12-12-2011, 07:49 AM
UC area project to start at last
Written by
Laura Baverman
CLIFTON HEIGHTS — Ten years after city planners pegged four acres between Calhoun and McMillan streets in Clifton Heights for a multimillion dollar redevelopment, construction on U Square at the Loop is set to kick off in January.
The $78 million complex, to include offices for the University of Cincinnati, 161 market-rate apartments atop retail stores and restaurants, parking garages, a hotel and a park, will be the largest local project besides The Banks to break ground since the recession. It’s scheduled to open by school’s start in 2013.
“It’s the center of everything, the Main and Main of Uptown,” says Arn Bortz, whose firm, Towne Properties, is co-developing the project with Al. Neyer Inc. “It’s a location that is destined to be successful.”
For uptown students, residents and workers, the venue will be a key spot in which to work and live, to buy the latest fashions, dine and hang out. The University of Cincinnati will use the 40,000 square feet of office space for administrative staff. Towne will manage the apartments – studio, one- and two-bedroom units priced at between $450 and $1,500 per month.
National retailers Firehouse Subs, Great Clips and Dibella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, and Four Entertainment Group (4EG) of Mount Adams have agreed to lease 13,000 of 80,000 available square feet of retail space.
Real estate broker Mark Fallon of Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, who’s also responsible for leasing The Banks, spent last week in New York luring new-to-market fashion retailers to the project. He hopes to create a vibe similar to the fashion-heavy M Street in Washington, D.C., by Georgetown University.
“Major universities all have that retail strip,” he says. “That’s what will make this area great.”
The entire project will sit between two public parking garages with about 700 spots, accessible from Calhoun and McMillan. The city of Cincinnati has agreed to provide $19 million in tax-increment financing to build the garages and make other improvements to the streets surrounding the project.
Traffic engineers are in the process of determining the project’s impact on traffic in the corridor, said Patrick Ewing, the city’s interim economic development director. Already, they’ve planned to remove an existing street called Hartshorn. East of it, the developers will construct a new Market Street to split the development in half and to line up with the University Park garage entrance across Calhoun.
The city may also add new traffic lights, Ewing said.
At U Square’s center will be a small park capable of holding community events. Facing that park will be the 7,500-square-foot bar and restaurant developed by 4EG. The group hasn’t yet determined the concept, said marketing director Morri McDowell.
A hotel developer has signed a letter of intent to build a 100- to 110-room extended-stay or select-service hotel along McMillan on the west end of the project. The developers won’t announce a name until the deal is done, Bortz said.
A collaboration of multiple partners helped make the deal happen, said Jim Neyer, a partner in Al. Neyer Inc. Castellini Management became a financial partner, helping the group secure new market tax credits and construction loans from PNC Bank.
The three groups will also share ownership in the project with the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, which received a loan from the University of Cincinnati 10 years ago to purchase the property.
“We had signs up on that property for so long,” said Matt Bourgeois of the Clifton Heights development group. “It might have been 10 years, but it seems like it’s the perfect time.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111...|FRONTPAGE
Written by
Laura Baverman
CLIFTON HEIGHTS — Ten years after city planners pegged four acres between Calhoun and McMillan streets in Clifton Heights for a multimillion dollar redevelopment, construction on U Square at the Loop is set to kick off in January.
The $78 million complex, to include offices for the University of Cincinnati, 161 market-rate apartments atop retail stores and restaurants, parking garages, a hotel and a park, will be the largest local project besides The Banks to break ground since the recession. It’s scheduled to open by school’s start in 2013.
“It’s the center of everything, the Main and Main of Uptown,” says Arn Bortz, whose firm, Towne Properties, is co-developing the project with Al. Neyer Inc. “It’s a location that is destined to be successful.”
For uptown students, residents and workers, the venue will be a key spot in which to work and live, to buy the latest fashions, dine and hang out. The University of Cincinnati will use the 40,000 square feet of office space for administrative staff. Towne will manage the apartments – studio, one- and two-bedroom units priced at between $450 and $1,500 per month.
National retailers Firehouse Subs, Great Clips and Dibella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, and Four Entertainment Group (4EG) of Mount Adams have agreed to lease 13,000 of 80,000 available square feet of retail space.
Real estate broker Mark Fallon of Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, who’s also responsible for leasing The Banks, spent last week in New York luring new-to-market fashion retailers to the project. He hopes to create a vibe similar to the fashion-heavy M Street in Washington, D.C., by Georgetown University.
“Major universities all have that retail strip,” he says. “That’s what will make this area great.”
The entire project will sit between two public parking garages with about 700 spots, accessible from Calhoun and McMillan. The city of Cincinnati has agreed to provide $19 million in tax-increment financing to build the garages and make other improvements to the streets surrounding the project.
Traffic engineers are in the process of determining the project’s impact on traffic in the corridor, said Patrick Ewing, the city’s interim economic development director. Already, they’ve planned to remove an existing street called Hartshorn. East of it, the developers will construct a new Market Street to split the development in half and to line up with the University Park garage entrance across Calhoun.
The city may also add new traffic lights, Ewing said.
At U Square’s center will be a small park capable of holding community events. Facing that park will be the 7,500-square-foot bar and restaurant developed by 4EG. The group hasn’t yet determined the concept, said marketing director Morri McDowell.
A hotel developer has signed a letter of intent to build a 100- to 110-room extended-stay or select-service hotel along McMillan on the west end of the project. The developers won’t announce a name until the deal is done, Bortz said.
A collaboration of multiple partners helped make the deal happen, said Jim Neyer, a partner in Al. Neyer Inc. Castellini Management became a financial partner, helping the group secure new market tax credits and construction loans from PNC Bank.
The three groups will also share ownership in the project with the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, which received a loan from the University of Cincinnati 10 years ago to purchase the property.
“We had signs up on that property for so long,” said Matt Bourgeois of the Clifton Heights development group. “It might have been 10 years, but it seems like it’s the perfect time.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20111...|FRONTPAGE
hopefully there are many opportunities for chase banks. the heights needs this project, but i'm afraid it will be very uninspired. like the banks. when i say uninspired, what i mean is, not the way i woulda done sh!t (which isn't playing it safe and has a very high chance for failure).