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Could Narrowing Liberty Street Unlock New Development Potential in OTR?

Streets can set the mood and feel of a place. Narrow streets with low traffic are quiet, easy to walk across and casual. Wide streets can be chaotic, full of traffic and hard to bridge on foot. There is a wide street in Over-the-Rhine that cuts through the northern part of the neighborhood and the southern revitalizing part of it. It’s Liberty Street.

Liberty Street was not always so wide. Before 1955 the street, which now dead ends at Reading Road and the I-471 ramps, extended from Highland Avenue on the hill in Mt. Auburn to the U.S. Post Office facility in Queensgate. The width of the street was a modest 25 feet.

In 1955, however, the city decided to widen and connect it to Reading Road as a east-west cross town access point for the interstate highway system. Buildings on the south side of the street were demolished and the street was widened from a two lane road to one with five lanes.

The street is currently 70 feet wide and is both dangerous and difficult to cross for people walking. Development has not taken place on the south side of the street since most of remaining lots are too small and oddly shaped for development.

Beyond its physical barriers, Liberty Street also serves as a psychological barrier between the nascent Brewery District and vibrant Gateway Quarter.

In 2012, the City’s Department of Transportation & Engineering began studying ways to calm traffic on the street in order to make it safer. After spending two years evaluating traffic conditions, City Hall is beginning to engage the public for comment on the proposal. The first will be tomorrow night at the Woodward Theater.

The session will build upon the idea proposed in the OTR Brewery District Master Plan, which called for the removal of a lane of traffic to add protected bicycle lanes in both directions. The UrbanCincy team recently discussed the proposal and found that while this is a good starting point, there is a larger opportunity for the street to spur more redevelopment along the corridor.

Our proposal eliminates one lane of traffic in each direction, but preserves the middle turn lane. A two-way contraflow protected bicycle lane would then be installed on the south side of the street. This leaves approximately 15 feet of unused street right-of-way.

This unused right-of-way could be returned to property owners on the south side of the street, thus narrowing the overall street by 15 feet. It would also increase the size of the southern properties which would increase their development potential and improve safety for pedestrians crossing the street. This would serve as particularly beneficial for small parcels such as those at the corner of Vine and Liberty or between Main and Sycamore.

This idea builds on the ideas put forward by Jeff Speck, who recently released a video on traffic calming and embraces modern street design standards that are found in the National Association of City Transportation Officials Street Design Manual.

The Liberty Street Safety Improvement Open House will take place at the Woodward Theater located at 1404 Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. The session starts at 6pm and will last until 8pm. It is served by the #16, 17, 19 and 24 Metro bus routes, and is less than a block away from a Cincy Red Bike station.

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Development News

Weigh in on Tiny Home Designs at Next Historic Conservation Board Meeting

Stroll down Main Street or Vine Street and you might get a homogenous picture of Over-the-Rhine’s fabric. Brick buildings two-, three-, or four-stories in height, built up to the sidewalk, with dentils (nothing to do with teeth), and exquisite cornices projecting from the roof line.

It’s an amazing experience, but it’s not fair to whitewash all of Over-the-Rhine with that picture.

Over-the-Rhine’s buildings have been historically diverse, just like its residents. Some have long been forgotten. Many industrial and manufacturing buildings stand proud north of Liberty Street, small streets not more than a block long are held dear by longtime owners, and the hillsides are dotted with vacant land.

Historic buildings should be treasured, and thankfully, they typically are. However, there’s not a conclusive argument for what style of architecture fits best in existing buildings’ shadows. There need not be one. For new construction, style should be irrelevant.

Over-the-Rhine’s ‘magic’ is owed to building location, massing, composition, and rhythm. Most historic buildings owe their looks to outdated modes of construction when labor was cheap, and material applications that predate standardization and mass production. Pastiche is disrespectful to the historic context and rarely responds to contemporary concerns for the environment.

In fact, the Conservation Guidelines for the Over-the-Rhine Historic District state imitation should not happen: “New construction should be well-designed but should not replicate the existing buildings.”

I’m developing two “tiny” homes on Peete Street in Over-the-Rhine that I hope will add value to the historic fabric. They’re small – one- or two-stories tall – and sans brick, intentionally designed to embrace contemporary technologies and construction practices.

Are these “tiny” homes appropriate in Over-the-Rhine, specifically at 142 and 144 Peete Street? Some of this discussion is my opinion, I welcome yours.

The Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board will provide preliminary feedback on my designs June 22 at 3pm. You’re invited. If you want to buy a tiny home, be there. If you want to show your support, be there. If you don’t think tiny homes are appropriate in Over-the-Rhine, well…you might want to be there before it’s too late.

Historic Conservation Board meetings occur every other week and are always open to the public. The next meeting is Monday, June 22 at 3pm in the J. Martin Griesel Room, Centennial Plaza Two, Seventh Floor, 805 Central Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.

Centennial Plaza is one block west of City hall and a 12 minute walk from Government Square Transit Center, and is within close proximity to Metro routes 1, 6, 20, 32, 33, 49, 50, 67. Individuals with disabilities requiring special accommodations to participate in or attend any meeting should call the Historic Conservation Office at 513-352-4888 seven days prior to the meeting.

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Development News

First Designs Revealed For What Tiny Living Could Look Like in Over-the-Rhine

Brad Cooper unveiled his first designs for two 250-square-foot homes that will be built on the northern edge of Over-the-Rhine later this year.

After showcasing the designs and explaining the process to prospective home-buyers last night, Cooper now says that he hopes to keep moving the project forward so that they can be built by the end of the year, and welcome their tenants by 2016.

The homes are admittedly not for everyone. Instead of focusing on standard sizes and layouts, Cooper has instead focused on a minimalist approach that requires creativity and an open mind to make it work. But if recent trends in tiny living are any indicator, he might be on to something locally.

“You can still live large in a small space, but the homeowner’s lifestyle needs to align with the ethos of tiny living,” says Cooper.

The two initial lots that Cooper is looking to build on are located on Peete Street, where most of the northern side of the street has sat vacant for many years. The lots are small and have a steep slope near the rear, making them nearly impossible to develop according to traditional building practices.

The site layouts, which are still being refined as part of the ongoing design process, leave room for outdoor living space, as well as an adjacent, off-street spot to park a car.

Cooper, who is a professionally trained architect, is being partially driven to develop such a concept due to his belief that affordable housing can be for everyone, but that it begins with a quality upfront investment.

The goal is to sell both of the homes, which are priced at $70,000, by the end of summer or early fall, then to break ground shortly thereafter. For that price, Cooper says that the home-buyer would get most things that are expected in any home, but have options to include a full-size refrigerator, dish washer, washer/dryer, and built-in furniture.

Each of the homes will also come equip with solar panels at the rear of the lot.

At the $70,000 price point, Cooper says that someone making just $10 an hour working 40 hours a week could afford to buy one of the homes. Using standard financing benchmarks, he estimates that someone of that background could finance the home for approximately $500 a month after making a $2,000 down payment.

To help first-time home-buyers through the process, Cooper has partnered with Working in Neighborhoods so that they can get the information they need before moving forward.

Should such an endeavor be successful, it could prove to be a scalable model that the city could use to develop small, difficult lots that have long sat vacant. Most of these locations are located in or very near the center city, so it also gives people an affordable option for buying close to the core.

“You’re not just buying a tiny home, you’re purchasing a stake in one of the most remarkable historic districts in the country,” Cooper noted.

Interested home-buyers are required to attend one of the planned outreach sessions, like the one held last night. While the dates and locations for those have yet to be released, those who are interested can receive updates by signing up at StartSmallHomes.com.

The effort is being funded, in part, through a $100,000 Haile Fellowship at People’s Liberty.

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Development News

Start Small, Live Large Event to Engage Homebuyers Interested in Tiny Living

In December we announced that one of our writers had won one of prestigious Haile fellowships at People’s Liberty. As part of that, Brad Cooper would receive $100,000 to quit his job and spend the next year developing a concept for affordable, tiny living in Over-the-Rhine.

Over the past five months Cooper has been developing his design, based on community and professional feedback; and he is now ready to present his initial designs at an event he’s hosting Wednesday evening at the Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center.

The event, called Start Small, Live Large, will showcase Cooper’s design concepts thus far, while also presenting additional information for those interested in purchasing one of the two 250-square-foot homes he plans to initially develop. In fact, this is actually the first of a series of events that interested homebuyers will be required to attend in order to eventually purchase one of the homes.

Cooper says that only those interested in eventually buying one of the homes should attend the event. He also notes that those potential homebuyers will need to attend only one of the events as part of this series.

To help these prospective investors better understand the process, Start Small, Live Large will feature a “Homebuyer 101” presentation from Working in Neighborhoods, with a question and answer period to follow.

The event will take place from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center at 1715 Republic Street. Light refreshments will be provided.

Categories
Development News

PHOTOS: A Recent Sampling of Cincinnati’s Explosive Center City Growth

So much construction has been taking place in the center city that it has prompted city officials to launch a website specifically dedicated to tracking all of it for those living, working and visiting the area. As with any development there are growing pains, but City Hall is working to keep them at a minimum without squashing the growth.

While it would be impossible to capture all of the recently completed and ongoing projects in one posting, the following cross-section includes the $125 million dunnhumby Centre, the 115-room Holiday Inn in the Eighth Street Design District, the recently completed Seven at Broadway luxury apartment tower, the Pendleton Street Townhomes infill project, and a handful of other small infill and renovation projects throughout Over-the-Rhine and Pendleton.

EDITORIAL NOTE: All 15 photographs in this gallery were taken by Jake Mecklenborg for UrbanCincy in April 2015.