3CDC continues to work on improving the greater areas of Over The Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati. Projects are being initiated at a rapid pace, even as recent as Friday the 8th. Phase III of the Gateway Quarters project began with the demolition of an nondescript building to make way for store front retail and mixed housing that will serve the existing and future residents.

More important than building structures, the project is making the downtown area more attractive to new residents, and new businesses. Part of the economic redevelopment certainly depends on the having space for new potential employees to live. Part of the philosophical foundation for inner city redevelopment is based in the ideas of Richard Florida;s book Rise of the Creative Class. In short it says that if you have interesting, diverse living spaces, in an area surrounded with cultural activities you will attract the kind of talent that is important for luring in new businesses. People first, then industry … not the other way around.

There are now drawings and models of the new Queen City Square available for viewing. Western and Southern has a press release available for viewing and it describes some of the attributes of the structure. The real question is in the wisdom of constructing a new office high rise in a market that has such a high vacancy rates. Even though the QCS project is not due to open until 2011 I hope there will bee a serious need for the space. Downtown is growing with more living space and now hopefully there will be an attraction of new creative class workers to fill both the new offices and new residences. A recent Grubb report on office vacancy rate show the third quarter of 2007 continues a trend of decreasing vacancy rates initiated in the 3rd quarter of 2006. We will keep our eye on the development downtown as the QCS and The Banks come on line adding even more high quality new living and working space to Cincinnati.

Fall in Cincinnati is like no other place. There are so many amazing things to do here before we get into the full throws of chilly winter. Outdoor activities abound including Ice Skating and broom ball at Fountain Square Park, fall sports leagues, and unique cultural events like Ethiopian Hip Hop concerts, A Lion In Winter, and Seusical Jr.. Coming up in the next few weeks there are even a few organized runs being put together by Fleet Feet in Blue Ash including an evening run at 6:30 pm December 8th followed by a happy hour, and an early Christmas Eve run at 8:00 AM December 24th.

Although we moved a bit out of Downtown, we did look at a few of the new buildings that are being converted into residences. It is a great trend to see large building space turned into living space. Aside from helping commute traffic volumes it is reducing the amount of gasoline we use. The new residences such as the One River Plaza complex and the redevelopment of the old McAlpin Department store are great examples of new and renovated buildings.We are all very excited to see what things materialize as The Banks multi use project gets underway. Any way we look at it it is an exceptional time to be in Cincinnati and enjoying the crisp weather and great sights and events.