Friday, September 17, 1999
Broadway development not a priority with officials
Price of land driving interest away, DCI says
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Just a year ago, the parking lots at Reading Road and Broadway downtown were the centerpiece of a campaign to determine where to build the new Reds ballpark.
Back then, proponents of putting the new ballpark on the riverfront said they wanted the so-called Broadway Commons site to be home to something better for the neighborhood than a ballpark.
Voters decided overwhelmingly to keep the Reds on the riverfront. And Broadway Commons remains a parking lot, much to the irritation of neighborhood business owners.
“The minute (the Broadway campaign) was lost, you haven't heard anything like that said, have you?” said Jim Verdin, a supporter of baseball on Broadway and president of the Verdin Co., the famous bell maker with corporate offices across from the site.
“That was one of their strategies (to defeat Broadway), and it worked.”
But city and business leaders say money — not lack of interest — is the reason the 20-plus-acre site remains covered with cars.
Robert Chavez of Chavez Properties owns most of the land and is asking top dollar for it. During last year's campaign, he offered to sell Hamilton County officials his 18.2 acres for $26.4 million. Mr. Chavez did not return phone calls, but others say he is asking developers for about the same price for the property.
In the six months after voters in November decided to keep the Reds on the riverfront, half a dozen developers approached Mr. Chavez with ideas for projects on the site, said Kathy Schwab, residential development adviser for Downtown Cincinnati Inc., the advocacy group known as DCI.
“We've tried,” Ms. Schwab said. “The day after the elec tion, I informed several people interested in Broadway Commons to contact Robert Chavez. He's been visited by at least six developers.”
But the price he's asking for the land amounts to $30 per square foot — double what developers want to pay for the land to develop housing there, she said.
“And the majority of people looking at it are looking at it for housing,” she said.
Having the parking lots at Broadway Commons isn't all bad, Mr. Verdin said.
“In one sense, it's nice to have the wide open space in downtown,” he said. “But it would be nice to have some development to help development of Over-the-Rhine. Of course, it's (Mr. Chavez's) property. He has to do what he thinks is best.”
The inaction has left others more frustrated. Judith Osborn, executive director of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, said she's heard rumors about possible developments on the site, but she doesn't know what to make of them.
“I have no idea,” she said. “Except baseball should be there.”
Nobody pushed harder for baseball at Broadway Commons than Cincinnati City Councilman Jim Tarbell, who for years promoted the site with religious fervor.
But even Mr. Tarbell acknowledged he “hasn't touched” Broadway.
He said changing the face of the West End through the redevelopment of public housing in Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes has taken priority — projects Mr. Tarbell calls “miracles in the works.”
“I really haven't known where to go, quite frankly, because it's so big,” he said of Broadway Commons.
Mr. Tarbell discouraged talk of developing housing on the site during last year's campaign because he viewed those discussions as an attempt to confuse the issue, he said. Ms. Schwab and others who supported the idea of housing during the campaign maintain they were genuine efforts to come up with alternatives for the site.
Now he thinks creating an “outstanding, upscale housing development — that could be really spectacular.”
Still, he said, he hasn't been inspired yet to take the lead to find development for the site.
“It's not really come to me in the still of the night,” he said. “I'm looking for a sign. You just have to think about how you spend your time.”
Pro-riverfront campaign chairman John Schneider, DCI's transportation guru, said he thinks community leaders have decided to spend that time on other projects, such as the proposed expansion of the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.
Mr. Verdin said he thinks if DCI, the city or some entity had been sincere about getting the site redeveloped, someone somewhere would have pushed harder.
Ms. Schwab said she's still pushing, but, so far, to no avail.
“You have a land owner that is not interested one way or the other in selling,” she said. “We have a line of people who are interested, but they are having a difficult time making the numbers work.”
Until someone can make the numbers work, Mr. Verdin will have those wide open spaces for a long time to come.
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