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Development News Politics Transportation

Examining parking policy from an urban perspective

The City of Cincinnati requires one parking space per residential dwelling unit throughout all four sub-districts of the Downtown Development District. For office uses there is one parking space required for every 750 to 1,200 square feet of office space.

These parking facilities could range from initially cheap surface lots to costly structured parking garages. Both facilities have the potential to severely damage the urban fabric in spite of design guidelines in place to improve their appearance. In addition to this damaging effect, the cost of parking is extraordinarily high in urban locations as parking spaces can cost between $20,000 and $30,000 per space in a structured parking garage. While surface lots are cheaper to construct, they squander valuable land and thus shoulder the cost of wasted revenues for local government and private land owners.

Thousands of parking spaces are being constructed underneath The Banks development with tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

The high costs of parking are immediately passed on to the customer (tenant) which results in one of two things. 1) The price points go so high that many are priced out of the market; or 2) The costs become too much for the developer to be able to recoup based on market demands which stymie investment absent substantial public subsidies.

Neither scenario is ideal, but both are seen in Cincinnati’s urban core today. Within the Central Business District the demands are there for increased development, but the prices are higher than the market will bear. As a result affordable living spaces are often not built, and new office development is rare.

In Over-the-Rhine, demand historically was too low to warrant the high parking costs, one factor in under-investment in the neighborhood, did not exist. The demands now exist in several portions of Over-the-Rhine, but in order for the price points of units to be kept artificially low, and keep inventory moving, parking has come in the form of surface lots.

The purple building seen here will be demolished to make way for an above-ground parking garage to supply parking requirements for nearby developments.

These surface lots throughout Over-the-Rhine have lower initial capital costs, but cause negative externalities for the neighborhood – one of America’s largest and most significant historic districts – and put additional historic structures at risk of demolition for these parking requirements.

Cincinnati Beer Company owner, Bryon Martin, currently owns the former Christian Moerlein residence and office on Elm Street in the Brewery District. His plans are for a brewpub restaurant that would play on the history of the two buildings. Martin would also love to have a large outdoor biergarten area on the vacant adjacent lot, but says that parking may have to be the use for that space at least initially.

There are potential solutions out there to balance out this equation without extreme demands that drive price points of investment in the neighborhood to unaffordable levels, or massive public subsidies. Over the next several weeks UrbanCincy will be looking into these potential policy solutions and how they might impact investment in our urban neighborhoods, preservation of the city’s historic building stock, and help change the way in which we design our communities.

Categories
News

A Vision for High Speed Rail in America

  • “Investing in our infrastructure, and investing in our transportation pays big dividends.”
  • “What we need is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century, a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs…what we’re talking about is a vision for high speed rail in America.”

-President Barack Obama discussing the importance of a quality high speed rail system for America.

  • “Most other countries, that have addressed this issue, have adopted high speed rail as the next generation high capacity, fast link between their major cities.”
  • “We need to assess what 21st century transport links we are going to need”

-Transport Secretary Lord Adonis as he speaks about the transportation issues facing the United Kingdom over the next several years.

Categories
News

2010 Broomball season hits Fountain Square

This week marks the return of the broomball season to the Fountain Square Ice Rink. In its fourth annual season the Fountain Square Broomball League has consistently been one of the Square’s more popular activities which is amazing considering it is played in the heart of winter. It’s even more amazing when you stop and consider that players run around on ice in gym shoes wielding broomsticks and chasing after a small blue ball.

Give me a second to try to explain, though of course you’ll do yourself much better by stopping by to catch a game or two. The games that broomball most closely resemble are ice hockey & soccer. Hockey in such a way that there are six players to a side, including a goalie, the players run around with sticks and try to put the ball in the opponent’s net. Soccer in a sense that the players wear “regular” shoes, can kick the ball, and are not allowed using their hands aside from knocking the ball down. Make sense now? Probably not, so stop down and see some broomball action. As a bonus, adult beverages are sold in the heated tent alongside the rink for a very reasonable price.

Aside from the normal UrbanCincy post reminding you about all the great things going on in our fair city, this one has a bit more of a personal touch as Jenny Kessler & I are playing this year. We are members of the Little Kings & Queens of Cincinnati, with our big debut coming tonight! The even better news: we are only a small representation of the local blogging scene on the roster. We also have Brad Thomas from CincyStreetcar Blog, Gordon Bombay from Queen City Discovery, and Soapbox contributor Casey Coston. Our number one fan is 5chw4r7z who has promised to enjoy a cigar under the shadows of the Genius of Water during our games.

While the entire weekday broomball schedule can be found here, The Little Kings schedule is listed below (all games are weather permitting). Of course after the game you can join us at JeanRo for specials on buckets of Little Kings.

  • Tuesday, January 5 @ 6:30pm vs Taft
  • Tuesday, January 12 @ 6:30pm vs The Real Big Stix
  • Monday, January 18 @ 6:30pm vs The Krogerizers
  • Monday, January 25 @ 6:30pm vs Nondiscriminators
  • Monday, February 1 @ 7:00pm vs Flaming Torches
  • Tuesday, February 9 @ 6:30pm vs God Gave Me 3

Broomball photograph by 5chw4r7z.

Categories
News

Over-the-Rhine in late Fall

These photos were taken throughout the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in late November 2009. Locations primarily include Findlay Market and the Gateway Quarter district of Over-the-Rhine with some views of Downtown.

Categories
Business Development News Politics

3CDC makes transformative impact over last decade

The first decade of the 21st Century has been an interesting one to say the least for Cincinnati. Two new professional sports stadiums rose from the riverfront, mega projects throughout Downtown have transformed the center city, civil unrest shook the city to its core, and a neighborhood on the brink of total failure has seen one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent time. Billions and billions of dollars have invested into our city’s urban core, and our region is better off as a result.

If you had to pick one story line that defined Cincinnati over the past decade it would have to be the story of Over-the-Rhine. The long troubled neighborhood was brought to its knees following the civil unrest in 2001 just as the neighborhood was starting to pick itself back up in the form of a rejuvenated Main Street Entertainment District that included residences, businesses, and lots of nightlife.

Crime rates rose, abandonment became more problematic, and investors became wary. But in 2003 the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) was formed by then mayor Charlie Luken. Made up of some of Cincinnati’s most influential power brokers, 3CDC was tasked with turning around Cincinnati’s center city by making key investments that would make “tangible” improvements quickly.

A pedestrian walks north along Vine Street in the Gateway Quarter district of Over-the-Rhine [LEFT] as people gather outside the popular Lavomatic Cafe across the street [RIGHT].

Since its inception seven years ago, 3CDC has renovated Fountain Square and turned it into the region’s premier gathering spot which has sparked millions of dollars of investment in the surrounding area. Early on, 3CDC helped pushed the agenda on the $1 billion riverfront development known as The Banks until they stepped aside and moved their interests towards the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood where they have arguably made the most profound impact that any one development corporation could have made anywhere.

It was just earlier in this same decade that Over-the-Rhine was quite possibly hit the lowest of lows, but now, the neighborhood is in the midst of an exciting revival that has grabbed national attention. Millions of dollars have been invests, hundreds of new residents and dozens of new businesses now occupy formerly vacant structures, one of the most dangerous intersections (12th & Vine) has been turned into one of the safest as crime has dropped significantly throughout the neighborhood, and perceptions are changing rapidly about the once downtrodden neighborhood.

Work nears completion on Model Group’s Trinity Flats infill and restoration project near 14th & Vine streets [TOP]. Senate, a new gastropub, is scheduled to open soon near 13th & Vine streets [LEFT], while work begins in earnest on the latest phase of the Gateway Quarter which will include new apartments and businesses [RIGHT].

3CDC has had a profound impact on our center city for the good over the past seven years, and they plan an even bigger future over the next decade. In 2010 alone the development corporation plans to expand and renovate Washington Park, continue their renovation work throughout Over-the-Rhine, begin renovation of the Metropole Apartment building on Walnut Street to turn it into a swanky new 21c Museum Hotel, further invest in the burgeoning Backstage Entertainment District with even more restaurants, bars/clubs, and new residences.

It may be easy to point to a singular event or item that has had the greatest impact on Cincinnati over the past decade, but when you look at what has been the most transformative there is no doubt that the arrow points to 3CDC. Cincinnati is a better place because of the work that 3CDC has done, and it will prove to be Charlie Luken’s greatest legacy.