Cincinnati must act fast to create a plan for riverfront development or risk allowing the city's front door to remain a sea of surface parking into the foreseeable future.
That's the message City Manager John Shirey conveyed in a memo received Wednesday by city council members.
"We can't take the next 12 years to develop the riverfront like we did to decide how to develop Fountain Square West," he said.
Mr. Shirey said delay also brings with it the risk of losing:
- A family-oriented entertainment district to Newport, "thereby greatly diminishing, if not eliminating, the opportunity for developing a similar venue in downtown Cincinnati, whether on the riverfront or Broadway Commons."
- A major retail anchor at Fourth and Race streets.
- The "opportunity for the city and county to work together for the betterment of downtown."
City administrators envision turning the riverfront into Cincinnati's "rec room," with a family entertainment district that includes a multiscreen movie complex and 3-D theater, sports-oriented retail stores, parks and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
The city's most urgent development concern is securing an agreement to build a 3-D theater on the riverfront, which, officials estimate, could draw 1.5 million visitors a year paired with the first-run movies.
"We're in hot competition with Newport for the IMAX theater," Mr. Shirey said. "If we dawdle, we'll lose that project."
That, he said, would hurt the Museum Center, which would operate an IMAX in Cincinnati but compete against one in Newport. The city has a "strong interest in making sure the Museum Center remains strong."
Mayor Roxanne Qualls said Wednesday she had not yet seen Mr. Shirey's memo. But there are a number of questions that she, other members of council and people in the community want answered.
For example, Ms. Qualls wants to know how the proposed development will complement downtown as opposed to competing with it.
A number of downtown developers and planners, in fact, have said they're worried a family entertainment district on the riverfront could wind up destroying downtown's core.
But Mr. Shirey argues the city has insurance that the riverfront won't compete with downtown in its development team of Herman Renfro of Indianapolis and Faison Associates of Charlotte, N.C.
Faison developed and owns Tower Place Mall, which gives the company a vested interest in making sure the riverfront complements downtown, Mr. Shirey stressed.
And Mr. Shirey warned that delaying riverfront development could ultimately hurt the city's efforts to secure an anchor retail tenant at Fourth and Race streets, where McAlpin's used to be.
"This is all part of a strategy to develop from Fountain Square West to the river's edge," he said.
Councilman Tyrone Yates said he just wants to make sure the city retains the final say over any development that happens on the river. That's Mr. Shirey's goal, too, he said, but the city must work with Hamilton County, since the county will own much of the land the city wants to develop.
Mr. Shirey said he knows people have expressed concern that they haven't had a voice in how the riverfront is to be developed. But there is plenty of time for that, he said.
The city's development team won't come back with a plan for at least another two months. When the team presents that plan, the community will be able to comment, he said.
But Arn Bortz, a former mayor whose Towne Properties is involved in high-profile downtown developments, called that response "a little patronizing."
"Forgive me," he said, "but how worthwhile is the input if it's clear the decision has been made already?"
