Zoning change sought for Corryville hotel, commercial project

When Cincinnati's City Council's Economic Development Committee next meets on August 5, they'll consider a zoning change that could lead to construction of the $24 million 3000 Vine Street development in Corryville.

3000 Vine, LLC, (JFP Group and National Redevelopment, Inc.) is seeking a rezoning from RMX Residential Mixed to PD Planned Development District (PD-54), which would allow them to build a 134-room Hampton Inn & Suites hotel, a new US Bank branch and two restaurants on land at the intersection of Vine Street and E Martin Luther King Jr Drive.

All of the houses on the site have been razed, and the property is currently fenced off.

3000 Vine Street has been designed with an urban, pedestrian-friendly relationship to the street and the rest of the neighborhood by working with the site's topography and keeping automobile uses screened from the main streets.

The 82,204-square-foot hotel would occupy the western edge of the site along Vine Street, and the two restaurants - likely a Starbucks and a IHOP sized at 5,000 and 7,500 square feet respectively - would anchor the street frontage along E Martin Luther King Jr Drive.

Between the two restaurants, a grand stair would lead to a plaza and the entrance to the 5,000-square-foot US Bank branch.

Two-hundred nineteen parking spaces are planned in both a surface lot and a single-story underground garage, with vehicular access from both Vine and Ahrens streets and pedestrian access via the grand stair.

The rezoning was recommended by the City Planning Commission on June 6.

In notes accompanying their recommendation, the Planning Commission cited several reasons for their support:

* The site featured single-family and multi-family housing, which was not consistent with the Corryville Business District,
* The site was surrounded by commercial and institutional uses, a school, and a power plant,
* Many of the houses were vacant and/or condemned,
* The Corryville University Village Urban Renewal Plan of 2005 recommended hospitality uses for the site, and
* Market studies have shown demand for additional hotel space, restaurants and a bank.

The project is likely to create up to 150 jobs, most of which will be filled by residents from within the surrounding Empowerment Zone neighborhoods.

The Corryville Community Council (CCC) voted in favor the redevelopment in April.

"The CCC feels that this important project is critical to help insure future development and continue redevelopment opportunities for retaining and expanding business development within the business district and the community of Corryville," CCC president Clyde Nowlin wrote in a letter of support to the City Planning Commisson.

Uptown Consortium president and CEO Tony Brown agreed in his own letter of support.

" We are very excited about the possibility of having a new hotel, a national chain restaurant and a new bank branch located in the uptown area," he said. "We feel this development will be a great addition to this emerging area of Uptown Cincinnati."

The Vine Street Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation and the University Village Association also submitted letters of support.

The targeted groundbreaking date for 3000 Vine Street is September 1.

The parking garage, restaurants and bank would be built first, followed by the hotel.

Buildout is scheduled for late 2010.

Previous reading on BC:
MLK and Vine photo update, 12/17/07 (12/21/07)