Monday, February 01, 1999
Rookwood Pavilion to expand
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NORWOOD — Success begets success — at least that is the hope of Cincinnati developer Jeffrey Anderson.
His real estate company is about to pump $60 million into an expansion of its highly successful Rookwood Pavilion retail center at the corner of Madison and Edwards roads — a crosswalk away from Hyde Park and a jog up the street from Oakley — two of Cincinnati's prime neighborhoods.
“There are 350,000 people within a five-mile radius of Rookwood Pavilion,” Mr. Anderson said. “Our vision is to create what is called a lifestyle center, including some of the top specialty retailers — clothiers, home specialty stores, restaurants, children's stores and others,” he said.
Norwood Community Development Director Rick Dettmer said the city has approved an urban renewal district to allow Mr. Anderson's company to acquire the needed property for the expansion, called Rookwood Commons. It will border the west side of Rookwood Pavilion.
Rookwood Pavilion is on about 20 acres; the expansion will be about 30 acres and take 35 to 40 homes plus some commercial and industrial sites, including Brendamour's Warehousing, Bix Box and Hyde Park Lumber.
An urban renewal district enables the city to acquire properties by eminent domain — take them at assessed fair market value if purchase negotiations fail, officials explained. However, Mr. Dettmer said 80 percent of the property is under tentative sale agreements, with only three properties still in discussions.
Edmondson Road resident Bev Pierani, 46, said she realizes that many of her neighbors have agreed to sell their properties, but “we are not signed,” she said of herself and her mother, Betty, who lives next door.
“We do not want to go. I've been in my house 26 years; my mother in hers 45 years. ... I have a problem with the principle of making the shopping center bigger — getting more revenues for the city — at the cost of taking our homes.”
The homes along Edmondson Road and Arbor Avenue are “a residential island” sur rounded by Interstate 71, Rookwood Pavilion and other commercial or industrial enterprises, Mr. Dettmer said.
Mayor Joe Hochbein said the city plans no tax abatements and will spend only about $250,000 for street improvements at the planned Edmondson Road entrance to the new commons.
“The project is projected to go online in mid-2000. Once online, the city should realize in excess of $500,000 in revenues — primarily in earnings taxes — and the (Norwood) schools $250,000 (primarily in property taxes),” the mayor said.
Mr. Hochbein said the city insisted that a 100,000-square-foot office building be included to complement the retail center. About 300,000 square feet of retail space is planned, along with parking.
Mr. Anderson said the “lifestyle center” concept is catching on nationwide. In many metropolitan areas, tracts large enough to construct a mall are hard to find, and specialty retailers are finding a successful niche in such smaller clusters.
Generally, shoppers at Rookwood Pavilion were excited about expanded shopping opportunities.
“I feel it's great so long as the neighbors don't see a problem. And I would not want to see this become another Beechmont Avenue,” said Jackie Hartman, 50, of Sycamore Township, an employee of nearby Xavier University. “I would probably come.”
However, Emily Bennings of Fort Thomas, a former employee of a Rookwood Pavilion bookstore, said she is “getting a little sick of development. ... I guess this (expansion) will be good for the economy. But all of the time I see more expansion, and I just wonder what is happening to our environment.”
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