Friday, September 03, 1999

City's development director leaving

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Udris took heat for downtown flops

BY HOWARD WILKINSON and LISA BIANK FASIG
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Andi Udris

        Cincinnati development director Andi Udris, under fire from city council in recent months for slow-motion downtown development, will leave office at the end of the year. Some council members hope he won't be replaced.

        Both Mr. Udris and City Manager John Shirey have been criticized by council members who say they preside over a bureaucracy that makes it too difficult for potential developers to deal with the city.

        “It's time for us to go in a new direction in development,” said Councilman Phil Heimlich, who, with Mayor Roxanne Qualls, favors creation of a commission that would keep development issues one step removed from city council.

        “What we need and have not had is a systemic approach to real estate development that can stimulate funding and be adequately staffed,” Ms. Qualls said. “Cities are becoming hot markets for development. But we can't get in on that if the city is not equipped to deal with it.”

        Mr. Udris, 44, said he is leaving not because of criticism, but to pursue “opportunities in the private sector,” which he declined to spell out Thursday.

UDRIS' RECORD

During his five years as Cincinnati's economic development director, Andi Udris has had successes and failures in downtown revitalization.   HIGHS: • Negotiated construction of Fountain Place, which includes Lazarus, Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers and Palomino Restaurant. • Retained Saks Fifth Avenue. • Development of T.J. Maxx on Fourth Street. • Downtown housing projects including Greenwich Apartments, Groton Lofts and soon-to-be-opened Shillito's Place.   LOWS: • Council scuttled his plan for family entertainment/shopping zone on the riverfront. • McAlpin's closed Fourth Street store; property remains vacant. • Department store deal collapsed at Fifth and Race streets; corridor remains undeveloped. • City unable to accommodate produce industry, which moved to Kentucky because of stadium construction.

        “Politics is politics,” said Mr. Udris, who was development director under then-Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich from 1981-88. After two private-sector jobs, he came to Cincinnati in 1994.

        “A lot of people ask me how I deal with it, the criticism,” Mr. Udris said. “I said you do it because you are a professional. It comes with the territory.”

        During Mr. Udris' tenure, the city completed its protracted development of the Fountain Place West retail development, built several new stores and restaurants, and reached an agreement on the development of two stadiums.

        It also saw McAlpin's close and abandon its prominent Fourth Street location, which has not been filled, the shuttering of many small businesses, and the demolition of the Fifth and Race Tower, with the future of the site undetermined.

        Mr. Udris also saw his plan for a riverfront mall to go with the new stadium construction slapped down by city council.

        Downtown development executives agree Mr. Udris was in a tough position, but they have different opinions as to how he performed.

        “I'm disappointed to see him go. I think it will be a loss,” said Mark Fallon, director of leasing at Jeffrey Anderson Real Estate, downtown, which recently brought T.J. Maxx to Fourth Street with Mr. Udris' help.

        “I think unfortunately he was caught operating in a political system that was anything but cohesive, so any time he took two steps forward he took one step back in someone's opinion.”

        Mike Hartmann, a broker and executive vice president of Colliers International, said Mr. Udris had good ideas, “but lacked in follow-through and getting the little details done that were necessary to get the deals done downtown.”

        Mr. Hartmann said several of his tenants have complained that the economic development department did not respond to phone calls. But, he added: “Andi was in a tough position. It's difficult to generate downtown development.”

        Broker Judie Guttadauro, who helped bring Redfish and CVS to downtown, said she feels the city is not moving in the right direction.

        “I just think a new economic development director can see things with new perspective, new vision and just a fresh approach,” she said.

        Arn Bortz, a former Cincinnati mayor and a partner at Towne Properties, a Mount Adams development firm, said Mr. Udris had enjoyed some successes, but was hampered by the lack of a strong department.

        Mr. Bortz suggested Mr. Udris' job be replaced with a broader regional development authority that would handle planning, economic development and housing.

        Instead of replacing Mr. Udris, Ms. Qualls and Mr. Heimlich want to create an independent economic development authority, similar to the riverfront advisory commission.

        They want to model the commission after one in Portland, Ore., which has helped boost housing and commercial development in that city.

        Recently, in Mr. Shirey's annual job review, council members instructed Mr. Shirey to hire someone for a new job at the level of deputy city manager who would coordinate all neighborhood and downtown development issues.

        Mr. Udris said that his tenure as development director has seen many successes. In the past five years, he said, 211 development projects were initiated by his department, with more than $80 million in public funds generating another $818 million in private investment.

        In a press release announcing Mr. Udris' resignation, Mr. Shirey said Mr. Udris “regrettably will probably never get the credit he deserves for the improvements he has made.”

       

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