Building Cincinnati: Bakery Lofts adds 9 homeownership units to OTR

The latest project in the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.'s (3CDC) redevelopment efforts in Over-the-Rhine officially opened on Thursday morning.

Bakery Lofts, a $2.4 million project located at 1421-1423 Race Street, contains 9 condominium units ranging in price from $153,000 to $346,900 and ranging in size from 780 to 1,632 square feet. The project incorporates universal design and accessibility elements, elevator access, and energy efficient features.

Seven of the units have already sold.

"There's something here for many prospective buyers," said Mayor Mark Mallory. "This is a truly transformed community."

Built in 1855, the building housed the Laemmle Bakery for nearly 100 years.

Schickel Design Company designed the new condominiums, and Urbanis LLC developed the project in partnership with 3CDC. Graybach Construction served as the general contractor.

"According to historian Vincent Scully, architecture is a conversation across time between the generations," said Martha Dorff, principal at Schickel Design and Urbanis LLC. "Wonderfully, now our work connects to the work of those before us – German immigrants who built this neighborhood. These buildings will now house the lives of a great new group of people, our new homeowners, with their own goals and lives. New immigrants to our city, connecting our history with our present – and then, of course, with our future."

Bakery Lofts is part of the $29.7 million fifth phase of 3CDC's redevelopment in Over-the-Rhine, which by January 2014 will result in the rehabilitation of 18 buildings on Elm, Race, and Republic streets into 65 condominiums units, 23 apartments, and 17,600 square feet of commercial space.

It is also busy on its $62 million Mercer Commons project, which will result in 23 condominiums, five townhomes, 3,900 square feet of commercial space, and a 340-space parking garage upon completion of its first phase this September.

"We're going through some great phases in Over-the-Rhine," Mallory said. "We're going through some great phases in this City. It does not stop. It will not stop. I cannot stop."

3CDC reports that it has invested more than $226 million in the neighborhood to date. Only two of its 186 condominium units are available, its 68 apartments are sold out, and 95 percent of its commercial space is leased.

"We've got a lot of hard stuff ahead of us," said Chad Munitz, 3CDC's executive vice president of development and operations. "We can't rest on our laurels with the success that we've had. We have to move forward."

Schickel Design, which also developed the successful City Home project on Race and Pleasant streets, was honored with the annual Star Award for Architecture by the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce last week.

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19. Access to deck.

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21. View of Race Street from deck.

22. Alley parking provided.

23. A photograph showing the building pre-rehabilitation.