Grandin Properties is very pleased to be a part of it.”

Just around the corner from the Hummel Building, crews continued roadwork in preparation for the Cincinnati Streetcar.

“It is exciting to see this property link up with the streetcar,” noted City Manager Milton Dohoney. “Great things happen as we continue to invest in the city with the help of 3CDC.”

The Hummel Building is the second of seven projects to be completed during the fifth phase of 3DCDC’s redevelopment work in Over-the-Rhine. Other properties include Republic Street Lofts, Tea Company Townhomes, Westfalen II, B-Side Lofts, Mercer Commons, and Nicolay, as well as the Bakery Lofts which opened earlier this year. Hummel’s first floor restaurant is slated for a public debut on November 26, 2013.

The City of Cincinnati and 3CDC have financed more than $315 million in redeveloping Over-the-Rhine since 2009. The 110-square block neighborhood is home to the largest concentration of historic structures in the United States: 943 buildings. To date, 103 of those buildings have been restored or stabilized through the work of 3CDC.

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Up To Speed

Young black men in America still often viewed as invisible or a threat

Young black men in America still often viewed as invisible or a threat.

In the wake of the George Zimmerman ruling the nation has begun a serious discussion about race  in America, and the standing of young black men in our communities. While racial progress has been made throughout our nation of immigrants, young black men are often viewed today as a threat in our cities or, perhaps worse yet, not seen at all. More from NextCity:

One of the main tragic factors in the George Zimmerman trial verdict, one that existed well before Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin last year, is this failure to see young black men in our cities — and when they do register, we see them as threats. It’s a cognitive failure to which Zimmerman was especially vulnerable when he chose to follow and kill Martin, but he is not alone in experiencing it.

…it was people of color in central Florida communities like Goldsboro and cities like Sanford and Osceola who turned out big last November to vote, helping President Obama win Florida and, ultimately, reelection. Afterward, Mitt Romney’s campaign aides said they lost because “voters they never even knew existed” turned out in these communities. Those invisible voters were mostly African Americans and Puerto Ricans from the depressed areas Williams referenced.

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Up To Speed

Millennial cohort will have over-sized impact on retail, real estate

Millennial cohort will have oversized impact on retail, real estate

The Millennial Generation, also known as Echo Boomers or Generation Y, is roughly defined as people born between the early 1980s and early 2000s. As members of this generation start to make up a bigger portion of the workforce, and eventually become a bigger force in politics, a number of changes are bound to take place. In addition to preferring urban living in greater numbers than Baby Boomers and Generation X, Millennials also have different preferences when it comes to media, technology, shopping, transportation, and politics. More from Urban Land Magazine:

Over the last two to three years, echo boomers have been fueling the demand for rental housing in urbanized areas. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in multifamily construction, climbing from 109,000 units in 2009 to 245,000 units in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The new multifamily rentals are not limited to coastal cities. For example, from January to September 2012, Houston’s multifamily housing development rate increased 70 percent over the same period in 2011.

Demand for rental units has increased most dramatically in tech centers such as San Francisco and the Silicon Valley area; Austin, Texas; Denver; Boston; and New York City. But even without the tech industry serving as a catalyst, the sheer size of the echo boom demographic has fueled demand for apartments—particularly those located in high-amenity cities and suburban agglomerations.

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News Transportation

VIDEO: Biking from Cincinnati’s Fountain Square to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus

In September 2009, UrbanCincy’s Jake Mecklenborg biked from Cincinnati’s Fountain Square to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

The ride documents the state of bike paths, or stretches of roadway, between the two cities. The approximate 125-mile journey relies heavily on the Little Miami Scenic Trail. But as Jake experienced, the usage of the trail drops off significantly once you get out of the city.

Another issue experienced during the ride was the lack of trail or dedicated bike facilities heading into Columbus.

One of the other trails that Jake partially uses on the trip is the Ohio River Trail, which is still under development. Officials with the City of Cincinnati continue to make progress on new segments of that trail, but it is still a ways off from its completion of connecting the Little Miami Scenic Trail with Smale Riverfront Park in downtown Cincinnati. Future extensions of the trail would bring it even further west along Cincinnati’s waterfront.

The City of Cincinnati is also studying a new dedicated bike lane along Delta Avenue that would lead to the Ohio River Trail. Those that are interested in weighing in on that project can do so by voting for your preferred design option online.

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Up To Speed

Media Bridges to close by the end of 2013

Media Bridges to close by the end of 2013

Media Bridges, “Cincinnati’s Community Media Center,” will be shutting down this year due to a lack of funding. The organization currently operates Cincinnati’s public access television stations, a radio station, and provides training and equipment to allow members of the community to create video and audio productions for these outlets.

Up until 2011, the organization was funded by Time Warner Cable, as required by the state of Ohio. After TWC lobbied the state to end this requirement, the City of Cincinnati stepped in to provide temporary funding for one year. However, funding was eliminated in the most recent budget. Officials cited feedback from the city’s “priority-driven” budgeting process, where residents ranked the organization as a low priority. More from CityBeat:

The city’s budget cuts were originally considered in December, but City Council managed to restore some funding to keep the organization afloat. Prior to the partial restoration, Bishop told CityBeat the cuts would be a “meteor” to his organization’s budget.

City officials back then defended the cuts to Media Bridges, citing city surveys that ranked the program poorly in terms of budgetary importance. For the surveys, the city used meetings and mailed questionnaires to gauge public opinion.