Cincinnati: CUF / Corryville: Development and News

[Largue]

^ It is going in the sliver of parking lot that is just south of the Kroger. It was presented a few weeks ago in the Corryville Community Council meeting.

[Guest jmecklenborg]

Hotels are often not as big as they appear, and that piece of land is much bigger than it appears.  It's about 110 feet from the WHT sidewalk to the south wall of Kroger, so room for almost two Fairfield Inns. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1279212,-84.5103483,270m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

Sometimes I picture something totally nuts like the Jimi Hendrix thing in Seattle going in on the trapezoid-shaped CVS/PNC/Superior block. 

 

Also, I wouldn't doubt that nothing has broken ground at the SW corner of McMillan and Auburn as developers attempt to uproot the credit union and its odd drive-thru. 

[jwulsin]

17 hours ago, Largue said:

^ It is going in the sliver of parking lot that is just south of the Kroger. It was presented a few weeks ago in the Corryville Community Council meeting.

That is great to hear! Thanks for sharing the news. 

[Ucgrad2015]

1 hour ago, jwulsin said:

That is great to hear! Thanks for sharing the news. 

How many rooms is it supposed to have?

[Largue]

1 hour ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

How many rooms is it supposed to have?

 

I believe it will have around 115 keys. The ground level on grade with Kroger will be parking, then a level of hotel public spaces on grade with Taft, then 2 levels of parking, then 3 levels of guestrooms. 

[troeros]

Awesome! Any details when this hotel is scheduled to break ground? 

 

All of these projects seem great, but I feel like all we hear are projects that are in the pipeline and never see them come to fruition

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by troeros

[Largue]

14 hours ago, troeros said:

 

Awesome! Any details when this hotel is scheduled to break ground?

 

 

Probably the summer of next year.

[jmicha]

15 hours ago, troeros said:

Awesome! Any details when this hotel is scheduled to break ground? 

 

All of these projects seem great, but I feel like all we hear are projects that are in the pipeline and never see them come to fruition

 

Such as? I'm trying to think of any major projects announced in CUF other than the one at Vine/Calhoun/McMillan (that was more concept than project) that haven't come to fruition. So far everything that I can think of has been built or is under construction in phases.

[ryanlammi]

Not technically CUF (across the street), but hte Schimburg property at the corner of Auburn and McMillan hasn't seen any progress. Was supposed to be medical offices or something. It was probably announced two years ago when they tore down the church that used to sit there.

[savadams13]

It will be great to see a Tru hotel finally in Cincinnati, especially since it was conceived and developed locally. 

[tonyt3524]

According to today's Business Courier article, work is starting soon on the Deaconess property. Hope it happens, another strong boost for UC and Clifton.

 

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/12/12/developer-will-bury-former-hospital-to-make-way.html

 

Quote

Interior demolition and remediation is expected to begin soon, with heavy demolition beginning in early 2019. The demolition itself is expected to be a three-phase process. Bartles said the plan is to have the site cleared by early summer 2019.

 

[Rabbit Hash]

Those renderings on BizCourier site make this look huge!

[Chas Wiederhold]

Looks huge because it is huge.

[taestell]

A 23 story residential tower will totally change the feel of the surrounding neighborhoods. Look at how much it will loom over Stratford Heights. (In a good way, IMO.)

[Ucgrad2015]

23 minutes ago, taestell said:

A 23 story residential tower will totally change the feel of the surrounding neighborhoods. Look at how much it will loom over Stratford Heights. (In a good way, IMO.)

It will be great to see when driving down I-75 as well. I know around paddock you can see children’s hospital. Not sure if you’ll be able to see this but I’m guessing you will. The CUF skyline would look great if it was all flat. 

[Guest jmecklenborg]

I question how much more activity, if any, will soon exist at the site as compared to Deaconess Hospital when it was still in full use in the early 2010s.  And there will almost certainly be less tax revenue. 

 

[Chas Wiederhold]

I'm going to wager that there will be substantially more activity. It is two blocks closer to the Heights and University Heights neighborhoods and the entire Stratford Heights community than Calhoun and McMillan.  Folks in Fairview will now have two options for neighborhood business districts. Deaconess' street facing activity was located in a "garden level" an entire floor below the sidewalk and never had a substantial impact on Straight Street.

[taestell]

It's hard to tell from the renderings, but it does appear that they are going to preserve the historic Deaconess building at the SW corner of Clifton & Straight, and only the modern addition will be demolished to make way for new construction. Am I understanding this correctly?

[JYP]

I saw that too. I think it will be preserved and renovated.

 

We'll have to see what the new Law School will look like at the corner but these projects combined will reshape that whole area of CUF.

 

[tonyt3524]

3 hours ago, JYP said:

I saw that too. I think it will be preserved and renovated.

 

We'll have to see what the new Law School will look like at the corner but these projects combined will reshape that whole area of CUF.

 

 

The law school is moving into the (soon to be) old Lindner College of Business. There have been talks (mostly rumors) that the law building will be renovated for the Alumni Association and a Welcome Center. Talks are that they want to become better activated with that corner like a true welcome center. We'll see...

[Guest jmecklenborg]

3 hours ago, JYP said:

I saw that too. I think it will be preserved and renovated.

 

It is now boarded up on the first floor, which is an odd sight. 

 

I'm of the opinion that the law school building should be demolished and replaced with something better.  It's an oddly dead corner as-is. 

 

I'll repeat my suggestion that the streetcar should be extended via a tunnel up to Clifton Ave. near Deaconess.  The broadcast tower at the base of Rohs St. should be dismantled and that large parcel redeveloped as high-density residential above a streetcar subway station. 

 

 

 

 

[Chas Wiederhold]

1 hour ago, tonyt3524 said:

 

The law school is moving into the (soon to be) old Lindner College of Business. There have been talks (mostly rumors) that the law building will be renovated for the Alumni Association and a Welcome Center. Talks are that they want to become better activated with that corner like a true welcome center. We'll see...

 

The site of the Alumni Center to be the existing University YMCA and the adjacent land. Going to be designed by John Ronan, who designed one of my favorite buildings, the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. https://www.alumni.uc.edu/AlumniAssociationRelocation

 

I expect UC to use the existing Law School building as flex space while they build a building on the former site of Wilson Auditorium, and following that either use it as flex space to demo Crosley, or vice versa, demo the Law School for a building to replace Crosley. These projects all have a cascading affect on the university's endless list of projects.

[troeros]

On 12/12/2018 at 4:36 PM, jmecklenborg said:

I question how much more activity, if any, will soon exist at the site as compared to Deaconess Hospital when it was still in full use in the early 2010s.  And there will almost certainly be less tax revenue. 

 

 

Way more night time activity at least. New residents, retail, restorations

[troeros]

I've always been curious, what exactly is causing this building frenzy? Is this more to do with the growing student population of UC? Is this because of the numerous health care organizations?

 

For the longest time up until maybe 5-6 years ago it felt like Clifton was very stagnant with development and high crime rates.

 

I'm curious what exactly is causing for developers to all of sudden want to spend millions upon millions of dollars in new development when in the past there was no desire whatsoever to do so?

[Ucgrad2015]

31 minutes ago, troeros said:

I've always been curious, what exactly is causing this building frenzy? Is this more to do with the growing student population of UC? Is this because of the numerous health care organizations?

 

For the longest time up until maybe 5-6 years ago it felt like Clifton was very stagnant with development and high crime rates.

 

I'm curious what exactly is causing for developers to all of sudden want to spend millions upon millions of dollars in new development when in the past there was no desire whatsoever to do so?

I used to work with a woman that worked in the housing for uc. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but she said that they always had to backfill students into different apartment building throughout CUF. So maybe some of it will be backfill student housing. But Uc’s student population is also growing pretty quickly. 

[Guest jmecklenborg]

I think the number of UC students choosing to live close to campus is growing at a faster rate than the actual enrollment.  The amount of money that wealthy parents and grandparents are throwing out their kids is staggering.  That is who is paying the rent at all of these new apartment buildings.  I can speak as a landlord that I get checks directly from parents.   That's just incomprehensible to someone like me who had to pay 100% of my living expenses from age 18 on.   

 

Also, UC's teams are putting many scholarship athletes up in the new apartment buildings.  Many football players -- even freshmen -- are housed in 101 E. Corry.  Many other student athletes live at McMillan Manor CP Cincy. 

[Guest jmecklenborg]

^Heard about a relative's family friend whose daughter was living in UPA above BW3's about five years ago.  Basically a nicer apartment than I've ever lived in my life.  She ended up failing out of UC.  I'm not totally in their business but I'm sure she just moved onto whatever she did next without the burden of student loan debt.   

 

 

[jjakucyk]

Still cheaper than the dorms. 

[GCrites]

1 hour ago, jmecklenborg said:

I think the number of UC students choosing to live close to campus is growing at a faster rate than the actual enrollment.  The amount of money that wealthy parents and grandparents are throwing out their kids is staggering.  That is who is paying the rent at all of these new apartment buildings.  I can speak as a landlord that I get checks directly from parents.   That's just incomprehensible to someone like me who had to pay 100% of my living expenses from age 18 on.   

 

 

 

The last landlords/management company I had told me about constantly getting checks from people's parents with no information about which property the checks were regarding. So every month they'd have to send notes back to the addresses on the checks (or call the phone number on the checks, which most people leave off these days) that had Stryker or McConnellsville or whatever addresses essentially saying "What the hell is this FOR?" since it was too tough to properly match the names associated with 600 properties.

[Guest jmecklenborg]

^It's chaos.  Then, not only are the parents disorganized, so are the landlords who inherited rental properties.  I had one in Athens who I swear didn't care if I paid rent or didn't. 

 

I had another in Athens who was fantastic.  I learned a lot from that guy.  Unfortunately he died a few years ago or else I'd seek him out just to chat.  He owned about 20-25 houses around Athens.  He lived in town and would come over and watch crews do work on his houses.  He'd tell jokes and buy beer for the grunt workers as a tip.  That's how he made sure the crews did good work.  Like the complete opposite of a hedge fund. 

[tonyt3524]

18 hours ago, Chas Wiederhold said:

 

The site of the Alumni Center to be the existing University YMCA and the adjacent land. Going to be designed by John Ronan, who designed one of my favorite buildings, the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. https://www.alumni.uc.edu/AlumniAssociationRelocation

 

I expect UC to use the existing Law School building as flex space while they build a building on the former site of Wilson Auditorium, and following that either use it as flex space to demo Crosley, or vice versa, demo the Law School for a building to replace Crosley. These projects all have a cascading affect on the university's endless list of projects.

 

Last I heard (alumni folks, my co-workers) a few months back, this plan actually got nixed due to the price tag. They're now discussing the law building but nothing is approved either way.

[tonyt3524]

15 hours ago, troeros said:

I've always been curious, what exactly is causing this building frenzy? Is this more to do with the growing student population of UC? Is this because of the numerous health care organizations?

 

For the longest time up until maybe 5-6 years ago it felt like Clifton was very stagnant with development and high crime rates.

 

I'm curious what exactly is causing for developers to all of sudden want to spend millions upon millions of dollars in new development when in the past there was no desire whatsoever to do so?

Mentioned above but the rates for students living on/near campus is through the roof. Once a commuter campus, it is far from that these days. Last year, they were up to over 6500 students living on campus I believe.

[oudd]

I noticed in the latest CUF Council PDF (http://cufna.org/Newsletter12-18.pdf) that it was reported the old medical office building at MLK/Riddle/Clifton is now owned by UC. So maybe we'll get something other than another medical building built there.

 

Quote

 Jack Martin reported that the old Tri-Health Building located at the corner of MLK and Clifton Avenue is now owned by UC and that an RFP (Request for Proposal) has been published for the Riddle Road Field/DAAP Studio project. Cynthia Duvall reported that there have been recent improvements related to the overgrown weed situation. 

 

[SleepyLeroy]

Ohhhhhh! Thanks for the info. Look what I found googling that. A new sculpture studio on the corner it seems? http://bids.findrfp.com/xDocs/1cbe9507e6fc467397f6775b3e505c19_RFQ-UCN-19053A_DB_1.pdf

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by SleepyLeroy

[jwulsin]

10 minutes ago, SleepyLeroy said:

Ohhhhhh! Thanks for the info. Look what I found googling that. A new sculpture studio on the corner it seems? http://bids.findrfp.com/xDocs/1cbe9507e6fc467397f6775b3e505c19_RFQ-UCN-19053A_DB_1.pdf

 

Very interesting. The RFP says the building needs to be completed in time for Fall 2019... That seems like a very fast turnaround. One of the requirements is that it'll be a "pre-engineered metal building"... I'm definitely curious how the design will look since they also state that the building is "designed to be sympathetic to the residential uses of Riddle Rd". 

[SleepyLeroy]

12 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

 

Very interesting. The RFP says the building needs to be completed in time for Fall 2019... That seems like a very fast turnaround. One of the requirements is that it'll be a "pre-engineered metal building"... I'm definitely curious how the design will look since they also state that the building is "designed to be sympathetic to the residential uses of Riddle Rd". 

Yes that is confusing, Im thinking it is some sort of indoor version of a kiln studio with classes surrounding a central work area.......that blends with the Riddle housing? Maybe it is a temporary space needs expansion and that is why it is pre-engineered metal?

[Chas Wiederhold]

As this is described, I doubt this is anything more than a temporary flex space. When the DAAP shop was expanded from ~4,000 SF to ~13,000 SF in 2016, they did this at the expense of the sculpture studios. Those studios were moved to 3141 Reading Road, along with space for the architecture school to build and store large projects as well. 

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/04/12/uc-plans-2m-expansion-of-daap-shop-space.html

 

Pre-engineered metal buildings (PEMB) are glorified barns and are economically efficient ways to capture space. I cannot imagine this building being permanent/long term. But who knows... it could take a while for DAAP to fundraise enough to build the addition it desperately needs. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by Chas Wiederhold

[Ram23]

^ PEMB's can be done well, though doing so tends to offset the economical advantage they typically offer. Here's a good example I've referenced:

 

https://jensen-architects.com/case_studies/case-study/shed/

[Guest jmecklenborg]

Should be combined with the Clifton art space in Burnett Woods. 

[jwulsin]

City Council just approved tax abatements for the Uptown / North American Properties 207-apartment project at the corner of Eden Ave and University Ave:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/12/20/city-council-approves-incentives-for-major-uptown.html

 

Details on project were in the August 17 Planning Commission Packet:

https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/about-city-planning/city-planning-commission/aug-17-2018-packet/

 

 

 

[Guest jmecklenborg]

I wonder of the two mirrored buildings are laid out in such a way as to connect in another construction phase. 

[jwulsin]

15 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

I wonder of the two mirrored buildings are laid out in such a way as to connect in another construction phase. 

Don't think so. Based on the elevation change and how they've designed it, the two buildings appear to be constructed at different heights and so the floors likely won't line up. 

 

[Guest jmecklenborg]

^You're right, that could explain why they're doing two separate buildings. 

[neilworms]

Here we go again sigh...

[IAGuy39]

15 hours ago, neilworms said:

Here we go again sigh...

 

Just FYI they weren't tearing down any historic buildings for this. I'm sure there were historic buildings here but not certain when they were torn down.

[Guest jmecklenborg]

^They've been down for 15+ years.  That's how long it took them to assemble this entire block.  The last stuff standing was pretty nondescript. 

[taestell]

Right. This church was demolished some time between 2014 and 2016, which was a shame. But the demolition of these vinyl siding apartments was not a big loss for Corryville. The rest of the block has been a dirty sandpit for at least the past 10 years.

[neilworms]

Yeah you are right the only thing worth keeping was the church which was demoed earlier...

Edited December 21, 2018 by neilworms

[Guest jmecklenborg]

Uptown owned those small circa-1990 apartment buildings.  They also own some of the stuff on the block north but didn't buy up individual buildings that have hit the market in the last 2-3 years so I guess they're saving money for this project and others. 

 

Safe for now:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1334267,-84.5041757,3a,75y,299.81h,89.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4evaR4wHlX6grjuw5XG6HQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[taestell]

I wonder if Uptown Properties has ever considered renovating an entire block of those old homes into luxury townhomes with high end finishes and marketing them towards doctors and professors who work nearby, rather than demolishing them and building more student housing.