Otr!! (Cincinnati, Hamilton: 2011, loft, condos)

[AGreekDude]

Yesterday I cruised through OTR Vine Street for the first time since 01 and it looks the same as I can remember except for the closer areas toward downtown. I really want a loft and I'm not afraid to fix it up. Where should I look? Do you all think that with the new queen city providing 9,000 jobs in 2011 will force even more development in OTR. And how about this train system that was proposed? All these things really seem to make living in OTR a great investement in the future.

[Cincy-Rise]

lol ... well, I think saying it looks the same as in '01 is stretching it a little far as that's physically impossible with the amount of new condos that have come online in just the past few years.

Here is a link of the most recent newly renovated condos (from the Cincy Dev. link):

Cincinnati: Over-the-Rhine (September '08)

[AGreekDude]

I checked out that link in a previous post and those units are fantastic!! I can't afford 300,000 though and would like something that is a fixer upper but in a potential to be a nice area. No answers to any of my other questions?? You always seem to have your opinions on matters so what do you think. Is OTR a good investment fo the future?

[jlrosen]

No question

[AGreekDude]

I keep reading about the new streetcar system that could possibly add upwards of 2 million dollars in revenue and it makes me so excited that Cincy seems to finally be getting it right. I think mid next year I'll be back in the Nati. Hopefully all these projects don't end up like the subway blunder of the 20's.

[AGreekDude]

Opps I meant 2 billion

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by AGreekDude

I keep reading about the new streetcar system that could possibly add upwards of 2 million dollars in revenue and it makes me so excited that Cincy seems to finally be getting it right. I think mid next year I'll be back in the Nati. Hopefully all these projects don't end up like the subway blunder of the 20's.

Don't count on it. Others and I are working to destroy it and we'll be successful.

Over the summer I worked part-time downtown and walked home late at night through OTR up Elm and Race Streets. They've moved a lot of the rift-raft out by closing the buildings, so it's fairly empty.

Nobody hassled me, but I did vary my route and sometimes walked up Central Parkway to Ravine if people were paying undue attention to me.

[unusualfire]

Why would you want to destroy a good thing and keep things the same??

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

Why would you want to destroy a good thing and keep things the same??

You don't need it. The area is already served. If you want to do something, expand your mind and step into the 21st Century. If it don't go from Hamilton, West Chester or Kings Mill to downtown in 30 minutes, you don't build it.

It's just that simple. Like Shakespeare said, a light rail by any other name is still a bus.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by Mircea

You don't need it. The area is already served. If you want to do something, expand your mind and step into the 21st Century. If it don't go from Hamilton, West Chester or Kings Mill to downtown in 30 minutes, you don't build it.

It's just that simple. Like Shakespeare said, a light rail by any other name is still a bus.

excellent post. why does cincinnati have to baby through the process of developing rail transit? why can't our politicians put together a plan that would make sense to voters? how about this....

-the first phase includes a line to dayton via middletown, hamilton, tri-county, and the heart of the city along route 4, northside, and vine on downtown. at tri-county, this line branches to forest park and colerain, with lines down colerain ave. and hamilton ave., that connect to a station in northside.

-a station at dana and montgomery. one line goes directly east to madisonville, one line goes northeast through kenwood on to mason and kings island, and one goes north though norwood and bond hill to west chester. the original line goes along gilbert and takes you downtown.

-a line along beekman, with one branch heading along queen city, and the other going along glenway. this line is part of the dayton-to-downtown line.

-the streetcar is used as a supplement to the light/heavy rail. it connects ''the city'' from downtown to uptown, walnut hills, avondale, and other commercial corridors like madison.

the big deal is the dayton connection, but if taken at face value -

-only 2 main lines

-the eastern line splits, but only has one branch line

-the DHD (dayton-hamilton-downtown) connects the westside, serves some of the metro's poorest areas, and offers an alternative to the stop-n-go traffic jam that is northwest 275 area, hamilton ave, and colerain.

-most importantly, the key voting regions are being served in butler and warren counties, the eastside, and the westside isn't being treated as a TBA.