Tag: Hyde Park Square

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Development Opinion

OPINION – To Grow or Not to Grow? Hyde Park Square vote crucial test for Cincinnati’s Future


This week, City Council is poised to vote on a proposed $150 million investment that would replace a one-story building and a sea of surface parking lots with a 150-unit apartment building, 75-room hotel, and 300-space parking garage on Hyde Park Square. Now, after
months of controversy and accusations of a “Manhattanization” of Hyde Park, a simple question lies before City Council that will decide this project’s fate: will Cincinnati grow or are we content with death by stagnation? Will we embrace growth, or will “housing for thee, just not next to me” prevail as a precedent in Cincinnati?

Counterpoints

There are several points of contention that the Save Hyde Park group and others have raised about the development including pedestrian safety, neighborhood character, and the affordability of housing. These talking points are at best misguided and at worst fallacies; here’s why:

Pedestrian Safety and Traffic

Pedestrian safety is an issue of paramount importance to the health of Cincinnati, so when someone raises this concern, I listen. However, when this issue is raised as a point in opposition to development, it fails to understand that additional density increases the walkability
of a neighborhood. When people are spread out, they are forced to drive to their destination. By increasing the residents and business living on the Square, the city is increasing pedestrian activity. To put it simply: opposing development is the antithesis to pedestrian safety. Moreover, 17.9% of Cincinnatians don’t own a car, and a 2017 study – individuals living in multi-family buildings drive 20.6% less than their Single-Family counterparts. So, when the city builds dense housing near key business districts, we are increasing opportunities for folks who do not own cars.

Neighborhood Character

The proposed project will be 85 feet after setbacks and 65 feet tall at Hyde Park Square– consistent with several of the buildings in the square. A quick scan of the neighborhood would prove that it’s not “just too big”. The A L’aise building also sits at 65 feet at Hyde Park Square. Michigan Terrace stands at 79 feet tall on the northern part of the square after setbacks. Moreover, other condominium towers in the neighborhood at Madison House and the Regency sit at 15 and 20 stories in height respectively– towering over this proposal. The vibrancy of Hyde Park Square is essential to the character of the Hyde Park community, and the viability of the square is dependent on having enough foot traffic to support the businesses. Unfortunately, Hyde Park has only added 53 net housing units between 2023-25. The decades’ lack of investment in net new housing throughout the neighborhood and around the Square caused both population loss and lessened the capacity for the Square to serve the neighborhood. Since 1970, Hyde Park has lost 3,000 residents, and since 2002, Hyde Park Square has seen a 16% drop in employment. A neighborhood with a declining population, facing competition for customers from other emerging areas in the region, and inflated costs of running businesses and restaurants can and will create a situation where the beating heart of a neighborhood will beat less and less. This development is essential to the preserving and enhancing character of the neighborhood.

Affordable Housing Shortage


We cannot afford stagnation when we are amidst a housing shortage that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the top driver of inflation. Neighborhoods and cities need to be constantly evolving to meet the demands of today, and there is a bias in community councils to preserve as-is. Adding 150 units of housing in the beating heart of a high demand neighborhood helps to ease these inflationary pressures, especially in a place like Hyde Park, which has seen little multi-family development in the past 40 years. At first glance, a boutique hotel may not help with housing affordability, however, providing out of town visitors hotel rooms frees up housing units that would otherwise be rented as Airbnb’s and short-term rentals. Moreover, by making this a truly mixed-use project with the addition of the hotel makes a project that is bringing desperately needed housing to the city financially viable.

The Stakes of a Future Cincinnati

This is a critical vote in the history of our city. If Council does not approve this project, the consequences will be drastic. Neighborhoods should be allowed to garner input on their future, but their concerns ought to be tempered by the dire need for housing at a city-wide level. Hyde Park Square is an important neighborhood business district in the city. Letting a surface parking lot and one-story building sit for years has and will continue to negatively affect the viability of the Square. Neighborhood level veto power of development leads to a compounding housing shortage that is insurmountable. Cincinnati cannot just have a strong downtown–we need strong, resilient neighborhoods. Without both, the city we love will become unrecognizable and unlivable. Decisions need to be made by elected leaders, experts in planning and development, and yes with community input. Only considering community input in development
is the wrong lens to view the city–even a city of neighborhoods. A no vote will cause a fully unbalanced decision-making tree. Elevating community input from community councils, who are often unrepresentative of the neighborhood as a whole, above the needs of the city as whole would impair the ability of the City of Cincinnati to solve its housing crisis, grow, and function as a municipality. That is the dire precedent a no vote would set: a precedent that puts the desires of the few above the needs of the many; a Cincinnati with no clear direction functioning with countless microstates; an untenable solution for our future. For the greater good of our city, Council must vote yes on the planned development this week. Juncta Juvant.

Categories
Development News

High Profile $35M Hyde Park Condo Building Officially Topped Out

2770 Observatory (Provided)

The corner of Observatory and Shaw Avenues now looks much different than it did a year ago. Yesterday, development of 2770 Observatory, a 30-unit luxury condominium project by Greiwe Development officially topped out with a ceremony at the site. The project, which we reported on back in May of 2014, has transformed the corner with the demolition of several apartments that were formerly on the site.

At the ceremony, Mayor John Cranley (D) marked the occasion by proclaiming November 10 “Hyde Park Landmark Day,” recognizing the neighborhood’s historical charm, signature places and 2770 Observatory’s place as its newest landmark. The $35.5 million modern four-floor structure will stand as a gateway to the neighborhood with future residents just steps from Hyde Park Square.

With 16 of the 30 units pre-purchased, the development is expected to sell out before it opens in summer 2016.

Topping Out ceremonies are a Scandinavian custom dating back to 700 A.D. thought to bring good luck to future occupants. After remarks from project developer Rick Greiwe and Mayor Cranley, the event concluded with the traditional raising of an evergreen to the top of the building’s newly completed wooden framework.

2770 Observatory is the fifth Greiwe lifestyle development in the Cincinnati area since the grand opening of Mariemont’s Jordan Park in 2008. In October, Greiwe, with a group of developers known collectively as Gateway Partners LLC, was selected to develop a 12-acre site adjacent to downtown Montgomery, where he will build high-end condominiums as part of an urban in-fill village.

“We choose to build our projects in neighborhoods where dining, shopping and entertaining are within one block of the resident’s front door,” said Rick Greiwe, principal of Greiwe Development in a prepared statement, “Hyde Park Square is the ideal location for one of our developments. It’s in demand and draws people from around the whole city. I’ve been watching it for sometime — waiting for the ideal site to become available, and this is absolutely it.”

2770 Observatory features three bedroom and two bedroom units with large foyers and open entertaining areas. With 10-foot ceilings and 8-foot windows, the units range in size from 1,915 to 4,675 square feet. Each unit has its own balcony or patio. The building has an underground parking garage, and a resident pathway leads from Linshaw Court to Michigan Avenue and Hyde Park Square. Prices range from $700,000 to $2 million.

Categories
Development News

Developer Seeking Support for Six-Unit Columbia Tusculum Townhome Project

Preliminary Sketch [Provided]

The developer responsible for building “Cottage Hill” along Columbia Tusculum’s Strafer Street is now seeking the community’s approval for a six-unit townhome project.

On Monday, Gary Osterfeld presented to the community council what he called “very preliminary” sketches for the attached buildings at the bottom of Strafer Street – along Columbia Parkway – which would likely be around 1,900 square feet apiece and could be either apartments or for-sale homes.

The site is currently undeveloped and is used as a small community gardening space. If he pursues the project, Osterfeld will be seeking a zoning variance from its current zoning classification of community commercial-mixed to residential mixed, as it would have no commercial component.

“The commercial market in Columbia Tusculum is not real good, despite what people may think,” he said. “The problem is, relative to the number of people, there’s more retail than there is need for it. There’s already more retail than there is people; so in order for businesses to come in there and be enough demand and for the businesses to be profitable, we need more people.”

Osterfeld also told the community council that Al. Neyer’s Columbia Square, which is located directly across Columbia Parkway from his proposed building site, took five years to fill with tenants. He also said that he’s been trying to market his site for about the same amount of time but “hasn’t had a single serious call”.

The site is also challenging because of its steep slope and six-foot retaining wall, which Osterfeld said the City would likely want to keep in place.

“The idea of the zoning in place – what they would like to see – is they would like to see retail on the street level, so that people can walk in the shops like Hyde Park Square or Oakley Square – or like most squares – and the upstairs is residential,” he said. “The problem with that is you don’t see hills in Hyde Park, Mount Lookout, Oakley. The other neighborhoods you don’t see built on a hill like this. So the topography does not lend itself well to what the City’s insisting be there.”

The earliest the project could begin is this fall. Price points are expected to start in the mid-$300,000s, based upon what Osterfeld has seen of the local market.

“My guess is that it’s probably going to be a younger, more transient market,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of steps, the price point’s not going to be like [the Cottage Hill development on] Strafer. I think that Strafer started out in the upper 3’s [$300,000s] and ended up in the upper 6’s [$600,000s]. I don’t see that happening. But we’re designing it to try to accommodate anybody. We’re going to be as flexible in our design as we can.”

Osterfeld said he plans to keep the neighborhood notified as the proposal navigates the maze of design, variances and permits.

“The City would like to have neighborhood support and neighborhood cooperation, as would I,” he said. “Your interest is what’s good for the community. So, I’m trying to help with that.”