The Banks project is getting started

[RosieRed]

Or so this article from today indicates. It's still supposed to take a decade to complete, which is crazy.

Banks design work to begin

By Kevin Osborne
Post staff reporter

A critical step in constructing the long-planned Banks riverfront district will happen this summer when design work begins for underground parking garages needed to start the project.

Officials from the regional Port Authority overseeing the Banks development said this morning that they are ready to hire a project manager for the garage portion.

Although some planning and behind-the-scenes jockeying for funds has occurred, the garage work will be the first tangible sign of progress at the barren riverfront area in more than four years.

The garages will take nine to 12 months to design and two years to build, Port Authority board members said.

That means actual turning of dirt at the site probably will begin next spring.

The Port Authority had been stymied trying to raise the $68 million needed for garage construction, after a county sales tax intended for that purpose didn't generate enough revenue. Ultimately, the agency was able to win $21.4 million in state and federal grants to begin two large garages on the eastern end of the site, near the Roebling Suspension Bridge.

"We're moving forward in the context of reality right now, not in the context of what if," said Jack Rouse, the Port Authority's board chairman.

The underground garages are needed to lift the area out of the flood plain, and will act as the foundation for development above the structures.

To better coordinate the project, Cincinnati parks officials have adjusted the schedule for developing a sprawling 36-acre riverfront park near the Banks so the portion near the eastern garages will be done first.

Road improvements in that section also will be prioritized so that the entire section - known as blocks 4 and 8 - will be ready when a private developer is chosen to build the first phase of the Banks, said Kim Satzger, Port Authority president.

Three development teams were selected in December 2001 as finalists to build the Banks, but because so much time has passed, that process may be redone.

"Some of those may still be viable, some not so viable," Rouse said. "Now that word is out that this is actually going to happen, interest from developers is beginning to ratchet up."

The Port Authority is beginning a search to hire a full-time Banks director to manage the daily work needed for the project.

Board members hope to hire a director within three to six months, and the job is expected to pay an annual salary in excess of $120,000.

The salary will be paid with the proceeds from selling a previously abandoned nine-acre industrial site that the Port Authority cleaned up for reuse on Kemper Road in Sharonville. The so-called "brownfield" site sold for $785,000.

Planned since 2000, the Banks district is envisioned to include apartments, condominiums, office space and shops between the Reds and Bengals stadiums.

The project will be built in phases, and take about a decade to complete.

Area officials hope the $800 million project - which will involve public and private funding - will attract crowds to the riverfront year-round, instead of just during baseball and football seasons, thus boosting the local economy.

[zombie-a-go-go]

This angers me.

I had a bet going over whether Cincinnati would see light rail or "The Banks" first, and it looks like I'm going to lose.

[Roy Tucker]

Glad to see it getting off the ground. If it comes off as planned, it could be something pretty cool.

But that is an enourmous amount of money to spend. Combining it with how much the riverfront stadia cost, it is a very enormous amount of money to spend. For a city that could spend it more wisely in other areas (see CPS).

I still think they missed the boat with Broadway Commons but that horse has left the barn.

[LawFive]

This thing has stalled so many times, I'll beleive it when I see it. If it comes to pass, though, it should be something great.

[KronoRed]

/\
Same, I'll believe this when I can walk through it...be nice to see something on the riverfront other then a big hole

[Redsland]

Design work to begin.

Design.

They're going to start drawing now.

They aren't going to start building anything until Danny Graves is in the Hall of Fame.

Or later.

[TeamCasey]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

I still think they missed the boat with Broadway Commons but that horse has left the barn.

That was my choice too.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by TeamCasey

That was my choice too.

I wasn't living here then but I was following it and I hoped it'd be BC too. But the people made their choice.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by Chip R

I wasn't living here then but I was following it and I hoped it'd be BC too. But the people made their choice.

Man, did it get mean on the cinci board when they were going through that. It was way worse than the stuff we had going on.

I never did get Broadway Commons fever, like just about all my friends did. It was tough hanging at Arnolds if you weren't rabid over it. The way I saw it, revitalization of downtown starts at the riverfront and moves northward. Whether I'm right or wrong, it appears that theory will get a test, as Main St. lies in ruins again. A lot of people fault Marge, Carl and Roxzanne Qualls for that, too. Tarbell and company thought BC was going to be just the thing to put OTR on the right track. Maybe they were right about that, but they forget that little spate of riots we had, and the fear that police developed against doing their jobs. Downtown is in a world of hurt, so they better make something up soon and get it right.

[macro]

The Reds and Bengals will be screaming for replacements for their outdated stadiums by the time The Banks project is finished.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by SunDeck

Man, did it get mean on the cinci board when they were going through that. It was way worse than the stuff we had going on.

I never did get Broadway Commons fever, like just about all my friends did. It was tough hanging at Arnolds if you weren't rabid over it. The way I saw it, revitalization of downtown starts at the riverfront and moves northward. Whether I'm right or wrong, it appears that theory will get a test, as Main St. lies in ruins again. A lot of people fault Marge, Carl and Roxzanne Qualls for that, too. Tarbell and company thought BC was going to be just the thing to put OTR on the right track. Maybe they were right about that, but they forget that little spate of riots we had, and the fear that police developed against doing their jobs. Downtown is in a world of hurt, so they better make something up soon and get it right.

We discussed it on the Fastball board but it really didn't get too nasty. Richard Hand was concerned it'd be next to the Hamilton Co. Justice Center and if a convict escaped he'd head right for the ballpark. I told him that a ballpark would be the last place an escaped con would go. I think either RH or someone else believed that prisoners would moon fans or do nasty things from their cell windows overlooking the ball park.

You never know what would have happened with the riots. The Reds were out of town then and who knows if they would have been if they were in the new stadium by then.

[RFS62]

Originally Posted by Redsland

Design work to begin.

Design.

They're going to start drawing now.

They aren't going to start building anything until Danny Graves is in the Hall of Fame.

Or later.

Hmmmm. I'm no expert, but that sounds like a long time.