Downtown riverfront development finally moving forward in Cincinnati By: AP By TERRY KINNEY
Associated Press Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) — A gleaming downtown riverfront neighborhood of green space and high-rises for living, working and entertaining, a destination for visitors and a haven for young professionals and downsizing baby boomers: That’s been the vision for decades in this city on the Ohio River.
But deal after proposed deal was shot down by lack of funding or political infighting. A classic case was the squabble between city and county officials over who owns the air rights over parking garages.
Now, cooperative agreements among the city, Hamilton County and the master developer have put the dream closer to fruition than it’s ever been.
“We are stepping away from 10 years of disagreement and moving into 10 years of development,” said Mayor Mark Mallory.
Developers still have to find about $800 million, and public officials another $200 million for infrastructure, to make it happen.
“The work is not done; it really is only beginning, in many ways,” Councilman David Crowley noted as officials approved the enabling legislation at a recent meeting held at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The center is the only building in a four-by-three-block area between the river and the downtown business district.
“The good news is the city and county appear to be on the same page and seem to be working reasonably well together, which is rare here,” said Arn Bortz, a partner in Towne Properties, which is building other high-end housing nearby.
The area awaiting development covers about 18 acres between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park, leaving about 40 acres for a riverfront park.
As far back as 1970, urban planners had hoped that construction of the old Riverfront Stadium would spur development in its downtown neighborhood, where there were only a few bars and a produce warehouse. But it remained mostly what it still is, a sea of surface parking lots, even after a proposal for “The Banks,” as the area became known, was unveiled a decade ago.
The city and county finally put together a group headed by Cincinnati Reds owner Bob Castellini in May 2006 to line up a master developer and push the project forward.
Then-commission president Phil Heimlich confidently said, “Now we can count on a 50-acre mud hole becoming a world-class retail, office and residential community.” But the developer backed out, and Heimlich failed to win re-election.
The process, in effect, was back at square one.
Now, with the city and county agreeing to work together and ceding certain rights to each other, Atlanta developers Carter & Associates Commercial Services and The Dawson Co. can begin to solicit designs and line up financing.
Ground could be broken on first-phase construction by early next year, with people living and working there within two years after that. The entire project could take at least a decade to complete, officials say.
Finding the money to get it started isn’t a sure thing, Bortz said. “An equity lender might say, ’We’ll do the first building and an option in the next phase.’ You won’t get it all from any one source,” Bortz said.
The city and county will have to come up with about $58 million for infrastructure, and the developers about $74 million for the first phase, which will include about 300 apartments, some retail space and a couple of restaurants. If the entire project is completed, The Banks could add 1,800 apartments and condos to Cincinnati’s downtown housing market.
Officials visualize the project “bringing people back to the urban core,” as Bortz said.
The Banks will have to compete with high-rise projects across the river on the Kentucky shore, including a similar $1 billion mixed-use proposal by one of the developers that walked away from the Cincinnati deal.
City officials believe the project reflects a turnaround for the city, which appears to have stanched a decades-long out-migration of residents and shows a trend of rising property values.
“No longer are we going to focus on the negatives,” said former Councilman Todd Portune, now president of the Hamilton County Commission. “This city and county are turning things around.”
Published in The Messenger 11.21.07 , | 
