Categories
Development News

Potential Corryville demolition up for Livable Communities hearing

An entire city block of historic architecture is up for rezoning and demolition, and will be debated at a City Council Livable Communities hearing this afternoon at City Hall.

Student housing conglomerate Uptown Properties has proposed a new 72-unit student housing project in the Corryville neighborhood, located on the east side of University of Cincinnati’s campus. This comes on the heels of the 120-unit 65 West student apartment complex being constructed on the former Friar’s Club location at the corner of Ohio and McMillan Streets in Clifton Heights. At first glance, the proposal seems feasible, but in order for the project to be completed, the block of 7 historic properties on Euclid Avenue would be razed to the ground.

Many community members and preservationists feel that removing the structures would be a short sighted move for a city that is so rapidly losing its historic urban fabric due to demolishing buildings instead of restoring them. The Corryville neighborhood has lost over half its housing stock to expansions from the local hospitals and the University of Cincinnati.

Danny Klingler, director of preservationist organization OTR A.D.O.P.T., sees no benefit to destroying the properties. “It’s one thing to do blight removal with properties that are condemned or ordered to be vacant, or have problems with lead,” Klingler said. “We have over 250 buildings in OTR that are like that. With these [buildings on Euclid,] though, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them – you could go live in them right now, they are beautiful on the inside. You wipe them out and you lose something that makes Cincinnati unique. Not only that, but you replace it with cookie-cutter Uptown Rental properties that are less affordable.”

The current buildings are single family homes all built around the same time during the late 19th century in a Victorian style. According to residents, the block is one of the most beautiful and well preserved examples of Victorian architecture in the community. Uptown Properties has a history of converting historic buildings into student housing, yet its more recent projects have a bland, “value-engineered” look to them.

Neil Clingerman, a recent University of Cincinnati grad and former Cincinnati resident, has helped to virtually lead the charge in bringing attention to the potential demolitions.

“I used to live in Cincinnati, but after so many demolitions of historic structures, I felt it had no future,” explained Clingerman. “As a young guy looking to enter the professional world I wanted to be in a place that was alive and was willing to support the urban lifestyle I was looking for. As a result, I left Cincinnati after graduation, and moved to Chicago where I live in a neighborhood that approximates Corryville in era and style, and on top of this is full of activity and is a part of the city that is growing. Corryville can do the same, but it has to realize just how wonderful the buildings it has are, and how this can be used as a catalyst to promote population growth beyond transient students.”

Experts have estimated the new construction could cost potential renters up to twice as much for rent costs, which will drive out low income and student renters who are already struggling with tuition costs. The PLAN Cincinnati Housing Market Study document that current Council members should be familiar with outlines the situation for renters in the area: “The city’s renters experienced a loss of purchasing power during the past decade, as the median rent rose while their incomes declined. In addition, the city lost 7,847 assisted units (vouchers and public housing properties) between 2000 and 2010, making very affordable rentals even more difficult to find.” This information makes tearing down good buildings in order to build more expensive ones with less character hard to justify.

“Corryville has seen a large destruction of its historic building stock for decades. No longer can we accept these demolitions in this distinct neighborhood,” said Charles Marxen, Sustainability Advocate and student at the University of Cincinnati. “This block of Euclid Avenue is one of the most intact streets in the neighborhood, and its loss would provide little hope for buildings enduring the same struggle in the future. Uptown is a very unique area that cannot be recreated. Replacing it with what Uptown Rental Properties is proposing would be a devastating loss to the city’s rich history.”

The Livable Communities committee of City Council will be meeting today in the council chambers of City Hall at 801 Plum Street in room 300. The meeting is from 2pm-5pm, but the item is second on the agenda and will more than likely be addressed around 2.30 pm.

Community members are encouraging those interested to show their support by attending the meeting or writing an email in support of saving the properties to City Council members.

Euclid Avenue photograph provided by Danny Klingler.

Categories
Business News Transportation

Trains: The Most Efficient, Economical and Best Investment for America

Are you tired of all the knobs, levers and gizmos in your car? Also, you would do open-heart surgery on yourself, so why are you driving yourself? Trains are the most efficient, economical and best investment. It’s obvious.

Those are a couple quotes from this video that cleverly covers the issue of transportation and how high-speed rail boast clear advantages over other means of transportation, and it does it all through the Mad Men scope. Enjoy.

Categories
Business Development News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati could sue state if governor pulls streetcar funding

Streetcar supporters were outraged when they heard Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) was considering pulling as much as $52 million in state support from the Cincinnati Streetcar project. Such of move would have left the project with a financing gap and would have resulted in reduced scope or delayed construction. But according to some, a move of that nature by the governor may not carry legal merit.

The premise for cutting the funds for Cincinnati’s modern streetcar system is that the State of Ohio is facing an $8 billion budget deficit, and state leaders are examining many ways to cut that figure. But according to Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio, those funds awarded to the Cincinnati Streetcar would not actually impact the state budget.

“The funds to be cut are federal transportation dollars. If they are not used on the streetcar, then they would be used on a transportation project with a lower TRAC ranking,” Prendergast explained. “In other words, Kasich is giving Cincinnati a false choice.”

Prendergast is referring to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) which was first established in 1998 to depoliticize the allocation of transportation funding. TRAC awards money based on a merit score, and the Cincinnati Streetcar earned 84 points which placed it as the highest-scoring transportation project in the entire state.

Local officials close to the Cincinnati Streetcar project believe Governor Kasich is attempting to strip the funds from the streetcar and reallocated them to the $2 billion Brent Spence Bridge replacement which scored a paltry 44 points on TRAC’s transportation list. The other reality is that the money could go to the Eastern Corridor plan which had three components scoring 34, 39 and 48 points – all well below the Cincinnati Streetcar’s state-leading 84 points.

“Our governor is making a false argument that pulling back this federal money will save the state money,” said Prendergast. “The streetcar funding has nothing to do with the state’s deficit. If it is not used for the streetcar, it will go to a lower-ranked Ohio road project.”

Two separate studies estimate that the modern streetcar project will stimulate approximately $1.5 billion of new investment in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, or roughly 15 times the cost of the streetcar project. The Cincinnati Streetcar’s second phase Uptown is also expected to make large economic impacts, and has scored a 71.5 points on TRAC’s list.

“Why is our governor against redeveloping Cincinnati’s downtown and Over-the-Rhine areas with the streetcar? Steel rails offer a far superior path to jobs and growth and clean air than yet another asphalt road pitted with potholes,” concluded Jack Shaner, deputy director of the Ohio Environmental Council.

According to Prendergast, the end result may be a another legal battle for the controversial governor. He says that at attempt to move the funds from the streetcar to another, lower-ranking transportation project, that Cincinnati officials would have legal grounds to sue the state for not following its own criteria in awarding federal transportation funds.

Modern Streetcar in Cincinnati photograph by UrbanCincy contributor Thadd Fiala.

Categories
Business Development News

New year brings heightened expectations for 3CDC

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) has helped spark a transformation of Cincinnati’s urban core in less than 10 years. To date, the non-profit development group has largely been defined by the success that has taken place on and around Fountain Square and the Gateway Quarter for which they are responsible.

Since their founding in 2003, 3CDC has invested more than $250 million into the center city. That investment has led to the renovation of scores of new restaurants and bars in the on and around Fountain Square, hundreds of new residential units and dozens of new businesses in Over-the-Rhine, and the renovation and expansion of Washington Park which is now underway. Even with all of that work to date, the development group says that they are only just now getting started.

“2010 was certainly a watershed year for us,” said Stephen Leeper, president and CEO of 3CDC. “Our development agenda has expanded to more complex real estate transactions. The physical assets we own, lease and/or manage continue to grow.”

In 2011 3CDC will get started on the long-anticipated, $51 million Mercer Commons development that will renovate 20 historic structures and infill 26 existing vacant lots in a two-block area of Over-the-Rhine. The group will also renovate a cluster of buildings along 6th Street into entertainment and office space, and a $48 million project will transform the former Metropole Apartments on Walnut Street nearby into a 21c Museum Hotel.

Some neighborhood residents and business owners do hope for additional neighborhood involvement on the part of 3CDC as they continue their efforts.

“I would like to see some sort of movement toward helping those being displaced obtain the skills or education to earn enough to be able to live in the new Over-the-Rhine,” said Original Thought Required owner James Marable. “I fear the area could become overdeveloped and lose the culture that makes OTR, OTR without them.”

With that said Marable welcomes the additional investment and see a bright future for the neighborhood he now calls home and operates his own small business.

“The amount of investment is a very good thing for the area. I’ve been in Cincinnati for ten years and the first five years of that I wouldn’t step foot in OTR,” Marable explained. “Now I am entrenched in the area and feel as much of a part of it as it is a part of me. I believe all the investment and hard work of the small business owners and development companies are paying off 10 fold and not only making OTR better but providing a shining light for the type of change the entire city should be working towards.”

The $48 million renovation and expansion of Washington Park is expected to be complete in 2012. And in addition to all of that, 3CDC is requesting $85 million in federal tax credits to keep the momentum rolling.

Categories
Business Development News Transportation

Take a tour through Minneapolis’ urban core

I spent a quick two-and-a-half days in Minneapolis in mid-January to study their light rail system and explore the city’s urban core.

During my stay I was able to explore Midtown, Lowry Hill East, Downtown, Warehouse District, Loring Park, Uptown and some other areas very briefly. The city was expectedly cold, but I quickly learned why Minnesotans are such a hearty and down-to-earth bunch. The winters humble and challenge you.

The Hiawatha light rail line was small but well executed. The system utilizes modern rolling stock that includes low floors and is ADA accessible. The stations are nice, although suburban and off the beaten path in many locations. The best element, of the system, is that it connects major nodes with one another. The Mall of America, airport, football stadium, ballpark, arena, central business district, nightlife and government operations are all connected. The system will be vastly improved when it is expanded to St. Paul in the near future.

I will discuss specifics on Minneapolis’ transport network in a forthcoming op-ed. But for now, enjoy this brief collection of 37 photographs from my trip to the upper Midwest in the dead of winter.