Cincinnati 2015

If everything goes as planned, Cincinnati could look like a totally different city by 2015.

Right now, there are more simultaneous improvement projects around the city—in various stages of development—than one can easily keep track of. Queen City Square will replace the Carew Tower as the tallest building in the city by 2011. The Banks will turn a riverfront parking lot into an entertainment destination that will rival Newport on the Levee, keeping Ohioans’ spending money on our own side of the river.

Moving Uptown, the prime real estate between Calhoun and McMillian on the south border of the University of Cincinnati will soon be developed into retail, restaurants, office space, and housing, after having sat empty and unkempt for years. East of campus, the current University Plaza could be demolished, allowing Short Vine to be reconnected to Taft, and more appropriate urban buildings to be constructed. And on campus, a new basketball facility, remodeled football stadium, and new College of Applied Science (currently located off campus) could finish up the University’s decade(s) of construction.

In Over the Rhine, dozens of old, deteriorating building are being refurbished into condos and apartments. And up I-71, new high-rise towers are sprouting up, most notably Kenwood Towne Place, which will bring some vertical growth to the otherwise sprawling horizontal growth of Montgomery Road.

If that isn’t enough, studies are underway to remodel or totally replace the aging Brent Spence Bridge (I-75/71), upgrade the Daniel Carter Beard “Big Mac” Bridge (I-471), entirely reconfigure I-75 through Cincinnati, and upgrade parts of I-71 and I-471. The proposed streetcar system, if approved, will better connect Downtown, including the newly remodeled Fountain Square, and eventually reach UC’s campus and Northern Kentucky.

The question now is whether all of these projects will go on as planned. Several of these projects are already started or will be breaking ground within a few weeks. Others, such as the streetcar, are yet to be approved.

How will all of this positive urban development go over in this one-newspaper town, where all of the major media outlets seem to be anti-city? You can bet these projects will not generate nearly as much publicity as the opening of new big box retailers in West Chester or Anderson Township. (Remember, the Enquirer has its money on Cincinnati-Dayton.)

I guess the media expects blogs to cover these stories.

Comments or questions would be much appreciated.